Not the Dean's List

Some notes on Robert Christgau's Dean's List: 2025: wherein the Dean of American Rock Critics lists "the 61 best albums of last year (or so)."

This year's list came out on May 7, which is by far the latest ever. In 2024, the list came out on February 3. The 61 albums this year is down from 74 in 2024.

During the Village Voice era (1971-2007), the list coincided with the Pazz & Jop poll. On one occasion this appeared as early as Dec. 29 (1975), but otherwise it ran from late January to the first week of March. The second earliest date was Jan. 20 (also 1975), with 6 lists in late January, 20 in February, and 7 in March (latest Mar. 5 (1991).

Since 2008: 5 lists were published Jan. 12-14; 10 in Jan. 22-28; 8 in Feb. 3-18, one on Mar. 10 (2015), one on Apr. 10 (2017), and now this one on May 7 (2026).

Albums reviewed in 2025 on Dean's List (2024):

2. Wussy: Cincinnati Ohio (Shake It '24) [01]
3. Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers: Izigqinamba (Nyege Nyege Tapes '24) [01]
10. Previous Industries: Service Merchandise (Merge '24) [01]
14. Fake Fruit: Mucho Mistrust (Carpark '24) [01]
24. Kendrick Lamar: GNX (pgLang/Interscope '24) [01]
61. Rosali: Bite Down (Merge '24) [01]

The only A-list record from the January 2025 CG that wasn't included in Deans List (2024) was:

• Wussy Duo: Cellar Door EP (Shake It '24) [01]

No albums reviewed in the February 2025 appeared in Dean's List (2024). This was unusual in that in most years the Dean's List had included a few previously unreviewed albums, which usually appeared in the next CG after the Dean's List was published. The Feb. 2025 CG appeared on Feb. 12, just 9 days after the Dean's List, so it's likely that some of the albums reviewed there were known in time to be included in the Dean's List (Amyl and the Sniffers, Sabrina Carpenter, and Hurray for the Riff Raff had appeared on many 2025 EOY lists; Manu Chao and Jax not so much).

The following albums appeared on the Dean's List (2025). I've added dates for pre-2025 releases, and [month] for when each album was reviewed. All are A-, except as noted:

