AARP’s Favorite Albums of 2025

Music critic Edna Gundersen shares her picks for the year’s best records, including ones by Mavis Staples, Neil Young and Elton John

Edna Gundersen,

AARP

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Published December 18, 2025

AARP (courtesy Jimmy Fontaine, courtesy Shervin Lainez, courtesy Epitaph, courtesy Rough Trade Records, courtesy Interscope Capitol)

It’s no classic rock sweep. The best new albums by musicians over 50 this year are all over the map. Country music plays a prominent role in a strapping collaboration by Elton John and Brandi Carlile. Civil rights icon Mavis Staples dishes up supple soul and gospel. Deftones mine shoegaze beauty from their experimental alt-metal. Little Feat continues to carry the torch for Cajun-spiced funk and boogie. New Orleans also plays a significant role in the jazzy partnership between Galactic and Irma Thomas. And the long-awaited return of Alison Krauss & Union Station takes bluegrass down a melancholy bend.

Rock does surface in fine works by Neil Young, Garbage, Jeff Tweedy, Pulp and the more understated efforts by Edwyn Collins and Craig Finn, but these are vital, adventurous creations, not dad-rock duds.

Here are AARP’s favorite albums of 2025.

the cover of sad and beautiful world by mavis staples

“Sad and Beautiful World” is the latest solo album from Mavis Staples.

Courtesy Epitaph

Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World

This longtime civil rights activist and soul belter still has something to say, and sing, at 86. On her 14th solo album, Mavis Staples covers tunes spanning seven decades, almost as long as her career, with all the energy, compassion and authority you would expect from the last surviving member of the legendary Staple Singers.

Producer Brad Cook summons such impressive guests as Buddy Guy, 89, and Bonnie Raitt, 76, but the focus never shifts from Staples, who carries on the fight for equality and justice in a rootsy and robust blend of soul, gospel, rock and blues. Among the highlights are Curtis Mayfield’s “We Got to Have Peace,” Kevin Morby’s “Beautiful Strangers” and the devastating “Human Mind,” written specifically for Staples by Hozier and Allison Russell with lyrics that refer to her faith and her legendary late father, “Pops”: “I deal in loss, Daddy / I am the last, Daddy, last of us.”

the cover of talkin to the trees by neil young

"Talkin to the Trees" is the 49th studio album by Neil Young.

Courtesy Daryl Hannah

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts: Talkin to the Trees

At 80, Neil Young might be expected to tap the brakes, but his tireless muse keeps revving the engine. This year, he resurrected buried 1977 tracks for the revelatory album Oceanside Countryside; released Coastal: The Soundtrack from the Coastal tour documentary directed by wife Daryl Hannah, 65; and unleashed the sixth box set in his Official Release Series. The tank still wasn’t empty. He formed a spitfire band, The Chrome Hearts, recruiting organist Spooner Oldham (82, who played on 1992’s Harvest Moon) and guitarist Micah Nelson (Willie’s son), and recorded this feisty, shambolic batch of blues, rockers and ballads. Talkin ricochets from the pleasures of family to the evils of political corruption.

“Private Music” is the 10th studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones.

Courtesy Jimmy Fontaine

Deftones: Private Music

A cut above its ’90s-era peers, the influential alt-metal band has built a legacy on brash experimentation, maturity and a signature fusion of aggression and beauty. It’s all here in their 10th studio album, Private Music, a heavy, melodic dreamscape of contrasting textures, haunting synths, combat drums and guitars that stab, warp and bleed. Lyrics by singer Chino Moreno, 52, are as ambiguous as ever, but his dramatic tenor, whether wistfully romantic or screaming into the void, nails the message loud and clear.

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the cover of let all that we imagine be the light by garbage

“Let All That We Imagine Be the Light” is the eighth studio album by rock band Garbage, fronted by Shirley Manson.

Courtesy Ryan Corey

Garbage: Let All That We Imagine Be the Light

With a lineup unchanged since its 1994 formation, rock quartet Garbage soldiers on with this eighth studio album, its best since the 1995 debut that marched up the charts fueled by hits “Stupid Girl” and “Only Happy When It Rains.” Garbage is wiser but not mellower on rockers that offer hope and defiance against a backdrop of societal decay. Shirley Manson, 59, sings anti-authoritarian anthems “R U Happy Now” and “Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty” with ferocity and brings emotional fire to confessional tunes. Angry, brimming with attitude and bent on finding a path forward, Be the Light declares war on inertia.

the cover of nation shall speak unto nation by edwyn collins

“Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation” is the 10th studio album from Scottish musician Edwyn Collins.

Courtesy AED Records

Edwyn Collins: Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation

Scottish singer Edwyn Collins, 66, reached his commercial peak with the 1994 global hit “A Girl Like You” and then saw his career crash in 2005, when he suffered two cerebral hemorrhages that led to aphasia and a long recovery. Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, his 10th studio album and first since 2019’s Badbea, brims with the insight, strength and candor that tragedy often fosters. Steeped in Northern soul and references to Collins’ homeland, the songs range from winsome folk (“The Bridge Hotel”) and banging rockers (“The Heart Is a Foolish Little Thing”) to reflective ballads (the countrified “Knowledge”) and even bossa nova (“Rhythm Is My Own World”). Warm, affecting, inspiring.

“More” is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pulp.

