ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2025

Welcome, my friends, to the poll that never ends... until we get to number one and crown the scientifically-proven best song of the year.

We received 73 tracks ballots and 76 albums ballots this year. Thank you, voters!

Your team this year is me as your humble host, with Moka providing fabulous images and seandalai on organisation/tabulation/basically running this whole thing.

If anyone makes a spotify/youtube/apple etc playlist, please post the link and I'll add it to this post. We'll get started once I've had another cup of tea.

Youtube playlist

Spotify playlist

Qobuz playlist

Apple Music playlist

Amazon Music playlist

<3 em

let’s gooooo

I was too out of touch last year to consider nominating or voting, but I just wanted to drop in for a moment to say "love what you've done with the place!"

thank you all for doing this!

I was too out of touch last year to consider nominating or voting, but I just wanted to drop in for a moment to say "love what you've done with the place!"

― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever)

Save us, Johnny Fever!

We're going to kick off in style, with a song that I voted for...

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TIE 76. Ninajirachi - Fuck My Computer 110 points - 3 votes

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Review link

“Fuck My Computer” is an assaultive dubstep rager that yearns for the days when you could download Adventure Club remixes for free from Hype Machine, and it arrives early enough into I Love My Computer that you can play it off, on first listen, as irony. But it quickly becomes clear that Wilson, who grew up in Kincumber, a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, is playing her album’s conceit straight; this is a concept record about Wilson’s relationship with her PC, emphasis on the P.

Fantastic opener. Thanks for all your work guys.

oh nice, a friend played some of this in the car on a road trip and I always meant to go back and check it out again

it's fun!

Ahhhh exciting! Thank you in advance pollrunners

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TIE 76. Metro Boomin ft. YKNIECE, BreSkii, DJ Spinz & Quavo - Take Me Thru Dere 110 points - 3 votes

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Review link

The beat is classic Metro—dark, immersive, and instantly addictive. Quavo brings his signature melodic flow, delivering catchy lines that stick in your head. Breskii and YK Niece add fresh energy, balancing the track with unique voices and dynamic verses, while DJ Spinz ties it all together with his signature flair.

I like the opener and its little shooting sounds. Appropriate start.

yayyyy excited for this rollout!

Nice, will be listening

instant love for this Metro beat, sprightly chaos

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TIE 74. Smerz - Feisty 110 points - 4 votes

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Time skips around when you’re on the verge of blacking out, and Stoltenberg’s droll narration glimpses the moments—checking your ass in the bathroom mirror, running into the guy you matched with on Tinder months ago, futilely petitioning the DJ to change the track—that disappear in a strobe flash. With chintzy string stabs and grime-caked live drums, she and Motzfeldt are on their ESG shit, and the only question worth taking seriously is Can you move to it?

Quavo’s verse makes that track, kind of meh on the rest of it

Thx y'all! I'm about to finally find out what Smerz sounds like.

xp I wasn't even paying attention to the rapping tbh, though I liked the chorus

So Smerz is early '00s nostalgia? I really don't like it, but now I know!

The thing with Smerz is I don't actually think their songs are very good (I say this as someone who absolutely loves a LOT of bands with very simple tunes and singers-who-can't-sing), but they are pretty good at creating a story and an atmosphere - is that enough? Not sure, but maybe.

(Also am I allowed to be opinionated on this thread while also doing the run-down?)

(If I get permission I promise not to just start calling you all idiots who chose the wrong songs. Pinky promise.)

honestly that is one of the things that has stopped me from stepping up to help poll-run. i'm afraid i'd poll-ruin with my snark.

Ha, despite being quite opinionated I am honestly pretty open to finding the merit of all music, or at least working out the appeal to other people... I think there was only one song from this 77 that made me turn to my partner and go "I HATE THIS" - see if you can guess which one it is when it turns up, that'll be a fun game for the rollout.

The thing with Smerz is I don't actually think their songs are very good (I say this as someone who absolutely loves a LOT of bands with very simple tunes and singers-who-can't-sing), but they are pretty good at creating a story and an atmosphere - is that enough? Not sure, but maybe.

Yeah, there's a certain charm to the amateurishness. Most of the time, it's not enough for me, but "Feisty" is an example where it does work.

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TIE 74. Amaarae - Fineshyt 110 points - 4 votes

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Discussing “Fineshyt” in a press statement, Amaarae said: “1998 had ‘Blue’ by French duo Eiffel 65; 1999 had ‘Believe’ by Cher; and, at the turn of a new millennium, Modjo gave us ‘Lady’… I remember being a little girl in Ghana hearing ‘Believe’ by Cher and immediately being entranced. The hard-tuned vocals, the glittery dance beat, and that hook! Do you believe in life after love! What a sentiment. A true manifesto of life. My favorite thing to do as an artist is take an inspired concept and flip it on its head. In this case, ‘Fineshyt’ is ‘Believe’’s bad-ass play cousin or maybe its evil twin sister!”

heading off my annual “where is the american rap?” complaint at the pass, good job y’all.

metro’s album was a lot of fun, good mix of old and new and a big part of the revival of the 00s atl sound that kinda dominated rap last year

Fineshyt was either 19th or 20th on my list. great interpolations happening in that track.

Loving the clever '25' on these graphics. Kudos Moka again!

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73. Justin Bieber - DAISIES 110 points - 4 votes, 1 #1 vote

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A jam session with guitar prodigy mk.gee where Bieber murmurs about a wishy-washy relationship. The yearning is palpable, but the actual connection is flimsy: the kind of relationship that feels better in your head than in your bed. But God, that yearning still hits, and mk.gee’s guitar chords and the marching percussion drive that odd middle ground between melancholy and infatuation.

making a youtube music playlist here: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblxCtzm7x4pO9kjc7eAvJSEDgA0dulP0&si=i5KO5HtwnIABjm0O

Loving the clever '25' on these graphics. Kudos Moka again!

― nashwan, Monday, January 26, 2026 11:36 AM (sixteen minutes ago)

ahhh thanks for pointing that out! very cool

I voted for the Metro Boomin record. I didn't think it was dark at all I thought it was sprightly and informative

making a youtube music playlist here: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLblxCtzm7x4pO9kjc7eAvJSEDgA0dulP0&si=i5KO5HtwnIABjm0O

― silverfish

Thanks, silverfish!

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72. Miley Cyrus - The End Of The World 110 points - 5 votes

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Cyrus’ latest offering opens with an electrifying disco-infused beat that immediately pulls you into a world where the apocalypse is merely an afterthought – at least for now. The track, written and produced by Cyrus herself alongside Shawn Everett, Michael Pollack, Jonathan Rado, and Alvvays’ Molly Rankin and Alec O’Hanley, has a timeless feel, with its rich layers of live strings, piano chords echoing ’70s glam, and a groovy bass line that gets under your skin. Yet, the real highlight here is the lyrics, which are at once a declaration of escapism and a love letter to a life lived fully.

I was a hater for far too long. "The End of the World" is a good one.

Started a Spotify list here, will update as it rolls.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14SfcIVX1QxPRiio0JrUuW?si=db8506ce44da4e2a

Awesome, thank you!

Excited

thanks poll runners

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71. Rosalía - Berghain 112 points - 3 votes

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Never before has Rosalía flexed her classical training this hard: composing in three languages, turning in a performance that’s almost all coloratura. “Berghain” feels as ambitious as Lux’s supposed four-movement structure, cantering from violin fireworks à la Vivaldi’s “Winter” to a pummeling Rite of Spring grand finale. Yves Tumor is here—to usher us into the final act—as is Björk, whose own gale force presence threatens to knock the song on its side like a two-dimensional façade.

i'm not a Miley hater, but i found that track sort of too limp pastiche for moi.

not sure any of my ten votes for tracks will make it, but hoping maybe a couple from my full albums ballot will

will power through the placements so far this evening

have a feeling a few of mine will place given the ilx hivemind, but there are definitely some i now know will definitely NOT place lol

this is the first time i can remember enjoying 7 poll placements all in a row

glad 'Berghain' is this low - not against it (tho it's quite a waste of its guests) but overhyped in many eoy lists

I really like 'Berghain' (and voted for it!) but I am a massive sucker for big pompy strings and operatic vox.

this is the first time i can remember enjoying 7 poll placements all in a row

― Parallel Heinz (Noodle Vague)

iirc you will also enjoy this next one...

i do like it, but there's something about opera in pop songs that makes my stomach feel weird

also Bjork is surplus to requirements on there

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70. Real Lies - Down and Out (Where E-Girls Dare) 112 points - 4 votes

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i think my favorite right now is "down and out". i love how tranquil and anthemic it is at the same time, and how the chorus melody interpolates "dancer in the dark".
err "dancing in the dark"! the bruce springsteen song. not the bjork movie lol.
- map

yayyyyyyy

my #3. criminally low imho

You met me at a strange time in my life
It was almost always 6AM
But you picked me up, dusted me off
And blew me from your open palm into the stars

I’m too new here to have voted (or at least, I didn’t understand the voting system), but all this is amazing. Really looking forward to the rest of the thread.

all about that rising “down…down…down…down… pulling the strings” in the second chorus

Great to see I helped Ninajirachi squeak over the line. Also voted for Amaarae, Rosalía and Real Lies, but different songs in each case. Don't get the appeal of the Bieber song.

ILM as the place that stans hard for Real Lies is why I come.

That verse quoted by map reminds me of Bowie's "Word on a Wing."

voted for a different RL song but this one's great too

i voted for "feisty" though i imagine the other smerz track that got nominated will place higher. this isn't necessarily beating the '90s nostalgia accusations but i do get a cibo matto vibe from them which i find endearing

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69. Erika de Casier - Delusional 112 points - 5 votes

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The Cypress Hill-sampling record scratch at the dawn of “Delusional” opens the door for a boom-bap backline that flutters in reverse… On “Delusional,” synths wander beneath a creamy, ‘90s hip-hop expanse. You can hear the air in these songs.

need to catch up on a lot but this is a very ilm-y run so far <3

Loving the clever '25' on these graphics. Kudos Moka again!

― nashwan, Monday, January 26, 2026 11:36 AM (sixteen minutes ago)

;) it was a bit more obvious on the first tests I was making since the bar was horizontal... shelved that one since the different lengths in album titles and artists left some awkward white space

That's the biggest challenge in every year's template. I've found I can't get too experimental with it. I will start making something based on a track I think will win with a brief title like say: "Smerz - Feisty" and then a track like "Metro Boomin ft. YKNIECE, BreSkii, DJ Spinz & Quavo - Take Me Thru Dere " gets in and completely breaks it lol.

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TIE 67. underscores - Do It 114 points - 4 votes

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Like much internet pop, the first listen invites a game of spot-the-influences: this time it’s 2000s pop guitars, K-pop synths, and hyperpop distortion. But what elevates “Do It” above pastiche is how Underscores works with texture. She stutters the beat like a skipping CD, adds a ding after each sequence like she’s served your order, and for the finale, fades everything out for two glorious, back-to-back drops. There’s a joyful sense of play to it all, such that when she says she’s “married to the music,” it makes all the sense in the world.

ILM EOY POLL with special guest and sponsor Real Lies since 2020.

so Jaxx-y, though i think i still preferred "Music"

her songs with Danny Brown also great, esp. "Copycats"

the "real lie" is thinking this isn't a deep state op

I'm making a Qobuz playlist, will post when I'm done

https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/54476905

lmk if I picked a wrong version anywhere

Just checked and "End of the World" only made it to #52 on the charts?

It definitely deserved better, I think I like a lot more than Flowers and in such a bad year for the pop charts it feels specially egregious.

Thanks, Rob!

Next one coming up in a minute, hang on...

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TIE 67. The Beths - Metal 114 points - 4 votes

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“Metal” is a jangle-rock jam that calls to mind fellow New Zealanders like the Chills and the Clean. The Beths vocalist Elizabeth Stokes began writing after a period of rigorous touring and health issues both mental and physical. She explains in a press release:
“In some ways "Metal" is a song about being alive and existing in a human body. That is something I have been acutely aware of in the last few years, where I have been on what one might call a "health journey." For parts of the last few years, I kind of felt like my body was a vehicle that had carried me pretty well thus far but was breaking down, something I had little to no control over.”

