It’s one of my favourite times of the year. As a man that loves music and loves statistical analysis, I am the perfect intersection in the Venn diagram that is Spotify Wrapped. Every year when it comes around, I love looking back, seeing how my listening habits have changed, checking which of my usual artists are still up there and realising the songs that I’ve clearly listened far more than I thought.

It is also a great reminder for me to take a moment each year and think back generally on my year in music and what I’ve been listening to and loving. I do it anyway, so why not share it with you?

I won’t write too much before getting into it but I will say this: if 2024 was the year of pop girlies (Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX), then 2025 is the year for young Brits. It feels like a sheer amount of breakout, or year-defining projects seem to have come from an almost endless list of British singers in their 20s/early 30s: Olivia Dean, Sam Fender, RAYE, Loyle Carner, PinkPantheress, Little Simz, Lola Young, Rachel Chinouriri, to name a few.

Top Albums of 2025:

My Fave 3:

3. The Art of Loving

I was chatting with a friend of mine a month ago about this album – we’d both been following her since 2020, sharing songs like ‘Echo’, ‘Crosswords’ and ‘Ok Love You Bye’ with each other over lockdown. We were chatting about this bittersweet feeling when someone you listen to goes fully mainstream – this loss of communitive intimacy, if that even makes sense?

Not to say that Olivia was ever this unknown/super underground artist – she always had quite a decent presence in the UK. But this album, following on from the building reputation of her last album ‘Messy’, was really her launchpad into worldwide recognition. And, as a fan, you are obviously so pleased that one of your favourite artists are getting their deserved flowers. But at the same time, there’s a sadness that can come with them becoming everyone’s artist – like a mutual acquaintance has shared one of your secrets with a room of strangers, or someone let slip the secret family recipe for your gran’s lemon drizzle. And so, a jealous part of you wishes their new music isn’t as great as the gold that has come before.

But as per usual, I can’t help but fall in love with Olivia, her caramel tones and her incredible song writing. I swear everything she makes is just everything I’m looking for.

This album is just so romantic. I know that sounds obvious – it’s literally all about love and relationships. But I mean more that this album brings a whole new level of romanticism to life – steps feel more bouncy, heart feels less heavy, and life just feels more beautiful listening to this album. This album has the capacity to turn the grumpiest of days into joyful ones.

No, literally. I remember one morning getting into my car for work, having had a crap morning, in a raging mood and already fed up for the day. One play through of this album on my commute and the person that entered the office was not the person that left his house.

Warm honey milk intravenous to my heart, that’s this album.

2. hopefully !

In 2017, on his debut ‘Yesterday’s Gone’, we meet Loyle, a young man speaking on his transition into adulthood, navigating responsibility, understanding loss and grief and opening up to vulnerability. Loyle titles ‘Not Waving, but Drowning’ (2019) after the Stevie Smith poem on hidden distress – thinking someone is waving when they are struggling (drowning) internally, and uses this album to discuss reflection of this in his own life. ‘hugo’ (2021) is the name of the car that Loyle’s father taught him to drive in, as a way to rekindle their relationship after his father’s absence through childhood – the album discusses their complicated relationship, Loyle’s mixed race identity, youth knife crime, becoming a father himself and his own fears of fatherhood.

If you can’t tell by the playful scribblings on the cover, this most recent album focuses on his life as a parent, and what it means to balance artistry with domestic life and emotional growth. Unlike his previous albums, with introspection of character and identity, ‘hopefully !’ meditates on fatherhood, love, self-belief, hope, and personal development. Loyle’s signature vulnerability and questions are still present, but filtered through the lens of family life — from the wonder of new responsibilities, to moments of anxiety, tenderness, and self-reflection. Also signature Loyle, this album is just the most CHILL VIBE. You can tune into a world of lyrical depth, or just tune out and just enjoy the ride. Spoiler alert: this was my most listened to album this year on Spotify, and it’s not even close.

It’s weird for me personally – I have no children at this point in my life, and there are no plans for that to change any time soon, but there is so much about this album that I can appreciate. Even without kids, there are a lot of questions and anxieties that men (or at least just me) have over fatherhood and even the idea of being a father is honestly a little terrifying. Hearing Loyle’s experiences, thoughts and hope, expressed through his masterful lyricism, brings comfort to me, and actually a little excitement for what could hopefully be (album name makes sense!) in the future.

Loyle, you’ve done it again, and it’s a tone shift, but I’m so appreciative of it.

