The 25 Best Songs of 2025
It’s been some year for music, so here’s our shortlist for the best tracks. Including Geese, Wet Leg, Blood Orange and Pulp.
2025 has brought us a lot of music. We won’t mention that one by Doechii by name in case it causes upset, but we’ll give you the cream of the crop instead.
25. Tame Impala — My Old Ways
A five-year wait saw Kevin Parker’s return with Deadbeat, and despite the initial disappointment, My Old Ways can be seen as the lone shine that cuts through an otherwise muted comeback. Kevin Parker’s psychedelic house-styled track fuses repetitive piano sequences with his signature punchy drums and ultimately a killer melody riding atop his falsetto vocals.
24. Finn Wolfhard — Objection!
Objection! balances wistful memories with sharper moments of self-questioning, giving it an honest emotional confession. Despite lyrics focus on winter months, Objection! leans into a breezy, guitar-led sound that recalls beachy Americana, with hints of classic rock strumming filtered through a modern indie lens. This ultimately highlights Wolfhard’s growing confidence as a songwriter and his knack for crafting memorable indie pop.
23. sombr — 12 to 12
2025 was sombr’s breakthrough year with hits: back to friends and undressed, but 12 to 12 was the one that personally stuck out. 12 to 12 mixes centuries of sounds with a 1980s synth-pop and 1970s funk feel to a track that is ultimately made for the dancefloor.
22. Momma — I Want You (Fever)
Momma’s lead single from their critically acclaimed record Welcome to My Blue Sky is a summer sickness framed by their signature distorted vocals, painting the rivalry between two people once their relationship has ended. It’s a summer road trip song disguised under the haze of an emotional fallout.
21. CMAT — When A Good Man Cries
CMAT’s pop-country banger blends the sharp wit and melodic drama of If My Wife New I’d Be Dead with her newly flexed indie-popstar persona, casting herself as the ‘Dunboyne Diana’ in a self-pitying plea to her lover. If 2025 has proven anything, it’s that CMAT has firmly secured her crown of crafting irresistibly catchy melodies.
20. Sam Fender — Rein Me In
Emerging from the emotional weight of People Watching, Rein Me In flaunts Sam Fender’s gift for reflection on a world shaped by memory, regret and longing. It unfolds with a quiet confidence, proving that refinement, not reinvention, is often where a song finds its deepest power.
19. Fontaines D.C. — Before You I Just Forget
A shift in band arrangements occurs on this Romance deluxe track, with the bands established guitarist Conor Curley overtaking verses with a baritone monologue on the societal disillusionment that comes with conformity. Envisioned initially as a blown out rock song, the track slowly morphed through production choices into something far more immersive and subtle.
18. PinkPantheress — Stateside
With Stateside, PinkPantheress continues to prove she’s one of the sharpest architects of modern pop nostalgia, reviving classic EDM beats without ever sounding too similar. The track flows on elastic synths, nodding to late-2000s dance-pop. Lyrically, it thrives on obsession and double meanings slipping easily between sweetness and fixation. Production from New York cool kid The Dare sharpens the edges, balancing blown-out bass with glossy electronic synth interludes.
17. Djo — Lonesome Is A State Of Mind
An eerie, whistling synth introduces the track before Joe Keery’s vocals arrive, softened by a vintage filter that feels both intimate and distant. The song unfolds patiently, building toward a fuller chorus as drums and layered instrumentation ease into place. Beneath its pop-leaning exterior, the track wrestles with solitude, self-reliance, and the quiet reckoning of growing older. It’s an inviting opener to The Crux that signals an artist embracing the change towards acceptance in one’s identity.
16. Hayley Williams — Mirtazapine
Mirtazapine is Hayley Williams at her most devastating, a song confessing her emotional dependency on antidepressants towards the simplicity of everyday acts. It’s the lyrical genius of comparing life with and without this prescribed crutch, drifting far beyond Paramore’s safer instincts. Williams leans back into her rock roots, her voice shifts from soft, acoustic confessions to fractured screams as the song reaches its breaking point.
It’s a balancing act between immediacy and impact, marrying a catchy melody with emotional collapse, and proving her range stretches well past familiar boundaries. Unapologetically catastrophic, Mirtazapine stands as one of the most vulnerable and captivating moments on Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party.
