The Best Songs of 2025 So Far

Bad Bunny delivered plenty of highlights on his culture-shifting Debi Tirar Mas Fotos, but the LP’s most poignant facet is his take on salsa. For “Baile Inolvidable,” Benito enlisted an ensemble of young musicians from Puerto Rico’s esteemed school, Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini, to play the trombones and claves that dominate the track. The soulful storytelling and nostalgic lyrics were already enough to make this song an instant classic, but it’s the personal P.R. touch that makes it hit that much harder. —Maya Georgi

There’s a lot of magic on “Abracadabra”: the way the synthesizers fade in and out like a slow-strobing disco light on a foggy dance floor, the sweeping, syncopated “A-braca-da-braaaa” hook, and of course the skipping way she declares, “Feel the beat under your feet, the floor’s on fiiire.” The song was an immediate hit thanks to the way she and her sorceress’ apprentices assembled a perfect Lady Gaga pop song that nods to early hits like “Just Dance” and “Bad Romance” right on the edge of glory. —Kory Grow

Haim are back this June with the excellent I Quit, another master-class in soft-rock smoothness, honeyed melodies, and sisterly chemistry. The album’s sharp first single, “Relationships,” has the kind of sunny smoothness they do so well, with a touch of hip-hop bounce. But he bright bounce comes with a bite. “I think I’m in love but I can’t stand/Fucking relationships,” Danielle Haim laments. The song is good enough to make their “single girl summer” seem awesome. Relationships may suck to be in, but they’re still fun to sing about.—Jon Dolan

The latest from the Iowa country upstart is a whip smart, fiddle-heavy travelouge about the trials and travails of being an aspiring heartland country star. Sound familiar? “The Colonel just called/said the next song might go all the way to the top,” Whitters sings over a throwback earworm arrangement that conjures everyone from Miranda Lambert to Alan Jackson. If there’s any justice, the Colonel’s false promise would become prophecy. —Jonathan Bernstein

Colombian singer-songwriter Ela Taubert made a name for herself with confessional pop ballads that resonated with people so much, she landed last year’s Latin Grammy for Best New Artist. “Quien Diria” shows off the best of what she does: The cut from her album Preguntas a Las 11:11 is catchy and upbeat, built on bright hooks and belting choruses. The effect is euphoric, even when she’s describing trying to get over crushing heartbreak.–Julyssa Lopez

SZA has never been afraid of a good, old-fashioned crash out. “Scorsese Baby Daddy” might be her best one yet. Over the thrum of guitars, she rolls up her problems and grabs her lighter to burn them away. Instead of picking up the phone to call a voice of reason, she hits up someone who’ll let her get under them instead of getting over her problems. Across the record, SZA is unhinged, hilarious, and addicted to the drama. You know you love her for it. — Larisha Paul

Doechii’s lyrical versatility is, by now, well documented. But “Anxiety” is an especially clear testament to the potency of her creative instincts. The song rides a mesmerizing flip of “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye and finds Doechii deploying a dexterous yet playful flow as she navigates interior feelings surrounding the emotion in the song’s title. It’s no wonder the song took off. Doechii manages to articulate the feeling of the moment.–Jeff Ihaza

If there was ever any doubt that Chappell Roan could do it all, look no further than her only 2025 single so far. Roan’s country-fried turn is a lesbian twist on Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy),” with hints of the Chicks and Shania Twain all over it. The song is as fun and bold as one would hope Roan’s first new song in a year would be. But don’t expect her to go country forever: the song was, as she explained, a tribute to her Missouri roots but not the direction of her next album. —Brittany Spannos

Lorde returned to music with a hypnotic synth-pop stunner that feels like the first gasp after jolting awake from a nightmare. It’s urgent, drug-fueled, and deliciously haunted by the ghosts of her Melodrama sound. With romanticized references to New York club Baby’s Alright and the city’s ever-crowded streets, the track is powerful enough to flood Washington Square Park all summer long — especially after it already played a role in shutting the park down. —M.G.

