Top 10 Best Songs of 2025
#10: “DtMF” (2025)
Bad Bunny
This Puerto Rican musician scored his fourth consecutive number-one album with 2025’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” A homage to his cultural heritage, the project features singles like “Baile Inolvidable,” which celebrate traditional Puerto Rican styles such as salsa. However, the standout on the record is “DtMF,” an acronym for the album’s title, which translates to “I Should’ve Taken More Photos.” Blending elements of plena, rap and reggaeton, this track finds Bad Bunny reflecting on cherished memories and wishing he had captured more moments with the people he loves. And in true Bad Bunny fashion, he turns that nostalgia into something you have to dance to. Cherished moments may fade, but this is one song that is sure to last.
#9: “The Subway” (2025)
Chappell Roan
Fresh off her Best New Artist win at the 2025 Grammys, Chappell Roan released “The Giver,” a country song from her highly anticipated sophomore album that subverts the genre’s conventions by centering a queer love story. But that turned out to be just a preview of her most impressive work of the year. Trading her usual exuberance for a more mellow sound, her next single “The Subway” leans more towards alt-pop and dream pop, with hints of shoegaze. Roan brings her distinctive songwriting skills to the table, as she accurately captures the sting of heartbreak and the struggle to move on from it. It’s a familiar but distinctive song that, by the end, leaves you devastated, but craving yet another listen.
#8: “Where Is My Husband!” (2025)
Raye
Even before its official release, this song went viral after it was performed live at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival. Driven by big brassy horns and a hip-hop edge, “Where Is My Husband!” merges cabaret flair and modern pop into a sound that feels both fresh and stylishly retro. With witty, self-aware lyrics, Raye puts a playful twist on the age-old search for love, turning her struggle to find a husband into a tongue-in-cheek anthem. Her vocals are impeccable, as she smoothly shifts from pristine belts to a blisteringly fast rap-like cadence. It just doesn’t get more dynamic than that. If this is any indication of her sophomore album, then Raye is certainly ready to walk her way down the aisle of pop superstardom.
#7: “Berghain” (2025)
Rosalía, Björk & Yves Tumor
Spanish singer Rosalía has never been one to play it safe, and with “Berghain,” the lead single from her fourth album “Lux,” she basically tosses the rulebook into the trash. Whatever expectations fans had going in were immediately overturned. “Berghain” centers Rosalía’s classical training, with the London Symphony Orchestra backing her as she belts operatic vocals in German, a language she doesn’t even speak. Rosalía ramps up the unpredictability of the song by bringing on Björk and Yves Tumor, two of the most inventive experimental musicians in the business. By marrying such a daring sound with a level of technical mastery rarely heard in modern pop, Rosalía proves she is operating on a plane her peers can’t even begin to fathom.
#6: “What Was That” (2025)
Lorde
The dizzying chaos of love and heartbreak is deftly captured on “What Was That,” the lead single from Lorde’s long-awaited fourth album “Virgin.” Following a pivot to indie folk on 2021’s “Solar Power,” this single heralded a return to the electropop and synth-pop sounds of “Melodrama.” In many ways, it feels like a spiritual successor to “Green Light,” as it charts nights spent getting intoxicated with a lover and the memories that refuse to fade. But underneath that euphoria still lies lingering pain and regret over the love that slipped away. Critics praised the single as a return to form for Lorde, harking back not only to “Melodrama,” but also to the minimalist production and moody introspection of “Pure Heroine.”
#5: “Ordinary” (2025)
Alex Warren
Inspired by his relationship with his wife, Kouvr Annon, American singer Alex Warren penned this emotional ballad to celebrate a love that makes life feel anything but ordinary. The production starts with an intimate string section before exploding into soaring pop-rock elements that never overshadow the heartfelt lyrics. After Warren performed it live during the Season 8 reunion of “Love Is Blind,” the song seemed to resonate with many listeners, helping it take off across social media. It ultimately reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent ten non-consecutive weeks, and it became the longest-running number-one single of the 2020s in the UK. If 2025 had a defining love anthem, this was undoubtedly it.
#4: “The Fate of Ophelia” (2025)
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has a knack for rewriting Shakespearean tragedies into happily-ever-afters. She first did that on 2008’s “Love Story,” and returned to the idea on “The Fate of Ophelia,” the opening track on her album “The Life of a Showgirl.” On the song, Swift reimagines the story of Ophelia, who descends into madness and eventually drowns after her lover rejects her. Here, Swift croons to a lover who has rescued her from the same tragic fate simply by choosing to be with her. The track is loaded with references to her relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce and was released just months after their engagement. It became an instant cultural phenomenon, breaking multiple Spotify records and topping charts in nearly 30 countries.
#3: “Manchild” (2025)
Sabrina Carpenter
How do you call someone out while still sounding adorable? Sabrina Carpenter has the answer, and it’s spelled “Manchild.” After a phenomenal 2024 that culminated in a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, Carpenter wasted no time returning with a deliciously wicked new single. Merging glossy synth-pop with a little country sass, “Manchild” takes direct aim at an immature ex-boyfriend, who’s… well, not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. If she was hoping for her boyfriend to not embarrass her on “Please Please Please,” on “Manchild,” she’s already accepted it as a foregone conclusion. Carpenter’s love life may not look so promising, but her talent for crafting clever hits only gets stronger with every release.
#2: “Abracadabra” (2025)
Lady Gaga
Fans who had longed for Lady Gaga to return to her dark pop roots finally got their wish on “Mayhem.” One of the first glimpses into that universe came with “Abracadabra,” a high-energy electropop track that fuses several pop styles with the grit of industrial and acid house music. Drawing inspiration from her early work, Gaga once again enchants listeners with her signature haunting vocals, and hypnotic synths that you just can’t get enough of. It was praised for its ambitious production and infectious hook, with many critics calling it her strongest pop single in over a decade. We’ve seen various iterations of Lady Gaga over the years, but this is the version we remain spellbound by.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
“As Alive as You Need Me to Be” (2025), Nine Inch Nails
An ‘80s Electronic Banger That Rises Above Being Merely the “Tron: Ares” Soundtrack
“FUFN” (2025), Jade
Easily Solidifies Jade as One of the Most Exciting Fresh Voices in Pop Right Now
“Headphones On” (2025), Addison Rae
Addison Rae Adds Yet Another Addictive Pop Hit to Her Repertoire
“Relationships” (2025), Haim
We’re Never Quitting Our Love for This Carefree Pop-Funk Banger
“Sports Car” (2025), Tate McRae
A Tribute to Sweaty, Sexy Dancefloor Anthems That Hits Just as Hard
#1: “Golden” (2025)
Huntr/x
No one expected a song from an animated Netflix movie to become one of the year’s biggest commercial and cultural hits. But that’s exactly what happened. Performed by the fictional K-pop girl group Huntr/x in 2025’s “KPop Demon Hunters,” “Golden” took the world by storm, spinning relatable themes of empowerment and belief in oneself. Although those themes can sometimes feel overused, they absolutely shine here, making “Golden” a unifying anthem, not just in the fictional world of the film, but far beyond it. With such a catchy chorus, it instantly took over the charts, reaching number one in over 30 countries and becoming the unofficial song of the 2025 summer.
What was your favorite song of 2025? Sound off in the comments below.
