By Adam Taylor

It’s time to post your top artists to show how cool and different you are. Spotify Wrapped for 2025 has finally dropped. This stat-loaded list of listening habits gets everyone excited, revealing top artists, songs, podcasts, music genres, and hours listened – which can be a bit concerning…

Spotify adds new features each year to keep things interesting. This year, they have added a listening age, top albums (which were highly requested), as well as small video clips from your favourite podcasters and artists to show their appreciation.

But the real reason it is popular is that people love to judge other people’s taste in music. So judge away! Here is a look at what the aAh! team listened to this year, through their top albums.

Adam Taylor, Arts and Culture Editor

“I feel like my list is only glimmering into my music taste, but I’m definitely not going to complain about Led Zeppelin being at the top. They are definitely my favourite band, and their sound is still trying to be replicated today – it’s timeless. Speaking of time, my listening age is 74, which actually didn’t surprise me as I do listen to a lot of old music. But this doesn’t really translate to my top albums, as they are all pretty new except for Led Zeppelin II.

Mac de Marco is a staple for me and always pops up each year. There’s something about his upbeat melodies paired with often sad and melancholic lyrics that does it for me. I saw him live at Aviva Studios in November, which was unbelievable and a tick off the bucket list. Arctic Monkeys is another, the band are almost like a musical comfort blanket for me as they have been the background music for a lot of my life. I think they hold this sentiment because I was introduced to them by my cousin in Sheffield, where both the band and a lot of my family are from.”

Naomi Welsh, Arts and Culture Editor

“I’m chuffed with my top album being Baloonerism by Mac Miller – he’s absolutely brilliant and the album was an experimental work of art. Rest in peace.

As for the others, it’s really tapped into my alternate personalities. Anitek’s album is home to my study music, The Script is gut-wrenching nostalgia, and Doechii is just Doechii. Amazing. Chromakopia did surprise me – not my favourite Tyler [the Creator] album, but I went to the tour, so maybe he snuck in that way. Overall, pretty accurate.”

Keiran Teasdale, Creative Writing and Literature Editor

“The thing with Taylor Swift being my top artist is that I don’t even want her to be. If I had a pound for every time one of her many, MANY songs forced themselves into my shuffle, I’d also have a jet to fly into Asda.

Gaga is Gaga – no elaboration needed. Halsey will always be a favorite, and I will be shaking my blue-ass wig at the Badlands tour next year. She is absolutely under-appreciated.

I was going through something with Gracie – don’t judge me. Doechii, however, is simply that bitch; her album has been on repeat, hence why it’s my most listened to album this year.”

Leire Ribeiro, Opinion Editor

“I feel like music is the best way to get to know me as a person, and even when my listening habits could be classified as embarrassing, they’re a representation of a part of me that I embrace wholeheartedly. My top three artists came with no surprise: Taylor Swift is always my number one artist, and with the release of The Life of a Showgirl (my top album), there weren’t any other options. The same could be said for 5 Seconds of Summer, a band I have been listening to religiously since I was 13 and who recently released their sixth studio album, Everyone’s a Star! The only reason it is not on my top albums is probably because Spotify stopped tracking my data shortly after its release… very unfortunate because it slaps.

My Chemical Romance is always either my second or third most streamed artists, but Djo and Kittie did come as a surprise. Among my most streamed albums, I did find the fact that Hamilton was there amusing, but given that musicals (accompanied by pop rock, alternative rock, indie and goth) is one of my most streamed genres, it was something I was expecting.”

Ryan Douglas, Arts and Culture journalist

“It’s hard to capture your entire music taste in a top 5 album list. Working Men’s Club’s self-titled at first makes complete sense – it combines my love for electronic dance music, especially all things acid, and my love for band music. Their gig at The Golden Lion in Todmorden was a highlight this year for me, if you don’t know, get to know.

The [Stone] Roses were my first music obsession, so one or both of their albums are normally in this list each year. I stand by the Second Coming being just as good as the first album, however controversial. Dogrel by Fontaines D.C. is a classic from a band that has had the biggest year of their career in 2025. Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands, Speaking in Tongues is a great representation of the weirdness of front-man David Byrne. He is unlike any other.

I definitely listened to less music on Spotify than usual in 2025, with only around 12,000 hours. This is probably due to the fatigue of finding new music to DJ with through Bandcamp. Calling it a chore to find what you want on that website would be an understatement. My ears definitely burned out a few times this year – but these albums are staples that I could never get tired of.”

Joe Lawson, Opinion Editor

“2025 has truly been a musical journey for me. At the start of the year, I was obsessed with modern indie; Wunderhorse and Fontaines D.C. both made it into my top artists. They’re joined with good company too, with The Beatles, which mostly comes from me repeating ‘Long and Winding Road’ for weeks and The Stone Roses, whose self-titled album was by far my most listened to. But the top spot this year, for me, was Radiohead. ‘Let Down’ was my most-listened to song, which probably says something about me but I’m not going to focus on that too much. My listening age was 74. Yes, seventy-four.

My only explanation is my obsession with American blues; legendary black musicians such as Marvin Gaye and Al Green have been a staple for me since moving back to Manchester in August. Something about those calming, sultry rhythms of the genre made me feel warm and relaxed during what otherwise was a very anxious time for me – similarly to Jeff Buckley, whom I was only introduced to this year, and have LOVED.

Finally, I want to mention an extremely underrated album, which seemed to escape the trends, but doesn’t miss on a single bloody song. Fauxllenium, a collaboration album between TV Girl and George Clacton, was a total standout. The whimsical, indie-pop style album with injections of old-school house makes it a must-listen. Eh, I won’t spoil it – just go and listen, you won’t regret it.”