This Is Lorelei’s Nate Amos says his excellent song “Dancing in the Club” was “dreamt up for others to sing.” He found the right candidate in indie-rock hero MJ Lenderman. If the original was a glittering Auto-Tune adventure into heartbreak, Lenderman’s version takes the full plunge into despair, delivering twangy, turbulent lines that rattle in every note: “A loser never wins/And I’m a loser, always been.” It’s a devastatingly great collaboration — hopefully the first of many.--Angie Martoccio

Despite its dire name, “End of the World” is on the dance-y side of Cyrus’ concept album Something Beautiful. Written for her mom Tish Cyrus, it shows Cyrus is ready for some lighthearted fun instead of focusing on her negative thoughts and feelings. She’s ready to go Paris and Malibu and “throw a party like McCartney with some help from my friends.” It’s a sparkling, disco-inflected pop song from a star in her sparkling pop song era. —B.S.

Ahead of her debut album, Addison Rae couldn’t help endlessly feeding her rapidly growing fanbase with new songs and lush videos. “Headphones On” was the fourth release and her rawest yet; above a euphoric beat, she sings about escaping pain through music. It’s a deeply personal track from the singer, referencing her parents’ divorce while trying to manifest more and more good things happening for her. —B.S.

For all the people who thought Sabrina Carpenter was merely destined for 15 minutes of fame, she’s got some choice words for you, serving notice she’s here for a good time, whether or not it’s a long time. Sabrina’s tripping on a fame-and-sex cocktail, purring, “I can do a lot with 15 minutes/Only gonna take 2 to make you finish.” But she celebrates her sudden rise to global celebrity, even as she wonders, “Where did all these parties come from? When did all these bitches get so nice?”—Rob Sheffield

The Chicago rock trio’s full-length debut Ripped and Torn is a revelation, pairing the uncompromising art-punk intensity of their early releases with a keen new interest in melody. This jittery anthem is a prime example — a focused burst of basement-pop hooks that will ricochet around your head all summer. It’s a hell of a calling card for this band, and a reminder of how exciting a guitar, bass, and drums can still sound in the right hands.–Simon Vozick-Levinson

“Can’t you see I bloom at night?,” Ariana Grande asks in “Dandelion,” one of the killer tracks from Brighter Days Ahead, her short sci-fi film based on last year’s smash Eternal Sunshine. “Dandelion” is full of trap beats and jazz horns, not to mention lust on the brain. Grande might be mourning a broken romance, but she’s out to lure somebody new into her garden of love, pleading, “I got what you need/I’m thinking you should plant this seed.”—R.S.

“Baby (Is It a Crime)” is Rema’s first solo single since the success of his sophomore album Heis, and it’s uber-cool and nonchalant compared with the frenetic, brooding album. Fans had been clamoring for the Sade-sampling song since he teased a snippet last November. The full version finds Rema at his sensual best. “I just had the biggest debut in my career,” he told Rolling Stone the day it dropped. Indeed, the song earned nearly 3 million streams on its first day. —Mankaprr Conteh

Karol G came in hot with her first single of 2025. The Latin star takes the over-sexualized stereotype that follows Latina women and turns it into a cultural celebration. From a sample of the Nina Sky-assisted reggaeton classic “Oye Mi Canto” to a sound bite of actor Alexa Demie, the song is filled to the brim with references to confident Latin women. “To get this kind of flavor, you’d have to be born again,” Karol cheekily sings against the dance-ready beat.--M.G..

On “Cry for Me,” The Weeknd channels his signature electro-R&B sound, subtly laced with the Brazilian funk beat he revisits more fully on the Hurry Up Tomorrow track, “São Paulo” featuring Anitta. “Cry for Me” feels quintessentially Weeknd — dark, toxic, and melancholic — as he mourns a lost love that’s moved on.. “When I needed you the most, you always gave me sympathy/Now you’re over me,” he sings in the song’s killer bridge. —Tomas Mier

It’s a comeback that fans have spent years praying for: the return of Pulp, the beloved 1990s Britpop gods who gave the world “Common People” 30 summers ago. “Spike Island” is the single from More, their first new album in 24 years, a grand Bowie-worthy glam-rock anthem. Jarvis Cocker flexes his trademark wit as he recalls his youthful rock-star dreams (“I was born to perform, it’s a calling”), and how they fizzled out. As he sings, “The universe shrugged, then moved on.” Welcome back.—R.S.

