SEATTLE — The end of the year, we are conditioned to believe, is a time of reflection. We take stock of milestones and accomplishments made in the same duration as the Earth completes its full orbit around the sun.

Of greater magnitude and wonder than the natural powers holding our solar system together is a uniquely human compulsion associated with the end of the calendar year: the urge to rank stuff.

In keeping with the time-honored tradition of December list-making, each year we ask a consortium of local music journalists, radio DJs and scene watchers to submit their picks for the Top 10 Washington albums of the year, ranked or unranked. Using a sliding points system less complicated than the equation calculating the centripetal force of the sun, we tally the ballots and spotlight the best Washington albums as chosen by the crew.

A testament to the breadth and vibrancy of Washington's music community, more than 90 albums received votes this year.

In addition to highlighting the top 15 vote-getters, this year we’re also introducing the Kevin Diers Award for the best metal or punk album, named for the late KISW Loud & Local host who died this year. Beyond contributing to our annual critics poll, Diers was an ardent supporter of Seattle music — particularly championing bands on the heavier end of the sonic spectrum who don’t always receive mainstream recognition. His voice and passion are sorely missed.

Without further ado, here are the results of our 2025 Best Washington Albums Critics Poll.

Kevin Diers Award: karōshi, “spoils, consequence + charity”

Seattle punk bruisers karōshi meld post-hardcore with '90s slacker rock and proto-emo in spectacularly brawny fashion on their debut album.

15. Meldrop, “Melodaze”

Tacoma’s buzziest indie rock band since Enumclaw blends sophisticated, shoegazey guitar work with bright indie-pop melodies and rambunctiously jammy proclivities on this appropriately titled EP, which hits like a beach ball spiked into a rainy Puget Sound beach.

14. Sea Lemon, “Diving for a Prize”

2025 brought a number of sterling debut albums, though none as exquisitely crafted as “Diving for a Prize,” the first full-length from singer-songwriter Natalie Lew’s dream-pop vehicle Sea Lemon. Lew’s smartly layered vocals dance together in a field of gossamer guitars on highlight “Stay,” while Death Cab for Cutie frontman (and Sea Lemon supporter) Ben Gibbard flickers in for an inspired duet on the shadowy “Crystals.”

13. Jarv Dee and Bad Colours, “Blakhouse 2: Trial by Fire”

Four years after their first joint project, Seattle rap vet Jarv Dee and Brooklyn producer Bad Colours returned with a follow-up to 2021’s “Blakhouse” EP — a collaborative blend of hip-hop and house music that had a post-lockdown Seattle rocking that summer. Rarely are sequels as good as the original, but it’s time to start pumping these beauties out like “The Fast & the Furious” movies.

12. Kelsey Mines, “Everything Sacred, Nothing Serious”

After establishing a deeper track record in more experimental music, bassist, vocalist and composer Kelsey Mines makes her first straight-ahead jazz album — released on Origin Records offshoot OA2 — feel like a walk in the clouds with nimble flutes and piano and fluttering bass lines.

11. Thomas Marriott, “Screen Time”

Seattle’s top trumpeter and community galvanizer plays with liberty and gaiety on his latest release, reimagining tunes from TV and film while leading an ace quartet featuring Grammy-nominated pianist and longtime collaborator Orrin Evans, decorated bassist Robert Hurst III and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr.

10. Glass Egg, “visions & ecstasies”

With their second project in as many years, the haunted psych-pop duo of Emilia Glaser and Julian Stefanzick carefully constructs a celestial dreamland of twinkling synthesizers, downtempo ambience and softly jangling guitars. One of the better new bands to hit the scene in the last two years.

9. The Maya Experience, “Are You Influenced”

This trio led by Maya Marie is among a wave of local bands in recent years drawing heavily from the city’s rock past, putting a contemporary spin on grunge-era sounds. Marie’s namesake band and debut album title are obvious nods to a Seattle rock hero of another era (Jimi Hendrix). But the scruffy guitars and rough-and-tumble rhythms are more indebted to the '90s, with hints of Alice in Chains’ melodic gloom and Gits' fury there — all spiked with Marie’s soul-punk vocals.

8. Travis Thompson, “Life is the Scariest Movie”

You think you know a Burien guy who’s been at the fore of Seattle hip-hop for coming up on a decade. And then he goes and makes the most sonically distinct and thematically mature album of his career. “Life is the Scariest Movie” is a cerebral, guitar-laden effort that puts bangers on the back burner in service of introspection and reflective storytelling. Working with his longtime producers Nima Skeemz and Tyler Dopps, Travis Thompson embraces pop-punk and somber, acoustic alternative influences, his melodic rap cadences bending and twisting like the rivers he’s busy fishing when not in the studio.

7. Packaging, “Packaging”

This new duo from Seattle stalwart Daniel Lyon (Spirit Award) and Daniel “Connor” Birch of Denver band Flaural quickly gained traction upon releasing their self-titled debut in October. Luminescent synthesizers chirp, whiz and swirl over easy-riding grooves, creating tranquilly psychedelic tapestries that change shape without breaking stride.

