For all the talk of rap being on the outs (in October, there was no hip-hop in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 for the first time in 35 years), there is still PLENTY going on. In fact, hip-hop’s history on both sides of the channel is littered with titans who have never seen the Top 40.
This year, the UK’s rap scene was filled with newcomers blowing up and legends returning to the fray. Viral mystery man EsDeeKid broke through with his debut album, Rebel; Dave struck gold with his spiritual meditation on The Boy Who Played The Harp; and Jim Legxacy gave us his best work yet with the stunning black british music. We also got a glorious new collection from Knucks in A Fine African Man; Little Simz opened up a new chapter with Lotus; and Wretch 32 took on—and succeeded—the Herculean task of documenting the immigrant experience with his Home? LP.
It wasn’t just hip-hop, either: Odeal gave us TWO R&B tomes; PinkPantheress proved she’s a legend in the making with the super-infectious Fancy That (and an even stronger remix LP); and soul star Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving was downright inescapable. There was also some killer dance music: New York-based producer Introspekt rewrote the rulebook on what it means to pay homage to the past while still pushing things forward with her album, Moving The Center. Back on UK shores, Sir Hiss funnelled several years of experimenting with grime and dubstep—infused with techno and electro—to create a seamless collection called Time Dilation.
If there’s anything to take away from this year, it’s not that rap’s crown has slipped or that anything is “dead”—it’s that music continues to diversify. While some decry that this as an indictment of cultural silos and the end of the unifying experience, maybe this increasingly eclectic landscape could prove more fertile for intermingling and experimentation. From Jim Legxacy’s boundaryless sounds to Sir Hiss’ club hybrids, the early evidence suggests that might be the case.
Check out the albums we were loving the most in 2025 below, and to read and hear more, just click through the links.
25. Introspekt — Moving The Center
24. Sir Hiss — Time Dilation
23. N4T — GHANAMUSTGO
22. Finessekid — Finessekid
21. Tiny Boost — Hunger Is Priceless
20. Little Torment — Henny Music 4
19. D-Block Europe — PTSD 2
18. afrosurrealist — BUYBRITISH
17. Ceebo — blair babies
16. YT — OI!
15. Strandz — Diaspora Dance Music
14. Wretch 32 — Home?
13. Kojey Radical — Don’t Look Down
12. Knucks — A Fine African Man
11. Sammy Virji — Same Day Cleaning
10. Odeal — The Fall That Saved Us
9. Little Simz — Lotus
8. EsDeeKid — Rebel
7. kwn — with all due respect
6. Odeal — The Summer That Saved Me
5. Central Cee — Can’t Rush Greatness
4. PinkPantheress — Fancy Some More?
3. Olivia Dean — The Art Of Loving
2. Dave — The Boy Who Played The Harp
1. Jim Legxacy — black british music