2025 Year in Review

2025 was a year like any other. I’m terrible at writing these retrospectives, hence why it’s already February and I’m just now publishing it. Which is worse, posting a year in review in two a month after the year starts, or sending out the yearly wrapped/recap/some-other-fancy-name two months before the year even ends? I’m looking at you, Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, etc. etc. etc. How can you possibly know who my top artists of the year are going to be if you stop counting in November? A lot can change in those final two months; I first listened to the song that would eventually become my most listened of the year on October 9th! Kudos to Last.fm for being the only service that waited until January to release their playback. Rant over, let’s break down some numbers.

Reading

I read 40 books in 2025! That’s a total of 12,809 pages, with an average book length of 320 pages. The shortest book was 29 pages (Nimi: When First Contact Becomes Last Call, by Zachry Wheeler), while the longest book was 836 pages (Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany).

Book challenges completed:

Genre breakdown:

  • Science Fiction 19
  • Fantasy 15
  • Contemporary 10
  • Mystery 7
  • Romance 6
  • Historical 4
  • Thriller 4
  • Humor 3
  • Literary 3
  • Horror 2
Books
  1. Nimi: When First Contact Becomes Last Call by Zachry Wheeler
  2. When We Were Widows by Annette Chavez Macias
  3. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
  4. The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov
  5. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
  6. Erasure by Percival Everett
  7. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
  8. Fires to Come by Asha Lemmie
  9. Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
  10. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
  11. All This & More by Peng Shepherd
  12. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
  13. There’s Something About Mira by Sonali Dev
  14. Kill Girl by Jill M Beene
  15. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Reckoning of Roku by Randy Ribay
  16. Time Is the Simplest Thing by Clifford D. Simak
  17. Blindness by José Saramago
  18. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
  19. Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen
  20. Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen
  21. The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
  22. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
  23. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
  24. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
  25. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  26. How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason
  27. An Old Soul by M. Kevin Hayden
  28. The Bookshop Sisterhood by Michelle Lindo-Rice
  29. How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason
  30. Anima Rising by Christopher Moore
  31. Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  32. Time’s Agent by Brenda Peynado
  33. Alter Ego by Alex Segura
  34. The War of the Givens: The Silvers Book Three by Daniel Price
  35. Secret Identity by Alex Segura
  36. The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
  37. Warcross by Marie Lu
  38. For a Limited Time Only by Peng Shepherd
  39. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
  40. The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

Listening

I had 12,414 scrobbles in 2025! This translates to 2,211 artists, 3,914 albums, and 7,806 tracks. 37% of those artists were new discoveries, but KAMAUU and Samm Henshaw definitely stood out the most. I came across KAMAUU late in the year and had “BOA” on repeat so fast that it became my top song of the year!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the passings of Sly Stone and D’Angelo, two artists both near and dear to my heart. May they both rest in peace.

Top Artists
  1. Kendrick Lamar
  2. The Roots
  3. Rapsody
  4. OutKast
  5. Run the Jewels
  6. Blackalicious
  7. K-OS
  8. KAMAUU
  9. A Tribe Called Quest
  10. Samm Henshaw
  11. Common
  12. Pharoahe Monch
  13. Anderson .Paak
  14. Gang Starr
  15. Nas
  16. Sly & The Family Stone
  17. Queen
  18. The Main Squeeze
  19. Dilated Peoples
  20. Hieroglyphics
Top Albums
  1. Please Don’t Cry, by Rapsody
  2. To Pimp a Butterfly, by Kendrick Lamar
  3. 3rd Eye Vision, by Hieroglyphics
  4. The Listening, by Little Brother
  5. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, by Lauryn Hill
  6. Nia, by Blackalicious
  7. LACUNA in the House of Mirrors, by KAMAUU
  8. Eve, by Rapsody
  9. Greatest Hits, by Sly & The Family Stone
  10. Black On Both Sides, by Mos Def
  11. GNX, by Kendrick Lamar
  12. Run the Jewels 2, by Run the Jewels
  13. Blazing Arrow, by Blackalicious
  14. Brown Sugar, by D’Angelo
  15. Voodoo, by D’Angelo
  16. Desire, by Pharoahe Monch
  17. RTJ4, by Run the Jewels
  18. Things Fall Apart, by The Roots
  19. Mahogany Soul, by Angie Stone
  20. Panorama, by The Main Squeeze
Top Tracks
  1. “BOA”, by KAMAUU
  2. “Ms. Fat Booty”, by Mos Def
  3. “Get By”, by Talib Kweli
  4. “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”, by Busta Rhymes
  5. “Casio”, by Jungle
  6. “In the End”, by Linkin Park
  7. “Hip-Hop”, by dead prez
  8. “ATLiens”, by OutKast
  9. “Runnin’”, by The Pharcyde
  10. “Electric Relaxation”, by A Tribe Called Quest
  11. “Feels Like Summer”, by Childish Gambino
  12. “The Light”, by Common
  13. “Worst Comes To Worst”, by Dilated Peoples
  14. “Bad Bad News”, by Leon Bridges
  15. “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)”, by Nas
  16. “Elevators (Me & You)”, by OutKast
  17. “Break Ya Neck”, by Busta Rhymes
  18. “Breakadawn”, by De La Soul
  19. “Didn’t Cha Know”, by Erykah Badu
  20. “i”, by Kendrick Lamar

Watching

I watched 47 movies, 13 stand-up specials, and 56 TV shows in 2025! Some of the movie highlights were Dune: Part Two, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Rebel Ridge. Travelers, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, A.P. Bio, and The Expanse impressed me on television. Unfortunately none of the stand-up specials really stood out, with the exception of maybe Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan.

