When we released our best songs of 2024 list we had a few people write in to say why didn’t we do a ‘best 24 for 2024’ and… yeah that was a better idea. So, we proudly present our favourite 25 tracks of 2025, just don’t expect us to be doing it like this in 2078.

25 Masochistic Lover by Sawyer Hill
Sawyer Hill has the voice of a bourbon barrel and music that feels like you went off the rails a long time ago. So brilliant then. No prizes for guessing what the song’s about…

24 Drugs on the Weekend by AF90
Not sure we’re allowed to feature a song that’s not even ironically about taking drugs for a fun weekend, but it’s catchy as hell and works equally well if you just imagine whatever it is you do for fun and release (don’t do drugs kids, that enough legal?)

23 The Grey Machines by Chris Harms and VNV Nation
Lord of the Lost’s Chris Harms has shown a fantastic willingness to experiment and his 80s themed solo album was great. Here he’s pulled in VNV Nation and who doesn’t need a song about a horrible dystopian nightmare, if only to remind ourselves we’re not there yet.

22 Victory Lap by Fred Again
A song that works best at night, under limited flickering light, with petrol fumes in the air. Perhaps the only song in this list that wouldn’t get boring if you looped it for an hour.

21 I Hate That It’s True by Dean Lewis
I’m not crying, you’re crying. No, no, we’re all crying.

20 Speyside by Bon Iver
Bon Iver, may you never grow old, may you continue to make touching folk music until the stars go dark because you’re the only one who could do that justice in song.

19 Turn Around by The Lottery Winners
I suppose our legal team would like us to mention we’ve not put this song at number nineteen just because we worked with The Lottery Winners this year, so rest easy team, we’ve done it. Besides, who doesn’t want a pure serotonin hit of absolute joy?

18 When It’s Raining by Borderline
An absolute triumph for YouTube’s algorithm, we had no idea about this song until it suddenly started playing one day. Of course, given that YouTube is flooded with AI we then had to go and Google to see if this was a human band… and they are and the song is tremendous.

17 Cuntissimo by Marina
We were thrilled that 2025 saw Marina would return to the heights of her best era, namely Electra Heart, it’s just a shame this was never going to get any radio play and she’s probably not allowed to get sponsorship for Vogue cigarettes.

16 Extraordinary wings by Heartworms
Essentially Gloss’ Lonely in Paris except it’s now the soundtrack to an urban folk horror movie, this is reptilian music that haunts you at 3am and makes sure you don’t go to their gigs on your own. Florence swerved the occult Halloween release with her own confessions, Heartworms very much did not.

15 Mahashmahashna by Father John Misty
Father John Misty plus sweeping strings plus a name you have to learn how to say and good luck googling if you’ve only heard it on the radio: yeah, it’s a good song all right, was never going to be anything else. Honestly why is this guy not massive.

14 Home (Soft Version) by Good Neighbours
The sort of American folk where the vocals seem directly tapped into your soul and the music is like a dream of a different world, who hasn’t needed a song that turns into a hymn about going home?

13 What Else Is There? (True Electric) by Royksopp
Royksopp had been DJing dancefloor versions of their lesser dancey songs for years until they decided to come up with the definite versions for the True Electric album. The result was a superb record and the high point was the transformation of the energetic dream that was What Else Is There into something you’d soundtrack a mission with.

12 American Beauty by Nessa Barrett
Nessa Barrett has taken over the job of presenting the dirty side of the American dream from Lana Del Rey and she’s doing just as good a job of it. Like all her best songs, you really wouldn’t want to find yourself identifying with it, but if you do, it’s complete catharsis.

11 Shallow by Black Honey
A brilliant song by Black Honey? Well that’s not a surprise is it, they’ve been consistently great for ages now and if anything it’s frustrating they’re not stratospheric rock stars because god knows we need some right now. But yes, another catchy slice of musical dark chocolate from a band who can’t do anything else.

10 No One Leaves This Discotheque Alive by Rialto
Oh for god’s sake. Rialto were a criminally underrated band in the 90s, but when I first heard this I thought yes, yes, it’s going to be a huge hit and they’ll be stars… but no, once more they are a criminally underrated band, this time in the 20’s.

9 FEAR by NF
Spiritually from the same place as Ren’s recent classics, Fear is a journey through the many shades of mental stress the modern world won’t stop throwing at us, combining a lovely acoustic strumming with movie level grand theatre.

8 Everybody Scream by Florence and the Machine
This was an absolute earworm from the first listen… until you listened to the lyrics when it became troubling. Hearing Florence eviscerate herself and show her career, her album, this very song as deeply damaging made Everybody Scream and everything else on the album something you really had to reach into yourself and consider before listening. It is, undeniably, a fantastic single, it’s also challenging and, really, isn’t that art.

6 and 7 White Horses and Sofa by Wolf Alice
We have a rule where one artist can only feature once on this list, but we’re breaking it for Wolf Alice. Their decision to shake up who performs what saw them release their best work yet and we couldn’t pick between either of these so, in the end, we decided to include them both.

5 Zombie by YungBlud
Yungblud dominated the media after his appearance at the Ozzy Osbourne farewell concert and, yes, he did a brilliant performance, but it overshadowed the fact he’d released a fantastic album of his own songs. Zombie was the only song every person with input into this list all named but it was far from the only notable release in 2025.

4 Trance State by Suede
Suede have been back for a while, releasing quality albums, but in 2025 they really returned to the heights of Dog Man Star. The best single was Trance State, which didn’t bother to get poetical about heartbreak but grasped the reality of mental confusion in the modern era. Besides, who else would dare to rhyme I’m unsociable it’s fine with I’ll blame it on the Mirtazapine?

3 Eat Me Alive by Artemis
Following up a hit like I Like The Way You Kiss Me should have been a challenge, but Artemis dropped a great album that can only be described as ‘horny.’ Even his heartbreak songs were fuelled by a pumping heart and a bloodstream full of urgent chemicals. Even so, Eat Me Alive was just a floor filling banger.

2 Undressed by Sombr
The king of pop in 2025, Sombr released a string of absolute bangers which pulled off the rarest of things: being poetic and clever about heartbreak but looking absolutely cool while doing it. In truth we could have put any one of about five of his songs here, but this was our introduction to him.

1 Got To Have Love by Pulp
That Pulp would return with a song every bit as good as their 90s radio hits was a miracle, but also a moment of personal triumph. The group had written the song back then but Jarvis couldn’t bring himself to properly perform it. That he can now, in a song completely and utterly about the joys of love, was a victory we all shared in.