Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2025

Looking back at this dismal year through pop music has been interesting to me. I feel like after the blockbuster year of 2024, there were a sense of dread that lingered from that year even if it was a great year for pop music. The fact that a feud between TikTok and UMG was enough to manipulated the chart to such an extent that we can see till this day, but also with each and passing week of this year more flaws of 2024 reared its ugly head. From the puritanical culture, to the grifters still grifting, and how we don't seek out new music anymore because the state of the world. No wonder 2025 have such baggage and dread when historian looking back at this time.

Though that isn't a fair assessment of the year as a whole. Like I said in the worst list, with the absence of American public, other countries are ready to pick up the pace and got us into semi decent year. Latin pop is having a Bad Bunny dominance like in 2022, K-Pop impressed me a bit even though in the background it's still not pretty, pop music while still in the high of 2024 largely held on their own, rap music is still on the 2024 high but still riding the high of Kendrick Lamar. I'd say that the two genres that flourished this year were RnB and rock where the quality is consistent enough to make an impact here. It was a year where you can consider to be a bad hangover after 2024 but there's still gem here.

Again the criteria for the list is songs that debuted on Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl US Year End plus songs released this year that have more than 100 million streams. Even with that wide net of songs here, this list is kinda thin than last year's one. But let's just back to being with this year that we don't deserved as we count down

TOP 10 BEST HIT SONGS OF 2025

10. Lady Gaga is definitely going to win this Grammys for Best Album right? I mean her competition is still competitive with Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, The Creator, and Sabrina Carpenter. But all I know is that Grammys love giving legacy acts their due with the best album of the year win. 2025 was Cowboy Carter, 2026 will be Mayhem. And yet, listening to Mayhem left me with the question of "Is Lady Gaga ran out of material?" The big singles from this album is "Abracadabra" which shrunk on me a lot as a rethread of her old sound that got kinda grating especially with that drop. But, because of my expanded rule, I can choose the best song on the album for starting off my best list.

10. How Bad Do U Want Me - Lady Gaga

With a lot of Mayhem being a pastiche of synthpop eras that preceeded or she helped created, It's kinda funny how the best song on the album is basically "1989" era Taylor Swift. As Lady Gaga approaching the legacy act part of her career, I guess she decided to try being fresh is to borrow the writing style of Taylor Swift, a lot of interpersonal lyrics and a sense of grandeur, and basically made the best Taylor Swift song of the year. The fluttery synth, the vocal harmony, and the buzzy drum machine really felt like the song came straight from Taylor's B-side. But, Lady Gaga gave the passionate delivery of longing and tension that actually worked.

The lyrics here again copied Taylor's homework but Lady Gaga is smart enough to bringing her flair into this. Yes she did called herself a "bad girl" here even though she's approaching 40 but the sentiment here and the detail what makes this work. The unpredictability of dating a good girl but she's actually has some rougher edge that's definitely from Taylor's playbook. But the best part here is that she played it very sincerly and it created tension between Gaga and the guy in question. The relationship might not working but there's the thought that it might've worked and that earnesty is what made this song soared as it is. If Taylor can't make her good pop song anymore, can we give that to Lady Gaga instead because it seems like it worked in her favor.

9. It's kinda insane seeing a lot of Gen Z aka my generation (supposedly) are hating on indie folk revival that's happening last year. Yeah I know that it can be saccarine and some of them are definitely about douchy guy trying to pull girls with bigger than life lyrics and metaphors. But don't act like you were too cool for that especially since those trends really showed the optimism that some of y'all needed. And I can't believe I'm saying this but even Alex Warren gets it.

9. Bloodline - Alex Warren ft. Jelly Roll

This is probably the most controversial song I'll put on this list and you can see why. An indie folk song that's too close to folktronica with the faster groove, the harmonies which actually both of them have great chemistry, and the bombast of just acoustic guitar, stomp clap, and some actual bass. Alex Warren probably gave the most energetic performance of his career and Jelly Roll is actually on theme and have great interplay with Alex I'm surprised by that as well.

