It's that time of the year again where I broadcast my 100 favorite songs of the preceding year and play short clips of songs that I liked slightly less than those 100. This time it will be a 2 part broadcast:
- 100-51 on Saturday the 7th from 7:30 PM AEDT - 50-1 on Sunday the 8th slightly earlier from 7 PM AEDT
I figured that I was getting a bit fatigued with the Sam Fender sound despite generally still liking his music. That might still be true but he’s managed to pop back up here with one of his mid-tempo efforts. It’s a good tune all around but the repeated ‘Do you have to know me?’ at the end is what has pushed it to these heights for me.
Previous entries (as a reminder I don’t include placements in previous entry tables):
Boys Go To Jupiter followed up their breakout 2024 on my list with their debut album… that mostly consists of songs released before 2025. Fortunately they would release a couple of singles near the end of 2025 including “Revenge Tour”. It isn’t quite as ambitious as “Virginia” but it’s certainly in line with the sound of that. The pause makes a bit more sense in the music video.
Portrait of My Heart is a consistently good album that perhaps doesn’t quite reach the heights of the first half of The Turning Wheel. “Destiny Arrives” could more or less be slotted right in with that first half though. Near the end of 2025 there was a remix of this that features Weyes Blood which feels like it would be the ploy to get it to #1 in the alternate universe where the pop charts are like the ACI.
Nep’s stage name is funny to me because it means ‘fake’ in Dutch. I can assure you she’s not AI however. This has a nice brass solo which is something that also applies to another song that’s coming up soon. I have to wonder if this has a parentheses title to distinguish it from “July” by Noah Cyrus.
It doesn’t feel like it’s been 5 years between albums for TOPS but that’s probably because they did release an EP in that time and their keyboard player Marci released a few solo singles I liked. Bury the Key was another solid album from them but the key track from it was this single.
Aly & AJ have been in their adult contemporary americana era since their 2023 album With Love From. For most people that’s probably when they lose interest but surprisingly not me. I think there’s been some good stuff on their last couple of albums with this as my favorite. You probably wouldn’t expect Aly & AJ to have one of the longer songs here but the extended instrumental bit with the piano really hits for me.
94. Droom Dit - Het Hart Bestaat Niet En De Rest Ook Niet
It’s been a few years but finally another Dutch language entry shows up here, which is really more on me than on the quality of Dutch music. Droom Dit (Dream This) are here with the title track of their album whose title roughly means The Heart Doesn’t Exist And The Rest Also Doesn’t. It reminds me a lot of “Left A Mark” by Petal, having a similar riff at the start and also going bigger about halfway. Considering that’s one of the more obscure songs in my 2010’s list I highly doubt it is intentional.
I really liked Reneé Rapp’s debut album but unfortunately her follow up just didn’t do it for me. “Mad” is a pretty strong single however which has prevented her from falling into a complete sophomore slump in the context of this list (I also think the album’s sort of hit “I Think I Like You Better When You're Gone” is solid enough). “Mad” is notably the only Reneé Rapp song where regular Remi Wolf collaborator Solomonophonic has a producer credit.
I’m just gonna say it: I think The Clearing is a pretty good album. It leans into 70’s soft rock influences which is a sound I enjoy maybe more than you’d expect. A lot of my favorite Wolf Alice aren’t their loud rock songs so the absence of those didn’t necessarily bother me. “Just Two Girls” is a total bop that I pretty instantly clocked as a likely post-album single.
Perhaps the people disappointed by the Wolf Alice album would like this deep cut from Welsh punk band Panic Shack. Unhinged is a word that certain sections of Gen Z seem to use a lot, really just for anything that’s even slightly weird. In the context of this song however it is a reference to the dating app Hinge. Oh and this is the other brass solo song.
Perhaps the ultimate proof that regularly listening to the ACI has an impact on this list. I liked this song from the first time I heard it but I didn’t think it would be anywhere near the top 100 when I started working on my list. Maybe that is the real chemical reaction.
I liked plenty of stuff on their debut but ‘moisturizer’ has made the Wet Leg hype feel fully justified. Though in typical me fashion my favorites on the album are maybe not the ones you’d expect. They certainly toe the line between corny and cute on the title drop of “pokemon” but it works for me. I like the part where the drums turn into “Whip It” (the DEVO one).
Cumulonimbus is a cool word for what essentially means big cloud. I have often said that I like it when songs have a violin in them and to me there is a novelty to hearing it in an indie rock context. The Ophelias’ album was produced by Julien Baker. She is the only one of the Boygenius trio to not have a solo entry in my top 100’s but at least she has this on her resume now.
I doubt that “Unoriginal” was many people’s favorite from the 2025 Magdalena Bay singles run. I am not confirming or denying whether it is mine for now which is probably revealing in and of itself. Sometimes I just need a little quirky tune.
This is perhaps the most Christmas coded song to appear in one of my lists even though the point is that Los Angeles is pretty warm in the winter (or any time of year really). Maybe I shouldn’t imply that Christmas being warm is unusual on an Australian forum. “Winter In LA” is a little slight but it’s also very pretty and sometimes that’s enough.
As I’m writing this “End of Beginning” is the #1 song on Spotify worldwide. You could say Djo is furthest from last. I am happy to give The Crux some flowers here, there’s some pretty solid stuff on it. “Link” is a bit of a glam rock/power pop (I’m covering my bases) throwback and it rips. I’ve never played a Zelda game but I’m sure Link has broken out of a chain in at least one of them.
Something that’s been happening more frequently since I stopped having a weekly chart is that I’ll add something to my playlist of songs I liked from the year, not really think about it for the rest of the year and then realize I’ve slept on it a little when I listen to everything again when making my list. This is certainly the case for “Running/Planning”. CMAT ratchets up the drama here in a good way as she often does.
