Friday, December 19, 2025
Prince's "Another Lonely Christmas" is the subject of my Spin column Deep Cut Friday this week, and I also wrote Spin's festival of the year.
My Top 100 TV Series of 2025
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 
1. Adolescence (Netflix)
It's kind of funny that two shows that did incredibly ambitious things with long uninterrupted one-take shots ("oners") both premiered in March, and since "Adolescence" is a limited series and "The Studio" is a comedy series, they could both clean up at the Emmys in different categories. I thought "Adolescence" was a far more impressive show, though, on a technical level and in general. Everyone in the cast is great, including Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty (who also starred in the very good boxing period piece "A Thousand Blows" this year), and especially Owen Cooper, a teenager who played a very difficult role with incredible intensity and nuance. As a parent, it's gut wrenching to watch, but from a storytelling standpoint it felt like they approached the premise of a child arrested for murder with a really interesting perspective and sensitivity without shying away from the shock value of it all.
2. The Lowdown (FX)
I wish Sterling Harjo's "Reservation Dogs" got more than three seasons, but I'm happy that FX gave him a chance to do another great series in the same fictionalized Oklahoma (with occasional cameos from the rez dogs), this time as an hourlong drama. I think I used to be an Ethan Hawke skeptic for a long time, but watching him throw himself into roles like John Brown in "The Good Lord Bird" and the similarly wild-eyed crusader for justice Lee Raybon in "The Lowdown" has really given me a new appreciation for his unique screen presence. And we got so many great Keith David moments on TV this year, from his series regular spots on "The Lowdown" and the excellent but short-lived "Duster" to a guest spot on "High Potential" and voice work in several animated series.
3. Etoile (Amazon Prime)
One of my least favorite trends in the TV business is the "two season straight-to-series" order. After the conclusion of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," Amazon's confidence in Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino was so high that they ordered two seasons of their next creation, "Etoile," before a single episode had been produced. The show was delightful and ambitious, set in both New York and Paris with their whipsmart dialogue in both English and French, but it was a hard sell, and Amazon backed out of making a second season mere weeks after the first premiered. Lou de Laage and Gideon Glick made two extremely temperamental and stubborn artists so much fun to watch, the beauty of the choreography and cinematography always offset by the warring personalities and screwball dialogue.
4. The Residence (Netflix)
Andre Braugher may be the best actor of his generation who did all his notable work on the small screen, and it's doubly sad that he died before completing all his scenes for "The Residence," although Giancarlo Esposito did a fine job replacing him in the role. Even without Braugher, though, "The Residence" is a loopy little jaunt, a standout even in a television landscape that's currently full of comedy/mysteries. By far my favorite thing to come out Shondaland's lucrative Netflix deal, although I guess it struggled to find an audience by virtue of not being the usual Shonda Rhimes soap opera.
5. Pluribus (Apple TV)
I'm fine with "Breaking Bad" having its place in the modern television canon, but I never cared about its supporting characters enough to watch more than a little of "Better Call Saul," and Vince Gilligan was starting to seem a little like a one-trick pony for milking his New Methxico cinematic universe for 14 years. But I was hooked on "Pluribus" from that brilliantly assembled first episode, and I've remained on the edge of my seat watching Rhea Seehorn's Carol Sturka slowly explore her new reality even as the story has slowed down and turned into this granular exploration of this odd, funny twist on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This year "Severance" became Apple TV's most watched show ever, and was succeeded this week by "Pluribus," and I was starting to think nothing could take the crown from "Ted Lasso" after nearly 5 years at #1, much less two fairly high concept sci-fi shows.
6. Dept. Q (Netflix)
The Scottish series "Dept. Q" takes on a familiar old trope -- a talented detective experiences some personal setbacks and gets assigned to pursue cold cases as he gets his life back together -- and elevates it with the quality of the writing (from Out of Sight screenwriter Scott Frank) and the acting (Matthew Goode, Chloe Pirrie, Kelly Macdonald, and others). I thought this would be a one-off like Frank's last great Netflix creation, "The Queen's Gambit," so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was renewed for a second season.
7. The Pitt (HBO Max)
The fact of the matter is, "The Pitt" probably wouldn't exist if Noah Wyle and two "ER" producers hadn't first attempted to reboot "ER," before negotiations with Michael Crichton's estate broke down and Warner Bros. decided to make another show about an emergency room with the same team. A lot of people don't like that Crichton's widow is suing over "The Pitt" being similar to "ER," and obviously Crichton doesn't own the medical drama genre, but personally, I wouldn't mind if Warner Bros. had to throw them some cash or add his name to the credits, it's a weird gray area. That said, I think "The Pitt" is a better show for getting to have its own identity, taking place in a different city that's not depicted on TV as often. Wyle got to inhabit a new character that's not just Dr. Carter with a different name, surrounded with a great cast of new faces as well as Shawn Hatosy suddenly getting the breakout role of his career after 30 years as a journeyman actor. And the hour-to-hour real time format was just brilliant and made the whole thing even more engrossing.
8. A Man on the Inside (Netflix)
The first season of "A Man on the Inside," starring Ted Danson as a restless retired professor who starts working for a private investigator, felt a little meta, like maybe Michael Schur was just setting up a nice low key gig for the septuagenarian TV legend to stay active. But "The Man on the Inside" is a really funny show that treats its characters with so much respect and compassion that it really went above and beyond for a sitcom, especially in its second season, giving so many of its supporting players these sweet and resonant character arcs. The Thanksgiving episode was one of the best things I watched all year, partly because Jason Mantzoukas parachuted into the show for some of the most absurd line readings of his career.
