The best music, movies, and TV of 2025
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What cultural trends defined the year 2025?
This is In Conversation from Apple News. I'm Shamita Basu. Today, a look back at the year in culture.
What did you watch or listen to this year that really moved you? It's a question worth asking at the end of every year as we take stock of what got us talking and thinking. And when it comes to culture critics, there are two people whose takes I always love hearing, even if I don't agree with them, and sometimes especially if I haven't seen or heard the thing they're really excited about. It's a horror movie.
It's a musical.
It's a race movie.
It's a history movie. Like, it's all of these things all at once.
And it's a Michael B. Jordan movie. Hello.
That's Anne Helen Peterson and Sam Sanders. Anne's got this great Patreon newsletter and a podcast called Culture Study, and Sam hosts The Sam Sanders Show on KCRW. They've both been writing about pop culture for years. I asked them to stop by so we could chat about the best new releases this year in music, film, and TV. We also asked you, our listeners, to tell us some of your favorite things that came out this year that you'd recommend.
I think this year has just been a really great year for music. The riffs, the sludgy abrasive guitars that repeat and mutate.
I love the music, the acting, the costumes. I watched each episode every week.
I rewatched each episode. It makes me laugh every single time I watch it or it gets like a really strong emotion out of me. It is gripping.
It is unlike anything I've seen before.
The performances are outstanding. Just a beautifully written show. I can't recommend this album enough.
We'll hear some of your picks in just a bit. But first, I asked both Anne and Sam if they could sum up the year in culture in three words or less.
I think my three words for this year would be reheat those nachos. I just feel like everything about the way internet culture works right now, streaming culture works right now, and algorithm culture works right now, it is propelling us into cycles of repetitive nostalgia. Some of it feels good. Some of it feels bad. Most of it's just mid.
Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
Like, it all crystallized for me when I saw this viral TikTok of JLo saying, and the lead singer of Four Non Blondes lip syncing over a remix of Nicki Minaj's Bees in the Trap and What's Up.
And that was the most popular stuff on TikTok for like a week. And it's like, oh, it's all just the past reheated. The nachos reheat themselves at this point. That was my year.
Yeah. It feels like an AI hallucination or something. You're like, what kind of grab bag did this get pulled out of?
Yeah. The words that I was going to use were far less inventive and it was just social regression. Wow. I've just been thinking a lot about... What's going on with gender norms, how we're messaging stuff about bodies and how to relate to one another and... anti-woke stuff. And I think that we are in a moment of regression right now.
Yeah. And there's data that backs it up. So the stat that has given me the most pause this year, apparently of all Spotify streaming, about 70% of music streaming is what's called catalog music. That means music that's 18 months old or older.
Yeah.
We keep going back to the same old trough.
Yeah.
There's one estimate, I think, from TV Guide that perhaps the biggest show in streaming this year was Fox's Prison Break, which has been around forever.
Right. And before that, even like during the pandemic, right, wasn't it? What's the one that Meghan Markle was in? Oh, suits. Suits. Suits. And part of this is like the familiarity of genre, like why we like those sorts of shows, going back to things that have this sort of progression. But there was a small handful of things this year that felt new.
Yeah. Well, let's talk about some of the new stuff. Maybe we should start with music. There's just so many new releases, so much to talk about in music this year. What for you two were some of the standout moments in music, in new music this year?
The album that I loved this year, and I was so surprised by it, is Noah Cyrus' album. Have you heard this?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What cultural trends defined the year 2025?
0:04–4:53
2
Which music releases stood out in 2025?
4:53–7:29
3
What were the most impactful movies of 2025?
7:29–11:50
4
How did TV shows resonate with audiences this year?
11:50–16:56
5
What are the highlights of listener recommendations?
16:56–21:49
6
How did nostalgia influence pop culture in 2025?
21:49–24:15
7
What role does monoculture play in today's entertainment?
24:15–27:36
8
What are the future predictions for art and culture?
27:36–31:29
Speakers
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