This Week The Trend's best of 2025

From music to movies, these are some of the best pieces of media to come out in 2025.

Tyler H

27 Dec 2025 • 4 min read

I may cover consumer electronics for a living, testing how those devices work, but at least part of that process involves using the devices to listen to songs, stream videos, and read books. So, over the course of 12 months, I end up consuming a lot of media. I may just be one person, but these are some of my favorite songs, albums, movies, shows, and other things that I think were the best to be released in 2025.

Albums

I had listened to Inhaler's previous album and wasn’t overly impressed. It was decent rock music, but only a few songs ever grabbed me. With Open Wide, however, there’s a depth to the songs that kept me coming back over and over again. I knew early in the year that it would probably be my favorite album of the year.

I also wasn’t expecting to keep listening to The Starting Line’s Eternal Youth as much as I ended up doing. It’s a much deeper album that might not catch you the first time, but doesn’t wear off easily either.

10. Night Moves - Double Life
9. Justin Bieber - Swag II
8. Taylor Swift - The Life of a Showgirl
7. Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving
6. Ace Enders - Posture Syndrome
5. Haim - I Quit
4. Of Monsters & Men - All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade
3. Sigrid - There’s Always More That I Could Say
2. The Starting Line - Eternal Youth
1. Inhaler - Open Wide

Songs

These are 10 ~15 of my favorite songs from the year in no particular order. There are plenty of other good songs, however. So, I made a playlist with 28 great songs if you’re curious about more selections.

Robyn - “Dopemine”
Tame Impala - "No Reply"
Justin Bieber - "Love Song"
Matt Pryor - "The Salton Sea"
Night Moves - "Daytona"
Lyrah - "Meet Me at the Bottom"
Turnstile - "I Care"
Of Monsters and Men - “Fruit Bat”
Olivia Dean - “Nice to Each Other”
The Ataris - “Car Song”
The Starting Line - “Granted”
Haim - "Spinning"
Sigrid - “Hush Baby, Hurry Slowly ”
Taylor Swift - “Opalite”
Ace Enders - “Dark Weather”

TV Shows

The ranking here is held loosely. I continue to really like The Gilded Age. It’s a well-done show about an interesting period in American history. Two standouts this year were The Paper and Pluribus. I was highly skeptical that a spinoff from The Office could be any good, but The Paper is solid. With less pressure on it for a second season, I’m hoping it blossoms even more. Pluribus had so much hype and vagueness to it that I wasn’t excited about it. Turns out, the hype was warranted.

10. The Buccaneers [season 2] (Apple TV)
9. The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy [season 3] (Apple TV)
8. The Last of Us [seasons 2] (HBO Max)
7. Dept. Q (Netflix)
6. Paradise (Hulu)
5. The Paper (Peacock)
4. The Gilded Age [season 3] (HBO Max)
3. Pluribus (Apple TV)
2. The Pitt (HBO Max)
1. Slow Horses [season 5] (Apple TV)

Movies

This year, I favored TV series over movies, apparently. I didn't watch nearly as many as I had planned to. Still, there were a few standouts. Black Bag is an intriguing spy thriller, pitting a husband and wife against each other. It’s tight and well-paced. The Materialists is a classic love story, of a girl choosing between two people—two paths. But a modern rendition, of course. One Battle After Another is worth a mention. I don’t necessarily find myself wanting to watch it again as it's intense, but it’s a thought-provoking movie.

3. F1
2. Black Bag
1. Materialists

Books

Similarly, to movies, I read fewer books than I planned to. And while it didn’t come out this year, I really liked Matt Haig's The Life Impossible.

The Life Impossible

Misc

Games and more

The Switch 2 finally came out. I really am only a casual gamer. Mario Kart: World Tour is great, but I played it to death. I’m still looking forward to a few more games, but most notably the update to Animal Crossing.

Products

I wrote about hundreds of products this year. There’s no way I could choose just one. And even these selections don’t fully represent everything that’s good or worth considering. But these six are ones that get used the most or continue to remain top of mind when someone asks about a product in its category.

Traeger's newest wood pellet grills make good improvements to the cooking experience while lowering the entry-level price for good smokers. All three Woodridge models are big gadgets that blend food and tech. The regular Woodridge model is a good entry option, but the Elite includes a side burner and a few other nice perks.

I review a lot of audio devices, so it's no surprise that I have three on this list. The Nothing Headphone (1) are a great all-around over-the-ear choice, from sound to comfort to controls. I'm also a sucker for compact speakers with good sound, so the Bose SoundLink Micro 2 is a perfect travel companion.

If you're looking for a robot vacuum and mop, the Matic is a workhorse. I've reviewed dozens of them over the years, but this one has adapted the most to constantly improve. Plus, it stores your data locally and doesn't send it to the company.

Articles

This was a big year for This Week The Trend. Lots of people subscribed to the weekly newsletter. The stories are now being syndicated on Yahoo and have reached over 500,000 views in just a few months. If you'd like to follow along on Instagram, there should be more stories and behind-the-scenes photos posted there regularly in 2026.

Here are a few stories I did in 2025 that stick out to me from the last 12 months.

Gemini knows best? I let Google's AI weigh in on tough parenting decisions - PCMag
MLB will soon have robo umps calling pitches. It's long overdue - PCMag
Robot vacuum round-up - Business Insider
I've been using robot lawn mowers all summer. Here's what you need to know before getting one - PCMag
Apple iPhone 17 Pro review - How-To Geek
Apple TV is finally worth $99 - This Week The Trend