9. Clean Slate (Amazon Prime)
Another big-hearted character-driven sitcom, this one exec produced by one of the kings of the form, the late great Norman Lear. And I'm really glad this turned out to be the last project to go out with Lear's name on it instead of that terrible animated "Good Times" reboot. George Wallace is one of the funniest guys on the planet and Laverne Cox is a great foil for his avuncular charisma.
10. Poker Face (Peacock)
Peacock recently declined to renew "Poker Face," and Rian Johnson made a weird statement about shopping around a third season where Peter Dinklage would take over Natasha Lyonne's role as Charlie Cale. At this point Johnson's track record is strong enough that I believe that would still be worth watching, but I'm definitely going to miss the Lyonne-led version of the show.
11. Dying For Sex (Hulu)
"Dying For Sex" revels in the kinky titillation of the story of Molly Kochan, who relentlessly pursued sexual satisfaction in her final years with a terminal cancer diagnosis. But it's really a story of the friendship between Molly (Michelle Williams) and Nikki (Jenny Slate) driven by two great performances, poignant and bittersweet and funny, but in some ways refreshingly thorny and unsentimental.
12. Hacks (HBO)
When a new show becomes an awards magnet, there's usually one actor that gets all the glory, and understandably Jean Smart got all the awards for "Hacks" at first. But this year Hannah Einbender finally got an Emmy for the fourth season, which was very deserved, and she used the hell out of her acceptance speech platform to boot.
13. Such Brave Girls (Hulu)
I wish A24 had the same imprimatur of excellence in television that it does in movies. I don't know anybody who watches this great show starring real life sisters Kat Sadler and Lizzie Davidson, but it's a dryly funny gem.
14. Abbott Elementary (ABC)
A lot of people complain that streaming has killed the 20+ episodes a year structure for most of their favorite shows, but I'm glad that there's a few great network shows still going, "Abbott Elementary" chief mong them, that prove that it's still possible to do 22 episodes a season at the highest level. I also like that Ava's been humanized a little bit over time, I don't think the show would work as well if she just kept getting worse and more selfish, and Janelle James is so good at keeping that character absurd yet realistic.
15. Severance (Apple TV)
A long wait between the first and second season of a show can really stall its momentum, and some really excellent shows have never recovered from the extended pauses caused by the guild strikes or COVID. Fortunately, the nearly three year wait for the second season of "Severance" seemed to work in its favor and it went from critical favorite to genuine hit. PG County's own Tramell Tillman really got to become a star this year, but my favorite part of this season was the love triangle between Dylan G.'s innie, Dylan G.'s outie, and Dylan G.'s wife, just such a strange and entertaining use of the show's premise.
16. Peacemaker (HBO Max)
I loved the first season of Peacemaker and initially felt a little letdown by the second season -- the new theme song's not as good, and it felt like they really rushed through developing John Cena's title character from a violent antihero into a full-on good guy. But the second season turned out to be pretty great, especially after they went for the big crazy twist in the sixth episode, "Ignorance is Chris."
17. Down Cemetery Road (Apple TV)
Morwenna Banks has one of the more charmingly varied resumes in television -- she was a "Saturday Night Live" cast member for a few episodes, she's the voice of Peppa Pig's mother, and she developed another Mick Herron novel into a British crime series for Apple TV after the success of "Slow Horses," which she also worked on. I also love seeing Darren Boyd, who's very funny on the Apple TV comedy "Trying," play such a completely different kind of dramatic villain on "Down Cemetery Road."
18. Butterfly (Amazon Prime)
I feel like Amazon puts way more money and effort into action shows and spy shows than any other streamer or network, and "Reacher" aside, nobody really cares about any of them. But "Butterfly," starring Reina Hardesty and Daniel Dae Kim as an estranged daughter and father who are both spies, really stood out to me, love the way these characters were introduced in the first couple episodes.
19. Demascus (Tubi)
AMC developed the sci-fi comedy "Demascus" with a "Breaking Bad" producer before deciding not to air it and make the show a tax writeoff. The free streaming service Tubi is kind of a punchline, but they deserve a lot of credit for picking up this show after it was on the shelf for two years, it's definitely an odd little niche thing but I really enjoyed it.
20. Sirens (Netflix)
I feel like there are so many shows these days where a working class protagonist goes to work for someone wealthy and famous and gets drawn into some kind of dark secretive elite world. "Sirens" is my favorite recent entry in that subgenre, though, with the best performances I've seen to date by Meghann Fahy of "The White Lotus" fame and Milly Alcock of Supergirl fame.
21. Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV)
"Comfortable upper middle class type falls on hard times and turns to a life of crime" is another overly familiar premise these days, but "Your Friends & Neighbors" managed to draw me in with sharp writing and a great cast (also I'd never seen Tony winner Lena Hall before and I'm absolutely smitten with her now). Jon Hamm once made an amusing commercial where he was jealous that everyone in Hollywood seemed to have an Apple TV project except him, but look at him now, he's got the recurring "Morning Show" gig plus this show.
22. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
For a long time, most cable and streaming shows had a standard 8 or 10 episodes per season, maybe 12, but generally it was always an even number, unless some kind of production hiccup required them to add or abandon an episode. But every season of "The Righteous Gemstones" had 9 episodes, and it felt like the right number every time (although I personally didn't love that flashback episode without the main cast that opened season 4).
23. Murderbot (Apple TV)
Alexander Skarsgard is one of those guys that might not get enough credit for how funny he is because he also looks like some kind of golden god matinee idol. But he was hilarious on "Succession" and a show like "Murderbot" could have totally failed to work if the person playing the titular murderous robot didn't hit the exact right tone that Skarsgard hits with his guileless voiceover narration.
24. Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (Peacock)
Michael Chernus of "Severance" fame is amazing as John Wayne Gacy in this, it's hard to imagine anybody else pulling off the folksy banality needed to make him suitably disturbing. The caliber of the acting really elevated this show above the sea of mediocre true crime shows like "Monster: Ed Gein" this year.
25. Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
Every pop culture icon has their own lavish docuseries these days, but very few felt as richly rewarding and engrossing as Rebecca Miller's five-part Martin Scorsese doc. We're so lucky that Scorsese is still here to tell his story like this alongside so many of his collaborators and even people who inspired his films. Absolute television.
26. Andor (Disney+)
27. School Spirits (Paramount+)
28. Harley Quinn (HBO Max)
29. The Diplomat (Netflix)
30. The Runarounds (Amazon Prime)
31. Duster (HBO Max)
32. A Thousand Blows (Hulu)
33. Bob's Burgers (Fox)
34. Apple Cider Vinegar (Netflix)
35. Shoresy (Hulu)
36. Common Side Effects (Cartoon Network)
37. The Gilded Age (HBO)
38. Death By Lightning (Netflix)
39. Paradise (Hulu)
40. The Vince Staples Show (Netflix)
41. The Better Sister (Amazon Prime)
42. Platonic (Apple TV)
43. The Studio (Apple TV)
44. Asura (Netflix)
45. Stumble (NBC)
46. Only Murders In The Building (Hulu)
47. Long Bright River (Peacock)
48. Running Point (Netflix)
49. DMV (CBS)
50. Stick (Apple TV)
51. The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
52. Forever (Netflix)
53. Yellowjackets (Showtime)
54. The Four Seasons (Netflix)
55. Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+)
56. The Rehearsal (HBO)
57. Mythic Quest (Apple TV)
58. The Sex Lives of College Girls (HBO Max)
59. Black Rabbit (Netflix)
60. The Chair Company (HBO)
61. Wayward (Netflix)
62. The Last Of Us (HBO)
63. Adults (FX)
64. Task (HBO)
65. Deli Boys (Hulu)
66. The Paper (Peacock)
67. Conan O'Brien Must Go (HBO Max)
68. Patience (Patience)
69. Good Cop/Bad Cop (The CW)
70. Saturday Night Live (NBC)
71. Invincible (Amazon Prime)
72. Mo (Netflix)
73. The Bear (Hulu)
74. Loot (Apple TV)
75. Everybody's Live With John Mulaney (Netflix)
76. High Potential (ABC)
77. Overcompensating (Amazon)
78. Haunted Hotel (Netflix)
79. Grosse Pointe Garden Society (NBC)
80. Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
81. The Girlfriend (Amazon Prime)
82. You (Netflix)
83. The Morning Show (Apple TV)
84. MobLand (Paramount+)
85. The Buccaneers (Apple TV)
86. Upload (Amazon Prime)
87. The Comic Shop (YouTube)
88. Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max)
89. Songs & Stories with Kelly Clarkson (NBC)
90. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox (Hulu)
91. Dope Thief (Apple TV)
92. Miss Austen (PBS)
93. Gen V (Amazon Prime)
94. The White Lotus (HBO)
95. Ghosts (CBS)
96. Reacher (Amazon Prime)
97. I Love LA (HBO)
98. Have I Got News For You (CNN)
99. Animal Control (Fox)
100. Beyond The Gates (CBS)
Monday, December 15, 2025
My book Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music has been out for a few months now, but I have some updates to share.
First of all, my publisher Repeater Books is running a 50% off Christmas sale on all their books, including mine, for the rest of December with the above code. Tough Breaks is already a pretty affordable book, about $15 plus shipping, and this is probably the cheapest it's ever going to be, so if you don't have a copy already, now's a great time to get that, or any of Repeater's other excellent offerings.
Secondly, I had a great conversation with Marc Masters for The Music Book Podcast, which you can listen to here or on just about any platform you use to listen to podcasts.
Thirdly, I taped another interview with Tom Hall that will air on Midday on 88.1 FM WYPR this Tuesday, December 16th at noon, and I believe it's going to be online as a podcast after that.
My Top 100 Singles of 2025
Sunday, December 14, 2025
I already wrote about each of these songs in my genre wrap ups of the year in rap, R&B, country, rock/alternative, and pop. Here's the big Spotify playlist of everything.
Jack Antonoff had a hand in 5 songs on this list and Kendrick Lamar had a hand in 4 songs, and Sounwave had a hand in 3 songs, obviously each of them at least partly from their work on the GNX hit parade. And a whole lot of people had a hand in 2 songs: Tobias Jesso Jr., Carter Lang, SZA, Bridgeway, M-Tech, Raye, Ella Langley, GloRilla, Mk.gee, Sabrina Carpenter, Amy Allen, Chappell Roan, Dan Nigro, Jay Joyce, DJ Mustard, Anderson .Paak, Chris LaCorte, The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, Doja Cat, Will Bundy, Dann Huff, Chase McGill, and Shane McAnally.
A new feature I just thought of: the capitalization report! As the titles of these 100 songs are formatted on streaming services, 11 are in all caps, 7 are in all lowercase, and the other 82 are traditionally case sensitive.
1. BigXthaPlug - "The Largest"
2. Tate McRae - "Revolving Door"
3. Parker McCollum - "What Kinda Man"
4. Olivia Dean - "Man I Need"
5. Balu Brigada - "So Cold"
6. Clipse - "So Be It"
7. Lola Young - "Messy"
8. Kendrick Lamar f/ SZA - "Luther"
9. Summer Walker - "Spend It"
10. Hudson Westbrook - "House Again"
11. Raye - "Where Is My Husband!"
12. Jenevieve - "Head Over Heels"
13. Ella Langley - "Weren't For The Wind"
14. Zara Larsson - "Crush"
15. Tyler, The Creator f/ GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne - "Sticky"
16. Drake - "Nokia"
17. Megan Thee Stallion - "Bigger In Texas"
18. Justin Bieber - "Daisies"
19. Sabrina Carpenter - "Manchild"
20. Chappell Roan - "Pink Pony Club"
21. Wolf Alice - "Bloom Baby Bloom"
22. Coco Jones - "Taste"
23. Doechii - "Denial Is A River"
24. Turnstile - "Never Enough"
25. Kehlani - "Folded"
26. Nine Inch Nails - "As Alive As You Need Me To Be"
27. Sombr - "Back To Friends"
28. Lainey Wilson - "4x4xU"
29. Role Model - "Sally, When The Wine Runs Out"
30. Kendrick Lamar f/ Lefty Gunplay - "TV Off"
31. Cardi B - "Outside"
32. Leon Thomas - "Mutt"
33. JayDon f/ Paradise - "Lullaby"
34. Sam Fender - "People Watching"
35. Ty Myers - "Ends of the Earth"
36. Almost Monday - "Can't Slow Down"
37. Yellowcard - "Better Days"
38. Megan Moroney - "6 Months Later"
39. Rise Against - "I Want It All"
40. The Marias - "No One Noticed"
41. SZA f/ Kendrick Lamar - "30 For 30"
42. Sleep Theory - "Stuck In My Head"
43. Ella Mai - "Little Things"
44. Shaboozey - "Good News"
45. Ravyn Lenae - "Love Me Not"
46. Sleep Token - "Caramel"
47. Benson Boone - "Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else"
48. Russell Dickerson - "Happen To Me"
49. Limp Bizkit - "Making Love To Morgan Wallen"
50. Morgan Wallen - "Just In Case"
51. The Weeknd - "Cry For Me"
52. Fridayy f/ Meek Mill - "Proud Of Me"
53. Mariah The Scientist - "Burning Blue"
54. Billie Eilish - "Wildflower"
55. Chappell Roan - "The Giver"
56. Doja Cat - "Jealous Type"
57. Mariah Carey - "Type Dangerous"
58. Sabrina Carpenter - "Tears"
59. Tucker Wetmore - "Wind Up Missin' You"
60. Eric Church - "Hands of Time"
61. Justin Moore - "Time's Ticking"
62. Riley Green f/ Ella Langley - "Don't Mind If I Do"
63. Metro Boomin f/ Quavo, YK Niece, and Breskii - "Take Me Thru Dere"
64. Lil Baby f/ Young Thug and Future - "Dum, Dumb, and Dumber"
65. Playboi Carti f/ The Weeknd - "Rather Lie"
66. 803Fresh - "Boots On The Ground"
67. Camper f/ Tone Stith - "Waiting On You"
68. Winona Fighter - "You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers"
69. Rob49 - "WTHelly"
70. Gelo - "Tweaker"
71. YoungBoy Never Broke Again - "Shot Callin"
72. Kane Brown - "Backseat Driver"
73. Mk.gee - "Rockman"
74. Offset f/ JID - "Bodies"
75. GloRilla - "Typa"
76. Tyla - "Is It"
77. Taylor Swift - "Opalite"
78. Dasha - "Not At This Party"
79. Lady Gaga - "Abracadabra"
80. Moliy f/ Silent Addy, Skillibeng, and Shenseea - "Shake It To The Max (Fly) [Remix]"
81. Wizkid f/ Brent Faiyaz - "Piece of My Heart"
82. Monaleo - "Putting Ya Dine"
83. Juiicy 2xs - "Leave My Man Alone"
84. Travis Scott - "4x4"
85. Chris Brown f/ Bryson Tiller - "It Depends"
86. Keith Urban - "Straight Line"
87. Cody Johnson - "Travelin' Soldier"
88. Tigerlily Gold - "Forever From Here"
89. Blue October - "Hot Stuff"
90. October London - "She Keeps Calling"
91. Teyana Taylor f/ Lucky Date - "Hard Part"
92. Kendrick Lamar - "Squabble Up"
93. Goose -"Give It Time"
94. Djo - "Basic Being Basic"
95. Zach Top - "I Never Lie"
96. Disco Lines & Tinashe - "No Broke Boys"
97. Lisa f/ Raye and Doja Cat - "Born Again"
98. Hunter/x - "Golden"
99. Carly Pearce - "Truck On Fire"
100. Billy Morrison f/ Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Stevens - "Gods of Rock N Roll"
The 2025 Remix Report Card: Final Grades
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Like last year and the year before, I reviewed more remixes in 2025 than in any of the years since I started this column way back in 2007 (this year I also updated my old Complex list of the best remixes of the 21st century). Sometimes I get these ideas that are just kind of an all-or-nothing proposition, and so I end up writing about just a staggering amount of music. In the case of rap remixes, though, it's just a a really fun thing to keep track of and dive into the minutiae of.
Busta Rhymes, maybe the all-time remix MVP, hit the circuit hard for the first time in a long time in 2026, guesting on 6 remixes this year. GloRilla and Sexyy Red each guested on 4 remixes, and Lil Wayne, G. Herbo, Monaleo, and Cash Cobain each guested on 3.
