Best of 2025 Music Playlist: Indie, Alternative, and Denver Favorites

Every year since 2012, I’ve kept a running playlist of the songs that really defined my listening. It started as a simple way to track what caught my attention during a year full of concerts, photo editing sessions, festival weekends, and late-night rabbit holes. Over time, it became one of my favorite traditions. Instead of scrambling in December to remember what I loved, I build the list in real time. When a track hits, it goes in. When an artist I photograph releases something new, it usually ends up here too. The playlist is a musical timeline of my year and a snapshot of how my taste keeps shifting.

For 2025, the pattern continues. I curated this playlist steadily from January through December, adding the standouts while I soaked up another busy year of live music. The list leans indie and alternative, as it always does, but I never stay in one lane for long. Expect rock, dream pop, electronic hints, R&B, singer-songwriter moments, upbeat surprises, and those oddball genre outliers that somehow make perfect sense. And of course, there’s a generous amount of Denver music. I spend a lot of nights in local venues, and the city continues to produce artists who deserve way more attention.

This playlist is the result of that full year of listening. Over 530 songs! It’s equal parts habit, ritual, and personal record. Whether you’re looking for something new, checking out Denver bands, or comparing it to your own year-end lists, I hope it brings you a few discoveries. Cheers!

Best of 2025 Spotify Playlist

You can listen directly below, but Spotify will only display the first 100 songs. If you click this link and then the “plus” icon in Spotify, it will save it into your own list of playlists.

As always, if a track hits you, go follow the artist. Go to their concerts. Buy their merch. Share their work. Year-end playlists are fun, but supporting the musicians behind them is what keeps scenes thriving, especially here in Denver. Bookmark our Concert Calendar for the latest shows!

Here are my Spotify playlists from years past:

2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |   2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019  |  2020  | 2021 | 2022  |  2023  |  2024