15. HAIM — Down to be wrong
Down to be wrong arrives midway through HAIM’s I Quit as a quiet standout and an instant career highlight. Built on a restrained, shuffling groove, the track recalls the reflective ease of Women in Music Pt. III, while sharpening it with a newfound resolve.
Danielle Haim’s vocal carries a Bob Dylan-style looseness, tracing the uneasy power of choosing to leave rather than be left. The verses remain subdued, almost conversational, before the song opens up into a soaring, guitar-led solo that feels both freeing and frightening. There’s no neat moral here, just the raw instinct to walk away and live with the consequences.
14. Lorde — Hammer
Hammer opens Lorde’s Virgin in a state of tension, capturing her at her most self-questioning. Built on chopped percussion and Jim-E Stack’s restrained production, the track simmers, letting uncertainty sit at its core.
Lorde frames desire as both impulse and risk, reflecting on identity and the chaos of wanting. The verses remain tightly controlled before erupting into a distorted synth-pop chorus that feels deliberately overwhelming. As an opener, Hammer sets the tone perfectly for an album showcasing Lorde at a lyrical and emotional peak.
13. Wolf Alice — The Sofa
On The Sofa, Wolf Alice concludes the quiet revelations of The Clearing into one of the album’s most affecting moments. Ellie Rowsell delivers a performance that feels weightless on the surface, her vocals drifting gently as if unbothered, while something heavier lies beneath.
The song captures the uneasy stillness of adulthood as she battles with the pull between ambition and routine while refusing to let go of youth’s recklessness. In its restraint, The Sofa becomes a defining statement of a band learning to sit with the uncertainty of growing up rather than running from it.
12. NewDad — Misery
Misery is NewDad at their most confrontational, a track that leans into tension without losing its melodic pull. Julie Dawson’s vocals move confidently in restraint, carrying a sense of bottled-up frustration that finally spills over in the chorus.
The song thrives on uneasy moments that give way to something louder and more unhinged, mirroring the spiral of intrusive thoughts the track seems to focus on. Darker and more surreal than much of their earlier work, Misery highlights NewDad’s growing artistry.
11. Divorce — Hangman
Hangman sees Felix Mackenzie-Barrow step forward on vocals, drawing directly from his time working in the care sector. The song centres on the responsibility and genuine desire to support others. Musically, Divorce blends alt-country touches with subtle pop theatrics, keeping the track accessible without dulling its emotional impact.
Hangman reflects the tension between personal ambition and selflessness without overstating either. Mackenzie-Barrow’s vocal delivery pairs neatly with the band’s textured instrumentation, making Hangman a clear highlight.
10. Loyle Carner — all i need
all i need captures Loyle Carner at his most open, turning self-doubt into quiet comfort. Over a gentle, guitar-led backdrop, he admits exhaustion and emotional strain, but the song slowly reframes those feelings into something steadier and more hopeful.
The production stays minimal, allowing Carner’s subdued delivery to sit front and centre, his voice carrying a calm conviction as the track unfolds. Repetition becomes its strength, with the title looping like a mantra, gradually gathering weight through soft keys and subtle layering.
The song reflects how fatherhood has reshaped Carner’s emotional world, presenting love and family not as responsibilities but as sources of grounding and comfort during moments of anxiety and doubt.
9. Chappell Roan — The Subway
First exposed in front of live audiences, The Subway captures Chappell Roan at her most exposed and emotionally aware. Built on glistening dream-pop guitars and a slow, aching swell, the song turns a mundane urban setting into a theatre for heartbreak.
Roan writes with a sharp eye for the way grief ambushes you in the simplistic resemblances of everyday life, reopening wounds you thought had healed. The real triumph lies in Roan’s vocal performance, which climbs steadily toward a full-blown outro pure in devastation. It’s a reminder that pop heartbreak, when done this well, can feel entirely surreal.
8. The Last Dinner Party — Agnus Dei
The Last Dinner Party immediately reassert their flair for drama, condensing emotional unrest into a tightly controlled five-minute statement on Agnus Dei. Driving drums propel the track forward as melodic guitars coil around Abigail Morris’ unmistakably theatrical vocals.
Morris frames romance as both temptation and sacrifice, torn between the promise of admiration and the ache for something steadier. The title’s religious weight underscores that tension, casting love as an act of faith rather than certainty. Agnus Dei sets a richer tone for a band pushing deeper into mythological metaphors to represent emotion and self-examination.
