Spotify called it a wrap on 2025 a few days after Turkey Day, so I figured I’d do the same—just halfway through December, fashionably late as usual.
Badflower ran away with the year for me. Their 2025 album was my clear favorite and basically served as the soundtrack to my life these past twelve months. It hit hard, stuck around, and never really let go. Surrounding it were a handful of albums that landed in heavy rotation, starting with Seether—what an unexpected comeback. I honestly hadn’t paid them much attention since the mid-2000s, but damn, they showed up.
Chance Peña was the real surprise, though. Totally out of nowhere, he’s become one of my go-to artists. His voice, songwriting, and those folksy, stripped-down instrumentals calm me the fuck down in a way I didn’t know I needed until I stumbled upon his awesome body of work the past couple years. On the other end of the spectrum, Yellowcard represented my recently reignited pop-punk phase that’s been going on for a few years now, while Rise Against reminded me they still know how to deliver hard rock bangers with teeth.
And then there was Bowling for Soup. A band I was never particularly into—until Fishin’ for Woos. That album was pure fun, front to back. No skips, no guilt, just a stupidly good time that I kept coming back to again and again.
All in all, 2025 had a damn solid soundtrack—and I needed every note of it.
Here are the top 5 lists, finally locked in (until I discover something that’s out there right now that I haven’t heard yet that swoops in and blows it all up):
My Top 5 Songs of 2025
- Paws by Badflower
- Regret by Seether
- Wolves of Worry by Chance Peña
- honestly i by Yellowcard
- Forty Days by Rise Against
My Top 5 Albums of 2025
- No Place Like Home by Badflower
- When I Change My Mind I Don’t Mean It by Chance Peña
- Ricochet by Rise Against
- Fishin for Woos by Bowling for Soup
- The Surface Seems So Far by Seether
Some other great albums that I haven’t ranked but were solid and re-listened to are INTERTIA by grandson, No Rain No Flowers by The Black Keys, and believe it or not Yungblud’s latest album Idols had some good tracks on it.
To see my full charts of music ratings going back to the 50s/60s to today, along with some fun stats, check out my new Music Charts page. I’ve given every year a rating based on how the top 5 songs from that year rate, and out of the 60+ years of music I’ve thought about, this year ranked 23rd overall. It was the 14th best year for top 5 singles ratings, and 35th for top 5 album ratings. Pretty, pretty good. I felt like there could have been a bit more variety, I felt like the start of the year I was still listening to a lot of great 2024 stuff for well into the year, but once the few albums that were standouts dropped they really made it a good year.
How does this all compare to the masses?
2025 was another year dominated by the usual Billboard suspects—Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen, Taylor Swift, and a handful of names I had to Google, like Alex Warren and Huntrix. None of it really landed for me. I’m not anti-pop by principle; there have been plenty of years where I’ve found something catchy or clever hiding in the charts. I still make a point to give the Billboard Hot 100 and Spotify’s top tracks an honest listen, just in case something surprises me. This year, nothing did.
Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl was probably the closest—it’s undeniably catchy—but not in a way that makes me want to repeat listen to it. And I’ll admit, it’s a little bold to ask the rest of us to empathize with how hard life is at the very top of the cultural and financial food chain. Maybe I missed the point, perhaps she’s being self-aware and it is actually a critique of fame and identity. Ultimately it’s just another reminder that the mainstream charts and I are living in very different musical universes.
I still listen to Limp Bizkit, for crying out loud. How much more out of style can an old geezer be? Speaking of that…
Who/What the hell is Fred Durst talking about in his single released this year “Making Love to Morgan Wallen in an Elevator?”
First off, the song rules. The nods to Chester Bennington and David Bowie genuinely hit; those were brilliant, troubled geniuses, and yeah—we all still miss them. That part lands hard.
But then there’s the rest of it. Who is he talking to when he says “you know who you are”? Who, exactly, made love to Morgan Wallen in an elevator? Is this an industry dig? A metaphor? A private joke Fred decided to turn into a single? Does Fred have a beef with Morgan Wallen?
According to rock station 98KUPD in Arizona, he’s talking about having sex with someone in an elevator while Morgan Wallen is playing in the background. That’s all. Ahhhh… “Making love – to Morgan Wallen – IN an elevator. Listening TO, not LOVE TO. Maybe it’s just….search engine optimization? Put one of the biggest country stars in the world right now in your song title to get a few search hits? Good stuff, man.
Anyway, here’s my live Spotify list for 2025:
What am I looking forward to in 2026?
- Looks like there should be a new Four Year Strong album coming, a single was released in 2025 that’s on par with their usual kickass heavy pop punk rock.
- Michael Stipe of REM is apparently coming out with a solo album, even though REM said they were retired and couldn’t imagine making any more meaningful music. So I guess he’s got some new stuff to say and I’m gonna be there for it.
- Sevendust appears to have a new album coming out, their last one was a top 5 of 2023 so I’m definitely excited for more and always love everything they put out. Lajon is probably a top 5 favorite vocalist…speaking of that, I guess I have another list to make.
- Shinedown has more coming but I don’t know, I’m a little exhausted with them.
- Atreyu has an album coming, I’ve been pretty happy with their current sound and am not that down about their old singer departing and not on the past couple albums.
- Blake Label Society supposely has an album coming and that’s big news for me.
- Possibly some new Slipknot in 2026.
- New Alice In Chains which is ultimately Jerry Cantrell solo music but it’s very worth it and it was his band to begin with and he wrote so much of it, so it’s no surprise the post-Layne stuff is still so good.
- New Mudvayne, which is a first in 16 years, so that may be something we don’t even know we need.
- Papa Roach is coming up with something for 2026. I’m a little worn out on them as well but you never know, could be good.
That’s just all unconfirmed hype I’ve been reading, no idea when any of it is dropping but will keep my eyes out and will do a lot more new music reviews in the coming year.
