Breakthrough debuts, Gen Z indie icons, hyperpop's next wave, anticipated soundtracks and long-teased follow-ups. We round up the biggest releases of the past year and cast an eye to some of the artists we predict will be the sound of 2026.
2025 revealed itself as a year driven by vision and virality. The restless buzz of Geese pushing guitar music into stranger, sharper territory, Little Simz continuing her reign as one of the most vital voices in modern hip-hop, a hardcore revival driven by Turnstile's commitment to pushing their sound beyond tradition, or Viagra Boys’ ever-unpredictable return - a year where the Stockholm post-punk provocateurs went from cult favourites to one of the most talked-about underground acts in indie music. These are just a few of the many musical highlights which defined our year at Rough Trade, all artists who cemented a place in our Top 100 Albums of the Year.
As the curtain falls on 2025, we’re looking back on the moments that mattered most at Rough Trade - the records that flew off the racks and the sounds that stayed with us long after the needle lifted. With the calendar ahead stacked with hotly anticipated debuts, comebacks and long-awaited returns, 2026 is already shaping up to deliver just as much musical variety as the year past. We're all ears for it.
2025 Bestsellers:
The most popular LPs at Rough Trade in 2025.
Little Simz once again proves herself to be one of the most consistent in the game with her sixth album Lotus taking the top spot of our bestsellers list. The release was celebrated by a very special, intimate performance with Simz at Rough Trade Liverpool.
The reign of British rappers continued as Loyle Carner's fourth studio album, hopefully !, a life-affirming exploration of fatherhood, childhood and alternative music also flew off the shelves.
A spectacular breakthrough album for Oklou, who nabbed best-selling debut at Rough Trade as well as number 2 in our Albums of the Year list with choke enough.
The Last Dinner Party's From The Pyre was pressed on Rough Trade Exclusive 'Renaissance' grey marbled vinyl, a much sought-after exclusive edition of the baroque rockers' anticipated second album.
Laufey's third album, A Matter of Time, a beautiful masterpiece of introspection around life and love. We were lucky enough to partner with the Icelandic star on a series of intimate solo sets at three beautiful church venues in the UK.
Loyle Carner's spiritual double show debut at Hackney Church was our best-selling UK event of 2025, followed by some huge shows in Liverpool with The Last Dinner Party at The Dome. Sold-out signings and in-stores with FKA Twigs, Black Country New Road, Sigrid and Little Simz also stole the show for our UK events in 2025.
Since the opening of Rough Trade Below, a new 4,000-square-foot space on the Rink Level of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, our New York family have hosted 107 events with the likes of Addison Rae, Olivia Dean, Samia, End It, and a special Tonight Show performance from David Byrne.
Rough Trade Berlin rounded off 2025 with around 100 shows, hosting live performances, DJ sets and Q&As with the likes of SPRINTS, Budgie, Alice Phoebe Lou and Hot Chip. A sold-out show with Albums of the Year artist Buntspecht topped the ticket count at Lido Berlin in Kreuzberg.
2026 Hot Tips: Debuts
An opening statement for a new generation just getting started.
Dove Ellis - Blizzard
Another product of Ireland's unstoppable alternative music scene. Elusive Galway-born artist Dove Ellis' has undoubtedly crafted an unmissable debut in the arresting Blizzards, where heavenly vocal delivery meets gothic soundscapes with an intimacy which has struck many a comparison to the inimitable Jeff Buckley himself.
After a slew of support shows for indie it-band Geese and the acclaimed release of Blizzard, it appears a new bird is poised to swoop in as the next new-gen talent for us to obsess over. We will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of Blizzard on vinyl in 2026.
Deki Alem - Forget In Mass
Swedish-Eritrean twins Sammy and Johnny Bennett evoke rave's golden era, a scintaliating fusion of drum and bass, rap and punk sensibilities, which translates to excellent live showmanship, an infectious, primal energy you must experience.
For fans of Faithless, The Prodigy, JPEGMAFIA and Roni Size. Grab the album on Exclusive mixed silver vinyl at Rough Trade.
Joshua Idehen - I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone is Hurting, Everyone is Trying, You Have Got to Try
Following the virality of 2025 track Mum Does the Washing, a Rough Trade Song of the Year 2025 (which started life as a Twitter thread) and stand-out festival performances at End of the Road and Green Man, Idehen has firmly been on our radar for his whipsmart lyricism, occupying a phenomenal sonic, poetic space.
The British-Nigerian artist is a refreshing voice amidst political chaos, addressing the negativity with a beautiful, powerful manifesto for hope and collectivism. On Rough Trade Exclusive yellow and black vinyl at Rough Trade.
Dead Dads Club - Dead Dads Club
Former Palma Violets member and Fontaines D.C. touring guitarist Chilli Jesson presents Dead Dads Club, a project long in the making following an uncertain career period for the indie-minded songwriter. Having rekindled his passion for raw, honest music, Jesson revisits his early dealings with grief and isolation. Grungey-bluesey, charismatic alt-rock with brilliant narrative. One to watch in 2026.