Moka - did you get my email about the images for 65 and 60 etc?

sorry em hadn't checked it out! I already replied!

very nice results so far :) have v much enjoyed most of what i was not already familiar with. i totally forgot about that real lies song but yeah also great. the metro boomin song is just ok for me, i might have found that beat more life-affirming in like 2012 next to "cashin' out" on a playlist or something. yea that miley song debuted at its chart peak and was off after 4 weeks. radio ppl in particular were dejected over its failure and they worked quite a bit to try to help it connect, to no avail. i think in addition to finding it good in the same way that ppl here do they also believe the future of radio is for every station to become an 80s nostalgia station so they felt that something like this 'should' work and become the next "flowers". but alas

I liked a different Smerz track I heard earlier, but "Feisty" is quite bad?

that said, if you like this check out the Automatic album I nommed (try "mq9" to start)

"feisty" is incredible sry

tbh I mostly felt like I didn't get what it was trying to do, which is usually a me problem

on the plus side "Fineshyt" is sounding great on the playlist, and I could not get into that album despite being a big amaarae fan

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66. Katseye - Gnarly 115 points - 3 votes

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The new KATSEYE song “Gnarly” is a frontrunner for most polarizing pop song of 2025 — and its existence is proof we're so back. There are so many ways to make an impactful pop hit: you could go for diaristic lyrics, a catchy hook, or an anthemic chorus. But with “Gnarly,” KATSEYE honors its K-pop origins by choosing chaos and somewhat bizarre English lyricism, backed by a sick beat and a killer live performance that sells the whole thing.

Berghain just sounds like Carmina Burana to me. I ended up thinking Lux was really disappointing, but she's mostly just using influences I really don't like.

Voted for Delusional! There was no standout like Lucky on the album, but Delusional was the best one.

hmm I love the Dijon album but "Daisies" didn't make much of an impact

i like the fuck my computer song brrrrrrnnnngbbbbrrrrrrngnngnnnn haha

Joining the others to say that I appreciate a surprising number of entries here (Metro Boomin, Smerz, underscores, Beths) and there's precious few where I don't get the appeal. Maybe I'm getting old, or ILMy, or both :) I like the dancy angle, hadn't realized it was one of those years. No vote yet, voted for a different Rosalía / Erika de Casier. Berghain was fine as a trailer for the album, but far from the best track. Carmina Burana sounds cruel though.

I wonder if we're at the point where all the dance pop and rap will be at the lower end of the tracks poll, and all the weirdo instrumentals and album cuts will be at the top.

why is this "gnarly" song so much better than their generic for-the-airwaves turd "gabriela"

I don't really have the right life experience to get super into Real Lies, but I love encountering them on these polls

playlist is def pretty bumping so far

tbh I mostly felt like I didn't get what it was trying to do, which is usually a me problem

― obvious old hat (rob), Monday, January 26, 2026 2:11 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk it feels to me like a funhouse-mirrored night out, aways angled toward the next destination. there's a nonchalance and cheap glitz to it that i find like undeniably charming in its verisimilitude, like on top of it sort of feeling like the scenes it's describing it's also very funny about it? also the high synth that comes in at the end is insane. i defended this record a lot in the albums of the year thread, probably along these lines

the right life experience to get super into Real Lies

posting on ilm is both necessary and sufficient condition to get super into real lies

I had completely missed the existence of 'Gnarly' and I think it's a hilarious banger, thanks to everyone who voted for it.

miley cyrus track very bad

godawful abba pastiche was big last year huh

Carmina Burana sounds cruel though.

'Carmina Burana' fucks, tho'.

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65. Tracey ft. Riko Dan - Sex Life 117 points - 4 votes

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It starts with the menacing thrum of classic dubstep and a voice: “All I wanna do is fuck,” announces a jammed-up voice pieced together from different sentences. The timbre drains any sense of desire from the ensuing lyrical detail — discretion and danger are preferred in every rendez-vous, the voice insists — leaving the song as sleek and unyielding as an assembly line of stainless steel dildos. But then a verse from grime M.C. Riko Dan pumps blood through the carnal pleasures, sending the song to a Jersey Club-inspired finish.

"All I Wanna Do is Fuck (My Computer)"

ha I had the same thought about ABBA listening to that Miley track (though I didn't hate the Carpenter album, still pretty shameless 'homage')

and I'll give the Smerz another listen, ivy, maybe the album as I think the playlist context did it no favours

pretty distinct dichotomy so far between maximalist super-stuffed tracks like Gnarly, undertones, Berghain and mumble pop like Erika de Casier, Bieber, Smerz

Voted for "Sex Life" and "Delusional" (bangers) and was the #1 voter for "Daisies," which I'm very surprised to see this low. Glad to have pushed it into the 77, though.

Tracey track is very weird (complimentary)

posting on ilm is both necessary and sufficient condition to get super into real lies

― flopson, Monday, January 26, 2026 2:29 PM (fourteen minutes ago)

lol I'm gonna listen to this album now

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64. Model/Actriz - Cinderella 117 points - 5 votes

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The production is so arresting. The stiff, harsh synths juxtaposed with the steady percussion and rumbling deeper tones makes this otherwise catchy dance song sound like a claustrophobic nightmare. It’s like a club hookup that’s getting really hot and steamy, but suddenly the anxiety burning within you is exploding, amplified by the drugs you took before the rave started.

Discovered Ninajirachi from the noms list. "iPod Touch" was the one I liked best, which is a radio-friendly take on Art Angels era Grimes.

voted for the model/actriz album which is perfect

I'd seen the name around before but clearly hadn't actually heard any Model/Actriz, was surprised by how much I liked this one. Video is awesome, too.

"sex life" is INCREDIBLE

YES

i am going to be listening to it on a loop a lot this month

there’s nothing redeeming about “gnarly” to me, sorry folks. just nails on chalkboard and not in a good way like the “insane in the brain” horn squall on “delusional”

the other stuff that placed that i’ve heard is what i would hope would place on an ilm year-end list haha, even if none of my votes has made it yet

“berghain” is solid enough, though it kinda feels like it beings in a lexus commercial.

pretty sure the only one of these unfamiliar to me is the miley song haha

wow! "cinderella" is a sweet gay infatuation song. i love the refrain of "i won't leave as i came" at the end. that guy works out too haha.

Really enjoying these picks so far

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63. Saint Etienne - Glad 118 points - 4 votes

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They wish to end on a high. Part of that comes from the positive-sounding instrumentals, that gliding sense which comes from high-strung string plucking and dense, well-placed percussion. It matters where those moments come through, and while Glad may sound like an instrumental blowout, it knows when to pause for a quieter moment. It’s a song of self-betterment, of looking for a way out of those lonely moments where the only option is to carry on, with the hope it, whatever it is, it gets better.

i voted for "cinderella", the music matches the intensity of the feeling perfectly. they absolutely rip live btw

i voted for "down and out" which was the best of the real lies tracks this year

nothing else so far

also voted for "cinderella"-- only one so far. glad to see it placed. voted for different de casier and amaarae tracks...

i had *not heard* Sex Life. thank god for the ilm top tracks run down.

also this reminded me i hadn’t properly checked out the real lies album yet.

Next one's for ivy...

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62. Ratboys - Light Night Mountains All That 120 points - 3 votes

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“My original idea was to write an ultra-high energy folk song, in the style of the Dodos’ Visiter, with somewhat spooky, mysterious, and pastoral lyrics — like what Chris Otepka of the Heligoats might conjure up on a mushroom trip. This song really took shape during our initial writing session up at the Driftless Cabin in Wisconsin last March; the guys and I nearly went insane fleshing out the arrangement and its odd timings together. I wrote the lyrics during that original demoing trip, centered around the idea of a fantastic, rural vision-quest where the days and nights blend together and nothing is quite as it seems.”

Nice. I ended up not voting for Ratboys tracks this year, rationalizing that I'll most likely be voting the album high next year. Love the songs that are out so far though.

#60 is a tie, so we have two more and then we're done for the day. Is this pacing working for everyone? I've been trying to do them with around 20 minutes between each track.

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TIE 60. Zuchu - Amanda 122 points - 4 votes

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Tanzanian artist Zuchu’s “Amanda (Explicit)” showcases her emotional depth and vocal mastery, blending intricate melodies with heartfelt lyrics. Building on the success of her previous “Oktoba Tunatiki,” the track highlights her artistic evolution and solidifies her status in East African music. With polished production and boundary-pushing creativity, Zuchu delivers an authentic, captivating performance that resonates far beyond Tanzania’s borders.

pacing is absolutely perfect for me

Zuchu is another "new to me, absolute bop" entry. Ringi ringi ringi ranga rai

i heard it while listening to noms, great and funny track, glad it made it

was not familiar with ratboys, also a great one

"glad" didn't make me glad

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TIE 60. JENNIE - like JENNIE 122 points - 4 votes

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It gets in the classic line “don’t bore us/take us to the chorus” but that’s an understatement for what Jennie is doing here, drilling down to the smaller fragment of a two-syllable, one name hook and flexing and dancing with it across a packed-full two minutes. The bits where she keeps repeating “Jennie” as the beat mutates, backing vocals rising to meet her, are sublime.

Didn't have room for this on my ballot but it's a good one

That's all for today!

Recap:

60 JENNIE - like JENNIE
60 Zuchu - Amanda
62 Ratboys - Light Night Mountains All That
63 Saint Etienne - Glad
64 Model/Actriz - Cinderella
65 Tracey ft. Riko Dan - Sex Life
66 Katseye - Gnarly
67 The Beths - Metal
67 underscores - Do It
69 Erika de Casier - Delusional
70 Real Lies - Down and Out (Where E-Girls Dare)
71 Rosalia - Berghain
72 Miley Cyrus - The End Of The World
73 Justin Bieber - DAISIES
74 Amaarae - Fineshyt
74 Smerz - Feisty
76 "Metro Boomin ft. YKNIECE, BreSkii, DJ Spinz & Quavo - Take Me Thru Dere"
76 Ninajirachi - Fuck My Computer

Thanks emily! I was too busy to keep up but pacing was perfect imho.

why does jennie eat a space poop at the start of that video?

2/17

Great pacing emil.y your doing a great job.

aww i love "glad"! sounding better than i remember it.

good variety in this first batch with some very ilm-core picks and some nice surprises which I had never heard before this poll and loving on first listen.

Oh btw, I meant to say this at the beginning, but because it's my first time doing this and I'm very anxious: there will not be any fakeout entries this year.

whoa "sex life" is lit

Unless I think of something very funny in the next couple of days.

xpost

Interesting. Thanks emil.y!

I believe I even threw some of these some (unweighted) points. Namely 70, 69 and 63.

Oh btw, I meant to say this at the beginning, but because it's my first time doing this and I'm very anxious: there will not be any fakeout entries this year.

― emil.y

this sounds like the kind of thing someone who is definitely doing a fakeout would say.

^__^

Ah two of my faves right at the end there. Very glad Amanda and Jennie made it in!

xp yeah "sex life" is amazing, favorite new-to-me thing i've heard today. also enjoyed that JENNIE track!

i like "glad" but haven't really spent enough time with that album and didn't vote for them on either poll

I'm just going to make my #1 the actual #1 and pay off Moka and seandalai and none of you will ever know, bwahahhahahaaaa

"do it" has heavy janet vibes?

ok "gnarly". a song made just for me.

Not anything that I voted for yet (though I did vote for a different Real Lies track) but some good stuff I hadn't heard like "Do It" and Ninajirachi.

Btw the version of Amanda with Spice on it is also excellent

i like "delusional" more than i remember.
i hadn't heard the miley song either, wow. it's good! abba etc.

I don't listen to new rock music much these days, but that Ratboys song is really cool

metro boomin - i like
feisty - i see the appeal but this track is not for me
fineshyt - always appreciate an ammarae jam
daisies -
berghain - i liked it
the beths - not my thing
ratboys - not my thing but there's something there

'fineshyt' my favourite of the new tracks to me

Apple Music running playlist:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2025-ilx-tracks-poll-results/pl.u-06oxr6zCWm4eaJz

Thanks, Raymond!

👍🏽

"Amanda" makes an excellent companion piece with Lily Allen's "Tennis"

Amanda is an even funnier name for it than Madeline

“amanda” is another i haven’t heard. it is a boston cover, i presume?