The maximalist highs and melodic innovations of Playboi Carti’s “Evil Jordan,” from his rap-reconfiguring album Music, tilts us all towards Carti’s piercing, cacophonic world. “Evil Jordan,” produced by Ojivolta, longtime Carti collaborator Cardo, and Johnny Juliano, includes a sample from “Popular,” Carti and The Weeknd’s 2021 collaboration, which opens the song like a ghost from the recent past. That’s the sort of effect “Evil Jordan” ends up having, and why it’s so infectious.–J.I.

Rob49’s absurdist classic “WTHelly,” in which he affixes all kinds of words to the phrase “What the hell,” will remain lodged in the subconscious of millions of people around the world. The perfectly catchy track from the rising New Orleans rapper strikes a balance of humor and songcraft to land on something undeniable. Bonus points for giving the lexicon a new phrase What the helly?, which, oddly enough, has been an excellent go-to response for much of what’s been going on this year.–J.I.

We will probably be re-litigating Drake versus Kendrick well into the next century. Thankfully for Drake, not everyone is taking it so seriously. Plenty of us just want to have fun in the club to some hits, and “Nokia” from Drake and PartyNextDoor’s February album, Some Sexy Songs 4 U, is precisely that. With a vibrant funk-infused beat, the earworm of a track lends itself to the lightheartedness of a good function, where serious conversations — Drake’s weak spot right now — are put on pause.–J.I.

Charismatically blunted uptown-Manhattan rhymer Lord Sko links with one of his clearest stylistic inspirations for three minutes of outrageously chill pilot talk. The two heads float at sky-high altitudes over languid, jazzy keys, with Curren$y dispensing laconic wisdom (“Scan the parking lot, I got the oldest or the newest car out”) and Sko playing the young dreamer: “How’s it feel to be a millionaire? Don’t even know/Couple thousand-dollar sweaters smell like reefer smoke.”--S.V..L

Shaboozey further demonstrates the way he can sew together genres so seamlessly that you don’t see the stitches. His deep-well phrasing and the song’s horse-race rhythms are pure modern country, the chorus is ready-made for a stadium chant, and British balladeer Smith glides in with a verse that doesn’t feel remotely out of place. And even if Shaboozey is grappling with the whirlwind his life has become, lyrics like “Am I feeling all the feelings, or am I just going numb?” speak to anyone coping with the daily hurricane that is the new America. —David Browne.

With “Back to Me,” dream-poppers the Marías add another chapter to the story they told on their 2024 LP Submarine. On Submarine’s closing track “Sienna,” lead singer Maria Zardoya accepts that the child and house she once hoped to share with her departed lover will never become a reality. Here, in the band’s first single since Submarine, Zardoya achingly pleas for her lover to return, breathlessly promising “I’ll be all that you need” over menacing reverb.–M.G.

The country star’s new album Evangeline vs. the Machine is rich in orchestral and choral sounds, but he made sure to give fans (and radio) something accessible with “Hands of Time.” Which is not to say it’s by-the-numbers. While the song may be catchy and glossy and feature shout outs to classic-rock heroes like Seger and Petty, it still has EVTM‘s horns, strings, and rousing choir. It’s easy to be young at heart, he sings, “When you let some loud guitars and words that rhyme/Handle the hands of time.”–Joseph Hudak

On “Henry, Come On,” Lana Del Rey sings with palpable annoyance to an emotionally distant cowboy lover who refuses to let go. The lyrics are direct: “Tell him that his cowgirl is gone,” she declares in the chorus, before warning in the verses, “Take your ass to the house / Don’t even bother explaining.” The track marks an entry point into the Nashville-tinged aesthetic she’s exploring on her forthcoming tenth album. Yet, while the acoustic guitar-backed track is country-ish, it’s also unmistakably Lana. —T.M.

More than a decade since the arrival of their debut album Language & Perspective, Bad Suns still know how to bottle the warmth of summer in California in three perfect minutes of pop-rock. “Communicating,” the first offering from their upcoming record Accelerator, is a late night cruise down the highway with the windows down, the slinky bass thumping, and overthinking in overdrive. “Body and mind/On separate vacations,” frontman Christo Bowman sings. “I’m down to drive/If you’re navigating.” — L.P.

Rachel Chinouriri turns her first date nerves into an indie-pop hit and lasting romance on “Can We Talk About Isaac.” The anthemic, upbeat love song makes a case for the rare times when butterflies don’t turn out to be warning signs. It’s a new side of the British pop star, who proves here that she can capture the highs just as succinctly as she’s detailed the lows without sacrificing her signature grit, complexities, and honesty. Falling head over heels put Chinouriri on top of the world. — L.P.

