AI Kept the Crown. Execution Set the Standard.
Agents broke out, control layers gained share, and umbrella narratives lost heat.
Welcome to Top Conversations in Tech, where we isolate the trends gaining momentum, losing relevance, and reshaping enterprise priorities. This analysis reflects a full-year comparison of 2025 vs. 2024, based on news and blog citation volume. We currently monitor 270+ technology topics, with historical data extending back to March 2019. Rankings reflect total 2025 volume across the Top 200, with year-over-year comparisons to show where attention consolidated, fragmented, or shifted toward enterprise-critical themes.
The central 2025 pattern was clear: broad category topics lost share, while execution topics and layers gained share—agents, control surfaces, and modernization topics tied to durable budgets.
- AI stayed dominant, but the center shifted. 2025 attention moved from broad AI labels toward execution constructs, with #16 AI Agents as the clearest breakout signal.
- Modernization regained authority. Coverage rewarded workflow ownership and systems of record, led by #10 Digital Transformation and the surge in #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP.
- Control layers became the credibility test. Security and identity control themes gained share (cloud security, security ops, passkeys), which reinforced a market that valued governed deployment over category hype.
The 2025 story did not hinge on whether AI stayed large. AI stayed large. The signal sat in where the conversation moved inside the category: away from headline labels and toward systems that delivered outcomes with governance and operational control.
Full-year 2025 volume concentrated in a familiar Top 10, but the momentum changed sharply versus 2024. Several umbrella categories contracted hard—most notably #4 Cryptocurrencies (−55.4% YoY), #21 Multimedia (−58.5% YoY), and #33 5G (−52.9% YoY)—while modernization themes gained share, led by #10 Digital Transformation (+25.2% YoY) and #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP (+190.5% YoY). This shift mattered because enterprise narratives rewarded workflow impact, governance posture, and integration depth more than broad category claims.
Top 10 Conversations
The Top 10 confirmed AI’s scale, but it also showed a split inside AI. #1 Artificial Intelligence remained dominant (5.61M; −11.5% YoY), while adjacent labels cooled: #19 Generative AI (−50.5% YoY) and #13 Machine Learning (−43.2% YoY) both lost volume. In parallel, agent-first platform narratives gained visibility throughout 2025, with major vendors positioning multi-agent orchestration and enterprise control layers as the path to real outcomes. Enterprise AI depended on adoption proof, control posture, and measurable outcomes—not label-led claims.
Market narratives compressed into fewer high-signal areas. #2 Bitcoin (−19.5% YoY) held rank, but umbrella terms collapsed: #4 Cryptocurrencies (−55.4% YoY) and #9 Blockchain (−43.9% YoY) lost steep share. A driver behind the “enterprise crypto” lens was regulatory focus on stablecoins, such as GENIUS Act activity in July 2025. This shift mattered because broad “crypto” and “blockchain” hooks carried less persuasive power; enterprise relevance depended on narrow, compliance-bound use cases and infrastructure-grade credibility.
Risk and governance retained top-tier weight even with YoY declines. #5 Compliance (Tech) stayed top five (−19.8% YoY) and #8 Cybersecurity stayed top 10 (−37.3% YoY), while the risk layer showed depth through persistent subtopics such as #39 Data Breach(s), #41 Phishing, #48 Ransomware, and #25 Encryption. Buyers assessed posture through controls and operations, not broad “security” language.
#3 Drone(s) remained top three (−24.0% YoY) and #6 Supply Chain stayed top six (−37.3% YoY), which kept autonomy and resilience on the agenda. At the same time, consumer-adjacent categories softened: #7 Smartphone (−49.5% YoY) signaled category normalization. Enterprise value stories favored management, security, and operational enablement rather than device novelty.
Modernization returned as connective tissue across the year. #10 Digital Transformation rose (+25.2% YoY) alongside high-volume operational themes such as #5 Compliance (Tech) and #6 Supply Chain. Transformational language regained credibility when tied to process authority, governance, and measurable change—especially as enterprise suites embedded agents directly into workflows.
Rising Stars, New Stars and Fallouts
New stars in 2025 signaled a category re-map toward execution layers and control points. The clearest proof sat in #16 AI Agents (rank #152 → #16), which mirrored platform efforts to operationalize agents through orchestration and enterprise control planes. #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP (#126 → #54; +190.5% YoY) also rose in stature from 2024, aligning with major suite vendors expanding agent capabilities inside finance, HR, and supply chain workflows across 2025.
