It's the All Songs Considered Year in Review. I'm Robin Hilton. I'm here with NPR Music's

Ann Powers. Hello. You may know her from such hits as All Songs Plus, the biweekly,

those deep dives on a single song that you and David Tyler Amin do go out every other Thursday

for NPR Music Plus subscribers. Also, NPR Music reporter Isabella Gomez Sarmiento.

Howdy.

You are joining us from W.A.B.E. and Atlanta.

Yes, sir.

And if we must, Stephen Thompson.

I'm afraid it's a contractual obligation.

I just camp out in the studio and I won't leave.

Host of New Music Friday and Pop Culture Happy Hour.

What do you all think?

Do you think 2025, just broadly, was an unusually great year for music,

unusually bad year for music, or just kind of a typical year?

For me, it was a fantastic year as far as the deep, wide, and not very well-defined middle.

I think it was absolutely great.

As far as the top, the 1%, the pop girlies, not so much.

We will discuss.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that I think it's an amazing year for music right at the exact same time that I started hosting New Music Friday.

To me, it's been an outstanding year for music.

Yeah, I really agree with Anne. I think it was a year where a lot of the blockbuster-y type of albums I was looking forward to didn't quite land.

But it was a great year for a lot of really quiet releases, new artists

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