I certainly won’t deny there is a formula to sombr’s music so far. Maybe his young age means he doesn’t have many other experiences to write about or maybe he’s just uncreative. I’ll commend him for committing to putting bridges in his songs since some pop music fans say they’ve been sorely missing from a lot of hits. “crushing” is the one of his that really does it for me. The percussion truly hits, which I think almost qualifies as a pun from me.
I find it interesting that Jessica Winter’s appropriately titled My First Album has a Wikipedia page but she herself does not (two people with the same name as her do). It’s a pretty good album too. This has the dubious honor of being the least voted song on the voting list of the 3voor12 Song van her Jaar countdown, which is partially my fault as I forgot to vote this year. Another ‘this grew on me while making the list’ situation. I want to say this is the best Kylie Minogue song of 2025 (I have not heard “XMAS”). Winter is indeed what comes after sun (unless you are in LA).
We have another Dutch artist aside from Droom Dit though me hearing of Min Taka through a non-Dutch context kind of lessens the notability for me. She is originally from Turkey and started off making music in Turkish before moving over to English. She does use the Turkish word aşkım in “Boston” which roughly means ‘my love’. I like it when a song uses the phrase ‘on and on and on’ and so forth.
In a massive betrayal apparently the part where I assumed hanbee was singing the words ‘always summer’ is actually ‘our summer’. It is not impossible that all the lyric sites I checked are wrong though. She would release an EP not long after this but this wasn’t on it. Instead it is part of a double single where both songs are about summer. There is another song later in the list that is even more appropriate to describe as ‘dreamy’ but this is a close second.
After are noted for their music being heavily influenced by late 90’s and early 00’s stuff. I find it interesting that it’s not exclusively stuff from that era that’s cool to like. “Baroque” is very much going for post-grunge. They recently released a cover of “Cold” by Crossfade which is something I don’t think most artists would touch. It reinforces that they’re doing this sound out of a genuine reverence. No, I’m not sure why they called it “Baroque” either.
It is certainly a bit of a gimmick to name a song after a very well-known band (yeah we just had “Boston” but that’s obviously not referring to the band) but I do think this transcends the gimmick. Considering the artist name it’s also funny that the one Fleetwood Mac song that’s directly referenced here is “Dreams”. As you could plausibly guess the song is about dating a bandmate. I like that even with me listening to triple j less than I used to I have at least 1 obscure Australian song a year here.
Something shifted (the tectonic plates). I feel like Rose Gray could become a bigger deal in the future. She’ll at least have the love of the Popjustice side of the internet (I mean I assume, I don’t really go there). Her album Louder, Please came out early in 2025 so a lot of it is 2024 singles but luckily this one isn’t. “Tectonic” is one of the more conventional pop moments but it’s a total delight. Alex Metric co-produced this which feels like a bit of a throwback though I don’t think he ever really stopped being active.
You’ve heard of death metal but now get ready for beth metal. Actually it sounds more like she’s saying ‘middle’ anyways. Since I don’t have much to say about this song in particular I’ll instead mention that one of the other singles The Beths released in 2025 is called “No Joy”. Just two days after that song was released previous entrant on my lists No Joy released a song called “Bits” which I presume is how they pronounce Beths in New Zealand.
I think I can appreciate what Deadbeat is doing while also acknowledging that it’s largely not for me. I’m not expecting a wide critical reappraisal in the future or anything but I’m sure it’ll find its niche. The Slow Rush did not get any top 100 entries in my list though so that’s one thing it has over that. Maybe “Piece Of Heaven” just found the cheat code into my list by using the “Orinoco Flow” synths (or something very similar at least) but I like hearing that sound in a different context.
Avalanche above, business continues below. This is one of three songs that Grace Ives released simultaneously. It is a bit more of an electronic direction compared to her previous appearances here. It is her first new music after a bit of a dark period in her life. I can certainly feel the overwhelmingness in “Avalanche”. Oh and because I’m sure you wanted to know: this came out only 1 week after the other “Avalanche” in the top 250.
I don’t think I had heard of Twen prior to 2025 but I’m glad to get across them now. This is the title track of their third album. It captures the feeling of hearing a 90’s rock song on a slightly below average radio which to be clear is a good thing. But I would say the big star here is that wobbly synth. The other song I really liked from this album also uses the phrase ‘fate euphoric’, in fact more often than this one, so I was worried I would confuse the two when ranking but I don’t think I did.
I’ve seen it said that Hatchie’s third album is a return to the dream pop/shoegaze sound of her debut after her second album had more straightforward pop influences. I don’t think I fully agree with that assessment but “Sage” has ended up higher here than anything from her second album. There’s a certain twinkliness to “Sage”. Twinkliness is not a real word but that’s not gonna stop me. The album was co-produced by Jay Som who like Hatchie had a pretty good 2019 here (I like Jay Som’s 2025 song “Float” but it did not quite make the top 250).
I think I initially was inclined to dismiss this because of how similar the production is to “HOT TO GO!” but really a song sounding like another song I like tends to be a pretty good way to get a spot here. I’ll give it credit for having an interesting subject matter also. Actually this isn’t even the only song about modern dating to have appeared today but I do think this comes at it from a more cynical angle than “Unhinged”. I’m surely the first person to compare these 2 songs.
As someone who’s primary source of thinking what to write in these is ‘(song) sounds like (other song)’, Jessica Winter’s music is a bit of a goldmine. I’ve already mentioned Kylie Minogue but I certainly hear a bit of Goldfrapp too, another song on the album sounds quite a bit like “Laura” by the Scissor Sisters and “All I Ever Really Wanted” has that bit in the chorus where the melody sounds exactly like “Paparazzi”. This is not to dismiss her, I think it’s all generally quite well done. Maybe it’s a remnant bit of rockism in me but I like the guitar in this (it might not be real but it sounds good).
