Sound the klaxons, alert the group chats, and prepare your stan accounts for battle. The nominations for the 2025 Dork Readers’ Poll – the single most important, scientifically rigorous cultural barometer on earth – are officially in. After our open submissions period – during which you, Dear Reader, proved once again that democracy is only as stable as the fandom with the fastest Wi-Fi – we now have the full list of finalists across all eight categories. And frankly? It’s chaos in the most beautiful way.
Some artists surged so far ahead in the nominations that they were practically carried into the room on a velvet chaise. CMAT leads the pack with four award nominations (Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Track of the Year and Best Live Act), confirming once again that the Venn diagram of “entertaining”, “brilliant”, and “iconic” is just a circle with her face in the middle.
Close behind with multiple nominations Djo, Wolf Alice, Turnstile, James Marriott, Hayley Williams, Twenty One Pilots, Geese, Louis Tomlinson, Pulp, and 5 Seconds of Summer, all of whom now find themselves in the strangely high-pressure position of hoping an online fan poll will secure their legacy. The stakes? Astronomical. The objectivity? Nonexistent. The drama? Delicious.
Meanwhile, in the Breakthrough and Hype categories, the new generation came out swinging. Addison Rae, Antony Szmierek, Chloe Qisha, Cliffords, Florence Road, Keo and Westside Cowboy each racked up nods in those early-career categories, making it clear that 2025’s emerging class is less “promising newcomer” and more “give us the headline slots already”.
But enough teasing. Here are your 2025 Dork Readers’ Poll Award finalists.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Addison Rae – ‘Addison’
CMAT – ‘Euro Country’
Djo – ‘The Crux’
Geese – ‘Getting Killed’
Hayley Williams – ‘Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party’
Inhaler – ‘Open Wide’
James Marriott – ‘Don’t Tell The Dog’
Turnstile – ‘Never Enough’
Twenty One Pilots – ‘Breach’
Wolf Alice – ‘The Clearing’
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
CMAT
Djo
Geese
Hayley Williams
James Marriott
Olivia Dean
Sam Fender
Turnstile
Twenty One Pilots
Wolf Alice
BEST COMEBACK
5 Seconds of Summer
Lewis Capaldi
Lily Allen
Oasis
Pulp
BEST LIVE ACT
CMAT
Fontaines D.C.
James Marriott
Kneecap
Turnstile
BREAKTHROUGH ACT
Addison Rae
Alessi Rose
Antony Szmierek
Panic Shack
Welly
HYPE AWARD
Chloe Qisha
Cliffords
Florence Road
Keo
Westside Cowboy
MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUM FOR 2026
Charli XCX
Harry Styles
Louis Tomlinson
Olivia Rodrigo
The 1975
TRACK OF THE YEAR
5 Seconds of Summer – ‘Not OK’
CMAT – ‘Take A Sexy Picture of Me’
Confidence Man & Jade – ‘Gossip’
Djo – ‘Basic Being Basic’
Lorde – ‘What Was That’
Louis Tomlinson – ‘Lemonade’
PinkPantheress – ‘Illegal’
Pulp – ‘Spike Island’
Role Model – ‘Sally, When The Wine Runs Out’
Wolf Alice – ‘The Sofa’
With voting now open for Phase Two, it’s up to you to decide who wins these extremely serious, highly scientific, definitely impartial awards. You can vote once per day at dorkreaderspoll.com, because nothing says “fair and reasonable process” like the ability to repeatedly vote for the same artist until your conscience gives out.
The winners – as determined by the most powerful force in music: the fans – will be revealed before the end of the year on readdork.com.
Good luck to everyone involved. And by “good luck”, we mean: may the most dedicated fanbase win.
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