The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more

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.