From the mainstream to the underground, 2025 was another amazing year for Zimbabwean music. So many artists put their best foot forward, which saw legacies being created and others being extended. We were there for it all and here's our selection of the 10 standout albums from 2025:
10 - Those Around Me by RayKaz
Ray’s music has never shied away from exploring deep vulnerability and soul searching, themes I feel mainstream Zim hip hop, perhaps even mainstream Zim music in general, tends to be less intentional about. However, in TAMT he dials that up to eleven. Unlike before, where he undertook that challenge by being the protagonist of his music, this time discusses his complex upbringing, and his unique, possibly strange, standing in the local music industry through the various lenses of those around him.
9 - Royalty by Tamy Moyo
Tamy Moyo's fourth studio album, is an embrace of healing, heritage and the pinnacles of African pop stardom that the singer has reached. It arrived riding on the wings of the Royalty Trilogy, a trio of performances the singer delivered on the 6th, 13th and 25th of December 2025. While Bold, the singer's preceding album, was littered with pop sensibilities that could easily be found on any global chart, Royalty feels more grounded in Zimbabwean sonic inspirations.
8 - Gemma by Gemma Griffiths
While it presents a very different Gemma from the one that started singing 10 years ago, Gemma The Album offers up a snapshot of that decade long career. The sounds presented here are reminiscent of her work on Pamwe EP and The Girl From Harare EP, yet better honed. A cultural and sonic annal, celebrating growth and the place Gemma Griffiths calls home.
7 - Rhaka Rhaka by ExQ
Rhaka Rhaka the album is ExQ taking the artistic liberty (surely one of Zimbabwe's greatest Shona lyricists wouldn't make such a spelling mistake) of spelling the name of the game how it sounds. Utilising the name as a euphemism for the game of love, it is quite apt for an album seeped in folklore.
In essence "Rhaka Rhaka" is a sport and colloquially love "masports," which tells you everything about what ExQ talks about on this project. While love is a subject that can never be exhausted, this album's biggest surprise is that ExQ still has stories on the topic that he hasn't told us before, and worthwhile stories for that matter.
6 - Musoro weNzou by Holy Ten
Musoro weNzou's soundscapes pay homage to the sounds that have defined Zimbabwean music, while remaining current. Inclined to the album titled, the theme that comes to the fore throughout the project is "heavy is the head that wears the crown." Yet not in terms of being the king of hip hop or the occupier of any other public position but in terms of responsibilities.
5 - Gender Iih (The Woman King) by Nisha Ts
On the back of this growing success and artistic acceptance, Gender iiH (Woman King) arrives buoyant with emotion and rhythm. While seeped in influences of the past, it has a youthful exuberance that places it very much in the moment. This is the driving force behind her debut album Gender iiH (Woman King), a cauldron of Afrodancehall that seasons the sound born in Jamaica with West African influences and a lot of Zimbabwe's traditional sounds.
4 - Tarantino by Kae Chaps
Inspired in name by film director Quentin Tarantino, the album is as graphic as the film productions of it's namesake. Where Vanga was the story of Kae Chaps versus the world, and It's Not Me It's You was Kae Chaps' battle with love, Tarantino is Kae Chaps facing his inner demons (a major one being his relationship with alcohol). He is both the documentary maker and subject.
3 - Ndini Mukudzeyi by Jah Prayzah
A deeply spiritual body of work, Jah Prayzah's eponymous album is arguably his most thematically coherent and lyrically potent album in recent memory with the slight caveat that you can say that about most of his offerings. Rich in traditional sounds as we've come to expect from the artist, the album is a reclamation of self in all facets.
2 - Pariah by Shona Prince
Pariah is Shona Trap Soul, a contemporary RnB album with a multitude of influences that tell a story of love, faith and personal doubts. Over trap, Afrobeats and Afropop instrumentals, Takura allows himself to be vulnerable and introspective, while still within the context of Zimbabwe’s current zeitgeist. It is brilliantly executed, and only exceeded by its deluxe version.
1 - Pariah (Deluxe) by Shona Prince
Pariah (Deluxe) might be an extension of the album that preceded it in subject matter, but as far as the music goes, it's an entirely new project. While Pariah revels in genre bending soundscapes, Pariah (Deluxe) is RnB purest form and herein lies it's brilliance. At it's heart it's still sees Takura on a journey to find himself. In some instances it feels like we're privy to the singer's therapy session.