- Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba – Ba Power – Glitterbeat Records
- Sam Lee & Friends – The Fade in Time – The Nest Collective
- Bixiga 70 – III – Glitterbeat Records
- Monsieur Doumani – Sikoses – Monsieur Doumani
- Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino – Quaranta – Ponderosa Music & Art
- Lila Downs – Balas y Chocolate – Sony Music
- Ludovico Einaudi – Taranta Project – Ponderosa Music & Art
- Efrén López – El Fill del Llop – Buda Musique
- Cheikh Lô – Balbalou – Chapter Two Records
- Songhoy Blues – Music in Exile – Transgressive Records
- Totó la Momposina – Tambolero – Real World Records
- Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal – Musique de Nuit – Nø Førmat! / Six Degrees Records
- Lura – Herança – Lusafrica
- BKO Quintet – Bamako Today – Buda Musique
- Kapela Maliszów – Mazurki Niepojęte – Karrot Kommando
- Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band – Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band – Strut Records
- Kandia Kouyaté – Renascence – Sterns Music
- Taraf de Haïdouks – Of Lovers, Gamblers and Parachute Skirts – Crammed Discs
- Buena Vista Social Club – Lost and Found – World Circuit
- Kardeş Türküler – Kerwanê – Network Medien / Membran / Kalan Müzik
- Terakaft – Alone – Outhere Records
- Tiganá Santana – Tempo & Magma – Ajabu!
- Kelly Thoma – 7 Fish – Kelly Thoma
- El Naán – Código de Barros – ARC Music
- Mbongwana Star – From Kinshasa – World Circuit
- Dizu Plaatjies and Friends – Ubuntu-The Common String – Mountain Records
- Amadou Balaké – In Conclusion – Sterns Music
- Youssou N’Dour et le Super Étoile de Dakar – Fatteliku (Live in Athens 1987) – Real World Records
- Carles Dénia i La Nova Rimaire – L’Home Insomne – Comboi Records
- Griselda Sanderson – Radial – Waulk Records
- Souad Massi – El Mutakallimûn – Wrasse Records
- Samba Touré – Gandadiko – Glitterbeat Records
- Le Vent Du Nord – Têtu – Borealis Records
- Vieux Farka Touré & Julia Easterlin – Touristes – Six Degrees Records
- Fatoumata Diawara & Roberto Fonseca – At Home – Jazz Village / Harmonia Mundi
- Anouar Brahem – Souvenance – ECM Records
- Daby Touré – Amonafi – Cumbancha
- Titi Robin avec Mehdi Nassouli – Taziri – World Village / Harmonia Mundi
- Blick Bassy – Akö – Nø Førmat!
- The Souljazz Orchestra – Resistance – Strut Records
- St Germain – St Germain – Nonesuch Records
- Anoushka Shankar – Home – Deutsche Grammophon
- Seckou Keita – 22 Strings – ARC Music
- Officina Zoè – Mamma Sirena – Anima Mundi
- Te Vaka – Amataga – Warm Earth Records
- Lamia Bedioui & The Desert Fish – Athamra – Lamia Bedioui & The Desert Fish
- Den Sorte Skole – Indians & Cowboys – Den Sorte Skole
- Bolo – Bolo – Bolo Music
- Čači Vorba – Šatrika – Oriente Musik
- Mahsa Vahdat – Traces of an Old Vineyard – Kirkelig Kulturverksted
Members of the TWMC panel (Best of 2015 vote): Ángel Romero (US), Juan Antonio Vázquez (ES), Araceli Tzigane (ES), Seth Jordan (AU), Tony Hillier (AU), Charlie Crooijmans (NL), Patrik Lindgren (SE), Nigel Wood (IE), Dore Stein (US), Roger Holdsworth (AU), Madan Rao (IN), Gil Medovoy (US), Chris Heim (US), Ciro De Rosa (IT), Scott Stevens (US), Hendrick T.S. Foh (MY), Cliff Furnald (US), Jaïr Tchong (NL), Rob Weisberg (US), Toni Polo (FR/ES), Nicolás Falcoff (AR), Masakazu Kitanaka (JP), Jordi Demésenllà (ES), Rafael Mieses (DO), Luís Rei (PT), Jean Trouillet (DE), Evangeline Kim (US), Willi Klopottek (LU/DE), Betto Arcos (MX/US), Thorsten Bednarz (DE), Alejandro López (ES), Jon Kertzer (US), Ken Stowar (CA), Jiří Moravčík (CZ), Ian Anderson (GB), Mu Qian (CN), Carlos Ferreira (PT), Dubi Lenz (IL), Anna Rzhevina (RU), Gil Rouvio (IL), Bouna Ndiaye (SN), João Flávio Lima (BR), Kutay Derin Kugay (TR)