The Best R&B Albums Of 2025, Ranked

Key Takeaways:

• Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U leads the pack with a Valentine’s Day drop that blends R&B and rap.
• Summer Walker, Coco Jones and Mariah the Scientist delivered albums that center women’s voices and emotional depth.
• Newcomers like SAILORR and DESTIN CONRAD redefined the genre’s future with bold, emotionally rich projects.

In 2025, R&B fans had plenty to look forward to. We might not have received full albums from heavyweights like Kehlani and Chris Brown — who held us down with singles such as “Folded” and “It Depends,” respectively — but the year still delivered a generous slate of albums from some newcomers in the genre and mainstays alike.

The Weeknd opened the year on a high note with Hurry Up Tomorrow, followed by Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR doing their big one with $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Over the spring and summer, we got releases from artists who may be less familiar but just as gifted, including SAILORR, DESTIN CONRAD and more.

As with all our year-end lists, narrowing things down was no simple task. However, the critical and fan reception supports each choice here. So, with that said, here are Rap-Up’s 10 best R&B albums of 2025.

10. SAILORR’s FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST

SAILORR’s first project expands the world she created with last year’s breakout “POOKIE’S REQUIEM.” Across FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST, which is technically billed as a mixtape, she aims to capture the “highs, lows and seemingly every emotion in between.” By the end of the collection, it’s clear she reached that goal. For every “DOWN BAD,” where she sings about going back to an ain’t-s**t man, there’s a “DONE SHAVING 4 U” or “SOFT GIRL SUMMER,” where she steps back into her confidence and gives the girlies permission to find theirs too.

9. 4batz’s Still Shinin

A lot of people expected 4batz to disappear from the spotlight after his Drake-assisted hit “act ii: date @ 8 (remix).” The problem for them is that the Dallas crooner is still delivering, and in some ways, he sounds better now than he did when we first met him. Still Shinin’ walks through his experiences with love — some euphoric and some a little tougher to sit with — and together they show exactly why he’s not going anywhere.

“act ix: too dam young” opens the record with, “Well, girl, I’m too damn young / To be worried if I’m still your main one,” a line that probably hits close to home for anyone figuring out young love. Meanwhile, “act xi: she ain’t no angel” features him and Leon Thomas grappling with the ups and downs of dealing with a challenging partner. Altogether, Still Shinin’ gives us an incredible album from a narrator who’s neither drowning in regret nor completely losing himself for love.

8. The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow

I know, I know. Putting The Weeknd so low on a best albums list feels borderline criminal. However, every installment in the “Blinding Lights” singer’s After Hours–Dawn FM trilogy has progressively gotten more experimental than the one before it. That was the case with Hurry Up Tomorrow, which is scattered with synth-pop across tracks like “Open Hearts,” “Wake Me Up,” and my personal favorite, “Timeless.”

As much as many of us hoped he’d circle back to his roots for what’s said to be his final album under this name, Hurry Up Tomorrow still gives us plenty to enjoy.

7. GIVĒON’s BELOVED

Given that it took three whole years to finally get a follow-up to Give Or Take, GIVĒON’s BELOVED proves that sometimes all you really need is patience and proper execution to deliver a great album.

There’s real emotion, storytelling and clarity throughout tracks like “RATHER BE,” “BACKUP PLAN” and “AVALANCHE.” His highs and lows in love find their resolution in the closing line: “I love you ‘cause you love me / Through the good, bad and ugly.” For an album that largely relies on GIVĒON’s voice and the producers shaping his sound rather than a roster of features or elaborate detours, BELOVED is a rewarding listen through and through.

6. Mariah the Scientist’s HEARTS SOLD SEPARATELY

Our queen of dropping 10-song albums before gracefully riding off into the sunset returned with HEARTS SOLD SEPARATELY in August. Throughout the LP, Mariah the Scientist takes a stand against all the “heartless womanizers” out there, reminding everyone that a woman’s love is “a cause worth living and dying for.” From the runaway success of “Burning Blue” to her lone duet with Kali Uchis on “Is It a Crime,” the Atlanta singer delivered one of 2025’s strongest projects by a mile.

You can hear shades of Babyface and Sade on “Sacrifice” and “Rainy Days,” respectively, while “More” shows Mariah reaching for something bigger than heartbreak. It’s disappointing that HEARTS SOLD SEPARATELY missed out on a Grammy nod, but if she isn’t losing sleep over it, maybe we shouldn’t be either.

