Okayplayer’s Top 25 Songs of 2025

Photos by Amy Sussman/Getty Images, Marleen Moise/Getty Images, Lester Cohen/Getty Images, Victor Boyko/Getty Images.

The year 2025 began as a mess, and only got worse as time progressed. Everything is expensive, everybody is losing their jobs, and there’s still three more years left of an administration wreaking havoc throughout the country. It was difficult to find much joy in anything, but music became our escape from our harsh realities, and 2025 brought plenty of great offerings. We saw the return of two of Virginia’s finest, the girlies came through with club anthems, boneless boom-bap kept the purists happy, and R&B has started to feel like “rhythm and blues” again.

As we prepare to enter 2026, Okayplayer wraps up our 2025 with a list of the 25 songs that defined the year — a soundtrack of the last 365 as we lived it. These are the tracks that moved us, challenged us, and shaped the sound of the culture.

25. Noname - “Hundred Acres” feat. Devin Morrison

This might be the most light-hearted and whimsical cut I’ve ever heard from Noname, which is as surprising as it is terrific. Plus, the song is both good and good for you: inspired by the track, Noname would later partner with Black-owned restaurants in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn to provide meals to those in need throughout the months of November and December. — M.U.

24. SAILORR - “POOKIE'S REQUIEM [hehe look y'all I made it longer]” feat. Summer Walker

SAILORR makes music for the hurt people that hurt people hurt, and her debut mixtape, FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST, ranges between cynical pettiness to romantic self-sabotage. After she landed a deal with BuVision/Atlantic Music Group, she released her “diss record to her ex,” “POOKIE’S REQUIEM,” in late 2024. With some drawing parallels to Summer Walker, she updated the track with Summer herself as a conspicuous nod to those criticisms. The single would peak at No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and No. 10 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, and SAILORR would join Doja Cat on her globe-trotting Tour Ma Vie world tour. Because if you’re gonna publicly crash out, you might as well do it while on stage during a massively successful stadium tour across the planet. — M.U.

23. Fridayy - “Proud Of Me” feat. Meek Mill

Meek Mill and Fridayy linking up feels like Philadelphia opening its chest. “Proud of Me” isn’t flashy, loud or anthemic. It's vulnerable in a way Meek rarely allows himself to be publicly. Meanwhile, Fridayy’s voice floats like a prayer over Meek’s confessions: grief, growth, fatherhood and that gentle longing for your loved one to affirm you and say, “You did good.”

What makes it hit even deeper is how honest it is about losing fathers, or growing up without one, especially for Black men who aren’t often given space to name that pain out loud. This feels like a message to every son still wishing for guidance or approval. It’s soft, heavy and healing all at once. No surprise it’s now GRAMMY-nominated because this level of openness deserves all the accolades. — A.W.

22. Monaleo - “Putting Ya Dine”

A while back, one of my homegirls said — and I'm paraphrasing here — that women have been making harder rap songs than the men in recent times. Monaleo makes a strong case for that argument; after vowing to send someone to kick it with 2Pac on 2024’s “Don Who Leo,” she followed that up with a new psalm for the ladies in “Putting Ya Dine.” Leo makes music for women who drive their Nissan Altima over the speed limit with the “check engine” light on, and whether you like it or not this is our new normal, fellas. — M.U.

21. G Herbo - “Went Legit”

“Went Legit” feels like G Herbo is reaching the chapter he’s been looking for his whole career. It isn't the song that breaks an artist out, but the one that shapes everything they’ve been saying all along. Where “Dreams and Nightmares” and “Freestyle” marked early turning points for Meek Mill and Lil Baby, respectively, Herb’s anthem arrives deeper into his catalog, but it hits like a late-career victory lap. The production is cinematic, almost like a blockbuster hit’s closing credits. The track is triumphant, necessary and easily one of the most defining moments of his rap journey so far. - A.W.

