Here are the fifty worst albums that I had the displeasure to experience in 2025, A-Z order.

I’m always fascinated by bad music – be it universally abhorred or whether it’s just my personal proclivities having their wanton effect. A lot of people might ask why I would even check these out or why I wouldn’t switch it off after a song or two.

My reply is simple. Bad music makes you appreciate good music all the more; it helps one realign your own compass of quality; it can be intriguing to delve into the technical aspects of why it might be bad (songwriting, production, etc.), why the vibe might sink the project (poor taste, simplistic approach, rote genre cliches), or a reflection of one’s own taste and how it differs from the artist or from a large fanbase who may adore the artist or indeed the project in question itself.

Anyway, here are the titles that I ground my teeth listening to, rolled my eyes experiencing, and shook my head upon their final notes… I’m going to put links to Instagram accounts and Bandcamp addresses to listen on future posts, but not here, as you really ought to just enjoy my mini-rants and then banish these artists and releases from your mind!

5 Seconds of Summer – EVERYONE’S A STAR!
Contrary to some reader’s assumptions, I’m not necessarily against pop punk, but I will admit that it has to hit just the right note and balance for me get on board. This, the Australian band’s sixth album and first for Republic, and hit #1 in their native Australia and in the UK, so this is clearly a me thing. Grating vocals and hooks that feel recycled, the fact many reviews complimented the maturity exhibited makes me shudder.

A Day to Remember – Big Ole Album Vol. 1
I’ve never been a fan of this band, but there was redeeming qualities to prior material. Here, as the title of the album suggests, it feels as though everything was thrown at the wall to see what stuck. Little did. The fact there’s another volume on the way, suggests nightmares to come.

Alice Cooper – The Revenge of Alice Cooper
An icon of rock & metal that I respect, but have never particularly chimed with musically, this album probably felt like a comfort blanket to longtime fans, but this just made me whisper “know when to retire” numerous times over its runtime. I mean… the ‘subtitle’ at the bottom of the cover is prophetic for all the wrong reasons…

All That Remains – AntiFragile
Appallingly bad metalcore that is doing the ‘tough guy’ repartee as a cover for likely nodding towards anti-woke bigots. The band left their label in order to completely own their art, and while that may be admirable, said art needs to be worth something. I felt poorer as a result it sitting through this.

Benson Boone – American Heart
Jumping here, jumping there, sprinkling backflips in… What about, y’know, the music? From the title of the record, it’s immediately apparent that he’s trying to pull the heartstrings of a focused audience. It’s clearly worked with a core audience, but not on me. Rancid pop with the 2024/25 de rigueur country twang. His voice grates…

Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway – Addicted to the Violence
Like many my age, I have a very fond soft spot for System of a Down, but how far the members have fallen in recent years. Their drummer is rather sympathetic to right wing talking points, Serj keeps putting out bewilderingly boring [and bad] EPs, covers and more, as he also did in 2025 (and just missed out on this list!) and now Daron scars us with this mess of an annoying LP.

Dave Blunts – You Can’t Say That
Cringe-inducing, juvenile ‘music’ from an absolute moron.

Destroy Lonely – </3
The official title: </3 – aka Broken Hearts 3 – is about as smart it gets with this sixth mixtape by Destroy Lonely. Eighteen tracks and over fifty minutes of streaming slop.

Ed Sheeran – Play
I almost feel bad including Ed Sheeran on this list because he’s clearly a talented chap and also someone who gets an undue amount of hate, but he does insist on releasing unfocused records and pandering to all the different factions of his legions of fans, resulting in a directionless, tiresome slog.

Gunna – The Last Wun
I would never be the RICO case plea deal rapper’s biggest fan, but he – like so many – resists any sort of editing and curation of a tracklist. Have they not heard of EPs? One off singles? At twenty-five tracks and nearly seventy minutes of lazy, woozy identikit songs, I was nearly comatose by its drab conclusion.

