Apple Music has unveiled its definitive look at the year in music, crowning the collaborative hit "APT." by Rosé and Bruno Mars as its global song of the year for 2025. The announcement coincides with the launch of Apple Music Replay, the service's personalised year-in-review feature designed to rival the popular Spotify Wrapped.
Global Chart Toppers and Streaming Dominance
Released in 2024, the Grammy-nominated track "APT." demonstrated remarkable staying power, securing the coveted number one position on Apple Music's global year-end song chart. This marks a first chart-topper of this kind for both artists. The song's success extended beyond the main chart, also claiming the top spot on Apple's Shazam Global Radio Spins chart, the Top 100: Global Radio chart, and the platform's most-read lyrics chart.
"The phenomenal global success of Rosé and Bruno Mars' 'APT.' has been a powerful reminder that great songs will always transcend borders," stated Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s co-head.
The second place was taken by Kendrick Lamar and SZA with "Luther," while Bruno Mars featured again in third, this time with Lady Gaga on "Die With a Smile." Lamar's 2024 hit "Not Like Us" returned to claim fourth, and Billie Eilish's "Birds of a Feather" completed the top five. Kendrick Lamar's album GNX proved particularly dominant, with five of its tracks landing in the global Top 25.
Apple Music Replay Rivals Spotify Wrapped
Also launching on Tuesday 2nd December is Apple Music Replay, the platform's answer to Spotify's annual Wrapped campaign. This feature allows subscribers to dive deep into their personal listening statistics from the past year.
Key highlights of Replay include a Discovery feature for tracking new artists, Loyalty insights showing consistently played acts, and Comebacks highlighting artists who have returned to a user's rotation. Listeners can also uncover their total minutes listened, number of artists played, longest artist streak, and favourite genres.
In a move supporting artists, musicians will gain access to tools allowing them to share their own listenership growth and year-over-year performance summaries directly with their fans.
Artist of the Year and Chart Diversity
In a related honour, Apple Music last month named Tyler, the Creator its Artist of the Year for 2025. Following the release of his acclaimed album Chromakopia, the rapper amassed a staggering 4.5 billion minutes of listening time on the platform between November 2024 and October 2025.
An analysis of the broader year-end Top 100 songs reveals a nuanced picture for gender representation. While women were credited on 36 of the 100 tracks—a slight decrease from 39 in 2024—their presence in the highest echelons grew significantly. Seven of the Top 10 songs were by or featured a woman, more than double the total from the previous year.
The simultaneous release of the global charts and the personalised Replay feature positions Apple Music for a direct engagement with its user base during the key year-end period, setting the stage for an ongoing battle for listener attention in the competitive streaming landscape.