“I figured it was gonna ruffle feathers, because of course it’s something so sacred,” Coco Jones told Rolling Stone‘s Brian Hiatt recently. The sacred text in question? Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which the rising R&B star samples and interpolates rather brilliantly on this single. Some pop fans may have been bothered, but Jones sounds confident and convincing as she gives herself over to a lover, pushing past the more classic R&B of her previous work in the process.–Christian Hoard

Will Anderson of Hotline TNT always delivers shoegaze guitar majesty deepened by aching tunefulness. With its rousing, tidal distortion, “Julia’s War” sounds like it could’ve been on MTV’s 120 Minutes in 1991, maybe between videos by Swervedriver and the Catherine Wheel; Anderson reaches through the building noise to make a connection with someone slipping out of focus, as a perfect “na na na na na” refrain pushes him from faint hope to straight-up bliss.–J.D.

On this deeply satisfying soul jam, the London songstress manages to approximate the early throes of romantic bliss, cooing over warmly grooving slo-mo funk. The whole thing feels lighter than air, though Nao has a more intoxicating metaphor in mind: “It’s like cocaine in your kiss,” she tells the unnamed lover in one of the song’s more memorable lines. —C.H.

Shallipopi is one of the coolest street pop acts to emerge from Nigeria in recent years, making a splash with his 2023 hit “Cast,” featuring Odumodublvck, and repping for his hometown of Benin City on Rema’s “Benin Boys.” He’s created another moment with “Laho,” the laid back anthem that’s taken over African social media with the empowering bars, “Minister of enjoyment/Intercontinental/monumental/We go live forever.” Elsewhere, much of the song is performed in Bini, his local language.—M.C.

French Haitian singer Joé Dwèt Filé’s “4 Kampe” was already a konpa smash before Burna Boy hopped on the track, replete with rolling drums, a rousing electric keyboard breakdown, and Filé’s slick creole. With Burna Boy speaking creole too, paying homage to Haitian and Francophone African culture, and offering his signature lyrical charm in English, it makes for a thrilling meet-up of diasporic relatives. —M.C.

The party that Netón Vega and Peso Pluma attend on “Morena” is a lavish affair – with Balenciaga, tequila of the Cruz Azul variety, and a bit of white powder to get the blood flowing. Hopelessly hedonistic, right? And yet, this música mexicana gem is wrapped in a gauzy, slo-mo sheen of spiraling trombone riffs and pulsating bass that add a near spiritual vibe to the story of the title’s captivating beauty. Melancholy to the core, and achingly beautiful. —Ernesto Lechner

The music video for “Blackout” implies that the combined sex appeal of the three Argentine divas could reduce any human being with a pulse to a sweaty, catatonic mess. As it turns out, their inaugural collaboration is a bubbly, harmless slice of urbano-pop fun, made the more fascinating by a soulful merengue groove that creeps up in the second verse, and whimsical electro effects in the outro. The chemistry between Emilia, Tini and Nicki is organic – a solid reason for further collaborations. —E.L.

For their first official collaboration, U.K. staples AJ Tracey and Jorja Smith flip Brandy’s 2002 deep cut “Love Wouldn’t Count Me Out” into a grime hit. The London rapper and R&B star trade verses about second chances throughout the track, including one in which Smith slips into a silky smooth rap cadence herself, crafted in her distinct Walsall accent. Tracey matches his collaborator’s reluctant tone with clever, streamlined bars that make a pretty undeniable case for hitting repeat. —L.P.

Guiturricadelafuente burst onto the music scene with heartfelt folk elegies, drawing on traditions from his native Spain on his stunning 2022 album La Cantera. But his latest Spanish Leather focuses instead on the present, and perhaps no song on the LP captures that feeling like the carefree, sun-dappled “Port Pelegri.” He lays out his ethereal voice over upbeat guitars — but quickly contrasts it with pitched-down back-up vocals, building the energy before the song detonates into a dance-worthy pop gem.–J.L.

