2025 was a year filled with chaos, community and reflection. Amid the whirlwind, one annual reveal dominated conversations and Instagram stories everywhere: Spotify Wrapped. The music platform’s viral year in review feature details users’ top artists, songs, genres, albums and total listening minutes throughout the year.
The appealing, clickable story format originated from a Spotify intern in 2019 and has since skyrocketed the campaign’s popularity, with over 65 million users engaging with Spotify Wrapped globally.
We asked a total of 19 Castilleja faculty and employees from various departments who their top artists of 2025 were. In addition to Spotify, respondents revealed a range of preferred listening mediums, including vinyl, radio and cassette.
Administration:
When asked to name his Spotify Top Artist of the Year, Head of Upper School Peter Hatala listed the American rock band Turnstile. The platform recorded Hatala among the top one percent of global Turnstile listeners, as he spent a total of 899 minutes listening to them last year.
Front desk administrator Jody Lieb reported Remi Wolf as her top artist for the second year in a row. Additionally, she said her top song of the year was “YA YA” by Beyoncé.
English:
AT English and English II teacher Cam Kaplan listed Kendrick Lamar as his top artist; he spent 733 minutes listening to Lamar. Other artists in his top five included artist Samm Henshaw and folk artist Rabbitology.
Lucy Dacus was English I and AT American Voices teacher Jessie Ewald’s top artist. Dacus is an American indie artist and a member of the band Boygenius, along with singers Phoebe Bridgers and Julian Baker.
Mathematics:
Department Head Emily Landes reported Belgian electronic musician Stromae as her top artist. The majority of Stromae’s music is sung in French, including the 2010 international hit “Alors on danse.”
To no one’s surprise, 10th-grade teacher and advisor Steven Lai told us he was in the top 0.5 percent of Taylor Swift’s listeners. In the U.S., Taylor Swift was the most-streamed Spotify artist of 2025, garnering over 105.8 million monthly listeners.
Counseling/Wellness:
College Counselor Courtney Oben said she doesn’t engage with typical music apps like Spotify or Apple Music. Instead, Oben prefers CDs as her primary form of listening. Oben had Lana Del Rey’s “Honeymoon,” Keyshia Cole’s “The Way It Is,” Celine Dion’s “Let’s Talk about Love,” Beyonce’s “B’Day,” “Cowboy Carter” and Young Thug’s “Jeffery” on replay.
Wellness teacher Lea Pence spent 596 minutes listening to Taylor Swift, her top artist last year. The rest of her Spotify top five included Zach Bryan, the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band and Chris Stapleton.
VPA:
Art and photography teacher Angelica Ortiz Anguiano’s most-streamed artist last year was Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny—the stage name for the Puerto Rican rapper and singer Benito Ocasio—is expected to headline Super Bowl LX this weekend.
Unsurprisingly, dance teacher Karl Kuehn’s top artist of 2025 was Britney Spears. His love for Spears is evident from the moment you are greeted by a life-size cutout of the 2000s pop star in his office, as well as his warm-up tunes during dance class.
History:
Upper School teacher Brigitte Charaus does not track her music-listening statistics on a specific platform. Instead, she gave us a list of her top artists from the last six months of 2025: The Lumineers, The Cure, Van Morrison, U2, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and Loreena McKennitt.
AT U.S. History and Modern World Religions teacher Carly Fox reported her top artist on Spotify as Olivia Dean and some of her most listened to songs as “Quiet Moments” by Lysander, “Worth It” by RAYE, “Hostages” by The Howl & The Hum, “Just Like North” by Angie McMahon and “Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All)” by Lorde. These songs fit with her most listened to genres of folk, pop and soul.
Fitness:
Interim Assistant Athletic Director Daniel Pang spent 4,374 minutes listening to country artist Nick Shoulders, followed by 3,137 minutes listening to bluegrass band The Brothers Comatose. Other artists in his top five include 49 Winchester, Tyler Childers and Slender Gems.
Computer Science and Engineering:
Engineering teacher and Gatorbotics coach Nico Gallo explained that his Spotify Wrapped is not tailored to him, as his Spotify account is linked to the Bourne Lab. Consequently, Gatorbotics and other Bourne Lab listeners had Foo Fighters as their 2025 top artist.
Gallo listens to music through cassette tapes in his car. His top-played tape was Phil Collins’ “No Jacket Required.”
Engineering and Physics teacher Bryan Valek, an Amazon Music user, reported his top artist as Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, an American rock artist. Top songs include “If We Were Vampires,” “Last of My Kind” and “Alabama Pines.”
World Languages:
Spanish II teacher Jeff Mayfield’s Apple Music Replay disclosed American rock band Steely Dan as his top artist with 653 listening minutes. Coming in second on Mayfield’s list was Snoop Dog at 533 minutes.
Library:
Associate Librarian Samira Bozorgi’s most-streamed artist was Zaho de Sagazan. W Bozorgi said she was introduced to French music through friends in the music industry.
Associate Librarian Elise Bernal primarily listened to music on CDs, YouTube and Bandcamp, but felt that her most listened to artist was folk singer Haley Heynderickx. When asked for her recommendations, Bernal promoted albums “Song of a Seed” and “What of Our Nature,” as well as songs “This Morning I Am Born Again,” Song of a Seed” and “Song for Alicia.”
Science:
Lastly, we talked to Physics teacher Jon Rockman. Rockman listens to music on his SiriusXM radio. On the radio channel “The Spectrum,” which blends modern and classic rock music, Rockman’s most-streamed artist was Mumford & Sons. Rockman’s top song of 2025 was “Nothing I Need” by Lord Huron.
______
In 2025, Castilleja faculty had diverse, intriguing and niche listening habits. If you found any artists in common, be sure to strike up a conversation with your teachers!
