Best of 2025 - Tracks
Today we reveal our team’s favourite tracks of 2025! We asked each of our writers to pick their top five songs of the year, and write a quick sentence about each. The answers we got were diverse, from country to electro-pop and back again. Without further ado, the best tracks of 2025 as per the volunteers at the Cups N Cakes Network:
Jeff MacCallum
Smokey - “Ready To Die”
Four words repeated for an entire song over uplifting composition. If this song makes you uncomfortable, try to empathize with the mind-space of lost loved ones, maybe it’s time to feel happy they’ve found peace.
ACP - “Kill Every Single Billionaire”
Punk protest songs typically take aim at governments but ACP set their sights on the current zeitgeist. I dare you to tell me the world wouldn’t be better if we heeded their call.
Elle Barbara - “Before and After”
The penultimate track from Elle Barbara’s 2025 release is a frolicking journey that begins with a military march that slow builds into a euphorically soothing psychedelic soul finish.
Destroyer (feat. Fiver) - “Bologna”
Late-night hazy vibes à la Kaputt are instantly recognizable but the Simone Schmidts smokey voice opens the song and you realize this is better due in large part to the idiosyncratic harmonies between Schmidt and Bejar.
Night Committee - “I Left Early”
A soft starting rocker that builds into a chorus with relentless drums and potent harmonies which create power that rivals an Earthquake reading 7.0 on the Richter scale.
Sean Newton
Smokey - “Ready To Die”
Not the last time you’ll see this song on this list. An instant classic: cheery, sunshine melody and harmony set to the four words you know you wanna sing along to.
Verry Gerry - “Flat Pop”
Effervescent and sparkling, a strong first track on an album that came out of nowhere to become one of my favourites of 2025.
Motherhood - “Wandering”
Motherhood + mellotron = Mothertron
Seriously though, this song brings the instrumental whimsy of Motherhood to the forefront, and shows off Adam Sipkema’s unmatched rock n roll drumming.
Penny & the Pits - “Thick Black Gloves”
A perfectly unsettling and groovy track. The synthline and call-and-response vocals are both highlights on an impeccably produced and arranged number.
Christo Graham - “Far Away”
Listen, there’s no other songwriter in Canada who tickles my fancy quite like Christo Graham. And hey, it’s the closest thing we’ve gone to a Canadian Alex Chilton, so I’ll take it.
Simone Atenea Medina Polo
Debby Friday - “Alberta”
Debby Friday really knows how to treat the lover girlies like myself who love to yearn over a summer night.
Not available to stream on Bandcamp.
Camilla Sparksss - “Fatherless”
This is straight up an album-defining harsh, disjointed industrial pop song to the core.
Emma Goldman - “at bottom i was a piss girl”
The track’s title says it all, what is not to love?
Quinton Barnes - “Movement 7”
Quinton Barnes offers a heart-wrenching conclusion to Black Noise with a gentle evocative vocal performance that matches the gentle crescendo of the instrumental.
Devours - “Loudmouth”
Man, not me yearning again… it is just those brass synths and the picturesque force of Jeff Cancade’s music really does it for this little trans lesbian girl (call that queer solidarity).
Craig Martell
Smokey - “Ready To Die”
When I was at my lowest, this song made me smile. It was a light in darkness and was stuck in my head more than any other song this year.
Kestrels - “Free Forever”
Stunning guitar slacker pop that pounds, drives and lifts. Kestrels always nail it, but they really nailed it here.
Puffer - “Jimmy”
One of the 10 best punk songs I’ve ever heard, in 20 years there should be whole genres of bands ripping off Puffer.
Sister Ray - “Wings”
Sister Ray is one of the best songwriters we’ve got, and “Wings” is a perfect anthem that softly pummels you the entire way.
Weird Nightmare - “Forever Elsewhere”
“Forever Elsewhere” would be mentioned alongside Game of Pricks, Detroit Has A Skyline, Skip Tracer, Cities & Plans and Web In Front as perfect songs that fundamentally helped me figure out the kind of music I like, had these songs not already done that years ago.
Penelope Stevens
Samwoy - “Sub in the Trunk”
A blown out banger about the hard side of life in a small, sketchy town.
Sophie Noel - “I Think I Do This”
An honest reflection about falling out of love just a few minutes too late - “wish I could stop playing god, as if god could get me through this.”
The Boojums - “Wings of Fire”
“Wings of Fire” is to the Boojums what “Sex on Fire” is to Kings of Leon (in a good way).
Hawa B - “oui non I know”
Bilingual, experimental, sexy… it’s Montreal condensed into a single pop song.
ada lea - “Bob Dylan’s 115th Haircut”
A whimsical little reflection that reminds us all to trust our own creative instincts, because no matter what kind of song you wrote, Bob Dylan couldn’t have written it (even if he wanted to).