On lime green vinyl with a signed print at Rough Trade.
Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
Blending bubblegum rave, trance, hyperpop, and tongue-in-cheek lyricism, rising star and 8x ARIA-nominated Australian artist Ninajarachi captures both the euphoria and alienation of living online with a nuanced Australian perspective.
A self-aware debut from a forward-thinking new voice in contemporary electronic culture. On exclusive blue vinyl at Rough Trade.
Tyler Ballgame - For the First Time, Again
One of those singular voices which carries forward the best qualities of 60s and 70s classic rock, folk and Americana with a soulful colour that keeps you coming back. Tyler Ballgame's debut For the First Time, Again, is a bracing reminder of how great songs delivered by a gifted vocalist can move, captivate, and inspire. Lead album single I Believe In Love (released September 2025) crept into our staff selected Songs of the Year list 2025 and has left us eager to hear more.
A very exciting new voice signed with our friends at Rough Trade Records. Catch Tyler at Rough Trade in 2026 and grab his much-anticipated debut on blue marbled vinyl + exclusive 7" at Rough Trade.
Cardinals - Masquerade
Set to release on tastemaker label So Young Records, Cork's acclaimed Cardinals announce their much-anticipated debut album, Masquerade. A nod to the band's expansive influences, from the brittle honesty of folk to the theatrical melodrama of goth-rock.
You can also catch the band live and signing at Rough Trade East, Rough Trade Liverpool or Rough Trade Nottingham this January!
2026 Hot Tips: Returns
The end of extended hiatuses, surprise comebacks, and new material well worth the wait.
Gorillaz - The Mountain
Gorillaz ninth studio album The Mountain is set for release via their new KONG label on March 20, 2026. Described as “a playlist for a party on the border between this world and whatever happens next”, the Damon Albarn-led project drafts in a colourful cast of collaborators featuring Sparks, IDLES, Johnny Marr, and the late Tony Allen.
Dry Cleaning - Secret Love
Dry Cleaning’s new album sharpens the band’s deadpan post-punk into something more emotionally resonant, cataloguing modern anxieties, small interactions, and fragmented thoughts with striking precision. A band whose minimal power and use of irony still really sets them apart.
The South London four-piece's third album arrives on pearl /arctic blue vinyl with a Rough Trade Exclusive bonus 7" featuring Hit My Head All Day (Tascam Version) and Joy (Tascam Version).
Charli xcx - Wuthering Heights
Atlantic
"Fall in love again and again, fall in love again and again."
Though the impact of Brat summer has still not yet quite faded, Charli is in fact back already to make sure it's her name is up in lights in 2026. The iconic pop star releases an album written for Emerald Fennel’s highly anticipated Wuthering Heights film on Valentine's Day and stars in her own A24 mockumentary THE MOMENT, out January 30th.
Urlaub in Polen - Objects, Beings and Parrots
Following their acclaimed comeback All (2020), Objects, Beings and Parrots picks up where the krautrock-inspired Motorik sound left off, but expands it with eclectic excursions into noise rock, retrofuturism, acoustic pop, and experimental sound art.
The noise rockers will kick off the first live show of 2026 at Rough Trade Berlin in January. Pick up the album on limited orange vinyl, online or in-store from the
Nothing - A Short History of Decay
Nothing’s fifth solo album and first for Run For Cover Records, a perfect new home for the shoegaze renegades who’ve rebuilt the stereotypically lightweight genre in their own bloody knuckled American image. If you like fuzz and reverb, then this is the band for you.
Own it on Rough Trade Exclusive grape soda vinyl.
A$AP Rocky - DON'T BE DUMB
For nearly a year and a half, A$AP Rocky has been teasing his new project, DONT BE DUMB, name-dropping potential features and producers. Finally, it seems there is a firmer date forecast for its release (16th January). Although this is the first official album following 2018's Testing, Rocky's fourth studio album follows a year of collaborations with film composer Danny Elfman, the birth of his third child and first daughter with Rihanna, starring with Rose Byrne in A24 psychological dramedy If I Had Legs I'd Kick You and a killer couple of singles previewing the album (Tailor Swif in 2024 and HIGHJACK with Jessica Pratt in 2025). This album is expected to mark a big return for the New York-bred rapper after fans have long been pleading with Rocky to release the album.
Sleaford Mods - The Demise of Planet X
“When we wrote the last album, it was about stagnation, a country that felt like a lifeless corpse. Three years later, that corpse has been split open by war, genocide, and the lingering psychological fallout of Covid whilst social media has mutated into a grotesque, twisted form of digital engineering. It feels like we’re living among the ruins. A multi-layered abomination etched into our collective psyche.”
Jason Williamson
The mods are back with a bleak and funny reflection on survival in a persistently hostile world. Collaborations with Life Without Buildings front woman Sue Tompkins, Aldous Harding, soul singer Liam Bailey and grime MC Snowy, the latter two both hailing from the band’s hometown Nottingham.