Hobo Johnson – HOBO JOHNSON DRINKS!
Once upon a time, I thought there was a spark with Hobo Johnson. I remember ‘Typical Story’ the lead single and first track on his third LP, 2019’s The Fall of Hobo Johnson, and thinking there was something visceral and exciting. The rest of the album went downhill but was alright. Since that major label debut, things have been in terminal decline, and while this might not be as bad as either of the two albums in 2021, it’s still not worth your (or my) time.

ian – 2005
An artist with absolutely zero charisma, zero musical ability, and seemingly zero talents except for self-promotion seems to be the perfect portrait of streaming slop in 2025. It’s music like this that blurs in the background and seems made for mindlessness, that has opened the door the A.I. being viewed as uncritically as it is by so many of the casual music listening masses.

JackBoys – JackBoys 2
Talk about half-arsed. This sequel to a pretty underwhelming initial album from the rap ‘supergroup’ is even more asleep at the wheel. It would read as a contractual obligation LP were it not for the fact that it’s out and attempting to advertise the leader and most famous rapper within the group’s own label. That being Travis Scott and Cactus Jack, respectively. It feels like cutting room floor detritus from a solo Travis Scott LP, with the others in the supergroup, less fully fledged members, and more guests with recurring roles. This needed to stay in the vault.

Jacob Collier – The Light for Days
Just because you can, doesn’t mean that you should. I have been a firm despiser of Jacob Collier since his earliest days. The man is clearly a musical prodigy, but unlike the geniuses of the past he doesn’t have an artistic soul. Mastery of instruments, music theory and production matters, but without musicality, what does it matter?

Jessie Murph – Sex Hysteria
Musical cosplay gone wrong. A weird amalgam of Amy Winehouse and Lana Del Ray, but with no talent or soul. Empty of any heart and somehow the result is like nails on a chalkboard, instead of just a dull shadow of those influences.

Joyner Lucas – ADHD 2
An artist who, like many in this particular lane of rap, seems to have forgotten the music and is more interested in constant releases and media bombardment. Skits on this include comedian Kevin Hart and actor Denzel Washington, and while that may be interesting for a the minute or so they feature, the rest of the record is hollow, with Lucas himself seemingly ambivalent.

Justin Bieber – SWAG / SWAG II
Somewhere in this wash of forty-four tracks across the two albums is a short ten song record that would be Bieber’s best. However, with a lack of that will to favour artistry over presumably financial gain, this pair of records are exhausting.

Kid Cudi – Free
It’s always sad to see an artist who was once at or close to the peak of his industry (and helped birth a particular sound), fall so far, but it’s fair to see Cudi is in free fall. This isn’t nearly as bad as some, but suffers perhaps a greater indignity – it’s so forgettable.

LANDMVRKS – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been
More mindless metalcore from this French band. Drawing influence from all the worst facets of the modern purveyors of the subgenre, without any of the good, and seemingly throwing pop-punk and the resurgent nu-metal sound in on this LP for bad measure, The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been certainly took me to my own dark place.

Lil Baby – The Leaks / WHAM
Another artist with two albums out in 2025 and I found it embarrassing to even try to separate the two. Unlike Bieber, these do have different sonic DNA, but the result is the same. Turgid, bloated, and unnecessarily draining.

Lil Darkie – USD
Absolute dross. I could feel my eardrums attempting to self perforate. Audio ketamine.

Lil Durk – Deep Thoughts
The irony of the title is just incredible. I’m not sure this chap is capable of them. Bless.

Lil Wayne – Tha Carter VI
This one hurts. Okay, okay, we all know and admit (except seemingly for the man himself), that the peak of Wayne’s powers are very much behind him, but I’m not sure I or anyone expected this utter mess or a record, particularly being placed into the pantheon of his legendary Tha Carter series…?! Listening feels like morbidly watching a car wreck in slow motion.

