As the sun sets on 2025, all the year-end lists have been published and it's time to look forward to what 2026 has in store.
In many ways, the last 12 months have felt transitional. With relatively few A-list releases, and a Brat-shaped hole in the summer, music seemed to split in two.
The charts were agonisingly static: Just three songs held the number one spot hostage for half the year: Taylor Swift's Fate of Ophelia, Huntr/x's Golden, and Alex Warren's Ordinary (never has a song been so aptly titled).
But outside Spotify's self-fulfilling "top hits" playlists, fans were engaging with music that was encouragingly weird and experimental.
Geese's critically-acclaimed Getting Killed sounded like someone trying to play Radiohead's first four albums simultaneously; while Spanish pop star Rosalía delivered a sumptuous avant-garde pop album, Lux, that married flamenco, opera, hip-hop and scorched earth drum loops.
