The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2025

Lola Young at the end yes ❤️ I hope she blows up. Also I've been liking RAYE for a while now and Where's My Husband is soooooo catchy. UK pop seems to be killing it more lately

I'm a 51-year-old heterosexual man who's happily married and I've been playing "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!" on repeat all weekend. Thanks, Todd.

I will make it my personal mission to never let anyone retcon 2025, don’t you worry…

I've disconnected from pop music so successfully, that the only song I've heard from this list is Sabrina Carpenter's Manchild. I'm still not convinced Benson Boone is a real person.

Getting to notification for this being uploaded while I was listening to the Hottest 100 was a nice a moment of things coming together

Am I the only one who has never heard of this Sombr dude before?

ok last comment...but the lack of bad bunny is criminal

I'll be honest, the only lyrics I could ever discern in WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! were "Hey, where the hell is my husband?" So today was the day that I learned whether she was asking where her existing husband could be found vs where her future husband might be. I guess for the first one, I still have P!nk's "So What." ("Guess I just lost my husband, I don't know where he went.")

In collective stats for the Best of Lists since 2009 (not counting honorable mentions), Ariana Grande and Kendrick Lamar now have their sixth appearances, Sabrina Carpenter now has her fourth, Charli XCX has her third, and SZA has her second.

i know it doesn't rly matter anymore bc billboard is beyond fucked, but is the highest instances of songs that made the year end top 100 (or will make next year's) on a todd list in a long time ?? offhand we got the entire top 4 + sorry im here for someone else, manchild, and folded, but i might be missing a couple others too. really interesting to see in such a generally dire year edit: 30 for 30 and where is my husband too

FANTASTIC #1 pick, that might be my favorite hit of the year too. it's interesting how reluctant todd was to praise it, but he at least highlighted the main key thing -- it sounds FANTASTIC. also i think the teen angst works for it, for the same reason some emo music does, just a raw distillation of emotion and feelings really surprised messy wasn't on here (the outro doesnt count) but that makes up for it <3

"I Admit There Were Good Songs" Nathanson/Kroger/Jepsen

I cannot explain why, but I was sure Todd would put Give Me a Reason by NF in the mentions. Maybe because it's the first song I've heard about wishing for failure and humiliation so you could get your edge back. It was such a vivid, strange moment in my Top 100 listening sessions, especially played alongside all the Taylor Swift.

Data Moshing at 38:15 as a heads up.

Man I don’t know… if Manchild is #2 I’d put Tears at #1. Sombr’s reverby whinging does nothing for me ignoring the weird drama about him Also with how Todd can be with predictions I’m expecting Ella Langley to collaborate on a shitty Morgan Wallen song like next week

Hearing that Brandy is now officially from an older generation makes me feel even more decrepit, but there's some stuff here I officially want to check out (especially Olivia Dean), and that almost never happens with these kinds of lists anymore, so thanks for that, especially on a day like today. You're doing Agnostic God's work.

wednesday mention !!!!!

I'm going to be listening to WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! nonstop for the next two weeks now. Thank you, Todd!

There are too many Ra(y)(e)s. Please eliminate one.

Thank you for introducing me to Ella Langley!

Might just be a 20 year old, but my justice for best pop song of the year: Somebody Else by. Luna Day

@ Todd: PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHARGE FOR THIS VIDEO

love me not was robbed btw

Felt like my favourite sports team won a championship when I saw WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!

Hey Todd, probably already mentioned but your audio gets messy/ mixed wrong in the Honorable mentions (the Drake song specifically, I think). Speaking of messy, that's my one regret from your list: would love to have heard that song and Lola Young at least get a mention. Maybe the audio is trying to tell you to boot Drake definitively, which he deserves. Messy was one of the big two I always cranked up the volume in my car this year (the Sombr song being the other.) Fantastic work as always and especially this boring year. Way to make up in classiness what you lost in options.

1. "british" jones during wheres my husband 2. looks like accidental repeated clip in back to friends, the piece that has no audio from the song under it and you say the same line again 3. also in back to friends, toward the very end there's like a two second clip that's you talking over a black screen which might be an error

Error watch: Biggest issue: from the Honorable Mention section onwards, there are times where both the music track and the narration track are at the same volume, so you’re really hard to hear (noticed at 34:32, 35:20, and 40:22) Minor issues: Matte breaks at 11:47 Visible jump cut at 30:44 (that’s usually not your style) Compression artifacts at various points (I only noted it at 30:18 because I knew that didn’t happen in the original music video) You’re jamming out to no music at 38:18. Is that intentional? 40:30 is just a black screen even though the main video isn’t over This was a rough year, here’s to 2026 being better.

