A well-placed song can enhance or even transform a television scene — make it more memorable, funnier, more emotional, sexier, all the things. Inversely, a bad choice can make a scene feel goofier. You don’t want to hear Sisqó's “Thong Song” while the Heated Rivalry boys bang or Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” while theYellowjackets girlies eat another one of their teammates. Or maybe you do, who knows.
In 2025, TV shows were full of thoughtful, unexpected, and sometimes ironic needle drops. They truly had it all: From ’90s rock to early ’00s indie sleaze to a goddamned marching band! Below are some of the best musical moments we were blessed us last year.
Yellowjackets S3E01
“I Will Survive” (Cake)
Doomed Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) enters to this song at the very end of this episode. He’s survived this long on his own without the girls but stumbles upon Mari (Alexa Barajas) trapped in one of the pits he used to catch food. She screams for help and he just stares down at her. Ben finding Mari leads directly to his death later on in the season (and hers), retroactively making this needle drop even better.
Heated Rivalry S1E04
“All the Things She Said” (t.a.T.u. + Harrison)
The song comes at the perfect moment — we know Shane (Hudson Williams) and Ilya (Connor Storrie) are in love, yet the boys have broken up. Each notices the other dancing with a woman, each tries his hardest to pretend he doesn’t notice the other. The 2002 song, originally by Russian duo t.a.T.u., transitions into a slowed-down cover, with male vocals, as the boys are thinking of each other, locking eyes. It’s the absolute perfect use of the song.
The Marching Band
The show’s second season had a lot of twists and turns, per usual. But this season had one turn that no one could’ve anticipated—a marching band. Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) announces “choreography and merriment” in celebration of the completion of the Cold Habor file. Enter: a god damned marching band playing the Kier anthem with full-on choreography. The scene is played out in full, with our characters just as confused as we are watching — it's wonderful chaos.
Daredevil: Born Again S1E9
“Everything in Its Right Place” (Radiohead)
The Daredevil: Born Again finale saw Kingpin's (Vincent D'Onofrio) reign as a Trump-like mayor of New York hit what seemed like a complete win. He’d created problems he took credit for solving, literally squashed the police commissioner’s head, outlawed vigilantism, captured the Punisher (aka Frank Castle, portrayed by Jon Bernthal), and enacted a curfew. All seemed lost until Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) gave Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) the inspiring speech he needed — and we get a truly beautiful needle drop when she kisses his forehead afterward. We see our hero put his Daredevil mask back on and narrate over the song about the corrupt, rotten system — we check in with almost every character we saw throughout the season, all but Kingpin looking sad — and Murdock’s Daredevil ends the montage and narration saying they must resist and rebuild, as he enters the bar containing his new team. It’s a wild build-up that will hopefully pay off next season.
Wayward S1E8
“Help I'm Alive” (Metric)
After a season of Evelyn Wade (Toni Collette) getting her way and basically torturing teens at Tall Pines, the teens finally rebel. This song drops as we hear facility guard Duck (Joshua Close) saying, “They’re up to something.” He then frantically searches for Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) and Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind) but, in a perfect moment of solidarity, all the kids are dressed like the two girls, helping them escape. Bonus points for this same song being played at the end of I Love LA S1E5 when Maia (Rachel Sennott) finds out Lukas (Froy Gutierrez) has died.
Yellowjackets S3E01
“I Think We're Alone Now” (Tiffany) and “Glycerin” (Bush)
This season didn’t give us many moments of happiness, but when Tai (Tawny Cypress) and Van (Lauren Ambrose) decide to dine and ditch at a very upscale restaurant, we get the Tiffany needle drop as if this were a fun romantic comedy. The song pauses so we can watch the waiter chasing them die real quick (oops), then we cut back to them in an alleyway laughing. As they kiss, the Bush needle drops. Waiter death aside, it’s a fun moment for two characters who will get about zero more fun moments in the rest of the season.