“daisies” really does sound like an outtake from the dijon album, like with a bit more crunch on the vocals and discordant blasts of guitar it would fit right next to “automatic”

i wished i liked it less so i could write, “is it not clockign to you that i’m standing on mid-ness”

the chorus of “down and out” gives me postal service vibes, which isn’t something i’ve ever gotten from real lies before

or maybe it’s giving me “together in electric dreams”? good song anyway

Favorite discoveries today

Underscores - sounds like the 00s in a good way… getting Basement Jaxx vibes from it. I like it.
Tracey - love this a lot on second listen, there’s cool details here and there but particularly like how everytime I think it’s going to go harder it does the opposite and goes to a melancholic place.
Model/Actriz - ok this is cool I was not expecting them to sound like an industrial band.

Groovy images btw! (I didn't have them switched on, on the first pass.)

yeah the images are classy

"sex life" is INCREDIBLE

if i had known this was the name of this song, i would have voted for it. top 5 even.

2/17 for me, the Real Lies and Amaarae tracks. some other good stuff in here!! thanks so much poll runners <3

Ty Nag! and map.

I was one of the 3 votes for Metro Boomin "Take Me thru Dere." It's huge on rap/r'n'b radio, there are dc bouncebeat go-go versions, and the title phrase gets used a bunch in memes and such.

Enjoying the rollout so far. The Beths, Saint Etienne, underscores and Miley Cyrus were all on my list. When I first heard that Miley single, I honestly thought it was going to be as big as Flowers.

Happy to see the Real Lies track make it. I ended up going with the album. I Could Join The Birds might have been my song of the year, but I didn't realise until voting that it actually hadn't been nominated.

Awesome graphics, awesome rollout! I voted for Rosalía (high) and Beths (less high) in albums but not in tracks. I don't think I've ever heard Real Lies?

Just Amaarae for me so far.

Didn't vote for any Real Lies or The Beths tracks as both albums were high on my ballot.

Ratboys, Ninajirachi and Sex Life were discoveries for me when listening to the nominations playlist so happy to see them all place.

One of the pluses of these rollouts: I’m exposed to a lot of tunes I wouldn’t pursue or otherwise encounter at any other point. Diving into yesterday’s cuts with my morning coffee…

Yeah. And so many times I'll hear something and think "ehhh that's not for me", but before I know it I'm hooked and I'm suddenly a fan of something I would never have thought to listen to

This will sound completely ridiculous but the Smerz song (“Feisty”) reminds me of… mid-90s Free Kitten for some reason.

But also of Uffie

dog latin, yes! That happened resoundingly with KH’s “Looking at Your Pager” a couple years ago.

I can definitely hear how “Fineshyt” could get stuck to the back of one’s brain quick (and inspire a ton of remixes)

This is… actually a pretty good “Miley Cyrus” single! (I’m generally not the biggest pop fan and never really could take her seriously.)

I have no idea why her name is in quotes there lol

Still waking up

Ninajirachi - Fuck My Computer
This is fun. Nostalgia for a very-recent past, landing somewhere between 2009 and 2016. Boys Noize meets Kero Kero Bonito. I'd write it off as being "too soon", but it thrives off its (ostensibly) dry, comic lyric and frequent energy-ramps.

Metro Boomin - Take Me Thru Dere
Speaking of 2016 nostalgia, it seems Goon-style rap is back on the menu after a brief time away from EOY. Might have to listen a few more times to really discern what makes this remarkable, but it's growing on me.

Smerz - Feisty
Interesting, but not really my thing I think. This detached, post-Billie Eilish hugging-the-mic vocal style is very big right now. Good if you've listened to Driving Classics, Playing Cars too many times and need something the same but different.

Amaarae - Fineshyt
S.M.O. was so high in my fave tracks of the year, but for some reason I still haven't got round to listening to the album in full, so this is new to me. Of course it's great.

Justin Bieber - Daisies
Maybe it's because I've worked in local radio for too long but I just don't like Justin Bieber's voice very much. And here it's got the consistency of tracing paper. Quite like the pitched-down guitar thing. But those cardboard box drums... Tracing paper and cardboard. The whole production sounds like it was glued together with primary school art supplies

Miley Cyrus - End Of The World
It's okay. Not my thing at all. Not so much ABBA-esque as ABBA-ish. It peaks up at the sky without trying to reach the stars.

ROSALIA - Berghain
I want to like this a lot more than I do. I admire the bombast, for sure. As I said upthread, operatic vocals in pop make me a bit queasy for some reason. I would also like a version without Bjork and Yves Tumor on it - it's perfectly good without them romping in on the second half and doing their bit.

Real Lies - Down & Out
If the TV show 'Skins' were a band, Real Lies would be it. For me this band is Boss Trick and Boss Trick is this band and everything else I've heard sounds like a lesser imitation of that song. Can they do more than nostalgic dance-pop pastiches with whimsical rose-tinted lyrics? Do their fans want more than that? If they were any bigger they'd be ripe for parody.

Erika De Casier - Delusional
I like the early-90s proto-trip hop vibe, but De Casier doesn't ever seem to provide enough hooks for me to hear this as anything more than skeletal mood music.

underscores - Do It
Google, play me pop music. This sounds like the soundtrack an edgy youth film where the main characters do coke in the back of a taxi. A big old concentrated wad of pop signifiers where everything is all the same loudness. Makes me feel old and grumpy.

The Beths - Metal
Oh hai guys! This is the time in the year where I remember the Beths exist and I end up listening to them loads for about a week before forgetting them. Sweet, melodic and very easy on the ears. I'll need a few listens yet before I really get into it.

KATSEYE - Gnarly
It was only a matter of time that K-pop would stop solely being made by Koreans and break out into a truly international style. I really really want to like this. It's a bit too "OH MY GAWWWD" for me though. The Valley Girl impression is probably intentionally obnoxious. But it is obnoxious.

Tracey, Riko Dan - Sex Life
Yes this is very good. Definitely my thing. Riko Dan's entrance is unexpected and comes out of nowhere. It gets a lot done in just 2.30mins. I'd like a longer edit.

Model/Actriz - Cinderella
One for the Quietus readers. Modern post-punk done right.

Saint Etienne - Glad
I love Saint Etienne. This isn't doing anything groundbreaking but it's not unwelcome. Reminds me of Go! Team a little bit.

Ratboys - Light Night Mountains All That
This is some pretty-good indie-punk of the kind that turns up on EOY without fail. It doesn't have quite enough propulsion to make me want to jump around the room, but I've put it in my personal "to come back to" playlist nevertheless

Zuchu - Amanda
A discovery from the noms list which became a late-entry about halfway up my ballot. I will say it's incomplete without dancehall artist Spice filling things out on the alternative version. Shouty, fast Tanzanian pop. Absolutely my shit, this one. The bit where she starts fake-crying makes me lol-cringe. WHO THE F*%K IS AMANDA?!

JENNIE - Like Jennie
Another vote from me. I'm not all-that au fait with K-pop on the whole, but when it sounds like this I wonder why I'm not. A two-minute energy rush

Comparing Real Life to 'Skins', stunningly bad take

I don't mean it disparagingly - I enjoyed Skins when it came out. Both take a similarly wistful, romanticised take on youth-hood, or att least I get the same sense of misplace nostalgia for a life I never quite led when I think of them

i didn't vote for that real lies track, i didn't even vote for the album this time round tbh, but if it helps you move past the 'nostalgic' thing, then a lot of the new stuff is all about living in the present, and trying to celebrate it warts-n-all, rather than being stuck in the past. sure it's romantic and reverent of specific moments, but these are mainly things set in the recent past and in the here and now that they're singing about. yes the vocals are very reverby and breathless and set upon wistful synth pads, it is hard not to process that as a sound that evokes the past, like using certain instagram filters, i guess thats the rose tinted thing you're talking about, so they have done that to themselves somewhat.

anyway great job so far emily and moka and seandalai. 0/18 here, woohoo go me!

Xp i hear you. And yes that sort-of bolsters the Skins thing for me in that the show was always a depiction of the present day - none of it was presented as nostalgic or backwards-looking; far from it. But it nevertheless connoted a sense of heightened melancholy; a serendipitous view of the fleetingness of youth which to viewers any older than 21 would have coded as a misplaced and lost sense of nostalgia for something that never happened

am still not keen on that Beths track, have liked some of their previous songs but that one isn't memorable at all for me, they're just waving a big flag that says 'here be jangle pop', and when you get there to see it, it's just grass and sky and a pleasant but faint floral scent in the air

love the beths but kinda agree, it’s a perfectly nice song and certainly an album highlight but not a career highlight for them, doesn’t have the power of “silence is golden” or the irrepressible catchiness that defined the best songs on the debut

Listened to most of yesterday's.

Loved these (incredible first two tracks) and only actively hated St Etienne so far, in a wish they were dead way.

76. Ninajirachi - Fuck My Computer
76. Metro Boomin ft. YKNIECE, BreSkii, DJ Spinz & Quavo - Take Me Thru Dere 
74. Amaarae - Fineshyt
71. Rosalía - Berghain
65. Tracey ft. Riko Dan - Sex Life
64. Model/Actriz - Cinderella

St Etienne didn't even make the best St Etienne track this year tbh

dog latin, perhaps a counter to your point is that some truly great music dos exactly what you describe, and that isn’t a bad thing. i like Real Lies because they remind me of being young, but also because they awaken the still-young parts of me despite my 41+ years.

i knew almost none of these songs but my 11-year-old daughter was obsessed with "gnarly" so i have heard that song approximately 1 million times. i respect how obnoxious it is
i like smerz, the ramshackleness of their music is very appearing to me. "feisty" was not a song that stuck with me though.

sex life is good but i got embarrassed thinking about all the other middle-aged ilx dudes listening to it and nodding appreciatively

hahaha

wow, clocked

Lol

The title track was the standout for me from The Beths album xps

I've loved most of the songs so far -- the best opening batch in years.

The St. Etienne album made my top 20 but "Glad" is just okay.

Who's ready for some more?

yas plas

dog latin, perhaps a counter to your point is that some truly great music dos exactly what you describe, and that isn’t a bad thing. i like Real Lies because they remind me of being young, but also because they awaken the still-young parts of me despite my 41+ years.

― a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Tuesday, 27 January 2026 14:53 (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah absolutely agree. As I say, it's not a criticism. It's just that it's going to take a lot for me to hear a Real Lies song that isn't Boss Trick and not wish I were listening to Boss Trick, which as far as I'm concerned does everything I want this band to do. Everything else I hear by them sounds like it's not quite hitting the same mark

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59. Geese - 100 Horses 124 points - 5 votes

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‘100 Horses’ starts as it means to go on – gracefully abrasive and sonically chaotic, as a jazz routine ushers Winter’s unmistakable, guttural vocals in. It’s a song that thrives on tension, building a sense of unease while still pulling the listener in with its wild energy. The lyrical content of the track is as unconventional as its sound – as Winter describes people concealing dire situations with joyful alternatives (“People / In times of war / Must go to the circus”).

that’s too many horses

About the right number of Gecs, though.

Like a lot of songs on Getting Killed, this isn't so much a song as a tangled wire-drawer of baffling production choices

lol xp

Geecs

I like the rhythmic element of this track but I'm not into the bluesy workout vibes, or his voice (I know it's a divisive voice, sorry to say I fall into the "nope" crowd) - overall, it does not please my ears. I fucking love that promo photo, though.

still never made it through a whole song by them, this one is no exception

excruciating

this was at the bottom of my tracks ballot

my kneejerk reaction to this one is that Patti Smith did a better version of this sort of ecstactic rootsy guitar poetry thing and with a 99% saving on horses to boot

Lol

I kmow ive said it a lot of times but it thwarts me that I enjoyed the 3D Country album so much while Getting Killed does absolutely nothing for me

my kneejerk reaction to this one is that Patti Smith did a better version of this sort of ecstactic rootsy guitar poetry thing and with a 99% saving on horses to boot

this is funny to me because i like Geese allright but would rathr be smacked with a brick than listen to Patti Smith.

Coming up: is this the tie with the biggest musical contrast between the songs?

liked the geese album more than i expected to tbh but not enough to vote for it on either poll

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TIE 57. Sabrina Carpenter - Nobody's Son 126 points - 4 votes

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“Nobody’s Son” sounds a bit like Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” if it was a horny kiss-off – a frankly absurd collection of sounds that nonetheless works immaculately.