I really like your what you picked at #1, but I also feel like in a better year it would’ve been down at #5 or #7. 2025 was a terrible year for music.

“Where’s My Wife” exists! It is… very different from “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” and it is by Sloppy Jane

I absolutely loved the #1. One of my most listened to songs of the year. I liked all the songs on the list. And Ella Langley has been the best thing in country this past year and her success has been great to watch. And the one big song Kehlani finally has is also her best. Great year for R&B. Gimme A Hug was the only disagreement. Great list.

Hey, Todd likes a Benson Boone song, and it's the one Benson Boone song I actually really enjoy.

The first time in a while where I’ve heard more songs on the worst list than the best. Time to educate myself on the good of the pop charts from last year!

My Superbowl is here

Released the same day as Australia’s triple J hottest 100 with a fair bit of crossover so you have support from Aussies anyway! Ps thanks for ruin the friendship peace offering, our friendship remains intact

Your audio kinda gets drowned out by the song's audio during the Honorable Mention montage, might be worth checking your levels.

Yes! I look forward to this far more then the worst list, as I always find a little gem I missed. Thanks Todd!

Did you forget to charge again?

If anyone asks, Todd, this isn't late, you just didn't want to bias the Triple J Hottest 100 vote

also i'm bipolar and any other bipolar person will know what i mean when i say that 'WHERE IS MY HUSBAND' is exactly what a manic phase is like. honestly it's my personal #1

I see your offering of honourable mention of RTF and I will bring it back to the rest of the hive mind. I suspect they will accept since you're the first critic in the world to not have a bad faith take on that song specifically.

i was immediately suspicious of sombr because i've only ever had a terrible musical time with lowercase tiktok emo boys but he proved me wrong so fast. my favorite was actually his other hit (undressed), for a pretty similar reason. he's just really good at making songs that sound good with a great chorus. something about the way his voice flows just works

Jump cut at 30:42

Despite the effort it would have taken to put this list together due to the woeful year, it’s a pretty decent list. Good hearing you explain your points from the point of view of gut feeling.

39:55 there's a jump in the edit

I have to say it every time I see it but god damn is KPOP Demon Hunters lifelessly animated. No body language, barely any facial expression, just slow walks and backflips with nothing else. Just the worst

Thanks for another year-end list! Couple issues I caught: 1. During the Drake part the song is too loud and your voice is barely audible. Same but a little better at various points during the #1 song. 2. There's an editing error around 38:15, the clip of you is played twice and the music video part is distorted. 3. There's a couple seconds of black around 40:26

Todd, I couldn't hear you over the Gimme A Hug-segment, lower the song's volume a little. Also, glad that we both agree on Ruin The Friendship being a nugget of bronze buried in a pile of poo poo (although my favorite Taylor song from the past two years is Florida!!!)

I would like to say that I was thinking that 2025 for Pop music wasn't a good one with many of the songs wasn't hitting right as they should and that order songs from the past were doing better than ever before, like what you said in your that terrible song review " ordinary". I think that 2025 was a good year, if you were listening to Japanese music, especially animé opening theme intro music or ending themes songs. I could name tons of songs that I liked and I would have to make a top 40 list and still would be thinking of a few more tons that I liked overall. I would say that this has been going on for a while now but that wasn't the only thing that was happening in 2025, some of the music from video games had some AMAZING soundtrack that have been in my personal playlist since then and I am shocked that not a lot of people understand how crazy that is. I been thinking that the Pop music industry has been coming into a situation where we are slowly being forced to listen to terrible outliers than ever before and it's because we might to listen to something that sounds like music from a type of genre that is either safe or religious based in some sort of way. I don't think that might be the actual reason for it, due to the fact that there was some hits from new artists that did well and some from artists that have been around for sometime now. So anyway I just wanted say something about last year. Sorry for writing this long and I will try not do that ever again.

At 8.13 I'm hearing British Jones much more than Bridget Jones?

