Our staff's favorite songs from the past year of hits and deeper cuts. On the charts, 2025 was a year that often felt like flipping TV channels to find a new episode to watch and coming across nothing ...

From tear-jerkers to mic-drops, NPR's music critics share the 2025 lyrics that made them laugh, cry and hit replay. Right about now, music critics are sharing their favorite albums of the year or ...

Listen to 48 tracks that broke new artists, blew apart genres and revived beloved sounds. By Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Caramanica On the one hand, living in an environment in which sounds ...

NPR Music critics reflect on the lyrics that captured the year's mood, sparked emotions and stayed with them long after the music stopped. Lyrics of a song can reach us in ways that no other speech ...