Alright, we finally have the last of the 2025 end-of-the-year articles. I usually have this one posted second to last, but oh well. Let’s start with honorary mentions:
29.) Glow to Haze – Kang Daniel
Glow to Haze is the first Daniel album I’ve enjoyed start to finish in a while. So I had to put it on this list. I didn’t listen to it much after my first listen-through, but I do enjoy it and recommend checking it out.
28.) Amortage – JISOO
Pretty much all these that are just out of the main 25 are albums I enjoyed but didn’t come back to. I kinda forgot about this album after the rollout, but it was a lot of fun. More details here.
27.) I WANT IT – STAYC
And the same with I WANT IT. Although STAYC in 2025 really felt like they were back to making music that I love. So their impact is why they’re ranked higher. Impact is a giant factor in my placement in all of these lists.
26.) lip bomb – RESCENE
RESCENE continued to be a fave girl group this year for me. Both albums released this year slapped. I also didn’t listen to them as much towards the end of the year, but I know I’ll listen to them more consistently in 2026. “Heart Drop” had more of a house sound to it so I instantly fell in love with it. I like that RESCENE is experimenting more with their sound.
Okay, on to the top albums of the year!
25.) Ruby – JENNIE
Another huge factor for me when ranking these albums is the number of songs I regularly listen to from these albums. I talked about my love for Ruby here pretty close to its release. I unboxed it here. But when it came to me listening to the album, I really only came back to “Damn Right”, “extraL”, and “Like Jennie”.
Which doesn’t make it a bad album or not have legs. I think long term I’ll come back to other songs from it, but I didn’t stick with it as long as I thought I would. Although to have 3 songs still following me around when this album released early in 2025 is still pretty impressive.
24.) Accidentally On Purpose – SEULGI
I thought I was going to listen to this album more than I actually did. I failed you, Seulgi 😭. You can read my thoughts here on each track. I think it holds up pretty well. Severely underrated album.
23.) TUNNEL VISION – ITZY
Giving myself a bit of grace on this one because this album hasn’t been out long. So unless I got tunnel vision with this album, I wasn’t going to have too much attachment to it. It’ll be one I visit a lot in 2026, though.
22.) LXVE to DEATH – Xdinary Heroes
Another album I adored on my first listen but haven’t gotten back to because there’s just so much great music out. It also released like two months ago, so it’s still pretty new.
21.) TEN: The Story Goes On – TWICE
Such a fun album. I love that TWICE got to have member solos all on one album. We’ve gotten multiple sub-unit tracks, but this being the first like this feels extra special. What a wonderful way to celebrate 10 years of TWICE. I’m so excited for the next 10 😝🥰.
20.) HOUSE OF TRICKY: WRECKING THE HOUSE – xikers
Not only did they finally make a xikers song that I liked, they made a whole album I loved. I’m hoping they can keep the same energy in 2026. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
19.) Only Cry in the rain – Chuu
Only cry in the rain feels low at 19, but Chuu’s impact on me this year cannot be understated. Like with STAYC, it felt like coming back to a former fave. January 7th can’t come soon enough I’m ready for XO, My Cyberlove 😤.
18.) LIL FANTASTY vol. 1 – Chaeyoung
One of my favorite debuts for the uniqueness of visuals and genres on the album. It’ll be on repeat in 2026 for sure.
17.) VVON – VVUP
VVUP really impressed me this year with their releases. VVON is a short album, but it’s incredibly cohesive and fun throughout. Can’t wait to see what the girls do in 2026.
16.) RE:MINISCE – RE:WIND
A banger album and debut. Another album on repeat in 2026 for me. Most of my thoughts on RE:MINISCE are the same. Can’t wait to hear more from them as well.
15.) Eternal White – WayV
I love when WayV is over it, lmao. “Stay” is my favorite from Eternal White. I’ll talk about this album again in the December faves article. If you would have told me WayV was releasing a winter album in 2025 I wouldn’t believe it, but I’m so happy it happened. Can 127 be next? lol
14.) Ashes to Light – ATEEZ
My favorite ATEEZ Japanese album. Which is pretty easy to say right now because their other full length Japanese album, Intro the A to Z, is literally their title tracks up to that point (2021) in Japanese with two original songs. So the bar is kinda low. Although I do think it’s important to have an album like that for Japanese ATINY to have their versions of songs. That’s pretty standard for Japanese promotions.
Anyway, Ashes to Light feels like an ATEEZ album from like 2020/2021. I think that’s why I love it so much. There are some loud, powerful songs like “NOT OKAY” mixed in with softer, catchy songs like “Ash”. I gotta get a physical copy of this album too for my collection.
13.) LOVE VIRUS PT.1 – HEIZE
I always talk about my love for Heize. I should write a fave Heize songs article this year. LOVE VIRUS PT. 1 is more of the same from Heize, which is great for me. I love a soft, jazzy album from her. I’m still listening to Last Winter like it released last winter. So if you love Heize’s music, you’ll love this one too.