7. Geese — Au Pays du Cocaine
Cameron Winter channels the universal ache of trying to salvage a failing relationship, his voice ragged as if it’s carrying every ounce of frustration and hope. Even amid the intensity, Winter’s final hopeful lines offer a glimmer of possibility, suggesting that not all is lost. It’s a compelling fusion of heartbreak and optimism, a track that cements Geese’s reputation as one of 2025’s most compelling rock acts.
6. Dijon — Yamaha
Yamaha finds Dijon blending 80s-inspired R&B with modern electronic production, crafting a track that’s equally playful and sensual. The track opens with bright piano, layered vocals, and trap-style drums, instantly drawing the listener in, while occasional hip-hop ad-libs add a playful unpredictability, providing a dynamic backdrop for Dijon’s expressive delivery.
His voice remains the centrepiece, conveying emotion while navigating the track’s shifting textures. By the end, Yamaha showcases Dijon’s ability to merge traditional R&B influences with contemporary styles through his traditional combination of classic slow jams with experimental production.
5. Blood Orange, Caroline Polachek, Lorde & Mustafa — Mind Loaded
Blood Orange’s Mind Loaded is Dev Hynes once again proving how fluently he can reshape pop history without drowning in nostalgia. The track leans into glossy ’80s synth-pop, but it’s layered with modern electronic touches, subtle drum rhythms, and a classical feel that keeps it feeling contemporary.
Despite featuring multiple high-profile collaborators, the song never feels overcrowded. Instead, their voices blend seamlessly, each adding a distinct emotional texture without competing for attention.
The shifting vocals and piano lines give the track a restless quality, mirroring its themes of emotional weight and loss. Hynes’ closing lines quietly anchor the song, leaving Mind Loaded feeling cohesive and carefully constructed rather than indulgent.
4. CMAT — EURO-COUNTRY
On EURO-COUNTRY, CMAT delivers the clearest statement of intent on her third album, folding personal history into a wider reflection on Irish identity. The track opens by splitting itself in two, moving between languages and voices as if to represent the belonging and distance that defines its subject.
Musically, it blends country-pop with nods to traditional Irish sounds. CMAT frames her relationship with Ireland through memories shaped by the Celtic Tiger era and the fallout of the 2008 crash. The chorus lands with bruised grandeur, her voice straining, turning fragmentation into something defiant. It’s a powerful centrepiece of awareness for someone so silly in a world on the brink of collapse.
3. Geese — Taxes
Geese’s Taxes showcases the chaotic promise of the Brooklyn band into three breathless minutes, confirming why they’ve become a cult obsession in 2025.
Frontman Cameron Winter turns the dull inevitability of tax returns into something existential, using it as a substitute for all the things we cling to but eventually are forced to give up. There’s humour in his lyrics, but also an emotional clarity as his vocal swings between wounded yelps and knowing resolve.
The band gradually build toward a release where chiming guitars and loose grooves finally lock into place, showcasing Geese’s ability to elevate everyday dread into something emotionally charged. Taxes capture a band learning how to shape chaos into relief, arriving at a moment that feels effortless.
2. Pulp — Spike Island
Pulp’s first new single in over a decade, Spike Island, is less a nostalgia trip than a sharp reflection on why the band mattered in the first place. Referencing the infamous Stone Roses concert, often sought out as a Britpop origin point, Jarvis Cocker uses the setting to question artistic legacy.
Set to an indie-disco groove, the track feels immediately familiar without sounding stuck in the past, recalling Different Class in spirit rather than imitation. Cocker sounds energised as he reasserts his role as a true one of a kind performer.
1. Wet Leg — catch these fists
After three years of silence, Wet Leg return sounding like a band that’s finally shaken off any lingering shyness and stepped fully into their own skin. catch these fists is pure confrontation set to sharp post-punk momentum, brimming with confidence and wicked humour.
Rhian Teasdale commands the track with ease and self-assurance, reiterating the defiance against unwanted male attention. The guitars snap with precise intent, while the rhythm section keeps everything defiantly restless. It’s unmistakably Wet Leg, only louder in spirit and sharper in focus. A comeback this assured doesn’t just silence doubts, it defines a year.