My 2025 Favourites: Top Books, Music, Movies and TV of the Year

Chiara Bressan
Jan 1
7 min read

Updated: Jan 4

Drum roll ladies and gentlemen, the 2025 favourites are here. We successfully completed another lap around the sun, and I put together a list of the best cultural products I consumed this year, divided by category and according to my humble personal taste. Beware - this is simply my opinion, and it does not correspond to a list of the best cultural products released in 2025, for the below-mentioned items are from different years.

Books

Let's kick things off with books. This year I've read 20 books, and I can confidently mention 5 among my top favourites of 2025. Few but good.

The Bell Jar

On the top step of the podium, the timeless The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Did we have any doubts? That very famous fig analogy will stay with me forever. Navigating youth as a woman going through a mind-blowing existential crisis between sad thoughts and bitter realizations? Colour me interested, always. The Bell Jar and Sylvia are also the OG (old grandmas, lol) of the sad hot girl aesthetic, of which you can read in my previous article What Is The Sad Hot Girl Aesthetic, Really? , in case you're still confused or totally new to the name.

Conversations With Friends

Next up, the one and only Sally Rooney. After reading Intermezzo in 2024, and Normal People in 2020, this year I decided to dive into Conversations With Friends and I loved it, since you're reading about it here. Sally, you describe the complex world of relationships like no one else, please keep doing that. You keep writing, and I'll keep reading.

Conversations On Love

I was apparently in the mood for some conversations in the winter loneliness of my studio apartment, since I also read Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn. A warm intimate and enlightening chat about love in its various forms, from lovers to friends and family, stemmed from the author's bimonthly newsletter at RED magazine.

Come As You Are

Something was definitely up with me and relationship books this year, because my next favourite is Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski, a super interesting dive into the complexity of women sexuality from both a biological and psychological perspective, without taboos, judgements or labels. Recommended not for women only, but for everybody.

Beautiful World, Where Are You

The last entry that I couldn't keep out of my podium (of 5?) is another Sally Rooney. Beautiful World, Where Are You probably resonated with me even more than Conversations With Friends because the protagonists are young women my own age, facing fears and relationship dynamics shared by an entire generation. Rooney writes in a simple yet poetic style, rendering the love scenes in a sensual manner, never vulgar, but gentle and sweet.

Music

It was with great pleasure that I realized the majority of my favourite 2025 albums had been produced by women, and here are my takes.

Alpha

I had the honour of meeting the indie artist Galine in person (you can read our thorough conversation in my articles Music, Art, And Words: A Conversation With Galine and Alpha And Beyond: A Conversation With Galine - Part 2 ) before her first album release, Alpha, and it became one of my top favourite of 2025. I love her voice and bluesy-soul style, music and lyrics both sound meaningful and I genuinely think she deserves to be known, together with these other two Belgian artists and three Belgian bands you should give a listen to.

La Symphonie Des Éclairs

Among my 2025 top-streamed artists there's also Zaho de Sagazan with her incredible La Symphonie Des Éclairs, visionary album that I listened to in its expanded version Le dernier des voyages. I'm definitely biased for the language here, which adds a lovely musicality to the lyrics. But Zaho's work is much more complex. She plays with words and use them in a magic blend of poems, futuristic synths and classical French ballads. Read more about her and other French artists in my article 3 French Women Singers Worth Knowing.

The Secret Of Us

2025 also spoke to the broken-hearted sad girly part of me, as you could already grasp from my favourite books, and what better soundtrack than Gracie Abrams to match the sad girl vibe? Blowing Smoke has literally been the theme of my crying sessions for a long time, in loop. It was actually a big part of 2024 but it got me through the first part of the new year as well. The album The Secret Of Us kept me company, helped me let things out, write journal pages, and enjoy my own company looking out of the window, while contemplating little pains and regrets. It's an album I'm grateful to, so it deserves the 2025 top albums mention. Is Gracie Abrams the new Taylor Swift, by the way? While I'm not a fan of the latter, I think Gracie might be a legitimate - and even better - successor.

