Music

'All Songs Considered' turns 25 with 25 chart-topping tracks

By Robin Hilton,

Stephen Thompson

Published March 4, 2025 at 8:30 AM CST

As we celebrate a quarter century of music nerdom and buffoonery, we remember the songs that shaped the show and our lives, with 25 No. 1 tracks from our first 25 years (and whatever else we can manage to recall).

We aren't going to ruin the fun with a tracklist, so listen along as All Songs Considered host Robin Hilton and New Music Friday's Stephen Thompson try to guess each other's favorite cuts.

Tags

Music All Songs Considered

Robin Hilton

Robin Hilton is the Senior Podcast Producer for NPR Music. He also hosts the New Music Friday episodes of All Songs Considered.

Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a host, writer and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist and guest host on All Songs Considered. Thompson also co-hosts the daily NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created with NPR's Linda Holmes in 2010. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)