Songs of the Year 2025

This year I made a rolling playlist of my favourite songs on Apple Music which has been hugely helpful in keeping track of what I’ve enjoyed listening to. I’ve always kept a list of songs from albums I review on Spotify but that doesn’t catch every single. 

Another useful app for me is Last FM which I’ve been using since 2006 to count what I listen to. Sometimes the numbers are skewed because I have to listen to something more to review it, or just because a song came out at the beginning of the year but it still helps me to see what music I’ve gone back to. 

So using those metrics alongside my own gut instinct here are my top 20 favourite songs of the year sung by women. Apologies to the artists who I just haven’t had a chance to listen to this year. Share yours in the comments and let me know what I missed! 

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Musical Lowlights of the Year

When music critics were directly called out by The New Yorker as losing their edge, there seemed to be a sudden shift against the poptimism that has plagued the industry for so long. Taylor Swift was the first to get it in the neck and she won’t be the last major star to feel the heat. With the strength of social media being diluted the stans have lost their iron grip on the narrative, hopefully letting critics free to be braver without fear of personal retribution. 

I’ve always erred on the side of caution with my own writing, preferring to stay positive with my reviews when covering new albums and independent artists. However I do think it’s fair to my readers to explain my thinking by once a year sharing what music I don’t enjoy.

I won’t call this my ‘worst’ of the year any more than I call my favourite albums of the year ‘best’. Everything is subjective. Instead I prefer to call these my musical lowlights of the year. Here’s what did not spark the joy. 

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Album Review: Melissa Carper – A Very Carper Christmas 

Melissa Carper is on a hot streak after her last few brilliant solo albums and her work with Wonder Women of Country and she has now released this sparkling new Christmas album. Unlike so many other festive offerings ‘A Very Carper Christmas’ is a collection of nearly all originals, written mainly with her old bandmate Gina Gallina plus Brennen Leigh and Katie Shore. 

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Album Review: Maren Morris – Dreamsicle 

When ‘Dreamsicle’ was released earlier this year, I decided against reviewing for a couple of different reasons. Firstly my favourite songs on the album had already been released on the ‘Intermission EP’ which I had reviewed in 2024. Secondly I wasn’t initially sold on some of the other songs on the album after that first listen. 

However before I went to see Maren in November I started listening to the album properly and found myself falling in love with it, especially the last few songs. Another stand out for me was the title track ‘Dreamsicle’ a sweet ballad about appreciating what you have in life and not dreaming away the present. Even better was the fact that this was a solo write from Maren. Take away all the big producers, the songwriters and what was left was a huge talent with a vulnerable and endearing heart. 

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Album Review: Brennen Leigh – Don’t You Ever Give Up On Love

When the Grammys recently introduced a ‘Traditonal Country Album’ one of the artists who came straight to my mind was Brennen Leigh. She has regularly played at Robert’s Western World in Nashville, has a brilliant trio with Melissa Carper and Kelly Willis called Wonder Women of Country and just seems to perfectly encapsulate the vintage style of country music which gets unfairly overlooked by the mainstream.

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