Our 10 Top Worldwide Records of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating piece. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. The work channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the recurrence of a continual, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a melancholy album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and ruminative, singing soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, longing vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to resonate. The album proves to be truly deserving of the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit specializes in uncanny reworkings of traditional music. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of sludge and static to generate a fresh, menacing rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal afterimage.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the key term for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still personal, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They create sinuous, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