Didn't like this the one and only time I heard it while dipping into the noms list. But it lodged itself firmly in my head and I couldn't stop humming it to myself all afternoon. So I don't know if that means it's grown on me or if it's just catchy-annoying. I'm going to give it a second spin

Hah, I hear the Wonderful Christmastime thing. Also a little bit of The Visitors-era ABBA. 1980 revival is a surprise twist on the year.

Yeah I like this song now

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TIE 57. Bitchin Bajas - Graut 126 points - 4 votes

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The key track on Inland Sea is »Graut«, which at nearly nineteen minutes takes up the entire second side of the new Bitchin Bajas LP. It’s unclear whether the title is a misspelling of »Kraut«, but if so, it would fit perfectly. Here, the melodic grace of Harmonia, the Neu! beat, and the crystalline synthesiser textures of Kraftwerk’s Ralf & Florian era converge — with a flute thrown in for good measure.

voted graut!
those nineteen minutes fly by

image not loading for me unfortunately tho

Why did I think Bitchin Bajas were going to be some crunchy agit-hop band from the mid-90s?

aw yeah

Oh no, it's working okay for me. I had some issues yesterday with some of the images not loading on my computer, so I wonder if imgbb is a bit less consistent than imgur was? Imgur no longer works in the UK so we had to move to a different image hosting site for this year.

xp to nxd

am uk too so not sure what the issue is but it's not the end of the world, probably just a temp problem at my end

I Can't see the images because whatever site they're hosted on is blocked by my company. They're showing up on my phone though. nxd, it might be that

I should have voted for Amanda, I spent way too little time on my track ballot after locking down the top three. But it's the second best afropop song called Amanda from an artist beginning with the letter Z EVER!

I voted for the Bitchin Bajas album instead, but Graut is definitely a big reason why.

Geese sounds like some kind of terminal cancer tumor of the rock genre. I didn't listen to them last year and was expecting something bland, so I was shocked to find that they're actively terrible.

I love Kenny Beats and it's cool that he's producing huge rock albums, but I don't think it's a good match for them (Geese). It's a very rap/electronic approach, super compressed, no dynamics, just contrast through filters and breakdowns and texture changes. Sometimes I love that but I think they'd be better served by sounding more like a band here.

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56. Debby Friday - 1/17 127 points - 6 votes

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The song brings back some of that old PC Music feeling. It's a euphoric, unapologetically cheesy trance-pop confection. As synth-bloops whirl all around her, Friday chants, "Poetry and nude selfies, love the way that you know me." It feels like it's heading toward a climactic beat-drop, but then that beat-drop takes forever to arrive, to the point where I didn't think it was coming. Well, sorry to spoil it for you, but the drums do eventually arrive, and that moment is awesome.

Banger

such a perfect song

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55. Myaap - Fairy 128 points - 4 votes, 1 #1 vote

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Myaap’s “Fairy” is the fatty-fairy theme music we never knew we needed… The production on this track is infectious. Her choruses are infectious as well. I just wish she did more on the verses other than the incessant gap-gap-wop-wops. But all the vocal reservations are drowned out by the ukulele-sampling production drowning out the emptier portions of this track.

wow i loathe that Debby Friday track

caught 'fairy' in another eoy list and became an instant fan

okay, i recant— i skipped forward in the Debby Friday track. i hate the part where the singing is sort of affectless and low in her register, where she intones the lines mentioned in the squib above. affectless vocals absolutely ruin a lot of things for me when they happen, at least these days.

anyway the beginning and after the beat drops are excellent

one thing Sabrina and Bitchin Bajas have in common is that i listened to their albums once and then sorta forgot about them both lol. need to revisit them

saw Debby Friday a couple of years ago and she was doing some really banging grimey bass-heavy electro stuff. i'm glad for her that she's getting more attention no, but the new stuff's not really for me

affectless? that shit is confident and hot xxp

probably would've put that Saint Etienne track high on my ballot if i'd voted. there are a few other good ones here too. that's probably the extent of my music takes for the 2025 rollout.

affectless? that shit is confident and hot xxp

perhaps to you. it sounds completely without emotion, totally affectless to me.

“fairy” is my first vote to place. what a banger. the way the milwaukee drums fight against the arpeggios is mind-bending. myaap is icing on the cake, making the entire plane out of ad-libs and quotable slogans

yap yap!

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TIE 53. Oklou - Obvious 128 points - 5 votes

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The digi-clarinet and tambourine of “Obvious” are straight out of a Renaissance fair. In Oklou’s hands, hyper-quantized digital beats make natural counterparts to the equally precise music composed centuries earlier.

i'm not really sure what i think of myaap's performance, but i do love the original beat

Didn't vote for Obvious but it was one of many keepers from the noms playlist

never got round to listening to that before but damn, thats a cool track. sounds like nelly furtado produced by aphex twin

definitely a less inviting day so far

Geese - having enjoyed Winter's solo album and not liked Getting Killed at all, I think I've arrived at the least popular take on this band: I quite like his voice but don't like the music.

Sabrina - as part of that album exchange discussed on its own thread, I was compelled to listen to Man's Best Friend several times over the holidays. I ended up appreciating a lot of aspects of it — she can be funny, there are some devilish earworms, the production can be p interesting — though imo Manchild is the only song that really needed to place in this poll. The ABBA thing is really blatant on the album as mentioned upthread, though this is one of the ones where I hear The Cardigans more. I kind of like her hatred of moms but also find the gender politics of this album confusing/confused, some real "heterosexuality is a nightmare" vibes.

Bitchin Bajas - wonderful song, but I voted for the album and find latter day ILM's penchant for doing things like voting half an album onto the tracks poll kind of annoying. I guess if you voted for this and not the album though, fair enough.

Debby Friday - never heard of this before. This poll is really making me curious about mapping out ILM's various constituencies; I have no idea where people are talking about whatever kind of music this is. Is this popular? (I know I could check). Not really my thing but I don't have any specific objections.

Myaap - listened to this once when it got nommed iirc. It warms my heart that rap is still coming up with ways to irritate old heads (as evidence by the youtube comments when I last looked). On second listen: this is really fun. I gotta pay attn to the rap thread this year.

Oklou - always wary when I'm adding a song to the playlist and have to click through to the album instead of it appearing in the top 5 tracks. Have given this artist a fair shake previously and been left with zero memory of what it even sounds like. Hm okay I kind of like this video game soundtrack backing, the little horn part and the transition it initiates is pretty cool, maybe those top 5 tracks are the dull ones, I get why people who overrated Grimes like this, though this is really not a single lol

that pitchfork review quote is kind of deranged?

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TIE 53. caroline & Caroline Polachek - Tell Me I Never Knew That 128 points - 5 votes

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What starts sparsely and slowly expands into lush and full-bodied world-building: Two overlapping vocal lines grow into a sweeping arrangement of strings, horns, and woodwinds… It builds with purpose, each new element slipping in almost unnoticed until the track comes to life fully.

Ooh very happy to see Debby Friday place. I listened to her album a while back and thought it was decent, but then that one and All I Wanna Do Is Party really stood out on the playlist. Almost voted for both of them. Definitely need to revisit the album.

Lol this is the chaotic love/hate portion of the poll it seems.

Debby Friday - not heard this before. Oh this is excellent. Best thing I haven't heard from EOY so far

Nothing affectless about it

Myaap - between this and Geese, 2025 is a big year for vocals that skate all over the place regardless of where the beat lands. I guess Water From Your Eyes counts too

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TIE 51. Jade - Unconditional 130 points - 4 votes

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The production immediately pulls listeners in with its pulsing disco inspired groove, but what makes the song hit even harder is Jade’s vocal delivery. She moves between restrained, almost whimsical tones and powerful, near screamed moments that feel like a cathartic release. This push and pull of emotions mirrors the song’s themes of love, loss, and helplessness, creating a piece that is both sonically infectious and emotionally gutting.

Nothing affectless about it

says you

glad “Tell me I never knew that” placed, really great track, tho i think “Two riders down” might be my favorite from the record at this point

One of the highlights of the Jade album there. It really needs to be pushed as the next single. She deserves another hit.

I wasn't entirely convinced by TMINKT at first, but it does swirl around and envelop you as it goes on. Nice.

dang still only 4 votes getting on, I knew I'd regret not bothering to weight my ballot

dude in caroline's voice is more bad than Cameron Winter's

hmm, this is no Don't Walk Away

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TIE 51. Call Super - Waterways 130 points - 4 votes

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One of the most exploratory and shape-shifting artists in dance music, drawing on the esoteric and unexpected to fuel their particular flavour(s) of experimental house and techno.

dude in caroline's voice is more bad than Cameron Winter's

which guy? there are a few.

i like the caroline track fine, but i couldn't really get into the rest of that album even after multiple listens

really divisive year it seems, felt like that was certainly one of the best of the year

i do tend to take Saul Cooper for granted, which is pretty dumb of me cos he's always switching things up. great track!

which guy? there are a few.

― a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Tuesday, January 27, 2026 1:36 PM (six minutes ago)

hmm, no idea! I think it was the first one you hear on the track. and no I can't explain why lol, just didn't care for it

cool track. not on Qobuz fyi

nice lil chugger for sure, gorgeous vocals

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50. Dry Cleaning - Hit My Head All Day 135 points - 5 votes

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Florence Shaw’s distinctive spoken delivery floats over a six-minute groove that mixes dubby bass, spacey percussion, and guitars that build from controlled to psychedelic… Shaw describes the track as addressing manipulation and misinformation, particularly how social media amplifies far-right messaging. “There are powerful people who seek to influence our behaviour for their own gain,” she explains. “I find it hard to read people’s intentions and decide who to trust.” The demo drew inspiration from Sly and the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” and at one point featured harmonica instead of vocals.

I voted for the Call Super track! It's a nice canal boat journey.

Dry Cleaning give me this feeling that i should at least sort of like them, they seem so familiar and close to my comfort zone. and yet, and yet... something's not quite right, there's something in there that's just a bit off. i'm always left a bit, i dunno, slightly repelled by it all, like an off-brand cup-a-soup in a slightly too large mug.

it's goth but not the good kind of goth

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49. Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Chahar 140 points - 5 votes

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It evolves patiently, with shakers and rim hits slowly syncopating in unison and delicate snare bumps gradually drifting apart from walking bass plucks. The displayed sense of careful gradation and instrumental discipline brings The Necks to mind. However, the trio’s music here is still that much more dynamic and to the point, especially as Ambarchi’s ghostly riffs start waving through the groove’s valleys and mountains, evoking the intricate loops of his solo albums.

not sure if I voted for chahar or ghosted iii, but I think the former

voted for the album but not any individual tracks - "chahar" is certainly a highlight

More of a "Yek" guy but <3 all the Ghosted albums so very much.

I don't really get the point of Dry Cleaning. The name says it all. A starched, desicated sound that really does me feel like an overcast day waitung for the spin cycle to complete.
Come to think of it, if I wanted lo-fi semi-spoken new wave that references clothes-washing I'd listen to Vivien Goldman's "Launderette". Or Prolapse maybe. Not that the name Prolapse has anything to do with clean washing, far from it

Just want to chime in that I LOVE "100 Horses"

Well, then you'll love this:

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48. Geese - Taxes 141 points - 5 votes

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Geese’s new single “Taxes” kicks off with the earthy texture of hand percussion and the soft warmth of a shaker, immediately drawing you into a world that feels both grounded and intimate. Layered with a vocal tone that’s unmistakably special, the track sits at the intersection of emo and folk, two genres rooted in emotional honesty and raw storytelling. Lyrically, “Taxes” takes a bold and relatable stance: it’s a poetic protest against the crushing burden of paying taxes, voiced with equal parts frustration and resignation.

chahar!! sunlight in a song.

I had to include that blurb for the "bold and relatable stance" of "poetic protest against the crushing burden of paying taxes". OK libertarian.

xp

Love 'Chahar' but I also don't really think of those Ghosted albums in terms of individual tracks, like at all.

i'm glad i decided to like geese before this roll-out happened lol

Love 'Chahar' but I also don't really think of those Ghosted albums in terms of individual tracks, like at all.

― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, January 27, 2026 7:42 PM (twenty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i know what you mean but i do think there are some standout "tracks" here and there, like "fyre" from the last one. songs that work well in a playlist.

One of the better songs on Getting Killed

Haha, that blurb about 'Taxes'. I always assumed the best benefit of the doubt that those lyrics were meant ironically

I figured "Taxes" was a lock, more surprised that "100 Horses" made it. Predicted that Geese/CW would make four tracks, I think that number is too low.