It’s hard to not think about the relatively well known The Cure song with the same name. I guess the main difference is that The Cure song is 3 times as long. Alien Boy have said they were more influenced by The Smashing Pumpkins and Third Eye Blind on this album anyways. It’s a catchy and upbeat song but I would say its lyrics about a crush are not very happy which is of course not uncommon in upbeat songs (I guess this is where the Third Eye Blind influence comes in).
68. MARIS (feat. Caroline Kingsbury) - Give Me A Sign
I had listened to some of Caroline Kingsbury’s music earlier in 2025 and while it was solid I didn’t add anything to my playlist. I came across MARIS near the end of 2025 and thanks to this collaboration she has ended up here after all. It feels a bit too easy to compare this to the works of the artist whose name rhymes with ‘grapple drone’ but I think that’s what I have to do. Ignore that I literally mentioned her 3 songs earlier.
The gay rights continue! Kind of, as despite the title this is a duet between a man and a woman (but sadly still no chainsaw). The stereotype I have in my head of Windmill scene adjacent bands is that they all make songs that are quite long but Man/Woman/Chainsaw boldly avoid that direction by making “Adam & Steve” barely two and a half minutes.
It feels wrong to write anything about Debbii Dawson and not use the word ABBA once. Aside from being an obvious influence on her music she first got attention by auditioning for America’s Got Talent with a “Dancing Queen” cover. That said I think “Gut Feelings” goes for more of a general 80’s thing. It’s my favorite of a pretty solid run of 2025 singles from her.
As someone who was a big fan of 3D Country seeing Geese get a lot of hype in 2025 was a weird feeling. I did end up liking Getting Killed a fair bit after initially being mixed on it (it will never not be funny to work the phrase ‘getting killed’ into a sentence). “Cobra” was one I took to quite instantly though if anything it has gone the other way for me just slightly as I think it underperformed here a little. I’m not too surprised it became one of the most popular songs from the album.
Allie X’s latest album came out less than 2 years after her previous one which I think is why I didn’t realize it was coming out until right before it did. It makes sense that I took to “Reunite” because I like a good bit of harpsichord (maybe this is the song that should have been called “Baroque”). Actually the only other harpsichord song I can think of to have made my lists is “Feel You” by Julia Holter but that’s a strong enough example to justify my statement. It could just be that the phrase ‘I want you back’ appears right before it but the chorus does make me think a little of “I Want You Back” (the Jackson 5 one).
We have the shortest song in this year’s top 100 here but I think it stands out for a major reason aside from that. This really comes out of nowhere on the Dove Ellis album as the rest of it does not sound like it would make sense to be played on a pirate ship. I could see a world where this becomes his best known song and people are caught off guard where the rest of his music doesn’t sound like it. It’s maybe the most upbeat song to be names after an illness symptom.
You know it’s not a Harpo cover because the title is written as two words. The main thing to note about the booyah! kids is that 2 of their 3 members are part of MICHELLE, a group that have had a few entries here in recent years. A third member of MICHELLE also worked on this and a few of their other recent singles. MICHELLE are currently on hiatus though this project has been around about as long as MICHELLE. This certainly isn’t far removed from MICHELLE sound wise but I could also believe this is a Yumi Zouma song if I didn’t know any better.
I came across Westside Cowboy in 2024 with the memorably lengthy title of their debut single “I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)”. They’ve made it here with their second single actually. “Shells” is a quite pretty and layered tune. I don’t think the sound is too far removed from the Windmill scene bands but Westside Cowboy are as you can maybe guess from the band name a little more Americana influenced to the point that they call their style Britainicana.
“Tossed Away” is also a quite pretty and layered tune. I would certainly describe this as a ballad but there are a lot of interesting production flourishes as well. While said flourishes add a lot for me I do also want to say that purely on a melodic and vocal level this is very strong too. This is nearly 5 minutes long and it doesn’t feel like that at all to me.
Lindsey French used to make music under the name Negative Gemini before changing it to the abbreviated Neggy Gemmy in 2021. I very much prefer the original name but what can you do. This is her first appearance in my lists under either name but her 2017 song “You Weren’t There Anymore” has aged very well for me. I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not but Polly Pocket is a doll. I feel like it’s something that’s far more well known in the United States than the rest of the world but I could be totally wrong.
I have been aware of Radio Free Alice since 2023 but this is their breakout here. “Toyota Camry” is maybe a little more polished than previous stuff I’ve heard from them but there is still enough of an edge for me. Coincidence alert: the phrase ‘killing time’ appears in the lyrics multiple times and this happens to be in the same position as “Killing Time” by Magdalena Bay last year. This did not happen with #34 which is where “Killing Time” by Nell Mescal was last year.
Honestly it didn’t register to me I put Wolf Alice back to back with Radio Free Alice until I wrote this. In contrast to their other entry today “The Sofa” needed a little bit of time to grow on me. The ACI and triple j are more or less the only places I’ll hear newer music I didn’t go out of my way to listen to myself. In this case it was a dual effort. This features what is probably my favorite use of the word ‘fuck’ in a song in 2025, there’s just so much emphasis on it.
Irish band Florence Road feel like they came a bit out of nowhere in 2025. They in fact formed in 2019 but had only released 1 single prior to 2025. They opened for Wolf Alice recently so we have a bit of a reversal here. I sort of liked their earlier single “Heavy” but its “Break The Girl” that ultimately made an impression here. This has a clear 90’s influence or, to be more specific, it reminds me a lot of “Two Princes” which I personally consider to be a good thing. Also it has a similar title to that one Red Hot Chili Peppers song.
55. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - March on for Pax Ramona
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets had a prolific 2025 with the release of 2 albums. I mostly stuck to the first one but I still appreciate the effort. I’m still not entirely sure how intentional the misspelling in the title of “March on for Pax Ramona” is. I’ve seen official sources like the music video spell it ‘correctly’ as ‘Pax Romana’ and the way it is pronounced in the song feels ambiguous. Nonetheless, a banger is a banger.
Confidence Man felt a bit gimmicky to me at the start. That might still be the case to some extent but they’ve been around long enough that they’re certainly not a flash in the pan at this point. What I mean is that some of their work is led more by comedic leaning lyrics that just happen to use 90’s influenced dance music as its vehicle but “Damaged Goods” is all about that beat baby. Though to immediately contradict myself my favorite part is actually the ‘ah ah ah ah ah ah ooh ooh ooh’ stuff.
To slightly misquote Alannah Myles: “Love Is” is what I got for you. Though unlike the Alannah Myles song Dove Ellis also reveals to us what he thinks love is not. Dove Ellis has opened for Geese and unlike “Jaundice” you can certainly hear the comparison to Cameron Winter’s solo material in particular here. I am mostly mentioning this as a set up to joking that Dove Ellis and Cameron Winter should do a collaboration called Dove Cameron.
To quote 6LACK’s 2018 single “Switch”: ‘I’m thinking about a Yamaha’. I pretty instantly clocked that this samples the ‘ha ha ha’ from “O Superman” by Laurie Anderson. I have mixed feelings about that song though I do appreciate that something so weird was a hit anywhere. I think it works great in this context though. On a more random note: model/actor Cara Delevingne has a writing credit on “Yamaha”. I am genuinely curious what her contribution is.
Black Country, New Road: they are still pretty good, I think. For those who need a refresher: original frontman Isaac Wood left the band after their second album, after a 2023 live album without him Forever Howlong is the first studio album with the new status quo where May Kershaw, Tyler Hyde and Georgia Ellery split lead duty. “Happy Birthday” is one of Tyler Hyde’s songs. I’m amused that the original name for this was “Kids” but because they didn’t want it to have the same title as the MGMT song they changed it to ‘a more famous song [title]’ as they themselves put it.
Without checking I’m pretty certain the second half of this list will be the longer one but we’re starting off with a quick one at least. My favorite Tyler, The Creator songs tend to be the bangers and “Stop Playing With Me” is no exception. This was the first song from DON’T TAP THE GLASS that I heard on triple j so I assumed it would be the big single. That turned out to very much not be the case but at least I have stood by it.
Previous entries:
2011
Yonkers
2017
911 / Mr. Lonely (feat. Frank Ocean & Steve Lacy)
2017
I Ain’t Got Time!
2022
Cash In Cash Out (with Pharrell Williams & 21 Savage)
Something that is not very obvious from hearing “Destiny Arrives” is that SPELLLING’s latest album is more rock influenced than her previous work. The album even ends with a cover of “Sometimes” by My Bloody Valentine which is something I didn’t realize when I listened to it because it is not one of the songs from Loveless I listen to regularly. “Love Ray Eyes” is a strong combination of the rock sound and SPELLLING’s usual grandiose tendencies.
From The Pyre is an improvement over The Last Dinner Party’s debut album for me though I do think their production can still be a little too slick at times. “This Is The Killer Speaking” did not make it in here but I want to shout out the part near the end where it turns into a 2000’s Arcade Fire song. “The Scythe” I consider to be their strongest song to date. The usage as death as a metaphor for the end of a relationship works because everything about the song’s tone feels like it’s more about the former than the latter.
After a few close calls Nation of Language make the top 100 for the first time here in a big way. I think Nation of Language have always been compared to New Order but this is maybe the most New Order they’ve ever sounded. The beat has a real good sense of momentum and when the ‘ooooooooooohhhhhhh’ hits at the end it’s a great payoff.
46. caroline (feat. Caroline Polachek) - Tell me I never knew that
What could have just been a gimmicky collaboration based on two artists having similar names turned out to be pretty great. Of course, putting Caroline Polachek on a windmill scene type beat is basically a summation of my music taste in the 2020’s. Attempting to take my own bias out of it though, I think her voice fits in really naturally with this style. This is from the album Caroline 2. So named because it’s the second album from the band caroline, not because one of the songs has another Caroline.
Black-eyed Susan is the name given to a few types of flowers. I assume Magdalena Bay are referencing one of those and not Australian band The Blackeyed Susans. All of the track 2’s of the Magdalena Bay double singles series seem to be the more out there of the 2 which I assume is part of why they’re all the less streamed one, aside from the idea that people are always more likely to just listen to the first one. “Black-Eyed Susan Climb” makes some odd decisions but I think it’s as catchy as any of their songs and to be fair it’s closer in streams to its track 1 than the other 3. I love those last 30 seconds, it makes me want to tapdance or something.
I think that Like Love would have been the album where Ball Park Music got permanently shuffled off to Double J if not for the fact that they are still very popular with the triple j audience. Aside from “Please Don’t Move To Melbourne” the songs on it are slower and a bit more mature. They have said that on “Pain & Love” they were going for a Beach Boys thing. I think it ended up landing closer to a more chill “Happy Together” by The Turtles but I am very much here for that as well.
I feel like this solidified Man/Woman/Chainsaw as the most pop of the windmill scene adjacent bands and that’s not just because this has more or less (no parentheses means less I guess) the same name as a rather well known pop song. Also she is in it like Lykke Li. The title is a lie as there are in fact 4 women in Man/Woman/Chainsaw. The remaining 2 members are both guys named William which is of great amusement to me (and still no chainsaws, of course).
