Sounds of the season

From those about to apply, we give you a playlist

The height of the college application season approaches. Between now and the college’s application deadline in mid-February, thousands of high school seniors will apply for admission to Wheaton’s Class of 2030. 

What are they listening to while working on their applications? We asked students from across the country, and they told us. So, we turned their most-recommended tracks into a playlist for the moment that offers a glimpse of future Wheaties.  

What really stands out from this Top 20 is its eclectic nature. The playlist reflects the influence of music streaming and social media where today’s hits mingle with rediscovered tunes from the past, like recent Billboard favorite “Ordinary” by Alex Warren, followed by The Stranglers’ 1982 release “Golden Brown.” And many of those new songs reference sounds of the past—’60s psychedelia, ’70s R&B, ’80s New Wave and the Garage Rock revival of the ’90s. 

While you won’t be surprised to find Taylor Swift well represented, who was expecting to see rockabilly revivalist Chris Isaak? 

Have a listen to the entire playlist on Spotify or pick out your favorites below!

Alex Warren: “Ordinary”

The song released in 2025 spent a record-breaking 10 weeks at #1 and Billboard named it the Song of the Summer for 2025. It’s a dramatic tune with an atmospheric chamber pop production style, and you’re likely to keep hearing it as the background for “Year in Review” reels on social media for the next few weeks.

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Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars: “Die With A Smile” 

Released in late 2024, this track has been ubiquitous all year. In September, it won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards and was nominated for Song of the Year.

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The Stranglers: “Golden Brown”

You’ve heard this baroque, harpsichord-heavy song, even if you missed it the first time around. The song was released in 1981 by English Punk/New Wave band the Stranglers. It didn’t get much notice in the U.S. at the time, but it’s experiencing a vibrant second life as an online sensation, even earning some radio play it didn’t receive the first time around. 

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Morgan Wallen: “Dark Till Daylight”

A former contestant on The Voice who has become a major country music star, Wallen’s latest album, I’m The Problem, is one of the most dominant albums of 2025 and this song is the most-played track. It’s a dark, minor key ballad with twang and highly polished production. 

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Taylor Swift: “Wood” 

Of course, Taylor Swift made the list, three times actually. “Wood” is the most played track from her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl. It’s filled with pop hooks that owe more than a nod to Motown and disco, as well as lyrical innuendo, apparently about her fiancée NFL star Travis Kelce that has caught the attention of her fans. 

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Taylor Swift: “Red (Taylor’s Version)”

A blend of country and arena rock with banjo, glossy guitars and swirling synth parts, the song remains one of the most critically and commercially celebrated entries in her catalog, and it is still a streaming staple. Naturally, the recommended version is part of her systematic, highly produced “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings that were produced to regain control of her work.

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Taylor Swift: “right where you left me” 

A bonus track on 2020’s evermore album, “Red” has achieved “cult classic” status among Swifties. It is frequently used in 2025 to describe “situationships” that never officially ended, resonating with Gen Z’s dating fatigue.

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Burna Boy: “Alone” 

“Alone” is widely regarded as one of the most emotionally powerful songs by Burna Boy, the performing name of Nigerian singer and songwriter Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, who made our playlist twice. This song, released in 2022, is featured on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, which has only added to its ongoing popularity. 

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Burna Boy: “Love” 

It’s one of the standout songs on 2025’s No Sign of Weakness, hitting No. 1 in Nigeria, Top 5 on  U.K. and U.S. Afrobeats charts and already being pushed on U.S. TV (The Tonight Show performance with “Update” and “Love”). Plus it’s a 2026 Grammy contender for Best African Music Performance—so it’s very much a live, current hit.

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Rod Wave: “25” 

Rod Wave, the stage name of Rodarius Marcell Green, scores two songs on our playlist. This first one, “25,” was released last year but seems particularly well-timed for 2025, as a “birthday anthem” for people born in 2020. Yes, there are a few social media reels using this melancholic trap-style ballad.

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Rod Wave: “2018” 

As 2025 ends, nostalgia for the “pre-pandemic” era is high and if this duet with Sadie Jean sounds nostalgic for the “before” time, it’s no accident: it was released in 2023 as a single from his Nostalgia album. The sad and wistful nature of the song keeps it in circulation on social media. In particular, it’s popular in the “How much I’ve changed since 2018” video trend.

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Sam Smith: “Fire on Fire” 

English singer and songwriter Sam Smith has two songs on the list as well. Like some of the other tunes here, this 2018 track also sits squarely in the “sad ballad” tradition that appears regularly on Spotify’s mood playlists. It’s also a favorite backing track for “BookTok” (book community) reels, specifically for fantasy romance novels released in 2025.

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Sam Smith: “Kids Again” 

As the title suggests, “Kids Again” is a nostalgic and melancholy tune with a nod to 1980s power pop ballads. (Listen to those booming drums!) Released in 2020, the song’s swooping and soaring melody shows off Smith’s range as a vocalist. 

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Glass Animals: “Heat Waves” 

When this song was released in 2020, some fans panned it as generic and a departure from the band’s quirky style. Well, no matter, this atmospheric pop tune with trap beats got plenty of positive attention just the same. It has become one of their biggest hits and has been a fixture on the charts for more than a year. 

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The White Stripes: “Seven Nation Army” 

Released nearly 20 years ago, this song by The White Stripes has never really gone away, enjoying a very long life as a hype track in countless sports stadiums, not to mention a popular cover for high school marching and pep bands. Also, the signature guitar riff Jack White came up with is just hopelessly catchy.  

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Chris Isaak: “Wicked Game” 

There was a time when Chris Isaak’s biggest hit was impossible to avoid. Roughly a year after its 1989 release, it hit the top 10 and received so much radio play that it became tiresome, at least to some. Since then, it’s been featured in numerous movie and television soundtracks and covered by more than 100 other artists from Tenacious D and Finnish goth rock band HIM to London Grammar and Celine Dion. The original is enjoying yet another “second life” at the moment. 

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The Goo Goo Dolls: “Iris” 

This song is the archetype for alternative rock power ballads of the late ’90s. It was originally written for the film City of Angels, but it turned into the career-defining hit for the Goo Goo Dolls, who are currently planning a tour in 2026. You can expect that this tune will be a highlight of every show; it’s obviously still popular on streaming platforms today. 

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The Weeknd: “Blinding Lights” 

Clearly inspired by the New Wave sound of the 1980s, “Blinding Lights” is one of the defining pop songs of the 2020s. It held multiple Hot 100 longevity records and, as of August 2025, it was the first track to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify—so it remains omnipresent on radio, playlists and in concerts by The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye).

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Avicii: “The Nights” 

This is certainly not the first song to appear online before a label release, but it was still a fairly new phenomenon when Swedish DJ and producer Avicii posted it on YouTube in 2012. It became a global hit thanks to its euphoric sound, a melody vaguely reminiscent of a pirate sea chanty and the refrain “One day you’ll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember” that continues to be sampled frequently on social media. 

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Lord Huron: “The Night We Met” 

This folk-rock ballad, released in 2015, has become a modern classic breakup song. It got a huge boost two years later when it was included in the popular and controversial Netflix movie 13 Reasons Why. As of 2025, it has surpassed 3.2+ billion Spotify streams.

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