Top songs of 2025: From Olivia Dean to Kpop Demon Hunters, here’s our take on the year’s top tunes

Collating a list of the year’s top five songs is like attempting to name the best ice cream flavours — not everyone will agree, and there will always be a some unlucky favourites.

This year tossed up another impressive selection of tunes, from chart-topping hits, to TikTok tracks, late bloomers, and everything in between.

While the stats tell much of the story, songs that made the list have also been recognised for their cultural or global impact.

Biggest songs of 2025, in no particular order:

Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild

After a massive 2024 in which she toured with Taylor Swift and released Grammy-winning album Short ‘n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter showed no signs of slowing down in 2025.

The diminutive performer — now a heavy weight in the pop world — released her seventh studio album Man’s Best Friend in August, of which lead single Manchild has been particularly well-received by fans.

Co-written and co-produced by 11-time Grammy-winner Jack Antonoff, the tune carries the singer’s cheeky and playful tone while delivering an uber catchy chorus and melodic hook that resembles the formula she previously laid down in Espresso.

Carpenter now sits front and centre in shaping the modern evolution of pop, sharing company with culture-definers Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift as the best in the business right now.

Kpop Demon Hunters (HUNTR/X) - Golden

Children’s music has come a long way since The Wiggles’ released Hot Potato 30 years ago.

Cue KPop Demon Hunters, an animated film featuring a fictional group of K-pop superstars whose catchy, electronic-based beats have become as much a hit with kids as the parents who hit play.

Released in June, the flick has become the most-watched original title in the streamer’s history, with its massive hit Golden one of four tracks to land on Billboard Hot 100’s top 10.

Korean-Australian singer and young mother Dami Im told PerthNow in September that she imagined “every toddler parent in Australia” had turned to the film, dubbing it the new Frozen.

Golden’s TikTok trendiness and 1.1 billion Spotify streams signify the deepening roots of K-pop music in western culture, proving even if we English speakers don’t know all the words, we’ll still sing along.

Alex Warren — Ordinary

Call it uplifting, call it extraordinary; this deeply emotional take on finding love has found global success for emerging American talent and YouTuber Alex Warren.

The 25-year-old released his debut album You’ll Be Alright, Kid in July, with his February single Ordinary showcasing the singer-songwriter’s deep vocals and lyrical vulnerability.

Peaking at number one on the Billboard Global 200 chart in May, it follow’s a string of singles from the talent in recent years, including Burning Down, and Carry You Home.

Warren brought his worldwide Cheaper Than Therapy tour to Australia over winter, ending his sold-out national jaunt at Perth HPC on August 28 after switching venues from Astor Theatre to keep up with demand.

Olivia Dean - Man I Need

Those unfamiliar with English pop sensation Olivia Dean would feel she came out of nowhere in 2025, and solidified her meteoric rise by becoming the first artist to boast four singles in the UK top 10 charts simultaneously.

Releasing her second album in September, titled The Art of Loving, the charismatic hitmaker’s recent success has been led by her catchy jazz-pop tune Man I Need.

Dean, 26, performed the number Down Under at the ARIAS in November as she met many of her new Aussie fans for the first time, although largely went under the radar in February as she toured the country for Laneway Festival.

Capitalising on her newfound worldwide fame, as well as resonance in Australia, the singer will return to our shores in October 2026 for a limited national tour that sadly does not yet include the west coast.

Lady Gaga - Abracadabra

Returning to her dance-loving roots, the multi-hyphenate performer brought her hard-hitting basslines and vocals back to the fore as she rolled out a new set of choreography for fans to mimic with Abracadabra.

The 14-time Grammy winner and perennial shape shifter released her latest album Mayhem in March, and would have made this list alongside Bruno Mars for the pair’s Die With A Smile if they hadn’t served it to fans late last year.

Abracadabra is dark, dramatic, mystical, and fun — everything her long-time supporters have come to expect since since dropping her debut album The Fame in 2008.

Aussie fans got a taste of the flashy superstar live for The MAYHEM Ball tour earlier this summer as she treated them to her first major concert tour since 2014, equipped with her latest sequence of accentuated movements.

Blending electropop with synth and dance elements, and sampling Spellbound by Siouxsie and the Banshees, the 39-year-old’s release would have been considered bold if someone else had delivered it, yet is distinctly Gaga in flavour.