What an incredible 2025 it’s been in the world of prog. This year, we’ve taken a different approach to our Critics’ Choice and instead of printing our writers’ Top 20 lists, we’ve pooled them to create a definitive Top 50 with profile pieces on some of the key players. Did your favourite make the cut? We look forward to reading your thoughts on the results.

Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery embraced his more electronic side this year with Bioscope, his soundscape project with Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning. But he’s not ditching the day job: work is well underway on Marillion’s next studio album, and there’s his long-awaited collaboration with a certain Mr Hackett still to come.

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Since his previous English album My Name Is Michael Holbrook limped into the UK charts at No.57 in 2019, Mika has appeared to focus on the French side of his Paris/London dual upbringing. In 2023, Que

De La Soul’s ninth album Cabin In The Sky, cruises at 30,000 feet and rising, a welcome trajectory given all the turbulence the Long Island hip-hop collective have left behind. Legends in their own li

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