Top 15 Songs of 2025
It's that time of year again. It doesn't feel like that long ago since I sat down and worked through a list last year. Eventually, crowning 'Favourite' by Fontaines D.C, my song of 2024.
This list has gone through a couple of revisions, but I think I'm finally settled on my Top 15 songs of the year.
So here goes.
15. Stereophonics- There's Always Going to be Something
Stereophonics released their thirteenth studio album 'Make 'Em Laugh, Make 'Em Cry, Make 'Em Wait' in April this year. As a whole, I thought it was quite a weak album; however, its lead single is one of my favourite things they've done for a little while. A perfect slice of indie melancholy.
It's classic Stereophonics, and that's why it works. The band have tried to reinvent themselves on recent records, and it's led to mixed results. Going back to what they know led to a brilliant single and a live anthem.
This song slotted perfectly into the setlist for the 'Stadium Anthems' tour this summer, sitting alongside Stereophonics classics with ease. Definitely worthy of its place on this list.
14. The Last Dinner Party- This is the Killer Speaking
When The Last Dinner Party dropped, the lead single from their second album 'From the Pyre', it was quite the statement, a statement of intent, they'd not gone anywhere but also a statement of just how good they are at what they do.
An operatic atmospheric masterpiece, with nods to the popstars of today, Chappel Roan, Sabrina Carpetner, an arena-ready chorus and riffs that would make Brian May proud. The way the song transitions genres is effortless. With their debut 'Prelude to Esctasy', the band showed how good they are at what they do.
This song upped the ante again. It's darker and more menacing, and yet it's more concise, more driven and believe me, it's good.
In researching this post, I found a line that sums up this song, and if that doesn't make you give it a listen, I don't know what will. "After scaling success with their debut, the temptation to become more accessible and more radio-ready must loom. But ‘This is the Killer Speaking’ goes even further into theatrics. Like if Kate Bush wrote a theme tune for a western flick, it merges the group’s cinematic inspirations with a perfect balance of feminine and masculine soundscapes."
13. NewDad- Entertainer
Last year's International Breakthrough winners made their return this year, with album number two, 'Altar', released less than two years after their debut, ' Madra'.
'Entertainer' is a bouncing hook-filled banger that was released as the album's lead single. It's the next logical step forward for the band, a slight move away from the dream-filled shoegaze of their debut. 'Altar' is a band wrestling with identity and place. They've made it, and now they're fighting off feelings of homesickness and trying to find their place in London, after leaving home in Galway for the better of the band.
All of these feelings are wrapped up in an indie op banger that will soundtrack the band's gigs and countless festivals going forward. With 'Altar', NewDad proved to us that they aren't one-trick ponies, and proved to themselves that the sacrifices they've made were for the right cause.
12. The Royston Club- The Ballad of Glen Campbell
I think many fans of The Royston Club worried that they would not be able to meet the expectations they'd set for themselves with their brilliant debut record. I think it's safe to say that 'Songs for the Spine' more than met those expectations, and even in some cases exceeded them.
Embracing subtlety and exceptional songwriting, there was an intent with this record to get bigger, play to bigger rooms and work their way up festival stages, and they've more than succeeded.
'The Ballad of Glen Campbell' brings the album to a close, and it's an exceptional song, a more cinematic effort, backed up with a piano and the main instrument being an emotive vocal from frontman Tom Faithful. It's a song that not many expected from The Royston Club. A band who'd let snarling riffs and punky drums do the talking on the previous record, and even with previous singles from this album.
It marked a change, and a welcome one. This is a brilliant song, and one that will remain in the Royston Club's setlists for a very, very long time.
11. Pulp- Spike Island
Following in the footsteps of Blur, Pulp released a new album this year. Its lead single 'Spike Island' was the pick of the tracks though.
A song that saw the band cast a wary eye on their 90s fame, Jarvis Cocker make his second reference to the legendary Stone Roses gig at Spike Island in 1990 and suggests that this reunion and its attention is a good thing. Cocker declares in the first line, "I was born to perform, it's a calling."
