Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Billy Strings & More: 10 Top NPR ‘Tiny Desk Concerts’ Of 2025
Revisit standout performances from the beloved NPR Music series.
By Nate Todd Dec 24, 2025 • 7:51 am PST
NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert turned in another banner year despite the challenges public media has faced over the course of 2025. In July, Congress voted to cease all funding ($1.1 billion) to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) which helps support important and beloved programming on NPR and PBS.
In difficult times, people often turn to music. Always a bright beacon of light, NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert is one of those beloved institutions that, like all public media, faces an uncertain future.
Regardless of the road ahead, looking back, it’s clear there were many stellar musicians who performed a Tiny Desk Concert in 2025. This list is a snapshot of the eclectic group of artists who came to NPR headquarters in Washington D.C. this year.
Bluegrass virtuosos Billy Strings and Sierra Hull appeared behind the Tiny Desk, along with acclaimed hip-hop duo Clipse. Tame Impala played all acoustic instruments while Turnstile delivered the first Tiny Desk stage dive. Superstars such as David Byrne, Brandi Carlile and Bad Bunny dropped by along with rapidly rising artists like MJ Lenderman and Yasmin Williams.
Here is JamBase’s list of the 10 best Tiny Desk Concert performances in 2025.
Billy Strings
Guitarist Billy Strings brought his full band to the Tiny Desk, and as NPR noted, the quintet was a rare case in asking for fewer microphones. Strings and company are no strangers to performing around a single mic. Billy brought a mix of songs from two recent studio LPs, Renewal and Highway Prayers, to his Tiny Desk debut.
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Billy Strings (See 948 videos) |
Brandi Carlile
Tiny Desk Concert was a perfect setting for Brandi Carlile to present songs from her introspective new album, Returning To Myself. Carlile’s 2025 appearance marked her first time behind the Tiny Desk in 13 years. Giving her longtime bandmates Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth a well-deserved day off, Brandi brought aboard frequent collaborators SistaStrings along with upright bassist Solomon Dorsey for her return to the series.
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Brandi Carlile (See 169 videos) |
David Byrne
TheTalking Heads legend David Byrne made a return in 2025 with a new solo record, Who Is The Sky?, and another acclaimed tour featuring his signature flair for theatrics. While his multi-performer, multi-instrument stage production seems large as it dazzles the eye, it actually fit well into the Tiny Desk space. Byrne split his four-song performance with Who Is The Sky? cuts and Talking Heads classics.
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| David Byrne (See 33 videos) |
Turnstile
Firsts are often celebrated on Tiny Desk Concert and Brendan Yates of Baltimore-born punk outfit Turnstile has the distinction of executing the first stage dive and subsequent crowd surfing for the series. The move capped the band’s five-song set of songs off their 2025 album, NEVER ENOUGH.
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Turnstile (See 3 videos) |
Tame Impala
Another first, for Tame Impala not Tiny Desk Concert, came when the live band led by Kevin Parker played all acoustic instruments. The electro-leaning Aussie outfit turned in their electric guitars and synths for an array of acoustics and wooden percussives to skillfully arrange songs from Parker’s first LP in five years, Deadbeat, along with older favorites.
| 00:00:00 | |
| 00:05:00 | |
| 00:10:10 | |
| 00:14:03 |
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Tame Impala (See 41 videos) |
Yasmin Williams
Skilled and innovative guitarist Yasmin Williams clocked a Tiny Desk Concert in 2025. Along with bringing her intricate and entrancing acoustic guitar stylings to the Tiny Desk, Yasmin penned an article for NPR recounting how losing the Tiny Desk Contest launched her music career. For the performance, Williams delivered her dazzling guitar technique on songs from her 2024 album Arcadia and 2018’s Unwind.
| 00:00:00 | |
| 00:08:25 | |
| 00:16:32 | |
| 00:20:55 |
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Yasmin Williams (See 7 videos) |
Sierra Hull
Bluegrass star Sierra Hull made her Tiny Desk Concert debut in 2025. The virtuosic mandolinist and singer-songwriter selected four songs from her Grammy-nominated 2025 album, A Tip Toe High Wire. She also performed all three of the Grammy-nominated songs from the record: “Boom,” “Lord, That’s a Long Way” and “Spitfire,” the latter a tune she wrote for her late grandmother.
| 00:00:00 | |
| 00:04:55 | |
| 00:09:57 | |
| 00:14:25 |
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Sierra Hull (See 88 videos) |
Clipse
Clipse is another acclaimed act that executed a comeback in 2025. The hip-hop duo consisting of brothers Pusha T and Malice this year released their first LP together since 2009, Let God Sort Em Out, which is up for Album Of The Year (and Best Rap Album) at the upcoming Grammy Awards. The pair also embarked on their first tour together since 2010, which included a stop at NPR headquarters in Washington D.C. — a few hours from their hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia — for a Tiny Desk Concert full of standouts from their celebrated new album.
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Clipse (See 3 videos) |
Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny is having a big year in 2025. The upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show performer conducted a landmark residency in his native Puerto Rico and released Debí Tirar Más Fotos, also up for Album Of The Year at the 68th annual Grammy Awards. For his Tiny Desk Concert, the megastar brought the musical flavors of his beloved homeland with acoustic renditions of Debí Tirar Más Fotos cuts.
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| Bad Bunny (See 2 videos) |
MJ Lenderman
Singer-songwriter and guitarist MJ Lenderman seems to be popping up everywhere, including on Tiny Desk Concert early this past year — propelling his continued rise in 2025. While he had already played the Tiny Desk with Wednesday, MJ Lenderman and his trusty group The Wind — dubbed “The Breeze” when they play stripped-down situations — debuted on the series with songs from Lenderman’s acclaimed 2024 LP, Manning Fireworks.
| 00:00:00 | |
| 00:04:21 | |
| 00:08:08 | |
| 00:12:41 |
| NPR Music (See 1,787 videos) | |
| MJ Lenderman (See 19 videos) |