One of the reasons why música mexicana is thriving is its tendency to talk about real life, warts and all. Here Tito Double P and Gabito spin a tale of a man who hasn’t heard from his ex in seven days and drowns his pain in prostitutes and alcohol, as one does. A study in contrasts, “7 Días” combines Tito’s gruff delivery and Gabito’s poetic vocalizing, juxtaposing storytelling rawness with melodies seeped in a tender, understated elegance. —E.L.

Gale kicked off the year with a sweet ode to her first love. “What would have happened if I stayed in that moment?” the Puerto Rican pop princess asks over melancholy keys before taking a trip down memory lane. On a sugary chorus filled with colorful synths, she remembers everything from the couple’s first kiss to their iPhone playlists. “Skittles” isn’t just a love letter to the past, but a promising peek into Gale’s musical future, which hopefully holds her second LP. —M.G.

The spirit of Tumblr’s 2014 grunge aesthetic era lives on through a whole new generation of musicians, like Sombr. The 19-year-old missed out on reblogging grayscale photo sets and deep cuts from the 1975, but his breakthrough single “Back to Friends” makes up for lost time. Sombr performs with a sense of distance as if he’s restlessly pacing around the room. The indie pop record plays out like an impassioned conversation that bleeds through the walls and captures the melodrama of teenage love. — L.P.

The Polish art-rock band offer up a swirling psychedelic dream, with a sly bass line that evokes 2000s Radiohead and a steadily mounting sense of tension. “Oh, let the mourners go,” guitarist Wojtek Juchniewicz sings and shouts. Bandleader Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, a poet and anti-fascist activist, provides a counterpoint with his Beatlesque backing vocal: “Let the mourners come.” Listen enough, and it starts to sound like a scream against the rising drone of right-wing authoritarian politics around the world.–S.V.L.

Wet Leg crash back onto the scene with the first single from their July album Moisturizer. Floating on a similar deadpan guitar-churn and sardonic wit as the band’s internet shaking 2021 debut LP, lead singer Rhian Teasdale delivers a moody yet detached declaration of annoyance toward some dude breathing down her neck at a club — “I know all too well just what you’re like/I don’t want your love, I just wanna fight.”–Gabrielle Macafee

In astrology, 777 is an “angel number” and “a signal to get present with what’s going on between you and your significant other.” For Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin, “777” is just about the luckiest number imaginable. The song, which reads like a tribute to a lover who is “wide like space, blue like heaven,” recalls the golden era of college rock (dig that sighing J Mascis–style solo). “I wanna figure you out,” Tudzin sings, but it sounds like she already did. —K.G.

On “This Is Real,” Pittsburg’s Feeble Little Horse collide bedroom-pop, noise-pop, and hyper-pop. It starts off as an electronic wash, turns into bubbly electro cuteness, then runs into a wall of power-drone grind, then becomes a Nineties-style grunge-punk tantrum, then a found-sound collage, then a sunny, folk-pop tune– all in just over three hard-spinning minutes. As depictions of reality go, it’s not a bad match for our violent times. Maybe the genre they’re really working in is folk music.—J.D.

A sliver of endless-summer guitar sunshine, with Portland indie-rock prodigy Lottie Malkmus strumming and dishing in her sardonic sneer. You can hear the Pavement in her DNA, with echoes of the Spinanes and Young Marble Giants in her power-mumble voice. But she’s got her own irreverent flair for combining melodic razzle-dazzle with diamond-sharp petulant wit, giving an old 1970s Bowie guitar lick a new-school makeover. —R.S.

Wallen is proving himself to be one of the most sure-handed song-conduits in pop music, and the level of country-pop consistency on his latest 37-track content dump, I’m the Problem, is pretty undeniable. “20 Cigarettes” is the kind of slow-jam that can make sports-bar closing time just that much more poignant, with just the right amount of emotional intelligence in Wallen’s voice to make his tale of a nicotine-stained hook up stick in your solar plexus. —J.D.

“Burning Moonlight,” Marianne Faithfull’s posthumously released final bow, captures everything great about her stunning third act: vulnerable confessions like “Wherever I go, I’m alone,” sung over moody guitar that’s equal parts Leonard Cohen and Angelo Badalamenti. “Burning moonlight to survive,” she sings, “Walking in fire is my life.” It’s a moving reminder of how her passion could burn so brightly through her darkest times. The single’s B sides, the a cappella Irish folk song “She Moved Thru’ the Fair” and optimistic pop-rock song “Love Is (Head’s Version),” are equally great. —K.G.