{"id":11093,"date":"2026-01-01T11:33:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11093"},"modified":"2026-01-01T11:33:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:33:42","slug":"top-100-songs-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/01\/top-100-songs-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 100 songs of 2025."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This year\u2019s top 100 took longer than usual to compile for the opposite reason from last year: it was hard for me to get 100 songs I thought worthy of inclusion. You can see my previous years\u2019 song rankings here: <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/03\/top-100-songs-of-2024\/\">2024<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/22\/top-100-songs-of-2023\/\">2023<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/22\/top-100-songs-of-2022\/\">2022<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/23\/top-100-songs-of-2021\/\">2021<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/24\/top-100-songs-of-2020\/\">2020<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/13\/top-100-songs-of-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2019<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/20\/top-100-songs-of-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2018<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/19\/top-100-songs-of-2017\/\">2017<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/2gPBItT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2016<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/1NzuUp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2015<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/1zKgTAN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2014<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/19zpudz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2013<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/klaw.me\/XM4Txp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2012<\/a>. I posted <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/24\/top-25-albums-of-2025\/\">my ranking of the top 25 albums of 2025<\/a> just before Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you can\u2019t see the widget below, you can access the playlist on <a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/playlist\/klaws-top-100-songs-of-2025\/pl.u-KVXBqNBuRyyNG\">Apple Music<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/15ecpDCxb0xLXUdAPY3jmd?si=01fd6bcb5b8e4949\">Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"450\" style=\"width:100%;max-width:660px;overflow:hidden;border-radius:10px;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.music.apple.com\/us\/playlist\/klaws-top-100-songs-of-2025\/pl.u-KVXBqNBuRyyNG\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>A few late cuts from the list: SPRINTS \u2013 \u201cNeed,\u201d Emma-Jean Thackray \u2013 \u201cWeirdo,\u201d Geese \u2013 \u201c100 Horses,\u201d The Horrors \u2013 \u201cMore than Life,\u201d Andy Bell \u2013 \u201capple green ufo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>100. Pynch \u2013 Post-Punk\/New Wave.<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s post-punk, it\u2019s new wave, with a little bit of shoegaze.\u201d How could I not like a song that starts with that line? Of course, this song is none of those things \u2013 it\u2019s more lo-fi indie rock, and they do name-check that later in the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>99. The Waterboys feat. Bruce Springsteen \u2013 Ten Years Gone.<\/strong> I think this is the Boss\u2019s first appearance on any of my music playlists in any form. I might be ruining my reputation here. I do like the Waterboys, though; \u201cThe Whole of the Moon\u201d is one of my all-time favorite songs, and Springsteen\u2019s role is here is a spoken-word reflection at the track\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>98. Sharon Van Etten \u2013 I Can&#8217;t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way).<\/strong> Van Etten\u2019s music has never spoken to me outside of her rare swerves into more uptempo rock and pop territory (\u201cMistakes\u201d from her last album). Her latest album, <em>Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory<\/em>, is my favorite from her yet, because the whole record is made out of that very thing, and her voice \u2013 which often sounded sleepy to me \u2013 translates beautifully to this style of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>97. Hotwax \u2013 Strange to Be Here. <\/strong>I thought Hotwax was going to be one of the \u2018it\u2019 bands of the year after their debut album <em>Hot Shock<\/em> earned some glowing reviews, but I don\u2019t think I heard anything about them after March. They\u2019re reminiscent of Hole and Babes in Toyland, although I saw them mislabeled as grunge in many of those same reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>96. HUNTR\/X \u2013 Golden.<\/strong> It\u2019s a legimately good song. And the movie was great before it ran out of plot at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>95. Portugal. the Man \u2013 Denali.<\/strong> A crunchy, metallesque song from <em>Shish<\/em>, probably the hardest song P.tM has done at least since <em>Evil Friends<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>94. Sudan Archives \u2013 My Type.<\/strong> I didn\u2019t think of Brittney Parks as a rapper per se \u2013 she\u2019s a singer and a violinist \u2013 but she drops some high-speed rhymes on this standout track from her latest album <em>The BPM.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>93. Sunflower Bean \u2013 Crashing Highs.