The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) closed out 2025 with a 16.6% gain after hitting multiple all-time highs throughout the year. Not too shabby for a third consecutive year of solid returns, though it's worth noting this was actually the weakest performance of the recent three-year run.
Here's the interesting part: while the overall index delivered respectable gains, some individual stocks absolutely crushed it. And when you compare 2025's top performers to President Donald Trump's first year in office back in 2017, there's a fascinating pattern that emerges.
Who Won 2025?
The S&P 500 keeps racking up impressive returns, and investors who predicted strong performance with Trump returning to the White House nailed it. For the third straight year, the index delivered returns of 16% or better, extending one of the more impressive runs in recent market history.
Here are the 10 best-performing S&P 500 stocks in 2025:
- SanDisk Corp (SNDK): +560.2%
- Western Digital Corp (WDC): +283.3%
- Micron Technology (MU): +239.1%
- Seagate Technology Holdings (STX): +218.9%
- Robinhood Markets (HOOD): +202.6%
- Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD): +172.8%
- Newmont Corporation (NEM): +169.8%
- Lam Research Corporation (LRCX): +136.8%
- Palantir Technologies (PLTR): +134.8%
- Comfort Systems USA Inc (FIX): +120.0%
If you're noticing a pattern, you're onto something. Semiconductor and storage stocks absolutely dominated the leaderboard, riding the wave of AI enthusiasm and strong sector demand throughout 2025. The valuations soared as investors bet big on the infrastructure powering artificial intelligence.
But here's the coolest detail: Micron Technology (MU) isn't just a 2025 winner. Back in 2017, Trump's first year in his initial term, Micron ranked as the sixth-best performing S&P 500 stock with an 88% gain. That makes it the only company to crack the top 10 in both of Trump's first years in office. Not a bad track record for the memory chip maker.
The 2017 winners list featured health care, consumer discretionary, technology, and semiconductor stocks as the sectors to watch. Fast forward eight years, and semiconductors remain a dominant force.
Putting 2025 in Perspective
The 16.6% return is solid, but context matters. It's the weakest gain of the past three years and ranks seventh-best over the past decade. Still, most investors would happily take double-digit returns any year.
Here's how the recent years stack up:
- 2024: +24.9%
- 2023: +26.2%
- 2022: -18.2%
- 2021: +28.8%
When you zoom out to Trump's time in office specifically, 2025's performance ranks fourth out of five full years. Here's the complete Trump-era scorecard:
- 2020: +18.4%
- 2019: +31.2%
- 2018: -4.6%
- 2017: +21.7%
Investors who got spoiled by the 24%-plus gains in three of the four years before 2025 might be hoping for a return to that form. But there's an interesting historical pattern worth noting: the second year of presidential terms tends to be weaker. This held true for both Trump's first term and President Joe Biden's term, where year two posted the lowest returns of their respective four-year runs.
If that pattern holds, 2026 might require some adjusted expectations. Then again, the market has a funny way of ignoring historical patterns when it feels like it.
