EntertainmentmusicEmerging Artists
The 40 Best New Artists Of 2025
What do Tame Impala, Haim, Chance The Rapper, and Addison Rae all have in common? Beyond their current superstar status, they all once graced Stereogum's annual Best New Artists list, a curated playlist of tomorrow's headliners that has consistently proven its prescience. This isn't about clairvoyance; it's about an ear to the ground, a deep immersion in the sonic currents that flow from dimly lit clubs to sprawling festival fields.As we stand on the precipice of another year's end, the ritual returns with the unveiling of The 40 Best New Artists of 2025, a collection that feels less like a simple ranking and more like a carefully sequenced mixtape, each artist a vital track in the evolving album of contemporary music. The lineage of this list reads like a modern hall of fame, a testament to the publication's uncanny ability to spot raw potential before it crystallizes into mainstream adulation.It’s a tradition built on trust, the musical equivalent of that friend who handed you a worn-out cassette of a band that would later score your life. The process is exhaustive, a year-long audition where countless demos, breakthrough singles, and electrifying live performances are sifted through by editors who treat the task with a curator's solemnity.The final forty represent a mosaic of genres—from the reverb-drenched dream-pop of a Brooklyn duo to the hyper-literate folk of a Glasgow songwriter and the genre-bending electronic beats emerging from Seoul's vibrant scene. These artists are the conversation starters, the ones whose first EPs are shared with a 'you have to hear this' urgency, whose names are scribbled in the margins of notebooks by those in the know.They are the answer to the perennial question of 'what's next,' their music serving as the early tremors of the seismic shifts that will define the musical landscape for years to come. To be included is to receive a crucial validation, a signal boost that can transform a passionate underground following into a global audience, turning a bedroom project into a career. This list is a document of a moment, a sonic snapshot of 2025's creative ferment, and a promise that the future of music, in all its chaotic and beautiful forms, is in remarkably capable hands.
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#stereogum
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#2025
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