The 51 Best Rock + Metal Albums of 2025

Here are the 51 best rock and metal albums of 2025.

We're officially more than halfway through the decade. It's already produced its own crop of new ascending stars and quite a handful of veterans who are defying the legacy tag with works that will prove to be late-career classics.

In another year flooded with hundreds — thousands, even — of new albums all bearing some connection to loud guitar music in one way or another, keeping up is an annual endurance test. But nobody is more dedicated than rock and metal fans when it comes to obsessing over the latest songs and albums that drop each week.

READ MORE: 2025 Hard Rock + Metal Album Release Calendar

We've polled you all throughout the year on social media, too, taking your favorites into consideration while sifting through the mountain of metal and rock, eager to find the ones we want to keep listening to again and again and again.

Why not stop at 50 albums? The end of the year is as good a time as ever to deploy the Nigel Tufnel rule and go "one louder." (If you don't know the Spinal Tap scene, catch up on essential viewing on YouTube).

We know you all feel it — our scene keeps growing and these last couple of years have felt particularly exciting. And if you're a doubter, see what you think after seeing these 51 albums that rocked our 2025!