Pop critic Ann Powers shares a handful the albums on NPR Music's list of the best of the year, including the one album that nearly the entire team agreed on. What were your favorite albums this year?

Trends change, but I’ve never in my lifetime seen the thirst for punk music die. It shows up in surprising ways, like when Olivia Rodrigo gets arenas full of impressionable kids singing along to punk ...

I don’t envy anybody who decided to put out an album within the 12 months succeeding Brat Summer, Manning Fireworks Fall, and “Not Like Us” — especially considering that 2025, broadly speaking, did ...

Have you noticed that guitars are back? I’m being a little facetious, but rock and even punk has has been steadily climbing its way back to the mainstream and we felt that more this year than we have ...