Here's the astonishing 8-hour Spotify playlist of the 150-ish remixes I reviewed in Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, and Vol. 4.
The 20 Best Remixes of 2025:
1. "Affirmations (Remix)" by Flippa T featuring 2 Chainz
2. "ErrTime (Remix)" by Cardi B featuring Jeezy and Latto
3. "PTP (Remix)" by Babyfxce E featuring Monaleo
4. "Folded (Remix)" by Kehlani featuring Toni Braxton
5. "Back to the South (Remix)" by Zillionaire Doe featuring Yo Gotti
6. "Somebody Loves Me Pt. 2" by Drake & PartyNextDoor featuring Cash Cobain
7. "Shake It To The Max (FLY) - Remix" by Moliy featuring Skillibeng, Shenseea, and Silent Addy
8. "Gnarly (Ice Spice Remix)" by Katseye featuring Ice Spice
9. "Ride (Remix)" by Chance The Rapper featuring Twista and Do Or Die
10. "Egypt (Remix)" by Westside Gunn featuring Doechii
11. "Soft Spot (955 Remix)" by JMSN featuring Sada Baby
12. "Stateside (Remix)" by PinkPantheress featuring Zara Larsson
13. "Ecstasy (Remix)" by Ciara featuring Normani and Teyana Taylor
14. "Big Dawgs (Remix)" by Hanumankind featuring A$AP Rocky
15. "Shake Dat Ass (Twerk Song) (Remix)" by BossMan Dlow featuring GloRilla
16. "Push 2 Start (Remix)" by Tyla featuring Sean Paul
17. "Here We Go (Uh Oh) [Remix]" by Coco Jones featuring Leon Thomas
18. "Type Dangerous (The Remix of the Gods)" by Mariah Carey featuring Redman, Method Man, and Busta Rhymes
19. "Putting Ya Dine (Remix)" by Monaleo featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again
20. "It Depends (Remix)" by Chris Brown featuring Usher and Bryson Tiller
The 10 Worst Remixes of 2025:
1. "WTHelly (Remix)" by Rob49 featuring G Herbo
2. "I'm A Dog (Remix)" by Kevin Gates featuring Rick Ross
3. "Tweaker (Remix)" by Gelo featuring Lil Wayne
4. "Yey Yey (Remix)" by E.M.E featuring LaRussell
5. "Whites (Remix)" by Masicka featuring French Montana
6. "Drugs Callin (Remix)" by Hurricane Wisdom featuring Lil Baby
7. "Out (Busta Rhymes Extended Mix)" by Ann & Dom featuring Busta Rhymes and Wade Teo
8. "Mutt (CB Remix)" by Leon Thomas featuring Chris Brown
9. "Hips Don't Lie (Spotify Anniversary Version)" by Shakira featuring Ed Sheeran and Beele
10. "Blick Sum (Remix)" by Latto featuring Playboi Carti
Friday, December 12, 2025
This week on Spin, I wrote a feature about Repelican's great new album. I also made a list of the best EPs of 2025 and wrote a Deep Cut Friday column about T. Rex.
The 20 Best Pop Radio Hits of 2025
Thursday, December 11, 2025
I always do this list last, after I've kind of carved out all the songs that were on Top 40 radio that crossed over from other formats. And pop-as-a-genre feels about as strong critically and creatively as it's ever been, to say nothing of commercially, with a lot of these artists making cohesive albums that people enjoy as a whole. And there's still a nice bit of musical diversity, all these weird little subgenre niches bubbling up to the service, even on records by A-list pop divas.
Here's the Spotify playlist, and the lists I've already posted for rap, R&B, country, and rock/alternative.
1. Tate McRae - "Revolving Door"
#6 Pop Airplay, #22 Hot 100
Even having a really great 2025, I don't think Tate McRae really feels like one of the new main pop girls like Sabrina or Chappell or Olivia, a lot of her music just isn't that good or that memorable, but occasionally she makes a track that I think is amazing, and she did that twice this year with "Revolving Door" and the promo single "2 Hands" that sadly got no radio play. Most of McRae's songs are either choreography-ready uptempo tracks or introspective sad songs, and "Revolving Door" manages to be both to great effect. It was firmly her fourth biggest song of the year, after the Morgan Wallen duet (her first #1), the Kid Laroi breakup subtweet, and the "I'm a Slave 4 U" knockoff, but "Revolving Door" was my favorite thing to hear on the radio for a big chunk of 2025.
2. Olivia Dean - "Man I Need"
#5 Pop Airplay, #4 Hot 100
Just such a lovely little beam of sunshine, it was really a pleasant surprise that Olivia Dean blew up in America almost as big as she did back home in the UK this year, that rarely happens now. And how she handled a ticket price snafu makes me think she's going to do good things with that spotlight aside from making sumptuous pop soul.
3. Raye - "Where Is My Husband!"
#27 Pop Airplay, #37 Hot 100
Raye and Olivia Dean went to the same performing arts school as teenagers and have been very supportive of each other as rising stars, which I love to see. Right now Dean's having a serious moment, and I hope Raye is on her way too because her talent is just insane, I love the way she sings circles around this track that sounds like something Rich Harrison could've made in 2005.
4. Zara Larsson - "Crush"
#17 Pop Airplay
Zara Larsson's been a major star in her native Sweden for the past decade, but she kind of comes and goes on the American charts, and I'm glad she finally seemed to plant her flag this year with the best album of her career.
5. Justin Bieber - "Daisies"
#1 Pop Airplay, #2 Hot 100
I didn't really delve into Dijon and Mk.gee's own brilliant stuff until I heard them deploy their deconstructed pop style on the latest album by one of the biggest pop stars in the world. I wanna be cynical about Justin Bieber maintaining his relevance with something left-field and even a little lo-fi, but his voice sounds fantastic on "Daisies" and the gentle swing and crunchy guitar tone sounded fantastic when turned up really really loud on my car radio. Fantastic song, probably his best since "Sorry."
6. Sabrina Carpenter - "Manchild"
#1 Pop Airplay, #1 Hot 100
I rolled my eyes initially when I heard Sabrina Carpenter's lead single feature that same shrill trebly Jack Antonoff sound that drove me up the wall on her previous #1 "Please Please Please," but this song very quickly escalates with these dramatic guitar stabs and twangy riffs and Carpenter singing completely different vocal melodies on the first verse, second verse, and bridge. Just a really brilliantly assembled, funny, inventive song.
7. Chappell Roan - "Pink Pony Club"
#1 Pop Airplay, #4 Hot 100
Lots of years-old songs chart these days thanks to random TikTok trends, but "Pink Pony Club" enjoyed an old-fashioned slow build. 2019: Chappell Roan and Daniel Nigro write "Pink Pony Club." 2020: After a year of hesitation, Atlantic Records releases "Pink Pony Club." 2021: Nigro suddenly becomes a name brand hitmaker after producing a pair of Olivia Rodrigo chart-toppers, and a prescient Vulture piece proposes that "Pink Pony Club" should be the song of the summer, but it still doesn't chart. 2022: Roan parts ways with Atlantic and signs to Island, but manages to keep the rights to "Pink Pony Club," knowing it's a key song for her debut album. 2023: That album is released, to relatively little fanfare. 2024: Roan suddenly blows up and several of her songs chart, but "Pink Pony Club" is outperformed by "Hot To Go." 2025: Roan performs "Pink Pony Club" at the Grammys, and it reaches its Hot 100 peak in April, just after the 5th anniversary of the song's release, and increasingly feels like it's supplanted "Good Luck, Babe" as her signature song.
8. The Marias - "No One Noticed"
#22 Pop Airplay, #22 Hot 100
Usually the album cuts that go viral on TikTok and become surprise hits are big noisy hooky things, but "No One Noticed" was such a quiet little mood piece that I, well, didn't notice it the first time I listened to the Marias' album Submarine, until it suddenly started charting. Truly one of the most unexpected Top 40 breakthroughs in recent memory, I thought maybe they'd become an alternative radio fixture in a best case scenario.
9. Ravyn Lenae - "Love Me Not"
#2 Pop Airplay, #5 Hot 100
Another viral song from a critical darling that previously didn't seem to be on a pop crossover trajectory. It totally makes sense to me that "Love Me Not" bypassed R&B radio completely to become a monster pop hit, although I do wonder if some of her more overtly R&B stuff will do well in the future now that she's more established.
10. Benson Boone - "Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else"
#2 Pop Airplay, #19 Hot 100
Between all the goofy backflips and the mustache and the horrid "Mystical Magical," I understand why Benson Boone became an easy target for ridicule this year. But his lead single was a really nice little fast guitar pop song.
11. The Weeknd - "Cry For Me"
#5 Pop Airplay, #12 Hot 100
Hurry Up Tomorrow's big Max Martin-produced lead single "Dancing In The Flames" was absolute garbage. On the bright side, that left the field open for "Cry For Me," which was produced by Metro Boomin and Mike Dean and sampled an obscure '90s S.O.S. Band track, to become the album's big pop radio hit.
12. Billie Eilish - "Wildflower"
#11 Pop Airplay, #17 Hot 100
"Birds of a Feather" was so massive for so long that it kind of felt like it didn't matter which of the various less immediate songs on Hit Me Hard and Soft was released as a follow-up single. "Wildflower" was a nice, kind of low key choice, but it ended pretty big in its own right, with 72 weeks on the Hot 100 and nominations for the same two big Grammy categories "Birds" was up for, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
13. Chappell Roan - "The Giver"
#27 Pop Airplay, #5 Hot 100
Given how huge both Chappell Roan and country crossover hits were in 2024, it was a reasonably smart risk for her to release "The Giver" as a single, especially after its well received "Saturday Night Live" debut. Unfortunately, it didn't really take off on pop radio after a nice big streaming debut, and only grazed Country Radio airplay at #60 (which is still pretty good for such an outwardly queer song). Her next single "The Subway" was also great but just barely fared better on the radio, peaking at #26 on Pop Airplay. I think she should just drop the album, people can pick the hits after the fact the same way they did with her debut.
14. Doja Cat - "Jealous Type"
#9 Pop Airplay, #28 Hot 100
Scarlet was, on paper, a successful pivot, going platinum with a #1 single, but it really feels like it slowed down Doja Cat's career to a point that not even making a fun shiny '80s-themed pop album with Jack Antonoff didn't seem to rescue her momentum. Some really good songs on that album, though, I'm kinda glad she stopped trying to make some vague point about how she's above her most successful records.
15. Sabrina Carpenter - "Tears"
#6 Pop Airplay, #3 Hot 100
Sabrina Carpenter was on an insane hot streak with 6 singles that hit #1 on Pop Airplay in the space of 18 months ("Busy Women" peaked at #20 in that time, but that was just a track from the Short n' Sweet deluxe that didn't get a big push). Nobody can keep that kind of momentum going forever, though, and I'm not surprised that it ended with "Tears" -- the word "wet" is central to the chorus and the radio edit always sounds awkward with it blanked out. Really catchy song, though, grew on me a lot in the last few weeks.