1. Margaret Glaspy: The Golden Heart Protector (ATO) [10]
2. CMAT: Euro-Country (AWAL) [10]
3. Bruce Springsteen: Land of Hope & Dreams (Columbia) [06] [A]
4. Body Type: Expired Candy (Poison City) [09]
5. S.G. Goodman: Planting by the Signs (Slough Gates/Thirty Tigers) [09]
6. Rhett Miller: A Lifetime of Riding by Night (ATO) [10] [A]
7. The Mekons: Horror (Fire) [05]
8. Lily Allen: West End Girl (BMG) [12] [A]
9. Haim: I Quit (Columbia) [09] [A]
10. Jason Isbell: Foxes in the Snow (Southeastern) [05]
11. Jeff Evans Porkestra: When Pigs Dance (self-released) [06]
12. Big Thief: Double Infinity (4AD) [11] [A]
13. Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista) [10] [A]
14. Buck 65: Keep Moving (Handsmade) [06] [A]
15. Robert Forster: Strawberries (Tapete) [06]
16. Public Enemy: Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025 (Enemy) [07]
17. James McMurtry: The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy (New West) [08]
18. The Kasambwe Brothers: The Kasambwe Brothers (MASS MoCA) [11] [A]
19. Dingonek Street Band: Primal Economics (Accurate '18) [02]
20. Todd Snider: High, Lonesome and Then Some (Thirty Tigers/Aimless) [11]
21. Lambrini Girls: Who Let the Dogs Out (City Slang) [06] [A]
22. Sabrina Carpenter: Man's Best Friend (Island) [10]
23. Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta: Mapambazuko (Nyege Nyege Tapes) [02]
24. Jubal Lee Young: Squirrels (Reconstruction) [09]
25. Jax: Dear Joe, (Atlantic '24) [02]
26. Danny Brown: Stardust (Warp) [12] [A]
27. Marshall Allen: New Dawn (Mexican Summer) [03] [A]
28. Tyler Childers: Snipe Hunter (Hickman Holler/RCA) [08] [A]
29. Amanda Shires: Nobody's Girl (ATO) [11] [A]
30. Wednesday: Bleeds (Dead Oceans) [11]
31. Craig Finn: Always Been (Tamarac) [04] [A]
32. Adrianne Lenker: Live at Revolution Hall (4AD) [07] [A]
33. Ms. Ezra Furman: Goodbye Small Head (Bella Union) [06]
34. Girl Scout: Headache (Human Garbage) [06]
35. Common/Pete Rock: The Auditorium Vol. 1 (Loma Vista '24) [05]
36. Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio: Radio Armageddon (Def Jam) [07]
37. Amadou & Mariam: La Vie Est Belle (Because '24) [02]
38. FACS: Wish Defense (Trouble in Mind) [03]
39. Mahotella Queens: Buya Buya Come Back (Umsakazo) [09] [A]
40. Helene Cronin: Maybe New Mexico (self-released) [03]
41. Patterson Hood: Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams (ATO) [03] [A]
42. The Delines: Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom (El Cortez) [04] [A]
43. Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 1) (self-released) [10] [A]
44. Manu Chao: Viva Tu (Because '24) [02]
45. Billy Woods: Golliwog (Backwoodz Studioz) [10]
46. Lucy Dacus: Forever Is a Feeling (Geffen) [05]
47. Kadef: Kadef (RR Gems '23) [07]
48. Willi Carlisle: Winged Victory (Signature Sounds) [07]
49. Corook: Committed to a Bit (Atlantic) [04] [A]
50. Grace Potter: Medicine (Hollywood) [07]
51. Peter Stampfel, Friends & Daughters: Song Shards (Jalopy) [09] [A]
52. Funkrust Brass Band: Make a Little Spark (self-released '24) [03]
53. Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist (4AD) [05]
54. Jeffrey Lewis: The EVEN MORE Freewheelin' Jeffrey Lewis (Vintage Voltage) [04]
55. Sudan Archives: The BPM (Stones Throw) [12]
56. Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts: Talkin to the Trees (Reprise) [07]
57. Wet Leg: Moisturizer (Domino) [08]
58. GloRilla: Glorious (CMG/Interscope '24) [03]
59. PinkPantheress: Fancy That (Warner) [07]
60. Smerz: Big City Life (Escho) [12]
61. Skrillex: F*ck U Skrillex U Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!! <3 (Atlantic/Owsla) [04] [A]

Most of these albums were released in 2025 (53/61, or 86.6%), but 6 appeared in 2024, there were also earlier albums: 2018 (1), 2023 (1).

While the Deans List (2025) includes some albums released in 2024 (6) or even earlier (2), other albums released in 2024 (or earlier) but only reviewed in 2025-25 are missing:

• Wussy Duo: Cellar Door EP (Shake It '24) [01]
• Amyl and the Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness (ATO '24) [2]
• Sabrina Carpenter: Short 'N' Sweet (Island '24) [02]
• Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive (Nonesuch '24) [02]
• Nobro: Set Your Pussy Free (Dine Alone '23) [02]
• Towa Bird: American Hero (American Hero '24) [03]
• Charly Bliss: Forever (Lucky Number '24) [03] [A]
• Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice (Matador '24) [03]
• Champeta w/Edna Martinez: Diblo Dibala Special (NTS '24) [04] [A]
• ScHoolboy Q: Blue Lips (Interscope/Top Dawg Entertainment '24) [04]
• Nakibembe Embaire Group: Nakibembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes '23) [12]
• Masaka Kids Africana: Greatful (Masaka Kids Africana '21) [2026-03] [A]
• Abdallah Oumbadougou: Amghar: "The Godfather of Tuareg Music" Vol. 1 (Petaluma '24) [2026-03]

The Deans List (2025) does not include the following albums released in 2025 and reviewed in 2025-26:

