We’ve immersed ourselves in another 12 months of cultural excellence by Scots anywhere in the world or non-Scots who are key players in the artistic landscape of our nation. And then we took the temperature of what’s hot and what’s not quite so hot. What follows is 100 people, places and festivals that have kept us entertained and intrigued, and occasionally left us gobsmacked and enlightened.

A quick note on a change for this year’s poll. We decided to only number the top 25 with the remainder appearing in alphabetical order. Partly this was down to a long-term niggle that having people in those lower spots (let’s call them the 80s and 90s) just feels a bit, well, unfair. That feeling was compounded a year ago when word reached us that the mother of someone who landed in the lower echelons last time was so offended and outraged about this number attaching itself to her offspring that she advised them to snub our Hot 100 event. Thankfully, said offspring did attend and seemed to have a jolly old time. Anyway, this may be a one-off experiment for 2025, but overall it just seems like a kinder way to go. Right, let’s do this…

Writers: Afreka Thomson, Ailsa Sheldon, Allan Radcliffe, Brian Donaldson, Carol Main, Claire Sawers, Danny Munro, David Kirkwood, Dominic Corr, Eddie Harrison, Emma Simmonds, Fiona Shepherd, Gareth K Vile, Greg Thomas, Isy Santini, James Mottram, Jay Richardson, Jay Thundercliffe, Jennifer McLaren, Jo Laidlaw, Kelly Apter, Kevin Fullerton, Lucy Ribchester, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Mark Fisher, Megan Merino, Murray Robertson, Neil Cooper, Paul McLean, Rachel Morrell, Rob Adams, Suzy Pope.

Ajay Kumar
It’s a bit gallus to stick your name onto a restaurant. But since opening Swadish By Ajay Kumar in 2019, the owner-chef has more than justified the limelight. Doing himself proud on Great British Menu helped the rep, as has second Glasgow restaurant Grilled By Ajay Kumar which opened this summer and is an absolute delight. (JT)

Alison Watt
From Light, Watt’s first London exhibition for 17 years, saw the Greenock-born painter create 18 brand new works specifically for the Pitzhanger Gallery in response to architect John Soane’s use of light. The result illuminated Watt’s world as much as that of her inspiration’s. (NC)

Amy Hardie
The director’s documentary Love & Trouble was a startling portrait of a couple overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder, offering an unprecedented level of access into therapy sessions and the push and pull of a marriage rocked by mental-health issues. A difficult watch, sometimes unbearably so, but the positive message at its heart makes it vital. (KF)

Barry Bryson
Seasoned event-chef Bryson launched Barry Fish, quickly earning a reputation as one of Edinburgh’s finest seafood restaurants, as well as a listing in the Michelin guide. Friendly and fuss-free, Barry Fish has enticed food lovers back to The Shore for oysters, trout pastrami, lobster agnolotti and a great night out. (AS)

Beth Taylor
Not so long ago swapping a hospital uniform for a ballgown to entertain patients during covid, the meteoric rise of Scottish operatic mezzo-soprano Taylor is nothing short of sensational. Appearances at Carnegie Hall, Glyndebourne, BBC Proms and Deutsche Oper Berlin have been lauded with unstinting praise from the international press. (CM)

Bryce Hart
Bringing together Gregor Fisher and Greg McHugh to play an estranged father and son starting to slowly mend their ways in Only Child was already inspired casting. But writer Hart’s ability to tease out the story with poignancy and a steady stream of hilarity was the BBC show’s greatest victory. (BD)

Chris McQueer
McQueer ditched his trusty short stories as he boldly tackled the tricky topic of incel culture on his full-length debut, Hermit. For his efforts, the author received an array of glowing reviews and a rightful place on the shortlist for Best Fiction at The Saltires. (DM)

Citizens Theatre
Nobody could envy an artistic director who had to run a closed theatre for seven years, but the re-opening of Glasgow’s Citizens reminded us we’d been missing a gorgeous venue and a striking director. Dominic Hill’s staging of Small Acts Of Love brought new life to the old building, as did a refreshed programme in the shiny new studio spaces. (MF)

