The Best Song(s) of 2025

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I’m gonna be honest with you guys, I have no idea what I’m doing running this site. More often than not, it feels like I’m wingin’ it. All I know is geek out about music that I like and do whatever sounds fun. 

A bunch of this year’s best interviews, reviews, and retrospectives were things brought to me by our team of talented writers. It’s their interests that spark things, their obsessions they want to share, and their Special Interest Guys they want to talk about. Most of the time, I’m just a dude who says ‘yes,’ sends a few emails, and does some editing.

This back-and-forth is also how great ideas get cooked up. All it takes is one suggestion, and suddenly we’re off to the races, instituting something like Hater’s Delight, making a wacked-out Valentine’s Day mixtape, or celebrating a decade of this site in the most specific possible way. Last year, in addition to something expected like a roundup of our favorite albums of the year, we also hosted a wrestling-themed smackdown of our favorite songs and a nerdy-ass peek behind the curtains, both of which were formulated by good-old-fashioned bullshitting and committing to the bit. 

This year, when I asked the Swim Team if anyone wanted to write about their favorite songs of the year, the response was something along the lines of “don’t need to when ‘Elderberry Wine’ exists,” which received a slew of enthusiastic responses as we collectively turned over the idea of a roundup that’s just a bunch of people’s love for “Elderberry Wine.” Sure, there are other songs we liked this year, but in a way, something like this feels more applicable to 2025 than any countdown or assemblage of tracks ever could. Please pop your finest bottle of champagne, crank up “Elderberry Wine,” and enjoy these thoughts about, seemingly, our entire team’s favorite song of 2025. 

Taylor Grimes | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

When I saw Wednesday on the Bleeds tour this November, lead single “Elderberry Wine” was buried so deep in the setlist that I had almost forgotten about it. I was so wrapped up in revelry watching one of my favorite rock bands burn through tracks off their first four albums that the absence of their latest record’s lead single didn’t even register until the band started playing those opening notes, and suddenly the entire sold-out venue was singing along. While I’ll always admire them for their balance of head-bobbing heaviness and North Carolina country, “Elderberry Wine” stands as Wednesday’s purest distillation of the latter – a sparkling thing of beauty that shimmers like water and sparkles like mesquite BBQ. We’re lucky to be on the same plane as Wednesday. 

  • My other favorite song of the year is “IDFC” by Spirit Desire.


Caro Alt | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

Tested and approved activities for Elderberry Wining if you have never Elderberry Wined before: lazily tossing magnolia leaves into a campfire just to hear them crackle as the water in their veins evaporates while waiting for your friends to join you. Driving a U-Haul in the rain and arguing over the directions (you are absolutely going the wrong way) before accidentally stumbling upon the World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn on the side of the highway and forgetting why you were so mad. Ordering your third favorite beer at that one dive because they don’t have your favorite beer or your second favorite beer and realizing you’re kinda starting to like this beer the most.

  • My other favorite song of the year is “Sue me” by Audrey Hobert. 

By @countrygazed on IG

Grace Robins-Somerville | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

From the creekside vineyards of North Carolina comes this bittersweet, full-bodied red with top notes of elderberry. Pop open a bottle at your next date night or game night (just don’t flip the board), and I guarantee everyone will get along just fine! Pairs well with pickled eggs, mostly-CBD joints, pedal steel, and premature nostalgia for the present. Do not consume elderberry wine if you are pregnant or operating a motor vehicle (electric or otherwise). A taste of the Carolinas in every sip! 

  • My other favorite song of the year is “I’m Your Man” by My Wonderful Boyfriend.


Cassidy Sollazzo | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

I was a Wednesday skeptic once. And yes, it did fill me with shame. Then I went crazy off the “Elderberry Wine.” Then I read Karly Hartzman’s Vulture essay. Then I re-listened to the entire Wednesday discography 10 times over. Tears, contemplation, a skipped heartbeat here and there. Then, an awakening. Badda bing badda boom, skeptic more. Now that’s some powerful stuff! 

