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If streaming services’ year-in-review campaigns have shown us anything, it’s that we’ve spent a staggering amount of time drowning out the hum of everyday life with music, podcasts and audio series. And with some incredible new releases this year, we were really eatin’ good. Here are some of the Engadget team’s favorite things we listened to in 2025.

Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea

I became aware of

The Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) viewers meet in Stranger Things Season 5 doesn't feel like the same Dustin we've known since Season 1.

Gone is Hawkins' resident ball of sunshine, replaced with a sulking, angry young man who would sooner graffiti a bully's locker than belt "Never Ending Story" over walkie-talkie. Yet this transformation didn't come out of nowhere. Instead, it stems from a clear point

• Swedish death cleaning is the practice of decluttering one's belongings before death.
• Though still in good health, my mom is gradually rehoming family heirlooms and donating unwanted items.
• Being part of her process allows me to become a caretaker of our family history while making new memories together.

Losing a parent is difficult

• Timothée Chalamet encounters many familiar faces in "Marty Supreme."
• Along with Kevin O'Leary and Gwyneth Paltrow, internet celebrities and NBA legends are also spotted in the film.
• Here's a breakdown of the "Marty Supreme" cast.

In "Marty Supreme," Timothée Chalamet portrays Marty Mauser, a ping pong-playing hustler in 1950s New York City, who encounters a

Spoilers ahead for the season one finale of HBO Max's Heated Rivalry:

That's a wrap for the first season of Heated Rivalry, the come-from-nowhere Canadian romance that quickly leapfrogged to the top of HBO Max's streaming series list. There is not yet a critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes for episode six, but the ultra-romantic, (mostly) languid finale certainly captured hearts on social media

• AI and social commerce are fueling millions of dollars in investments in the creator economy.
• Startups from generative AI video tools to live shopping platforms closed massive deals in 2025.
• Here are 13 creator economy startups that, combined, raised about $2 billion this year.

The creator economy is riding an AI-fueled

• Ollie's Bargain Outlet was a top destination for last-minute holiday shoppers this year.
• The retailer saw its foot traffic on the Saturday before Christmas rise by nearly 21%.
• Ollie's has spent 2025 opening dozens of new stores and has more in the pipeline.

One of the top last-minute shopping destinations this holiday season wasn't Walmart or Target but a discount retailer that describes itself as "semi-lovely" and its regulars as an "army."

Ollie's Bargain Outlet notched the biggest foot-traffic increase on Super Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas, according to location data firm Placer.ai. Ollie's saw footfall at its stores increase nearly 21% over the same day in 2024, Placer found.

Other retailers that saw big Super Saturday foot traffic were Bath & Body Works at 11%, Ross at 9%, and Dollar General at 8%, Placer.ai found.

The findings show that last-minute shoppers gravitated to retailers that market themselves as offering good value for money, particularly ones focused on low prices, such as dollar stores, as well as off-price retailers like Ollie's, which sources excess or closeout inventory from manufacturers or other retailers to keep prices low.

"Value-based offerings like off-price retailers continue to be a favorite for shoppers looking for last-minute items," Elizabeth LaFontaine, Director of Research at Placer.ai, said of the data.

With 645 stores, Pennsylvania-based Ollie's isn't the biggest name on Placer.ai's list. But it is one of the fastest-growing names in retail.

Ollie's opened 86 new stores in 2025, all of which were open in time for the holiday shopping season, CEO Eric van der Valk said on a company earnings call earlier this month. Some of those were locations that previously housed Big Lots stores before that chain filed for bankruptcy and shed many of its stores.

Ollie's plans to grow its store count by at least 10% each year until it hits 1,300 stores, more than double its current footprint, van der Valk said on the earnings call.

Net sales for the retailer's third quarter, which ended on November 1, rose almost 19%.

Ollie's website describes its stores as "no frills, semi-lovely" stores that use a "treasure-hunt" strategy to attract customers.

That approach was on display during a visit to one Ollie's store in Wisconsin earlier this year. Business Insider observed handwritten signs promoting deals as well as merchandise in shipping boxes on the sales floor — a strategy that other retailers, such as Aldi, use as a cost-saving measure instead of fully unpacking items onto shelves.

The chain stocks a range of goods, from toothpaste and breakfast cereal to toaster ovens.

The chain's free loyalty program, "Ollie's Army," provides discounts as well as access to members-only "Ollie's Army Night" shopping events. The retailer held one such event during the holiday shopping season that included a discount of at least 15% on everything in the store.

"Customers are looking for value, manufacturers need ways to manage their supply chain, and the retail sector is consolidating," CEO van der Valk said on this month's earnings call. "Ollie's benefits from these powerful secular trends."

Do you have a story to share about Ollie's Bargain Outlet or another retailer? Contact Alex Bitter at abitter@businessinsider.com.