Movies
  1. The Bricklayer (2023)
  2. American Fiction (2023)
  3. Atlas (2024)
  4. Back in Action (2025)
  5. Omni Loop (2024)
  6. Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
  7. The Menu (2022)
  8. My Old Ass (2024)
  9. Dead Money (2024)
  10. Kraven the Hunter (2024)
  11. Den of Thieves (2018)
  12. G20 (2025)
  13. Air (2023)
  14. Fist Fight (2017)
  15. Absolutely Anything (2015)
  16. Beckett (2021)
  17. Thunderbolts* (2025)
  18. Tomorrowland (2015)
  19. Transformers One (2024)
  20. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025)
  21. The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)
  22. The Old Guard 2 (2025)
  23. Superman (2025)
  24. The Out-Laws (2023)
  25. Dumb Money (2023)
  26. The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)
  27. Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You (2022)
  28. Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)
  29. The Accountant² (2025)
  30. Love Hurts (2025)
  31. In a World… (2013)
  32. Idiocracy (2006)
  33. Karate Kid: Legends (2025)
  34. Army of Thieves (2021)
  35. The King’s Man (2021)
  36. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
  37. A House of Dynamite (2025)
  38. Good Will Hunting (1997)
  39. The Midnight Sky (2020)
  40. Mickey 17 (2025)
  41. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (2025)
  42. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
  43. A Working Man (2025)
  44. The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
  45. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)
  46. The Kill Room (2023)
  47. The Wild Robot (2024)
Stand-up Specials
  1. Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It (2024)
  2. Craig Ferguson: I’m So Happy (2024)
  3. Roy Wood Jr.: Lonely Flowers (2025)
  4. Sarah Silverman: PostMortem (2025)
  5. Justin Willman: Magic Lover (2025)
  6. Kelsey Cook: The Hustler (2023)
  7. Your Friend, Nate Bargatze (2024)
  8. Jim Jefferies: Two Limb Policy (2025)
  9. Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy (2025)
  10. Mo Amer: Wild World (2025)
  11. Kevin Hart: Acting My Age (2025)
  12. Atsuko Okatsuka: Father (2025)
  13. Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts (2025)
TV Shows
  1. Interior Chinatown
  2. The Dragon Prince
  3. Agatha All Along
  4. Suits
  5. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
  6. Cobra Kai
  7. Cobra Kai: Inside the Dojo
  8. The Night Agent
  9. Invincible
  10. The Flip Off
  11. The Upshaws
  12. The Expanse
  13. My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman
  14. Loudermilk
  15. Resident Alien
  16. A.P. Bio
  17. Daredevil: Born Again
  18. THE MAGIC PRANK SHOW with Justin Willman
  19. The Residence
  20. The $100,000 Pyramid
  21. Whose Line Is It Anyway?
  22. Celebrity Name Game
  23. Blindspot
  24. Ironheart
  25. Star Wars: Andor
  26. Leverage: Redemption
  27. Upload
  28. Running Point
  29. Psych
  30. The Lincoln Lawyer
  31. What If…?
  32. America Says
  33. The Last of Us
  34. FUBAR
  35. Bones
  36. Fleabag
  37. Match Game
  38. The PokerStars.net Big Game
  39. The 1% Club
  40. Mo
  41. House of Lies
  42. The Queen’s Gambit
  43. How I Met Your Mother
  44. A Discovery of Witches
  45. Shark Tank
  46. A Man on the Inside
  47. The Floor
  48. 25 Words or Less
  49. NCIS
  50. Celebrity Weakest Link
  51. The West Wing
  52. Eureka
  53. The Recruit
  54. High Stakes Poker
  55. Person of Interest
  56. Franklin & Bash

Gigging

I tried to make an effort to attend more live shows in 2025, but unfortunately only managed five shows. The Main Squeeze in February was outstanding. They were on my bucket list of artists that I’ve wanted to see and they did not disappoint. Bilal in September was also something special. He put on an memorable performance in a very unique venue.

Shows
  1. The Main Squeeze
  2. Jimmy O. Yang / Nigel Ng / Dumbfoundead / Matt Friend / Gary Cannon
  3. Josh Johnson
  4. Rose Royce / Big Pocket
  5. Bilal