In uncertain times, humans seek comfort. Today, this comfort is found in a house-y Johnny Wilson edit — a tried and true combination if there ever was one — anchored by Wilsonian staples like Antonio, Cyrus, Bobby, and Karim. Alongside them are Poe Pinson, Joseph Campos, Jack O’Grady, Elijah Odom, Casper Brooker, Troy Gipson and Ville Wester, aiming to find the lightning that Nelly found with his crew of St. Lunatics in 2002.
🎨 Graphic by Francesco Pini
📊 Ballot Count by 4PLY
The results are in and we now have a snapshot of skateboarding in 2025, as voted on by QS readers. Unlike past years, when there was sometimes only a few vote split between first and second place, ties, etc., for the most part, everything cleanly landed where it landed this year.
And it should be said that this listing was voted on between 10:30 A.M. on Monday, December 8th until 5:30 P.M. on Friday, December 12th. Chris Joslin’s “G-Ma” part, which would earn him Thrasher‘s S.O.T.Y. trophy, was released around noon on Wednesday the 10th. Zion Wright’s part was released the morning of Thursday, the 11th. A similar thing happened the year that Miles Silvas won S.O.T.Y. But one hill we will gladly die on is that nobody wants to talk about year-end recap stuff in the following year. We will extend eligibility to any parts that came out starting December 8th into next year’s ranking.
To anyone just joining us: This is NOT a selection curated by QS staff. Editors and contributors can vote, but this was tallied across hundreds of publicly submitted ballots. If you’re interested in the methodology, 4PLY broke down how we tally the votes ✨
Cannot imagine that many people have the ten-year anniversary of a random web video pinned on their calendar, but it should be pointed out that the Johnny Wilson x Nike SB “CORE” edit celebrates its tenth birthday this week. “CORE” was a watershed moment around the hallways of the QS office. The brand that sponsored Ishod, P-Rod and Koston corralled a bunch of early-20-somethings shredding New York and uploading it to a filmer’s video page, added in a young Pulaski legend undergoing a career renaissance, a Danish ledge lord, an Australian with a beautiful voice, and a teenager who had already switch flipped over Blubba — and sent them on a low-stakes, one-van trial trip through Upstate New York. (Fun fact: did you know that on paper for the powers that be, the trip was billed as a Nike SB Apparel trip?)
The resulting pilot video was a success, and the subsequent projects that built on this formula became a focal point of the QS newsroom in the ensuing decade.
But perhaps most important — as we sit here ten years later — is that everyone featured in that video, particularly the nucleus bound by those Johnny Wilson Vimeo uploads is doing …great.
Cyrus Bennett by 📷 Paul Grund via his latest part by Ben Chadourne.
“MAKING PLANS” is a homie video by the Thumbs NYC crew, which is prolifically good at avoiding the familiar trappings of Manhattan and Brooklyn in favor of a more northern exploration of the city. Great Olu Stanley part to close it out, and going to go ahead and say that Baked Dougie has some of the most fire flip tricks of 2025. Tre flips and nollie flips with personality. We need more of that.
Luca Mayer has a new part by Chris Patti for Skate Jawn. He might be elbow high right now, but those spots are all for the grown. Ender at the NYPL is very sick.
“THANK GOD IT’S NOT 2024 ANYMORE” is a seven-minute, all-New York montage by Shaquille Waite that’s a great time. Kickflip back lip banks rail + front three Broome Street + flip 5-0 / flip nosegrind + more, all fire. All to some 2015ish #skatevideohouse ;)
The titleholder for 2023’s [democratically selected] best video part, and the titleholder for 2021’s Q.S.S.O.T.Y. [QS office selected, and Keith is still pissed] teamed up for what can be democratically agreed upon as one of 2025’s first great video parts.