What I'm also surprised is the lyrics hit me as hard as it is. The central topic of the song is how your bloodline or familial line didn't determined you as a person and as someone who is the queerest out of my family this legit hit me even though I don't think this is what they intended it to be. The best part is how it's very universal in the writing where Alex didn't talk about himself or even with Jelly Roll, the person Alex is talking to is "you" and that universality while also not alienating the second person is surprising coming from Alex Warren who were just released "Ordinary". I think my favorite line here is "From where you came isn't who you are" and that hit me hard since I'm also struggling with my role within my family as a queer person. Look I know this is probably not gonna make a lot of people's best list, but if there's a song that reassure me that there's tomorrow in the sea of sorrows, it's this one.

8. Welp that's my critic card revoked let me see how can I get that back I do love their free lunch program *check the rulebook* "You have to praise a deepcut from an album that got nominated for next year's Grammys" hmm I got one!

8. Lo Que Le Paso A Hawaii - Bad Bunny

Phew I got it back finally. Okay jokes aside, I do think it's crazy how basically all the songs on "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" by Bad Bunny are eligible for the list despite the fact that it was angrier and darker album than "Un Verano Sin Ti". But I think this album is better because it's probably the most vulnerable and raw Bad Bunny has ever been. While "Un Verano Sin Ti" is the summer album and "nadie sabe lo que va a pasar manana" is a celebration of latin trap that he was a part of, "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" is lived in and real while also trying to have fun in the midst of impending doom. Yeah this album is definitely resonating more and more as The Orange Guy in Chief are tearing Latino community apart in America and Bad Bunny being Puerto Rican had a lot of thoughts about that. Hence the penultimate track.

People tend to forgot how political Bad Bunny really is and this song is a prime example. This song is about Bad Bunny reminiscing Puerto Rico his hometown and how he doesn't want what happened in Hawaii happened to Puerto Rico. US forces basically took over Hawaii for their resources and is basically being remade as a resorts and holiday destinations while leaving the native Hawaiians to dirt. That anxiety is apparent with Bad Bunny's delivery and the more muted productions with the heavy synth, the sandy percussion, and the orchestral swell with the guitar. The outro here is something to be believed here with the added choral vocals and it's very emotional. To a lot of people this resonated so much about western imperialism and colonialism especially to me since Bali is basically being turned into gentrified mess that deprived their own people for profits. This is still not my favorite song on the album however. But, it's a very impactful song and the one that I will not forget.

7. One of my pet peeve of mine when it comes to 2020s pop music is the amount of immature relationship songs that became hits. "Without You" by The Kid LAROI, "Skin" by Sabrina Carpenter, and even Olivia Rodrigo with "Happier". There are places for these immature relationship songs where the point is that immaturity and how fresh of a wound it is. But we really need variety like how "Ms. Jackson" was for the early 2000s. This is definitely not at the same level as that song is, but hey close enough.

7. All The Way - BigXThaPlug ft. Bailey Zimmerman

I have been impressed with how BigXThaPlug trying to do his trap country sound. Sure from a cynical view, you can see that this is just chasing the trend like Post Malone or possibly Morgan Wallen. But not only is this very disingenous where there's no Morgan Wallen appearance on his third album, it's also coming from appreciation of the genre while also having the production still in house and not bringing in producers from Nashville and you can tell but I'm getting ahead of myself.

What I love about this song is that both of them played a balancing game of being hurt from a breakup while also vulnerable enough to accept to move on. Bailey Zimmerman actually had that kind of song with "Fall In Love" which is an awesome way to introduced yourself. The chorus here is pretty simple way to introduced the song with Bailey asking his ex to leave him and moved on just like he did. On the first verse BigXThaPlug showed some detail as to how the relationship fell apart. What I like about this verse and also the second verse for that matter is that he is vulnerable and the details of him being intimate like hugging and defending her is something missing from breakup songs from guys in general. It showed maturity even though he's still young relatively. Paired that with a better than average trap country with the guitar and pedal steel with a better mixed trap percussion and you get a song that's mature enough for us to move on to the next entries.