Clare Coghill
Coghill moved Café Cùil from London back to her native Skye and built a loyal following for her cult brunch dishes. Now she has published Café Cùil Cookbook to share her joyful Skye produce-lead recipes. Described as a ‘love letter to home’, the recipes are global, proudly Scottish and utterly delicious. (AS)

Damian Barr
Barr’s heartbreaker of a novel, The Two Roberts, brought neglected Scottish artists Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde back to glorious life and inspired a long-overdue exhibition in Sussex of their remarkable work. That exhibition was curated by Barr whose Big Scottish Book Club is now UK telly’s only book show. (PM)

Dictator
Continued support from BBC Introducing and the release of their second EP, Middle Of The Road, were key milestones for Dictator, who attracted a healthy crowd to the King Tut’s stage at TRNSMT. The West Lothian boys also swapped Livingston for the Lower East Side, making their stateside debut at New York’s New Colossus Festival. (DM)

Donald Grant
Highland virtuoso Donald Grant brought his critically acclaimed commission Thuit An Oidhche Oirnn to audiences in Edinburgh, Inverness and beyond, to mark his passion for gathering with others and share a love of music-making. Performances featured Scottish Ensemble and regular collaborator Mischa MacPherson. (MMT)

Edinburgh Women's Fiction Festival
Run by a committee of eight book-loving women (Jane Anderson, Olivia Kekewich, Kristin Pedroja, Robin Facer, Emma Steele, Sarah Garretson, Fran Woodrow and Grace Baird), this festival serves to champion books written by and for women in a variety of genres. Intersectional, warm and welcoming, it’s now a firm favourite on our literary scene. (LR)

Emily Scott
The Modern Studies frontwoman, composer and multi-instrumentalist revisited her intoxicating solo Chrysanths project on the Yay, Human digital EP, reworking a number of tracks from the Leave No Shadow album for electric piano and voice(s), as well as producing accompanying bespoke mystery novels based on the lyrics. (FS)

Faith Eliott
Eliott’s Dryas was one of, if not the finest album to come out of Scotland in 2025, with the Minneapolis-born, Edinburgh-based DIY singer/songwriter riffing imaginatively on diverse aspects of nature, mythology and the cosmos across a gorgeous suite of idiosyncratic odes. (FS)

Fiona J Mackenzie
Historian and tradition bearer Mackenzie brought Gaelic women Màiri Mhòr nan Òran and Margaret Fay Shaw to new audiences with lectures and performances. Her critically acclaimed book about Canna House’s Shaw was launched at Edinburgh's Scottish Storytelling Centre. (MMT)

Forbes Masson
He started the year starring opposite Sigourney Weaver in The Tempest and ended it alongside Caroline Quentin in The Seagull. In between, he played Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing which, like The Tempest, was a thoroughly breathless extravaganza from Jamie Lloyd. (BD)

Gail Watson
A regular on Scottish stages, Watson (currently in River City) has previously shone in comedic roles or when showcasing her impressive pipes as both Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline. But her thrilling solo Fringe turn as the troubled title character in Faye’s Red Lines displayed a flair for brutal drama and pitch-black humour. (PM)

Greg Sinclair
The Edinburgh performance artist, composer and cellist brought us his playful show Tongue Twisters. He danced and performed in Gaelic, Yoruba, Ukrainian, Arabic and Japanese, while wearing a pink balaclava of knitted tongues. Meanwhile, Dussskk was a colourful sensory show he co-directed for disabled and neurodivergent teenagers. (CS)

Harry Mould
Premiering at Pitlochry Festival Theatre before transferring to the Traverse, Mould’s debut play The Brenda Line, a heartfelt and humorous tribute to their ‘mam’ and Samaritans volunteers, was longlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and is set for a TV adaptation. (DC)

Hazel Johnson
As Hidden Door director, Johnson and her team pulled off the most audacious festival yet at The Paper Factory, making use of a vast space with music, art and aerial acrobatics. This is as wide-ranging as an arts extravaganza can get, championing everything from the best of indie rock to DIY experimentation. (KF)

