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Pop music was not at all safe this year from the encroachments of an AI industry determined to slop-ify everything it can. Yet the proliferation of great songs \u2014 written, performed and savored by people \u2014 raised the hope that all is not lost. Here are the 25 best of 2025.<\/p>\n
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Our picks for this year\u2019s best in arts and entertainment.<\/p>\n
1. Bad Bunny<\/a>, \u201cBaile Inolvidable\u201d 2. Karol G, \u201cIvonny Bonita\u201d 3. Chappell Roan<\/a>, \u201cThe Subway\u201d 4. Justin Bieber<\/a>, \u201cYukon\u201d 5. Doja Cat, \u201cJealous Type\u201d 6. Dijon, \u201cHigher!\u201d 7. Addison Rae, \u201cFame Is a Gun\u201d 8. Rosal\u00eda, \u201cLa Rumba del Perd\u00f3n\u201d 9. Miley Cyrus, \u201cEnd of the World\u201d 10. Olivia Dean, \u201cMan I Need\u201d 11. Sofia Isella, \u201cOut in the Garden\u201d 12. Kehlani, \u201cFolded\u201d 13. Charlie Puth, \u201cChanges\u201d 14. Drake and PartyNextDoor featuring Yebba, \u201cDie Trying\u201d 15. Amaarae featuring PinkPantheress, \u201cKiss Me Thru The Phone pt 2\u201d 16. Tate McRae, \u201cSports Car\u201d 17. Huntr\/x<\/a>, \u201cGolden\u201d 18. Hayley Williams, \u201cParachute\u201d 19. Taylor Swift, \u201cRuin the Friendship\u201d 20. Maruja<\/a>, \u201cLook Down on Us\u201d 21. Clipse<\/a>, \u201cSo Be It\u201d
Bad Bunny has made it clear: Everything he does is tied to Puerto Rico. Here, in what he\u2019s dubbed \u201cBenito\u2019s take on salsa,\u201d he sings about the dance of a lifetime over an orchestra of synthesizers, congas, trumpets and an isolated piano \u2014 a six-minute ode to the island\u2019s roots and influence on the genre. And just like that, salsa has become cool once again. \u2014 Cerys Davies<\/p>\n
Karol\u2019s history-minded, history-making \u201cTropicoqueta\u201d LP lovingly combs through the generations of Latin music that made her a global superstar. \u201cIvonny Bonita\u201d splits the difference between past and present, with a come-hither bachata swish over Pharrell-produced bass hums. \u2014 August Brown<\/p>\n
The vocal performance of the year. \u2014 Mikael Wood<\/p>\n
Bieber will never escape the power of his high-pitched voice, whether he\u2019s 15 years old singing \u201cOne Time\u201d or 31 in this meditation on his favorite SUV. \u2014 C.D.<\/p>\n
\u201980s-pop cosplay so convincing that folks in 2025 forgot to make it a real hit. \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
Take an absolutely exultant R&B track, then let a cat walk all over the punch-in triggers on the mix console. \u2014 A.B.<\/p>\n
Want to know how this TikToker became an internet It girl overnight? She spells it out clearly in this pop-star manifesto. \u2014 C.D.<\/p>\n
Rosal\u00eda\u2019s album \u201cLux\u201d feels like Ken Russell\u2019s \u201cThe Devils\u201d: A woman possessed of celestial talents fights it out with the god who abandoned her. It\u2019ll go down with knotty LPs by Tori Amos and Fiona Apple that contort classical traditions to tangled, personal ends, and this track sums up her mission beautifully. \u2014 A.B.<\/p>\n
A disco queen shoegazes into the void. \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
She wants to dance with somebody (who satisfies her). \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvil\u2019s genetics will trap you in flesh \u2026 Blood escaping like it hates being inside me.\u201d \u2014 A.B.<\/p>\n
The best R&B is always rooted in the art of yearning. \u2014 C.D.<\/p>\n
The long tail of \u201cSob Rock.\u201d \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
For proof of concept, check the unauthorized SoundCloud mash-up with Morgan Wallen\u2019s \u201cHeartless.\u201d \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
They always say the sequel is never as good as the first one. In this homage to Y2K club music, Amaarae and PinkPantheress beg to differ. \u2014 C.D.<\/p>\n
While Timbaland is off making AI nonsense, McRae\u2019s sultry single clatters like his best 2006 work. \u2014 A.B.<\/p>\n
Says it goes up, and that\u2019s what it does. \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
Being angsty has never not been cool. If there were any doubt, though, Williams clears it up with this infuriated tale of betrayal. \u2014 C.D.<\/p>\n
The storyteller lives. \u2014 M.W.<\/p>\n
Ten virtuosic minutes that veer from filthy, noise-decayed bass and hardcore circle-pitting to exalted cosmic jazz and a gasping sentiment that almost, maybe resembles hope for our dismal present. \u2014 A.B.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalabasas took your b\u2014 and your pride in front of me\u201d is a hall-of-fame L.A. insult. \u2014 A.B.<\/p>\n