Making my top album of the year posts has been haunting me.
At the end of 2024, I found out I was pregnant, and the news occupied so much space in my mind that I didn’t have the energy to make the post as I usually do during the last days of the year.
At the end of 2025, it was my beautiful baby boy’s first Christmas, and I suppose my mind will forever be occupied with him. A forever change.
Nevertheless, I miss making these lists, if only to map my own mental and heart space through the music I listen to and value during a particular point in my life, and to have a record for posterity.
So, coming off the Grammys and looking to exorcise myself from this ghost, I carved out a bit of time between work and motherhood to make a list of my top albums from 2024 and 2025. As they say, it is better late than never.
It is funny that in early 2026, I am going back through a time that was filled with major milestones. I got married, I was pregnant, and I gave birth to a baby! Music is always present, but I must admit that this period was a little less about the discovery of new music and more about forming deep connections with whatever resonated with me as I transformed into a wife and mother.
As such, there is less music that made an impact, but what did is most likely imprinted in me forever.
All that to say, these were the top albums of 2024 and 2025.
Jungle – Volcano (2023)
Top songs: The whole album is a vibe, but my standouts are “Us Against the World,” “Candle Flame,” “I’ve Been in Love,” and “Back on 74.”
Ólafur Arnalds – some kind of peace (2020)
Top song: “Loom” (feat. Bonobo) is a magical, ambient soundscape that reminds me of icy escapades in Antarctica, a song I keep returning to again and again.
Madonna – Ray of Light (1998)
Top songs: A throwback, but damn, this album is good and different. Favorites include “Ray of Light,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “Frozen,” and “The Power of Good-Bye.”
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Legend (1984)
Top songs: All these songs are the best, but if I had to pick one, it would be the song we chose for our entry into the wedding reception: “Could You Be Loved.” It could just as easily have been “Is This Love,” but that one felt a bit too downbeat for the moment.
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology (2024)
Top songs: Most of these songs are mind-blowing lyrically, but there are so many that it’s hard to choose my favorites. The ones I kept coming back to are “Down Bad,” “So Long, London,” “Guilty as Sin?,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “The Black Dog.”
Noah Kahan – Stick Season (Forever) (2024)
Top songs: I really like a nice guitar-picking song and a folky vibe. “Northern Attitude” sets the tone, and “Stick Season” is the most fun to sing along to. But if I were to pick one song to represent that time, it would be “Everywhere, Everything” with Gracie Abrams. That song just encapsulates my pregnancy and the beginning days with my baby Noah.
Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT (2024)
Top songs: “CHIHIRO” and “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” — though I might have played this last one to death.
Gracie Abrams – The Secret of Us (Deluxe) (2024)
Top songs: OMG, so many earworms. There was a moment while I was pregnant when, instead of food cravings, I had song cravings — and it was often Gracie Abrams. My favorites on this album are “Risk,” “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” “Let It Happen,” and “That’s So True,” and from another album, “I miss you, I’m sorry.” I don’t know why this girl is so sorry about things, but I’m here for it.
Bomba Estéreo & Rawayana – ASTROTROPICAL (2024)
Top songs: I cannot believe this collaborative album happened. It’s like I dreamed it into existence. The artists, the beachy tropical vibe, the astrological musical theme — seriously, a dream come true. My favorites: “Me Pasa (Piscis)” and “Fogata (Leo).”
Bad Bunny – DeBi TiRaR MaS FOToS (2025)
Top songs: “NUEVAYoL,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “WELTiTA,” “CAFé CON RON,” “EeO,” and “DtMF” — a song that, in Spanish, holds a message I carry with me as my baby grows more each day, and so quickly. Take all the pictures. Give him all the kisses and hugs while I can. Just be consistently present and grateful for this time.
Honorable Mentions:
- Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023)
- Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter (2024)
- Benson Boone – Fireworks & Rollerblades (2024)
- The Marías – Submarine (2024)
- Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl (2025)
- Lily Allen – West End Girl (2025)
Top Playlists:
These playlists gathered the mood of my years, each tied to a specific moment or season in my life:
- 2024 ♡ 02 ♡ 24 invitados – song picks from our wedding guests for the dance party
- spring vibin’ – pretty self-explanatory
- fairytale quests – soundscapes for readers of the ACOTAR series
- chill baby songs – music for a baby in the womb and for giving birth, which ultimately didn’t happen as planned due to an emergency C-section
And with that, I feel released from the weight I’ve been carrying about neglecting this silly but necessary habit of mapping out my life in music.
I wish all my readers a very happy 2026, wherever you may be and whatever life stage you’re in.
“Music can name the unnamable and communicate the unknowable.” – Leonard Bernstein
in the land of the sun 