Courtesy Rough Trade Records

Pulp: More

The English band that led the 1990s Britpop movement alongside Oasis, Suede and Blur is back with its eighth studio album and first since 2001’s We Love Life. With Pulp’s hallmark cheek and disco-adjacent Europop, More builds on the band’s legacy without wading into nostalgia. Founder and singer Jarvis Cocker, 62, still has a keen eye and lashing tongue. “I exist to do this, shouting and pointing,” he pronounces in “Spike Island.” But age and experience have a way of buffing the sharp edges, as revealed in the bittersweet “Background Noise” and heartfelt “Farmers Market.” “Grown Ups” looks at how doubt creeps in as youth fades: “Life’s too short to drink bad wine and that’s frightening.”

“Always Been” is the sixth solo album from The Hold Steady's Craig Finn.

Courtesy Big Hassle

Craig Finn: Always Been

A master of character studies, Craig Finn, 54, broadens his scope on his absorbing sixth solo album to follow a single flawed but sympathetic antihero. The frontman of The Hold Steady partners with Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs on a touching, world-weary narrative trained on a fallen agnostic minister who wanders the country, nursing a bottle and a broken heart while seeking purpose in a cold modern world. Finn’s glum vocals and bittersweet stories are underpinned by Granduciel’s evocative, buzzy synths and guitars, lending this weighty song cycle some welcome buoyancy.

the cover of audience with the queen by galactic and irma thomas

Irma Thomas reunited with her “Heart of Steel” collaborators Galactic for “Audience With the Queen.”

Courtesy Big Hassle

Galactic and Irma Thomas: Audience With the Queen

Eclectic funk outfit Galactic, a Crescent City staple for more than 30 years, and New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas, 84, could have carried the day with a batch of Big Easy covers. But that’s too easy. On this spirited, rootsy collaboration, the players opted for fresh material, giving the album a modern punch and contemporary headlines. In the potent “Lady Liberty,” Thomas surveys fading freedoms: “Is this the world that we’re living in, the one we raise our children in? / Lord save us all, Lady Liberty took a fall.” She remains a commanding vocalist on “Where I Belong,” “Be Your Lady” and her soaring take on Nancy Wilson’s 1964 jazz hit “How Glad I Am,” the album’s sole cover.

the cover of who believes in angels by elton john and brandi carlile

“Who Believes in Angels?” is a collaborative studio album by Elton John and Brandi Carlile.

Courtesy Interscope Capitol

Elton John and Brandi Carlile: Who Believes in Angels?

The Rocket Man, 78, and his young protégé bring out the best in each other on a vibrant, engaging collaboration packed with chemistry and emotional authenticity. It’s not their first merger. John contributed to Brandi Carlile’s 2009 song “Caroline,” and she shared vocals on “Simple Things” from his 2021 album The Lockdown Sessions. Here, they serve up such gems as the boisterous rocker “Little Richard’s Bible,” twangy country duet “Swing for the Fences” and Oscar-nominated duet “Never Too Late,” the theme from the same-named Disney documentary about the British superstar. John ponders mortality on the spare, poignant “When This Old World Is Done With Me,” but make no mistake, he’s still standing.

the cover of twilight override by jeff tweedy

“Twilight Override” is the fifth solo studio album by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

Courtesy Shervin Lainez

Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override

Jeff Tweedy, 58, whose fifth solo effort clocks in at 111 minutes, isn’t the first artist to unleash a marathon three-disc album. Remember George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and Prince’s Emancipation? In fact, the prolific singer-songwriter was inspired to make Override after listening to The Clash’s three-disc Sandinista! nonstop while on a road trip with his sons. The results are a bit uneven but madly eclectic and never dull, skipping from retro rock to lo-fi to alt-pop. The music feels liberating, though Tweedy’s mood is dark and restless as he surveys a fractured world for signs of hope.

the cover of strike up the band by little feat

“Strike Up the Band” is the 18th studio album by the American rock band Little Feat.

Courtesy Big Feat PR

Little Feat: Strike Up the Band

Decades of upheaval, deaths and personnel changes have not robbed Little Feat of the vitality or ingenuity evident on such early classics as Dixie Chicken and Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. Pianist Bill Payne, 76, is the sole remaining founder. Percussionist Sam Clayton, 79, and bassist Kenny Gradney, 75, have been in place since joining the core 1972 lineup. A year after Sam’s Place, a set of blues covers, and 13 years since Rooster Rag, its last batch of originals, the swampy boogie band returns with heady, deep-grooved songs that shuffle and thump through country, soul, blues and funk, from the bayou-drenched “Dance a Little” and brass-driven “Midnight Flight” to the waggish “Too High to Cut My Hair.”

the cover of arcadia by alison krauss and union station

“Arcadia” is the eighth studio album by American bluegrass band Alison Krauss & Union Station.

Courtesy Randee St. Nicholas

Alison Krauss & Union Station: Arcadia

After patiently waiting since 2011’s Paper Airplane, fans of Alison Krauss & Union Station were finally rewarded with a new album. And it’s a jewel. The departure of bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski, 58, disappointed many, but Russell Moore, 61, of IIIrd Tyme Out fills the void with agile, fervent vocals that dovetail nicely with the pure angelic soprano of Krauss, 54. Arcadia shimmers with impeccable singing, delicate melodies and the band’s deft musicianship. But this isn’t stomping bluegrass. Ballads dominate, and the lyrics lean dark and mournful, making the album a beautifully sad affair.

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