‘Sapphire’ to ‘Buck’ and more: Top musical collaborations in 2025 so far

Dubai: Over the years, we have had major musical collaborations globally. Be it Indian artists collaborating with western artists by featuring on their songs or producing it.

But 2025 has some of the biggest collaborations of the year so far, and we’re only half way through 2025!

And to celebrate World Music Day, which falls on June 21, we have compiled a list of the biggest, most surprising and unexpected musical collaborations we have come across this year.

This collaboration was something we didn’t know we needed. But now that we have it, we love it!

Sapphire by British pop superstar Ed Sheeran featured one of the biggest playback singers in India, Arijit Singh. The song, released on June 5, features a seamless fusion of western pop and traditional Indian music elements. With both English and Punjabi lyrics, this song has topped charts globally.

And the music video for this is a visual treat, as it shows the artists travelling across India in a fun way. The music video was directed by Liam Pethick.

This collaboration was not on our Bingo card for 2025. The K-pop world met India in a hit song that was released on May 9.

Buck gives us one of the most unexpected collaborations of 2025 between Hong Kong born, K-pop artist Jackson Wang of GOT7 and one of the biggest names in the Indian music industry, Diljit Dosanjh. This hit single features as the third track on Jackson Wang’s highly anticipated second solo album, Magicman 2, which is set to release on July 18.

A mix of English and Punjabi, the dance-pop song created a unique bilingual landscape that has resonated with fans globally. The music video was co-directed by Jackson Wang and Nicholas Lam.

Member of one of the biggest K-pop girl groups in the music industry, Jennie from Blackpink, recently released her solo album, Ruby, and had a long list of collaborations that surprised us.

First on the list, her track with American artist Doechii titled ExtraL. The song has empowering messages, especially for women, which made it a hit. Other collaborations on the album include Intro: Jane with FKJ, Handlebars with Dua Lipa, Love Hangover with Dominic Fike, and Damn Right with Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis.

While these were some of the most surprising collaborations so far this year, we can’t wait to see what the rest of 2025 has in store.