The Best Songs of 2024 (So Far)
New additions from Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Knocked Loose, PinkPantheress and more
QUICK LIL NOTE
Just like you all, I’ve been enjoying a really great year of independent and mainstream music from all types of artists that couldn’t be more different. It’s been a while since I wrangled all the tracks that have come out and put some order to them, so I’m going to attempt to do so in this post. I wanted to shoutout as many people as I could, but for the sake of time and energy, I’ve decided to only do write ups on the top ten tracks of the year so far. Scroll past the playlist really quick if you don’t want spoilers!
Also, I just recently got into the new Mannequin Pussy and Beyonce projects, so I want to give those a deeper listen before deciding what song goes on here. ALSO I included the Lorde / Charli remix on here because I know you all love that, as well as my debut single under The Sacred entitled “Under God" - Single Version”. They are not in the ranking.
TaTa/JayGelato, “Metal”
85. GRBG_GRL, “Horsec*ck”
84. DIIV, “Raining In Your Pillow”
83. Klypi, “iCandy”
82. Canty, “hahaha”
81. Who’s Who, “Ulterior Motives”
80. SOPHIE/Kim Petras/BC Kingdom, “Like That”
79. Shallowhalo/Swordes, “You Are My Religion Now”
78. Sofia D’Angelo, “Jane Goodall”
77. Ken Carson, “overseas”
76. Kanye West/Ty Dolla $ign, “BURN”
75. Waxahatchee/MJ Lenderman, “Right Back to It”
74. Thursday, “Application of Release From The Dream”
73. Kim Gordon, “I’m A Man”
72. Disclosure, “She’s Gone, Dance On”
71. Iron & Wine/Fiona Apple, “All in Good Time”
70. Remi Wolf, “Toro”
69. SASAMI, “Honeycrash”
68. How To Dress Well, “New Confusion”
67. Ghostface Killah/Kanye West, “No Face”
66. fantasy of a broken heart, “Ur Heart Stops”
65. Tommy Richman, “MILLION DOLLAR BABY”
64. KAYTRANADA/PinkPantheress, “Snap My Finger”
63. Shellac, “WSOD”
62. Amen Dunes, “Purple Land”
61. Still House Plants, “M M M”
60. Mach-Hommy/KAYTRANADA/03Greedo, “#RICHAXXHAITAN”
59. Crumb, “Side By Side”
58. Bassvictim, “I Like It”
57. Night Tapes, “loner”
56. Porter Robinson, “Cheerleader”
55. Fontaines D.C., “Favourite”
54. Peggy Gou, “Back To One”
53. King Krule, “Achtung!”
52. Vince Staples, “Shame On The Devil”
51. Empress Of/Rina Sawayama, “Kiss Me”
50. Dean Blunt/Panda Bear/Vegyn, “DOWNER”
49. ScHoolboy Q, “Yeern 101”
48. Kenny Mason/Paris Texas/See You Next Year, “Big Bank”
47. Chief Keef, “Runner”
46. Fabiana Palladino, “I Can’t Dream Anymore”
45. Jordana/Paul Cherry, “My Idol”
44. LUCY (Coopy B. Handy)/i.v., “Make My Bed”
43. Toro Y Moi, “Tuesday”
42. Mdou Moctar, “Oh France”
41. Beth Gibbons, “Reaching Out”
40. NewJeans, “Supernatural”
39. Helado Negro, “Colores Del Mar”
38. The Japanese House, “:)”
37. Cash Cobain/Bay Swag, “Fisherrr”
36. Clairo, “Sexy To Someone”
35. Chanel Beads, “Police Scanner”
34. Four Tet, “Loved”
33. Jamie xx/Honey Dijon, “Baddy On The Floor”
32. A.G. Cook, “Lucifer”
31. Caroline Polachek, “Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth”
30. The Last Dinner Party, “Caesar on a TV Screen”
29. PinkPantheress, “Turn It Up”
28. Curses, “Another Heaven”
27. Trent Renzor and Atticus Ross/Boy Noize, “Brutalizer [MIXED]”
26. CHRIST DILLINGER/Seepy, “Nick @ Nite”
25. Tinashe, “Nasty”
24. Caribou, “Honey”
23. Sabrina Carpenter, “Please Please Please”
22. Magdalena Bay, “Death & Romance”
21. Mk.gee, “Are You Looking Up”
20. Brutalismus 3000, “9mm”
19. Vampire Weekend, “Classical”
18. Nourished By Time, “Hand On Me”
17. Erika De Casier, “Lucky”
16. Justice, “Generator”
15. Future/Metro Boomin/Kendrick Lamar, “Like That”
14. Billie Eilish, BIRDS OF A FEATHER”
13. Lip Critic, “It’s The Magic”
12. JPEGMAFIA, “don’t rely on other men”
11. Nilüfer Yanya, “Method Actor”
THE TOP TEN
Bladee/Yung Lean, “I DONT LIKE PEOPLE”
Not since Earl Sweatshirt’s I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside have we had an album full of agoraphobic bangers. On the Cold Visions highlight “I DONT LIKE PEOPLE”, Swedish underground superstars Bladee and Yung Lean team up with memed-up producer F1LTHY and it’s pure magic. I DONT LIKE PPL I RLY DONT LIKE PPL!