6. Kassa Overall, “CREAM”

Kassa Overall has long made the intersection between jazz and hip-hop his playground. Never has the drummer, producer and sometimes rapper drawn the connection between the Black American art forms as overtly as he does on this year’s “CREAM,” an album reinterpreting '90s hip-hop classics as jazz standards. It’s a premise that could easily feel like a gimmick — an off-the-cuff wink during a live set taken too far by extrapolating it out into an entire album. Fortunately, the musicianship and imagination in the performances and arrangements, which don’t overly rely upon the original songs’ most recognizable snippets, keeps it interesting over eight songs by Outkast, Dr. Dre and Digable Planets, the jazz-rap progenitors spearheaded by Overall’s friend and collaborator Ishmael Butler.

5. AJ Suede, “Throne Away” and “Duke of Downtempo”

Another year, another handful of albums and an expectedly strong showing in our critics poll for prolific Seattle rapper/producer AJ Suede. There’s a special place in our West Coast hearts for anyone who strings together a set of rhymes matching Easy Street and Keak da Sneak (the Oakland underground great), as Suede does on “Autonomy” — a highlight off “Throne Away.” One of two Suede projects to receive votes this year, “Throne Away” features some of Suede’s most inventive production yet, combining crate-digging samples with a dazed psychedelia and abstract flair that’s made him one of the most distinct talents in Seattle’s hip-hop scene.

4. Coral Grief, “Air Between Us”

Seattle dream-pop trio Coral Grief have proved themselves a bright spot in the club scene over the last few years, kicking out a pair of solid EPs in the process. But with their shimmering debut album “Air Between Us,” the rockers on the rise made good on their first release with Seattle bastion Suicide Squeeze Records. “Air Between Us” is a wavy batch of tunes made for Golden Gardens sunsets, pebbled with local references, flecks of shoegaze and ambient psychedelia. Rhythmic undercurrents methodically propel songs like “Avenue You,” with its psych-fueled guitar work and airy vocals floating above the surface. There’s a clarity in singer/bassist Lena Farr-Morrissey’s vocals that keeps them visible through the mist, even in the dreamiest numbers like the mind-easing “Latitude.” If it wasn’t already apparent, “Air Between Us” positioned Coral Grief as one of the best young bands among the current generation of Seattle’s estimable indie rock scene.

3. Dean Johnson, “I Hope We Can Still Be Friends”

Some albums just feel like Seattle. Dean Johnson was the Emerald City’s best kept secret until 2023 when at 50 years old, the golden-voiced barman released his debut album through plugged-in Portland label Mama Bird Recording Co. The snowballing acclaim led to tour dates with theater headliners and a deal with larger independent label Saddle Creek, which released Johnson’s equally stunning sophomore effort this summer. The folk-country crooner’s rich voice surfs his delicate compositions like an eagle over shoreline bluffs on songs like the spacious “Carol” or the tender “Hang Youie.” Aided by producer and fellow Americana songsmith Sera Cahoone, “I Hope We Can Still Be Friends” touches up the production quality while retaining the homespun intimacy of Johnson’s gentle-soul songs, which at this point feel woven into the city’s fabric.

2. Oblé Reed, “Line Leaders”

Since breaking out with his impeccably honed debut “LINDENAVE!” — which critics tapped as our 2023 album of the year — Oblé Reed has emerged as the new face of Seattle hip-hop and one of the city’s most consistent artists across genres. The North Seattle emcee kept his foot on the gas with this year’s mixtape “Line Leaders,” a highly collaborative project with a different set of features on each of its 13 tracks. In a sense, the guest-heavy set (a product of Reed’s community-expanding nature) would seem to lower the stakes for a rapper who’s more than capable of holding listeners’ attention on his own. But it certainly didn’t lower the high bar the 24-year-old has already set for himself. Reed makes that much clear from the onset when he comes out swinging with the hard-thumping “Roll Call,” swapping verses with Travis Thompson as the Seattle mainstays push each other to the top of their games.

1. Deep Sea Diver, “Billboard Heart”

2025 was the year of Deep Sea Diver. The Seattle rockers led by singer/guitarist Jessica Dobson had cemented themselves as local front-runners four years ago with their exquisite, pandemic-released album “Impossible Weight,” garnering heavy support from KEXP and hometown fans. Impressively, not only did the steam-powered momentum sustain the Seattle favorites through the four-and-a-half years in between albums, it only managed to grow, with DSD hitting the road with Pearl Jam and signing with Sub Pop to release their worth-the-wait follow-up “Billboard Heart.”

Whereas “Impossible Weight” was an impeccably polished record, its screws tightened and everything in its place, “Billboard Heart” feels more unbuttoned — the result of scrapping some costly Los Angeles sessions to instead record back home with Dobson’s co-producer Andy D. Park. It’s a looser, freer collection, filled with in-the-moment rock ‘n’ roll abandon and a raw immediacy that leans on Dobson’s most potent writing to date.

Her riffs dance with joy, slash like razor blades and screech like a rubber-burning Trans Am peeling out of the garage on rockers like “What Do I Know?” and the tornadic “Emergency.” Baked-in synthesizers provide glistening accents and cinematic touches from the opening title track to closer “Happiness is Not a Given,” a Nick Cave-influenced piano ballad that puts a capstone on what became a pivotal album for Deep Sea Diver.

Spurred by the strength of “Billboard Heart,” 2025 was a watershed year for the dues-paid band, which packed clubs across North America before returning for a triumphant homecoming last month at the Paramount Theatre — their largest headlining show to date. As the calendar turns on a banner year for Deep Sea Diver, impressively, their trajectory is still pointing up.

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