1. People Watching

Underneath that rich Geordie accent and playful melodies lies an incredible layer of complexity and depth. There is a rawness of the emotions laid out on this album; discussing personal, familial and societal struggles, with losing those he’s loved, dementia, struggles with religion, the lie of nostalgia in reality, his struggles with the music industry, then berating himself for his struggles when seeing his friends struggling back home, wider comments on the political landscape and the community he grew up in.

And beyond ALL of that, this album is just SO so pleasant to listen to – Sam’s gritty vocals paired with angelic strings, masterful and catchy guitar licks and just an incredible full but easy to listen to sound.

Also, on a personal level, this album holds a special place in my heart this year.
On my drive back to Cornwall from Scotland in the Summer, I didn’t have any way to play music off my phone, so decided to purchase an CD for my car. Beyond 2 toilet breaks, it was me, my car, the road and these 11 songs. On that drive home, I listened to this album for 13 hours STRAIGHT. And I loved every single moment – I listened intently, belted out in joy, cried along, and just vibed with this album the entire way. I feel like I don’t have a choice but to have this as my top album of the year.

I haven’t written too much about this album because you just need to listen to it and take it in.

That’s great, so what about your Wrapped?

Ok fine, here it is…

Ok so a few key highlights here:

1. Kings Kaleidoscope

It’s seriously impressive for these guys to be my top listened artist, especially considering that I only really started listening to them around August time…

Having been recommended them from my colleague about a year ago (shoutout Joe J), but neglecting to listen to them at the time, I finally took the plunge this Summer and never really looked back

A Christian, rather than worship (there’s a difference), music band out of Seattle, these guys are classed as ‘Christian Rock’, but they clearly have a variety of genre influences. I’ve become a bit obsessed with their discography, particularly ‘Zeal‘ and their self-titled 2023 album, as well varying songs across their other works.

These guys bring a variety of vibes, from some up beat bangers, to some deeper cuts, to raw honest vulnerable tracks. Would for sure recommend, especially to my Christian mates.

2. Charli XCX

Clearly still just livin’ that life (IYKYK). I feel like people are always surprised to find out I’m a Charli fan, but what can I say, I can’t help loving her music and since her album ‘Charli‘ (one of my favourite albums that year), I’ve been generally keeping up with, and loving her music. And yes, ‘brat’ is still heavily in my rotation.

3. Kendrick Lamar

Easily one of my most consistent top artists, and one of my favourite artists of all time. It’s not only the recent release of GMX (my No 1 album last year) that I’ve had on repeat, but Kendrick is without a doubt the top artist I will always consistently dip into old music of ALL the time. There’s just so much depth lyrically, versatility musically and vibes hit thematically across all of his different music. I could write a whole essay about Kendrick’s discography but in short, if you haven’t listed to him, DO IT NOW.

4. Baller – nowifi Remix

Blame Eurovision. It’s pretty common that I end up with a bunch of Eurovision songs in my most listened, as well as a surprising amount random house songs, so it was clearly meant to be that this piano house remix of the German Eurovision entry, by this Austrian duo, became my most listened to song this year. I didn’t realise just how much I listened to this, but it apparently was listened to almost twice as much as my second most listened to song.

I think it was just I could listen to it anywhere – on the way to work, in the gym, as spreadsheet motivation music, etc.

5. Addison Rae

I think this is probably the most surprising artist in my top songs for most people, the fact of ‘Fame is a Gun’ being my second most listened to song of the year is also a little baffling to me. I have to be completely honest though – I, for reasons I cannot understand, can’t stop listening to her album ‘Addison‘.

There is no reason for it, it’s not an album I should naturally enjoy – It’s nothing I haven’t heard similar to before; I’m absolutely not the target market for this album; I’m completely non-plus/borderline averse to a lot of the themes of the album; it often feels superficial and/or unrelatable; it’s not introspective or reflective, there’s no deeper narrative.

But it just scratches some itch I didn’t realise I had. I love the general ethereal nature and tones of the synths, the Charli XCX and Lana Del Ray influences, the layered vocals, the 90s/early 00s nostalgic feel. It’s so easily something I can stick on and have on in the background. It’s a guilty pleasure for sure, but some time you just need to enjoy some sweet vanilla ice cream in your life, and that’s this for me.

All wrapped up

Well that’s it, there you go. If you have any thoughts or responses to any of this, let me know! Also I would love to hear your Spotify wrapped/top music from the year. Any similarities to me? Anything I haven’t written about? Or recommendations I NEED to check out? Let me know!

In the mean time, I’ll be vibing to my most listened to songs this year.