16. Taylor Swift - "Opalite"
#14 Pop Airplay, #2 Hot 100
"The Fate of Ophelia" is still entrenched at #1 on pop radio, too big to fail as the first Taylor Swift/Max Martin joint in over 7 years. But it speaks volumes that the most popular album track is already rising fast on radio charts, "Opalite" has a similar sound but is a much, much better song with much less annoying lyrics.
17. Lady Gaga - "Abracadabra"
#6 Pop Airplay, #13 Hot 100
I feel like comeback-hungry Gaga fans got behind Mayhem more than it deserved, I'm still a little baffled that "Abracadabra" is nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. But it was fun to get such a frenetic, noisy old school Gaga song in heavy rotation.
18. Disco Lines & Tinashe - "No Broke Boys"
#15 Pop Airplay, #36 Hot 100
I really love the original "No Broke Boys," I thought it was honestly a much better song than her big 2024 comeback hit "Nasty." I was a little dismayed that it blew up this year via a remix that speeds up the song and loses some of the things I like about it, but it's starting to grow on me in this incarnation.
19. Lisa f/ Raye and Doja Cat - "Born Again"
#25 Pop Airplay, #68 Hot 100
Blackpink was absolutely everywhere year, with a new group single as well as a ton of solo music from all four members, with Rose's Bruno Mars collaboration "Apt." becoming by far the biggest American hit involving anyone from Blackpink to date. But I really liked this disco banger from Lisa a lot more, which was clearly written by Raye aside from Doja's verse, and really set my expectations high for Raye's second album.
20. Hunter/x - "Golden"
#1 Pop Airplay, #1 Hot 100
As ubiquitous as Blackpink were this year, they kind of lost their status as the most successful K-pop girl group in America after a fictional group of animated characters from a Netflix movie unexpectedly became a total pop culture phenomenon. I kinda like the David Guetta remix of "Golden" more than the original, though.
The 10 Worst Pop Radio Hits of 2025:
1. Benson Boone - "Mystical Magical"
2. Alex Warren - "Ordinary"
3. SZA - "BMF"
4. Tate McRae - "Sports Car"
5. Akon - "Akon's Beautiful Day"
6. Jessie Murph - "Blue Strips"
7. Katy Perry - "Bandaids"
8. Blackpink - "Jump"
9. Jonah Marais f/ Ryan Lewis - "Slow Motion"
10. David Guetta f/ Teddy Swims and Tones And I - "Gone Gone Gone"
The 20 Best Rock/Alternative Radio Hits of 2025
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 
I grew up on WHFS, one of the greatest alternative stations of all time, and there's not much like it around anymore, at least not in this region. DC101 just barely plays any new music. The Triple A station I listen to, WTMD, plays more new music, so I've heard this year's singles by Lord Huron or Lucy Dacus on the radio more than some #1 alternative hits. So these lists always feel a little more theoretical than my other genre lists, I'm not talking about songs I've heard on the radio as much as songs I've seen on Billboard's airplay charts.
1. Balu Brigada - "So Cold"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #7 Rock & Alternative Airplay
New Zealand alt rock has had a notable year, with a masterpiece from The Beths a new album from The Bats, a collection of unreleased recordings from The Chills, and these two brothers from Auckland who toured with Twenty One Pilots and scored a #1 song before they'd released their debut album.
2. Lola Young - "Messy"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #1 Rock & Alternative Airplay, #14 Hot 100
Lola Young kind of had a Chappell Roan sort of breakthrough, with her 2024 album belatedly becoming a hit after "Messy" went viral, and it's just a stunning record, I heard it so much this yeat without ever feeling like I'd had my fill of it and could change the station when it came on. The follow-up album she just released is excellent too, it's a shame American radio hasn't really touched it, "Messy" is kind of singular bit she's got loads of songs that are just as good.
3. Wolf Alice - "Bloom Baby Bloom"
#19 Alternative Airplay, #36 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I remember reading that Wolf Alice's new single was some kind of departure from the fuzzy guitar-heavy sound of their great first three albums, but I was still thrown for a loop when I Shazam'd this cool piano-driven song on WTMD. Then it made perfect sense when I learned that Greg Kurstin produced it, I put him on the Max Martin level of genius modern hitmakers who can make something great with almost anybody.
4. Turnstile - "Never Enough"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #7 Rock & Alternative Airplay
The top 3 here are all artists from other countries, so appropriately the top American song is the first #1 hit by arguably the best band in the U.S. right now and the pride of Baltimore (not even the only #1 from a Baltimore band this year -- All Time Low's "The Weather" is currently at the top of the chart).
5. Nine Inch Nails - "As Alive As You Need Me To Be"
#2 Alternative Airplay, #2 Mainstream Rock Airplay, #2 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I'm fond of saying that no '90s rock icon has made more great music in the 21st century than Trent Reznor, and I would believe that just based on his NIN output (and that Halsey album), but obviously his dozens of film scores with Atticus Ross are what truly put him in the lead. And it was fun to finally see Reznor mix those two things together with NIN's Tron: Ares soundtrack, which features a handful of vocal songs and the band's biggest radio hit since 2007.
6. Sombr - "Back To Friends"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #2 Rock & Alternative Airplay, #10 Hot 100
It's rare for a new artist to have two breakthrough singles blow up simultaneously. But for several months, Sombr's "Back To Friends," which I really like, was in a Hot 100 horse race with "Undressed," a song I don't care for at all. So I felt mildly relieved when "Back" decisively pulled ahead by the end of the year. 'Sombr' is a deeply embarrassing stage name and Shane Michael Boose, who just turned 20, makes me cringe every time he gives an interview or performs on TV. But he's pretty talented, there aren't a lot of self-produced one-man-band types at his age and his level of fame making guitar-driven music so he cuts a unique figure.