Machine Head – UNATØNED
I understand why Machine Head are big in theory. While not anywhere near by favourite band in the thrash / nu / groove metal era that have continued on, Flynn and co. are very capable of writing some hefty riffs, and it’s rare any of their albums are devoid of a smattering of raging guitar work. Why I’m always bemused is that Robb is one of the worst vocalists in all of metal and makes 95% of all Machine Head borderline unlistenable to me. Like a teenager discovering other alphabets and thinking Ø and Æ and Ũ as being ‘cool’, the band continue their recent bemusing penchant for making every ‘O’ a ‘Ø’. Økay, mǎtē.

Mario Judah – Sad Metal (EP)
Another artist, similar to Hobo Johnson, where my first introduction to him felt like there was something there. And there clearly is talent. But on this new EP, Mario Judah does continue his blend of rap and metal, but without any of the energy or blistering delivery that singled him out early on. Some tracks feel like with more time at the writing stage and a few more earnest takes, they could be far more impactful. It’s a shame, but as it stands, Sad Metal is just that, sad.

Maroon 5 – Love is Like
About as much effort and passion went into this album as went into the title. It stops short. This relationship is DOA.

Mavi – The Pilot
A mercifully short mixtape on Mavi’s new found sobriety and the clarity that has brought him. Congratulations are to be had on this, but unfortunately while the cover of the record is clearly intended to signal him feeling more weightless due to his positive personal decisions, it only serves to remind me that I want to float away from the music.

mgk – lost americana
First he abandoned rap, and now this chameleon who is definitely old enough to know better, has largely also left pop-punk in the dust. With country’s massive rise in the past year or so, the dollar signs clearly proved too tempting for this curious man-baby.

Morgan Wallen – I’m the Problem
Yes, yes you are. Well, that and the preposterous ask he makes of the listener. Thirty-seven tracks and just shy of two hours [what a flake!] is unforgivable. This feels like trying to climb the face of a mountain with only your teeth. Some may chastise this critique given I love drone and art-rock records that can some to this sort of running time. But they have to be good and they have to deserve that attention and they also typically run that length across less tracks. The concussive hits of thirty-seven tracks, many of which sound like alternative versions of other songs on this same record, is just unbearable.

NAV – OMW2 REXDALE
Where would we be without a new NAV album deservedly taking its annual place on my Worst Albums of the Year list? I would be bereft – bereft, I say! – without him here. Good ol’ Nav. This is utter gutter sludge. A soup made of ingredients with no nutritional value whatsoever.

PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake – $ome $exy $ongs 4 U
How do you follow getting absolutely BODIED by Kendrick Lamar in one of the most famous rap beefs ever? [That’s 0-2, given Pusha T’s total nuclear destruction of him in 2018.]. Well, according to Canada’s finest, Champagne Papi himself, it’s to, err, do the most mediocre ‘collaborative’ (ahem) album of the year. Drake is the blueprint for today’s approach to releasing – projects as often as possible, as many tracks as possible, song lengths to suit the [lack of] attention economy, etc., etc. This is just the sonic equivalent of a puff of smoke, easily diffused with the slightest edie of wind.

PRESIDENT – King of Terrors (EP)
An EP of such staggering blandness that I sighed while starting to write. Good news for people in marketing, though… Your job is still clearly very much viable, as long as there’s ample budget! If one was at all interested in rock or metal in 2025, you had PRESIDENT rammed down your throat daily. We all know who the singer is. Who cares? It’s not even heavy. I don’t know what to write except that I fear 2026 will see an album.

Puddle of Mudd – Kiss the Machine
Just stop. Please. A further dive into butt rock.

Ringo Starr – Look Up
The least talented Beatle, looks up pretending he’s not rolling in a pile of dung.

Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco – I Said I Love You First
Well, this is awks, isn’t it?! A collaboration declaring their love and engagement and now they’ve already broken up. Maybe it was because they listened back to this and realised they had no chemistry and their relationship was doomed.

SINAKA – EL NUEVO SONIDO
I almost feel bad, given I don’t speak the language. The vocals are terrible, but the music is irredeemable.

