Louder: Best albums of 2025
Plus: Dijon, the race to save audiotapes, Steve Cropper and more
Louder
December 6, 2025

Our year-end listing officially began with Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz’s best albums of 2025, and Hank Shteamer’s best jazz albums. (Best songs are coming your way tomorrow.) Mild spoiler: The only overlapping LPs on the pop lists are by Bon Iver, Water From Your Eyes, Bad Bunny, Rosalía, Earl Sweatshirt and Amaarae. Intriguing!

And it’s fitting that a story that Ben Sisario has been working on for the better part of a year published this week, too: a deep dive into the race to save the music history preserved on tapes that are rapidly decaying. Ben met with Kelly Pribble, an audio preservation expert with the storage company Iron Mountain, and checked out some of the unique methods he’s come up with to rescue these reels.

Plus: Carolina Abbott Galvão attempted to demystify the theremin, Elysa Gardner hung out with the charming Paul Williams (who wrote songs by the Muppets and the Carpenters), Jon Pareles explained why the guitarist Steve Cropper is so deeply embedded in Memphis soul and Lindsay Zoladz reviewed one of Dijon’s Brooklyn shows as he caps a breakout year as a producer and solo artist.

A man in a white T-shirt and paisley shorts plays a drum kit.

Tsuneo Koga

Best Jazz Albums of 2025

The most compelling releases of the year reimagined hip-hop tracks, deep-rooted collaborations and longstanding inspirations.

By Hank Shteamer

5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the A.A.C.M.

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in Chicago has built community and pushed musical boundaries for 60 years. Hear 13 tracks from this jazz institution.

By Marcus J. Moore

Four men dressed with shaggy brown hair in casual blue clothes pose together.

11 Musical Love Letters From Artists to Their Heroes

Hear the Replacements (on Big Star), Sonic Youth (on Karen Carpenter), Stevie Wonder (on Duke Ellington) and more.

A man dressed in black and a red ball cap plays a black electric guitar and sings into a microphone onstage.

Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Live Review

Dijon, a Studio Maestro, Is Stepping Into the Spotlight

Onstage in Brooklyn, the buzzy producer and musician blasted his songs apart and stitched them back together again.

By Lindsay Zoladz

Popcast

Can a Celebrity Be Conservative in Trump’s America?

A conversation with the columnist Ross Douthat about how popular culture is reacting to a second Trump administration.

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A close-up of a man with a gray goatee and hair styled to stick up in the air, wearing round tortoiseshell glasses.

Vincent Alban/The New York Times

The Man Who Wrote Songs for the Muppets and the Carpenters Takes a Bow

Paul Williams is known for his ability to elicit both laughter and tears. This week, he and his decades of music will be celebrated at the 92nd Street Y.

By Elysa Gardner

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Vincent Tullo for The New York Times

The Beguiling, Misunderstood Theremin

Invented by accident in the 1920s, the unusual electronic instrument is hard to master but offers an enticing reward: freedom.

By Carolina Abbott Galvão and Vincent Tullo

A black-and-white photo of Danny Brown against a blue and green background.

My Ten

Danny Brown Is Proud of His New Beats and Gym Physique

The rapper chats about the experimental pop collaborators and healthy habits that fueled his sixth album, “Stardust.”

By Ross Scarano

STEVE CROPPER (1941-2025)

A young Steve Cropper, with long, dark hair and a brown bear, wearing a print shirt and light-colored pants, sits holding a guitar and looking into the distance.

David Reed Archive/Alamy

Steve Cropper, Guitarist, Songwriter and Shaper of Memphis Soul Music, Dies at 84

As a member of Booker T. & the MG’s and as a producer, he played a pivotal role in the rise of Stax Records, a storied force in R&B in the 1960s and ’70s.

By Bill Friskics-Warren

A black-and-white photo of a man in a suit and skinny tie, holding a guitar with this arms crossed.

Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images

Steve Cropper: 9 Essential Songs

An architect of Memphis soul, Cropper made his guitar sing and sting. And as a songwriter, he collaborated on more than a few indelible anthems.

By Jon Pareles

NEWS

Sean Combs, dressed in white with a diamond cross on a diamond chain.

Sean Combs Demands Netflix Drop 50 Cent Series, Citing New Footage

The mogul’s lawyers told the streaming service to withdraw a documentary because it was produced by his rival and uses footage they say was “illicitly” acquired.

By Julia Jacobs and Ben Sisario

A woman in a black dress sings on a stage, surrounded by lights.

Spain, Ireland and Others Boycott Eurovision Over Israel’s Participation

The Netherlands and Slovenia also said they would not take part in next year’s contest, meant to be its celebratory 70th edition.

By Alex Marshall

Several women play instruments on stage under bright lights. Fans watching them wave their hands above their heads.

China’s Mad at Japan, and Pop Stars Are Paying for It

Beijing is curbing Japanese movies, music and art as it seeks to punish Tokyo for its support of Taiwan.

By Javier C. Hernández and Hisako Ueno

A man in black leather jacket and pants sings into a microphone onstage.

American Sports Are Turning Up the Volume of Afrobeats

With an eye on its international fan base, the N.B.A. has welcomed the influence of African singers like Tems, Burna Boy and Rema.

By Emmanuel Morgan