Albums to devour in 2025

From Lady Gaga to The Weeknd, here is a sneak peek at the year ahead

With 2025 now firmly underway, the time has come to ascertain what kind of year we have in store for us in terms of music.

If its predecessor 2024 could be defined by any music album, it would be hard to find a stronger force of nature than Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. Best-selling, most-streamed and crowned with having the biggest opening week, fans leapt upon Swift's offering with almost unmatched fervour. Can any album replicate Swift's success? Perhaps not – but that does not mean that 2025 will be a lacklustre musical year by any means. Here is a quick selection of what we can expect from January and beyond.

Upcoming divas

As reports by Variety and Screen Rant suggest, fans can expect a 12th studio album from Swift this year – but Swift is not the only big name with an album release on the cards. For those who have a hankering for divas, 2025 promises to be a year of superstar releases,

FKA Twigs' highly anticipated third studio album, EUSEXUA, is up for a January 24 release. Inspired by Twigs' days clubbing in Prague, a description of the album on the artist's website reads, "EUSEXUA is a state of being. A feeling of momentary transcendence often evoked by art, music, sex, and unity." As NME tells us, the record will come as the highly anticipated follow-up to 2019's Magdalene, and is set to contain previously-shared singles like the title track, Perfect Strangers and Drums Of Death.

In addition to FKA Twigs, music fans can expect Lady Gaga's seventh studio album, LG7, to arrive in February. In an interview with Vogue last September, Gaga described the album as "chaotic" and "genre-bending". Gaga had somewhat of a mixed bag in 2024 – her film Joker: Folie à Deux ended up being a universal disappointment. However, her accompanying album Harlequin, shot to the top of the jazz charts. LG7, however, will see Gaga return to her roots. According to Gaga, the album will embody a darker tone, similar to her earlier albums The Fame and Born This Way.

Meanwhile, Lana Del Rey revealed on Instagram last year that her tenth studio album The Right Person Will Stay will drop in May. According to the singer's Instagram post, the album will feature 13 tracks and consist of collaborations with musicians Jack Antonoff, Zachary Dawes (both of whom worked with her on her 2023 album Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd) and Luke Laird, known for his work with Kacey Musgraves.

In addition, Miley Cyrus teased her upcoming album Something Beautiful in an interview with Harper's Bazaar last November. Cyrus did not elaborate on a release date but promised that her ninth studio album would be a "visual album".

As well as all this, fans can also hope for Chappell Roan's sophomore album. Roan lit up 2024 with her Grammy-nominated debut The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and began hinting heavily on Instagram that a follow-up album is in the works. No concrete details have been revealed about Roan's second studio album (such as a name or a release date), although a report by Screen Rant last November stated that the artist had already written five songs for the offering.

Upcoming dudes

Earlier this week, The Weeknd – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – announced that he would be delaying the release of his album Hurry Up Tomorrow out of respect for the deadly California wildfires. Initially up for a release on January 24, the album will now land on January 31. Hurry Up Tomorrow is the sixth album by The Weeknd, and the final part of a trilogy alongside After Hours and Dawn FM. The artist has said that the album will be his last under his stage name. Fans can expect The Weeknd's usual blend of R&B, straight pop, acoustic guitars, and more, along with collaborations with Playboi Carti, Anitta, Max Martin and Pharrell Williams (among others). According to the Guardian, Hurry Up Tomorrow arrives four months ahead of the film of the same name, which stars The Weeknd as well as Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.

As well as The Weeknd, 2025 should also see the arrival of a new album by Joe Jonas (Priyanka Chopra's brother-in-law). Jonas spent his younger days in the early 2000s as one-third of the pop group the Jonas Brothers (which also featured two of his brothers). Jonas announced in July 2024 that his new solo album, Music for People Who Believe in Love, would arrive on October 18 that year. However, he later tweeted that record "is gonna come out later now" because it needed some "final touches." Whether Jonas' "later" will come in 2025 remains to be seen.

Jonas is not the only one scheduled to make a comeback. Ringo Starr attracted attention last year after expressing the sincere hope that Barry Keoghan would not take "too many" drumming lessons in preparation for his role as the former Beatle in Sam Mendes' upcoming biopic. However, this month, at age 84, Starr delivered his country album Look Up on January 10. Starr's first country album in more than 50 years and his first full-length album since 2019, the project was co-written by T Bone Burnette. Starr himself sings and plays drums on every track. He remains the only Beatle to release a full-on country album.

Starr is not the only veteran with a new release. As per NME, singer-singer songwriter announced that he will release his "lost" album from the 1970s, Ocean Countryside, on February 14. Young shared the news on his official website on January 3. The forthcoming project was recorded between May and December 1977, preceding the release of the musician's ninth LP Comes A Time (1978).

In short, the year ahead may not be rife with the tour-de-force of Swift's TTPD, but with superstars and old faces slated to deliver something new, 2025 promises to be a year full of sonic excitement.