5. DESTIN CONRAD’s LOVE ON DIGITAL

LOVE ON DIGITAL, DESTIN CONRAD’s debut studio album, pushes against tradition in more than a few ways. As a queer singer, his version of love naturally unfolds differently, especially when filtered through dating apps, screens and long-distance relationships.

“You so far from my job, you in LA, I’m in London / You so shy, I wonder why you won’t do my love,” he sings on “KISSING IN PUBLIC.” Then, by the “OUTRO,” he wonders aloud if a connection built online would feel different face-to-face: “Love on digital / I wonder what it would be like on a mattress.” Between collaborations with Kehlani and Teezo Touchdown and the combination of neo-soul and progressive R&B, LOVE ON DIGITAL offers yet another reason to love the burgeoning star.

4. Coco Jones’ Why Not More?

Coco Jones is all grown up on Why Not More?, her long-awaited debut album. Far from the Disney kid many of us grew up watching, the “ICU” singer has lived, loved and, judging by a few tracks, broken a couple of hearts along the way. The musician wears her heart on her sleeve on tracks like “On Sight” and “Thang 4 You,” which cut straight to the emotions she’s been holding back.

Jones takes some real risks on the album, too. On the Britney Spears–sampling “Taste,” she doesn’t shy away from her own desires at all. “Most Beautiful Design” pairs her with Future — a collaboration you wouldn’t immediately expect. Her ability to turn ordinary feelings into intensely melodic tracks makes Why Not More? undeniably worthy of its spot among the year’s best R&B albums.

3. Leon Thomas’ MUTT Deluxe: HEEL

It’s been one hell of a year for Leon Thomas. He scored his first Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “MUTT,” earned six Grammy nominations, and so many more milestones. MUTT Deluxe: HEEL shows exactly how far that momentum carried him, with the deluxe album adding nine songs to an already loaded project. Along with the Halle-assisted “RATHER BE ALONE” and the Chris Brown–assisted version of “MUTT,” the expanded tracklist brings in Big Sean — who appears twice — plus a new collaboration with Kehlani.

One thing that’s clear from start to finish: Thomas really knows his way around a good track (which is no surprise, considering he writes and produces many himself). “CATCH A STRAY” finds him working through an on-again-off-again romance, while “PARTY FAVORS” sees the musician giving a bit too generously without expecting much in return. With all that in mind, HEEL holds space for the tenderness of love and the bittersweet moments that stay with you long after.

2. Summer Walker’s Finally Over It

Summer Walker’s Finally Over It is an R&B lover’s fantasy. The Atlanta songstress delivered a two-part album packed with more than a dozen guest appearances, many of whom are genre favorites like Chris Brown, Mariah the Scientist and Brent Faiyaz. On paper, that sounds like a lot. However, Walker somehow kept herself at the center while letting all those voices lift the project around her.

The opening epic, “Scars,” finds her urging a special someone to drop their guard, only to flip the script on the very next track and confess she should’ve robbed them on the perfectly titled “Robbed You.” As her listeners know well from social media, the Over It singer has a complicated relationship with love, something she offers bits and pieces of throughout the 18-song album. There’s the revenge-driven “Get Yo Boy,” the sultry Latto and Doja Cat collaboration “Go Girl,” and the emotional exhale on the closing title track, “Finally Over It.”

Dropping an album-of-the-year contender in November was risky business, but what better time for Finally Over It to arrive than cuffing season? Come get your crown, Summer.

1. Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U

We watched Drake get absolutely taken out in 2024 during his rap battle with Kendrick Lamar — not to linger on that for too long — and, predictably, he circled back to a genre that always keeps the door open for him: R&B. Released on Valentine’s Day, his joint project with PARTYNEXTDOOR, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, reminded everyone that Drizzy isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much critics wish he would.

Tracks like “CN TOWER,” “MOTH BALLS,” “OMW” and “SOMEBODY LOVES ME” came extremely close (if not all the way) to perfection. We could spend all day breaking down favorites, like Pimmie making her grand entrance or the irresistible funk of “NOKIA,” but hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 sums up how many people felt about $ome $exy $ongs 4 U.

Since this is an R&B albums list, we won’t get too deep into the straight-up bars The Boy gave us on “GIMME A HUG” and “SMALL TOWN FAME,” but trust us, they landed. Taken altogether, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U captures Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR at their absolute peak.