The Ten Top International Albums of the Year 2025

Looking back on the musical landscape of global music that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.

Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical percussion might not seem the most accessible listening experience. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. The work references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ritual music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and restrained, yet this austerity offers the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to shine through. The album proves to be well worth the wait.

Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reinterpretations of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of murk and noise to produce a fresh, menacing beat. Periodically atmospheric and uneasy, Debit morphs the celebratory party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage.

Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sheer intensity is the key term for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly freeing.

6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly engaging combination of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

5. Enji – Sonor

From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. But, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a fresh, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim