As we approach the halfway mark of 2025, among the things we have yet to find out are how many weeks Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” will spend at No. 1, when Lana Del Rey’s supposed country album might actually drop and whether Taylor Swift was setting us up by suggesting she’s unsure about completing “Reputation (Taylor’s Version).” What we do know is that Drake is not over and that Miley Cyrus is now better at making ABBA music than ABBA. Here, in alphabetical order by act’s name, are tunes by the two of them along with 23 more of the best songs of 2025 so far (including a few that came out late last year but didn’t achieve true liftoff until more recently). Scroll down to the bottom for a Spotify playlist that collects them all.
Bad Bunny, “Baile Inolvidable”
The year’s most widely heard piano solo?
BigXthaPlug featuring Bailey Zimmerman, “All the Way”
A casually inevitable country-rap banger.
Blondshell, “What’s Fair”
In which a daughter poses the questions she never could ask her late mother.
Bon Iver, “From”
Can we talk about vocal arranging?
Caroline with Caroline Polachek, “Tell Me I Never Knew That”
For those old enough, a welcome reminder of Chicago’s Joan of Arc.
Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”
“Why so sexy if so dumb / And how survive the Earth so long?”
Charley Crockett, “Lonesome Drifter”
South Texas country meets South Memphis soul.
Miley Cyrus, “End of the World”
As alt-rock collaborators go, Alvvays is a vast improvement over the Flaming Lips.
Lucy Dacus, “Best Guess”
The unhurried tempo makes it only friskier.
Damiano David, “Zombie Lady”
A key change to un-die for.
Drake, “Nokia”
Ten years (and one career-shaking rap beef) after “Hotline Bling,” Drake is once again pondering who’s calling him on his cellphone in this sneaky comeback(?) hit.
Sam Fender, “Arm’s Length”
An extremely sensual soul-rock song about wanting not to be touched.
Florence Road, “Caterpillar”
Here’s where the story starts.
Haim, “Relationships”
The L.A. power trio goes R&B girl group.
Lady Gaga featuring Gesaffelstein, “Killah”
What you need you have to borrow.
Kendrick Lamar with SZA, “Luther”
After 13 weeks at No. 1, this tender little love song still hasn’t hardened.
Parker McCollum, “What Kinda Man”
Flirty, rowdy, sly.
Jensen McRae, “Let Me Be Wrong”
A type A can dream.
Playboi Carti, “Cocaine Nose”
Scuzzy yet plush.
Chappell Roan, “The Giver”
Man! She feels like satisfying a woman!
Sleep Token, “Caramel”
“Bohemian Rhapsody” for metalheads into “Black Mirror.”
SZA, “Crybaby”
“I know you told stories about me / Most of them awful, all of them true.”
Zach Top, “Good Times & Tan Lines”
As crisp as country music gets.
Morgan Wallen, “TN”
Nashville’s saddest superstar keeps finding new ways to feel sorry for himself.
Lola Young, “Messy”
From the nation — not to mention the performing arts academy — that brought you “Rehab” comes another instant classic of saucy throwback soul.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
