Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and Forrest Frank Shine in YouTube’s Year-End Trending Lists

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YouTube has unveiled its 2025 Year-End Trending Lists, highlighting the creators, songs, podcasts, and cultural moments that shaped the year.

Leading the pack on YouTube’s top songs list is the collaborative hit “Die With a Smile” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. This list also features “APT.” by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars, alongside four tracks from the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack: “Golden,” “Soda Pop,” “How It’s Done,” and “Your Idol.” These rankings are determined by in-country views of songs that debuted in 2025 or demonstrated significant year-over-year growth, encompassing official music videos, lyric videos, and art track videos.

Forrest Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” topped YouTube’s chart for songs featured on Shorts. This song, propelled by a viral dance trend, also reached the number one spot on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart and earned a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The top songs on the Shorts list are calculated based on in-country creations for tracks that debuted in 2025 or showed substantial year-over-year growth.

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The trending lists coincide with YouTube’s 20th anniversary celebration.

Kevin Allocca, global director of YouTube culture and trends, emphasized the platform’s cultural significance, stating, “Our End Of Year trending lists continue to capture the cultural zeitgeist. This year, we saw creators take new releases—from Squid Game to KPop Demon Hunters—and propel them into global phenomena. Whether it’s the resurgence of classic songs like ‘Pretty Little Baby’ through Shorts or the rising influence of international products like ‘Labubu,’ YouTube remains the ultimate engine for shared pop culture experiences.”

The lists provide insight into YouTube’s 2025 Year-End highlights, including top songs, top songs on Shorts, trending topics, top creators, and top podcasts:

Top songs:

1. Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga – “Die With A Smile”
2. ROSÉ, Bruno Mars – “APT.”
3. HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters Cast) – “Golden”
4. Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters Cast) – “Soda Pop”
5. Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters Cast) – “Your Idol”
6. Victor Valverde, Jr Torres – “El Mayor de los Ranas”
7. HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters Cast) – “How It’s Done”
8. Alex Warren – “Ordinary”
9. Kendrick Lamar, SZA – “Luther”
10. Kendrick Lamar – “tv off”

Top songs on Shorts:

1. Forrest Frank – “Your Way’s Better”
2. ATLXS – “Passo Bem Solto (Slowed)”
3. Black Eyed Peas – “Rock That Body”
4. Connie Francis – “Pretty Little Baby”
5. Joyful – “Chess”
6. Doechii – “Anxiety”
7. Skrilla – “Doot Doot (6 7)”
8. Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters Cast) – “Soda Pop”
9. Jiandro (feat. ola.wav) – “Confess your love”
10. Billie Eilish – “Ocean Eyes”

Trending topics of 2025 (not ranked):

• Squid Game
• User-Generated Roblox Experiences: Grow a Garden, Dandy’s World, Forsaken, Steal a Brainrot
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Brainrot
• Charlie Kirk
• Labubu
• Nintendo Switch 2
• Cookie Run Kingdom
• Blue Lock
• KATSEYE

Top creators:

1. MrBeast
2. CaylusBlox
3. IShowSpeed
4. Double Date
5. Cadel and Mia
6. Charlie Kirk
7. Law by Mike
8. CoryxKenshin
9. Zack D. Films
10. Outdoor Boys

Top podcasts:

1. The Joe Rogan Experience
2. KILL TONY
3. Good Mythical Morning
4. Rotten Mango
5. The MeidasTouch Podcast
6. 48 Hours
7. Shawn Ryan Show
8. Smosh Reads Reddit Stories
9. This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
10. The Diary Of A CEO