6. One genre that faired better than any genres this year at least in popular music is RnB. It seems like a lot of RnB artists were releasing banger after banger for the stretch of 2025. From the rise of Olivia Dean and Mariah The Scientist to the underground gems like FKA Twigs and Amaarae. RnB has been the shining light in the popular music that's very dim. And this might be the best out of all of them.

6. Folded - Kehlani

(Reminder that Kehlani goes by they/them pronouns...okay continue) This song is what Sports Car supposed to be. There have been talks about the 2000s throwback that has been happening this year. Seems like a lot of people skipped the 90s because you really can't pinned down the 90s into a singular monogenre thing like the 80s and the 2000s. I think the 90s were too eclectic for people to have pure nostalgia for at least from what I've observed so 2000s it is. Anyways Sports Car was doing the 2000s RnB throwback with Timbaland prodigy's Ryan Tedder but I don't think Tate's vocal is enough to carried that sound. Kehlani though different story.

Kehlani has been to me in the same camp as Tinashe. They broke through in the mid 2010s but didn't have the right material to show off their skills as an RnB singer. But seemingly alongside Tinashe, they both have their highest charting songs since the mid 2010s. For Tinashe it's actually a generic EDM remix of "No Broke Boys" which is fine I guess. But Kehlani have their biggest hit to date with Folded which is quite good. I love the intro already with the heavy strings arrangement, and then that plucky synth that called back "Confession Pt.2", and that bassline which is fantastic. it sets the mood of Kehlani asking this person to come hangout with them might have something going on later on. And what I like about this song is that they also said that they would let this person doing it at their own pace which is great consent is sexy y'all! Sometimes a great song is something that perfected the simple formula and I think Kehlani succeeded in that. 

5. Ahem.....MUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

5. TV Off - Kendrick Lamar ft. Lefty Gunplay

2025 Super Bowl was the statement of intent for Kendrick Lamar. Just a month after Donald Trump inaugurated as the president, Kendrick created one of the most thought provoking performance of the Super Bowl that I've ever seen. The fact that he filled the performance with so many imagery critiquing what America was and is with basically most of the songs on GNX with some other hits is one of the best moments of 2025 pop music. The fact that Not Like Us was played as well when people thought that the Grammy win was enough is still glorious. And yet the show was ended with TV Off which is an apt ending to be honest.

TV Off is a song of celebration where the formula of Not Like Us was perfected and taking it into ridiculous heights. Watching all of the reaction videos of this song has been the highlight of 2024 where they never thought that Kendrick could go there with the transition between two beats. The first one is your standard west coast jam with that orchestra hit where Kendrick Lamar put call to action about rising above mediocrity and there's another subtle jab at Drake. But the second part with Kendrick screamed Mustard's name with more heavy trumpet and menacing atmosphere showing that Kendrick can be very funny and have fun. This song is the best summary of GNX as a whole because this is a celebration of West Coast sound while also having fun with it and still got good lyrical content. I won't be surprised if Kendrick win every Grammys next year as well...but there's other competition that could challenged him, but first!

4. 2025 has been the year of let downs but what let me down the most is how a lot of newcomers this year has been in at least some sort of controvery or backlash to them. Doechii decided to not push Nissan Altima and instead pushed Anxiety because of viral meme which drew backlash to her music, Chappell decided to take time for her to make album which angered some people, Sabrina decided to make another album that drew even more backlash, and of course Alex Warren and Benson Boone's critically panned albums. Honestly I don't know anymore about up and coming artist these days like they always into some dumb controvery and even my #4 pick isn't immune to that. But when the song is this good I don't care. Sombr is the best new artist of 2025.

