‘Tis the season for year-end lists, including those that opine on who won and who lost during 2025. Here are my picks for the winners and losers in music for the year.

Winner: Oasis

Somehow, the Oasis reunion worked beyond anyone’s wildest predictions. Liam and Noel hung together for 41 shows across five continents, drawing 2.89 million fans and grossing CAD$734.8 million at the box office, with untallied millions in merchandising sales. They — well, their fans — also set a record at Wembley Stadium by consuming an average of 250,000 pints of beer (worth more than two million pounds) on each night during their seven-show run. It’s possible (but not confirmed) that Oasis may have had a food and beverage clause in their contract, entitling them to a percentage of concession sales, including beer. Smart move if they did.

Click to play video: 'Oasis set to play at Toronto’s Rogers Stadium'

2:01 Oasis set to play at Toronto’s Rogers Stadium

Winner: Coldplay

The never-ending Music of the Spheres tour has pushed Coldplay to the top of the list of the highest-grossing touring acts of the millennium. Between 2001 and the end of this year, they’ve brought in US$2.48 billion and sold 24.8 million tickets, according to Pollstar, the live music bible. U2 is second, followed by Ed Sheeran and The Dave Matthews Band. Taylor Swift is down in fifth place, but she started touring later.

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Winner:

Not only did she pick up seven American Music Awards, but Billie Eilish also managed to get under Elon Musk’s skin by calling him a “p—y b-tch coward” at the Wall Street Journal Innovators Award in November for hoarding so much wealth in the midst of a global economic crisis. He responded by suggesting she was “not the sharpest tool in the shed.” Ooo, good one.

(L-R:) Billie Eilish attends the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards at The Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 29, 2025, in New York and Elon Musk at the 10th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Jeffrey Mayer/MediaPunch

Winner: TikTok

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TikTok continues to create viral hits, often with unexpected songs and artists. The platform now influences everything from chart positions and streams to music sales and awards nominations. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with TikTok when (if) the sale of its U.S.-based assets to American interests is finalized.

Winner: Wired headphones

After years of forcing wireless headphones and earbuds on people who want to listen to music on their phones (hello, Apple), wired headphones are making something of a comeback for a variety of reasons. Celebrity endorsements help, but being seen with a wire dangling from your headphones is once again making a fashion statement, showing that you’ve opted out of at least some of the digital world. Once phones start handling lossless files (ie, better-than-CD uncompressed music), wired headphones will become essential because Bluetooth connections don’t offer enough bandwidth. It’s a trend to watch in 2026. Subplot: Physical music magazines might be making a comeback. SPIN, NME and Creem are printing issues again, while Mojo, Rolling Stone, Record Collector and Alternative Press are keeping up the fight.

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Winner: Rock

After years in the wilderness behind hip-hop and pop, rock is making a comeback. It was the second most-streamed genre in the U.S. and Canada, driven by young people discovering older songs via streaming and social media. Collectively, rock acts are selling more concert tickets than anyone else, too. Will the political situation in the U.S. drive more people to loud, aggressive, angry music in 2026? We’ll see.

Winner: Vinyl

For the second year in a row, vinyl outsold compact discs by a significant margin — 200,000 units — in Canada, and posted a year-over-year increase of about 20 per cent. This hasn’t happened since the early ’90s, and the vinyl resurrection shows no signs of slowing down. Sub-winner: Turntables.

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A vinyl record plays on a turntable. – Getty images.

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Loser: Drake

Not only did he get snubbed in all the big categories at the Grammys, but Drake also went head-to-head with Kendrick Lamar and his own record label, Universal Music, over the insult and defamation he alleged with Lamar’s song, Not Like Us, which was released in 2024. Champagne Papi did not prevail. The good news for him is that he was still the fourth most-streamed artist on Spotify this year, two places ahead of Lamar.

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Loser: Flesh-and-blood musicians

Tensions continue over the use of AI in making music. While AI is here to stay, its role in music creation is still being determined through lawsuits and adjustments in copyright laws. Meanwhile, streaming platforms are being inundated with AI-generated music. In September, Paris-based streamer Deezer announced that 28 per cent of all new uploads were, in fact, AI in origin. They know this because Deezer has one of the best AI detection software programs in the business. Meanwhile, AI “artists” like Xania Monet, Breaking Rust, Cain Walker and Velvet Sundown — none of which contain real people — were listened to tens of millions of times.

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Loser: Spotify

Earlier this month, there was a security breach at Spotify in which a group of hackers gained access to the metadata of 256 million songs (ie, Spotify’s entire library). And it got worse. About 15.43 million artists, 58.6 million albums and roughly 300 terabytes of music were stolen. Or, as the hackers say, “backed up.” Spotify had to move fast to try to contain the problem. Stay tuned.

Loser: Taylor Swift

Don’t hate me because I’m just reporting the facts. Taylor Swift had seven Grammy nominations but won nothing. She also didn’t win anything at the American Music Awards. But Swifties aren’t concerned. They know she’ll be back.

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Loser: Katy Perry

What was supposed to be her comeback album, 1432, was a disaster from a streaming, sales and PR point of view. It also didn’t help that she was slammed after winning a US$1.8 million payout from a dying military veteran in a real estate dispute. This came after her battle with a convent full of nuns and an appearance on the TV show Elsbeth, where her character killed a nun. I hope Justin Trudeau knows what he’s getting into.

Loser: Apple Podcasts

After inventing the entire concept of mass distribution of podcasts almost 20 years ago, Apple has squandered its lead in the space to Spotify and YouTube, largely because of the increasing prevalence of video podcasts. Can they catch up? Do they have the will?

Coming next week: Predictions for 2026 …

 

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