Our 10 Top Global Records of the Year 2025

As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international music that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.

Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent percussion might not seem the most accessible musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive language throughout the record's 10 movements. His composition draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a continual, pulsing motif. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive realm.

9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Following an eight-year break, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, delivering soft melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and understated, yet this simplicity provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive compositions to shine through. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.

Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas

Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of sludge and noise to create a novel, sinister beat. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal afterimage.

Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sheer intensity is the operative word for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.

6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

Number Five: Enji – Sonor

From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most diverse music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a fresh, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim