The moment you have been waiting for! Or possibly not. But here are my picks for the best music of 2025 — some of which may have changed by the time you are reading this.
And my shifting list is one reason I’m only getting around to posting this on New Year’s Eve. Another reason for the delay is that I really wanted to migrate my playlists away from Spotify — which runs ads for the domestic paramilitary terrorist group ICE and whose owner invests in the murder tech company Helsing. I had hoped not to post Spotify playlists. And yet, yeah, that’s what’s below. One of the hazards of using streaming services.
For those with less time, here is a 40-song playlist. One song per artist.
For those with more time, here is a playlist of over 200 songs. Probably only one song per artist, but I may have a couple of artists on there twice.
The best videos of the year were by OK Go — which is always the case when OK Go creates new music. They have again outdone themselves. Of the two, my favorite song is “A Stone Only Rolls Downhill.”
But “Love” is the greater technical feat. And both invite repeated viewings.