The Roots Music Report's
Top Contemporary Folk Album Chart
for the Year of 2025
| Album Title | Band/Artist Name | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delta Traces | Billy Jeter | House on Fire |
| 2 | Shelby Means | Shelby Means | Self-Release |
| 3 | Wilderness Within You | Parker Millsap | Okrahoma |
| 4 | Crown of Roses | Patty Griffin | Thirty Tigers |
| 5 | Hysteria | Billy Jeter | Shine Eye |
| 6 | Armageddon in a Summer Dress | Sunny War | New West |
| 7 | So Many Wows | Lucie Blue Tremblay | Self-Release |
| 8 | Flesh and Bone | Cynthia Marchant | Self-Release |
| 9 | Daggomit! | Max Wareham | Self-Release |
| 10 | My One and Only | Nathan McEuen | Self-Release |
| 11 | 1988 | Lori McKenna | Thirty Tigers |
| 12 | I Only See the Moon | The Milk Carton Kids | Far Cry |
| 13 | Harbortowne | Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus | Berkalin Records |
| 14 | Field of Stars | John McCutcheon | Appalseed |
| 15 | Middle | Jesse Welles | Self-Release |
| 16 | Heat of July | Briscoe | ATO |
| 17 | Made to Wander | The Crowe Boys | EMI |
| 18 | XOXO | The Two Peas | Self-Release |
| 19 | Love Unfettered | Marie-Rose | Self-Release |
| 20 | Hear My Call | Cristina Vane | Blue Tip |
| 21 | Paper Flowers | Tim O'Brien | Howdy Skies |
| 22 | Lost Dog | Olive Klug | Signature Sounds |
| 23 | Reclamation | Crys Matthews | Self-Release |
| 24 | Returning to Myself | Brandi Carlile | Interscope |
| 25 | Maybe New Mexico | Helene Cronin | Self-Release |
| 26 | Dark Ages | Eliza Gilkyson | Realiza |
| 27 | Vignettes | Steve and Kristi Nebel | Ice Bird |
| 28 | Wait for the Night | Eric Schmitt | Self-Release |
| 29 | A Teacher, a Preacher, and a Bad Farmer | Ernie Palmer | Self-Release |
| 30 | Daylight Savings Time | Steve Forbert | Blue Rose |
| 31 | Larry Robbins: the Singles | Larry Robbins | Mazelations |
| 32 | It Matters | C. Daniel Boling | Perfectly Stable |
| 33 | Anything at All | Denison Witmer | Asthmatic Kitty |
| 34 | Some Kind of Truth | Kora Feder | Self-Release |
| 35 | Plus One | The War and Treaty | Mercury Nashville |
| 36 | Looking for the Thread | Mary Chapin Carpenter | Lambent Light |
| 37 | Mind, Man, Medicine | The Secret Sisters | New West |
| 38 | Reverie | Amble | Warner |
| 39 | After Tale | Eva Rose King | Rose King |
| 40 | As the Chaos Unfolds | Rhona Macfarlane | Self-Release |
| 41 | Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove | Caitlin Canty | Tone Tree |
| 42 | Exploding Star | Heather Maloney | Signature Sounds |
| 43 | Weary Ramblers | Weary Ramblers | Self-Release |
| 44 | Spirit Ridge | Dean Owens | Self-Release |
| 45 | Butcher Holler | Eilen Jewell | Signature Sounds |
| 46 | Flying with Angels | Suzanne Vega | Cooking Vinyl |
| 47 | Smithereens | Dan Reeder | Oh Boy |
| 48 | If the Sky Fell | Michael Henchman | Self-Release |
| 49 | Letters | The National Forest | Tiny House |
| 50 | Break of the Tide | The Lil Smokies | Americana Vibes |
| 51 | Winter Grace | Shane Pendergast | Corran Ban |
| 52 | Salt River | Sam Amidon | River Lea |
| 53 | What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow | Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson | Nonesuch |
| 54 | American Recordings | Truman Sinclair | R&R |
| 55 | Echolalia | Echolalia | Full Time Hobby |
| 56 | Gardens Old, Flowers New | Tom Rush | Appleseed |
| 57 | Heart Go Wild | Caroline Spence | Tone Tree |
| 58 | Born into a Blizzard | Jefferson Berry & the UAC | Urban Acoustic |
| 59 | Songs Worth Saving | Suzie Brown | Mule Kick |
| 60 | Love, Dan | C. Daniel Boling | Perfectly Stable |
| 61 | The Wind Will Change Again | The Twangtown Paramours | Inside Edge |
| 62 | Cracks | The Lowtimers | Alabama Sound Company |
| 63 | All Hat | Joshua Hedley | New West |
| 64 | Animal Poem | Anna Tivel | Fluff & Gravy |
| 65 | Unentitled | John Gorka | Red House |
| 66 | Run to the Center | Cornelia Murr | 22TWENTY |