The Art Of Loving

Last but not least, Olivia Dean's The Art Of Loving was a pleasant surprise, given that I had never really listened to her previous work. She pulls off what is in my opinion her natural element: a mix of jazz, blues, and pop-soul that her voice is perfectly suited for. I wrote about it in my article 3 Newly Released Albums That Everybody Is Talking About , together with Rosalía's Lux and Florence's Everybody Scream.

Honourable Mentions

Over the course of 2025 I've also been obsessed with some singles. On top of the list, EoO by Bad Bunny. I can't resist some good old booty-shaking, the Latin groove always gets to me and, honestly, I thought his new album Debí Tirar Más Fotos was good, mixing old school vibes with contemporary tunes. Influenced by Galine, I've also streamed in loop Louie Bag by Yebba. Love the song and her music style. The whole Dawn album is worth a listen, she's good. The New Yorker wrote about it, you can read the article if subscribed. For the romantics out there, Gigi Perez's At The Beach, In Every Life is what you're looking for. Gabriel Rios's I'm Gonna Die Tonight is another little gem that joined my playlist this year. I've also streamed a lot - like, a lot - of techno and electronic music because of my gym sessions. Top ranked, the Belgian DJ Amelie Lens. I've been recently listening to Hozier's Unreal Unearth to better understand his poetics, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet before having dived better into his lyrics.

Movies

It wasn't a great year for movies. I've watched 34, a lot of average nice-to-watch-on-a-lazy-night kind of movie, but very few standing out.

There's Still Tomorrow

This Italian-played and produced black and white movie from 2023 tells about history and women with an ironic and bittersweet cut. Set in 1946 Italy, when women first exercised their right to vote, we follow the household life of Delia, juggling between her family and toxic relationship with her husband, and her personal aspirations.

A moving portrait of a historic moment and cultural reflection.

The trailer of There's Still Tomorrow

Before Sunrise

I'm cheating here because this is a rewatch. Before Sunrise by Richard Linklater is among my favourite all times movies, and I regularly rewatch it almost every year. Each time I'm moved by how sweet and delicate and intimate and poetic it is, and extremely romantic. I'm in love with some of the scenes and the 90s setting.

This first chapter of the Before Trilogy is a night-long conversation encapsulating the magic of encounters and the poetry of 20-year-old reverie.

The trailer of Before Sunrise

Little Women

Little Women is the perfect winter movie. It's a cozy and warm story that serves as a reminder to appreciate and rejoice in the little things, in the simple gestures of kindness towards others and genuine affection from our loved ones.

An all feminine coming-of-age tale, about love and human bonds and growing up. The March sisters know how to warm up your heart and your winter.

The trailer of Little Women

TV series

Conversations with friends

It comes with no surprise that after reading the book, I turned to the screen adaptation of Conversations With Friends. Although not as perfect as the Normal People screen version, I appreciated Conversations With Friends a lot. The actors were brilliant in transposing the characters' personalities and dynamics and I loved the Frances and Nick plotline representation.

Sally Rooney's adaptations managed so far to stay very true to the books and grasp the essence of her stories.

The trailer of Conversations with friends

Derry Girls 3

This was the year I finally finished watching Derry Girls. I had started it a few years ago, when the last season had not come out yet, and I've only recently had the chance to complete the cycle. What a sitcom. It's a real comfort show for me: quick to watch, funny, ironic but also reflective. Plus that Irish accent cracks me up. Set in the 90s in Derry, Northern Ireland, after the Troubles era, it offers a realistic picture of what it means to grow up in the backdrop of a civil conflict, between adolescent struggles, internalized hatred and Catholic conservatism.

Series 3 ending made me cry in the last two episodes, blending historic breakthroughs with the hope and trust in overcoming hostility and coming together as brothers and humans.