A staggering amount of good music went mainstream this year.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Even ourpop-star flopsfelt like tentpole events.
10.A Bar Song (Tipsy), Shaboozey
10.
If rap and country music can unite over one thing, its a good drinking song.
Still, J-Kwons vodka-soaked party track Tipsy shouldnt translate to fiddle-laden, boot-stomping country so easily.
That chorus is powerful enough to make anyone forget about paying the gas and electric.
Justin Curto
9.girl, so confusing remix featuring lorde, Charli XCX feat.
Lorde
9.
Who wasnt riding for Charli this year?
Certainly Lorde was, as she emphatically states at the end of this four-on-the-floor burner.
It was loud, it was emphatic, it was very bratTM.
Alex Suskind
8.The Last Year, Jessica Pratt
8.
A.S.
7.Hang Tight Honey, Lainey Wilson
7.
J.C.
6.Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido, Karol G
6.
J.C.
5.All You Children, Jamie xx and the Avalanches
5.
J.C.
4.Commas, Ayra Starr
4.
Even when shes brushing her haters aside, the singers soprano hugs the melody like a soft pillow.
A.S.
3.Pink Skies, Zach Bryan
3.
J.C.
2.Hiss, Megan Thee Stallion
2.
The most impressive part is how much fun Megan is having here, cackling between verses.
Shell grin in your face while rapping the nastiest line youve heard.
J.C.
1.Alesis, Mk.gee
1.
Im in another body whos in somebody else, he says.
And later, Why bleed when we donthaveto?
Its that he can make his instrument sound like anything a warble, a flood, a person speaking.
On Alesis its as gnarly as a buzzsaw and as fuzzy felt.
Its the only song this year that feels like a trust fall.
Many of those selections appear above in our top ten.
Sticky, Tyler, the Creator feat.
Now, Van Etten is giving them equal billing as the Attachment Theory on her upcoming album.
As Twigs says, I dont know, and I dont care.A.S.
But who cares when it sounds this sharp?A.S.
An early Marfa track, Love Songs is piercing in its plainspoken conviction.
Have you ever hated yourself / For runnin right off the rails?
/ For chasin demons?
/ For no good reason?
Lambert wonders, digging into the words over little more than an acoustic guitar and a drumbeat.
The emotions of the song may have passed, but Lambert sings it as if she remembers them vividly.J.C.
Wavy Navy University, Babyface Ray feat.
Coloured Concrete, Nemahsis
A pop-ish/rock-ish anthem with late-aughts Santigold energy.
The hook will claw its way into your brain and never leave.
at the top of his lungs.
There has to be fatigue worthy of something but theres nothing.
Once the song fades into feedback, theres no respite.
Murphy just sounds exhausted, wondering, Is this all that there is?J.C.
Listen to the song then stay the hell away from its main character.
On Finer Things, hes traded the girls and drugs for caviar with his catfish and designer pistols.
Yeah, it sounds like Postys enjoying the country life.
A.S.
Active, Asake featuring Travis Scott
Asake is restless.
Having risen in the Afrobeats ranks and conquered amapiano, hes searching for something new onLungu Boy.
(What other rocker even knows the wordlazaretto?)
My tax dollar killing children and they mothers, Navy Blue raps over a player-piano beat.
/ Dont you drift away from us and fall in that abyss.
Bonus points to Doechii for somehow rhyming Ventura with jeweler and hoorah.
Facing a floundering relationship, Clairo decides to lean into not only her sadness, but her anger.
she asks her counterpart, pounding the piano like mid-70s Carole King.
/ You say you like all of my attitude.
A trained folklorist, he often performs tunes hes learned from mentors and field recordings.
He can even turn a fishermans sales pitch into a song.
J.C.
Scooter Blues, Johnny Blue Skies
Sturgill Simpson wanted to get away from it all.
Ill say, Not anymore.
J.C.
Yayo, Rema
Dont call Rema a sellout.
After making Afrobeats biggest crossover hit yet, he couldve continued chasing the western mainstream.
Instead, on new albumHeis, Rema keeps his focus on stretching the genre.
J.C.
Lucky Sometimes, Midland
Midland knows that little things can make a difference.
J.C.
Shes Leaving You, MJ Lenderman
MJ Lenderman is fascinated with losing.
On Shes Leaving You, Lenderman has never made failure sound so good.
Cap it off with a coarse, Crazy Horseesque guitar solo and youve got a winner of a song.J.C.
)andits wildest nature-as-genitalia lyric.
The worlds moose population will never be the same.
A.S.
Put Em in the Fridge, Peso Pluma feat.
Its an unrelenting two and a half minutes, and both performers come out bigger stars than before.J.C.
Big Boy, Normani
The cards were stacked against a Normani debut album.
That makesDopamines existence a small miracle.
Its an even bigger one that it absolutely hits.
This isnt the mainstream pop of Normanis 2019 hit Motivation.
Its funkier, sexier, sleeker.
Now, theyre quickly becoming masters themselves.
A house piano line grows into a full kaleidoscopic track, flourished with twinkly synths and groovy bass.
J.C.
Read Craig Jenkinssreview of Billie EilishsHit Me Hard and Soft.
Thus ensued multiple rounds of diss tracks Cole infamouslybowed out early before Kendrick threw down the hammer.
Baddy on the Floor, Jamie xx feat.
Honey Dijon
Jamie xxs ears work differently.
It took until 2024 for casual listeners to finally start paying attention.
Credit Nasty, a sultry, sexy ear worm and guide directed at would-be suitors.
(Is somebody gonna match my freak?
/ Need somebody with a good technique.)
(Okay, minus the one line about cell phones.)
Falling in love has never sounded so smooth.
You need that kind of blind confidence when youre playing next to someone like Kamasi.
Andres anti-textbook approach sounds like birdsong as the veteran saxophonist keeps a steady hand.
A.S.
Self Sabotage, Katie Pruitt
Katie Pruitt directs her most penetrating lyrics at herself.
Cheerleader, Porter Robinson
Porter Robinson has grown a lot in three years.
On Cheerleader, the first single off a new album, Robinson sounds like hes having fun again.
J.C.
Get It Sexyy, Sexyy Red
Whos writing better hooks right now than Sexyy Red?
Like SkeeYee and PoundTown (andHellcat SRTsandRich Babby Daddy), everything here is quotable.
A.S.
Classical, Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend can rewind to 2008 with just one sound.
But thats a fake out.
It builds up to something new for the band: a chaotic, free-jazzy breakdown.
For Vampire Weekend, the answer is a little bit of everything.
On Life, she pivots to hypnotic jazz-rock about masking your true emotions.
I know Im not fine, she sings over major-dominant piano chords.
But yes, I say Im fine.
A.S.
Von Dutch, Charli XCX
Charli XCXs music exists at two ends of the swinging pendulum.
J.C.
Read Jason Franksscene report from Charli XCXs Boiler Room set.
I flipped a coin and went with Ogallala, the final montage soundtrack for Segarras cross-country trek.
Well get lost in a city forgotten / Cause I dont like change / And I hate good-byes.A.S.
Read Jenn Pellysprofile of Alynda Segarra.
A.S.
Read Craig Jenkinssreview of ScHoolboy QsBlue Lips.
My spines a rotted two-by-four, she cries, over a wall of guitars.
(MJ Lenderman, from the Southern punk band Wednesday, plays on the track.)
Beyonce fashions herself as the weary troubadour, reminding fans that her glamorous life didnt come without sacrifice.
Robert Randolphs resounding steel guitar adds a touch of Southern gospel, while Bey brings some soulful riffing throughout.
To paraphrase her, 16 Carriages is more than country music its Beyonce music.
J.C.
Read Craig Jenkinssreview of BeyoncesCowboy Carter.
Even Maggie Rogers knows the feeling.
On her sepia ballad Dont Forget Me, she watches in shock as her friends relationships progress.
Im still tryin to clean up my side of the street, she sings.
But who cares about that when youre making earworm-y club bangers like Fashion Icon?
The song starts out claustrophobic, with Niko Kapetans voice hushed and quivering over an acoustic guitar.
Then comes an electric riff, some pattering drums, more singers.
Its a formula executed to perfection until it all crashes down in the bridge.
The bands passion is combustible; Kapetan said everyone was in tears by the end of the recording.
Thats the power of a great rock crescendo.
J.C.
Bye Bye, Kim Gordon
Is it Soundcloud rap?
A grocery list masked as spoken-word poetry?
Yes, and also, just a Kim Gordon song.
Seriousness is overrated, anyway.
I felt it in my body likewhoa, she sings, making that one syllable soar.
The whole track flutters with ecstasy, especially the racing, clubby drum track, racing like a heartbeat.
Its an understated twist on the same thrilling formula de Casier helped execute on songs like NewJeans Super Shy.
Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