<\/strong> A bonus track on the deluxe edition of <em>Mortal Primetime<\/em>, this was actually my second-favorite track from this Brooklyn trio this year, an effusive power-pop number that showcases Julia Cumming\u2019s vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>92. Friendship \u2013 Free Association. <\/strong><em>Caveman Wakes Up<\/em> is a bit of a dire affair, a record that is either about being depressed, or a record that is itself literally depressed, leavened just slightly by this song with a distinctive drum hook that stayed in my head for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>91. Suede \u2013 Trance State. <\/strong>That hook that comes in at the ten-second mark \u2026 just inject it straight into my new wave-loving veins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>90. The Itch \u2013 Space in the Cab.<\/strong> If you like Australia\u2019s snarky electro-pop act Confidence Man, you\u2019ll love this track by this British duo, who were previously in a punk band called Regressive Left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>89. Obongjayar \u2013 Sweet Danger. <\/strong>Obongjayar blends Afrobeat with western pop sounds, sometimes striving a little beyond his musical reach, but when he concentrates on that specific fusion he churns out mesmerizing pop tracks like this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>88. Doves \u2013 Cold Dreaming.<\/strong> I love the music, but I wish the lyrics were stronger. Doves\u2019 latest album <em>Constellations for the Lonely<\/em> wasn\u2019t up to their prior standard, unfortunately, with two excellent songs leading it off (this and \u201cRenegade,\u201d released in 2024) followed by a lot of filler before the closer \u201cLean into the Wind.\u201d Their one-off single that came out later in the year, \u201cSpirit of Your Friend,\u201d would have been the third- or fourth-best song on the LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>87. Snocaps \u2013 Heathcliff.<\/strong> Snocaps are Katie and Allison Crutchfield with MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook. The sisters\u2019 vocals really power their eponymous album, which is filled with boppy Americana tracks, with this one single the best on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>86. Pete Doherty \u2013 Felt Better Alive. <\/strong>It\u2019s not a Libertines song \u2013 this year could have used more of that \u2013 but Doherty\u2019s fifth solo album, also called <em>Felt Better Alive<\/em>, was a pleasant surprise, and a modest hit as well, becoming his first album to reach the UK top ten. Of course, Pete couldn\u2019t let it go without a shot at his bandmates, saying they were \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/pete-doherty-felt-better-alive-new-solo-album-interview-tour-3828970\">stark-raving mad<\/a>\u201d to not want these songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>85. Automatic \u2013 Mercury. <\/strong>The first few seconds had me scared that this was going to be a bad imitation of the early 1980s goth-rock\/new wave material Automatic emulates, but the drums come in and save the day, turning it into something with more verve, almost danceable despite the synth line that sounds like it should be in a Dracula movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>84. Rachel Inouriri \u2013 Can We Talk About Isaac?<\/strong> This lead track from the EP <em>Little House<\/em> shows Chinouriri in a more upbeat, almost bouncy indie-pop mode, a shift from the tone of the latter half of her debut album <em>What a Devastating Turn of Events<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>83. Deftones \u2013 milk of the madonna.<\/strong> I\u2019ll never be entirely on Deftones\u2019 wavelength, but I respect their musical evolution from \u201cMy Own Summer\u201d to the more progressive alt-metal style of <em>Private Music<\/em>. The chorus here has a hell of a hook between the guitar line and the \u201cI\u2019m on fiiiiire\u201d vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>82. Clipse \u2013 So Be It.<\/strong> Clipse\u2019s <em>Let God Sort Em Out<\/em> was the duo\u2019s first album in sixteen years, and the reviews seemed to split into two camps: those excited that the pair were back together, and those who viewed the album entirely on its own merits. The rhymes are strong, but the beats aren\u2019t, and it holds the record back. This song has the best music behind Malice and Pusha T\u2019s rapping, as well as a hilarious diss of Travis Scott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>81. Emma-Jean Thackray \u2013 Wanna Die.<\/strong> One of the best songs I\u2019ve ever heard about grief and crushing depression, at least in terms of expressing how that feels in the moment. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9cXpou1r6sI\">video<\/a> parodies the Jazz Club sketches from The Fast Show, if you\u2019re into old sketch comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>80. Tunde Adembimpe \u2013 Drop. <\/strong>I was disappointed by <em>Thee Black Boltz<\/em>, Adebimpe\u2019s first solo album, because he seemed so oddly restrained throughout the record, particularly in the music, which is often sparse (\u201cAte the Moon\u201d) or sluggish (\u201cGod Knows\u201d). The best track, \u201cMagnetic,\u201d came out in 2024 and was on my top 100 at #66. This was my second-favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>79. Prides \u2013 Dynamite. <\/strong>I think Prides might have set the record for the longest time between appearances on my year-end top 100s; \u201cThe Seeds You Sow\u201d was #8 on <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/12\/top-100-songs-of-2014\/\">my best of 2014 list<\/a>, but they\u2019d largely stopped recording on their own after 2018. Also, they might just be one guy now, rather than a trio. I love Stewart Brock\u2019s voice, and they bear some resemblance to other Scottish indie bands beyond the accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>78. SAULT \u2013 K.T.Y.W.S.<\/strong> So now we know Inflo is a fraud and a pharisee, making a whole album about his Christian faith while stealing from one of his close friends and collaborators, which made me consider dropping him entirely from this list \u2026 but I do still find his music compelling, even if he\u2019s no longer close to the heights he reached with the project\u2019s first four albums. The latest LP, <em>10<\/em>, was a step up from <em>Acts of Faith<\/em>, but on par with the five albums he released in November of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>77. Elbow \u2013 Sober.<\/strong> Yet another track left on the cutting-room floor during the <em>Audio Vertigo<\/em> sessions, \u201cSober\u201d appeared on the deluxe version of that record along with \u201cAdriana Again,\u201d which I think is the best song from the entire package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>76. Nabeel \u2013 resala.<\/strong> Nabeel is an Iraqi-American band from Virginia, founded by Yasir Rasak, who moved to the U.S. as a baby and grew up on 1990s pop and alternative music. Nabeel\u2019s music is straight shoegaze, with the lyrics sung in Arabic, and there\u2019s a sense of longing and melancholy throughout their latest EP, <em>ghayoom<\/em>, highlighted by this mournful track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>75. The Tubs \u2013 Chain Reaction.<\/strong> The second-best song from <em>Cotton Crown<\/em> is another jangle-pop gem, not quite as catchy as \u201cFreak Mode\u201d but still an earworm thanks to Owen Williams\u2019 distinctive singing and a frantic guitar riff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>74. De la Soul feat. Q-Tip &amp; Yummy Bingham \u2013 Day in the Sun. <\/strong>De la Soul\u2019s surprise album <em>Cabin in the Sky<\/em>, likely their last given the death of founding member Trugoy the Dove, had a slew of contributions from huge names from the golden age of hip-hop, including Nas, Slick Rick, Common, and fellow Native Tongues member Q-Tip on this particular trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>73. Hotline TNT \u2013 Candle.<\/strong> Maybe the poppiest song on <em>Raspberry Moon<\/em>, \u201cCandle\u201d opens with a jangly guitar riff and stays upbeat even when the heavy distortion hits. Stereogum called it \u201cfuzz-pop\u201d and I think that\u2019s more apposite a term than shoegaze. (Hotline TNT pulled all of their music from Spotify in protest against the CEO\u2019s investment in a military AI firm, so their songs do not appear on the Spotify version of this playlist.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>72. Anxious \u2013 Counting Sheep.<\/strong> Anxious fly way too far under the radar given how catchy and clever their songs are \u2013 they\u2019re constantly tagged as emo, when they get covered at all, but this isn\u2019t landfill emo like Taking Back Sunday or Saves the Day; the music is more intricate and a lot less predictable. This was my top track from their second album, <em>Bambi<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>71. Little Simz \u2013 Thief.<\/strong> The most direct attack on Inflo on Simz\u2019 latest album <em>Lotus<\/em> calls her former collaborator \u2013 who borrowed \u00a31 million from her to put on a SAULT concert and then stiffed her \u2013 has her rapping furiously over a spy movie-esque backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>70. clipping. \u2013 Dominator.<\/strong> The best track from clipping.\u2019s second album <em>Dead Channel Sky<\/em>, \u201cRun It\u201d, came out in 2024, but this was a close second. The hip-hop trio is really a Daveed Diggs vehicle, here rapping over some early industrial-sounding beats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>69. Geese \u2013 Taxes. <\/strong>The penultimate track on <em>Getting Killed<\/em> sees Geese approaching a conventional song structure, with a steady build to a majestic finish beneath Cameron Winter\u2019s warble-sung vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>68. The Budos Band \u2013 Overlander. <\/strong>I confessed to being unfamiliar with the Budos Band until this year, so I\u2019m late to this particular party. It\u2019s instrumental music with a heavy funk line, drawing influence from musical styles from around the world. They may be the only good thing that has ever come out of Staten Island. This was by far my favorite song on their latest album, <em>VII<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>67. Blankenberge \u2013 New Rules.<\/strong> Blankenberge started out in southern Siberia, close to the border with Kazakhstan, although they\u2019re now based in St. Petersburg. They call themselves a shoegaze band, but their sound is broader than that, with dream-pop and even some traditional hard-rock elements as well. This is the best track off their latest album, <em>Decisions<\/em>, showcasing their entire sound in one brief song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>66. Castle Rat \u2013 Serpent.<\/strong> Castle Rat are utterly ridiculous, a cosplaying \u201cfantasy metal band\u201d from (checks notes) Brooklyn, not Bavaria or Middle Earth, but damn, the guitarwork here would do Tony Iommi proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>65. The Horrors \u2013 Ariel. <\/strong>The Horrors\u2019 latest album is a moody, funereal affair, best exemplified by this song, which starts out with ninety seconds of nothing but Farid Badwan\u2019s vocals over a faint background of sound effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>64. Thrice \u2013 Gnash.<\/strong> I think \u201cAlbatross\u201d might be the consensus top track off Thrice\u2019s latest album <em>Horizons\/West<\/em>, but this thing just stomps all over the stage when it hits the chorus, and the intervening verses feel like someone is pushing up the voltage to the point of ignition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>63. Water from Your Eyes \u2013 Night in Armor. <\/strong>I\u2019m obsessed with the guitar tone in the opening riff, which mostly continues beneath the talk-sung vocals and constantly threatens to overwhelm the latter. Water from Your Eyes is a duo that includes Nate Amos, who records as This is Lorelei, but his solo stuff does nothing for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>62. The Hives \u2013 Enough is Enough.<\/strong> I\u2019ve maintained for years that the Hives are always good for at least one absolute banger per album; they kept that going with this track off <em>The Hives Forever Forever the Hives<\/em>, which had a solid runner-up in the title track. I wouldn\u2019t put \u201cEnough is Enough\u201d up there with their upper echelon, but it makes the greatest-hits playlist for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>61. Sports Team \u2013 Bang Bang Bang.<\/strong> I loved Sports Team\u2019s last album, <em>Gulp!<\/em>, but this year\u2019s <em>Boys These Days<\/em> turned down the frenetic pace of its predecessor. This track was the most similar to their prior output, this time with a guitar line that rings like a parody of Gene Autry-style country music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>60. Black Honey \u2013 Soak.<\/strong> I\u2019ve been a fan of this Brighton indie band for about a decade, but their sound has evolved to become darker and often slower than the early power-pop style they showed on songs like \u201cHello Today.\u201d This is the title track from their latest album, and the closest they come to that earlier, more energetic vibe, although that darker element is still very present in the bass line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>59. Noname feat. Devin Morrison \u2013 Hundred Acres. <\/strong>The lead single from a promised third album from Noname, called <em>Cartoon Radio<\/em>, also marks her first new music since 2023\u2019s <em>Sundial<\/em>. If this track is any indication, she\u2019s still in top form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>58. Rocket \u2013 Wide Awake.<\/strong> <em>R is for Rocket<\/em> was one of my favorite albums of the year on the strengths of songs like this one that show their 1990s grunge and alternative-rock influences (notably the Smashing Pumpkins) but are novel rather than mere nostalgia plays, not that I\u2019m above that sort of thing either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>57. Orchestra Gold \u2013 Baye Ass N\u2019Diaye.<\/strong> This California-based group calls their music Afro-psych rock. This is accurate. Mariam Diakite\u2019s vocals (sung in Bambara, one of the national languages of Mali) complement the crunchy, bluesy guitar riffs perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>56. Coeur de Pirate \u2013 Cavale.<\/strong> Another title track, this one from B\u00e9atrice\u2019s latest album, which sees her reaching back into 1970s baroque pop and disco, never more so than on this song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>55. Bleary Eyed \u2013 Easy.<\/strong> The title track from this Philly shoegaze band\u2019s latest album \u2013 which I found on this list of <a href=\"https:\/\/stereogum.com\/2482752\/the-10-best-shoegaze-albums-of-2025\/lists\/year-in-review\/2025-in-review\">the best albums of that genre this year<\/a> \u2013 distills the best of their sound, a dreamy but appropriately blurry style that melds the two vocalists with guitars that sound like they\u2019re partially obscured from view. That list wouldn\u2019t match my own, but the top three records, by Total Wife, Bleary Eyed, and They Are Gutting a Body of Water, were all worthy selections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>54. Flight to London \u2013 No One\u2019s Forgiven. <\/strong>This was a big year for bands just leaning all the way into early 1980s new wave sounds; Flight to London notes Tears For Fears, Phil Collins, and Depeche Mode as influences, but all I hear on this track from their debut album <em>Instructions for Losing Control<\/em> is the best parts of Heaven 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>53. Bartees Strange \u2013 DCWDTTY.<\/strong> Strange put out a six-song EP, <em>Shy Bairns Get Nowt<\/em>, in October, but omitted this single he\u2019d released a month earlier, a punk song that nods to Smart Went Crazy\u2019s \u201cDC Will Do That To You\u201d but that is an original composition. Anyway, this is the best song he put out in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>52. Momma \u2013 Cross Your Heart.<\/strong> I soured on Momma after multiple listens, because the album, <em>Welcome to My Blue Sky<\/em>, turned out to be utterly derivative of their 1990s influences \u2013 notably Veruca Salt, whom they nearly ripped off with \u201cI Want You (Fever).\u201d This was the best track that didn\u2019t completely remind me of another song I liked better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>51. Greentea Peng \u2013 Nowhere Man. <\/strong>Peng\u2019s latest album <em>Tell Dem It\u2019s Sunny<\/em> was really uneven, not terribly shocking for an artist who crosses genres and musical borders so easily, highlighted at least by this track about not being of your current time and place, congruent with her career-long exploration of her own ethnic and cultural identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>50. Bleak Squad \u2013 Strange Love.<\/strong> This Australian supergroup, which features Mick Harvey of The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds fame, released its first album, <em>Strange Love<\/em>, in August, filled with dark, foreboding rock songs that work best when Adalita (Magic Dirt) handles the vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>49. The Twilight Sad \u2013 Waiting for the Phone Call.<\/strong> The first new song from this Scottish band in nearly seven years features Robert Smith on guitar, and mixes their usual style of post-punk with some traces of mid-1970s Pink Floyd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>48. Wisp \u2013 Serpentine.<\/strong> Wisp is Natalie Lu, a 21-year-old singer\/guitarist from San Francisco who just dropped her debut album <em>If Not Winter<\/em> in August; her sound is very shoegaze with dream-pop vocals produced way out front of the walls of guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>47. The Beths \u2013 Metal. <\/strong><em>Straight Line was a Lie<\/em>, the Beths\u2019 follow-up to <em>Expert in a Dying Field<\/em>, my #1 album of 2022, was probably the biggest disappointment of the year to me; it lacked most of the urgency and energy of the last record, and even when they got the tempo right (\u201cTake\u201d, the title track) the songs lacked the huge melodies of their earlier work. This was my favorite song on the LP, and I wonder if I would have ranked it lower if it hadn\u2019t been by a band I\u2019d previously adored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>46. Yaya Bey \u2013 dream girl.<\/strong> Bey released her latest album, <em>do it afraid<\/em>, and Pitchfork gave it a 7.5, saying just one track was a misfire: this one. So of course I think it\u2019s the best song she\u2019s released so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>45. Lake Ruth \u2013 An Offering.<\/strong> I wasn\u2019t familiar with this trio until hearing this track, from their first album in seven years, <em>Hawking Radiation<\/em>. The title gives some sense of their sound; it\u2019s space-jazz-rock with the kind of ethereal vocals you would expect from the Cocteau Twins or Lush (a frequent touchpoint for me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>44. Picture Parlour \u2013 24 Hour Open.<\/strong> One of the best guitar riffs of the year, easily. I don\u2019t love when singer Katherine Parlour works at the bottom end of her range \u2013 her voice loses a lot of its power, and it sounds more affected, at least compared to how it sounds when she lets it loose on the chorus. This English quintet released its first album, <em>The Parlour<\/em>, in November, with more tracks of heavily blues-influenced rock and the occasional indie\/dream-pop number like \u201cTalk About It.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>43. Danger Mouse &amp; Black Thought feat. Rag\u2019n\u2019Bone Man \u2013 Up. <\/strong>The first single from Danger Mouse &amp; Black Thought since their wonderful 2022 album <em>Cheat Codes<\/em> has the rapper in top form, sounding like he can barely get one line out for his eagerness to get to the next one, accentuated by a big chorus featuring the English retro-soul singer Rag\u2019n\u2019Bone Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>42. Fontaines D.C. \u2013 It\u2019s Amazing to Be Young.<\/strong> There\u2019s a long history of artists writing songs about\/for their newborns, including Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness\u2019 \u201cCecilia and the Satellite\u201d and Stone Temple Pilots\u2019 \u201cA Song for Sleeping,\u201d but this one-off single from Fontaines D.C. isn\u2019t really a departure from their current sound \u2013 if you liked 2024\u2019s \u201cFavourite,\u201d which I certainly did, you\u2019ll probably like this track as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>41. Little Simz feat. Obongjayar &amp; Moonchild Sanelly \u2013 Flood. <\/strong>The drums that open this track are so menacing, and then Simz\u2019s rhymes come in, in a near-whisper, punctuated by Obongjayar\u2019s chorus (\u201cAs I walk this wicked ground\/Keep me away from the Devil&#8217;s palm\u201d) and the Zulu-language lines with Sanelly that she delivers with a staccato beat that adds to the percussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>40. SPRINTS \u2013 Descartes.<\/strong> The lead single and best track from SPRINTS\u2019 second album <em>All That Is Over<\/em> is a hard-driving track that blends punk and metal behind Karla Chubb\u2019s musings on the meaning of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>39. Natalie Bergman \u2013 Gunslinger. <\/strong>Bergman\u2019s second album <em>My Home is Not in this World<\/em>, produced by her brother Elliot (who is also her partner in the band Wild Belle), was paced by this sultry track that combines elements of country and classic soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>38. Wolf Alice \u2013 Bloom Baby Bloom.<\/strong> The lead single from <em>The Clearing <\/em>and, as far as I can tell, the album\u2019s biggest hit is a showcase for Ellie Rowsell\u2019s vocals and just her sheer presence \u2013 the album is probably the most Ellie-centric of their entire catalog, and this song is one of their most intricate, although the infectious groove it lays down doesn\u2019t carry through the rest of the downtempo record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>37. Skunk Anansie \u2013 An Artist is an Artist.<\/strong> Skunk Anansie\u2019s <em>The Painful Truth<\/em> was the band\u2019s first new album in nine years, and opens with this powerful statement on aging and art, especially for women. The album did well in Europe but the U.S. market never seemed to get what Skin &amp; company were really doing, and that doesn\u2019t seem to have changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>36. Say Sue Me \u2013 In This Mess. <\/strong>I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve had many Korean artists on my playlists over the last fifteen years, as I\u2019m not into K-Pop and bands in other genres don\u2019t seem to cross over much, so Say Sue Me might be the first to make a year-end top 100. They\u2019re a shoegazey band that also takes inspiration from some 1960s surf rock, evident here in the main guitar riff, although everything else here feels very much influenced by early Ride or Lush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>35. Courting \u2013 Namcy.<\/strong> The best song off Courting\u2019s latest album was either this number or \u201cPause at You,\u201d which came out at the tail end of 2024. Regardless, they\u2019re one of my favorite indie-rock bands going after two very strong albums of jangly, off-kilter, utterly joyous songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>34. keiyaA \u2013 I h8 u.<\/strong> It\u2019s hard to pick a best track off <em>Hooke\u2019s Law<\/em>, with its eclectic mix of genres and styles and even song lengths \u2013 the other candidate here, \u201ck.i.s.s.\u201d is just 1:20, so I settled on \u201cI h8 u,\u201d another song with a title that seems to be inspired by Prince and that pushes the envelope that separates catchy from annoying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>33. Sampa the Great feat. Mwanje \u2013 Can\u2019t Hold Us. <\/strong>Zambian-born, Botswana-raised Sampa the Great says her next album introduces a new style of music she calls \u201cNu Zamrock,\u201d which sounds a lot like old Zamrock with hip-hop elements added to it. This track features Mwanje, another Zambian-born singer who, like Sampa, now lives in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>32. Sudan Archives \u2013 A Bug\u2019s Life.<\/strong> The best track from my #2 album of the year showcases Brittney Parks\u2019 musical versatility without eschewing melody or veering into self-parody (which she does on one track, \u201cMs. Pac-Man\u201d), with Parks rap-singing over a Afrobeat-fusion rhythm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>31. World News \u2013 Don\u2019t Want to Know.<\/strong> This British jangle-pop band has put out about a dozen songs over the last three years but hasn\u2019t released an album or even an EP. There\u2019s an atmospheric element here that elevates it beyond the original jangle-pop sound from the 1980s, bringing dreamy\/shoegaze sounds to their work \u2026 man, I just wish they\u2019d put something longer out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>30. Wet Leg \u2013 catch these fists. I\u2019m on the outside looking in with Wet Leg, who earn all sorts of critical acclaim for some really strong post-punk melodies (yes) and cheeky lyrics (nah). This and \u201cmangetout\u201d were the two best songs on their sophomore LP, <em>Moisturizer<\/em>, which saw the duo become a five-piece band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>29. Die Spitz \u2013 Riding with My Girls.<\/strong> I need to get back to <em>Something to Consume<\/em>, the debut album from this Austin hard-rock quartet, who seem to draw from crossover thrash without being quite so heavy in the riffing; when I first put this song on a playlist, there was only a three-song EP, and I missed the full-length album entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>28. Sunflower Bean \u2013 Nothing Romantic.<\/strong> The best track off <em>Mortal Primetime<\/em> hits the sweet spot of this Brooklyn-based trio\u2019s sense of melody and their ability to create lush, dark rock tracks with just a single guitar and bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>27. World News \u2013 Everything is Coming Up Roses.<\/strong> They released two songs in 2025 and both were awesome; I ranked this one slightly above \u201cDon\u2019t Want to Know\u201d because the chorus was stuck in my head for weeks, although I think the other track has the better guitar riff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>26. Jay Som feat. Jim Adkins \u2013 Float. <\/strong>By far the best song off Som\u2019s latest album, <em>Belong<\/em>, her first since 2019, this duet with Adkins of Jimmy Eat World has some of the power-pop elements of that band and is far more rock-oriented than the rest of the LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>25. Preoccupations \u2013 Focus.