By @countrygazed on IG

Lillian Weber | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

I was awestruck when I first heard this song, realizing it was Wednesday’s masterpiece. When you first hear Karly Hartzman sing “a strong /  reputation for being someone always / someone always” before that single word “down” explodes in guitar fuzz euphoria, do you not feel ecstasy? What could be better… Wait. We’re not all talking about “Townies?” Oh, “Elderberry Wine!” Gotcha. What a song! (Is this whole pretense of thinking we’re talking about“Townies” because if I think too hard about Hartzman singing the lines about having your babies and tornado skies over those guitars that are simply romantic I will spiral at the idea of a love so true? Yes. Yes indeed.) What a chorus!

  • My other favorite song of the year is “make it last” by Total Wife.


Elias Amini | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

There’s something about the toe-to-heel, side-to-side sway of “Elderberry Wine” that made it feel immediately nostalgic to me. Karly Hartzman finds herself amongst the likes of Hope Sandoval, Ben Gibbard, Mark Morrison, and Tracy Chapman (as well as many others) who’ve crafted a truly timeless single that can only age with splendor and grace. You may ask yourself, do we really need an entire article collectively stroking our shit to this song? To which I answer: quite frankly, yes. Yes, we do, that’s really how great this song is and how well it will stand the test of time (the rest of the album falls a bit short for me, but that's a different article). “Elderberry Wine” doesn’t simply deserve a crown for being the best song of the year; it deserves to be etched into music's grand and storied history.


Jason Sloan | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

A little sweet for my taste, but at least it went down easy. Even got through two bottles. Wait… this was supposed to be a song review? Fuck. I’m so fucjing drunk,

By @countrygazed on IG

Braden Allmond | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

The best wine is the one you enjoy the most, even if that’s a Miller High Life. Every time I hear “Elderberry Wine,” there’s a new flavor, an unplaceable pang, and a somehow ever-smoother finish. The song gives away its own secret in the first line: “Sweet song is a long con.” If you don’t think too hard about drinking, it just feels good, and you can overlook—or forget—the damage being done to your body. The song is cute, indie, romantic, and has a country gloss six coats deep. But every new line belies a little doubt: an impending car repair, stormy eyes, and a drink that doesn’t taste bad by a long shot, but it just doesn’t taste how it should. 


Logan Archer Mounts | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

“Elderberry Wine” is a rare song that transforms your whole opinion about a band. I found Wednesday’s Rat Saw God to be one of the most overrated albums of 2023, and I couldn't understand at all what people were connecting to on it. Then, in the first swing of my Wednesday 180, MJ Lenderman’s Manning Fireworks landed in my number one (non-metal) album spot last year. That primed me to give the band another shot with their latest album, Bleeds, and I’m so glad that I did. I’ve revisited Rat Saw God in the months since Bleeds has been out, and I’ve certainly warmed to it more, but I truly believe “Elderberry Wine” is Karly Hartzman’s finest songwriting moment of her career, a miracle lap alt-country classic that’s the centerpiece of the excellent Bleeds album.

  • My other favorite song of the year is “Porcelain” by Neil Cicierega.

By @countrygazed on IG

Katie Hayes | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

It took me until this year to drink the Wednesday wine, and it started with this song. Warm guitar chords and wistful lyrics open the song, and I can feel my blood pressure mellow out. But it’s not necessarily easy listening. Tart with sorrow, a little woozy with loss, there’s a stunning depth to “Elderberry Wine” I didn’t hear anywhere else this year. I’ll toast to that.

  • My other favorite song of the year is “North Poles” by Samia.


Caleb Doyle | Wednesday – “Elderberry Wine”

The brilliance of Wednesday and Karly Hartzman is this: in a catalog full of fuzzed-out, heavy, twangy alt-Country, they still effortlessly lay down a highly effective pure Country Western track. The chorus of “Elderberry Wine” is one of the most profound earworms I’ve ever dealt with. I wake up thinking about how everybody gets along just fine. The lyrics are prime Hartzman yearn–up there with Dolly Parton’s “The Seeker,” and Hank Williams’ “So Lonesome I Could Cry.” It’s a perfect song, even if it was just the chorus and Xandy Chelmis’ pedal steel.

  • My other favorite song of the year is “SPIDERS” by Lola Young