4. 12 To 12 - Sombr

I think I'm outgrowing TikTok. Even if I have frequented that app more and more, I felt more distance towards the app and the culture of the app as a whole. I think some parts of TikTok can be overtly puritanical and also has a weird vibe of conservatism with 2016 SJW characteristic. And I think the controversy surrounding Sombr concert is the tipping point for me. Sure I think there are truth that Sombr being somewhat weird towards his audience in his concert but this is mild compared to other artists are doing in concert. But also he's still young and still figuring out his concert presence. Not all people are gonna be like Chappell Roan while performing okay!

Anyways Sombr is probably one of the most promising artist to came out in this down year of 2025. I listened to his debut album "I Barely Know Her" and while the lyrics can be better. Like seriously all of the songs here good and bad are about post breakup blues and I hope he got a new material as he matured. But the greater appeal of Sombr is how he is the main producers of his own album with the help of some other experienced audio engineers. It's a tight album filled with indie rock that was influenced by mid 2000s to late 2010s indie rock. People drew comparison between this album and "Sour" by Olivia Rodrigo and while the latter is better overall, the singles choice is better with the former.

As I've always said and what I said in my seasonal ranking, I love it when rock artist is making a dance record and this is probably one of the finest one. That heavy guitar and bass accented the synth, the drum, and the groove to make a really great disco tunes that's definitely more legit than some of the nu disco that became hits this decade. I love how he got his vocal filter in the chorus while giving his falsetto and the harmonies in the pre chorus and chorus. And that bridge is awesome, remember bridge!!! But the song would've been only good without the lyrics where Sombr longing for someone probably his crush, and he still don't know if he's worth it for her or not. This created tension that's perfect for a dance track like this and holy hell it created one hell of an anthem. 

3. Honestly number 3 to number 1 is a three way ties for me. These three songs really encapsulated my 2025 as a whole good and bad. I decided to put this song at #3 because of personal reasons I won't get into, but it's an open wound that I need to delved even more next year. But still the fact that this song stayed long enough to get here is a testiment of how great Chromakopia really is.

3. Like Him - Tyler, The Creator ft. Lola Young

You know I actually was cool on this one when I listened to Chromakopia for the first time. I thought this was the deepcut that only works in the context of the album and thought that Balloons would be the one that became the viral hits. But seems like it was this song plus Sticky that barely missed the list where people gravitated to the most. Before talking about the song more, I love how Lola Young in here basically like Janelle Monae in "We Are Young" by fun. I hope Lola Young is doing fine though seeing that incident live was heartbreaking and hope she's doing well now.

I wasn't a fan of the song at first. But, after listening to this one more and more, and plus the year that I had (not going into detail here but suffice to say it was draining) just making this one resonated with me more and more. It has been known that Tyler's arc as an artist and human being is something to be believed. From an edgelord who called B.O.B. the f slur while putting death threats on Bruno Mars to a complex character that took responsibility about what he had done and now trying to settle down for family that would love him more is something that's fascinating about Tyler. And on Chromakopia, Tyler really opened a lot of wound of heartbreak, his past, and about familial issues and it's a raw wound that he needed to heal and Like Him is the anchor to that.

Like Him started with his mother telling Tyler that he looked like his dad that he didn't know much on his life with the spare piano. And then Tyler croon over the piano and theremin and the drum and the strings as he said to his mom that he doesn't know his dad and the metaphor of chasing a ghost in callout of him doesn't know who his dad is and how he is as a person. Even in a loving way away from his dad, his mom still compared him to his dad that she left. And then the revelation came with the background vocal from Lola Young where Tyler just done with pretending and asking his mother about the truth. And she gave it to him that with the devastating truth that he was a good guy but she's the one that chose to run away because she was young at the time. I don't wanna get into my personal life again but the theme of the song hit me harder now than it was when I listened to it for the first time and I get Tyler's frustration here. This song helped me a lot processing my own feeling with my father as well and I'm glad for it. 