<\/strong> If you played me the first 15 seconds of this song and told me it was the latest track from The The, I\u2019d absolutely believe you; only the vocals give it away. Also, The The don\u2019t do anything this concise any more. <em>Ill At Ease<\/em>, the fifth album from this Canadian post-punk band featuring two members of the defunct band Women, is more of the same \u2013 perfectly solid, with a couple of highlights, well short of my top albums of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>24. Deep Sea Diver \u2013 Emergency. <\/strong>A pounding rocker off <em>Billboard Heart<\/em>, this Seattle band\u2019s first album with Sub Pop, which showed some more grunge influence alongside their prior blend of dream-pop and punk elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>23. Indigo de Souza \u2013 Heartthrob. <\/strong>De Souza went in a more indie-pop direction with her fourth album, <em>Precipice<\/em>, highlighted by this vulnerable track with vocals that remind me quite a bit of Sonia Sturino of Weakened Friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>22. Waxahatchee \u2013 Mud.<\/strong> Two minutes of perfection from Katee Crutchfield, and her only solo output in 2025, although she did release a record with her sister and MJ Lenderman in Snocaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>21. Jorja Smith &#8211; The Way I Love You. <\/strong>Smithwentback in time a bit with this bass-forward club track, still carried by her gorgeous vocals. I prefer the styles of her full albums, where she leans more towards neo-soul and mixes in some grime and trip-hop, but she is my \u201cshe could sing the phone book and I\u2019d listen\u201d singer right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>20. Automatic \u2013 Is It Now? <\/strong>The title track from this LA trio\u2019s latest album is a pulsating goth-rock banger that stepped through a wormhole from 1983 to today. I don\u2019t mean to make too much of the drummer being the daughter of Bauhaus\u2019 drummer, but the connection in the music is undeniable. Bela Lugosi lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>19. Creeper \u2013 Headstones. <\/strong>I really dig Creeper, as they remind me so much of bands I loved when I was in high school, but I have a hard time calling them \u201cmetal,\u201d at least today. In 1988 I would have sworn a blood oath that they were a metal band, and they also would have had hair teased halfway to God. Anyway, this song rocks, and I\u2019m glad someone is making this kind of music cool again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>18. Sophia Stel \u2013 Everyone Falls Asleep in Their Own Time. <\/strong>Stel is a DIY artist from Vancouver who put out a full-length album in 2024 and then an EP <em>How to Win at Solitaire <\/em>this September, with this as the lead track. The music reminds me of Tasmin Archer\u2019s hit \u201cSleeping Satellite\u201d and Beth Orton\u2019s \u201cStolen Car,\u201d with vocals run through effects and more electronic elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>17. Heartworms \u2013 Just to Ask a Dance.<\/strong> Jojo Orme\u2019s debut album <em>Glutton for Punishment <\/em>is a goth-rock0-dance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>16. Cerrone w\/Christine &amp; the Queens \u2013 Catching Feelings. <\/strong>I didn\u2019t know of Cerrone, who is a 74-year-old French musician and producer (and who definitely looks like a Mike Myers character <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cerrone#\/media\/File:CERRONE_Marc_02-24x30-2009.jpg\">in this photo<\/a>), but I\u2019ve loved the work of Christine and the Queens for years, and this is the most ebullient song he\u2019s done in years \u2013 certainly since before the Rahim Redcar period, maybe going all the way back to \u201cTilted.\u201d It\u2019s a modern disco track powered by his strong, high-energy vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>15. Geese \u2013 Cobra. <\/strong>The best song on <em>Getting Killed<\/em> is the one that I think has inspired all of the comparisons to Captain Beefheart and other 1970s avant-garde rockers, and it\u2019s probably the best standalone track on the album (meaning you can listen to it in isolation without losing anything from the lack of context from other songs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>14. Portugal. the Man \u2013 Tanana.<\/strong> <em>Shish<\/em> was mostly a return to form for Portugal. the Man, at least in the sense of going back to their earlier, more psychedelic and atmospheric sound, with \u201cTanana\u201d the best example of them recapturing what was so great about their album <em>In the Mountain in the Cloud<\/em>, although the lyrics are, in fact, about our disastrous political moment, not about the hard-throwing Angels pitcher from the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>13. Public Circuit \u2013 Samson. <\/strong>I\u2019m slightly obsessed with this track, which could easily slot in between Ebn Ozn and The Blow Monkeys on a new wave compilation album. This NYC trio\u2019s album <em>Modern Church <\/em>didn\u2019t offer anything else this incredibly catchy, unfortunately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>12. Matt Berry \u2013 Why on Fire?<\/strong> I wasn\u2019t familiar with Berry\u2019s musical output until I caught this track, from his eleventh album, <em>Heard Noises<\/em>; nothing else on the LP comes close to this one\u2019s immediacy or hook, as the rest of it is more ambient psychedelia without this song\u2019s more popular song structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>11. Suede \u2013 Disintegrate.<\/strong> Suede\u2019s post-punk album <em>Antidepressants<\/em> was one of the year\u2019s best surprises, as it perfectly evoked the feel of a specific moment in music and time, as post-punk morphed into new wave, almost like the soundtrack of Bauhaus breaking up. This was the best track on the record, and I think their best in more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>10. Emma-Jean Thackray \u2013 Save Me.