Best Music of 2025

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio aka "Bad Bunny" is by far the music artist of the year. The first weekend of 2025, he released his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos (2025). It was the number-one album for four non-consecutive weeks. He appeared on Saturday Night Live three times in 2025. The Puerto Rican singer was featured in two Hollywood films, including Happy Gilmore 2 (2025), which had one of the biggest debuts in Netflix history. He started his tour in November, which sold out stadiums. That tour will likely include a stop at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards on February 1, 2026, where Bad Bunny is nominated for six Grammys. He's up for Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "DTMF" as well as Song of the Year. He's also up for Best Música Urbana Album, Best Global Music Performance and Best Album Cover.

There are other artists who have more Grammy nominations like Lady Gaga. However, Bad Bunny was nominated 12 times at the 26th Annual Latin Grammy Awards where he took home five trophies, including Album of the Year, which is the most for anyone at that ceremony. It was also announced that one week after the Grammys, Bad Bunny will go to Levi's Stadium, just outside San Francisco, California in order to headline the halftime show for Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026. When this was announced, it caused controversy, but also created a lot of buzz and publicity for the American artist who some people think isn't American. However, the support for him could translate to wins at the Grammys right before it.

According to Metacritic, Bad Bunny's album is currently ranked number-one, but other artists on that top ten list include Dijon's Baby (2025), Hayley Williams' Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party (2025) and Perfume Genius' Glory (2025). Hayley Williams is up for 4 Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song for "Glum," Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Alternative Music Album. Perfume Genius isn't personally up for any Grammys but his album Glory has been recognized in the category of Best Album Cover, which is a prize that goes to the Art Directors. Perfume Genius' album is also recognized in the category of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, which if won, wouldn't go to Perfume Genius aka Michael Alden Hadreas. Instead, it would go to Blake Mills, the musician who helped create the album.

It should be pointed out that Dijon aka Dijon Duenas is up for several Grammys. His is a special case. Dijon is nominated for Album of the Year, but not for his album Baby. Instead, Dijon was a songwriter and a vocalist on Justin Bieber's Swag (2025). Dijon wrote four songs on that album. For mostly that work with Bieber, Dijon is also up in the category of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Dijon likely should be nominated in the category of Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical, but another artist who also worked on Bieber's album is in that category, that of Tobias Jesso, Jr, a Canadian musician who has written songs for a wider swath of people, from Adele, to John Legend and to Miley Cyrus.

Speaking of Justin Bieber, Swag is up for Album of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best R&B Performance. Bieber's Metacritic score is not the highest. However, his album is one of the highlights for me. His album was number-one on the R&B and Hip Hop charts. He moved away from his predominant pop persona, which is good, given the lack of R&B artists being at the top of the charts as they used to be back in the 90's.

Someone like Kendrick Lamar is keeping Hip Hop music at the top of the charts. Lamar had the number-one song for 14 weeks. However, the really big story in music after Bad Bunny has been the music from two movies that were huge on Billboard. The first is the song "Golden" from Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters (2025). The song was number-one for 8 weeks. The soundtrack in total also topped the charts. That album was also nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the Grammys. It's up against the soundtrack for Sinners (2025), which is probably the best competition. Sinners has three tracks, which are nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Reporting from the Delmarva peninsula, it's always amazing when someone from this area makes it big. Such is the case with Armani White who was born in Philadelphia, but attended Smyrna High School in Delaware. He even graduated from Delaware State University. He released a hit song called "Billie Eilish" in 2022. The next year, he was releasing work after having signed with Def Jam Recordings, which is a major label. Armani White released his first studio album on that label on Halloween called There's a Ghost in My House (2025). 

It was tough to narrow it down. There's so much music out there that it's impossible for someone not in the industry to wrap one's ahead around all that's out there. I've managed to single it down to a top 30. These are my personal favorites for 2025.

Best Country / Folk

BIG MONEY by Jon Batiste
WORTHY by Anderson East
PLUS ONE by The War and Treaty
AUTOMATIC by The Lumineers
WITH TRAMPLED BY TURTLES by Alan Sparhawk

Best Rock / Alternative

THEE BLACK BOLTZ by Tunde Adebimpe
2 by Foxwarren
IS by My Morning Jacket
HORROR by Bartees Strange
THE CLEARING by Wolf Alice
EVERYBODY SCREAM by Florence + The Machine
NO RAIN, NO FLOWERS by The Black Keys

Best Pop / Electronic

SWAG by Justin Bieber
SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL by Miley Cyrus
FREE by Kid Cudi
LUCIUS by Lucius
3, 10, WHY, WHEN by Jamie Woon
DON'T TEASE ME WITH A GOOD TIME by Jessie J

Best R&B / Soul

BREAK OUT by Jussie Smollett
SINCERELY, by Kali Uchis
I FORGIVE YOU by Cynthia Erivo
BABY by Dijon Duenas
SON OF SPERGY by Daniel Caesar

Best Rap / Hip Hop

LET GOD SORT EM OUT by Clipse 
ALL AMERICAN F*CKBOY by Duckwrth
FESTIVAL SEASON by Saint Jhn
MAGIC, ALIVE! by McKinley Dixon
ENOCH by Goldlink
SANKOFA by Redveil
LOTUS by Little Simz

Best Individual Song from Non-Listed Album

"I Lied to You" by Miles Caton
"Last Time (I Seen the Sun)" by Miles Caton and Alice Smith
"Highest 2 Lowest" by Aiyana-Lee
"Prisencolin (Americano Joint)" by Aiyana-Lee
"Never Felt Better" by Everything Is Recorded
"Unconditional" by Jade
"Vibes Don't Lie" by Leon Thomas III
"Look at You" / "The Field" by Blood Orange (Dev Hynes)
"Don't Worry Babe / I Got U Babe" by Kaytranada
"Slow Dance in a Gay Bar" by Benjamin Booker
"Lonely" by Wale with Shaboozey
"Never Lost" / "Da Du Dah" by Kokoroko
"Ride or Die" by Arcade Fire
"Archangel" by Olly Alexander
"Baby" by Basia Bulat
"Wholeheartedly" by JID
"Man I Need" by Olivia Dean
"Sick Interlude" by Bryson Tiller
"This Is Who I Am" by Celeste
"Space & Time" by Chance the Rapper
"Silver Lining" by Laufey
"The Water's Fine" by Bonnie "Prince" Billy
"As Alive As You Need Me To Be" by Nine Inch Nails
"Atchafalaya (feat. Noah Cyrus)" by Orville Peck