Haha, that blurb about 'Taxes'. I always assumed the best benefit of the doubt that those lyrics were meant ironically

― Jonk Raven (dog latin)

Oh yeah, I wouldn't necessarily attribute the sentiment of the review to the author of the lyrics themselves, could be entirely the interpretation of the reviewer, or a character stance, or something about paying taxes that go to fund ICE/the military (Geese are American, right?), or a million other things.

Taxes was the one Geese song I quite liked, once it kicks in

my guess is that geese enjoy a bit of trolling

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47. CMAT - Jamie Oliver Petrol Station 146 points - 5 votes

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Surreal new single ‘The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’ taps into the delirious experiences of life on the road, and the all-too-human instinct to develop an irrational hatred. A fun, rollicking pop experience, the title refers to Jamie Oliver’s habit of popping up at petrol stations across the land, while the meta-lyrics admit: “This is making no sense to the average listener…”

cmat album is v fun

I've been a little resistant to "Jamie Oliver Petrol Station" because of how familiar it all sounds, but it's still pretty fun.

Feel like I need to step up the pace a little...

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46. Nilüfer Yanya - Cold Heart 147 points - 6 votes

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“Cold Heart” feels less like a grand statement and more like an unplanned confession — the kind that accidentally slips out when you think no one’s listening. The production leaves room to breathe but sneaks in a quiet tension under the surface, a reminder that experiments aren’t always as harmless as they seem.

Every time I see CMAT I think of CBAT (the briefly viral Hudson Mohawke track).

Initially I didn't really get the hype for the Cmat album, but it grew on me a ton over the last month. Her lyrics really hooked me in. This is probably my favourite track. Such a great bit of storytelling.

Is it pronounced C-M-A-T, C-Mat, or something else?

i don't know what you guys frame of reference is for geese, but this one sounds for all the world like reef if they'd been listening to arcade fire

oh I like this CMAT. does the rest of the album sound like this?

<3 Nilüfer, my first vote to place

just saw there's a track called Lord, Let That Tesla Crash so I think i'll give the whole thing a shot

still regret the time i saw Joliver at a motorway services and my ex guilted me into not shouting anything at him

not that that track is my thing in any other way

I voted for the next one... what could it be?

i forgot about last year’s nilufer yanya ep, should’ve spent more time with it considering my method actor is my favorite thing she’s ever done

I take "Taxes" as an apt description of the horror of sitting down and doing your taxes

https://i.ibb.co/M5Vh5GDL/45.png

45. Blawan - WTF 150 points - 6 votes

Youtube video

Review link

Strange and indecipherable voices dot the album’s scorched landscape… “WTF” uses aggressive pitch correction to mold its vocals into a stringy, propulsive bassline that pulls and snaps across the stereo field, transmogrified to taut elastic.

Jamie Oliver Petrol Station has been the key to my FINALLY getting what the fuss about CMAT is about, the way it just keeps building.

not into Nilufer Yanya's 2025 tracks, seem like a bit of a step down.

Ooh yeah wasnt expecting this to place. What a humdinger

of all the many comparisons I've read for Cameron Winter's voice I'm surprised I've never seen anyone mention Isaac Brock

digging the Blawan

is it a stretch to say there's a Nyege Nyege Tapes influence there?

great stuff, whole blawan record is excellent

I don't hear any African music in the Blawan really, but (nu-?)metal for sure, lol.

sounds like dubstep for vogons

I think I voted for this. First today. Also love "NOS."

https://i.ibb.co/fVwd3CvH/44.png

44. DjRUM - A Tune for Us 151 points - 7 votes

Youtube video

Review link

All cascading piano surrounding doleful strings gaining momentum as the piano’s left-hand side takes over from the strings, joined by pattering, scurrying, chopped up breaks. It’s all swirling piano weaving in and out, around and through the drums. It reminds me of Ian William Craig’s ‘Lovers, Cascading (Part I)’, perhaps in the way repetitious, rapid piano runs act to slow a sense of time and open a little portal for you to disappear into for a while.

I ended up just voting for the Blawan album instead. Just an amazing piece of work. He has definitely become one of my favourite artists in the last couple of years.

I voted for the Nilufer Yanya track, that one just kept grabbing my attention whenever I heard it on the noms playlist. Very catchy.

oh... didn't expect this either. really beautiful and chill

Djrum another one where I decided to just vote for the album, I imagine it will place pretty highly in the albums poll.

of all the many comparisons I've read for Cameron Winter's voice I'm surprised I've never seen anyone mention Isaac Brock

― obvious old hat (rob)

This is what I thought when I first heard them at work. Isaac Brock trying to channel Thom Yorke. Very unpleasant.

yeh agree, wonderful record xp

Last slot on my ballot. Compositionally, I'm fascinated by DjRUM's music. Such an exciting listening experience.

another album-only voter here (same for Ghosted III as well)

DjRum is the first of my votes to place. Album is excellent too and I also voted for it iirc.

Should have would have voted for Blawan and Call Super.

https://i.ibb.co/mFzbqFGR/43.png

43. Cameron Winter - Love Takes Miles 153 points - 5 votes, 1 #1 vote

Youtube video

Review link

if youve experienced any of these symptoms, you'd better start walkin babe to your nearest urgent care clinic:

-- watching the bells
-- watching the lights
-- talking to the moon
-- flattening her down
-- sitting on the stairs all day
-- loneliness (as hell)
-- walking around
-- not moving
-- not being here

- m bison

awww he looks cute at last!

This bloody guy again!

hang in there people only 3 more Geese/Cameron Winter tracks to wade thru

my cameron/geese vote went to "drinking age"

have we gotten to emil.y's hated song yet? (not a comment on this one which I like iirc)

Such a beautiful song.

"love takes miles" is amazing but this is a 2024 release ok bye

my cameron/geese vote went to "death by firing squad"

year of impact

"love takes miles" is amazing but this is a 2024 release ok bye

― na (NA)

hey at least we didn't collectively named it our #1

have we gotten to emil.y's hated song yet? (not a comment on this one which I like iirc)

― obvious old hat (rob)

Haha, no, not yet! Glad to know someone's keeping an eye out for it.

just wait until Lindstrøm & Todd Terje place.

my cameron/geese vote went to "death by firing squad"

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Tuesday, January 27, 2026 3:57 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

had to think for a moment if this was a real song of theirs or not

hey, the lindstrom album was pretty good! i didn't vote for it tho

This next one isn't it, either...

https://i.ibb.co/fYx1P023/42.png

42. Cocojoey - Trust In Events 154 points - 4 votes, 1 #1 vote

Youtube video

Review link

Meland’s approach to songwriting can most succinctly be described as the sound of tearing the absolute fuck out of a room covered in glitter, shattering glass in unbridled rage and admiring the iridescent refraction caused by the shrapnel. Ultra-melodic and ultra-intense ideas often exist within seconds of each other, inexorably locked together as a fundamental part of composition.

wow i have never heard of this one

i think i like it a lot

ok this song was the longest four and a half minutes of my life (complimentary)

this sounds weirdly like todd rundgren at his most batshit

this is pretty wild

Cocojoey's pretty similar to a lot of stuff I love, but I think I might have burnt out on the sound now? Or maybe they concentrate on the parts I care about the least? I just find it a bit 'meh'. And if there's one thing that your sparkly bratty bitcrush-pop shouldn't be, it's 'meh'.

the Blawan was 6 on my list. the whole record is astonishing imho.

i hate that cocojoey track, utter garbage, most annoying thing to make this list so far imho

wow a they/them yell-rapping completely indecipherably over an apple loop! like fucking gag me.

are you talking about Cameron Winter or

"a they/them"

Uh, is this common and accepted slang in US queer circles? B/c as a Brit on the non-binary spectrum it comes off pretty offensive.

seeing the photo of blawan--handsome tatted coiffed fella in jeanshirt lounging on chaise--kinda ruins it for me because the music is so grotesque and monstrous. album art (tie-dyed pigeons?) is much more appropriate visual pairing

"a they/them"

Uh, is this common and accepted slang in US queer circles? B/c as a Brit on the non-binary spectrum it comes off pretty offensive.

It is, not meant to offend!

I’m sorry that it did, I wouldn’t use the term if it was construed as offensive in the queer world to which I belong in the US

I mostly mean this neutrally I swear, but there is a noticeable amount of annoying music in this poll

Okay, all cool! I figured you weren't very likely to just casually drop in some hate-speech, lol, but with the angry tone directed at the music it just shook me a little.

xp

With that out of the way, last one for today:

https://i.ibb.co/0RhT93NC/41.png

41. Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild 155 points - 5 votes

Youtube video

Review link

From the very first bars, “Manchild” knows exactly what it’s doing. There’s a bubbling synth line that winks toward the ’80s, a toe-tapping country rhythm in the backbeat, and a disco sheen so polished you could check your lipstick in it. It’s the kind of sonic fusion that feels at once retro and hyper-modern, like Dolly Parton on the dance floor with Carly Rae Jepsen, and maybe a little Donna Summer glitter thrown in for good measure.

I mostly mean this neutrally I swear, but there is a noticeable amount of annoying music in this poll

― obvious old hat (rob), Tuesday, January 27, 2026 4:26 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

probably something to be written about the rise of intentionally abrasive/annoying/geese-like music as a reaction against the frictionless suno-generated slop that is coming for us

that seems low, but I probably failed to track the ilm pop hivemind this year. also now that I think about it, Tears is much more ilm-y

I don't watch that many music videos these days, but I did find this one genuinely impressive

Recap:

41 Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
42 Cocojoey - Trust In Events
43 Cameron Winter - Love Takes Miles
44 DjRUM - A Tune for Us
45 Blawan - WTF
46 Nilüfer Yanya - Cold Heart
47 CMAT - Jamie Oliver Petrol Station
48 Geese - Taxes
49 Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Chahar
50 Dry Cleaning - Hit My Head All Day
51 Call Super - Waterways
51 Jade - Unconditional
53 caroline & Caroline Polachek - Tell me I never knew that
53 Oklou - Obvious
55 Myaap - Fairy
56 Debby Friday - 1/17
57 Bitchin Bajas - Graut
57 Sabrina Carpenter - Nobody's Son
59 Geese - 100 Horses
60 JENNIE - like JENNIE
60 Zuchu - Amanda
62 Ratboys - Light Night Mountains All That
63 Saint Etienne - Glad
64 Model/Actriz - Cinderella
65 Tracey ft. Riko Dan - Sex Life
66 Katseye - Gnarly
67 The Beths - Metal
67 underscores - Do It
69 Erika de Casier - Delusional
70 Real Lies - Down and Out (Where E-Girls Dare)
71 Rosalía - Berghain
72 Miley Cyrus - The End Of The World
73 Justin Bieber - DAISIES
74 Amaarae - Fineshyt
74 Smerz - Feisty
76 Metro Boomin ft. YKNIECE, BreSkii, DJ Spinz & Quavo - Take Me Thru Dere
76 Ninajirachi - Fuck My Computer

xp yes! abrasive is really what I meant, some serious aural jump scares if you play the playlist through

Trust In Events! Yay! My #3. Had completely given up hope it would make it.
I get why some might find it annoying (I don't, I want more more more, get annoyed when popsongs don't have a shrieked post-chorus) but it's an amazing chorus.

Like Manchild. Why isn't she screaming at any point? With all those instruments in the mix, why does it sound so low key and tasteful? More more more!!!

lol legit wanting them to stuff more into Manchild would be a sign of mental distress

wild day! some things i quite liked, some things i really hated. 0/37, finger on the fucking pulse here

Yeah, it's grotesquely overstuffed, but in a boring way.

