Another one down

And 2025 bites the dust!

Wow - there are an awful lot of albums here that I don't remember in the slightest and even fewer I remember liking (I'd suggest we're not far off single figures). It's also interesting how we've had some pretty unknown artists at various times whilst some bigger artists have completely missed out - it's all a case of how your release date aligns with (or more importantly) avoids other artists.

The ownership ratio was obviously 0% but it's interesting to consider what it might have been if streaming wasn't an option - I reckon I might have bought five, the lovely Mrs Reed maybe two or three and my daughters maybe another couple, bringing us somewhere in the region of 20%. Except that, of course, if streaming didn't exist the chart would look massively different so it's a completely pointless exercise!

Looking at the year-end chart of the "biggest" albums of the year, we see, somewhat unsurprisingly, that Taylor Swift has taken the top spot again, with Sabrina Carpenter taking the #2 spot, but with her '24 release, Short And Sweet, with Man's Best Friend from this year appearing at #8. In between we have the somewhat depressing combination of the Ed Sheeran live album, best-ofs from Oasis, Fleetwood Mac and The Weeknd and another offering from Oasis - at least the top ten is rounded out by two proper albums released recently from Alex Warren (2024, but close enough) and Sam Fender.

#11-20 works well for the ladies, with Olivia Dean (#11), Chappell Roan (#13), Tate McRae (#15), Billie Eilish (#17) and Charli XCX (#18) all putting in an appearance. Olivia and Tate get bonus points because their albums were released in this year - the only other artists in the entire chart that managed this are Lady Gaga (#29) and Central Cee (#34 - well done lad, decent effort!). Ignoring the best-ofs which take up far too much of the chart, we are only left with Noah Kahan (#16), Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (#20), SZA (#21), Arctic Monkeys' AM (#22), Oasis again (#24), Taylor Swift (#26), Olivia Rodrigo (#27 and #28), Gracie Abrams (#30 - another decent effort), Calvin Harris's 96 Months (#33 - 74 weeks on the chart and it's never made the top 10), Ariana Grande (#36), Benson Boone (#37) and Ed Sheeran's Divide, which, despite it having been on the chart for the past seven years, we have yet to visit (but that might be changing very soon). 

So what about the albums I met then? Let's start with the men for a change - it hasn't felt like their year. But feelings aren't always accurate because, for a less successful year, there's an awful lot of solo guys out there. However - how many of them do I actually remember?

Sam Fender is an easy memory because it was a pretty decent album (if not as good as his previous). I also remember Richard Ashcroft and Morgan Wallen (in places, but it was too long) being a lot better than I was expecting, Dave and Ed Sheeran being not as good as I was expecting (and the expectations were low for Ed), EsDeeKid being a lot more Scouse than expected (and, I've recently learned, not Timothee Chalamet) and Sombr being weirder than I expected. And whilst that might sound bad on Dave, Ed, EsDeeKid and Sombr, it's much better than Benson Boone, Lil Baby, Mac Miller, Central Cee, The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, Davido, Alex Warren, James Marriott, Yungblud, Tyler, The Creator, MGK and Tom Grennan, all of which I barely remember - which isn't a great advert for the solo male category.

So how about the male groups? It's a bit odd because The Guardian's year-end list has reminded me of Suede and Pulp but I feel I should have remembered the Manic Street Preachers, Franz Ferdinand, Stereophonics, Sparks and Mumford & Sons revivals as well - but I totally didn't. Other albums I don't remember (but feel less surprised about) are Inhaler, Architects (although I'm sure I didn't like it), Those Damn Crows (apparently I really liked this) The Ks and Biffy Clyro. Albums I do remember are Bring Me The Horizon (it was only a couple of weeks ago, but I enjoyed it), Sleep Token (more on this later), 5SOS (very average) and Aerosmith/Youngblud (this was not good). 

Sleep Token deserve several sentences to themselves because it was quite the odd album and I really didn't understand who would like it and declared it wouldn't do anything. And boy was I wrong because it had a 13 week run in the charts - and how many albums do that these days? And that would be it, except that the 13 week run featured a drop every week and I don't think we've ever seen one as long as that so I quite enjoyed that! I should also say it's not entirely clear that Sleep Token count as a male group because all the members are anonymous, but let's include them in the "groups with no obviously female members" (it seems like they have had female members, but they're apparently not currently in there).

Moving on to bands which are graced with some female presence, they did better on the "being remembered" front with The Last Dinner Party and Florence + The Machine not disappointing with their offerings. Wet Leg and Wolf Alice didn't exactly disappoint, but I didn't love them either - I don't exactly remember The Lottery Winners, but I do remember not enjoying it as much as I was hoping to. I also have to mention Franz Ferdinand again here because they've got a female drummer now and Pulp also have Candida on keyboards - although I'm not sure either of them have a massive impact on the band's image.

Moving on to the ladies (almost finally), Rosalia easily wins the year with a proper grown-up album, which I would like to revisit but feel it's unlikely to happen. Lady Gaga and Tate McRae are the other ones that stand out for me - I preferred Lady Gaga's offering, but I've heard a lot more of Tate's thanks to my daughters. Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Dean and Taylor Swift all produced albums which did very well without me really understanding the fuss and I can't remember anything about Renee Rapp, Miley Cyrus or Lorde, except for Lorde's album cover (which I would have been fine not remembering). And Kylie's offering was simply dreadful.

And finally finally, we have the Elton John & Brandi Carlile album to consider, which was really just two people sharing the spotlight and making very decent music they liked - it wouldn't have hurt the charts if more people had been like Elton and Brandi this year. The number of albums featuring some significant female input this year is 19, which is exactly the same as last year (and the highest we've seen since '12). 

This year we saw 33 #1 debuts and 42 #1 albums which is up from the 29 and 37 last year. Taylor dragged the numbers down last year, but didn't affect them so badly this year, only taking five weeks at the top (across two albums). Other artists with multiple weeks at #1 are Sabrina Carpenter (four weeks across two albums), Olivia Dean (four weeks) and Ed Sheeran (three weeks across two albums). It's also worth pointing out that Elton John's best-of finally got to #1 after 374 weeks (which makes Alex Warren's 31 weeks look positively speedy) and Michael Bublé claimed the last #1 album of the year for the fourth year in a row.

The most read post of the year was Sombr who probably benefited from being in Xmas week when people have a bit more time, but I've absolutely no idea why Those Damn Crows were only one read behind him. The least read post was EsDeeKid which I can kinda understand because it's certainly not for everyone (including me) but it was a better album than I was expecting and all the Timothee Chalamet stuff has been amusing to learn about. 

And finally, the most expensive album we've seen all year was the blue vinyl numbered limited edition repress of Bring Me The Horizon's '15 album which is only available from The Netherlands for a mere 1,200 Euros - somewhat unsurprisingly, it's still available if you want it.

Overall, I'd say 2025 was a decent enough year without anyone massively delivering above expectations. The best albums for me were Suede, Rosalia, Lady Gaga, The Last Dinner Party (the second year in a row they've been on the recommendations list) and Elton & Brandi - I'd be perfectly happy to be made to listen to any of them again. Albums I remember I'd definitely avoid are Kylie's Xmas monstrosity and the Aerosmith/Yungblud collaboration which just seemed completely pointless -  I'm sure there were some others I hated in there, but I'm pleased to say I don't remember then. 

Not a terrible year, but by no means a classic either - Happy (belated) New Year everyone!

26/12/25 - An intriguing listen
02/01/26 - Wasn't expecting this