My Top Ten Songs for Triple J’s 2025 Hottest 100 – My thoughts, insights & musings

“You know, all of our ancestors around the planet have come from some form of struggle and we carry that, all of us, years on. We’ve got stuff to heal. And I think music is the greatest medicine on the planet.”

Xavier Rudd

I found 2025 to be a heartbreaking year due to the constant feeling of being overwhelmed by all the pain I see in the world and trying to make sense of the nonsense. Our hypocrisy, complicity, injustice and inhumanity weigh heavily on my conscience.

So, it is little wonder that my playlists this year reflected these feelings and those frustrations at the injustice in the world is also shared by some of my favourite artists, reflected in the music they released in 2025.

But as you’ll see, it wasn’t all angst filling my ears, albeit it is a strong theme.

Matty B – Fast Turning World

Matty B released his 4^th album, Babylon, on 24^th November so just made the cut for this year. In my opinion Matty B is one of the greatest Oz MCs and I was anticipating the release of this album all year, and he did not disappoint. This could be his best album yet. Five Stars!

The album contains many bangers, but my favourite would be the last track, Fast Turning World. It says much of what I am thinking about the world at the moment and reflects the need for us all to just calm the fuck down!

I have had the opportunity to quit work and write a book, this experience has enabled me to slow down and reflect, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.

Anyway, Matty encapsulates much of my frustrations and concerns with the world in this track. His new album will be on high rotation in 2026.

Ziggy Ramo – Could Never Be Me

Up until the release of Matty B’s album, Could Never Be Me was my number one track for the year.

We are all complicit.

Fuck genocide.

Joelistics – Punching Down

Punching Down is another track that has been vying for my number one spot, it’s another banger from Joelistics that is great to vent to. The track takes aim at intergenerational wealth acquisition, the rise of alt-right politics and conspiracy theorists, serving as a rallying cry against those who like to wield power.

This is Joelistics’ cerebral lyricism and illustrative poetic address at its best.

Barkaa – Ngamaka (feat. Leroy Johnson)

Barkaa has become one of my favourite artists and this is the fourth time she has featured in my Top Ten. Last year I selected Big Mood (feat. Kobie Dee) while Division (2023) and King Brown (2021) were my number one tracks for those respective years.

Ngamaka, which translates to “mother” in the Barkindji language, speaks of the maternal role of the Darling River, known to the Barkindji people as the Baaka, which Barkaa has derived her name from. This song calls for better care to be taken of country, and details the effects of its degradation, both ecologically and socially.

I am looking forward to seeing Barkaa perform again at Womad in March.

Xavier Rudd – Morning Birds

I never used to listen to Xavier Rudd much, that was until the release of his Jan Juc Moon album in 2022. This album has been a regular on my playlists ever since and We Deserve To Dream was my number one track that year.

Morning Birds was released in June and is a stripped-back acoustic offering, a gentle meditative track that was inspired while Xavier was touring in the US and reflecting on the people he loved at home and how lucky he is to share life with them. It’s a great reflective song.

Wax – Shit I Used to Do

I’m not sure how this track found its way onto my radar but it’s a fun track that I can relate to in many ways.

It discusses the differences between how we used to live and we currently live, in particular what we used to do, what we used to say and the things we can no longer do due to age.

AURORA – The Flood

This is the 7^th year in a row that AURORA has featured in my Top Ten songs for the year, and she is easily in my top ten favourite artists of all time. I just love her voice and one of my highlights for 2025 was seeing her perform at the Hordern Pavilion back in February. It was an awesome gig. I am privileged to have seen her perform twice now (the other time was at Womad).

AURORA said this about The Flood, “This is a song about the invisible enemy. What brings you anger, what brings you worry and sadness. What makes you crawl into yourself instead of meeting the world fully. A song about searching for someone or something to blame, when you know perfectly well that the only solution lies within yourself.”

Hilltop Hoods – The Gift (feat. Marlon)

Music is a gift, it will always inspire my intellect, speak to my heart and nourish my soul, and for that I am eternally grateful.

This track reminds us of the role music has in our lives.

Baker Boy – PEACEKEEPER

This is the first time since 2021 that Baker Boy has been in my top ten. He had my number 1 song in 2017 with ‘Marryuna’ and my number 1 song in 2018 with ‘Mr La Di Da Di’ and has had four other songs in my top ten in other years.

PEACEKEEPER is my favourite track from Baker Boys second album, DJANDJAY released in October. The album is named after his late grandmother and “…is about truth. It’s about strength and defiance. I put my whole self into this album — and it feels like all of me is in there.”

PEACEKEEPER is an energetic track that you can’t help but start moving too. I can’t wait to dance to it when I see him perform at Womad in March.

L-Fresh the Lion – FLY ABOVE IT

This is L’s eighth track to make my top ten since 2015, including Peace & Light which was my number one song for 2020.

FLY ABOVE IT is from L’s new EP, REINCARNATED. The song captures L at his most uplifting as he reflects on his journey, finding strength in remembering who he is and what he has overcome. This track reminds us to be optimistic and resilient and is inspired by family and the unwavering belief we get from them.

What better way than to wrap up my top ten tracks than with some L-Fresh the Lion inspiration.

There is some angst amongst my picks, but also reflection, optimism and believe in a better future.

And there is much to look forward to music wise as we have off to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Domain in January, The Herd at the Gov in February and to top it all off, WOMADelaide and RED HOT SUMMER in March. Giddy Up!

So that’s my Top Ten songs for 2025. It’s always a challenge to land on 10 songs; this challenge is best exemplified by looking at the songs that didn’t make the cut. Here are songs 11-25 from 2025 that I would have loved to have included.