The Songs That Defined 2025

SCOTT DETROW,HOST: 2025 was a great year for music. So many songs filled us with joy, love, reflection.With the year coming to a close, we wanted to look back with NPR’s resident music critic, Ann Powers. Hey, Ann.

ANN POWERS, BYLINE: Hey.How are you doing, Scott?

DETROW: NPR Music had a list of, like, 125 great songs of the year. We sadly cannot talk about all of them. Let’s do a few. Where do you wont to start?

POWERS: Well, I want to start right at the beginning of 2025 as nobody in pop right now has more swag than Bad Bunny. And he released an album called “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” in January that ruled the zeitgeist all year. And from that album, the biggest hit was a song called “Baile Inolvidable” that absolutely set people dancing all year long.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BAILE INOLVIDABLE”)

BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).

POWERS: This song is one of my favorite kinds of songs. It is indeed a dance song about dancing. It’s just such a fun song. Hey, it’s also about heartbreak, though – I have to say – and that message comes through. But the ultimate quiet agenda of this song is to, you no, promote the beauty of Latin music and Latin culture, which is totally Benito’s thing.

DETROW: We’re going to shift gears here. And the name of this next song is kind of funny in itself – all caps and exclamation point at the end – “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”

POWERS: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”)

RAYE: (Singing) Baby – woo-hoo – where the hell is my husband? Woo-hoo. What is takin’ him so long to find me? Woo-hoo.

POWERS: Raye is a British singer, and to me, she’s in the line of the great theatrical pop singers like Barbra Streisand, Cyndi Lauper, Amy Winehouse. She has so much wit and intelligence. And this song hit home, I think, for a lot of women this year.I mean, a lot of women are frankly struggling to find a partner who treats them respectfully, and she has created a really fun battle cry.

DETROW: All right, Ann, everybody loves a band with a big breakthrough year. This year, that band is Geese, especially the…

POWERS: Yes.

DETROW: …Song, “Taxes.”

POWERS: So geese. Yes. Geese is definitely one of the stories of 2025. They’re a brooklyn indie rock band. Their singer,Cameron Winter,has this huge voice and this wild singing style.And Geese is really taking the rock song apart and putting it back together in every song they do. Their songs are