A second new-star cluster sat at the control layer where AI scale forced new guardrails. In this analysis, “new stars” meant topics that appeared in the 2025 Top 200 but did not appear in the 2024 Top 200. That list included #181 Passkey, #195 API Security, #198 Data Loss Prevention/DLP, #199 Platform Engineering, #200 Private AI, and #50 Machine Learning + Security. Passkey adoption momentum in 2025 added real-world gravity to identity-led security narratives.
Fallouts showed where attention dropped from the Top 200 or collapsed into adjacent umbrellas. Topics present in the 2024 Top 200 but absent from the 2025 Top 200 included Cybersecurity Staffing/Burnout (2024 #73), Streaming Media (2024 #188), Supply Chain Visibility (2024 #190), Storage Area Network (2024 #192), Accelerated Computing (2024 #194), Extended Detection Response/XDR (2024 #195), Expert Systems (2024 #196), Data Connectivity (2024 #197), and Encryption Keys (2024 #199). The implication was not category death; it signaled narrative share that favored topics tied to governance, core systems, and direct enterprise execution.
Biggest Gains
The largest 2025 gains clustered around “AI as a system,” not “AI as a label.” #16 AI Agents posted the biggest jump (+1539.7% YoY), while modernization anchors with workflow authority also surged, led by #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP (+190.5% YoY) and #10 Digital Transformation (+25.2% YoY). Suite vendors reinforced that direction through agent expansion inside core business applications across 2025, which raised the visibility of ERP-adjacent narratives.
Security gains concentrated in cloud and operations layers rather than broad headlines. #67 Cloud Security (+49.6% YoY) and #57 Security Operations/SecOps (+40.2% YoY) both gained rank and share, which matched a market that prized operational control as AI and cloud use expanded. Identity’s rise also showed up through the entry of #181 Passkey, supported by industry-wide efforts to push passwordless authentication into mainstream enterprise posture.
Biggest Losses
The largest losses clustered in umbrella narratives that lost novelty and in consumer-adjacent themes that saw fewer headline spikes. #21 Multimedia (−58.5% YoY), #12 E-commerce (−52.5% YoY), and #7 Smartphone (−49.5% YoY) all fell hard. Connectivity also moved deeper into background infrastructure status. #33 5G (−52.9% YoY) and #22 Wi-Fi (−53.2% YoY) both lost steep volume.
Broad AI labels cooled even as AI stayed dominant. #19 Generative AI (−50.5% YoY), #49 Large Language Models (−42.2% YoY), and #13 Machine Learning (−43.2% YoY) all fell, but they continued to hold strong rankings in the Top 200 for 2025. The fascination around AI slowed and perhaps plateaued.
Looking Back
In 2024, umbrella labels carried more share: #15 Generative AI (#19 in 2025) sat closer to the center of gravity, crypto umbrella terms held far more volume, and connectivity themes such as #22 5G carried higher share. The 2025 data showed what sustained: execution categories gained share. The strongest proof point was the rise of #16 AI Agents into the Top 20, paired with modernization anchors such as #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP and control-plane growth such as #67 Cloud Security.
Top Takeaways
- Agent frameworks defined the 2025 AI narrative. Media coverage rewarded governance, integration depth, and workflow impact; that signal pointed to agent control as a durable 2026 budget theme.
- Execution themes regained authority across the enterprise stack. #10 Digital Transformation rose +25.2% YoY and #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP rose +190.5% YoY, which signaled operating model change as the anchor for enterprise priorities.
- Control layers gained share across security and identity. Media coverage rewarded cloud and operational controls, with #67 Cloud Security up +49.6% YoY and #57 Security Operations/SecOps up +40.2% YoY, plus new Top 200 entrants such as #181 Passkey. That signal points to governance, identity, and enforcement as table stakes for enterprise AI and cloud in 2026.
- Core enterprise systems and data authority regained narrative weight. #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP rose +190.5% YoY and #103 Data Governance gained rank, which reinforced a shift toward workflow authority, auditability, and reliable inputs. That signal pointed to “systems + data + control” as the durable frame for enterprise transformation in 2026.
Looking Ahead
- Will #16 AI Agents sustain top 20 placement, or will attention split into narrower agent sub-topics and control layers?
- How much momentum will #54 Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP continue to have, especially as organizations tie AI value to systems of record; or will modernization fatigue reduce coverage?
- Will security attention continue its move toward control planes such as #67 Cloud Security and #57 Security Operations/SecOps, or does broad #8 Cybersecurity recapture share?
- Which 2025 control-layer entrants—#181 Passkey, #195 API Security, #198 Data Loss Prevention/DLP, #200 Private AI— will move from early signal to sustained 2026 narrative?
Check out previous installments of Top Conversations in Tech here.