De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky
2025 sparked a fun recognition of 'unc rap' with the return of Clipse and De La Soul, marking reunited rap greats in the 40+ category, delivering high-quality, mature, lyrical content. Cabin In The Sky is a poignant, deeply personal and emotionally charged album for the hip hop legends, a journey through reflection, love, and healing as the first album since the death of member Trugoy the Dove in 2023.
On Rough Trade Exclusive clear and iridescent blue vinyl.
Peaches - No Lube So Rude
Peaches is back...and just as explicit as ever. Rather than inviting comfort, No Lube, So Rude demands engagement, forcing its audience to reckon with discomfort, taboo, and the ways sexuality is regulated and consumed within popular culture.
Grab it on Rough Trade Exclusive cherry twist vinyl at Rough Trade this February.
2025 Hot Tips: Predictions
Our hot take on who's been teasing new music for 2026.
Björk
Christmas came early for Björk fans in 2025 when the Icelandic pioneer revealed that her newly announced exhibition in Reykjavik next summer is based on new work that is currently "in development". Sounds like an eleventh studio album just might be on the cards.
The Sophs
The buzzy LA-based band signed to Rough Trade Records made major waves with their debut single Sweat, a genre-blending mix of emo, folk, bluegrass and alt-rock released in mid-2025, building anticipation for a full debut album expected in 2026.
Lana Del Rey
Fans are hoping to see the long-teased follow-up to 2023’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd see the light of day in January 2026 after Lana revealed in a new interview for W, that the album is now called Stove, and it “will likely be released at the end of January.” Initially set for Spring 2025, Lana has shared that the release delay is the result of the decision to add six more songs to the album. The great American singer-songwriter also reveals a new direction for her tenth studio album:
"They were more autobiographical than I thought, and that took more time" Del Rey said of the additional songs. "The majority of the album will have a country flair."
The Bobby Lees
“Our new stuff comes from a more confident place than in the past. We’re excited to share this new music and hopefully it’s contagious and empowers people to go towards what inspires them.”
The Woodstock, NY punk trio announced their signing to Epitaph Records with the single Napoleon back in October 2025, a frenetic track which made it into our Songs of 2025 list. They promise that this is just the beginning.
Phoebe Bridgers
After a double-bill of acclaimed albums in the form of Stranger in the Alps in 2017, followed by Punisher in 2020, fans have long been expecting a third follow-up, a chapter to make up a trilogy from indie songwriter icon Phoebe Bridgers. The sheer time that has passed, alongside the announcement that Boygenius (Bridgers' indie supergroup with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker) has ended for the foreseeable future, leaves us hopeful that Phoebe has been in the studio, and that news about forthcoming solo material may surface soon.
Courtney Barnett
Much-loved Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has released her first new material since 2023's surprise instrumental album End Of The Day, and her 2021 LP Things Take Time, Take Time, accompanied by a great music video directed by the PAVEMENTS film director Alex Ross Perry. Although no official album release date yet this single marks her first release with Fiction Records, so we expect the news of a full-length project with the label to be following shortly.
Jalen Ngonda
A modern trailblazer of soul's golden era, Jalen Ngonda has only continued to blow up since the release of his acclaimed debut Come Around And Love Me. The London-based US-born singer has released three singles in 2025 and has been announced as Jalen Ngonda, the first headliner for the new Liverpool festival Sound City in 2026 - we expect new music is very much on the horizon.
Yard Act
In September 2025, Leeds post-punkers Yard Act revealed that they are currently in the studio working on their third album with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Wolf Alice, Beck). The band have claimed to be making "the greatest third album any band has ever recorded", setting expectations high for 2026.
Beth Orton
With no confirmed new album announced for 2026, we are mostly hopeful that we might receive a new project from Beth Orton in 2026, as the forward-thinking BRIT-winning folk artist is set to tour her acclaimed 2022 album Weather Alive (and potentially new material) in the UK with Sam Amidon in February 2026.
Ears to the ground
The list of anticipated releases is unending. Dig into some further comebacks and new music murmurings, also setting our tongues wagging...
Afro-Appalachian folk artist Mon Rovîa's debut album, Bloodline, is set for release on January 9, 2026. The rising alternative folk artist will play the first live show at Rough Trade Below (New York) January 7th.
Sacred Bones and the Vega Vault Project are reissuing the first two solo records by late Suicide co-founder Alan Vega.
UK indie essentials The Cribs return with their first new music in over five years, their brand new album Selling A Vibe, releases on January 9th 2026.
Delayed from its original release in Autumn, Robbie Williams is set to release his thirteenth studio album and first since 2019, BRITPOP, described as the album he wanted to write and release leaving Take That in 1995.
All of our fingers our crossed for new music on the cards from Wesley Joseph, Whitelands, Deary, Fcukers, Nia Archives, Brother Wallace and Man Woman Chainsaw, Pebbledash.
Counter Culture
Keep up to date with the best new music we are following into 2026 with our Counter Culture playlist, updated Fridays from 9th January.