With the end of 2025 in sight, we pause to update our running list of the year's best songs. Our latest adds include the (possibly twisted) dance pop of JADE, a brutal but affecting story song from S.G. Goodman, power pop from the band Liquid Mike and more. But we open with a question: Benson Boone ... kinda awesome?
NPR Music critic Ann Powers and editor Daoud Tyler-Ameen join host Robin Hilton for an episode that also includes our weekly reset: A breezy, Sunday morning in a small town.
Featured artists and songs
- Liquid Mike: "Double Dutch," from Hell Is An Airport
- Cleo Reed: "Always the Horse, Never the Jockey (feat. IWEWE)," from C**try
- JADE: "Plastic Box," from THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY!
- S.G. Goodman: "Snapping Turtle," from Planting by the Signs
- Ken Pomeroy: "Stranger," from Cruel Joke
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