Year-End Special: What 2025’s top songs say about the state of our music industry

If it’s December, then there will be a special episode in which we look at the Top 50 songs of the year and discuss the genres, artists, languages and labels that dominated the music charts. We talk about how deep catalogue tracks had a stronger presence than ever before, why it was a relatively better year for female artists, and what the key differences were between Spotify and Apple Music’s list of their most-streamed tunes of 2025.