<\/strong> Thackray\u2019s album <em>Weirdo<\/em>, largely about her grief after the sudden death of her long-term partner, could have been an unlistenably morbid affair, but she offset her lyrics with powerful yet accessible jazz that shows you can develop hooks and melodies beyond the standard four chords. \u201cSave Me\u201d has the best music of any track on the record, although the lyrics aren\u2019t quite as strong as those of the title track or \u201cWanna Die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>9. The Horrors \u2013 The Silence that Remains.<\/strong> It\u2019s a slow build, but worth waiting it out, as Faris Badwan builds out a funereal atmosphere with a bass-heavy intro that crescendos to a dark, thunderous climax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8. Maruja \u2013 Saoirse. <\/strong><em>Pain to Power <\/em>was one of the most interesting albums I heard in 2025, although I wasn\u2019t ultimately sold on it coming together enough to put it on my top 25. This British experimental, cross-genre quartet brings in elements of jazz, art-rock, punk, post-hardcore, even classical, in tracks that range from three minutes to over ten. This was the best song on the record, which I would strongly recommend to anyone who\u2019s into the band Geese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7. Hotline TNT \u2013 Julia\u2019s War.<\/strong> <em>Raspberry Moon<\/em> was Hotline TNT\u2019s first album written and recorded as a full band, and it really showed in the strength and maturity of so many of the songs on the record; this track has a timelessness to its melody and the layering of the various instruments, rather than the pseudo-shoegaze of their last record (I\u2019ve already ranted about that enough). This is the sound of a band coming into its own. (Hotline TNT pulled all of their music from Spotify in protest against the CEO\u2019s investment in a military AI firm, so their songs do not appear on the Spotify version of this playlist.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. Tame Impala \u2013 Dracula. <\/strong>I really didn\u2019t like <em>Deadbeat<\/em>, Kevin Parker\u2019s latest album, which is mostly electronic and lacking any of the melodies or vaguely experimental nature of his previous work, making for a soporific album beyond this one track. \u201cDracula\u201d isn\u2019t his best song, but it\u2019s his best pop song, and right now it\u2019s the highest-charting of any of his singles on the <em>Billboard<\/em> Hot 100, reaching #30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Little Simz feat. Michael Kiwanuka &amp; Yussef Dayes.<\/strong> The six and a half-minute closer title track from Little Simz\u2019s latest album has some of her best rhymes over a musical track that would have fit quite well on Kiwanuka\u2019s Mercury Prize-winning album <em>KIWANUKA<\/em>, with a slower tempo and sparse arrangements \u2013 a repeatedly piano sample, a simple guitar line, some pronounced snare and high-hats. The album\u2019s predominant theme is her friend Inflo\u2019s betrayal, but this track broadens beyond that into themes of personal growth, using the common metaphor of the lotus as a symbol of divinity and transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Blondshell \u2013 Two Times.<\/strong> Easily my favorite song by Blondshell, one where the guitar line and the lyrics are so beautiful that I can get past her warbly, often nasal delivery in the verses. The chorus is lovely as well, including the line \u201cI\u2019ll come back if you put me down two times,\u201d which lends itself to so many interpretations in the context of the entire song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Lord Huron \u2013 Bag of Bones. <\/strong>Probably my favorite Lord Huron song, edging out \u201cTime to Run,\u201d but regardless this is peak work, turning a very simple chord progression (like, I was disappointed at how easy it was to play) into a haunting, dirge-like song that, like almost all of Lord Huron tracks, is about someone looking back on the disaster they\u2019ve made of their own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Wolf Alice \u2013 White Horses.<\/strong> Who would have thought that my favorite track off a Wolf Alice album would be sung by the drummer, Joel Amey? Ellie Rowsell does appear on the chorus, and <em>The Clearing<\/em> is still very much her album, but this song has the best hook on the LP and builds so beautifully that it should have closed the record rather than the letdown of \u201cThe Sofa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Obongjayar \u2013 Not in Surrender.<\/strong> How did this song \u2013 and its album <em>Paradise Now<\/em> \u2013 not not end up a global hit? I don\u2019t think I heard anything all year that made me want to hit the gas pedal or just get up out of my seat more than this one, a high-energy Afrobeat track with some American R&amp;B and a hint of rock guitar in the chorus, along with a rallying cry to start each verse: \u201cI put my hands up\/Not in surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year\u2019s top 100 took longer than usual to compile for the opposite reason from last year: it was hard for me to get 100 songs I thought worthy of inclusion. You can see my previous years\u2019 song rankings here: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012. I posted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1433,852,260],"class_list":["post-11093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2025-in-music","tag-music","tag-rankings","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11094,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11093\/revisions\/11094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}