| 67 | What It Takes | May Erlewine | Ten Good Songs |
| 68 | Lonesome Road | Joel Mabus | Fossil |
| 69 | Trailblazer | Lola Kirke | One Riot |
| 70 | Another Glory | Another Glory | Jealous Butcher |
| 71 | Lift Up This Old World | Hilary Hawke | Adhyâropa |
| 72 | Freeman's T.V Repair Shop | Darrin Bradbury | Like You Mean It |
| 73 | Always Here | Trampled by Turtles | Banjodad |
| 74 | Volume 4 | Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert | Dead Reckoning |
| 75 | Homegrown | Cole Quest and The City Pickers | Jalopy |
| 76 | Woman Creature (Portrait of a Woman, Pt. 2) | Mean Mary | Self-Release |
| 77 | Time out #3 | The Accidentals | Self-Release |
| 78 | Firetrail | Erin Durant | Ruination |
| 79 | Nature of Necessity | Adam Wright | Carnival |
| 80 | Woods | Darling West | Jansen |
| 81 | Beware Wolves Volume 9 | Beware Wolves | Aqualamb |
| 82 | Anarchist Gospel | Sunny War | New West |
| 83 | Party Lines | Romen Buffalo and The Loyal Order | Self-Release |
| 84 | I Love You, Say It Back | Joe Holt | Self-Release |
| 85 | All In! | Ray Wyatt | Self-Release |
| 86 | Anything Beautiful | Trevor Bahnson | Dimed |
| 87 | I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away | Hayden Pedigo | Mexican Summer |
| 88 | Alice Howe & Freebo (Live) | Alice Howe | Know Howe Music |
| 89 | Worrying Boy | Chris Rosser | Self-Release |
| 90 | Kentucky Queen | Carla Gover | Self-Release |
| 91 | Part Time Believer | The Strumbellas | Glassnote |
| 92 | Darkening Green | Kyle Morgan | Jalopy |
| 93 | These Days | Emily Hines | Keeled Scales |
| 94 | Wanderer | Ruth Moody | Blue Muse |
| 95 | Dreamer's Motel | Joachim Cooder | Temple Of Leaves |
| 96 | Desires Shape | Stoll Vaughan | Commonwealth Artist |
| 97 | Walkin' After Midnight | Eva Cassidy | Blix Street |
| 98 | The New Modern Hymns | Darrell Scott | Here |
| 99 | Time Will Finally Come | Wolf Jett | Hill House |
| 100 | Together on a Rock | The Pairs | Self-Release |
| 101 | Moon over Larrabee | Diane Hubka & The Sun Canyon Band | Self-Release |
| 102 | Fiction | Megan Bee | Self-Release |
| 103 | Cry Love | Paul Burch | Glider |
| 104 | Mood Ring | Joan Shelley | No Quarter |
| 105 | Tired of Trying | Joe Holt | Self-Release |
| 106 | Ghost Town | Nate Currin | Archaic Cannon |
| 107 | Dark Harvest | Malcolm MacWatt | Singular |
| 108 | Sonora | Lisa Morales | Self-Release |
| 109 | Blessed by the West | Sarah Pierce | Berkalin |
| 110 | All I Got and Gone | Chris Walz | Self-Release |
| 111 | Devil Rail | John Zipperer | Self-Release |
| 112 | Heart on a Wire | Carolyn Shulman | Self-Release |
| 113 | Across the Pond | JigJam | Self-Release |
| 114 | Ghost Tattoo | Kristen Grainger & True North | Self-Release |
| 115 | The Living Kind | John Smith | Commoner |
| 116 | One Deep River | Mark Knopfler | Blue Note |
| 117 | Cup of Sugar | Tim O'Brien | Howdy Skies |
| 118 | The Returner | Allison Russell | Birds of Chicago |
| 119 | Parry Lamont | Parry Lamont | Self-Release |
| 120 | Sky | Diane King | Self-Release |
| 121 | In These Silent Days | Brandi Carlile | Low Country Sound |
| 122 | Backroads | Johnsmith | Self-Release |
| 123 | Searching for a Home | David Hobbes | Self-Release |
| 124 | Only This Far | The Rough & Tumble | Self-Release |
| 125 | Pharmakon | Humbird | Green Thumb |
| 126 | Anaïs Mitchell | Anais Mitchell | BMG |
| 127 | Cover to Cover V1 | AJ Lee & Blue Summit | Signature Sounds Recordings |
| 128 | Silver Bell | Patty Griffin | New West |
| 129 | A Few Stars Apart | Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real | Fantasy |
| 130 | Bethlehem | Storyhill | Story Hills |
| 131 | Letting Go | Wolf Jett | Wolf Tracks |
| 132 | Life Wide Open | Laura Zucker | Trespass Music |
| 133 | Charlie Stevens | Charlie Stevens | Charlie Stevens |
To start reporting your play-list to the Roots Music Report Apply Here .