2. As you know, I'm Indonesian and all of the songs that I talked about with couple of few exceptions have been songs that isn't part of my culture. The culture I'm in are mostly Javanese with a little bit of a Chinese culture since I'm half-Chinese and also growing up Muslim. That alone made me an outlier to the community I'm in because of how westernized I am in comparison to a lot in my family. But all of that went away whenever Eid Al-Fitr came around and our family celebrated it with our extended family. Usually the first day we always going to my father's hometown and my father took a lot of photos and I was pretty annoyed by that. But flash forward to 2025 and Bad Bunny released an album where he embraced his culture and heritage as a part of him, he created a viral hit that resonated with people like my dad and it got better with time.

2. DtMF - Bad Bunny

Again not to go into any detail about my personal life, but all I can say is that "I Should've Taken More Photos" is probably the sentence that hit me the most throughout 2025. Bad Bunny is a mega superstar at this point so big that he will headline one of the biggest sporting events in the world next year. But, I think the anxiety knowing that his success didn't correlate with how his hometown is doing, especially in these couple of years where he likened what happened to Puerto Rico now is the same as what happened to Hawai'i before becoming an US state. Which is why "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" can be bitter, angry, and somewhat confrontational record where a lot of his experience is a snapshot of his reality. But, after the most abbrasive song on the album "EoO", He scaled back to the title track of the album the centerpiece of the album.

From that miniscule synth and then the drum kicks in. This song is a plena song which is a genre of music that originated in Puerto Rico that has its roots in the lower income neighborhood that has the characteristic of togetherness and even funny at times. This song on the surface is about Bad Bunny reminiscing his crush and his family back home and how he "should've taken more photos" of that place and the family he left behind. That alone really hit me hard because my dad always took photos of his life and preserved it for all of us to see. It was my favorite thing to do this year to just look at the photos of the past and even photos of me when I was a young child is enough for me to paint a picture as to what happened during that time. And that sentiment is still true even if I'm not someone who travel and staying abroad from his family miles away. It's something that I'll always cherished my dad for. 

But the reason why this song is so high for me is seeing the reaction to the song and more specifically what people are doing to the song. This song is actually a pretty deep cut in the album as far as Bad Bunny concerned. He already assigned "El Club" and "Baile Inolvidable" as the singles with music videos to boot. But this song slowly climbed the chart until it went to #2 on Hot 100 (and honestly I thought it was a good omen following 2024, oh how wrong I was). The reason was a TikTok trend where this song became an edit for a lot of immigrants to reminiscing their home country that they have to left behind. That trend showed to me that the power of photos is just as much if not more important today because tomorrow those memories might fade. The one that got me was people in Gaza or the ones that had visited Gaza before October 2023 showing what it was like videos of Gaza before the brutal genocide enacted by the IDF. That one is the power of song transcended beyond boundaries of language barrier and that's why this song should win Grammys for its categories because this is something special. And yet it's not my favorite song of the year. But before we get into what song that I love the most let's see some honorable mentions that just missed the list. 

House Tour - Sabrina Carpenter: 

Definitely the worse version of Juno where instead of being pregnant, she used the metaphor of "house tour" to explore her body. This is what I want from Sabrina moving forward, a horny woman who loves 80s RnB and funk.

Denial Is A River - Doechii:

If it was "Nissan Altima" I would've put it at #4 on my best list it's just that good. But hey at least the potential was there for that song to be popular but instead we got the worst case scenario possible. Also I love how her reaction when she found out that her boyfriend cheated on her to other guy is just bewildering confusion instead of disgust. That little gesture is kinda funny.

Sao Paulo - The Weeknd ft. Anitta

It's just a novelty of The Weeknd doing a Brazilian funk song really. But this is still one of my jock jam of 2025 so there's that.

