Death of the Genre (a post for SOngu)

Rolling Stone has released their 100 Best Songs of 2025 - and it declares the genre all but dead.

The way we interface with music has changed, and it's redefining music itself.

CD players have gone the way of the dinosaur and radio has less listeners than ever before, leaving streaming services and social media king of the music consumer.

Scrolling has defined the decade and fundamentally changed our expectations - it's perfectly normal to scroll from a silly meme (or a SongU AI cat video) to a serious news story, from family friend to celebrity. The platform through which we consume media has leveled the playing field, when Sally down the street and Sabrina Carpenter both broadcast to you live from their living rooms, levels of fame are all but impossible to define. Expectations are shattered when nothing is shocking and this blurring of lines isn't just affecting how we consume art, but the art itself. Unexpected collabs such as Areosmith, YungBlud and Lainey Wilson's "Wild Woman", or the popularity of artists like Rosalia who's art spanned the gambit from popstar to her genre defying 2025 album "LUX" featuring many guest (including Bjork), even the sheer amount of non-English songs topping the American charts, are proof that this generation of music fans are wide open - ready to hear whatever form of self expression their favorite artist chooses for themselves.

Do you fond this shift exciting?

Do you agree that genre is less important now?

What songs do you think should have been included in the lineup?

Link to the Rolling Stone article:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-2025-1235468614/