Nobody’s Son was my Sabrina Carpenter vote, glad it made it. Manchild is good too sure.

ya 1/37 here haha, but there are a couple artists i voted for the album or another track

I have three of mine in there - I miss the days when I was cool enough to have none of my votes show up because they were all too underground for the normies.

yeah none of my votes made it in today, though there’s a few “voted for the album instead” placements

Apple Music playlist is updated for today

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2025-ilx-tracks-poll-results/pl.u-06oxr6zCWm4eaJz

1/37 for me as well, and the one that did place is last my ballot. Looking at my ballot, I am guessing one or two more will place. I am usually more hivemindy with the albums though.

there is a noticeable amount of annoying music in this poll forum

― obvious old hat (rob)

I didn’t vote for Fairy but noticed it on the playlist, glad to see it place.

voted for the oklou, DJRUM, and Dry Cleaning today... hoping this is the last of the Geese on this list though I'm doubtful of that

pop music has to be a minimal amount of annoying to be truly good I think

i am at 5/37. have a feeling a few of mine will show up in the coming days.

i doubt it will place but i voted for oklou/bladee "take me by the hand," had never heard oklou before and when that particular track came up on the playlist at work i was like "what is this i love it"

pop music has to be a minimal amount of annoying to be truly good I think

― silverfish

Hard agree.

hm I don't know about that! unless you're using a highly expansive definition. you don't like any pop music that's beautiful, sad, quiet, mournful, melancholy, jubilant (but not annoying)?

abrasive, brash, bratty, punk, noisy can all be good things, but not requisite imo

if pop music is meant to get stuck in your head and demand repeat listens, then it is by definition "annoying" in a certain way.

honestly, this is how i know a song is good— it gets stuck in my head to the point of being nearly annoying. that's how i knew "Au Pays du Cocaine" had to go on my tracks ballot.

All of those aspects can be great, rob, but I don't think any of them are mutually exclusive with "annoying". Beautiful? Annoyingly intricate. Sad? Annoyingly self-indulgent. Quiet? Annoyingly wispy. Etc etc. I feel like you tend to be more successful musically the more you really go all-in with what you're doing, and that will naturally be somewhat abrasive, even if what you're doing is smooooooth. Commit to the bit!

agreed!!

Hooray for "Manchild" placing this high, truly the best pop song from MBF. I would be surprised if any other track places.

there's always weird (good) stuff at the bottom of the polls, i'm sure there will be plenty of boring 90 bpm smooth disco pop through the rest of the results

ah okay, I think emil.y you are using a much broader definition that I had in mind, and I don't disagree with anything you're saying. table, I think you're using a somewhat narrower definition of pop than I had in mind? like I keep thinking "what's annoying about "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" or etc?"

anyway, I was actually getting back on to say that one difference this year is less disco-y synthpop stuff, but then I read NA's post lol

ninajirachi - so good love the brain drill bnnnnnrhghrhhhhhrbnnn sound

take me thru dere - love the whole album

smerz - one of the "songs of the summer" for me. love european bad english

amaarae - wasn't one of the ones i connected with on the album, just ok

daisies - love the way the drums are recorded, they sound like shit in a great way. like the biebs in your jamspace with the fourtrack

miley - never heard it before. seems alright

berghain - iirc i convinced myself to like the album, still not sure where i fall on this one

real lies - every song on the album is a song of the year contender. me you the man and the moon/ your white pony tatto and 99 dead balloons

delusional - the cypress hill sample is fun lol. love cas

do it - this list is indie sleaze af lol. for some reason i'd thought ilm was immune to it/had a blasé "been there done that" attitude to it. but i'm happy to see it :)

beths - i'm not #bethshive but i'm not a hater or anything

gnarly - takis are my guilty pleasure. one of the songs of the year

sex life - lol'd @ "me like the pumpum buff"

model/actriz - like the guitar a lot

saint etienne - snooze

ratboys - no longer into this style but i liked this band once

zuchu - chorus is a bit gimmicky

jennie - whooooooo

100 horses - one of my favourite songs on my fav album of the decade so far. it's got this allman brothers band thing going on. 'all people must die scared or else die nervous' still makes me lol

nobody's son - more of a manchild guy. beat sounds like 'stars are blind' by paris hilton?

bitchin bajas - scrubbed through

1/17 - one of the best canadian songs of the decade

fairy - my #1. kind of a troll how long it goes before she starts rapping tbh. love the lyric "big mya p i just look little"

obvious - too low. one of the few truly original songs that i heard in the year 2025 (even though it sounds like grimes 2012)

polachek - i liked her song on the charli xcx remix album. she should make an album of music that sounds like that imo

JADE - fun song. gonna listen to this again for sure

call super - i liked this album a lot

dry cleaning - she's such a weird vocalist. i respect it

taxes - the best indie rock single of the decade has lyrics that could be a post in the comments section of a tyler cowen blog post. i kind of wish it didn't have the 'doctor heal yourself/i will break my own heart' part and just stayed focused on the economic message

CMAT - usually the ilm eoy list is like 90% stuff like this. now it's like 5%. something shifted

nilufer - she has the same name as a really good falafel place with incredibly cheap falafels (2 dollars canadian)

blawan - i was sad when i learned that "goblin mode" refers to like eating chips while looking at your phone on your bed. cause it would be a good phrase to refer to this kind of disgusting music

djrum - snoozeville. idm people oversold this one and lost credibly
love takes miles - too low but whatevs

cocojoey - big fan of the label that put this out ("hausu mountain") and i was happy for them when this album started to take off. this one's not for me,

manchild - best pop chorus of the year for sure. one time i sang it but replaced "manchild" with "manchego"

Ymmv but I think there’s still many weird (good) stuff all the way up to the top 20.

0/37 for me, but it’s all good. It’s like that most years

Really good day for discoveries. None of my votes came in but there were enough tracks that surprised me or made me want to check them out again.

"Manchild" sounds to me like this year's not-as-good-but-still-pretty-damn-great "Good Luck Babe." Surprised it isn't higher.

flopson, confused a bit as to whether the “disgusting” in your post re: Blawan is (derogatory) or (complimentary). i love Blawan and was the person who nominated this track, and i can kind of see where you’re coming from if the latter. if the former, you are just wrong.

xp i like blawan

enjoying bruce’s 2025 output so far, especially ‘the price’, wonderful clamour. at some moments the percussion sounds like someone slamming draws full of cutlery open and shut

― flopson, Sunday, September 21, 2025 2:00 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i really like that flopson, thanks— i had given up after the vocal stylings, nice to check in again

― czech hunter biden's laptop (the table is the table), Sunday, September 21, 2025 9:36 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

ya it’s a cool track, blawan vibes

― flopson, Sunday, September 21, 2025 10:09 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

so funny you say that, i thought “Blawan could have played this Friday night “ as i listened lol

― czech hunter biden's laptop (the table is the table), Sunday, September 21, 2025 10:19 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

The Blawan track was another one I clicked with on the playlist. That's my only other vote to place so far (besides Nobody's Son).

thanks flopson, i have a terrible memory for ilm tastes except when i disagree with someone all the time!’

fyi flopson Nilufar closed during the pandemic and is now catering only :(

always enjoy reading your rundowns flopson

thx mappy ;)

xp- rip, too good to be true

:)

flopson, that’s my favorite line from “fairy,” too

also i agree with you about “fineshyt,” good song but “co-star” basically did the same thing but much better

*Three* Geese-y tracks, no less!? I guess I am conscious of having skipped past that thread a lot lol.

I believe I voted for the Blawan longplayer instead of a track, but *did* make do with #49 here in place of the Ambarchi et al LP. Also voted, somewhat reflexively, for Dry Cleaning -- but nothing managed to displace it from my 25 by the end of the voting period.

Admit I am sort of puzzled by the Ambarchi love. the fist Ghosted left me kind of meh, haven’t checked out the subsequent records as a result

Gonna take a while for me to catch up on all the results to date, but I just wanted to say that IMO how one receives/processes the spoken word part of "1/17" (and esp. whether it comes across as "affectless") seems to me likely to be a downstream function of whether/how one relates to the relevant lyrics, and in particular the stringing together of these seemingly disconnected propositions delivered with great solemnity as if Debby is staring directly into the camera and performing an incantation. "Tongue ya down just like Delphi" - and it really is extremely Delphic. It's a rare instance where I feel confident that the artist knows exactly what they are doing even though I struggle to articulate what that is.

As to "Daises", I liked this well enough initially but it was only about two months ago when I realised just how much, when I heard it in a shopping centre (more specifically: blasting out of a Sonos Roam perched within a mobile matcha coffee stall) and was totally arrested: it really benefits (as do many of justin's better tracks) from the relative weakness of his presence because to me the song obliquely is about not feeling like a big enough person to understand, let alone direct, its surprisingly weighty vibe, the momentum of the groove tumbles forward with a kind of rueful inevitability, and justin's job is just to not get in its way (though, having said that, "you left me on read but I still get the message" was low-key one of my favourite lyrics of the year)

I voted for both tracks. Debby might be the only example of double-up between my album and track votes, though I'd have to double-check to be certain.

I guess I committed sacrilege by voting for singles and albums by the same artist, but that’s just kind of the way I roll.

lots of good stuff today! highlights for me were debby friday and cocojoey

i found "daisies" rather average/plain/uninteresting upon first listen tbh. it grew on me a lot in the end tho and i voted for it (so far my only one to place i think)

I guess I committed sacrilege by voting for singles and albums by the same artist, but that’s just kind of the way I roll.

― a tv star not a dirty computer man (the table is the table), Wednesday, January 28, 2026 3:13 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

not sacrilege at all - but e.g. I distinctly remember deciding to vote for "daisies" in large part because I couldn't find space for SWAG on my albums ballot.

that makes sense— i nearly voted for Daisies but I didn’t listen to it enough to justify it

good list so far, agree with the overwhelming consensus that there are not enough tracks by geese and cameron winter

Brat Summer turns into Cameron Winter

(Stolen from somewhere)

Some accurate comparison points for Winter's voice in this thread but I reckon the person he sounds most similar to is the guy from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

Have liked most of the other songs so far though! Didn't really enjoy the Sabrina Carpenter but 'Manchild' was one of my favourite singles of last year, certainly my favourite actual pop hit (and yeah the video is fantastic). 'Trust in Events' is the perfect example of the phenomenon described upthread, initially found it really off-putting (and it is operating in a genre that doesn't do a lot for me normally) but the melodies totally hooked me after 1.5 listens. 'Unconditional' and 'Fairy' have been my other votes so far, no idea how hivemindy my taste is these days so it's nice to see a lot of good stuff place.

Geese - 100 Horses
No I don't get this one. It's a collection of sounds and production choices I don't enjoy.

Sabrina Carpenter - Nobody's Son
Catchy as all hell. That melody-line rivals "Golden" for earworms. I don't know who the producers are on this, but I really like the bubbling delayed keyboard sound they use on a lot of her songs.

Bitchin Bajas - Graut
This is sounding very nice and very "Ruckzuck"y. I will listen to this properly but maybe in context of the album when I'm in the right set and setting, so to speak

Debby Friday - 1/17
Easily one of my favourite discoveries of the poll so far. Looking forward to playing it out at some point soon. I don't normally go for "drops" but this is a masterclass in making you wait for it. I believe the kidz call it "edging"

Myaap - Fairy
Messy but masterful. The back-up vocal sounds like it was recorded in a separate room without a reference track. At first I was baffled, but the more I listen to it the more the strings start pulling together and making sense.

Oklou - Obvious
She has one trick and it's an amazing trick, and I can't get over how startling a lot of her songs are. This isn't the one I voted for, but the Zelda / Veridis Quo faux medieval synthline is so gooooood

caroline & Calorine Polachek - Tell me I never knew that
A bit too "lots of bright acoustic guitars sturmming out of time" for me. Oh now there's a trumpet. Too much caroline, not enough Caroline. And even she is being used to annoying purposes at the end. Nope nope, okay thank you make it stop now.

JADE - Unconditional
Unremarkable.

Call Super - Waterways
Takes a while to pick up but overall a pleasant listen. Feel like this might be best enjoyed as part of an album experience more than a "track"

Dry Cleaning - Hit My Head All Day
The whole aesthetic here is "Can't be arsed". Can't be arsed to sing. Can't be arsed to play. Music for child-weary media execs from West Norwood to commute to.

Oren Ambarchi - Chahar
A mood, but a nice mood. Nothing mindblowing but nevertheless a good amalgamation of sounds I enjoy.

Geese - Taxes
I was quite surprised at the change in direction Geese seemed to be taking when this came out prior to Getting Killed. Winter's vocal style had changed from a foghorn baritone to a Jagger-esque yowl. The music was a lot less lush and Steely Dan-influenced. A lot more ragged and loosey-goosey. Still, 'Taxes' was strong enough to make me excited for what turned out to be a disappointing record.

CMAT - EURO-COUNTRY
I don't know much about CMAT but she strikes me as an unlikely star. Eccentric music for normies? A daytime Self Esteem? I can't make head nor tail of the appeal or what or who she's appealing to. But maybe it's me? I have listened to this song three times and I can't deny it isn't catchy, funny and absurd in the best way.