12. FANG – Crush
I didn’t listen to FANG nearly as much in 2025, but it will be on repeat in 2026 for sure. I can’t stop listening to “UP ALL NIGHT”. It’s soooo catchy. The rest of the album is great too but I gotta get sick of “UP ALL NIGHT” first before I’m ready to listen to other songs. Which is a recurring theme with the next like four albums, lol.
11.) Glow Up – RESCENE
I try not to have multiple albums from the same group on a list like this. RESCENE had a great year for me musically. As soon as I heard “Glow Up”, I needed to get a physical copy of it. I have a review of the album here. So you can read more of my thoughts there. Can’t wait to listen to more RESCENE in 2026.
Okay, time for the top 10 ✨
10.) Snow Angel – JUSTB
I keep talking about how this album really brought me back to tJUSTB this year, because it’s true. I haven’t been crazy about their releases until “Chest,” and then it felt like everything snowballed perfectly into nothing but bangers. I really hope they stick with this sound for a bit. It suits them so well.
9.) blackout – CLOSE YOUR EYES
My favorite song at the moment. I can’t stop playing this song. This album really put CYE on my radar, so when an album is that powerful, it’s gotta be in the top 10 somewhere.
8.) UXLXVE – XLOV
And same with “RIZZ”. Probably my second favorite song right now. I knew who they were prior to this release, unlike with CLOSE YOUR EYES, but I only had one song by XLOV that I loved. UXLXVE broke that, and now I can’t wait to hear the next album from them.
7.) WINTER HEPTAGON – GOT7
I just noticed I put them at 7, that wasn’t intentional at all. Not a surprise at all to see this on this list for y’all I’m sure, lol. I was hooked on this album at the start of the year, and the momentum stayed. If for some reason you still haven’t heard this album and love GOT7’s music, you must check this one out.
6.) HOT – LE SSERAFIM
The way this album is so fantastic, “HOT” is like a third or fourth fave from this album. I’m so obsessed with it. Gotta get a physical of this one too. And now I’m a casual LE SSERAFIM fan.
5.) Go in Blind – &TEAM
What a phenomenal album from start to finish. I’ve talked about &TEAM in my monthly fave articles for a while now, but GIB really flicked the switch in my brain to go in further and relisten to their music and become more than a casual fan of the group. So shout out to “Go in Blind” and “Extraordinary Day.”
4.) AIR – YEJI
My favorite female solo release this year, hands down. Yeji did her thang on this album, and I will continue to push this album on everyone I talk to that’s a Kpop fan, lol. We need to be talking and streaming this thing more. My in depth thoughts are here.
3.) Golden Hour Part: 3 In Your Fantasy – ATEEZ
I had on my to-write list in 2025 to talk about IYF in an article. But I want to wait for all the music videos to drop. So it’s gonna be a 2026 article now. Which is fine because I like giving albums more time to breathe and grow legs. But as I’ve mentioned previously on here, this album brought me back into my ATINY era. I’ve had different songs playing on repeat throughout the second half of the year. Well first part too if you count “Lemon Drop” and I do.
If someone asked me to recommend them an ATEEZ album, I would say the one with “Wonderland”, still one of my favorites, but this one would also be one of the first albums to come to mind.
So for this list I have 2 number one albums. If you read my Spotify Wrapped article, you’ll know that &TEAM wrecked my Wrapped this year. The funny thing is that at the start of the year I already started listening to one of their albums that released in late 2024, and I had it on my list of fave albums for 2025 (in January), not knowing how true that would be (in December). So let’s start with that one.
1.)* Yukiakari – &TEAM
Dude K in this thumbnail is crazy. My favorite album of 2025 that was released in 2024, lol. I’ve been listening to “Deer Hunter” nearly non-stop since I first heard it. I’m not sure why it didn’t fully click in my brain to go back to listen to the album in full until after “Go in Blind” and “Extraordinary Day” (the pre-release).
Yukiakari has become one of my favorite albums ever. There are soooo many bangers on one album. Upbeat, ballads, fun, emotional, and they squeezed in Korean versions of songs too. It’s my recommended album to new LUNÉ for sure. Definitely an album we’ll be talking about for years to come.
1.) Wait On Me – KAI
I think if there’s an R&B album released, it’s gonna be a strong contender for my favorite album of the year, lol. I was already in love with this album, thoughts here, but seeing him perform it and other songs from his previous albums live, it really hit different for me. My appreciation for Kai and EXO really increased this year, and I didn’t think that was possible, lol. I never stopped loving EXO. But 3rd gen is really built different. I cannot wait for more music from him in 2026 😍.
Okaaaay, a slightly different take on my fave albums this year. But I think it gets the point across. I’ll have one more article going out this upcoming week (Jan 5th) that will be my December faves then I’m going to take the next couple of weeks to plan things out for ATK for the next quarter. I’ll be back in February with more articles and hopefully a posting schedule that makes sense, lol.
I hope y’all enjoyed this series! And I hope you had a good New Years Eve and Day. I’ll see y’all next post! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Bluesky, & Instagram.
Take care!
Ash💫