“Damaged Goods” having already appeared lessens the impact a bit but even though there were Confidence Man songs I liked before I was still surprised I liked one of their songs this much. I’ve waited long enough to write this that I can mention that a lot of Hottest 100 voters apparently agreed with me. This isn’t even a sound I’m particularly nostalgic for but it’s just very well put together I think. It’s a surprising collaboration too even though JADE had already shown some inclinations towards making some more out there pop music.
41. Gelli Haha - Pluto is not a planet it’s a restaurant
The top Googe results for ‘Pluto restaurant’ are a restaurant in Denmark. I think in the context of this song however it’s meant as a fictionalized version of Pluto, the dwarf planet that is a restaurant. One of my favorite Dutch songs of all time once asked the question ‘Is there life on Pluto?’ and I guess the answer here is yes. This is a euphoric dance track whose limited number of vocals add a thick layer of anxiety to it. It repeats the phrase ‘I’m afraid’ roughly six times after all. A great closer to a great album.
I had been aware of Smerz for a few years but this is the first time they’ve really broken through for me. “You got time and I got money” feels like its in a world of its own musically paired with lyrics that are times specific in an oddly charming way. The cheap karaoke look of the music video adds to the vibe for me as well. It makes sense to me it became such a critical darling. You could argue its Pitchfork’s actual #1 song of 2025 since “Love Takes Miles” came out in December 2024 (“Love Takes Miles” only being my #242 of 2024 does feel a bit low in hindsight). The alternate version that has Clairo on it is pretty solid too.
It’s always interesting to me when a mostly stripped back song manages to hit for me. I feel like the key for “keeping it with me” might just be that it picked the right synth tone. A RUPTURE A CANYON A BIRTH by Jane Inc. is an album that is mostly about the near death car accident that she was in. “keeping it with me” specifically is about the break up with her partner that happened not long afterwards. It might not be obvious from this song but the other songs I really liked from the album are not too far off from what Jessica Winter or Rose Gray are doing.
They were already a reasonably eclectic band but feeble little horse push it to another level on “This Is Real”. It genuinely feels like a bunch of different songs stitched together but it somehow works. A specific factor that might have helped me like it more is the instrumental part around 1 minute in that sounds very similar to “No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire”, my #1 of 2024. It also has a weirdly similar intro to “Chemistry” by Gigi Perez. They were never actually in the ACI at the same time (they came out 2 weeks apart) but I would still think this was “Chemistry” at the start every time.
Nostalgia continues to impact this list in weird ways as “Florida Girl” very strongly reminds me of “Year 3000”, particularly their respective bridges. Since she is American (the title might have given this away) if the influence was intentional it would likely be through the Jonas Brothers version. I listened to that again to refresh myself and wow they sound so young. I kind of wish the rest of “Florida Girl” had more of the backing vocals thing in the first verse but it has done quite well here nonetheless.
It’s hard to not feel like Lola Young’s latest album was rushed a bit to maintain the momentum of “Messy”. I don’t want to veer into speculation too hard but I have also thought about how it might have contributed to her burnout later in the year. “Not Like That Anymore” did not get as much attention as the album’s other singles but I took to it pretty immediately. It fits in the specific category of songs that mention the album title but don’t have the same name as the album. Also this is another ‘on and on’ song, I wasn’t even thinking of this when I wrote the other blurb.
35. Black Country, New Road - For The Cold Country
This was very much a grower for me. Even when making this list I didn’t necessarily expect to rank it higher than “Happy Birthday”. This is a song that took a while to finish and I can totally see why. I’m personally imagining a lot of ‘how much of this should be the slower part and how much the faster part?’. This is one of May Kershaw’s songs. Since she was also behind “The Boy” I guess that puts her in the lead of my non-existent Black Country, New Road frontpeople power ranking.
It’s funny to rank this right above Black Country, New Road as I feel like Racing Mount Pleasant fills the gap for people who want Black Country, New Road to still sound like their first two albums. They are American though so no British engineering in this. To note a specific similarity the drums go pretty crazy here. Racing Mount Pleasant were named Kingfisher prior to 2025 so it’s possible the song title came before the band name. I’m playing the original version here but there’s a pretty good live version played in a living room on their YouTube page as well.
Ugly (or Ugly (UK) if Spotify is your god) continue to make music that is actually quite pretty (UK). The riff at the start sounds a bit like a sped up version of the riff from “Grounded” by Pavement. I don’t know if I’ll ever make some kind of 90’s list so I’ll take this opportunity to say that “Grounded” is a really great song. I feel like I usually subconsciously separate songs that fit in a similar category to each other when ranking. While I personally find that these last 3 songs have plenty of distinguishing qualities I can see how this feels like a bit of a Windmill scene section. I promise we’ll go in a different direction after this.
I think some of the song comparisons I make are just me hearing a vaguely similar melody and making a connection but I feel that “Picture Window” sounding a lot like “One Headlight” by The Wallflowers is pretty obvious. I like “One Headlight” but I didn’t hear it until I was an adult so I can’t say this got a nostalgia boost. “Picture Window” is about feeling anxiety about thinking that one of your loved ones might die in any given situation, which is a real feeling I have from time to time.
The pseudo 80’s synthwave sound doesn’t always hit for me but MARIS reaches the highs of absolute pop glory on both of her entries. Speaking of ‘highs’ and ‘glory’ “Mary + I” uses religious theming as part of its aesthetics but is actually primarily about marijuana. I like the concept of a euphemistic song where both sides of it could theoretically be controversial. This got a lot higher than I expected but then I suppose that’s the song’s entire premise.