Iain McPherson
Twelve years ago, Iain McPherson blew minds with his first cocktail menu at Panda & Sons. And now that it’s nabbed top spot in the world’s Top 500 Bars, the plaudits (and punters) keep coming; a testament to McPherson’s finesse and creativity in the fast-moving, trend-led world of mixology. (SP)

Idlewild
Idlewild marked 30 years as one of Scotland’s most beloved and influential bands by releasing their tenth album, a self-titled distillation of all that makes them mighty: non-pompous anthems, thoughtful lyricism, indie rock blowouts and a gentle push into more experimental territory. (FS)

Iona Zajac
Edinburgh-bred singer-songwriter Zajac started the year touring with The Pogues as singer and harpist on their 40th anniversary celebration of Rum, Sodomy & The Lash and ended it by channelling pain, rage and dark humour on her seductive debut album, Bang. (FS)

Jay Capperauld
Winning the European Composition Award at Berlin’s Young Euro Classic for his NYOS commission, Galvanic Dances, Capperauld also gave us Bruckner’s Skull with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, exploring the Austrian composer’s dark obsessions. (CM)

Jay Lafferty
Lafferty’s Fringe show Ooft! was a gentle wonder, a little slice of Scottishness that became a calming touchstone through the August madness. She wears her skills lightly but this was fine observational work with something to say, as befits her 20-year career as one of our most underrated homegrown stand-ups. (JL)

Jenni Fagan
With acclaimed works of fiction, scripts for theatre and film, and several poetry collections under her belt, the Scottish writer’s long-awaited memoir Ootlin, about her experience of growing up in the care system, won the Gordon Burn Prize and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize For Non-Fiction. (AR)

Kai Reesu
Surely the only band in the room with members from Paisley, Thurso and LA, Kai Reesu took home the Scottish Album Of The Year Award. Keyboardist Paul Copeland said the band were ‘just having fun’ when recording Kompromat Vol I and now they have £20,000 to spend on having more of it. (DM)

Kestin
This year marked a decade of Kestin, a Leith-based menswear brand that brings an innovative twist to traditional Scottish designs. To celebrate their tenth birthday, Kestin partnered up with Woven to create a limited edition blended whisky. (IS)

Kim Blythe
Having successfully pivoted from viral online comic to stand-up and TV, Blythe’s Cowboy found her confronting imposter syndrome, her chequered employment record and the tabloid press she’s attracted since the skylarking Glaswegian broke into the nation’s consciousness. (JR)

Laura Cumming
Thunderclap won this acclaimed art critic the Book Of The Year award at The Saltires. Her memoir explored the relationship between art and life, focusing on herself, her late father (painter James Cumming) and the Dutch Golden Age artists. (BD)

Laura Oghagbon
Vocalist Oghagbon had no sooner become the Scottish Jazz Awards’ Rising Star than she was bringing her gospel influences to the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s Remembering Duke tour. She has newer jazz songs mastered, too, as her reading of Jazzmeia Horn’s ‘Free Your Mind’ has shown. (RA)

Lauren Lyle
This Glasgow actress got famous through Outlander and Karen Pirie, with the latter’s second season arriving this year, bum bag and all. That was followed by BBC’s gripping The Ridge, where Lyle played sardonic, grieving Mia who visits New Zealand, struggling with opiate addiction, to hunt her sister’s murderer. (CS)

Len Pennie
Pennie shot to fame during lockdown with her Scots word of the day posts. This year she released her second poetry collection, Poyums Annaw, continuing to champion the power of the Scots language alongside reflections on her personal experiences of domestic violence and online abuse. (LR)

Leonardo McCorkindale
It’s not every young dancer that lands themselves a lead part in a Matthew Bourne production two years after graduating. But then Bourne, like everyone in the audience at this year’s Swan Lake tour, could see that Edinburgh-born McCorkindale has something special to offer. (KA)

Liberty Black
Glasgow native Black made her professional debut earlier this year in the title role of Keli. She plays a young horn player from a Scottish mining town in a standout performance which delivered flawlessly on both comedy and drama. (IS)