Nilufer Yanya - Cold Heart
I got obsessed with her song "Treasure" this year, and nearly voted for it. This has a similar appeal but it's not grabbing me in quite the same way. Might have to come back to it.

Blawan - WTF
I get the "disgusting, but good" descriptor. It's "SICK"! It sums up exactly why I find beatboxing fascinating but also kidn of gross. I'd really love to know how Blawan is making those noises: Are they samples of himself, or are they entirely machine-made? He seems to be able to fill-up the entire audio field without it sounding overbusy, which is a real challenge. Must give the album another listen through soon.

DjRUM - A Tune For Us
This is not what I thought DjRUM sounded like at all. File next to Floating Points. It's very pretty and will be going into a bunch of my mood playlists no doubt.

Cameron Winter - Love Takes Miles
I promise I'll listen to Heavy Metal soon. I think I like this to most of the stuff on Getting Killed so far though.

Cocojoey - Trust In Events
Second favourite discovery of the poll so far. Manages to do the maximalist 100 GECS hyperpop thing without being wilfully annoying, which is a tricky balance. I'm hearing a lot of late-2000s comparisons here - of Montreal or Animal Collective or Dan Deacon - which I'd compare it to favourably.

Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
I prefer the reggae-lite bounce of Nobody's Son, but this is good.

Bitchin Bajas is a fine line between bland and pleasant but really doesn't work in a poll like this where most of the tracks are less than 5 mins

I think it's traditional for every EOY poll to have one 20-minute kraut-ambient-jazz-noodle work out

great list so far

I don't think I've ever been as disconnected from what's current as I was last year so this is almost all new to me and a lot of it is great

Taxes - ILM's Reform moment xp

yeah I’m exclusively an albums unc now so all these loosies are largely new to me

voted for 'Cold Heart' and think I will only have two others on my ballot placing at most

BTW comparisons are odious so I don't really mind anything by this but a few of these tracks feel like they come from a post-Jlin timeline? Looking at you, Blawan

Maybe. But Blawan has been prominent arguably longer than Jlin. Came out of the post-dubstep scene, quickly switched to a more 4/4 techno-style sound, and now he's doing whatever this is

Yeah I don’t hear it - which is a shame because I wish more people were taking their cues from JLin

Not Blawan, and yeah, he’s definitely been around longer than Jlin.

It’s funny that so many people are hating on the stuff I like and like the stuff I think is abominable, if only because the tracks poll usually goes the opposite way.

Jlin's style is so very peculiar to her - avant-footwork in 12/8 or whatever - that tracing a line of influence to anyone specific would be tough. The closest thing on this list might be Rosalia, in fact

Where's everyone getting 37 from?

I assumed that was just the number of tracks NickB nommed?

Jlin's style is so very peculiar to her - avant-footwork in 12/8 or whatever - that tracing a line of influence to anyone specific would be tough. The closest thing on this list might be Rosalia, in fact

One person that has some resonance with her work is Deforrest Brown Jr under his Speakr Music moniker, at least to my ears.

Posted about what I hated first but this is what I lovedon v first listen

Debby Friday - 1/17 
Myaap - Fairy
Oklou - Obvious
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Chahar
Nilüfer Yanya - Cold Heart
DjRUM - A Tune for Us

As I said i wasn't really talking about influence because it doesn't matter to me but I guess I hear a skittery busyness in a few of these tracks that brought her to mind

Nice string of highlights yesterday with Nilufer Yanya - Blawan - DjRum. Manchild is cute, strong chorus at least. For several others, let me be politically correct and say I'm awed by people's ability to find merit in so many different things.

Also definitely the first year I don't have a vote in the first two days

That Jade track slaps

I need to listen to the Oren Ambarchi, I kind of tuned out of his career when he started playing too many notes

Where's everyone getting 37 from?

I assumed that was just the number of tracks NickB nommed?

We've had 37 tracks so far, top 40 still to come

my noms are probably like the whole of the top 25 though amirite? i'm not sweating it :)

lol

And of course <facepalm>

I always look forward to seeing your ballot Nick as there'll usually be lots of great bobbins I'll have missed during the year

This Debby Friday doesn’t sound how I was expecting it to sound. I don’t hear what’s controversial about it or her voice I think it’s pretty apt for the type of song it is… I need to hear this one on headphones, it sounded great on my car but I feel there’s some sonic details in there that I need to get properly lost into.

Re: Sabrina Carpenter

The current social media trend of "Remember 2016?" is so peculiar to me because, being a bona fide unc, it feels like nothing much has changed in terms of fashion in the last ten years.

But then I think about what pop songs were big in 2016 - "Hotline Bling" and "One Dance" by Drake, "Work" by Rihanna.

So many mumble trap songs where the hook was buried so deep it was almost impossible to discern.

2016 pop was obfuscated, muted. Big choruses were out. You could try to sing along to "Can't Stop The Feeling!" or "Starboy", but it was more about production layers, small gestures.

Hooks were out. Like milkmen and their whistles, they were obsolete. Catchy melodies were for the olds, whereas jaded detachment was the way to go.

And then I think about the pop songs of 2025/6 and they sound like 1980-era ABBA and Paul McCartney covering "Mysterious Girl".

Along with K-Pop Demon Hunter's "Golden", we're very much in an age of outrageously and unabashedly catchy pop music. Funny how these things come back round

don’t think i ever heard man’s best friend in full, so “nobody’s son” passed me by. the cod reggae thing is a nice touch, adds a bit of new wave to what is otherwise a pretty traditionally pretty melody

Oh soeaking of which I know what it reminds me of a lot: Die Young, Stay Pretty by Blondie

yeah i was thinking it reminded me of the hunter-era blondie as well

So far "100 Horses" is my favorite, and one I'm pretty sure I'm keeping. Would love to hear a 14 minute live freak out version from the Fillmore West circa 1970.
I did like about 2/3 of these, which sort of surprised. I've have more time to listen to new music this year, and have learned to lighten up about finding
a new "all-time favorite," and just enjoy. I still can't get into what I think of as dance/club music. I don't hate it, but I never find myself reaching for the newer stuff.

some of the others that I enjoyed:

DjRUM - A Tune for Us
Blawan - WTF
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Chahar
Call Super - Waterways
caroline & Caroline Polachek - Tell me I never knew that
Oklou - Obvious
Bitchin Bajas - Graut
JENNIE - like JENNIE
Zuchu - Amanda
Ratboys - Light Night Mountains All That
Saint Etienne - Glad
Katseye - Gnarly
Erika de Casier - Delusional

Just listened to Ghosted III a couple days ago and while I'm surprised as hell Chahar made this list it's very welcome. All three of those albums are gorgeous btw. Wish I'd heard the third one sooner, might have made my list

Sorry for a bit of a late start, I've come down with something and am feeling horribly poorly. I'll try not to be too grumpy while I'm doing this!

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40. Lana Del Rey - Henry, Come On 158 points - 5 votes

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The pageantry of country music is a costume that reveals. And somewhere between its exquisite, prairie-wide string arrangements, iPhone screenshot cover art, and Del Rey’s cowgirl persona, “Henry, come on” moseys its way into the sublime.

booooooooooo

I'll try not to be too grumpy either

It definitely sounds like a Lana Del Rey song

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39. Shallipopi - Laho 158 points - 6 votes

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True to Shallipopi’s usual style, Laho is infused with rich Edo slang and the captivating lamba that defines his sound. The song effortlessly blends street vibes with an irresistible rhythm, making it a certified banger.

nice

I wasn't very plugged into naija this year, but that song is immense. the remix with Burna Boy is good too

Yes. Good song. I wasn't as plugged into Afro-pop either but this was on my radar at least

Can everyone see the image for Shallipopo? It's not loading for me - from the last two days I'm pretty sure that it's an issue on my end and not anything wrong with the image itself, but just want to check.

*Shallipopi

images now working for me!
and i like that picture choice a lot

yes I see it

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38. Horsegirl - Switch Over 158 points - 7 votes

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The track’s jangling guitars and swirling backing vocals create a satisfying and rewarding sonic landscape for the listener to dive into, bathed in a warmth of familiarity on each listen. Bandmates Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein alternate vocals throughout the track, lyrics threaded nonchalantly and effortlessly between the two. Their vocals melt like butter over the mix, dancing back and forth like a choreographed routine.

I like this band, always down for a Teenbeat revival

So, I am reasonably sure I have listened to another Horsegirl track and not found it very interesting, but I *LOVE* this. It is very Stereolab/Electrelane-y in the "pretty vocals over propulsive rhythm" but damn, that hits my sweet spot.

But then I think about what pop songs were big in 2016 - "Hotline Bling" and "One Dance" by Drake, "Work" by Rihanna.

So many mumble trap songs where the hook was buried so deep it was almost impossible to discern.

Wow, I agree that there were a lot of hookless mumble trap hits, but two of those songs are ones where I don't want to even see the title because it gets stuck in my head. Like, the stickiest hooks of the last decade for me.

I'd really love to know how Blawan is making those noises: Are they samples of himself, or are they entirely machine-made?

He did a bunch of interviews around this record, iirc it's mostly his own voice that he manipulated in the computer. Super bare bones setup, mostly voice and DAW.

2468 is the standout horsegirl song for me but the whole album is great

that makes two cate lebon productions in the 77 (along with dry cleaning)

voted for this. may every new indie pop band remind me of unrest

otm

Love Laho, like the twee in Horsegirl.

I restrained myself from voting for all the Horsegirl tracks nominated or I could have easily voted for this.

Wow, I agree that there were a lot of hookless mumble trap hits, but two of those songs are ones where I don't want to even see the title because it gets stuck in my head. Like, the stickiest hooks of the last decade for me.

I agree they're "catchy" once you hear them a few times. But, like, melodically if I were to play "Work" on the piano it would be one repeating note. "Hotline Bling" too - so much of Drake's whole schtick with songs like that is that it's a bit slurried and murmured. The enunciation on both those songs was a bit of a surprise at the time; I remember people being baffled and making fun of them a bit.

"Henry, come on" is so beautiful and wished her new album would come out already but she's in love and very happy for her. Pleasantly surprised this made the Top 40!

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TIE 36. Erika de Casier - You Can't Always Get What You Want 163 points - 6 votes

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“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is a love-letter to her younger self and a promise to pursue desire but not without love. “One can only hope that beauty lies ahead and to see it without judgment or fear,” de Casier pronounces courageously in a passage of percussion-fronted pop restraint.

Sorry for a bit of a late start, I've come down with something and am feeling horribly poorly. I'll try not to be too grumpy while I'm doing this!

― emil.y, Wednesday, January 28, 2026 10:14 AM (fifty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sorry to hear and thank you for being a trooper and doing this for us

^yes, thank you emil.y, that stinks

Thanks guys - I did laugh at the timestamp being 10am there, though: it was past four in the afternoon on my end! Genuinely feel rough as hell.

Emily :( take your time no rush. your health is first

Personally, I love the later start thanks emil.y for everything and hope you feel better soon.

The stats must be delivered! Neither snow nor rain nor a shitty shitty cold shall stay these poll results.

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TIE 36. Alex G - Afterlife 163 points - 6 votes

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Alex G has built a discography on slanted rhythms that sound just a note or two away from an uncanny childhood memory, like listening to a music box in a dream. Here, this takes the form of an organ-like synth that hums to life halfway through the song like a wayward rendition of “Walk of Life.” That chiming mandolin and wavering synth, combined with Alex G’s pinched falsetto halfway through, create a sense of artificial brightness, a flood light shining down on one man’s quest for meaning.

It's cool when a less obvious artist gets a couple of tracks in and the de Casier was all new to me when going thru the playlist.

well wishes emily!

I love that Horsegirl song, one of my most-played tracks of the year. It sounds simple but if motorik post-punk-pop was easy more people would do it well.

