I think, if I really had to name a doll of the year, it would unfortunately have to be labubu. I think the trend moved quick and has died down a little, but I still see them hanging from the bags of teenage girls so they must still be cool.
Actually, I think soft body dolls have seen increasing interest for a while! Michirutoy used to sell on Etsy a few years ago, and it looks like she still does in Japan. QLY Work of course also created dolls of a similar style a couple of years ago. The latest release, Bebe, became available just a few days ago! As of me writing this, she's even still available for international order.
Kinoko Juice's Whippie also released this year. As far as I know this is Kinoko Juice's first doll that's not a BJD. They've been experimenting quite a bit lately but I still hope we'll see their 1/3 girl next year.
Actually, there have been some experiments that dollers have done to combine a BJD head with a soft body. For fully-clothed dolls, the advantages are obvious. They don't look very good nude, but with China's recent obscenity laws, Chinese dollmakers aren't allowed to sell sculpted genitalia anymore (and stock photos have been censored for a few years now). With China already being the current undisputed leader of trends and advancements in BJD technology, I wonder if doll nudity will fall out of fashion anyway, leaving plenty of space for interesting hybrids?
Of course, I can't count these dolls as BJD even if their heads could belong to one. But I do think a new type of doller will arise very soon! I'm looking forward to it.