7. Role Model - "Sally, When The Wine Runs Out"
#3 Alternative Airplay, #7 Rock & Alternative Airplay
Another alternapop solo-guy-with-a-band name who has an extremely embarrassing vibe but won me over with his big single.
8. Sam Fender - "People Watching"
#25 Alternative Airplay, #28 Rock & Alternative Airplay
Another Brit who I wish was as big in America as he is at home, I love Sam Fender's voice and his whole 'if Springsteen was from North Shields' thing.
9. Almost Monday - "Can't Slow Down"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #8 Rock & Alternative Airplay
This San Diego band had a few minor radio hits going back to 2019 before this one went all the way and surprised me by crossing over to pop radio as well. That weird wheezing synth sound is such a fun instrumental hook.
10. Yellowcard - "Better Days"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #5 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I started doing more interviews for Spin this year and ended up talking to some pretty big rock stars, including Yellowcard, not long after they got their first #1 alternative hit ever, as weird as it is to realize "Ocean Avenue" never hit #1.
11. Rise Against - "I Want It All"
#38 Alternative Airplay, #18 Mainstream Rock Airplay, #47 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I also got to interview Rise Against's Tim McIlrath, and really enjoyed talking to him about retooling the band’s sound with producer Catherine Marks (Boygenius, Manchester Orchestra). Ricochet got the least radio play of any Rise Against album in 20 years, but I respect the way they knowingly took a risk of challenging their fanbase, it's a cool record.
12. Sleep Theory - "Stuck In My Head"
#31 Alternative Airplay, #1 Mainstream Rock Airplay, #11 Rock & Alternative Airplay
The biggest hit from this Memphis band's Epitaph Records debut really blew me away, it's always fun to hear hard rock with a really soulful lead vocal and lead singer Cullen Moore puts a nice little R&B undertone on an otherwise really heavy song.
13. Sleep Token - "Caramel"
#17 Alternative Airplay, #2 Mainstream Rock Airplay, #14 Rock & Alternative Airplay, #34 Hot 100
While I was getting into Sleep Theory, much of the rest of the world was becoming obsessed with Sleep Token, including my wife (her Spotify top 5 for the year included 4 Sleep Token songs), and New York Times critic Jon Caramanica, who named "Caramel" his top song of 2025. Beneath the masks and mythology, Sleep Token feel to me like a British equivalent of Linkin Park or Twenty One Pilots, an extremely nerdy but charismatic collision of rap and several styles of rock.
14. Limp Bizkit - "Making Love To Morgan Wallen"
#23 Alternative Airplay, #9 Mainstream Rock Airplay, #9 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I genuinely think Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water is a great album, and found Bizkit's last couple albums enjoyable. But it still blew me away that a band that is so tied to defining a specific bygone era just game out of nowhere with an absurdist track for a video game soundtrack and made their best and most successful single in over 20 years. That made it even more sad that bassist Sam Rivers died mere weeks after the song's release.
15. Winona Fighter - "You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers"
#33 Alternative Airplay
I was only familiar with the Nashville band Winona Fighter because my brother Zac is a huge fan who's seen them live several times and posts their music a lot. So I had no idea that they were on a trajectory to get some mainstream radio airplay, and they did it with one of their many tracks that has a memorably ridiculous title.
16. Mk.gee - "Rockman"
#25 Alternative Airplay, #30 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I didn't know much about Mk.gee when his debut album got a lot of buzz last year and he performed on SNL. But after his work on Dijon and Justin Bieber's great 2025 albums, I'm fully on board with his weird fuzzed out sound, and this non-album single became his first radio hit.
17. Blue October - "Hot Stuff"
#17 Alternative Airplay, #34 Rock & Alternative Airplay
If you're a midlevel mainstream band who's been around for 20 years, sometimes charting and sometimes not, I suppose you can do worse than writing a totally uncharacteristic '80s ZZ Top-type song and tossing it out into the world.
18. Goose -"Give It Time"
#41 Rock & Alternative Airplay
I gotta say, I prefer Goose over Geese.
19. Djo - "Basic Being Basic"
#1 Alternative Airplay, #15 Rock & Alternative Airplay
Stranger Things feels weirdly ubiquitous in the music industry, from putting old Kate Bush and Metallica songs on the charts to at least three of its young actors releasing albums, and another cast member infamously becoming the subject of Lily Allen's new album. Joe Keery is the most successful of the show's actor/musicians, and he also had a very funny, very entertaiming performance in the recent film Pavements, where he plays himself playing Steven Malkmus in the film-within-a-film Pavement biopic. And now Keery has a couple Djo tracks that have gone further on alt-rock radio than "Cut Yr Hair" ever got.
20. Billy Morrison f/ Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Stevens - "Gods of Rock N Roll"
#8 Mainstream Rock Airplay, #17 Rock & Alternative Airplay
This was pretty much the last Ozzy track released before he passed away this year, and it feels like a fitting sendoff.
The 10 Worst Rock/Alternative Radio Hits of 2025
1. Jonah Kagen - "God Needs the Devil"
2. Falling In Reverse f/ Saraya - "Bad Guy"
3. Royel Otis - "Moody"
4. A Day To Remember - "All My Friends"
5. Shinedown - "Three Six Five"
6. Three Days Grace - "Mayday"
7. The Smashing Pumpkins - "Who Goes There"
8. Pierce The Veil - "So Far So Fake"
9. Tame Impala - "Dracula"
10. Lorde - "What Was That"