Of all the alt-rock artists hoisted to mainstream fame in the Britpop era, they were the ones who seemed least comfortable with the kind of attention it brought them: a perennially ignored band who’d spent a decade striving to get somewhere, only to find they didn’t much like it when they did. Something of the prickly, confrontational outsider clung to them even at the zenith of their success – 1995’s quadruple-platinum Different Class is an album packed with waspish, witty ruminations on the British class system – while 1998’s This Is Hardcore offered a paranoid and occasionally harrowing examination of their era as celebrities, something its dense, doomy sound also helped to draw to a close.
The band use the Stone Roses show as a metaphor for disappointment and the way that nostalgia seems to always make things better by burnishing our memory. The fact that Spike Island was famously badly organised, musically underwhelming and plagued by terrible sound hasn’t stopped it subsequently developing a legendary status as a kind of baggy-era Woodstock.
It's an exceptional song full of moments of self-reflection and acute downbeat self-awareness from Cocker. “I was conforming to a cosmic design, I was playing to type”), and the indifference Pulp’s disbanding was greeted with in the early 00s, when a theoretically valedictory greatest hits album barely scraped the Top 75: “The universe shrugged and moved on”.
But Cocker seems emboldened at the prospect of his own second coming. He suggests that “this time I’ll get it right” and that he has “walked back to the garden of earthly delights”. He sings happily: “I was born to perform, it’s a calling / I exist to do this – shouting and pointing”.
It's classic Pulp, and it's one of my favourite songs of the year. If this had been released in 1995, not 2025, it would have no doubt been a huge hit.
10. The Clause- Don't Blink
The Clause released their debut album this year. A collection of songs that sees a band grappling with youth, identity, their past and future. 'Don't Blink' is the album's closing song, and it's exceptional.
A song that portrays what it's like being young and working class in 2025. It's a similar style of song to 'A Certain Romance', where the band comments on their friends and peers.
"Brass kids fill themselves with stem, from smart whips and sugar-coated nicotine."
"The bars are filled with could-have-beens and FA rejects plagued with dodgy knees."
"Half the kids from secondary are shifting gear to make ends meet"
"Stop holding onto small things and chasing yesterday".
"There's kids in bars with acoustic guitars, singing urban songs of praise."
On an album full of youthful anthems, this one stands out above the rest. This is the perfect song to close out their debut album. A 5 and half minute indie banger that will soundtrack a new generation of indie kids.
9. Gorillaz (feat. Sparks)- The Happy Dictator
After a couple of years away, Gorillaz returned in September with the announcement of 'The Mountain'. The band's first release since 'Cracker Island' in 2023. Lead single 'The Happy Dictator' saw Albarn team up with 80s pop legends Sparks. To create an euphoric anthem. It's classic Albarn, with some 80s touches.
This sounds like Gorillaz, but you can hear Sparks throughout; both artists work in tandem to create something unique but effortlessly catchy. Sparks create the tone for Albarn to wrap around his muffled, spoken-word twists from the Blur frontman, paired with the cleaner highs of Sparks. They play a deity as Albarn explores “the palace of your mind,” and a spiritual fervour takes over The Happy Dictator. Crucial to this latest effort from the ever-changing supergroup is getting the line between catchy and creative right. Within that contemplative tone and the search for meaning in the minds of others is a synth-adjacent instrumental. It’s a perfect balance of core values Gorillaz has held since their self-titled debut and the ongoing thrills of Sparks’ new music.
It's one of the most anthemic and euphoric Gorillaz songs ever recorded, and the perfect song for them to return with. A real joyous song that perfectly juxtaposes Albarn's dark and ironic lyrics.
When speaking about the song, Damon Albarn said it was inspired by a trip he took with his daughter, Missy, to Turkmenistan, where he learned of the late dictator Saparmurat Niyazov's (who renamed himself Türkmenbaşy, meaning "Head of [all] Turkmen") decree that citizens should think only happy thoughts and ban all negative news.
It's great to have them back!
