I know that most people come to this blog looking for K-pop, but I’ve made it my mission to also spotlight global pop music each month. Those “global pop round-ups” culminate today with my top 50 tracks of the year. It’s been a very good year for pop music, making this list hard to cobble together (and resulting in a very long “honorable mentions” list). Part of this is by design. Unlike my K-pop and J-pop lists, any song released or promoted in 2025 is eligible here. A song doesn’t have to be a single or have a music video to show up on this list, but I do limit myself to a maximum of three songs from each artist because otherwise we run the risk of someone totally dominating with a bunch of great album tracks.
Enjoy, and I hope you discover something new that appeals to you! Warning: my taste heavily favors pop music with a capital “P”!
SONGS 50-31
SONGS 30-11
SONGS 10-1
2025 YEAR-END MASTERPOST
10. Mika – Modern Times
A stunning return for Mika. This channels everything he does best: big pop melodies, sweeping production and a sense of pathos that gives the song extra heft.
9. Madison Rose – Daydreaming
You had to know we weren’t getting through one of these countdowns without a bit of Madison Rose, right? With Daydreaming, she delivers another high-energy anthem with a glistening, singalong chorus.
8. Punchbag – Fuck It
This is the perfect anthem for our chaotic times. Fuck It channels so much of what I loved about 00s indie music and gives it a big pop makeover. It’s combative and rousing.
7. TPCX – Sin.
I want to champion this band until I’m out of breath. Sin is a steamroller of a song, delivering some of the biggest, boldest energy of the year. You owe it to yourself to put this on replay.
6. Lady Gaga – Vanish Into You
Vanish Into You punches you in the gut from its very first note before melding Bowie-esque melodies and anthemic, Queen-like fervor into a gorgeous, affecting brew.
5. Nelli Matula – Hitaammin hautaan
This is just impossibly beautiful. The way Matula’s crystalline vocal glides over the lush, strings-assisted production sweeps you off your feet. Finnish pop at its peak.
4. Neea River – Nightmares
Nightmares is the platonic ideal of a specific type of pop/EDM song. It makes every move you’d hope and then some. Adhering to formula can become transcendent in its own way.
3. Lady Gaga – Shadow Of A Man
Gaga doing an Michael Jackson pastiche is the kind of magical catnip I could have never dreamed of, yet here we are and it’s every bit as spectacular as I could’ve hoped for.
2. Erika Vikman – Ich Komme
We may not have gotten another album in 2025, but Erika released her best song yet so it’s hard to complain too much. This is confrontational, balls-to-the-wall pop at its pinnacle and one of the most fascinating things released all year. I was obsessed with it on first listen and I’m even more obsessed today.
1. Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
It’s so rare to hear a song for the first time and think “that’s an instant classic.” In fact, this happens so infrequently that Abracadabra left me on a high for days after my first listen. This is Gaga fully-formed, doing what only she can do. The song grew more legendary with each performance and proves there’s still plenty to be mined from this type of high concept, ambitious, theatrical pop. She did something really special with this one.
3. Madison Rose – Monochrome: The White Album
2. Lady Gaga – Mayhem
1. Comanavago – Club Morpheus
(yes, this technically came out in late-2024, but I didn’t discover it until this year and the album is too amazing not to include on one of my countdowns)