The 25 Best Washington Albums of 2025

written by Ben Salmon | illustration by Cody Muir

From Bellingham to Yakima County, Olympia to Spokane and, of course, the world-class music scene in Seattle, musicians from Washington created incredible sounds in 2025. Here are the twenty-five best albums released by artists across the state this year.

Coral Grief

Air Between Us

If Seattle’s overcast skies had a house band, it might be Coral Grief. The trio found its footing while stuck at home during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, then released two very promising EPs in 2021 and 2023. Air Between Us delivers on that promise, showcasing the band’s entrancing dream-pop, which is built from steady rhythms, dulcet melodies and diaphanous shoegaze haze. Coral Grief’s sound is sometimes gray, a little chilly and irresistibly beautiful—just like their hometown.

Brittany Davis

Black Thunder

It is tempting to tell you about the sound of Brittany Davis’ brilliant album Black Thunder, but you can go listen to it yourself. So let’s focus on how it was made: Davis, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes and drummer D’Vonne Lewis barely knew each other before coming together in the studio and improvising for two days. The result is a lightning bolt of hypnotic, organic, deeply jazz that’s so alive, you’ll feel like you can reach out and shake its hand. So that’s how it sounds, actually. Did I mention the players barely knew each other before recording? Stunning.

Brittany Davis | Black Thunder — **Brittany Davis |** **Black Thunder**

Deep Sea Diver

Billboard Heart

Over the past dozen years, Jessica Dobson has grown Deep Sea Diver into one of the true pillars of Seattle’s indie rock scene—which is saying something, given the number of great bands that happen in the city. But Dobson and her crew tower over most of ’em, thanks to her inventive songwriting and the sheer power of her band, which never seems to need recharging. The songs on their fourth album, Billboard Heart, are sturdy, dynamic and hookier than a well-stocked tacklebox.

Don Dishes

Teal

Most of the music Don Dishes has released over the past year has been about his beloved Seattle Mariners, who had a great season that ended in heartbreaking fashion. (Tridents up!) But the Kent MC’s finest hour—of 2025, at least—is Teal, a fourteen-track collection of head-nodding hip-hop that showcases Dishes’ buoyant beats and melodic flow—as well as his interests beyond baseball. (Song titles include “Nirvana” and “Angry Nerd” and “Tom Brokaw” … of course!) Find it only at www.don-dishes.bandcamp.com.

Emi Pop

No Te Voy a Extrañar

Emi Pop is a Seattle based Puerto Rican artist with a proven recipe for fun times: Mix together Riot Grrrl punk, ’60s-style surf-pop, earworm melodies and lyrics en español, shake it all up like a can of carbonated pop, then crack it open and let it spray all over a guitar pedal board built for maximum distortion. On No Te Voy a Extrañar, Emi Pop sounds a little bit like the Ramones and The Go-Go’s if they’d come up in San Juan rather than mainland America, and they sound a lot like the future. Find it only at www.emipop.bandcamp.com.

Emi Pop | No Te Voy a Extrañar — **Emi Pop |** **No Te Voy a Extrañar**

Jenner Fox

Anything

Jenner Fox is the son of two river rafting guides, and he used to spend a lot of time riding rivers around the world as a guide himself. These days, though, he’s making waves with his music. The Bellingham-based singer-songwriter is a meticulous crafter of gentle folk songs that are melodically generous, efficient in their storytelling and overflowing with feeling. On Anything, he rolls out nine delightful tunes about life and loss that feel like they were written just for you.

Fugitive Bubble

What Will Happen If We Stop?

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the continued vibrance of Olympia’s music scene, where people can still be weird (and weird together in bands) in a world that is increasingly less tolerant of weirdness. Related: Fugitive Bubble is a trio from the capital city that makes zigzagging art-punk with a political bent, and it’s pedal to the metal. On What Will Happen If We Stop?, they sound like a band that wants to play hardcore, but their great ideas and varied interests and catchy melodies keep getting in the way. That’s a good thing!

The Onlies

You Climb the Mountain

The Onlies are four old friends who use string-band instruments—fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar—to play bluegrass and oldtime music. They’re skilled pickers, of course, but that’s not why You Climb the Mountain is on this list. It’s here because the Seattle-based band injects these original and traditional songs with a warmth, a richness and a sort of dynamic melodicism that’s uncommon in this particular corner of the musical universe. That’s not to say there’s not a lot of great bluegrass out there, because there is. Rarely, though, does it feel quite this alive.

The Onlies | You Climb the Mountain — **The Onlies |** **You Climb the Mountain**

Timeworm

Interplanetary Flamingo Park Reunion

A bunch of good albums came out of Spokane this year, so be sure to check out that nearby “fifteen more” list for more from the east side of the state. Whether Timeworm made the best of the bunch is up to you, but here’s why they’re worth highlighting: Interplanetary Flamingo Park Reunion is a likeable pack o’ jams that seems to get better the more you listen. Ostensibly “just” a funky rock band, Timeworm’s interest in and incorporation of unexpected elements—indie psych, orchestral pop, modern soul—reveals itself over time, making their album a gift that keeps giving.

Zach Top

Ain’t in It for My Health

One of the biggest success stories in music over the past couple of years—not just in Washington, but anywhere, in any genre—is the rapid rise of Zach Top as a bona fide country star. Raised on the family farm in Sunnyside, the mustachioed singer-songwriter is bringing real twang back to mainstream country music, where arena-pop in a cowboy hat has ruled the charts in recent years. On his second album, Ain’t in It for My Health, Top convincingly delivers fifteen real-deal honky-tonkers that recall the ’90s heyday of country giants like Alan Jackson and George Strait.