2025 was a tremendous year for alternative music. It all started back in January, when L.S. Dunes set the tone with their tight second album, Violet. The spring brought forth full-lengths from Scowl, Lucy Dacus, and Coheed and Cambria. In the summer, Turnstile’s NEVER ENOUGH had us moshing along under bridges and in movie theaters, whereas Drain prompted crowds to throw down in the Epitaph Records parking lot as the temperatures dropped. All in all, the past 11 months have been good to us — with a release or two to suit every taste under the sun.
Read more: In conversation with Lucy Dacus and Katie Gavin
Back in July, we asked you to name the best albums of 2025 so far. In the months that followed, some of the answers have, of course, shifted. With the end of the year imminent, we called upon readers to cast their votes for the greatest albums of the year, period. Find the top fan picks ranked below.
5. AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…
During our summer cover story with AFI, Davey Havok said it best: “AFI fans who are fans of the music and not fans for just one period of time don’t know what to expect every time.” That’s truer than ever with their latest full-length, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…, where the band tap into gorgeous new wave, toss out David Lynch references, and mourn the loss of artistic sanctuary while simultaneously adding to their stacked legacy. Whether you’ve been a fan since their Answer That and Stay Fashionable days or became newly converted with 2021’s Bodies, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… is an extraordinary listen through and through.
4. Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
The year of Hayley Williams certainly wasn’t on our bingo cards. Her rollout started excitingly enough when she uploaded 17 new songs on her website, deleted them, and put them out as separate singles, complete with their own artwork. Then she took it a step further, slotting them into an official album called Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, releasing bonus tracks, and announcing a 2026 solo tour that quickly sold out in the following weeks. It’s been rewarding to see her release music on her own terms, with songs that traverse heartbreak, her complicated relationship with the South, and generational trauma — set to a genre-fluid proficiency that spotlights her many tastes.
3. twenty one pilots – Breach
When twenty one pilots announced their new album, Breach, they arrived with a simple message: “hello Clancy. hello Blurryface. let’s finish this.” Since 2015, the duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have drawn us into a sprawling multi-album narrative where the main protagonist, Clancy, attempts to escape the walls of Dema but always gets pulled back by the bishops. The result is a gigantic-sounding album that ends the story with a pop-rock flourish, from Dun showing off his vocal chops on “Drum Show” to callbacks to 2013’s Vessel. After a decade-long era of intense worldbuilding, it’ll be interesting to see what avenue their storytelling takes next.
2. Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH
Turnstile launched their NEVER ENOUGH era with a bang, beginning with a packed hometown show at Wyman Park Dell, where they raised donations for health care for the homeless. The rest of the album definitely lived up to that energy, continuing to follow the widescreen vision of GLOW ON through a series of videos that added up to a 50-minute film that debuted at Tribeca. Featuring house beats, flute, cello, and beyond, NEVER ENOUGH is a triumph in the eyes of our readers — one that taps on their community, from Hayley Williams to Blood Orange to Faye Webster, to hop on for a song or two.
1. Deftones – private music
Deftones haven’t released an album since 2020’s Ohms, and their return proved them as masters at work. Made with producer Nick Raskulinecz (who also oversaw 2010’s Diamond Eyes and 2012’s Koi No Yokan), the band recorded and co-produced private music in different locations, including Malibu, Joshua Tree, and Nashville. “Some of the songs on the new record were literally inspired by a morning swim on Zuma Beach [in Malibu],” Chino Moreno told Revolver. “I came back from swimming and sat down with my guitar and came up with the song ‘i think about you all the time.’ It was just a moment in time that wouldn’t have happened if I would’ve been locked away in a studio somewhere else.” Since its release, they’ve celebrated with their own Dia de los Deftones festival, where Deftones gave many of the songs their live debut while spotlighting the next generation, including Ecca Vandal, 2hollis, and Rico Nasty.
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