51: The best music of 2025 so far

And they said music journalism was dead. It’s list time,
losers!


When it comes to round-up episodes we like to draft in No Tags’
very own fifth Beatle, Henry Bruce-Jones.
Minimal intro required here: we discuss our favourite music of
2025 so far, from the new wave of weird UK rappers to the
changing faces of mainstream pop – plus rap oldheads,
surveillance electro, minimal techno reboots and more. We didn’t
include any of the records already discussed on the pod this year
– including aya’s hexed and FKA twigs’ Eusexua – but they’re all
still in the running for AOTY, of course.


Below is a time-stamped rundown of
everything we discussed, so feel free to skip ahead if
certain corners aren’t your bag.


We like to see No Tags as a conversation between us and you, so
let us know your own most loved (and most hated) releases and
trends of the year in the comments below, or maybe drop us a
reply on Insta or send an email?


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Running order


Pop Corner (07:40)


Rap Corner (38:25)


The UK ‘Underground’ (1:05:22)


Dance Music Corner (1:27:04)


Percies (1:41:42)


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