The Ten Greatest Global Records of 2025

Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide sounds that defied expectations. We explore ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive percussion may not appear the most approachable listening experience. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating work. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. His composition references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.

9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Following an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and restrained, yet this austerity creates the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.

8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas

From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at eerie reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of sludge and hiss to produce a new, foreboding rhythm. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit morphs the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly memory.

7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Maximalism is the key term for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become strangely freeing.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually engaging combination of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

Number Five: Enji – Sonor

Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music so far. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.

4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a novel, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

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