20. Isaiah Falls - “Butterflies” feat. Joyce Wrice

According to some folks around the OKP office, today’s R&B is suffering from an alleged shortage of men yearning for women. Enter Isaiah Falls, who puts all of the fire and desires into this number. A “smile that can givе a thug butterflies?” This level of craving hasn’t been seen since that silver-haired boy and the rest of Dru Hill were begging on wax throughout the '90s and 2000s. Bring back music videos where the guy is singing in the rain, next? — M.U.

19. billy woods - “Lead Paint Test” feat. E L U C I D & Cavalier

The third single from GOLLIWOG finds billy, his Armand Hammer co-emcee E L U C I D, and labelmate Cavalier navigating through their generational traumas and the homes that hold them, tracing how inherited wounds shaped their present days while searching for the small pockets of light that help them break those traditions. Those roads are always the ones less traveled, and the trio reflects on those shadows that follow them into adulthood, as well as their children. Nobody said that healing would be easy. — M.U.

18. PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake - “SOMEBODY LOVES ME”

If Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR asked me to create a visual treatment for “Somebody Loves Me,” it would be the ultimate escape, metaphorically floating through a palm-tree-laced Miami paradise only a Black Card could book. The sun’s still peeking at 8 p.m. from a penthouse suite, the Florida air is crisp, and luxury is everywhere… until the lyrics remind you that money doesn’t exactly outrun emotion.

Drake yearns for more, as he's done in the past, but in a grown way that's less heartbreak diary entry. He balances honesty and ego, without letting one overpower the other. And Party’s touch adds warmth that feels like sunlight creeping through a moonroof.

It’s lavish, escapist, and still grounded in the one thing money can’t buy: real connection. — A.W.

17. Pluto - “WHIM WHAMIEE” feat. YKNIECE

This writer is deep into his “young enough to know the right car to buy, yet grown enough not to put rims on it” years, but I can occasionally appreciate something this juvenile. Will I ever find myself in a Rolling Loud-type of situation listening to this at ignorant volumes? Highly unlikely, especially at this big age. However, I’ve seen women go absolutely nuts to “WHIM WHAMIEE,” so while I know it’s not for me, this song is reverberating with others. That Pluto and YKNIECE are — at the time of this piece — now beefing with each other, and that another song on this list may or may not include a line or two addressing that rift (see: No. 15), makes this that much more delightfully chaotic. Perhaps if things had gone differently between them, however, this could’ve been bigger than it was. — M.U.

16. Little Simz - “Free”

Little Simz makes liberation sound effortless. “Free” plays like the end of a four-count breath: one long, overdue exhale that’s soft but intentional, reflective yet rooted in self-assurance. She’s no longer fighting for space; instead, she’s made her own and is claiming it proudly. There’s a subtle certainty in her delivery that feels like someone closing out a chapter, turning the page and choosing themselves without hesitation. It’s a reminder that freedom doesn’t have to be loud. Sometimes, it sounds like peace. — A.W.

15. Metro Boomin - “Take Me Thru Dere” feat. Quavo, Breskii, YKNIECE, DJ Spinz

2025 at times felt more like 2005 with a housing crisis, dramatic increase in the unemployment rate, and an incompetent tool sitting in the White House. On the flip, there’s been a resurgence in both Y2K-era fashion sensibilities and sonics, lending to a time where life did not feel as heavy and coming to the club dressed in business casual was mandatory (some “tradeoff,” I suppose). Metro Boomin, on the heels of a 2024 that had him involved in one of hip-hop’s biggest-ever beefs, took things back to those more carefree times on his A FUTURISTIC SUMMA mixtape.

The project’s standout track, “Take Me Thru Dere,” was an anthemic nod to Atlanta’s snap music era. With an irresistible beat and a catchy hook, this was an undeniable bop that rang out everywhere from the cookout to the function. Even YKNEICE’s not-so-subtle jabs at her onetime co-conspirator Pluto does little to take away from the song’s overall playfulness. — M.U.

14. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - “Ensalada” feat. Anderson .Paak

Freddie Gibbs has mastered the art of suave toxicity, and "Ensalada" might be one of his most effortless examples this year. The assist from Anderson .Paak — whose hook feels frothy and perfectly measured — is the collab we love to hear and can never get enough of. Some hooks decorate a track; this one lifts it. And whenever Gibbs and The Alchemist lock in, an undeniable ionic bond is formed. It’s smooth, sharp and is calmly making its way onto playlists and year-end recaps alike. — A.W.

13. Cardi B - “Pretty & Petty”

Oh, the girls are fighting fighting. When your album is titled Am I The Drama?, it’s clear from the gate that you don’t want peace, you want problems always. While former City Girl member JT and Lil Uzi Vert catch it on “Magnet,” and Offset receives plenty throughout the entire project, Bardi saves perhaps some of her worst for BIA on “Pretty & Petty.” Taking a page out of Tupac Shakur’s book of Nothing Is Off Limits, everything from her family to her catalog to her alleged associations with an imprisoned and disgraced music mogul are soundly dismissed by a person who clearly had all the time when she got in the booth that day. — M.U.

12. De La Soul - “Run It Back!!” feat. Nas

The penultimate drop in Mass Appeal’s "Legend Has It..." series of releases, De La Soul’s Cabin in the Sky is both a sublime return to form from the legendary Native Tongues alums and their most melancholy project to date as it both celebrates the life and mourns the death of group member Trugoy The Dove, who passed away in 2023. While much of the album centers around that loss and the space Dave left behind, there are plenty of moments of pure bar work. Nas, in particular, dropped an inspired yet scathing observation on the current state of Black music, continuing an excellent run of guest features that culminates with his long-overdue collaborative album with DJ Premier. — M.U.

11. JID - “Community” feat. Clipse

Who knew that, in 2025, one of the year’s best rappers would be a person who converted to Christianity and stepped away from secular music for a decade? Yet Malice delivered time and again throughout Let God Sort Em Out, and just two weeks after that album’s release, he dropped one of the hardest verses of the year on JID’s God Does Like Ugly highlight. That’s saying something on a track where all three artists brought some of their strongest bars, while each speaking on the horrors of gentrification in their own unique ways. — M.U.

10. Mariah the Scientist - “Burning Blue”

Mariah the Scientist always seems to have the cheat code for making heartbreak a little less painful. She turns tears into something cinematic and infectious. “Burning Blue” feels like love pushed all the way to the edge, but you somehow don’t mind floating off the cliff as you belt each lyric verbatim. Aaliyah penned a four-page letter, but Mariah wrote the closing chapter: the one you probably won’t send and will burn instead. If yearning and desire had a color, it would sound exactly like this. — A.W.

9. Westside Gunn - “EGYPT (Remix)” feat. Doechii

Westside Gunn’s music is a blend of high art and grimy street sensibilities, so many of his collaborators tend to lean into that sound. TDE’s Doechii — in the middle of a run that saw her become a Platinum-earning GRAMMY winner — put the falsetto to the left when she joined the Griselda frontman on this update to his HEELS HAVE EYES closer. Again, I’d be totally here for Gunn executive producing Doechii’s next album… maybe I should actually get Top on the phone to talk about that. — M.U.

8. Justin Bieber - “YUKON”

A pleasant surprise this year was the return of R&Bieber, but this time JB taps into his elevated, grown-man bag on “YUKON.” His cadence is confident, his flow is smooth and his vocal flex is unapologetic. It’s minimalist and melodic, reminiscent of his 2013 Journals era. Think: a winter drive with the windows cracked, the cold is hitting your face just as the sun starts to rise. — A.W.

7. Bad Bunny - “DtMF”

Con toda sinceridad: Bad Bunny puede que sea el artista más grande del planeta en el momento de escribir esto, y yo todavía no sé qué carajo él dice en sus canciones. Pero sí sé que esos temas igual sueltan fuego, como es el caso de “DtMF.” Esta quizá sea una de las canciones más profundas de Benito, y una de las mejores de su carrera hasta ahora. Puede que no entienda lo que está diciendo, pero ten por seguro que voy a estar viendo su show de medio tiempo del Super Bowl LX gritando “¡Yo soy Boricua, pa’ que tú lo sepas!” junto con todo el mundo. — M.U.

6. Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist - “Life Is Beautiful”

Flutes have never sounded so plush. “Life Is Beautiful” feels like a first-class flight straight into euphoria. Larry June and 2 Chainz may live on opposite ends of the rap spectrum, but their contrast is exactly what makes the track click: a San Francisco and Atlanta collision that somehow lands right in the middle. The Alchemist ties it all together with those serene, sun-drenched soundscapes he does better than anyone. By the time the song fades, you’re left floating, daydreaming about quiet beauties life really does offer. — A.W.

5. Cash Cobain - “Trippin’ on a Yacht” feat. Bay Swag & Rob49

Cash Cobain continues to reshape the mold with “Trippin on a Yacht.” He turns vacation energy into a feel-good lifestyle motto, craftily tossing luxury, ratchet and New Orleans bounce into a blender to make a hood-rich, gyrating cocktail. Cash glides across the beat with his usual nonchalance, sounding like he’s half-chillin’, half-flexing as the production sways behind him. It’s fun, lighthearted and slightly reckless (in the best way). It’s the perfect equivalent of wearing sunglasses in the club and drinking champagne on the wake-up. — A.W.

4. MOLIY - “Shake It To The Max” feat. Silent Addy, Shenseea, & Skillibeng 

Although we’re just days away from ushering in 2026, MOLIY, Shenseea, Skillibeng, and Silent Addy’s “Shake It to the Max (Fly)” drops you straight into a 2000s basement bashment the moment it starts. Think walls sweating as much as the people, hips moving in perfect whine motion, and absolutely no one pretending to be too cool to catch a vibe. It’s the kind of track that unlocks a familiar feeling: addictive. One that's nostalgic and effortless from the first second all the way to its final 3:04.

With everything this year has thrown at us, this was the kind of joy-inducing record we didn’t just want, but needed. — A.W.

3. Kehlani - “Folded”

A double – maybe even triple – entendre, “Folded” is exactly the kind of dramatic, stop-the-music-and-belt-it moment Kehlani is known for. The song earned a GRAMMY nomination, but honestly? It probably went platinum (and maybe even diamond) in living rooms across the U.S. way before that. More than relatable, “Folded” is a shared feeling. It’s not just about folding clothes; it’s the whole emotional tug-of-war of not wanting someone to leave, not being sure you want them to stay, and the mental gymnastics that come with that decision. That's a feeling I’m pretty sure all of us have dealt with at least once in our lives. — A.W.

2. Clipse - “F.I.C.O.” feat. Stove God Cooks

Stove God Cooks, for the past five years, has been this writer’s favorite rapper, and while rumored label issues has delayed the release of his second album GOAT STAMP  — his long-awaited follow-up to 2020’s Reasonable Drought —  he has kept busy with a string of features across multiple Westside Gunn releases, before landing his biggest to date on Clipse’s “F.I.C.O.” Easily my pick for the best hook of 2025 (using Fetty Wap as a drug metaphor is diabolically genius) on one of the best albums of 2025 (again, I am very biased towards Clipse), all three now have an opportunity to win a 2026 GRAMMY including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album. Who knew that coke rap would have this big a moment?

This guy. This guy knew. — M.U.

1. SZA - “30 for 30” feat. Kendrick Lamar

From the Oscar-nominated “All The Lights,” to the chart-topping “luther,” to their record-breaking Grand National Tour, the combination of SZA and Kendrick Lamar has not missed once. Just a month after SZA guesting on Kendrick’s GNX, K. Dot returned the favor on  SZA’s Lana. Using the same Switch sample Rich Boy used to perfection on “Throw Some D’s,” the pair got playful on “30 for 30” where Solana turned threats into a memorable call-and-response while Kenny continued his 2024 victory lap. A high-charting single, a 2026 GRAMMY nominee, and a whole bop = Okayplayer’s top song of 2025. — M.U.