These New South Whales are known for their louder rock songs that are often a bit tongue in cheek in tone but “GODSPEED” goes for a bit more of a serious vibe and is maybe a bit vaguely Britpop inspired. The song is about the freedom lead singer Jamie Timony felt after leaving Alcoholics Anonymous after 9 years, with him saying that a lot of the Alcoholics Anonymous experience felt cult-like to him.
It may not be a Yes cover but “Roundabout” gets a big yes from me. I’m not sure why The Beths bring out my worst jokes. “Roundabout” is perhaps the most sentimental song The Beths have ever put out. I can see how it could be a bit too mushy for certain people but it very much works for me. The bridge’s ‘Never change, unless you do, unless you want to’ feels like something that could be played comedically in another context but The Beths pull off making it sound completely sincere and sweet.
It’s back-to-back(seat) kiwi entries! I remember hearing “Backseat” in the new music hour on triple j while I was half awake in bed and I immediately went ‘Hey! What is this?’. I think the chorus is what grabbed my attention first but the outro is of course essential, I am glad the Hottest 100 played the full version. From what I gather, Balu Brigada got a lot of attention through opening for Twenty One Pilots. Aside from both getting a lot of American alternative radio play and both being duos I don’t think they’re too obviously similar. Speaking of, I don’t think I realized the chorus and verses are sung by different members (Balu Brigada are brothers).
I wrote last year that I should listen to Nourished by Time’s debut album and I did end up doing that (it’s pretty good!). I mention this now to say that this feels unique within his discography musically. If “Hell of a Ride” is what plays during the credits of the end of the world (that’s not what I wrote last year but I should have) “BABY BABY” is what plays right before it ends. He takes on the state of the world within the confines of one of the most energetic bangers of the year.
That’s strange, I didn’t think Djo had another top 100 entry. While I do hear “End of Beginning” in a lot of this I simultaneously think “Safeandsound” isn’t that far removed from what Parcels’ typical sound is. The reasons I ultimately prefer it to “End of Beginning” is that there is a lot more room to breathe and that it finishes on a much grander note. The lyrics were inspired by a podcast (potentially a cursed sentence) about the positives of not knowing what is going to happen in the future.
25. Car Seat Headrest - CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)
I guess I just really like it when a Car Seat Headrest song is roughly 8 minutes long. I’m surprised this is the second longest song to have made my top 100 this decade (behind “Snow Globes”). As in, I thought I had had more songs this long. When thinking about longer songs I assume that they inherently have less pop sensibilities but this has a very strong chorus. It admittedly doesn’t appear until nearly 4 minutes in but I think the buildup is really good too to be clear. In case you are wondering what CCF stands for: it is a reference to an old Cartoon Network programming block called Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.
Presentation really can be everything sometimes. Magdalena Bay releasing a bunch of loose singles comes off a lot better than throwing them all on a deluxe edition even if in theory it might not be that different. I think it helps that most of the songs feel like an evolution of their sound rather than something that didn’t quite make the album. “Second Sleep” is the one that feels like it would fit in with Imaginal Disk the most but that is by no means a bad thing either. It has got a real massive outro which I suppose is a regular strength for Magdalena Bay.
I didn’t include anything from McKinley Dixon’s 2023 album Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?! in my list at the time but I remember thinking it was pretty good. Great album name too. His latest Magic, Alive! is probably my favorite of the albums of his that I’ve heard. I think it’s again an album that is primarily strong all the way through rather than something with a lot of individual highlights but I think it’s well represented here by its title track. While his 2021 entries were both darker in tone, this feels like a complete celebration.
22, a placement. It doesn’t seem too crazy Bon Iver haven’t appeared here since 2016 when you remember that they only released 1 album between then and 2025 but consider that they did plenty of collaborations in that time and that the first part of their 2025 album was an EP in 2024 and it suddenly feels more notable. Since I didn’t know “erase me” at the time this is the first time Jacob Collier has a writing credit here, as well as Mk.gee who narrowly missed the top 100 last year. “From” feels like the Bon Iver yacht rock moment that honestly seemed inevitable.
It is that there already is a very popular song featuring the phrase ‘you’re (like) a dream to me’ but if I pretended that song didn’t exist (which I would never want to do because I’ve come to really love it in recent years) and I had to imagine a song prominently featuring that phrase it would probably sound exactly like this. “Dream” is purely a vibe but it is one of my favorite kind of vibes. It starts with a vocal sample from the obscure 1950’s radio show Dimension X. At least I assume it is obscure since the first Google results for ‘dimension x’ are about Stranger Things. With this appearance Neggy Gemmy has narrowly beaten her husband George Clanton’s highest placement in my lists.
I guess I just really like it when a JADE song peaks just outside of the top 50 in the UK. Apparently JADE’s label decided to place all the pre-released singles at the start of her debut album. I would say that’s better than putting them at the end but of course the artist’s own vision would be the best choice. This came out right before the album so when I heard “Unconditional” in the middle of it as the first new to me song it was a striking and immediate rush of excitement. She has described this as Donna Summer meets MGMT and it’s nice to have the comparisons done for me for once. She wrote this for her mom who was in the hospital with lupus at the time.
19. Magdalena Bay - This Is The World (I Made It For You)
Four double singles deep I would have assumed Magdalena Bay had ran out of ways to surprise me but then they whip out the accordion. Magdalena Bay have the most entries in the top 100 this year despite having less entries than in 2024’s list where they didn’t have the most entries. Actually, based on the last 2 years, maybe the key to having the most entries here is having painted cover art. This is surely the first time the most entries come from an artist that didn’t put out an album that year which honestly seems like something that could become more common in the future.