Lomond Campbell
In addition to bringing out the synth demon in Kathryn Joseph and improving on Dot Allison’s Consciousology with a remix album, producer, composer and mad sonic professor Campbell also unveiled his latest invention, MŮO, creating sound and vision by harnessing atmospheric radiation. (FS)

Louise Blain
Previously a games journalist and broadcaster, Blain has spent the past couple of years as creative lead at Blumhouse Games, the celebrated horror film studio’s gaming offshoot. Her efforts are already bearing fruit, with three terrifying titles released so far, including the new Sleep Awake. (MR)

Lynne Ramsay
Ramsay's new movie Die My Love, bought by MUBI for a whopping $25million, showcased one of the best performances of 2025, as Jennifer Lawrence plays a mother sliding into depression after giving birth. Expect Oscar attention. (JM)

Margaret McDonald
A classic tale of perseverance against the odds, McDonald’s debut book was rejected by 60 agents. But this year, her Glasgow Boys earned her the honour of youngest ever winner of the Carnegie Medal For Writing in its near 90-year history. (BD)

Marjolein Robertson
At this year’s Fringe, Robertson completed her Marj/O/Lein trilogy with an acclaimed show delving into the worst year of her life. The Shetland-born comedian has a distinctive voice, grounding her deeply personal storytelling in threads of Scottish folklore. It feels like she’s on the cusp of becoming a very big deal. (MR)

Matthew Lenton
It’s like Brexit never happened. The director’s Vanishing Point company continued to ride roughshod over national boundaries with a visually ravishing adaptation of Murakami’s Confessions Of A Shinagawa Monkey, staged as a bilingual collaboration with Yokohama’s Kanagawa Arts Theatre. Next, he’s cementing Danish-Scottish relations by joining forces with Teater Katapult. (MF)

Mella Shaw
Edinburgh ceramic artist Shaw’s awarding-winning exhibition Sounding Line toured to The McManus in Dundee. Perfectly situated in the former whaling city, it looks at the effect marine sonar can have on deep-diving whale species that use sound to navigate underwater. (JMcL)

Mia Suhaimi
Inspired by the Lavender Menace archive, Suhaimi became not only the first transgender writer but the first writer of colour to see her Gaelic poetry in print in Northwords Now, with works divining links between Scotland and her native Malaysia. (MMT)

Natasha Gilmore
This Fringe, Barrowland Ballet’s choreographer/director Gilmore brought us thought-provoking insights into two often overlooked groups: teenage boys and older women. Chunky Jewellery, performed with Jude Williams, took a wry look at personal trauma and friendship, while Wee Man explored intergenerational expectations of manhood. (LR)

Ncuti Gatwa
The Doctor Who star may have bowed out of his most high-profile role to date, departing the TARDIS this summer, but his stellar rise continued with an acclaimed performance as Christopher Marlowe in the West End production of Born With Teeth, while enjoying a playful cameo turn in The Roses alongside Cumberbatch and Colman. (AR)

Noushy
This trombonist has been a star of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s Nu-Age Sounds tours of the past two years and barely paused for breath in 2025. Her diary found her touring globally, notably with London-based collective Kokoroko, as well as working in an intimate duo with guitarist James Mackay. (RA)

Paul Harrison
Pianist Harrison took on an album of Egberto Gismonti’s music and did such a good job that he received an endorsement from the masterly Brazilian guitarist-composer himself. Harrison also took on the Great American Songbook and explored the electro-experimental side of jazz via his own (and Keith Jarrett’s) solo piano works. (RA)

Paul MacAlindin
Returning to Scotland from Germany, conductor MacAlindin has built a unique sense of community through music in one of Glasgow’s most deprived areas. His Glasgow Barons initiative is now part of Govan’s beating heart, whether with refugee musicians, emerging artists, chamber orchestra, rappers, Baby Strings or early music. (CM)

