The Rosy Overdrive 2025 Reader’s Poll: Results

The third annual Rosy Overdrive Reader’s Poll has now been summed, tallied, and assembled! We asked you about your favorite albums, songs, EPs and label of the year, and we got sixty-four different responses (which is a new record)! These ballots included 448 different albums, 386 different songs, 70 different EPs, and 29 different record labels. There is a lot of great music on this list (big surprise, I know), and, just like I did last year, I look forward to checking out the records on here I missed when they came out.

Your top choices are revealed below; for more detailed and complete results, here’s a spreadsheet with everything that got at least one vote on it. For albums, your top choice got ten points, second place got nine, et cetera (for songs, it was twelve points for first place); ties were broken via number of ballots something appeared on and number of first-place votes received.

Here’s a playlist of every song that either A) appeared on multiple ballots and/or B) got a first-place vote (Spotify, Tidal).

If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here. To anyone who participated in this poll, or even if you didn’t, if you shared the blog or even just regularly read it in 2025: thank you very much. Time for 2026!

Your Top 50 Albums of the Year:

50. The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising (Transgressive)

49. Nourished by Time – Passionate Ones (XL)

48. Water from Your Eyes – It’s a Beautiful Place (Matador)

47. Jobber – Jobber to the Stars (Exploding in Sound)

46. Golden Apples – Shooting Star (Lame-O)

45. The Bird Calls – Melody Trail (Ruination)

44. Graham Hunt – Timeless World Forever (Run for Cover)

43. Colin Miller – Losin’ (Mtn Laurel)

42. Pile – Sunshine and Balance Beams (Sooper)

41. Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (Polyvinyl)

40. Neu Blume – Let It Win (Music Sounds)

39. Big Thief – Double Infinity (4AD)

38. Florry – Sounds Like… (Dear Life)

37. Modern Nature – The Heat Warps (Bella Union)

36. Algernon Cadwallader – Trying Not to Have a Thought (Saddle Creek)

35. Whitney K – Bubble (Fire)

34. Joel Cusumano – Waxworld (Dandy Boy)

33. Florist – Jellywish (Double Double Whammy)

32. Idle Ray – Even in the Spring (Life Like)

31. Wet Leg – Moisturizer (Domino)

30. Frog – The Count (Audio Antihero/Tapewormies)

29. Sacred Paws – Jump into Life (Merge)

28. Prewn – System (Exploding in Sound)

27. Emma Swift – The Resurrection Game (Tiny Ghost)

26. Cusp – What I Want Doesn’t Want Me Back (Exploding in Sound)

25. Chico States – I Saw a Galloping Horse Cover No Ground (Anything Bagel)

24. Galore – Dirt (Speakeasy Studios SF)

23. Dick Texas – All That Fall (Life Like/Tortilla Flat)

22. Frog – 1000 Variations on the Same Song (Audio Antihero/Tapewormies)

21. Exploding Flowers – Watermelon / Peacock (Meritorio/Leather Jacket)

20. Ryli – Come and Get Me (Dandy Boy)

19. Clipse – Let God Sort ‘Em Out (Roc Nation)

18. Jeanines – How Long Can It Last (Slumberland/Skep Wax)

17. Liquid Mike – Hell Is an Airport (Self-released)

16. Greg Freeman – Burnover (Transgressive)

15. Gelli Haha – Switcheroo (Innovative Leisure)

14. Home Front – Watch It Die (La Vida Es Un Mus)

13. Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon (K/Perennial)

12. Gold Dust – In the Shade of the Living Light (Centripetal Force)

11. Fust – Big Ugly (Dear Life)

10. Mint Mile – andwhichstray (Comedy Minus One)

9. The Cords – The Cords (Slumberland/Skep Wax)

8. The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie (Anti-)

7. Wednesday – Bleeds (Dead Oceans)

6. Friendship – Caveman Wakes Up (Merge)

5. Snocaps – Snocaps (Anti-)

4. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul (Sophomore Lounge/Tough Love)

3. The Tubs – Cotton Crown (Trouble in Mind)

2. Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Matador)

1. Geese – Getting Killed (Partisan/Play It Again Sam)

Your Favorite EP of the Year:

Nuovo Testamento – Trouble (Discoteca Italia)

Your Favorite Record Labels of the Year:

[TIE] Anything Bagel / Comedy Minus One / Slumberland

Also receiving more than one vote: Audio Antihero, Dandy Boy, La Vida Es Un Mus, Lauren, Repeating Cloud

Your Favorite Songs of the Year:

14. Really Great – Rescue from Without (Disposable America)

13. Gelli Haha – Pluto Is Not a Planet It’s a Restaurant (Innovative Leisure)

12. Glyders – Stone Shadow (Drag City)

11. Whitney’s Playland – Long Rehearsal (Dandy Boy/Meritorio)

10. Cass McCombs – Peace (Domino)

9. Cusp – Oh Man (Exploding in Sound)

8. Wednesday – Elderberry Wine (Anti-)

7. The Beths – Metal (Anti-)

6. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – Monte Carlo / No Limits (Sophomore Lounge/Tough Love)

5. Josaleigh Pollett – Radio Player (Audio Antihero)

4. Horsegirl – 2468 (Matador)

3. Geese – Au Pays du Cocaine (Partisan/Play It Again Sam)

2. Horsegirl – Switch Over (Matador)

1. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul (Sophomore Lounge/Tough Love)

Artists You Thought Should’ve Been on the Song of the Year List, But Couldn’t Settle on a Track:

The Cords (Just Don’t Know (How to Be You), Yes It’s True, Bo’s New Haircut, Vera, Fabulist, and When You Say Goodbye all received a vote)

Ryli (Medicine Speed, Break, and Come and Get Me all received a vote)