Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos from left: Guerin Black/August; Isabella County Sheriff Office; Courtesy of the subjects; Joan Wong; Rebecca Tiger; Maurizio Catalan and Pierpaolo Ferrari
AI cheaters, crypto maniacs, MAGA cool kids, and furious Canadians.
As we near the end of 2025, we like to reflect on the stories that most captivated our readers’ attention, and as always, certain themes tend to emerge. Readers turned to us to make sense of new cultural trends, as when Brock Colyar defined the West Village Girl and helped articulate the young new conservative crowd ascendant in Washington, D.C., or when Bridget Read helped us understand the new facelift we now seem to see on every red carpet.
Our readers also loved when our stories exposed the secret lives of powerful famous men, as with Lila Shapiro’s shocking feature on writer Neil Gaiman and Ben Terris’s equally penetrating look at Senator John Fetterman. And as always, readers gravitated toward twisty yarns of regular people behaving badly: college students cheating, fake philanthropists, a mother cyberbullying her own child. And yet, underneath it all, it turns out you all are big softies, as two epic love stories also made the list — along with one encounter with Axl Rose, for good measure. If you missed any of these, there are worse ways to spend the waning days of this very long year than catching up on our top 20 stories of 2025, ranked by total minutes of audience engagement. And to never miss a must-read next year, sign up for One Great Story, our daily recommendation newsletter, and, of course, subscribe to New York Magazine. Enjoy.
By Chantal Fernandez
Photo-Illustration: Pedro Nekoi
How Quince, the one-stop shop for everything from cashmere sweaters to caviar seduced a generation of jaded shoppers. Read the story …
By Zosia Mamet
Photo: Courtesy of the author
My wayward years as a New York club kid. Read the story …
The Most Generous Man in New York
By James D. Walsh
Photo: machpi3/Instagram
Before his mysterious death, Matthew Christopher Pietras donated millions to the Met and the Frick. It was stolen. Read the story …
By Angelina Chapin
Photo: Suzanne Cordeiro/Shutterstock
Selena Gomez and her mother, Mandy Teefey, flipped their mental-health journeys into a buzzy start-up. It all fell apart. Read the story …
By Brock Colyar
Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux for New York Magazine
Among the young, confident, and casually cruel Trumpers who, after conquering Washington, have their sights set on America. Read the story …
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood
Photo:
Trump accomplished what was once considered impossible: Our northern neighbors have united against us. Read the story …
The Crypto Maniacs and the Torture Townhouse
By Ezra Marcus and Jen Wieczner
Photo-Illustration: New York Magazine; Photos: TMZ/Backgrid, David ‘Dee’ Delgado/Reuters
How two men charged with an outrageous kidnapping scheme introduced a new kind of crime to the city. Read the story …
By Bindu Bansinath
Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photos: Getty
A couple thought they’d found Mary Poppins. Until she refused to leave. Read the story …
The Sneaky Ways Parents Transfer Money to Their Children
By Katie Arnold-Ratliff
Photo-Illustration: Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari
Low-interest loans, pieds-à-terre, and other strategies that stretch the gift tax limit. Read the story …
My Once-in-a-Million-Years Love Story
By Elizabeth Gilbert
Photo: Courtesy of Elizabeth Gilbert
When my best friend was diagnosed with cancer, I promised to be there until the end. Then all hell broke loose. Read the story …
By Bridget Read
Photo: Ben Hassett for The Cut
The facelift is better than ever, and everybody wants one. Deep inside the uncanny world of the surgically ageless. Read the story …
It Must Be Nice to Be a West Village Girl
By Brock Colyar
Photo: Dina Litovsky
A new generation has transformed the neighborhood — and reshaped the fantasy of New York City living. Read the story …
By Reeves Wiedeman
Photo: Kennedy Family Collection/John F. Kennedy Library and Museum
Only one cousin is in a position of power — and his family can only watch helplessly as he destroys much that they stood for. Read the story …
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College
By James D. Walsh
Illustration: New York Magazine
ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project. Read the story …
People With Parents With Money
As told to Paula Aceves and Julia Edelstein
Photo-Illustration: Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari
Fourteen adults come clean about the down payments, allowances, and tuition payments that make their New York lives feasible. Read the story …
By Ben Terris
Photo: Rebecca Kiger
John Fetterman insists he is in good health. But staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew. Read the story …
The Therapy That Can Break You
By Rachel Corbett
Illustration: Joan Wong; Source Photo Getty Images
Internal Family Systems is a widely popular trauma treatment. Some patients say it’s destroyed their lives. Read the story …
By Barry Diller
Photo: Courtesy of the subjects
The truth about us, after all these years. Read the story …
Who Was Cyberbullying Kendra Licari’s Teen Daughter?
By Lauren Smiley
Photo-Illustration: Source Photograph: Isabella County Sheriff Office
Parents and school officials were stumped. The culprit was under their noses all along. Read the story …
By Lila Shapiro
Guerin Blask/August
How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades. Read the story …
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