• Julien Baker & Torres: Send a Prayer My Way (Matador) [05]
• Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers Entertainment) [08]
• Rory Block: Heavy on the Blues (M.C.) [08]
• Lorde: Virgin (Universal New Zealand/Republic) [08]
• Edna Martinez Presents Picó!: Sound System Culture From the Colombian Caribbean (Strut) [08]
• From the Dirt: Colored Edge of Memory (Partial Lyrics) [09]
• Joseph Kamaru: Heavy Combination 1996-2007 (Disciples) [10]
• Gurf Morlix: Bristlecone (Rootball) [11]
• Alick Nkhata: Radio Lusaka (Mississippi) [11]
• Saint Pierre: Luck and Gravity (Mutchcrud Music) [11]
• Luke Bell: The King Is Back (Thirty Tigers) [12]
• Hamell on Trial: Dirty Xmas (Saustex) [12]
• Nakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (Nyege Nyege Tapes) [12] [A]
• Michael Hampton: Into the Public Domain (Sound Mind) [2026-02]
• Hüsker Dü: 1985: The Miracle Year (Numero Group) [2026-02]
• Nandipha808: No Vocal Album (Stena Academy) [2026-02] [A]
• Grant Peeples: Code to Live By (Ping) [2026-02] [A]
• Tommy Womack: Live a Little (Schoolkids) [2026-02] [A]
• Aesop Rock: I Heard It's a Mess There Too (Rhymesayers Entertainment) [2026-03] [A]
• Allo Darlin': Bright Nights (Slumberland) [2026-04]
• Willie Nelson: Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle (Legacy) [2026-04] [A]
• Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life/Chain Smoking) [2026-04]

I've excluded from the "missing" lists several albums reviewed in 2025-26 that are pretty clearly not "new to me" albums. Such albums have always been omitted from previous Dean's Lists:

• Ray Charles: What'd I Say (Atlantic '59) [05]
• Eli "Paperboy" Reed Sings . . . "Walkin' and Talkin'" (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Yep Roc) [06]
• Thelonious Monk: Standards (Columbia '89) [12]

Previous Dean's Lists often had a small number of albums that had initially been graded lower than A- but had been promoted to the list. (Christgau upgraded some of these in the database, but has become increasingly reluctant to change grades. Dean's List (2025) has no albums that originally received grades lower than A-.

Previous Dean's Lists have also on occasion omitted records that had been graded A-. Again, some (but not all) of these were downgraded in the database. Some albums may have been left out for other reasons. (It would take a lot of research to document these over time, and at this point might not be worth the trouble.) However, as the above lists show, the number of albums that could have been included in Dean's List (2025) but were omitted — 22 albums released in 2025, 13 earlier releases that were initially reviewed in 2025-26 and not included in Deans's List (2024) — makes it unlikely that all (including 8 full A grades) were all downgraded.

It is possible that some of these 25 albums could have been excluded on other grounds: old releases (but a '18 album made the list); old news (including well-known albums like Amyl and the Sniffers, Hurray for the Riff Raff, the first Carpenter, and Schoolboy Q mostly make you look slow, and are of little relevance for this year); some are comps of old music (Kamaru, Oumbadougou, Hüsker Dü); the Martinez DJ sets may not be real albums; some have old music (Luke Bell, from 2013-16, but Grace Potter, from 2008, was included).

One more note here is that the number of 2025 releases reviewed (so far) is actually up from 2024 (126 vs. 117), so the Dean's List drop from 74 to 61 isn't explained by a loss of reviews. Although both years are significantly below the 140-156 annual totals from 2019-23, itself a step down from 199-260 totals for 2010-18. The period from 1990-2009 started at a then-record high 372 and ended at 457, with a peak of 497 in 1999. (The late 1990s peak is partly explained by extra reviews in the CG '90s book, and partly by non-review grades picked up in building the website in 2001-02; I got a bunch of "Neither" grades at that time, but since then I've only tracked published reviews.)

I've personally moved away from the "new to me" standard, and only include actual 2025 releases in my year 2025 file. (I continue to update the previous year file through the end of the following year.) I also put my reissue/archival releases into a separate list for each year, using 10 years as a cutoff (although anything 5+ years old by a dead person feels more like archival).