Fourthords' ten most-played songs of 2025
10. “My Eyes”
- Neil Patrick Harris & Felicia Day, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)
It’s unquestionable that Dr. Horrible is terrific. I suppose it hasn’t shown up here before because I played it out back in the aughts or early teens, and I probably just allow it to come around naturally, now. I’m always surprised by how short it is. As for this song in particular, it’s the only pure duet on the soundtrack, and I probably hit replay a number of times while Angelbiscuit was in the car, trying to compel her to sing along (that’s the name of the album!) with me.
9. “The Book of Boba Fett”
- Ludwig Göransson, The Book of Boba Fett: Vol. 1 (Chapters 1–4) (2022)
This is the closing credits music to the Star Wars miniseries of the same name. It’s an instrumental, full of heavy bass and chanting, and when played at eleven it feels awe-inspiring and powerful. It’s part of my playlist-of-music-that-deserves-to-be-played-loudly, which often gets played on the road, a place I find myself often—either by necessity or choice. If you can do it justice, do.
8. “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'”
- Gordon MacRae, Oklahoma! (1955)
I first heard this played by a youth-counselor-slash-family-friend (“Alex”) with whom I would occasionally stay overnight as a youth: he would rouse before me, quietly enter the living room where I was sleeping, put in his Oklahoma! CD, and wake me by blasting this at full volume. I didn’t actually know its context until much later when Angelbiscuit introduced me to the world of musical films that didn’t come in a plastic clamshell VHS case.
7. “(They Long to Be) Close to You”
- The Carpenters, Close to You (1970)
(a) We’ve long-since established that I grew up listening to “oldies” music. (b) It should come as no surprise that I have a playlist of… ‘love’? ‘romantic’? songs that I play with and for Angelbiscuit when I’m inspired to do so. This is one of those.
6. “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”
- Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon (1956)
I refer you to the blurb for #7.
5. “Daft Punk”
- Pentatonix, PTX, Vol. II (2013)
As recently related in this very blog, I enjoy Daft Punk’s music. In 2013, I saw a since-memory-holed tweet by Mike Krahulik that said, “I watch this Pentatonix Daft Punk video like five times a day.” and linked to the same YouTube URL below. He was right, that was a phenomenal video! After watching it, I went into our living room to watch it again on our big-screen TV. The musicality is terrific, the visual artistry for the music video is just gorgeous, and this is what introduced me to Pentatonix.
4. “Holding Out for a Hero”
- Jennifer Saunders, Shrek 2 (2004)
This is only one of two times—the other being 2004’s Phantom—I’ve explicitly stopped at a store after leaving the cinema to buy the soundtrack for the film I just watched (why I clearly remember that I bought it at the Lakewood WA Target, I cannot tell you). All the songs in Shrek 2 were great, and really ran the gamut. Especially helpful that as a jukebox musical, these aren’t “Shrek songs”, but just “terrific songs I met because of Shrek”, which makes them more evergreen and easier to play. As for this particular screamingly powerful anthem, it also lives in my songs-that-should-be-played-loud-and-therefore-get-played-more-often-because-I-drive-a-lot playlist (which is actually named “LOUDNESS” if you were curious).
3. “Take Me to Church”
- Hozier, Hozier (2014)
I don’t have a story for learning about this song; I just don’t remember. I’m also a little embarrassed that it’s here for—yet again—living in my LOUDNESS playlist (surely we’ll exhaust that playlist soon?). I say ‘embarrassed’ because of the song’s meaning & background, about which you can read at the link below.
2. “Instrument of Surrender”
- British Sea Power, Disco Elysium (2019)
Look, this is just here because Disco Elysium is tied for my favorite video game ever, and I love revisiting it however I can. The world of Disco Elysium is such a remarkable place, I have commissioned two friends to just play it in front of me so that I can relive that experience again. Everything about it is delicious to the senses, and that includes its transportive music. This soundtrack is one of two things pinned in my phone’s Music app, and this is its first track, so it makes sense why it’s here at number two.
1. “The Ballad of the Witches' Road (Sacred Chant Version)”
- Kathryn Hahn, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Patti LuPone, Debra Jo Rupp, & Agatha All Along Cast, Agatha All Along: Vol. 1 (Episodes 1–5) (2024)
I’m surprised. Don’t get me wrong, all eight versions of Agatha All Along’s signature song are really terrific; Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez really knocked it out of the park. (I especially like the sneaky first one, parenthetically “True Crime Version” which you’ll only realize upon a rewatch or listening to the soundtrack!) I just didn’t remember playing it as much as I did. I really should rewatch the miniseries, there’s just so much to catch on a rewatch.
Honorable mentions
“Thank Heaven” (1997) by Ruby
“Carmina Burana” (Night Castle, 2009) by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
“I Get Hurt” (2025) by Victor Jones
thumbnail image:
CylinderBKJewel by AlejandroLinaresGarcia (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
