It’s time to ring in the new year with a look back at the year that was. 2025 was an interesting 12 months for the heavy music scene, full of some surprising mainstream chart success, sold out arena headline tours and more. Encouragingly, those accolades weren’t just limited to just the usual suspects either.
But while artists new and old have been rising up the ranks, there’s no denying that 2025 was bittersweet. We were met with a staggering amount of loss as so many metal and rock icons left this mortal coil, including the veritable godfather of the genre: Ozzy Osbourne.
On a more positive note, Theprp continued its upward momentum in 2025, besting a stellar 2024. 2025 also saw Theprp receiving its second most trafficked year to date — one hell of an accomplishment for its 26th year. Personally, 2025 was a very trying year, with illness and months of recovery in the immediate family making running this site incredibly challenging at times. You may have noticed some lapses in coverage, but thankfully, in recent weeks, things appear to be getting back to normal with positive outcomes all around.
Adversity aside, this year saw Theprp.com receive its first major overhaul in roughly a decade, with the site having newly been rebuilt from the group up backend wise. Months of work led to addressing numerous lingering issues that had begun to pile up with the past incarnation of the site, while also adding modern functionality, features and increased speed and stability.
Now, with all that out of the way, below you can find the list of the most-viewed stories that ran on theprp.com this past year. While it may be surprising to see some of the ‘bigger’ stories not making the cut, we live in a very algorithm-dominated world these days.
That is evidenced entirely in this list, where the two top stories each comfortably crested past 100,000 views, with the third story narrowly falling short of that mark. Furthermore, these below stories alone accounted for a cumulative 1.3 million pageviews. Here’s what you, the readers, clicked on the most in 2025:
- #25. Primus Officially Reveal Their New Drummer
- #24. Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch & James “Munky” Shaffer Say Sleep Token ‘Shut Up’ The Naysayers At 2025 ‘Download Festival’: “They Went Bigger Than A Slipknot Stage…”
- #23. Opener Announced For Marilyn Manson’s Spring U.S. Tour
- #22. Daron Malakian On System Of A Down Possibly Starting A ‘New Story’ With New Music: “I’m Not Sure How Much I Want That Anymore”
- #21. The Early 2000s Tension Deftones Had With Korn & Limp Bizkit Was On Full Display In A Newly Republished “White Pony” Interview
- #20. Serj Tankian Details System Of A Down’s Failed Writing Sessions: “I Would Say There Is No Album That Is Written”
- #19. Slaughter To Prevail To Perform With Backing Tracks On Falling In Reverse Tour As Drummer Faces Travel Delays
- #18. Ozzy Osbourne Hit With Copyright Lawsuit Over Photos Of Himself, New Song “Gods Of Rock N Roll” To Debut Online This Week
- #17. Man Wearing Nazi-Related Imagery Assaulted By Concertgoers Amid Being Ejected From This Past Weekend’s ‘Punk Rock Bowling’ Festival
- #16. Glenn Danzig Under Fire For Using Nazi-Associated Symbol On New Merch
- #15. Hear 23 Artists Unite For New Deftones Tribute Album ‘For The Song You Saved: A Tribute To Deftones’
- #14. Disturbing Footage Emerges Of A Concertgoer Allegedly Pleasuring Themselves During Korn’s Set In East Rutherford, NJ
- #13. Watch Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland Go Full James Hetfield At The Closing Date Of Their Tour With Metallica
- #12. Governor Gavin Newsom ‘Suspends’ Kid Rock From Performing In California Due To “His Horrific Music”
- #11. Disturbed’s David Draiman Hopes To Have A Respectful Discussion With Billie Joe Armstrong Following Palestine-Related Lyric Change At Green Day’s ‘Coachella’ Set
- #10. Maynard James Keenan’s Wife Jen Talks Tool’s Missing “Ænima” Vinyl Remaster: “They’re A Complicated Band”
- #09. Chino Moreno Reflects On Deftones Being Fined $1 Million For Failing To Deliver “White Pony” On Time: “They Just Took It From Us”
- #08. Watch Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland Pay Tribute To One Of James Hetfield’s Most Famous Guitars While Opening Metallica’s Toronto Show
- #07. Fieldy Reveals He Doesn’t Listen To A Lot Of Metal These Days, Confirms He Has No Plans To Play With Korn For Now
- #06. Wes Borland Explains Why He & His Brother Quit Limp Bizkit Just Before They Got Signed
- #05. Tool Reportedly Facing Potential Class Action Lawsuit Over ‘Tool Live In The Sand’ Setlist Disappointment
- #04. Tool Fans Vent After The Band Played The Same Four Songs During Both Of Their ‘Tool Live In The Sand’ Sets
- #03. Slipknot’s Clown On His Contributions Being Overshadowed: “No-One In Twenty-Five Years, Including Modern Drummer, Has Asked Me About The Keg”
- #02. After Mötley Crüe & Alice In Chains Dropped Off Due To Health Concerns, Rob Zombie Will Now Co-Headline The ‘Boardwalk Rock’ Festival
- #01. Tool’s Maynard James Keenan Speaks On Ozzy Osbourne’s Farewell Show: “I Don’t Know What Kind Of Modern Miracles We’ll Come Up With To Get Him On Stage To Do The Songs”