Peter Johnstone
2012’s Young Scottish Jazz Musician Of The Year didn't exactly rush-release his debut album, Resistance Is Futile. But when it arrived this summer, it got great reviews and radio play in the US. Johnstone was on Hammond organ instead of his usual piano. (RA)

Peter Mullan
Two sides of the veteran actor’s skillset impressed, firstly playing a husband and father with a dark secret in Channel 4 drama After The Party, and as the empathic Tommy Trotter in I Swear who attempts to help Tourette’s sufferer John navigate the world. (BD)

Rachel O'Regan
Award-winning playwright and producer at F-Bomb theatre, O’Regan took inspiration from herstory with Monumental, a part theatre piece, part walking tour celebrating five forgotten heroines of the past. A sold-out tour and outstanding reviews were the result. (RM)

Ramesh Meyyappan
Meyyappan’s emotive fusions of sound and image saw him re-imagine Shakespeare in a gorgeous Lear, casting himself as father, king and fool. Meyyappan also toured with Last Rites, a moving depiction of a man laying his father to rest. (NC)

Reece Clarke
Three years after becoming a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, North Lanarkshire-born Clarke continues to mesmerise both on stage and through his modelling collaboration with various fashion houses. He excelled in the title role of John Cranko’s Onegin, as well as being guest artist in Paris Opera Ballet’s Giselle. (KA)

Richard Strachan
Edinburgh-based Strachan released his gothic debut novel, The Unrecovered, and was honoured with a Saltire longlisting and an appearance in Bloody Scotland’s debut prize shortlist. A haunting evocation of loss and masculine identity, the book takes place in post-WWI South Queensferry. (LR)

Sadiq Ali
Ali continued to bring circus joy and virtuosity to audiences in The Unlikely Friendship Of Feather Boy And Tentacle Girl, a work for children. Multidisciplinary artist Ali has tackled queerness, Islam and masculine violence in past works and we eagerly anticipate what comes next. (LR)

Sam Heughan
In many people’s minds, Kirkcudbright’s favourite son may always be connected to Outlander, but he gave them cause for second thoughts. At Edinburgh’s Lyceum in 2008, he played Malcolm in Macbeth but this year he took the lead role in RSC’s Stratford-Upon-Avon production, garnering strong reviews for his Glaswegian gangster Macbeth. (BD)

Sandy Grierson
It’s not all monkey business for star of the award-winning Scottish-Japanese production Confessions Of A Shinagawa Monkey, as Grierson continually demonstrates they’re synonymous with versatility across stage and screen, recently igniting the EIF with a resoundingly sinister performance as ex-RBS chief Fred Goodwin in Make It Happen. (DC)

Santu
When Washington and Erin Vieira opened Santu, their aim was to create a symbiotic relationship with suppliers. Beans are sustainably sourced from their former home of Brazil and roasted in Edinburgh: a brand-new coffee bar and roastery in the capital is both testament to this and a fascinating peek behind the coffee curtains. (SP)

Sarah Rose
Over the last decade and a half, Glasgow-based Kiwi artist Rose has patiently compiled a body of work that makes subtle and multifaceted interventions into discourses around human-animal relations and ecological recovery. Her solo show, Torpor, marked Rose out as a significant contemporary voice. (GT)

Scoop Restaurants
Margo cemented its reputation as well as plaudits with cocktail-driven sibling Sebb’s. Glasgow’s diners embraced both, arguably putting the city centre back on the culinary radar. But Ox & Finch may still be the jewel in the crown: its reopening brought pomp and swagger, reminding us why we fell for these guys in the first place. (DK)

Scott Ellis Watson
Playing the young John Davidson in biopic I Swear, Watson takes the character from carefree kid to someone whose life is totally derailed when he starts showing signs of Tourette’s. It’s a phenomenal challenge and one the wildly talented young actor tackles with aplomb in his screen debut. (ES)

Sneaky Pete's
Radio 1’s Dance Awards shortlisted this Cowgate nightclub for Best Dance Venue alongside Manchester’s Warehouse Project and Ibiza’s Amnesia. The 100-capacity venue was pipped by Gonzo’s Two Room in Norwich, but that didn’t stop banging nights with Soul Jam and Hot Mess, plus DJs RP Boo, Auntie Flo, Michelle Manetti and Panooc. (CS)

Solly McLeod
The Orkney-raised actor hit screens both small and big, dialling up the creep-ometer as the troubled Jan in Prime’s Fear, and causing all manner of bother for his neighbours played by Martin Compston and Anjli Mohindra. In cinemas, he was much softer in The Last Swim as Shea whose friend has a serious condition. (BD)

Splintr
Spearheaded by the minds behind Flos Collective (an organisation giving women, trans and gender-diverse artists a leg up in the creative industries), Splintr made its debut across Glasgow. Through a selection of exhibitions, workshops, performances and screenings, this DIY festival succeeded in fostering an inclusive space for community and artistry without financial barriers. (MM)

Stuart Fraser
Fuzz Bat Gigs has enlivened Edinburgh’s fertile DIY leftfield gig scene for several years now, with Fraser’s irrepressible presence intent on fostering a community vibe for the weird and wonderful. Somehow he even finds time to perform in his solo bass guise as Puppet Midnight. (NC)

Stuart Mitchell
With his most revealing stand-up show to date, Tips Not Included, selling more than 50,000 tickets in Glasgow alone this year (off the back of attracting over 100 million for his online clips), Mitchell also took over Blackfriars basement in the city, relaunching it as his own comedy club. (JR)

Suky Goodfellow
Edinburgh punk poet Goodfellow has run Queer As Punk events since 2022, sharing art for queers by queers, and it was shortlisted for Creative Edinburgh’s Inclusion Award. This year, Goodfellow sang in riot grrrl band Fistymuffs and put on queer book swaps, acoustic folk gigs and a Pride afterparty at the Wee Red. (CS)

Susie McCabe
Following a heart attack last year, McCabe had every reason to take things easy in 2025. But that’s not the way of this stalwart Glaswegian, who confronted her medical issues (and much more) at this year’s Fringe. Her bitingly hilarious podcast, co-hosted with Frankie Boyle and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, continues to leave no subject sacred. (MR)

Synnøve Karlsen
Fresh from BBC period drama Miss Austen, Karlsen went straight into Apple TV+ sci-fi adventure Foundation before making her stage debut in Headlong’s The House Party, receiving rave reviews across the board(s). The Glasgow-born performer is now showing impressive range. (RM)

Tariq Mahmood
Mahmood has led the Glasgow Sufi Festival to greater heights over the past year, adding an academic conference to the weekend and presenting a programme that covered storytelling, hip hop, and spectacular dance and qawwali singing. A community event/art festival, it celebrates Islamic creativity, culture and inclusivity. (GKV)

The Filmhouse
The Filmhouse finally reopened its doors with Andrew Simpson from the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle taking over as executive director. Simpson’s Filmhouse was refreshed via a £2m refurbishment with programme director Rod White and chair Ginnie Atkinson returning. It’s great to have it back. (EH)

The Pitt
Change is good and the Granton iteration of The Pitt feels intentional, ambitious and, yep, different. More out of the way for most, it’s working hard to become a true community hub, with a gym, market, sauna and space for local groups. Each weekend buzzes, with a roster of top street food vendors bringing the sunshine whatever the weather. (JL)

Thomas Small
Small Town Boys was a Fringe dance hit, an ode to queer joy that smashed barriers between audience and performer, trained dancer and community enthusiast. Just as importantly, Small’s Shaper/Caper company is getting the steps in at its Dundee home too, with weekly classes and a diversity-led ethos that puts bigger companies in the shade. (JL)

Zara Gladman
The Glasgow West End Mum enjoyed a sell-out Fringe run with Aileen: Cameron’s Gap Year Fundraiser and Gladman created an excellent sketch show pilot Good For Her (shame on you, BBC, for not commissioning a full series). Let’s not forget how she publicly shared her Fringe outgoings and incomings, emphasising financial barriers faced by many acts in August. (KF)

> The List Hot 100 2025: 25-11