Sticky - Tyler, The Creator, GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne

Lowkey this is the best song of 2025 out of sheer bravado alone. But I think too much of it can be grating on my nerve especially when the production for the first one is basically a better version of Hollaback Girl.

Man I Need - Olivia Dean

Man I was too late on Olivia Dean but this and the album slap. Also please listen to "A Couple Minute" it's absolute gorgeous song about meeting an ex for the first time and it's one of the most mature take on post breakup I've ever heard. 

Your Idol - Saja Boys

As much as I like Kpop Demon Hunters, most of the songs on the films are meh to good without any standing out moments. This one is the exception because of course I would love the villain song. But to me this song barely missed the year end because the implication of the song is kinda insidious and a warning call for idol industry as a whole. And yes this is the same song that came from the movie where Rumi deepthroating kimbap.

But now here's the real deal

1. 2025 really has tested my patience. Both on and off, it has been the year that really trying to pin me at the rock bottom. I'm doing better now, but after seeing a lot of my friends already having a job while I'm here trying my best to do better for myself it has been draining. I was anxious and insecure little ball all year long and without getting into any detail I've been frustrated all year long. So thank god that the winner of Best New Artist of 2025 Grammys came out with the song that she has been played in her concerts and bringing me the comfort I needed this year.

1. The Subway - Chappell Roan

It's kinda funny now two of my favorite hits from Chappell Roan that I put on my best list last year was also the two songs that made it onto this year's Year End on Hot 100. For all the bullshit that Chappell has to go through on and off the stage, the number isn't lying here she's one of the defining artists of 2020s and this decade overall would be a miss without her. The fact that she performed Pink Pony Club at the Grammys, a song that was released during the start of covid lockdown, and it resonated with people even if they're not gay or trans is remarkable. Pink Pony Club has becoming an anthem to anyone that really wanna move to other places to feel that they belong it's basically "Born To Run" for queer people but still as inclusive. 

So not really a shock but she released two singles that was a mainstay for her concerts. "The Giver" was the first one and I thought that it was a fine piece of country cheese with Chappell Roan characteristic. But then came "The Subway" and honestly I was looking forward to this one the most since this is the most cherished song that wasn't released. What I got was probably the song that I needed this year. Let's start with the obvious thing in that this song is gorgeous. Dan Nigro can be frustrating as a producer I feel like he can be very reserved and playing it too safe. But here, this probably have the best usage of drums I heard. That fill into the outro always catched me off guard. This is dream pop with Brit pop elements through and through. And Chappell performance here really conveyed her frustration very well with the belting at the end. Majestic stuff.

But it's the lyrics that really hit me hard as it is. This song tells a story of Chappell Roan can't move on from her ex while her ex have moved on. So because she lives in a city, she always sees a lot of people as hers whenever they have the same hairstyle or wore the same perfume and it's just heartbreaking for her to see her ex's perceived appearance everywhere. She even contemplating moving to a Canadian province that no joke doesn't have any public transportation that's how frustrated she really feels. And as someone who have experienced that heartbreak I really connect with this song on a personal level. One of my biggest fears is seeing someone I had a crush on or even someone I was befriending with but now broke up that friendship suddenly meeting you because they were on the same public transport. And I'm glad that this song really tapped into my insecurities really well and honestly what keeping me from despair this year. Great music to me is the one that has the impact for the better for myself and for others and Chappell Roan has both. Even though her songs are about her experience as a lesbian and as a queer person, her song are universally good and accessible enough for us to enjoy. That's why Chappell Roan got into my best hit song top spot for two years now and that's why this is the best hit song of 2025. 

That's it for me for 2025. It has been one of the most active I've been with this blog this year and I'm going to be more active next year since I have a lot of thoughts on other year's in music. Next up after the Winter Ranking we will see which 2001 hits give me the best sleeping pills. See ya next year and take care of each other.