Chris Lammiman
Brock Geiger - “Some Nights”
The title track from his debut solo album finds Brock Geiger weaving sophisticated pop threads and channeling his inner James Murphy to highly danceable effect.
Destroyer - “The Same Things as Nothing at All”
Dan’s Boogie is some of Bajar’s best work in years, and despite (or maybe because of?) his characteristically opaque stream of consciousness poetics, “The Same Thing as Nothing at All” is the only song of 2025 that I would call truly transcendent.
The Blue ft. Dozie - “End of the Sentence”
Playful, heartfelt and groovy AF, “End of the Sentence” showcases The Blue’s impeccable flow and packs a top-tier hook, delivering what might be the ear-wormiest song of the year.
Fortunato Durutti Marinetti - “Full of Fire”
Starting with a cheekily sexy opening that gives way to a pendulum rock between soulful groove and cinematic melancholy, I have no trouble standing by “Full of Fire” landing in the top spot of my Spotify Wrapped most-played songs.
Shad - “Bars and BBQs”
The laid back jazzy grooves, while undeniably fresh, belie what is an absolute clinic in lyricism, showcasing why Shad continues to deserve his spot in Canada’s hiphop pantheon (and I’d argue beyond the border as well).
Em Moore
Days On Parade - “Cavity”
With inventive arrangements that take cues from punk and psychedelic rock, powerful and soaring vocals, and incredible guitar work, it is impossible to stop listening to “Cavity” by Days On Parade.
houseguest - “divine creation”
With some of the most impactful lyrics of the year and defiant emo-meets-indie rock instrumentation, houseguest’s “divine creation” is a song you feel at a molecular level.
Fucked Up - “Disabuse”
Running just under three minutes, “Disabuse” finds Fucked Up taking down bullies and bigots with blistering hardcore punk, complete with no-holds-barred lyrics that you will find yourself screaming along to in no time.
Bad Waitress - “Plan B”
Bad Waitress kick out just under two minutes of gloriously chaotic noise-infused punk greatness on “Plan B”, complete with swirling guitars, driving drums, and strong vocals.
Pyrocene Death Cult - “Ecocide”
On “Ecocide” Pyrocene Death Cult brings the dire state of the climate crisis into full focus with urgent, doom-infused black metal complete with sounds of raging wildfires, news snippets, and clips from the 2024 horror film Humane.
Louise Jaunet
La Sécurité - “Detour”
Building on the successful formula of Stay Safe!, "Detour" showcases a band growing in confidence and assertiveness, suggesting that regressing into our inner child might be the most effective path to growth.
Alix Fernz - “Couteau à gorge”
“Couteau à la gorge” brings together the best ideas of the album and represents the best of what Alix Fernz has to offer, revealing the true cinematic potential of his Symphonie publicitaire sous influence.
Annie-Claude Deschênes - “Main de Fer”
Moving away from the new wave and coldwave influences, Annie-Claude Deschênes delves deeper into the dark techno aesthetic of a 1990s underground Berlin club, making her next album a promising listen.
Automelodi - “Cavallo”
With a video filmed on an island near Marseille, the latest synthpop/darkwave track “Cavallo” poetically depicts Xavier Paradis as a wild horse wounded by pain and longing, yet always ready to gallop towards freedom and dance.
SAMWOY - “Poison”
Through a series of shameful personal confessions, SAMWOY explores intense psychological experiences and the disgust of being alive when a best friend is not. Dying to yourself is, indeed, a real art form.
Ned Kroczynski
Smokey - “Ready to Die”
The most singable song to come out of Edmonton this summer.
Motherhood - “Propeller”
An eerie post-punk number with a disarming chorus that transforms into a riot.
Foxwarren - “Listen2me”
A beautiful mishmash of string samples, rippin’ guitars, and a beat drop that makes for a memorable song.
Weird Lines - “The Event”
A rocking, '60s-inspired piano tune that sounds like it was written by a punk Paul McCartney.
Ribbon Skirt - “Wrong Planet”
The subtly disturbing lyrics and teetering melodic lines bring listeners to the edge of comfort before finally falling upon them during the song’s final chorus.
Tea Fannie
Aquakulture - “What are you sayin”
A smooth, introspective track asking the daily question we didn’t know we needed.
Zenon - “FWL”
You fool with love, we’ve all been there, and this YYC rising star gets it.
Junk & Drezus - “Two Faced”
This track has me hanging on the lyrics, and keeps me pumped all day.
Not available to stream on Bandcamp.
Kue Varo - “Honeymoon Loss”
I love the title’s opposing words and Kue’s clever creation of this track.
Bijaan - “Jungle”
This beat grabs you instantly, and Bijaan’s rooted beast-mode bars make this track essential.
Not available to stream on Bandcamp.
