My favorite songs of 2025

If you’ve been reading my Substack for at least a year, you know what time it is. One of my favorite year-end rituals is compiling a CD-length playlist of my favorite tracks from the past 12 months (from December 1-November 30), one from each album I bought, plus random singles that really stuck with me. Doing this provides a nice opportunity to reflect on the year, and also gives me a cool artifact to listen to going forward, a sort of audio photograph (audiograph?) of how this point in time felt.

Before we dig in, I do have to note that there were some complications with my usual rules this year. Specifically, what was I to do about Bruce Springsteen? You know, I’m sure, that Bruce is my guy. In 2025, he put out anywhere between 2-11 albums depending on how you count his box sets, plus two live EPs and a single. And hell yeah, I bought them all. But there couldn’t be five Bruce tracks on an 80-minute mix, right? That would be crazy. So, instead, there are 3. I had to made the executive decision to cut most live releases from my list, which cleared up some minutes for other artists. Still, there are more repeated artists than usual here — besides the three Bruce, there are two appearances from Brandi Carlile (who released two very good records, one with Elton John) as well as Lucius (who released one all-timer record and one killer EP). But, you know, it’s my playlist and (so far) repeated artists aren’t illegal. Come at me, Feds.

With that said, here are my favorite songs that came out in 2025, in order of (hopefully) a pleasing listen. Spotify playlist is embedded below, and individual songs have YouTube links as well. Hope you find something to enjoy here!

1. Bruce Springsteen: Lonely Night in the Park - Released as an unearthed, remastered single to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Born to Run’s release. You might recall that Born to Run is my favorite album of all time. Unlike most other Bruce releases, there are very few outtakes from those sessions; only two-three songs were cut from the final product, and this is the last one (that we know of) that never got an official release. I love it. Hearing something fresh from my favorite album made me feel young.

2. Spitalfield: I Can’t Stop - Gonna spotlight tracks from a couple Chicago artists next, which seems fitting given my move back to my home city in January. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know Mark, the frontman of Spitalfield, through Mortified (I even got to perform a couple songs with him!), and besides his talent, he is a great dude to boot. Working with him in 2023 got me really into this band, and I was delighted that 2025 saw them put out a new EP, their first new release in 19 years!

3. Justice Hill: Thank You Hate Me - I saw Justice and his band perform at a Paper Machete show last year and they absolutely blew me away. The confident genre-mixing, the ridiculous grooves, the soulful vocals — this is the real deal. I hope I get to catch them again soon!

4. Brandi Carlile: Church & State - Brandi does U2 (for my money better than U2). I love how furious this song is. Brandi is a treasure and should be treated as such.

5. Tim Heidecker: Day Days - One of my first weekends back in Chicago, I got to see Tim and his band perform live at Thalia Hall with a couple pals. Although he’s mostly known for his alt comedy, Tim’s music is a little softer than that persona. Some of it is funny in a wry way, but I would say this song is just sweet and kinda sad. It feels like a good marker of 2025.

6. The Darkness: Walking Through Fire - I’ve talked before about how my favorite author is Grant Morrison, and how one of Grant’s tenets is to not hold any ideas back — better to have a creative work jammed with goodness than be dull and drab. The riffs in this song absolutely follow that philosophy; by the time the chorus hits, you’ve heard three separate hit songs all crammed into one. It’s funny that this song is about how people aren’t really into the Darkness anymore.

7. The Mountain Goats: Cold at Night - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan is my favorite album of 2025. It’s a concept album about a shipwreck written as a musical score; Lin-Manuel Miranda even provides backing vocals on a number of tracks, including this one. I love how the Goats never rest on their laurels and try new things, even things that may seem bizarre. This one completely works for me.

8. Bruce Springsteen: Unsatisfied Heart - We’re easing into the Adam Granduciel portion of this playlist with an unreleased Springsteen track that gained some notoriety due to War on Drugs covering it live (you can hear the influence). This comes from the 1983 LA sessions portion of Bruce’s Tracks II box set, and I feel it hits even harder when you understand that this was recorded during the darkest depression of Springsteen’s life (as seen in Deliver Me From Nowhere).

9. Sam Fender: Crumbling Empire - And now the Adam Granduciel block starts in earnest with the first of two albums I bought that he produced this year, Sam Fender’s People Watching. Sam is obviously a Bruce disciple; I saw a comment on Reddit that said this song is like if Springsteen recorded Toto’s “Africa.” I dunno if I’ll ever shake that, lol, but I just like the slow, contemplative strut of it, and it’s a good message for the year.

10. Lucius: New Old Tape - My favorite song of the year, on which Adam Granduciel plays guitar and provides backing vocals. Anthemic and heartbreaking. Blast this shit as loud as you can. “I tune it out and live instead.”

11. Craig Finn: Shamrock - And here’s a track from the second 2025 album I own that Adam Granduciel produced. I was fortunate enough to hear this song (before its release) played live in a room of maybe 75 people; it broke my heart then and it still does now. No one writes about folks trying their hardest not to be losers with as much empathy and deftness as Craig Finn. Craig’s another Bruce disciple, and this song feels like his Nebraska.

12. Bruce Springsteen: Atlantic City (Electric Nebraska version) - Speaking of Nebraska, I really took to the electric version of “Atlantic City” that was unearthed this year. The first time I heard the changed lyrics in the middle 8, I gasped. “I’m goin’ down there half but I’m comin’ back whole.”

13. Elton John & Brandi Carlile: Swing for the Fences - Elton’s collaboration with Brandi gave us, to my mind, his most vibrant record in decades. Some of the songs on there feel like EJ fanfic (complimentary); this one has a bit more of a modern energy, and it gets me amped to listen to.

14. Kyle M: Digital Society - I just think this song, like, has a lot to say about where we are as a culture, you know? [Breaking kayfabe: Kyle Mooney’s The Real Me record is recorded with so much earnest untalentedness that it reminds me, in a very empathetic way, of some of the art me and some pals would have created in high school. Kyle captures the character of "I just heard about this and I have something important to say” soooo well.]

15. Coheed and Cambria: Searching for Tomorrow - The Father of Make Believe is my favorite Coheed and Cambria album in a long time, based in part on the strength of its lead singles. This song packs such a punch and has what I call a neat little Mega Man breakdown in the middle. Great stuff!

16. Ghost: Umbra - I love that, as time goes on, Ghost leans more and more into their pop sensibilities. This track starts with some spooky Stranger Things-style synths and then moves into a Top Gun-esque driving main riff (cowbell!) that just kicks ass.

17. Lucius: Mad Love - Geez, those ladies from Lucius sure sing together nice. Just a beautiful song.

18. Murder by Death: No Matter Now - For a long time in my 20s, Murder by Death was one of my favorite bands. I sort of fell off the wagon in the 2010s, but I had to catch them on their farewell tour this year, and I’m so glad I did. I’m in love with the way they incorporate cello (and now violin) into their melodic alt country dirges. This song, off their latest album, feels so much like classic MBD, and I think is a fitting way for me to remember how much this band meant to me.

What songs got you through the year? I’d love to know!

Tickets for the next Mortified Chicago show, our annual Doomed Valentine’s Day celebration, are available now! Would love to see ya there!