There is no single authoritative list of the best songs of 2025. Critics’ selections, staff picks and writer votes make editorial arguments about music; year-end streaming charts show what people played on a particular platform during a defined period. This guide takes a critic-led view, drawing on several 2025 selections to highlight the year’s range rather than claim a definitive ranking.
What counts as one of the best songs of 2025?
“Best” is a judgment, not a result that can be settled by one chart. The editorial lists considered here make different choices and explain them in different ways: some emphasize genre experimentation, songwriting or performance; others place a song in cultural context. Their overlap is useful for understanding the year’s musical breadth, but their methods do not produce a shared score or universal consensus.
For this guide, “songs of 2025” means songs selected in year-end coverage of 2025—not necessarily songs first released during the 2025 calendar year. When release date matters, check the individual song’s release information rather than assuming a year-end list has a strict release-year cutoff.
Editorial picks: a wide-ranging set of 2025 standouts
These examples are not a combined ranking. They show how different publications made their cases for memorable songs across genres and styles.
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Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”
The Associated Press included “Abracadabra” among ten best songs presented in no particular order. Its description highlights maximalist electro-pop, house piano and a strong hook—an argument centered on scale, production and pop immediacy. Read the AP’s selections and commentary.
Bad Bunny, “Lo que le pasó a Hawaii”
The AP connects this song to Puerto Rican cultural autonomy and notes its güiro-led opening. That framing illustrates how a song can be discussed not only for its sound, but also for the cultural context the publication hears in it. The interpretation belongs to the AP’s critics, rather than being a neutral measure of the song’s meaning.
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Little Simz, “Flood,” featuring Obongjayar and Moonchild Sanelly
The Guardian included “Flood” in its 20-song selection, voted on by 30 of the publication’s music writers. Its list spans styles from post-punk rap to indie-disco and operatic pop, making the range of the vote part of its editorial picture of the year. See the Guardian’s full list.
Wolf Alice, “Bloom Baby Bloom”; Sam Fender, “Nostalgia’s Lie”; ROSALÍA, Björk and Yves Tumor, “Berghain”; and SPRINTS, “Desire”
Official Charts’ staff-picks collection attributes choices to individual staff members rather than presenting one ranked chart. These examples represent a spread of artists and approaches; the accompanying explanations discuss qualities such as arrangement, genre blending, emotion and performance. Browse the Official Charts staff picks.
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A broader critic-led landscape
Pitchfork’s 100-song selection describes a mix that runs from dubstep and electronic pop to regional rap, alt-country and chart hits. Its stated interests include songs that expand genre toolkits and explore love and human connection. That is a critical lens, not a popularity ranking. Read Pitchfork’s 100 best songs of 2025.
How the major 2025 lists differ
| List | Method | Scope and time window | What it offers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pitchfork | Critic-led selection | 100 songs; the cited description does not establish a release-year-only cutoff. | A broad genre mix and an explicit interest in experimentation, love and human connection. |
| The Guardian | Vote by 30 music writers | 20 songs; the cited description does not establish a release-year-only cutoff. | A collectively chosen selection spanning several styles. |
| Associated Press | Ten editorial choices, presented in no particular order | Ten songs; no release-year-only cutoff is established in the cited description. | Critical commentary that includes production and cultural context. |
| Official Charts staff picks | Individually attributed staff choices, not one ranked chart | The cited page is a 2025 staff-picks collection; a release-year-only cutoff is not established. | Personal explanations of qualities including arrangement, emotion and performance. |
| Spotify Wrapped | Listening behavior on Spotify | Global 2025 results; the cited material does not state the exact measurement window. | Platform-specific popularity, not an editorial judgment of quality. |
| Apple Music “Top Songs of 2025” | Plays on Apple Music | Global playlist of 100 songs; plays from November 1, 2024, through October 31, 2025. | A defined listening period that crosses calendar years. |
Top songs of 2025 by streams are a different kind of list
Spotify’s 2025 Wrapped named Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” its top global song, with over 1.7 billion streams — Spotify, 2025. Billie Eilish’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” placed second, and ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” placed third. These are platform listening results, not scores for artistic merit. Spotify’s 2025 Wrapped results report what listeners played on Spotify.
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Apple Music’s global “Top Songs of 2025” playlist contains 100 songs, but its year-end chart counts plays from November 1, 2024, through October 31, 2025. That period includes music from outside the 2025 calendar year, so it should not be treated as a list of songs released only in 2025. Apple’s year-end chart announcement specifies the measurement window.
A chart position tells you how a song performed within a platform’s market and measurement period. It does not establish critical consensus, and it should not be compared directly with a critic’s or writer’s selection as though both measured the same thing.
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How to use the lists to find your own best songs
- Want critical commentary? Start with lists that explain their choices, such as the AP’s song-by-song context or the genre and thematic lens described by Pitchfork.
- Want a collective editorial vote? The Guardian’s list reflects the vote of 30 music writers.
- Want individual recommendations? Official Charts identifies its staff picks by contributor and explains the appeal of each choice.
- Want to know what was most played? Use Spotify or Apple Music’s year-end results, while keeping each platform’s market and measurement period in view.
- Want songs released during 2025 specifically? Verify release dates song by song; the year-end lists and listening periods described here do not all use that cutoff.
Spotify’s editorial selections offer another useful distinction: in a June 30, 2025 article about the platform’s midyear Editors’ Picks playlist—not its year-end chart—Spotify Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong said, “Our Editors’ Picks playlist isn’t about what’s trending—it’s about the tracks that stood out for all the right reasons”. The comment describes that midyear editorial playlist, not a measurement of the year’s most-streamed songs. Read Spotify’s explanation of its midyear Editors’ Picks.
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