Alien: Earth S1E5
“Cherub Rock” (The Smashing Pumpkins)
After an entire episode giving us the backstory for cyborg antagonist Morrow (Babou Ceesay), we cut to his meeting with Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver). If you’ve watched any of the previous installments of the franchise, you know that name even if you don’t know her face: Yutani is also the name evil corporation behind most of the bad shit that happens. She says to an assistant, “Whatever he wants, he gets.” and in comes the Smashing Pumpkins. Morrow walks off to the balcony overlooking the city. We pan out as the song gets louder and the heavy guitar riffs come in, and Morrow knows he’s got one of the most powerful companies on his side. The world is his oyster, and he’s ready to fuck shit up (even more).
The Beast in Me S1E5
“Let’s Dance” (David Bowie)
An episode after we’ve learned Niles Jarvis (Matthew Rhy) is indeed a serial killer, Aggie Wiggs (Claire Danes) finds the fact out herself. She runs to call Agent Abbott (David Lyons), with whom she’d been in touch, to tell him she has proof Jarvis forged his ex-wife’s suicide letter. What she doesn’t know is that Jarvis has killed Abbott and has his phone. When he doesn’t answer, he sees the text she sends to the deceased agent: “You need to call me. NOW. He killed Madison. I have proof.” Jarvis replies, as Abbott, “Wait ’til I see you. Tell no one." He then throws the phone in the ocean. We pan out as the Bowie needle drops, creating a delicious moment that communicates to the audience that our two main characters are about to have some shit go down. They’re gonna dance.
Stranger Things S5E2
“Fernando” (ABBA)
Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) is fighting for her life as a Demogorgon throws her around her room like a ragdoll. She’s screaming for help. We cut to her mom, Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono), drunk and preparing herself a bubble bath as the song plays loudly on her stereo. The song continues to play through one of the best sequences of the new season: The Demogorgon absolutely rips through the Wheeler house and family to get to Holly as the Swedish band sings softly about there being something in the air that night.
Yellowjackets S3E10
“Livin’ on the Edge” (Aerosmith)
The season-long arc of Shauna (Melanie Lynskey and Sophie Nélisse) rising to full-on supervillain hits its breaking point in both timelines in the finale. In the flashback timeline, our survivors finally started to realize who was manipulating them — and it was the devil herself, Shauna fucking Shipman. All felt lost for our stranded survivors ... that is, until young Shauna (Nélisse) started looking for young Natalie (Sophie Thatcher). She realizes the survivors have duped her and screams, “Where the fuck is Natalie?!”, which leads to a quick zoom-out to the snowy terrain. Here comes the needle drop. We see young Natalie use the newly repaired satellite phone to call for help form atop a mountain. The song stops as she’s screaming for help over the phone — until we hear a reply from someone saying they can hear her — then kicks back in, leaving us with hope for our young survivors as we head into what will be the show’s final season.
Overcompensating S1E7
“The Black Parade” (My Chemical Romance)
The show has previously told us that Grace (Mary Beth Barone) had emo roots, which she turned her back on to become a popular mean girl. But she gets her groove back by singing MCR at a local karaoke bar. This happens as her brother, our main character Benny (Benito Skinner), hooks up with his old best friend Sammy (Lukas Gage), whom he’d once brutally rebuffed, choosing to stay in the closet instead. Both characters are embracing parts of themselves they'd hidden. It’s a really lovely moment fittingly set to one of the most iconic emo bands out there.
Heated Rivalry S1E3 and S1E5
“I'll Believe in Anything” (Wolf Parade)
The third episode of this first season was all about star hockey player Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) falling in love with sweet barista Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.). The Wolf Parade song drops as Scott is on his run to the smoothie shop where he will meet Kip. The song's lyrics, “I need sunshine,” set up a callback to Kip’s best friend Elena (Nadine Bhabha) dancing with Scott, telling him that both boys “deserve sunshine.” It’s a beautiful moment that leads to an even more beautiful moment at the end of episode 5: Scott Hunter’s team has just won the cup, and as the lyrics “I need sunshine” play again, he looks over at Kip and calls him down to the ice as the other players have done with their girlfriends. They kiss, finally making their relationship public, prompting our beloved Ilya (Connor Storrie) to call Shane (Hudson Williams) and tell him he will be going to the cottage with him, making us all weep. A happy ending on top of a happy ending.