8. Tame Impala- Piece of Heaven
I've been a little critical of the fifth Tame Imapla effort 'Deadbeat', I think it's a real mixed bag, and not all of the songs work. However, 'Piece of Heaven' is not only the best song on that record, it's one of the best things he's ever done.
Over a synth beat, with nods to Enya, he lays himself and his feelings bare. The songwriting on this song is the best on the album. It nods to his poppier side and has some Tame Impala nuances, which firmly show the world just how good Kevin Parker can be.
The outro, with the detached vocals over a melancholic piano, is so different to anything else on 'Deadbeat' and anything else he's done before.
The album is full of Kevin's melancholy, but in this song, he lays it bare, and it doesn't get lost in a groove or a new idea that doesn't work. After my very first listen, I knew how good this song was.
On an album with some good, some awful, this one stands out as a truly great Tame Impala song.
7. Red Rum Club- American Nights & English Mornings
Red Rum Club have been ever-present in my record collection for a few years now, and this year they released album number five, 'BUCK'. The lead single 'American Nights & English Mornings' is classic Red Rum Club, a short, snappy indie pop banger, with one of their biggest choruses to date.
A modern tale of a transatlantic romance, and trying to stay in contact. Inspired a little by the band's touring of America, and what's going on at home. It's a very clever song, with some brilliant, quick, quick-witted lyrics. It's one of my favourites by the band, and the perfect lead single from 'BUCK'
6. Peace- Good Jeans
It took them a while, a couple of years in fact, but Peace finally released 'Utopia' onto streaming services in October, and with that came the release of 'Good Jeans'.
A synth-led, indie pop banger complete with three glockenspeil solos and one of this year's most cathcy choruses.
It opens the record, and it sounds like a more mature version of Peace. Still with those feelings of youthful excess and optimism. “By the grace of God, I’m going out again”, they promise, and we believe them; we buy into the thrill, too. Its jangling chords, chug-a-chug riff, and twinkling guitars evoke some of that early Peace magic.
On 'Good Jeans', despite being two members down, Peace sound as good as ever. If this had been 2015, and not 2025, I have no doubt this would have been a hit. It's a very, very good indie song.
I hope that Peace continue to make new music, they've done things on their terms for the last couple of years and it seems to have worked for them. Fingers crossed, they can take this feeling and push it into new music.
For now, though, we will need to make do with 'Utopia' and the brilliant 'Good Jeans'
5. The Royston Club- Cariad
'Songs from the Spine' was an amazing record, a brilliant follow-up to an exceptional debut. I've already mentioned the album's final track, but 'Cariad' is the album's greatest moment. It's the first time on the album that fans are given a chance to breathe. This isn't a downtrodden acoustic ballad, though.
It's a fully fledged grand epic, about being in love with ‘Cariad’, a Welsh term of endearment. “All of these pictures of you and I / Plastered on the hallways of my mind,” Tom Faithfull sings. It’s a softer, more vulnerable shade to the band: “I’m not a lucky man / But, darling, you had me fooled.”
It's a triumphant effort by Britain's next great band. The Royston Club are going to go stratospheric. Think Fontaines D.C., Wunderhorse, The Royston Club are next in line.
4. Wolf Alice- White Horses
I've made no secret about my love for Wolf Alice, and their return this year was amazing. More and more people are starting to see just how great they are, and with an arena tour in the UK still to come, it's about to get better for the band.
'White Horses' was released as the third single from 'The Clearing'. Drummer Joel Amey takes lead vocals for the first time since ‘My Love Is Cool’’s ‘Swallowtail’. A heartfelt reflection of heritage, identity and family. With crisp rustic instrumentation, and one of the album's biggest choruses. It's a song that has been on heavy rotation since its release. A confident and celebratory affair, when the questioning quiets down and he chooses to be content with his family and who he is.
It feels fresh because of how intimate it is; this is just the four members, and they feel tighter than ever. They've found a peace on this record, having battled through their twenties, and now they are settling into new levels of self-acceptance and self-assurance.