Slaughter to Prevail – GRIZZLY
Deathcore and nu-metal come together from a Russian band accused of spreading propaganda and using A.I. Do I need to write anything else?

The Avett Brothers & Mike Patton – AVTT/PTTN
Well, this hurts… This is borderline unlistenable. I love Mike Patton but I have absolutely no idea what on earth he was thinking. Many listeners would claim many projects he’s been involved in would give them a migraine, but even the most ardent Pattonophile will need medication after this.

The Kooks – Never/Know
I almost wince when thinking about this record. Not because of how bad it is (and it is – but mostly just so bland – the equivalent of magnolia paint), but due to how little impact it had on release. Publications ignored it, whether they may have liked it or not, and it appears most of the music listening community did too. Rightly, naturally. But, OUCH.

The Voidz – Męgż Øf Råm (EP)
As you can see from the above, Julian Casablancas has signed up to Robb Flynn’s School of Wonder. Mercifully this is an EP, but it is just as terrible as their 2024 LP, which broke my heart as I really liked the artwork only to find it was A.I. and others thought it horrid, and I had a momentary existential crisis about my own taste.

The Waterboys – Life, Death and Dennis Hopper
How does a band as tenured as The Waterboys, that can draw guests such as Fiona Apple and Bruce Springsteen onto their new album, put out something so bad? Well, do a concept album on Dennis Hopper for some reason and write the most beige folk rock of 2025 by some margin.

Three Days Grace – Λ𝖫𝖨𝖤𝖭Λ𝖳𝖨Ø𝖭
For Three Days Grace fans this album was supposed to be the answer to all their wishes – the first LP with the band as a quintet, as original vocalist Adam Gontier returned to the fold, but joining rather than ousting other vocalist Matt Walst. The dual vocal attack should lend some dynamism. It does but for all their wrong reasons. Their styles are so different that the exchanges feel jarring instead of juxtaposing. It doesn’t help that the rest of the band deliver weak performances of middling material either.

Ty Dolla $ign – TYCOON
An absolute snooze fest of a record that struggles to be identifiable as Ty Dolla $ign’s own. There are just so many features on this record that he often sounds like his is the guest verse. Yet another record that is asleep at the wheel.

Van Morrison – Remembering Now
It’s always horrible to find out that a legend is a bad person and/or a bigot. Yet that is what has come into sharp focus in the past decade with Van Morrison. This LP tries to veer away from the noise of recent years, but we remember.

Wet Wet Wet – Strings Attached
Hi. Hello. Yes, this is me informing you that there was a new Wet Wet Wet record in 2025 and yes, they are still an ongoing concern. A wet fish of an LP, tied down by its own utter mediocrity. Also, does anyone read the band name now and think, ‘eww…’?

Will Smith – Based on a True Story
Without doubt the worst album on this long list of terrible LPs, Will Smith could rename himself a symbol like Prince did, except his would just be an ‘L’. Why, Fresh Prince, why?! This is the sonic distillation of being a toxic man, an insecure man, and a lonely man. In trying to prove he’s not – and that the three don’t overlap, honest, honest – Based on a True Story is true to its word and puts his personality under a microscope, providing one of the most egregious, cringe-inducing personal backfires witnessed in in the 2020s.

Young Thug – UY SCUTI
A theme of this list isn’t so much that the albums shouldn’t exist because they are so bad, but because they didn’t need to exist. So many of these are self-inflicted wounds. Like those others, a small faux pas UY SCUTI is not. Mindnumbingly dull, Young Thug seems content to nail himself into a coffin from the inside.

Yungblud – Idols
I have no doubt that Dominic Harrison is a well-meaning young man. Nice but dim. Not without talent or personality, though, and it’s this where he clearly splits the crowd. I find much of his output very one note, but others are clearly taken with the style and the performance. Fair enough. Probably the only artist here that I still wish good luck to, quite frankly.