38:15 You say the same thing twice, but it's clearly different takes, but whatever's in the middle seems to have screwed up and I get visual tearing.

potential weird edits: 0:37 the sombr rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" cuts out abruptly; 35:15 song is too loud in the background, your commentary not really audible; 40:26 several seconds of black screen, can't tell if that's part of the MV 10 "If this wasn't by the PLEASE STAY guy, you'd love it" yeah that's fair 9 I recently found out Raye was also the vocalist on "You Don't Know Me" so I guess she's been bubbling under for longer than I realized. Absolute banger. Everything from the bridge onward is incredible and the sample of her grandma might be the best two seconds of the year. I have made a personal pledge to buy a drink for the first person I see do this song at karaoke even half-decent, and if no one steps up, by god I will give it a go. 7 As a high school teacher, I'm suddenly wondering what kind of horrified looks I would get from my students if I ever said "Chat, does anyone have questions about the homework?" 5 "Not that I miss you I don't" never has lying to yourself sounded so good 2 The only clunker IMO, I never got past my initial reaction. I'm not caught up on Song-vs-Song so I'll have to listen to the episode you did on this. 1 The first Sombr song I heard was "Undressed" and I was really a fan until the bridge, which was way too creepy/possessive. "Back to Friends" is definitely better. Being in any situation anywhere near this is fucking painful, and he really brought that out. Also, I was stunned when I first found out that it was just one guy, and basically a child at that. Optimistic for him looking forward.

Okay, here's one: You keep saying Benson Boone is backflipping, but he's clearly doing a front flip in this video.

I love how this list is like half British R&B and half artists who got slammed on the socials for being cringe, and this might be one of my favourite best of lineups from you ever.

a slight video overlap/clip issue at 11:48 love the bit about talking to chat

Guess I'm putting off bedtime. One error I noticed: you called Bridget Jones "British Jones" which is extremely funny.

All i ask is can we please keep this country artist from saying the N word, shes like a 5th my country playlist😅

Overall, good list. I can't object to any of the actual Top 10, and I'm relieved that Drake and Morgan Wallen were relegated to the honorable mentions. I just can't with them any more, not even their "good songs." Honestly, I'm even approaching that point with Taylor Swift, and it wasn't that long ago when I was totally vibing with "Midnights"! But, to wrap up on a positive note, I'm also really looking forward to your #4 pick finally getting some #1 hits in 2026 and beyond. Oh please, dear lord, make it so!

Also couldnt hear u too well round 34:30 or 35:20, 40:20 buried too... (and went black for some reason soon after)... 38:15ish might have been a mistake too, like the music got cut.

Funny you should mention 80s country. I have been spending my spare time catching up on music history and whenever I watch a documentary on a country star, there's almost always a part where they go "Then the 80s came and..... oh boy". Like even Dolly Parton had a huge slump in the 80s where she got dropped by her label. I wonder if there's a train wreckords episode that could cover this era. Like it's amazing how many country music stars have documentaries that very clearly do not want to talk about the 80s.

Voice levels when you're talking about Drake is kind of difficult

PinkPantheress mentioned! Love her

Not riddled with errors but something right around 29:00, a jumpy cut and a lack of sound fading stood out to me.

I'm not sure "Indian summer" is a phrase you want to use. At 22:06, verbal misstep I think you meant to edit out. Audio/video stutter at 28:57. Video stutter at 30:43 Voice gets drowned out by the song at around 35:23 36:15 Feels like the Shaboozey clip needs to end a second sooner, before the camera angle switches. 38:18 or so, two different clips of you saying "ah, it's so good." Several seconds of black screen starting at 40:26

I agree with pretty much all of this. Except for #2. There was a better choice from the same artist. And I thought I was the only person who loved #5. But it did it's job and reminded me that there is still some great music being made.

Good pick for #1. I thought it was gonna be that Goldilox song.

What a hard list to make after a terrible year 😭 Couple errors: -During the honorable mentions the Drake audio was louder than your audio. -Botched rendering during the Sombr bit. Also a couple points where Sombr was louder than you. -40:26 til 40:31 no video.

At one part in the Drake HM, the song drowns out your voice over. Also slight fact check: you mention an artist is 19 years old. The song did release when he was 19, but he turned 20 not long after.

something new to live for alert

Top Ten of 2025 beta just dropped 🥳 Submitting bug report: editing error at 11:45

Something to watch tomorrow when I’m snowed in. Thank you for your service Todd.

Something good to watch before the roads freeze and I’m stranded at home.

It's telling me "this video is restricted" is this because I'm in Canada.

God damn it todd i need to sleep.

Yay! Good job Todd!