Top Five Favorite Albums I Listened to in 2025

This is like really late (by a month) but oh well.

Album cover for Yasmine Hamdan's I Remember I Forget

Last year I had a resolution to listen to more music than my three artists in rotation (Bruce Springsteen, Mitski, and U2) and I think I did a decent job, so here are my top five favorite albums I discovered last year. They range from new releases to old stuff I finally got around to!

To start us off, George Harrison's first solo album post-Beatles breakup: All Things Must Pass is my fifth favorite of the bunch. It may come from the slight bias of George being my favorite Beatle and I'm quite fond of his work with them, (from the Beatles my fav song is "Love You To" off Revolver.) I think I surprised myself slightly with my favorite songs off the album being "What is Life" and "Let it Down". I was briefly familiar in the past with "My Sweet Lord" a song that I only occasionally like, and as for right now probably my least favorite off the album, not that it is bad just not my favorite.

Fourth on the list is good old Chet Baker Sings, I listened to this one so often in January-February of last year that it made it on my Wrapped despite me not listening to it until the first snow of this Winter. To me it is a winter evening album, though I could probably stretch it to be just an evening album so I can listen to it year round. I find it quite easy to listen to while doing homework or reading, which is probably how I got so much mileage out of it in a short period of time. My favorite song off this one is probably "I Fall In Love Too Easily." It was actually recommended to me by a good friend from back home, you know who you are.

Third is Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, this one admittedly was introduced to me by Hit Manga Series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I once told someone "I've been listening to this song called Catch the Rainbow recently" and they asked

"Oh who's it by?"

"Rainbow"

"Let me guess the album is also Rainbow"

Yeah, one of my favorite songs from this album is Catch the Rainbow from Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow by Rainbow. Which sounds like a really complicated joke but I'm serious. I am also partial to Sixteenth Century Greensleeves and a specific live version of Catch the Rainbow. I couldn't quite describe what it is about this album that I like so much, it's more the feeling.

Number two is Joan Baez's self-titled 1960 album, another one I practically beat to death but this time during the Spring and Summer. Most songs off this one are folk covers, which I deeply enjoy and have been trying to learn on the harmonica. I can confidently say off this album Silver Dagger is my favorite though I slightly prefer the duet version with Bob Dylan when it comes to the song itself. I also like Girl of Constant Sorrow, if you know me you've probably heard me singing it under my breath at some point.

My number one, absolute favorite album from 2025 is Yasmin Hamdan's I remember I forget. I picked it up while trying to find Arabic music to help familiarize myself with the language and it definitely worked as it quickly became my favorite album to listen to between classes. I'd call it a bittersweet album, it meditates on grief and pain from war and hopelessness and love, and how all of these feelings come together in people. My favorite tracks, shadia and the beautiful losers encapsulates the spectrum of the album, the more upbeat shadia contrasted with the sad slow the beautiful losers kinda of paints a picture of people and emotions. It is something I find quite beautiful.