2025 has just about come and gone, and boy, did things get heavy.
Considering the number of record-breaking albums that dropped this year, as well as a stream of net-quaking headline grabbers and immaculate, must-crank anthems from some of Revolver’s most loved artists, it’s fair to say that we ate well in 2025.
But what was the greatest single track to rule headphones this year? The pound-for-pound playlist dominator you had on repeat the second it hit streamers? We asked Revolver readers to weigh in on 2025’s heaviest hits, and they ranked them accordingly.
Deftones – “Milk of the Madonna”
2025 was a monstrously successful year for Deftones, and fans new and old feasted upon their triumphant 10th studio LP, private music. The song our readers gladly lapped up the most? That’d be “milk of the madonna.”
A sweaty, mid-tempo bash pushes the private highlight forward. Guitarist Stephen Carpenter is lean but magnetic with his performance, a mix of bright-bursting power chords, star-shimmering chord jangle and tremolo-picked melody. Chino Moreno floats above it all with unshakeable vocal beauty.
The singer lovingly croons “I’m on fire” at one point, and sure enough, the total package ignited our minds, as well.
Ghost – “Lachryma”
In the middle of the night. At the breakfast table. At work. On a pensive after-dinner walk. There’s truly no wrong time to crank Ghost’s big-time SKELETÁ single “Lachryma” — and everybody knows.
One of the most hard-stomping heretic anthems on the occult rockers’ latest LP, “Lachryma” delivers muscled-up Eighties metal chunking with a sensitive twist, Papa V Perpetua pushed to the brink by a bunk relationship dynamic where “the sweet’s gone sour.”
A vile rot inspired “Lachryma,” per Papa’s lyrics, but this is unquestionably one of the tastiest cuts of the year.
Falling in Reverse – “God Is a Weapon” feat. Marilyn Manson
Few songs captured headlines in 2025 quite like “God Is a Weapon.”
Ronnie Radke and Marilyn Manson’s polarizing team-up united a pair of controversial lightning rods, and the online discourse for the multi-million-streaming power ballad zig-zagged between countless detractors and even more fans — the latter including plenty who came out to cast their vote in this poll.
Indeed, the gruesome twosome’s sinful confession became an obsession for many. Credit the internet-breaking nature of the collab, Radke and Manson’s weighty and unique vocal presences, and the bleak-booming production as reasons for its worship.
Sleep Token – “Look to Windward”
To highlight just one of the 10 songs on Even In Arcadia as the song of the year was a fool’s errand for Sleep Token’s faithful — and indeed, a conflicted fan base showed their support for a hell of a lot of EIA cuts in the poll this week, from the meta-referential parasocial-fan treatise “Caramel” to the emotions-soaked “Infinite Baths.” But truly, the tune that eclipsed the others — vote-wise, at least — was the record’s opening stunner, “Look to Windward.”
Perhaps it’s the simmering tension of the piece — a synth-riding slow burn that erupts into booming dynamics a full three minutes in — that sets it up as a favorite. Maybe it’s Vessel’s vulnerable, heavy-lidded, blood-spewing narrative that hits big. Maybe it’s both, as well as everything else Sleep Token surge into the nearly eight-minute epic.
No matter the reason, this was a war of attrition, and “Look to Windward” bowed to but one other choice cut this year.
Bad Omens – “Specter”
Do Revolver readers feel love for Bad Omens’ “Specter”? Turns out that’s a resounding “Yes.”
When this single from the metalcore-and-more expansionists materialized at the tail end of the summer, fans were stunned into submission by its shadowy piano intro, synth-arpeggiated production touches, boom-waltzed feel, and Noah Sebastian’s dark-crooned performance. And it’s haunted them ever since.
Bad Omens truly supplied a steady stream of bangers this year — and it feels like even more new music is on the way — but when they gave up the veritable ghost with “Specter,” they delivered the fans’ favorite song of the year.