Our 10 Top International Albums of 2025

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global music that pushed boundaries. We explore ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.

Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive percussion may not appear the easiest listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary over the record's ten parts. His composition references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the recurrence of a continual, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive universe.

9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Following an long absence, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced sound that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is gentle and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, longing vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and understated, yet this simplicity provides the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.

Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico producer Debit excels at uncanny reinterpretations of traditional music. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of sludge and hiss to generate a novel, menacing groove. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.

Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the key term for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.

Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor

Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They develop sinuous, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that give a novel, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim