Tag Archives: best songs

Best Songs of 2024

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Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2024; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

  1. Weak in Your Light, by Nation of Language on Strange Disciple
  2. Glass, Concrete & Stone, by David Byrne on Grown Backwards
  3. My Babe, by Spoon on Lucifer on the Sofa
  4. Pink Pony Club, by Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  5. Hot to Go!, by Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  6. The Feeling You Get, by Empire of the Sun on Ask That God
  7. Femininomenon, by Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  8. Always/Never, by STRFKR on Parallel Realms
  9. Southern Storms, by Heavy Weighs the King on A Star in the Sky
  10. Twenty-Five, by Lake Street Dive on Good Together
  11. Turn the Lights Back on, by Billy Joel
  12. 365, by Waxahatchee on Tigers Blood
  13. The Nineties, by Kate Hudson on Glorious
  14. Escapism, by Raye on My 21st Century Blues (SNL, April 6, 2024)
  15. Wake Up, by Imagine Dragons on LOOM
  16. Red Wine Supernova, by Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  17. My Kink Is Karma, by Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  18. Worth It, by Raye on My 21st Century Blues (SNL, April 6, 2024)
  19. Please Please Please, by Sabrina Carpenter on Short n’ Sweet
  20. Change Nothing, by I Nine on Heavy Weighs the King
  21. Kaleidoscope, by Chappell Roan on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

Six by Chappell Roan here, for an album that actually came out last year. Her debut was one for the ages. Some miscellaneous notes:

  1. Saw Spoon in concert in Montreal — first concert I attended since the pandemic. Won’t be the last.
  2. How about Billy Joel putting out his first new song in decades? And did you catch the AI-infused video? Pretty amazing all around.
  3. So there’s a band named I Nine here, whose first album is titled Heavy Weighs the King. And there’s a band named Heavy Weighs the King. None of this is a coincidence, and their story can be seen via Rick Beato.
  4. Between Chappell Roan, I Nine/Heavy Weighs the King, and Waxahatchee, the three ladies here have some serious belting power. And while Kate Hudson may not have the same vocal strength, her entire album is excellent — I hope she keeps going with this musical side gig of hers.

Best Songs of 2022

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Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2022; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.

  1. End of the Empire I-III, by Arcade Fire on WE
  2. End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A-), by Arcade Fire on WE
  3. Happy New Year, by Let’s Eat Grandma on Two Ribbons
  4. King, by Florence + The Machine on Dance Fever
  5. American Teenager, by Ethel Cain on Preacher’s Daughter
  6. Beach House, by Carly Rae Jepsen on The Loneliest Time
  7. Mastermind, by Taylor Swift on Midnights
  8. Bostich, by Yello on Musik Music Musique 2.0
  9. Summer, by Emeli Sandé on Let’s Say for Instance
  10. At the Frick Museum, by Aimee Mann on Queens of the Summer Hotel
  11. Easy on Me, by Adele on 30
  12. Chaise Longue, by Wet Leg on Wet Leg
  13. Hold Me, by The Teskey Brothers on Run Home Slow
  14. Angel of Business, by Grace Ives on Janky Star
  15. Cambodia, by Kim Wilde on Musik Music Musique 2.0
  16. Hindsight, by Jake Wesley Rogers on Bros Soundtrack
  17. Home by Now, by MUNA on MUNA
  18. LSD, by Lucius on Second Nature
  19. Rerun, by Mia Wray on Stay Awake
  20. Less Than Zero, by The Weeknd on Dawn FM
  21. You Make the World a Better Place, by Priscilla Ahn on Waiting

The highlight of this year is Grace Ives — there are many more songs on her album Janky Star that could’ve made this list. Also a weird discovery — there’s an Australian record label called Ivy League Records that are featured here, on The Teskey Brothers and Mia Wray. Oh, and the lyrics to Chaise Longue are just hilarious!