I was a bit slow in actively listening to new music at the start of last year so there was probably a solid 2 months where this was my favorite song of 2025. It has held up pretty well here all things considered. I think what initially won me over was when that extra synth comes in during the second pre-chorus. Maybe I was just happy to hear someone correctly pronounce ‘hyperbole’ in a song after what Natasha Bedingfield did 20 or so years ago (in her defense, I thought it was ‘hyperbowl’ for a long time too). I was gonna do a bit in my “Modern Romance” blurb that was like ‘even a 21st century cool girl struggles with modern romance sometimes’ but I didn’t want to imply this wasn’t coming up so here it is now.
In an alternate universe this was named “BABY BABY” and vice versa. It is funny to me that Dijon named his album Baby considering this was right after he worked with Justin Bieber. Some of the other people that worked on that like Tobias Jesso Jr and Mk.gee are involved with this as well. Both of them were also on “From” and Dijon is on the song on the Bon Iver album that’s right before it so I very much associate “From” with this song. I first heard this when triple j were featuring Dijon’s album. There were no pre-release singles so this was my first impression of it and I was quite impressed. The production is just so layered.
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15. fantasy of a broken heart - We Confront the Demon in Mysterious Ways
I think I’ve said in the past that one of my favorite types of music is genuinely out there music that also still functions as pop. I think this is the best example of that in this year’s list. I was intrigued by it on first listen but once I revisited it months later grew on me hard. It has a lot of catchy parts but it never fully locks into one place. I don’t think there is another song in this list with a higher amount of individual non-repeating lyrics. Both members of fantasy of a broken heart are also touring members of Water From Your Eyes which just explains so much. I wanted real love but I’m glad to have got this instead.
You’ve heard of “Dream” but what about 300 of them? I imagine I would have gotten across this at some point regardless but I want to shout out the triple j show Perfect Sundays for being where I first heard this. I feel like that show is what people who are disillusioned with the current direction of triple j wished it would sound like. “300 dreams” remains the best example of After going for a late 90’s/early 00’s sound without making it sound like a specific song. The closest comparison I can think of is “Pure Shores”. I actually think “Deep Diving” sounds a bit more like “Pure Shores” directly but that “300 dreams” captures the feeling I get when I listen to “Pure Shores”.
But in an incredible plot twist my favorite Y2K throwback song isn’t even by After. I think I have avoided describing any song as ‘hypnotic’ until now because there is no song that it applies more to than this one. “Chaser” is from an EP released the year after Wishy released their debut album which I haven’t heard so I don’t know if this is their typical sound. “Fly” from the EP which didn’t quite make the top 250 feels like a bit more of a typical indie rock number but it does have bongos. Lastly, Wishy’s lead singer is named Nina Pitchkites and I think that is pretty cool.
Okay enough of those 90’s and 00’s throwbacks it’s time for a 60’s throwback. I suppose we have already had “Pain & Love” but I think “Playin’ Dumb” commits to the bit even harder. Both of Tchotchke’s albums are produced by The Lemon Twigs who are a band that I think have similar sensibilities but I have seemingly never listened to them. The key changes stack up in a borderline ridiculous way near the end. There’s actually a pretty odd origin story for how I discovered this. I had become fascinated with the 60’s girl group novelty song “Egyptian Shumba” by The Tammys. Tchotchke had covered it live a few times and that made me want to hear their own music. I tend to hear a lot of music in ways that sometimes feel too weird to explain here like that.
Okay we’re not actually done with 90’s throwbacks just yet. Since I’ve really been harping on this the last few blurbs: I would say only one of the top 10 is overtly throwback-y. This does mostly the same things that “Pictures of You” does well but on a larger scale (i.e. catchy chorus, shiny riffs, nice guitar tones). To be clear “Changes” came out first and I heard it before “Pictures of You” as well, it’d be greatly convenient if all singles from artists appeared in chronological order here but that’s just not what happens usually. This was my biggest discovery to come from Stereogum’s best songs of the week list in 2025, I feel like Stereogum is probably my third pillar of new music discovery alongside this website and triple j.
Maybe I just made that album list to put Geese at #10 yet another time as “Cowboy Nudes” was #10 here 2 years ago as well. “Taxes” was Pitchfork’s #10 of 2025 as well but I swear I didn’t remember that when I did my ranking. I’m thinking about how beloved indie rock classic “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is one of the least lyrically dense songs to ever make the Billboard Hot 100. I believe “Taxes” has slightly more words but I would put in the same category of being a powerful song with a limited number of lyrics. I think it feeling like it was over rather quickly is why I initially didn’t click with “Taxes” though it didn’t take long after for that to change. The music video is memorable too, it seems like a standard live performance first before it transitions to the recorded version when the crowd gets rabid and people are, you might say, getting killed.
There has been plenty of pop in my list so far this year but while 2024 had a few fairly big hits present “Nobody’s Son” is probably by far the most popular song to make the top 100 in 2025 and it is only the fourth most popular song from its album. I think this falls into a very specific sub-category and that is ‘songs that sound like songs that sound like ABBA’. I think the obvious comparison is “The Sign” by Ace of Base but I also saw a comment comparing it to “The Land of Make Believe” by Bucks Fizz. I had never heard “The Land of Make Believe” before reading that comment. While I doubt that was an intentional influence I really do hear the similarity. The strings that play after the chorus also scratch a really specific itch for me. It feels like something out of an anime theme song though I don’t feel like I have the expertise to make that a valid statement.
Most of Mei Semones’ songs feature lyrics in both English and Japanese. That is also the case for “Sasayaku Sakebu”, the title of which roughly translates to ‘whisper yell’. Mei Semones’ debut album is pretty solid all the way through but it closes on what feels like the best version of everything that came before it. A tension filled mix of indie rock, string arrangements and building up in a 6 minute package that feels like a journey in its own right. I liked it from the first time I heard it but it really snuck up on me while making this list. I had not considered it as a top 10 contender but when it came down to it, it just felt wrong to rank it any lower than this.
I have not listened to most of the recent King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard albums in full for the petty reason of not wanting them to have incredibly inflated scrobble numbers for me. I figured that I should listen to Phantom Island because the orchestral sound that it apparently had seemed like it would be something that is up my alley. I didn’t get around to it until the end of 2025, long after they had taken all of their music off of Spotify (which I’m sure was a huge blow to the “Work This Time” heads). I guess I didn’t need to listen to it since their top 250 entries are 2 of the singles but it was a solid time still. Perhaps surprisingly “Deadstick” has become my favorite of theirs by far. It toes the line between cheesy big band tune and rock banger very well though I’m not sure anyone aside from me was clamoring for that combination. This does mean the highest song in this list to be on the Hottest 100 voting list was something I didn’t vote for but oh well.
I often compare songs here to older songs: partially because I like putting things in context and partially because it’s just an easy angle to take. I’d love to talk about what nachos james K is reheating on “Play” but honestly I’ve got nothing aside from ‘damn, this is some really good music’. It’s probably best described as one of those songs that captures a feeling of nostalgia for something that never happened. I think I was vaguely aware of “Play” but I properly got across it through Pitchfork’s best songs of 2025 list. It is a rare case of a high placer in one of my lists that’s from an album I have not listened to. I did listen to one of the other singles “Hypersoft Lovejinx Junkdream”. It is essentially a cover of obscure 90’s song turned TikTok hit “Duvet” by bôa. Despite being used as the theme song for an anime “Duvet” does not sound anything like “Nobody’s Son”.
I was pretty convinced halfway through listening to it that Straight Line Was A Lie would end up being my favorite Beths album but somehow they still managed to save the best for last on it. “2am” was also an album closer so they may just be very good at those in particular. Revisiting the closers of their first two albums is making me feel good about this take. “Best Laid Plans” is about imagining a world where you can give up on everything. I think it captures the feeling of freedom very well, just the feeling that anything could be possible from now on. The bridge features a spoken sample of a New Zealand woman in World War II talking about making supplies out of papier-mâché. It represents the moment of crashing back down to reality. Musically they said it was influenced by LCD Soundsystem. I can see the vision but I personally think about After Laughter-era Paramore when I hear this.
I have always liked Makthaverskan a fair bit, especially their third album. Actually I’ve not heard anything from their debut but that might change soon if I truly commit to doing my 2009 list near the end of this year. “Pity Party” was their first song in 4 years and while they are not exactly reinventing their own wheel here it quickly became my favorite thing they’ve ever done. It’s got the same catchy vocal melodies and wonderful guitar tones they usually have but the feelings I get of euphoria and catharsis push it to another level. Maja Milner’s high notes on the chorus makes this song that I assume is about a break up feel like it’s the end of the world and I wouldn’t have it any other way. If anything on their upcoming album is even half this good I’ll be pretty happy.
I didn’t take to EURO-COUNTRY as much as Crazymad, for Me though considering “Running/Planning” grew on me a lot it’s maybe due for a revisit at some point. I did quickly conclude that “When A Good Man Cries” is my favorite song of hers to date. As with my other 2 major CMAT favorites it aims for the grandiose with a suitable amount of melancholy. If you consider this a country song (which Wikipedia does) than this is the highest a country song has ever placed on my lists. Sorry to the “Vice” by Miranda Lambert heads. My official statement on the matter is that any song with a prominent fiddle qualifies as a country song (please mention any obviously non-country songs with a fiddle in the chat). I’m not saying that ACR is a good thing but it was nice to see this ride the “Take A Sexy Picture Of Me” hype into briefly appearing in the UK top 100 after the album came out. The repeating of ‘kyrie eleison’ is a reference to the 1973 song “The Donor” by Judee Sill. I’m sure some people out there think it’s a “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister reference.
I mostly listened to Switcheroo by Gelli Haha because I thought the cover looked interesting. In general she has a distinct aesthetic that extends to her music videos and live performances. I picked it as my favorite 2025 album for being a blend of electronic pop and more out there elements that very much appeal to me but it ended up a little underrepresented in the top 100. “Funny Music” is maybe not even the obvious song you’d pick out as a ‘hit’. Despite being a single it seems to have been primarily written with the goal to function as an album intro which is why it takes a little bit for the vocals to come in. This is another song where I really love how high the singing gets in the chorus. As you can gleam from the title it displays a silly demeanor but it definitely contains some pathos as well. It’s easy to interpret ‘I’m funny for real’ as someone who is trying to convince themselves. This quickly asserted itself as my #1 frontrunner when I heard this in mid-August before I heard my actual #1 roughly 2 weeks later. BONK!
I joked last year that “Hell of a Ride” would be the perfect broadcast ender and now the prophecy has been fulfilled. Ignore that I usually play another song after #1. For the second year in a row the #1 is an album title track that wasn’t a single. The last 4 songs on The Passionate Ones are maybe my favorite run on an album in recent memory (being his 3 top 100 entries from this year plus “When The War Is Over”). Like with The Beths I didn’t think it could get any better on the final track but then it somehow did. “The Passionate Ones” the song is just a complete production marvel. It feels like it’s repurposing some of the more corny synth sounds of the 80’s but using them in a way that feels entirely fresh. The instrumental breakdown 2 minutes in is top tier as well. When we get yet another vocal high note near the end I have truly reached heaven. It was fully worth it to single handedly be the reason this was in the ACI top 50 for like 6 weeks. One last general note: It’s interesting how big of a month August was for me musically. 4 of the top 10 (and 3 of the top 5) were from albums that came out the last 2 weeks of August and 2 more in the top 10 I first heard in August.
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