My main comment on this one when I first heard it was "needs more panpipes".

emil.y, just sayin

lol

But, like, melodically if I were to play "Work" on the piano it would be one repeating note. "Hotline Bling" too

Surely 2 - 5 notes at least! I think with 'Work' it's a bit of an illusion, the delivery sort of elides the notes...I remember having a bit of an a-ha moment that she casually makes it sound like there are fewer notes than there are, in a cool way. (sorry for the digression)

emil.y, just sayin

Bwahaha! Does that mean I can never play Untitled Goose Game again, though?

best not imo

I love Laho. It blows my mind how popular it seems to be elsewhere in the world, since it was completely out of my radar and it's very minimal yet also catchy af.

okay that horsegirl track is great, and yes, totally hear the unrest in that

emil.y, i don’t want to speak for everyone, but i venture to say that if you are feeling poorly, your health is more important than this poll rollout. take it as slow as you need to as you rest and recover!!

Glad to see "Afterlife" this high

First guitar melody in Afterlife sounds like something very famous

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35. George Riley - Slow 164 points - 5 votes

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Produced by PinkPantheress collaborator phil, “Slow” is described as one of Riley’s darker themed tracks. Cutting between spoken word segments and her signature soaring vocal tone, Riley wrestles with her own internal monologue and the words she wishes she could say to the object of her affection.

damn, Laho is great too. minimal and soft and subdued but still really bangs, feels like a chat with someone on the sofa but at the same time it's also echoing across the sky. nice work

It's cool when a less obvious artist gets a couple of tracks in and the de Casier was all new to me when going thru the playlist.

― nashwan

she's pretty great, generally i love her and this track is no exception.

'Drive' will always be my go-to de Casier. God is it almost 10 years old now?

Would have voted for George Riley if I had known about this song. Sounds and moves like Everything But the Girl.

I don't recall being very moved by Horsegirl before, but I like this track a lot

This de Casier is a lot better than the previous one that placed imo. I like this dreamy 90s ambient backdrop for her a lot more than the trip hoppier stuff

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34. Zara Larsson - Midnight Sun 165 points - 6 votes

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From the opening swell of synths to its radiant vocal climax, “Midnight Sun” marks Zara Larsson’s return to the center of the pop cosmos. The song is filled with warmth, nuance, and a rare command of emotional release. As the lead single from her upcoming album Midnight Sun, this track springs from her Swedish roots as a polished, radio-ready statement of artistic direction.

I don't normally play this card because I'm basically tone deaf, but Larsson is not good at singing afaict

“lago” is my second vote, such a banger. feels like an incantation summoning you to the dance floor…or else

“laho” silly autocorrect

yeah it does sound like a seductive threat

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33. Haim - Relationships 169 points - 7 votes

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The not-at-all-deep “Relationships” still somehow manages to encapsulate the problem with modern relationships: We don’t know how to talk about them at all. A head-clearing drum intro leaves our narrator alone with her thoughts, wondering whether all this heartache is something we should’ve outgrown (“Is it just the shit our parents did?”), or if we’re still too young to understand (“Maybe that’s just how it goes/When you’re not fully grown”), whether great loves “end up all the same” or if she’d “do it all it again” (well, yes). The summery minimal funk continues apace, the logic circling like a song on repeat, the resolution never quite satisfying.

lol yes! otm I love the description of Laho as a seductive threat. Just heard the Burna Boy version and it's cool too.

yeah not into this last couple of songs. maybe if i say haim three times i can summon up imago's vengeful ghost

imago definitely missed itt

for sure

Ha, despite being quite opinionated I am honestly pretty open to finding the merit of all music, or at least working out the appeal to other people... I think there was only one song from this 77 that made me turn to my partner and go "I HATE THIS" - see if you can guess which one it is when it turns up, that'll be a fun game for the rollout.

― emil.y, Monday, 26 January 2026 16:13 (two days ago)

Just in case anyone was wondering...

oh is imago having a break?

i voted for that de casier track. i was...not underwhelmed, maybe just neutral-whelmed by the album at first gloss, then heard this particular song out in the wild somewhere and in that moment it really revealed itself to me

dunno why i didn't play the horsegirl album more, "switch over" really does press a lot of my 90s indie buttons

Just in case anyone was wondering...

― emil.y, Wednesday, January 28, 2026 1:47 PM (three minutes ago)

wait it's the HAIM track? lol now I have to listen to it

'Relationships' is a fantastic pop song imo, it got me. The throwback r&b vibe is refreshing, too bad it's a one-off for them from what I've heard.

haha xp

would listen again to the haim song to check what exactly it is that riles me so, but good grief, lord have mercy on my poor algorithm already

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32. Smerz - You Got Time and I Got Money 170 points - 7 votes

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Coming across as a Miami bass album as recorded by Black Box Recorder, Smerz’s album, with its discrete keyboard tunelets, charmed and annoyed me. They can’t be bothered to get worked up about sex, though, and that’s cool. “You Got Time and I Got Money” might’ve dropped in 1995 — dig the strings and the chillwave synth. The narcoleptic effect works.

I'm not close to hating it since I like some Haim songs from the previous albums but I didn't hear a single song in this last album that I liked.

Imago left? why? He was the most participative one in this eoy threads and had some interesting taste (even when I didn't agree with half of it)

Smerz is my 4th vote to place. I'm glad Jagger/Richards haven't sued them for vibing off "Bittersweet Symphony."

too low!!!!

purest musical pleasure of last year was hearing the line "baby, can i see you naked? even though i love how you dress"

Yessssssss George Riley.

Can’t believe I still haven’t gotten around to listening to Smerz, WTF is wrong with me

I like this Smerz track a lot more than the other one.

Also adding my voice to the "missing imago" chorus.

Hey Smerz!
I like your shoes

I liked the Smerz upthread, this one also has this nice lethargic feel so I think I'll listen to the album, but why would you do a string melody so close to Bitter Sweet Symphony.

purest musical pleasure of last year was hearing the line "baby, can i see you naked? even though i love how you dress"

― ivy., Wednesday, January 28, 2026 11:11 AM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also "i like the restaurants that you choose"!!

voted for the other smerz track instead but i really do love this one too

when they played this live in LA they brought sky ferreira out to sing with them and the crowd went nuts lol

The Zara Larsson renaissance, creatively and commercially, is welcome. Super sweet song/album, straight to the point, a new clarity of vision found close to 20 years into her career.

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31. Sofia Kourtesis & Daphni - Unidos 171 points - 7 votes

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“Unidos” is a feel-good track, and in a very pointed and political way. It’s not a subtle piece. It’s designed to spike your endorphins and urge you to fight back against oppressors. It’s encouraging and empowering, and it works even if it’s not strictly meant for your ears.

I think I voted for "Atrerlife" too but could have been a late cut

Also adding my voice to the "missing imago" chorus.

Me, as well. LJ and I had a friendly rivalry in Music League, and it would have been wildly entertaning to read his reactions if any of my nominees (many of which were my ML submissions, hyper-modernist that I am) make it to the Top 77. Oh well...

And that Haim track has a really cool chord progression in the chorus that evokes early-MTV-era Hall & Oates, rowdy to see it crack the top half of the list

No Big Thief, Pulp or Wet Leg yet? Surprised!

I tried to listen to that Larsson album and was repelled by every aspect of it. Surprised to see her place and will have to give it another chance.

I don't care for the Haim track, but find it extremely uninspiring, do not get how this can be exciting music in 2025.

Pulp will be vote-split I guess, I went for Slow Jam which I expect nobody else did. Wet Leg will show up.

oh so today is where all my votes place lol

Hell yeah, "Unidos" was top 5 for me. The energy I needed last year (and still need).

xps Bee OK, it wouldn't surprise me if Big Thief only places in the albums poll

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30. Sudan Archives - DEAD 171 points - 7 votes, 1 #1 vote

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Inspired in part by her time touring with artists like Andre 3000, Caroline Polachek, and Tame Impala, "DEAD" builds off Sudan's art-pop with a thumping four-on-the-floor beat and textured synths. By the end, it crescendoes into a full-on dance floor rager, her typical violin flourishes playing alongside blown-out bass.

Yes!

my #1!

I voted for this - the latter half of it goes hard!

also did nominate the simple but undeniable 'Unidos'

It's still only the 2nd best Sudan Archives track of 2025 though

Voted for "My Type" but any Sudan Archives is welcome.

Totally missed this somehow. It slaps.

Love the Smerz track. Haim, though, ranked among 2025's disappointments.

Yeah I voted for My Type too

any Sudan Archives is welcome.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra)

Boy, do I have good news for you!

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TIE 28. Sudan Archives - A Bug's Life 174 points - 6 votes

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A brilliant marriage of diverse styles, hot bass lines, infectious beats and cool disco swag. Especially the 80s influence on “A BUG’S LIFE”, with its jazzy piano notes and background vocals during the chorus is an absolute banger. Lyrically, Parks investigates black identity struggle, sexual innuendo and political liberation, finding significant emotional hooks for those who dare to delve deeper.

Well I’ve been meaning to listen to this despite not liking her previous album

didn't vote for it but super good song imo

Sounds more like an early 90s influence on this one.

Yeah 90s/early 2000s dance music was a big reference point in 2025

have you missed out number 29?

No, 28 is a tie so there's a jump and two 28s.

Second one coming in a few minutes!

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TIE 28. Barker - Reframing 174 points - 6 votes

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A nebula of sad synths and space-dust percussion floats high above a simple metronomic tick, its own rhythm slowly becoming unmoored from the beat, a bunch of balloons lost to the heavens. But like a ’60s phase-shifting experiment, the pattern inevitably finds itself back where it started, locked into the pulse again. It’s coming up, it’s coming up… like a big techno drop with a brainy twist, the payoff pairs the minimalist logic of Steve Reich with the emotional heights of trancelord Sasha

wow!

Voted for the album but this is definitely the highlight

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TIE 26. Chappell Roan - The Subway 176 points - 6 votes

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Generations of gay sadsacks have found solace and identification in the melancholy blush of ’80s dream-pop and indie rock, and so it goes for Chappell Roan, who, on her new single, “The Subway,” treats an open wound with the sounds of the Cocteau Twins, the Sundays, and the Cranberries. Roan has an uncommonly good ear: Unlike many of her contemporaries, she’s able to load her music with references without it ever feeling like she’s just slapping on her logo. Such is the case here—perhaps you can hear shades of Robin Guthrie’s skyward-soaring guitar, or Elizabeth Fraser and Dolores O’Riordan’s Celtic lilt, or Patch Hannan’s gentle rhythmic chug, but no single reference ever threatens to overwhelm.

She got, she got away/ she's got a way

Love that first Sudan Archives track, apparently she's playing here next weekend (but I will be playing in Chicago unfortunately)

So many of my nominations have shown up including this one. Though I haven't voted for all of them, of course I voted for this one.

end of that Chappell Roan sounds more like Roxette's 'It Must Have Been Love' than whatever it said in the blurb

some people have trouble explaining why a pop song is good without saying “it sounds like it could be an alternative song”

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TIE 26. Cannelle - Fille 176 points - 6 votes

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Big fan of this - sounding like a remix downloaded from an MP3 pop blog (possibly mine) in 2006.
- ShariVari

I discovered this one from ShariVari's lobbying, immediately fell in love and voted it high, and am incredibly pleased it not only placed but placed this well. 100% banger.

Yeah this is brilliant.

Barker is good and that was actually one of my most played tracks last year but voted just for the album.

Was at Chappell's first show post-Subway release, which she pointed out. Had been playing it pre-release obv, but she was beaming, sun setting, summer night.

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25. Ethel Cain - Fuck Me Eyes 178 points - 6 votes

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Fuck Me Eyes, Anhedönia has explained, is an ode to ​“the girls who are perfect and have everything, yet carry the reputation of town slut”. Through Ethel’s conflicted narration, we hear the story of a character with ​“heartbreak red” nails who cruises around town in an old Cadillac, showing up to church straight from the clubs. With ​‘80s powerpop synths and stadium-filling drums, Fuck Me Eyes feels like the spiritual successor to Preacher’s Daughter hit American Teenager. Light up a Marlborough Red, embrace the poignancy.

That Smerz song is good (the one that placed the other day is not).

Nobody has anything to say about Ethel Cain? Well, let's move on...

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24. Gelli Haha - Bounce House 181 points - 6 votes

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Gelli Haha is setting off a big confetti cannon with this upbeat, pop party track. With its wacky analog effects, hypnotic melodies and wonderfully silly lyrics, ‘Bounce House’ is somewhere in between a child’s dream and a really good acid trip.

I also voted for this one. Kind of intentionally swerved the album because with the way the world is atm I couldn't imagine having the appetite for a full album's worth of breezy fun pop, but for a single? Yesss, love it.

it's a wonderful album

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