3. Inhaler- A Question of You
Inhaler found their mojo on album number three. Once described by Sam Fender as "alternative pop", they’ve fully embraced a sleeker, more evolved version of themselves on ‘Open Wide’.
‘A Question of You’ takes old Inhaler and mixes it with the new. It’s a song built for muddy festival fields, complete with a massive chorus that’s bound to get crowds moving. Yet, there’s restraint in the riffs and production, a maturity that gives the track space to breathe. Inhaler don't want to be pigeonholed into a single sound or moment, and ‘Open Wide’ makes that perfectly clear.
This record feels freer than their previous releases. There’s a renewed confidence both on ‘A Question of You’ and throughout ‘Open Wide’ as a whole. It’s the sound of a band no longer chasing an identity but owning it sharper, tighter, and more assured than ever. It’s a song destined to stay in their live setlist for years to come.
2. Sam Fender- Little Bit Closer
Sam Fender's third 'People Watching', is one of the best records of this year. Picking up where he left off with 'Seventeen Going Under'. 'People Watching' explores the lives of those he has encountered, both at home and beyond. The album delves into themes of working-class struggles, tragedy, fame, and more. Through this record, Sam reflects on the lives of his loved ones and peers from the perspective of someone who has managed to break free from the constraints of his working-class upbringing.
'Little Bit Closer' is one of the most anthemic tracks on the record, with a massive chorus and a War on Drugs, Springsteen feel; however, this is firmly a Sam Fender effort. Despite the anthemic feel, there are some of Sam's hardest-hitting lyrics to date, both about himself and the world he and his friends and family find themselves in.
A Britain where grassroots venues are closing down at rapid rates, indicating the decline of culture, the cost-of-living crisis has resulted in security tags being placed on boxes of butter and a rental crisis that’s not only suffocating young people’s creative pursuits but also their ability to form community. This grey portrait of Britain is the centre point of 'People Watching'
'Little Bit Closer' paints some of the most vivid landscapes of modern Britain and sees Sam question organised faith and religion.
"They break you in like a wild foal
Target the dole queue broken souls"
"Oh, I have friends who were cast aside
A young, meek lad with a curious mind
Just terrified of what the church would have to say
No, I don't know if I believe in Him
But when the rapture comes, if this is a sin
I'll burn with everybody that I know"
Despite his religious scepticism, Fender finds something beautiful in the connections people share.
"I don't buy the deities spoke of
But, in love, there's something to hold
And I get a little bit closer to it"
Fender finds a little bit of the divine in the power of love: in those moments of closeness, of understanding, of being there for each other.
It's a highlight of a brilliant album.
1. Wolf Alice- Bloom Baby Bloom
The first single from 'The Clearing' and one of the very best comeback singles ever. 'Bloom Baby Bloom' is one of the most accomplished efforts to date. A thrilling, larger-than-life effort, and bold declaration of intent by a band who know just how good they are. This feels different from the previous three efforts because they aren’t holding back. Ellie Roswell’s voice becomes an instrument; it’s full of little flourishes and goes through stages. One moment she soars like a choir, and the next she confronts and twists into something so much darker.
We’ve heard Wolf Alice go full-pelt into rock bangers before, but ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ takes a different tack compared to the sludgy ‘Visions Of A Life’ or the brittle, breakneck punk of ‘Play The Greatest Hits’. Here, they pull from the ’70s palette of russet and harvest gold-hued sounds, warm and rich.
‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ is a fitting song for Wolf Alice to return with. It speaks to coming into your own, rising up through the chaos of life and emerging completely sure of yourself. “But I bloom, baby bloom / Watch me and you’ll see just what I’m worth,” Rowsell declares, serenely self-assured. “Yes, I bloom, baby bloom / Every flower needs to neighbour with the dirt.” After three albums of building and expanding their world, and experiencing the ups and downs of the music industry, it feels like the band are ready to stake their claim as one of their generation’s most important acts. Now, Wolf Alice are undoubtedly in full bloom.