Wisp, “Pandora”
Thank you to friend of the page The Soundgeist for bringing me to see Wisp open for Panchiko about a month ago. Her and her band are really bringing shoegaze back in a major way, with heavy wall-of-sound guitars and drums coupled and whisper quite vocals. The lyrics are poetic and beautiful, as is the excellent music video for this track.
Snow Strippers, “So What If I’m A Freak”
Nothing to jump to deep into here, just a perfect piece of throwback piano house with some dubby drops and ear-grabbing sound effects. Snow Strippers rule, listen to this whole EP.
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, “LET THE VIRGIN DRIVE”
I have a feeling the next time you see this list at the end of the year, this will be a different SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE song and it’ll be even higher on the list. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE has this way of constantly outdoing themselves with each passing single that really excites me. For the time being, we’re left with this woozy, warped piece of indie pop that falls somewhere between Animal Collective and Girls. The key to their music is the chemistry, which leads to standout instrumental moments as well as really tight and unexpected breakdowns that drop the listener down into Hell like a trap door.
Adrianne Lenker, “Sadness As A Gift”
Adrianne is always good for a moving acoustic ballad, and this song is no exception. Need to dive further into this record just need like an hour of peace.
2hollis, “two bad”
2hollis is the pop star to look out for in the current jaunty Gen-Z era. His production hits like a flashbang every time, disorienting and bright as all hell. On “two bad” we get somewhere between 1-4 beat switch ups in the span of like 3 minutes, suddenly flipping to full on techno just because in the middle of the cut. I’ve truly never heard anything this blissful since Ecco2k’s e.
Charli xcx, “360”
Speaks for itself. Charli xcx has come through with the best album of the year so far in a year that is actually pretty competitive. There were a lot of deep cuts and singles to choose from because the LP is near flawless. However, I had to go with a song that sounds like the future of Charli’s sound, the empowering Barbie-style anthem “360”.
Knocked Loose/Poppy, “Suffocate”
Bangs. Crushes. Kills. Best collab cut of the year.
Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
For four minutes straight, Kendrick Lamar beats, batters and deep fries Drake’s entire career mercilessly. There were many other great diss tracks, all from Kendrick, that did a similar thing, but none of them were this ruthless and this catchy. He really did his homework on this one, airing out all the grievances the West Coast and the entire internet has had with Drake. “You think the Bay gon’ let you disrespect Pac?”, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor”, “Baka got a weird case, why is he around?”, “Fucked on Wayne’s girl while he was in jail, that’s conniving”, “You run to Atlanta when you need a check balanced”, and so on and so on. The entire thing is a quotable and the DJ Mustard beat is one of the most exciting and weird ones I’ve heard since Rihanna’s “Kiss It Better”. Let me hear you say, “O-V-Hoe!”
Chappell Roan, “Good Luck, Babe!”
While I definitely enjoyed the quirkiness and catchiness of her breakout hit-filled debut record (i.e. “HOT 2 GO”, “Pink Pony Club”), none of those tracks touch this new single. Here, she takes all the elements that Kate Bush and Angel Olsen fans love about art pop — the punchy machine drums, the high-flying melodies, the emotional bridges — and gives them a mainstream sheen. Normally, I’d hate some shit like that because it’d feel inauthentic. But goddamn, this girl just sells it like it’s easy. It’s fun, has great production and writing throughout, and most importantly, it dares to do something different and fully cashes in on the success of taking that risk.