Pulse List: Top 10 Albums of 2025

The year 2025 was a hive of activity for Nigerian music, with Afrobeats’ leading protagonists reinforcing their superstar status and emerging stars announcing their intentions to become household names.

Multiple albums (LPs) have been released this year, showcasing the dynamism that abounds in a growing ecosystem where the street shapes the chart and the underground rises to the surface, impacting the mainstream. From projects that draw from rich cultural essence to others that embrace global sonic exploration, we have seen a plethora of releases that have listeners struggling to keep up.

From the bulk of album releases, Pulse Nigeria’s Music Desk has selected the ten that stood out for their quality and impact. To choose the top ten albums of 2025, the following criteria were considered:

• Eligibility Window: December 1, 2024, to December 1, 2025

• Album Quality: Premium is given to the intrinsic quality of the project. The track composition, sequencing, production, and thematic and sonic coherence are considered.

• Success and Impact: We weigh this by considering the commerciality of the project in a genre-relevant manner. We also consider its acceptance and impact on its primary audience and the larger market. The album’s shelf life is also considered to be indicative of its success and impact.

Several albums were worthy of consideration, but ten ultimately clinched the spots as the best projects of 2025.

Twelve albums and fifteen years later, the iconic musical duo Show Dem Camp continues to find new ways to delight listeners with their interpretation of Nigerian culture through rap. On their twelfth project, ‘Afrika Magik,’ they pay homage to Nollywood, which shaped generations and became Nigeria’s first major entertainment export of the 21st century, long before Afrobeats brought the nation global attention.

Assisted by a new and familiar line-up of stars, they blend Highlife, Afrobeats, Pop, and Hip Hop to deliver a colourful project that is nostalgic of classic home videos and reflective of their smooth and effortless approach to music.

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With over half a decade of hit releases spread across four EPs and one LP, Bella Shmurda has enjoyed success and endured the complexities of life at the top, experiences that have further shaped his artistry and personal life.

These experiences define his sixth album, ‘Sanity,’ where he embraces the full spectrum of sounds that have shaped his career and the lessons he has picked up along the way to create his most expansive project yet. On ‘Sanity,’ the singer, now a father and successful label boss, cheerfully celebrates his wins and higher status in the game, contemplates the struggles, mourns bitter losses, and shares a hope for a bright future through a combination of sounds that find a common identity in his dynamism.

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After spending the better part of 2024 preparing listeners for the release of his next album, ‘Industry Machine,’ OdumoduBlvck decided to release a surprise sixteen-track project to further reinforce the message that “The Machine is Coming.”

With a combination of his hypermasculine rap flows, aggressive chest-thumping writing, colourful use of Nigerian lingo, and stunning melody-wielding abilities (he calls it Okporoko flows), he tells listeners that he is the leading hip-hop protagonist in the country who is ready to dominate. The album packed strong singles and an enjoyable listening experience, even though it did not enjoy as much attention as it should because listeners were fixated on what was to come.

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After fifteen years at the summit of Nigerian pop music, Tiwa Savage has extensively offered herself to Afrobeats through timeless hit records that etched her name in history and also gave the female arm of the industry a spin in the mainstream.

Yet despite her greatness, she was missing that emphatic album that holds her lyrical and vocal prowess, which reflects her R&B credentials. To fix this, the award-winning star released ‘This One Is Personal,’ which succinctly captures her growth as an icon who has given to the game and is now catering to personal desires.

At 45, Tiwa Savage is saying it as it is. Her R&B melodies are sensual, her lyrics provocative, her thoughts honest and hopeful, and her exploration of Afrobeats sonically achieved.

When one of Nigeria’s and Ghana’s finest voices, TML Vibez and Lasmid, combined for a collaboration project, the result is just as the title suggests. Combining the defining elements of their artistry, both stars deliver an exciting collection of enjoyable songs that captures the uniqueness of both markets.

Balanced between R&B, Pop, and party-starting anthems, this album offers every listener something to hold on to.

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‘5ive’ reflects Davido’s decided effort to connect with the markets Afrobeats has made tangible gains in the past decade, and like a confident ambassador, his Nigerian identity gives the album its core. On the album, he makes each song with the desire to hit the right nerves and deliver them with the vigour required to send a clear message to his fans and detractors.

The album spawned the hit record ‘With You’ featuring Omah Lay, which is the most ubiquitous song in Nigeria this year. His ability to make hits like this has kept him at the top for fifteen years, and ‘5ive’ boldly announces his intention to retain his place as Afrobeats’ leading hitmaker.

Wizard Chan’s ‘Healers Chapel’ could not have come at a much better time, as he brings a message of healing to a world desperately in need of it. His debut album is an acknowledgement of his role as a messenger whose music boldly explores the complexity of human emotions and the state of an ailing society.

Wizard Chan makes music that will echo through time. Through his music, he aims to live forever like other iconic musicians whose impact continues to be felt decades after their demise. He shares this bold desire in the opener before backing it with breathtaking music across thirteen tracks.

He puts his cultural heritage on the centre stage with an exploration of South-South indigenous folk music, Highlife, and Gyration, which he combines with reggae, hip-hop, and gospel music elements to craft an album whose genre diversity is united in his message of healing.

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BNXN wields some of the finest melodies and penmanship in Nigerian music. His enthralling vocal runs and silky writing have earned him success, which he matches with the braggadocio of a musician fully aware of what he carries.

His sophomore album ‘Captain’ carries his trademark touchy mid-tempo melodies punctuated by wavy pop rap. The sixteen-track project found success among the Nigerian listeners who streamed it to a top five finish on both Apple Music and Spotify Nigeria's end-of-the-year charts.

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Fola’s debut album is an emotional offering from a star whose time has come to shine. An artist who leans into his emotions, his music is defined by his Yoruba heritage, which he infuses with R&B influences to make emotive records that make him adored by fans and sought after by his peers, whose songs he scales to hit status with his verses.

Following the mantra of striking when the iron is hot, the fast-rising star released his debut album ‘Catharsis,’ which is an extension of his fine form both in identity and output.

Relying on similar elements that rocketed him to stardom, the eleven-track album is packed with mid-tempo R&B-driven songs that tell the story of ambition, love, and desires from the lens of a star with bottled emotions. He takes in the moment and revels in the limelight, sharing tales of ambitions, romance, and desires while clinging to the sound that brought him fame.

When you think of Fuji, you hear the gan gan, gbedu drums, and the sakara. You think of praise singing and constant chest-thumping lyrics. You recollect the stinging jabs and famous subliminals that have defined famous feuds. You think about parties, street carnivals, and traditional festivals. Adekunle Gold takes from all of these defining aspects and interprets them through pop lenses.

Some might understandably have their grouse with Adekunle Gold’s decision to name his album ‘Fuji’ rather than ‘F.U.J.I.’ However, even in Fuji music territory, he is no interloper. He’s right at home where his artistry finds cultural inspiration and identity.

He takes from Fuji and gives bountifully in return. Adekunle Gold does not seek to recreate or replace Fuji music. Rather, he expands on the genre’s cultural richness with the contemporary flair needed to bring it long-overdue mainstream attention.