The Afropean.com team is excited to be continuing our Best of…End of Year tradition in 2025. We have a few new names all up in the mix this year, too. Below are some of Tola’s musical selections – an excerpt from her yearly review – accompanied by listening links to her 2025 mixtapes. You can check out the full rundown of Tola’s cultural highlights here. Happy Christmas to all our readers.

I’ve said it before: the 2020s so far have been awful for many reasons but music is not one of them. 2025 continued do deliver lots of musical goodies.

After first being introduced to their output in the mid-2010s, I was surprised to note that romantically-and-artistically involved duo, Anushka were still going strong. Lead vocalist, Victoria Port, got the year off to a busy start; first with her slick EP, Did it Again. An honourable mention goes to swiftly-followed single release with her significant other, Overwhelmed, about dealing with postpartum depression. Both projects, in their own way, displayed a startling vulnerability. Port would release another EP at the back end of 2025, Barefoot in the Garden, of which the stunning title track is a star attraction.

Ghanaian High-Life octet, Santrofi, returned in February with some customarily infectious grooves on Making Moves. Another honourable nod goes to Franco-Creole outfit, Dowdelin for sophomore release Tchenbé!. Whilst I had my doubts, it was worth it for the inspired moments.

I was smitten by the authenticity and delicious arrangements of Mississippi Funk-Gospel outfit Annie & The Caldwells’ Can’t Lose My (Soul). Released during the Lenten period, it was a  fitting accompaniment for the season. It’s without a doubt one of my top albums of 2025. The group has gone from strength to strength, with world tours and high profile endorsements.

The debut from Australia’s Rita Satch, Meet Me in the Garden, held me from the first listen. Her compatriot, Don Glori, also hailing from the Aussie epicentre of soul – Melbourne/Naarm, released creditable fusion project, Paper Can’t Wrap Fire, a few months later.

Back in 2023, Brazilian confreres Tagua Tagua and Gabriel da Rosa released albums in close proximity. In late Spring (or Autumn in Brazil) 2025, the two were at it again. Tagua x 2 stole the show with Tanto two years ago, yet it was da Rosa’s Cacofonia that provided many days of listening pleasure this time round. His compatriot’s Raio didn’t quite build on the promise of its predecessor.

There was more Brazilian loveliness from Bala Desejo– supergroup members, Zé Ibarra (pictured below) and Julia Mestre. The latter’s Maravilhosa Bem was a big part of my summer soundtrack.

Hardly a year passes by when Holland’s finest, Benny Sings, doesn’t deliver. 2025 saw the release of the third instalment of his quality Beat Tape series, as well as the catchy-as-a-contagion single, Castle, with echoes of Jungle on the vocal arrangements.

Hiatus Kaiyote’s satirical career retrospective, The Smooth Sounds of Tres Leches, LHCC Mart Vol.1 was as good, if not better, than anticipated.

A non-exhaustive list of more honourable mentions: I continued to delve into the world of MJ and Kenny Loggins’ musical lovechild – aka Gareth Donkin – with his late 2024 EP, Suite Escape. I waited in vain for a full album to review this year. 

Like much of the world and their significant other, I couldn’t resist the infectious, ‘old soul’ charm of Leon Thomas’ late 2024 release, Mutt. It was inescapable.

I have sweet summery memories of Gospel Hip-Hop royalty, Lecrae’s sunshine jam On Time, featuring Miles Minnick, not least because I associate it with some skilled choreo courtesy of my little sis.

Whilst I wasn’t sure whether to wholly invest in SG Lewis’ latest album Anemoia, not quite having the strike rate of his debut Times, there were flashes of that original appeal such as lead single, Back of My Mind. Tom Misch continued to behave like a musical tease. Instead of a full album, there was the occasional EP or single releases. The standout from the 2025 crop was Red Moon.

Masego has also been drip-feeding new material. I like to believe his superb late 2025 single, I Win – already one of my sonic highlights of the year – is a sign of what’s to come. Fingers crossed for a complete project in 2026, which will be three years since his last full outing.

Some songs can make you re-think an artist’s career. I have not paid much mind to Mariah Carey’s output for decades. That changed this year when I heard her wistful collaboration with the mighty Anderson .Paak, Play This Song, from her latest album Here for it All. Very much in the blissful retro vein of Silk Sonic – .Paak’s Philly-Soul homage project with Bruno Mars, it suits Carey down to the ground. .Paak’s penmanship brings something out in Mariah that I’d like to see more of. She gives an understated performance, that nevertheless shows off (what’s left of) her range without her feeling the need to shoehorn in a whistle-note. It’s the kind of mature material she should have evolved into long ago. The rest of the album was pretty good, too.     

I’ve always wondered why I’ve not been more enthusiastic about Reggae and Lover’s Rock given how much they were part of my childhood soundtrack. Hollie Cook’s 2025 release, Shy Girl reminded me that I have a soft spot for it after all. A wispy and esturial-toned soprano, clearly reminiscent of one of the Lover’s Rock greats, Janet Kay, Cook’s album initially has a pleasant homogeny from which emerge noteworthy numbers such as the title track, Frontline, We Share Love and Ooh Baby. It took me back to sitting in the kitchen whilst my mum jammed to John Holt and others.

Canada’s Jennarie showed much lyrical prowess on soul-bearing blues number, Never Been Small. Elsewhere on her EP of the same name, she switched with aplomb to infectious Funk/R&B for Stop (You Can Let It Go). Another modern-Funk/Soul gem from New Jersey’s TheArti$t, Ghost was a late-entry contender for single of the year. Like Jennarie’s Stop…, the otherworldly BV’s are so pretty you don’t know what to do with yourself.

Daniel Caesar was back in 2025 with the warts-and-all family saga, Son of Spergy. It could be just coincidence but the album’s admittedly stunning Gospel forays, such as Rain Down had a strong Sondae flavour.

Yukimi Nagano’s solo efforts, For You and Yume are worth a mention even if I wasn’t as rapt as I’d hoped because, well, it’s Yukimi. Her hiatus from Little Dragon would not pass unnoticed.

You can hear all of these artists – and then some – on Part I and Part II  of my 2025 Best of…playlist below: