From Pakistan to Compton, from one artist who reached legal drinking age this year to another in his seventh decade of stardom, each of these songs was a mood. The whole idea of a “single” has gotten weird. Radio certainly doesn’t mean much to the most rabid pop listeners. When a major new album comes out, fans stream the whole thing, so all the spots in the Top Ten get jacked by one artist. This year, Taylor Swift released the 31-song Tortured Poets Departmentalbum, which very consciously didn’t include even one real, banging “single” (yes, “Fortnight” was a hit, but it isn’t really that kind of song)—but then fan-favorite “Cruel Summer” became a number-one smash more than four years after it came out. Still, a song has the power—maybe more than ever—to become a rallying cry or to define a moment. When we look back on 2024, Kendrick Lamar and Chappell Roan will surely leap to mind. (Sabrina Carpenter ended up splitting her own vote: “Espresso” planted the flag, “Please Please Please” was the bigger hit, and even the Grammys nominated one for Song of the Year and the other for Record of the Year.) Meantime, other acts that are hardly superstars—Tommy Richman? Benson Boone?—appeared out of nowhere with massive singles, while singer/songwriters like Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan, working in a genre associated with a more mature and album-centric audience, had smashes of their own. Most of the other picks below weren’t really “hits.” (Beyonce’s Cowboy Carterhad a few of those, but come on—“Ya Ya” is the jam.) But from Pakistan to Compton, from one artist who reached legal drinking age this year to another in his seventh decade of stardom, each of these songs was a mood. They stopped time for a few minutes to make us dance or think or dream, laugh or cry or yell. And anyone who doesn’t think that’s still important? Well, they not like us. More than a song, it was a phenomenon. The Kendrick-Drake beef was one of 2024’s biggest stories in music—at least until Kung Fu Kenny delivered the knockout blow, which became the longest-running number-one hip-hop single of all time. But then it went beyond the eye-popping specifics of accusing Drake of being a pedophile and colonizer and became something more universal and anthemic. With its insistent, stabbing musical hook and that proud and direct chorus, “Not Like Us” slotted in and turned up everywhere from the presidential campaign to every halftime marching band. The year’s other cultural sensation was a breakthrough, breakout breakup song. Released as a stand-alone single, it defined Chappell Roan’s persona and musical range (that bridge! that falsetto! that exclamation point!) and catapulted her to icon status. Roan dominated music festivals, her Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princessshot up the charts, and even her confusion and ambivalence navigating fame seemed emblematic of our era. In a year when queer sensibilities became more mainstream, the overt LGBTQ+ voice of “Good Luck, Babe!” was a galvanizing moment, especially after everyone from Kelly Clarkson to the Jonas Brothers swooped in to cover this weird, extravagant, lovable tune. Josh Tillman had been playing this song off and on for about five years before finally releasing it as a bonus track on his Greatish Hitscollection; it’s probably safe to assume that the line about the “himbo Ken doll” is a more recent addition. Clocking in at eight and a half minutes, “I Guess Time” belongs to a subgenre that includes Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed” and Leonard Cohen’s “The Future”—torrents of words from a crabby old guy, warning of apocalypse while reminding us that the whole thing is a cosmic joke. With a title borrowed from a 1937 history of mathematics, references to Allen Ginsberg and Alan Watts, and a talking snake, all over a disco-lite beat with a jazzy, Steely Dan–ish gloss (complete with sax solo and conga-drum solo), the whole thing is absurdly excessive, and I love every ridiculous second. The loopiest music on Cowboy Carter(brassy, psychedelic soul pop incorporating “These Boots Are Made for Walking,” “Good Vibrations,” and “Love Is Strange”) and lyrics that are both super political and super sexy. With a barely contained fireworks display of a vocal, Beyoncé careens from “whole lotta red in that white and blue” to “we sweat out the sheets,” conveying the Black American search for joy in the face of a pain with Tina Turner–style fervor. A powerhouse. She turned only 21 this year, but Olivia Rodrigo keeps making all the right moves. Her terrific second album, Guts, leaned more into her singer-songwriter side, but for the deluxe edition, retitled Guts (Spilled), she added five new songs that steered back into the pop-punk lane. Cowritten by St. Vincent, “Obsessed” is a snarling rave-up about stalking her boyfriend’s ex, and it’s just the right mix of funny, desperate, and cathartic—a territory Rodrigo is making her own Speaking of St. Vincent, Annie Clark described her All Born Screamingalbum as “post-plague pop,” but for the most part she ditches any sort of high concept and, producing herself for the first time, delivered a set both consistent and distinctive. The industrial yowl of the lead single “Broken Man” draws on jagged indie rock, electronica, and even dance pop, revealing facets of St. Vincent that are more complex and more accessible as her remarkable career continues to unfold. She’s a sensation in her native England—after writing for the likes of Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Ellie Goulding, she recently broke the record for the most Brit Award nominations and won Album of the Year for her debut, My 21st Century Blues—but Raye hasn’t fully hit in the States, despite a showstopping SNLperformance in April. This three-part single/EP/suite is gloriously bonkers; a spoken-word intro leads into a soulful R&B section, climaxing in a full-on jazz bit, with horns and a scat break. But “Genesis” also looks hard at anxiety and insecurity (“If you’re thirsty like me / Mix some pity with some self-hate”) before landing on the refrain “Let there be light.” Fabiana Palladino is the daughter of bass god Pino Palladino, who has held down the bottom for everyone from D’Angelo to the Who. Her debut has been a damn long time coming; she’s been releasing songs online for 13 years, and seven years ago she was the first artist signed to Jai Paul’s label. But the self-titled album was worth the wait—it’s a gem, with exactingly crafted ballads and ’80s-flavored funk sometimes revealing a Prince-like edge. The slinky, tense “Can You Look in the Mirror?” could be a lost track from Control-era Janet Jackson. Pakistani singer/composer Aftab was an unlikely nominee for Best New Artist at the 2022 Grammys, where she won the Best Global Music Performance trophy. A Berklee grad who’s adjacent to the N.Y.C. jazz community, she’s performed at Coachella and Glastonbury. “Raat Ki Rani” was the first single from Aftab’s Night Reign album—and no, I don’t know what she’s singing about, but it’s gorgeous and evocative, highly reminiscent of Sade at a time when we could all use that kind of calming, romantic beauty. In this horror show of a year, leave it to the incomparable treasure known as Stevie Wonder to issue a gentle prayer for sanity. Over a quiet, rolling acoustic guitar and that instantly identifiable harmonica sound, a great man pleads for “truth, compassion, and love.” It wasn’t a hit, it didn’t impact voting results, it’s not a game-changer like “Superstition” or “Living for the City,” but read that song title again and tell me what more we could ask an artist to say about a world gone mad?
The 10 Best Songs of 2024
Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
View full post on YoutubeChappell Roan, “Good Luck, Babe!”
View full post on YoutubeFather John Misty, “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All”
View full post on YoutubeBeyoncé, "YA YA"
View full post on YoutubeOlivia Rodrigo, “Obsessed”
View full post on YoutubeSt. Vincent, “Broken Man”
View full post on YoutubeRaye, “Genesis”
View full post on YoutubeFabiana Palladino, “Can You Look in the Mirror?”
View full post on YoutubeArooj Aftab, “Raat Ki Rani”
View full post on YoutubeStevie Wonder, “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart?”
View full post on Youtube
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