From era-defining pop hits to indie rock gems, vocal jazz to death metal, it’s time to look back on the very best songs that came out in 2024. As in previous years, I’m only allowing one song per artist, and only new and original songs (an honorable mention only, then, for Florence + the Machine’s life-affirming live album from this year’s BBC Proms). This list can never be a wholly objective view on the many thousands of hours of songs that were released this year – rap remains a real blind spot of mine – but these are personally the songs that I came to love and treasure this year.
40. Softly
by Mannequin Pussy from I Got Heaven
It’s become a little less perilous to Google the name of this Philadelphia rock band this year, after their March album I Got Heaven received wide critical and commercial success. It is a record (perhaps inevitably) that doesn’t quite live up to the punky irreverence promised by the words Mannequin Pussy. Instead, there’s widescreen highlights like Softly which sports a thrillingly vulnerable bridge (“What if one day I don’t love you any more?”) before a poppy guitar hook and a melody which must surely be belted out by ecstatic fans at the band’s live shows (Undertone had tickets, but the band cancelled their visit to Newcastle at short notice due to touring fatigue).
Also try: the vicious screaming on slow-burner Loud Bark goes some way to explaining why vocalist Marisa Dabice might have needed a break from touring. A hardcore punk purple patch in the second half of the album is a thrill: Aching is the most bowel-rupturing.
39. World O World
by Jacob Collier from Djesse Vol. 4
Calling any Jacob Collier song underrated isn’t really possible these days, now that he’s won an astonishing six Grammy awards and is nominated for three more this year, including the coveted Album of the Year. The album in question – the dizzyingly eclectic Djesse Vol. 4 – isn’t quite of that calibre in my view, but the closing track deserves much more recognition. In keeping with Collier’s appetite for surprise, it’s a solemn choral piece, gloriously free of the hardcore djent interludes or destabilising time signature changes that haunt many of his more excitable tunes. Yes, the harmonic movement can be challenging, but no more so that of a typical contemporary classical piece, and the melodies are gorgeous, evoking Hark the Herald Angels Sing in its most majestic passage. Collier could hardly have written a more fitting, mature send-off to his mammoth four-album Djesse project.
Also try: WELLLL and Mi Corazon are competent rock and electronic songs respectively. If you want the full, over-the-top Jacob Collier experience, look no further than multi-genre and multilingual two-parter Box Of Stars.
38. Cheerleader
by Porter Robinson from SMILE! 😀
Pop auteur Porter Robinson heralded the arrival of summer with this bright neon firework of a track, powered by a soaring synth earworm. It’s a dopamine-rush that gains a new dimension after a few listens when the penny drops that it’s about a horribly abusive relationship. “Boy you better watch the time / Because if you’re not mine I’d rather see you burned alive” Robinson quotes, before launching into another ecstatic chorus unfazed.
Also try: Knock Yourself Out XD divided fans with its retro chiptune synth lead, but good luck getting that hook out your head any time soon.
37. Right Back To It
by Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman from Tigers Blood
Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman’s bucolic country duet has been making waves across the pond as one of this year’s finest pieces of songcraft, and it’s easy to see why. Their two voices really shouldn’t work together – Waxahatchee’s flute-soft intonations with Lenderman’s nasally rasp – which makes the heartwarming chorus all the more magical, the pair singing with the chemistry of lifelong creative partners. The lyrics flow like water: “You come to me on a fault line / Deep inside a goldmine / Hovering like a moth / I lose a bit of myself”. Right Back To It is an enchanting five-minute escape from the real world and, after the events of 2024, might just be the healing piece of music America needs right now.
Also try: Waxahatchee’s album Tigers Blood is one of the year’s very best. Try opener 3 Sisters for some more tasteful Americana guitar work.
36. That’s How I’m Feeling
by Jack White from No Name
After a string of experimental, misfiring solo albums, the White Stripes man returned to his roots for 2024’s Grammy-nominated garage punk record No Name. In a track list bursting with wall-rattling behemoths, That’s How I’m Feeling stands out as the album’s central banger: four chords played hard and fast, bathed in a torrent of cymbal hits. The mix is grungy and lo-fi, but that’s all part of the appeal – That’s How I’m Feeling isn’t intended to be pretty. In fact, it might be the ugliest song of the year.
Also try: almost every song on No Name demands to be turned up to full volume. Most remarkable is the bizarre, sermon-like rant on Archbishop Harold Holmes, whilst What’s The Rumpus? sees White at his most ruthlessly funky.
35. For Cryin’ Out Loud!
by FINNEAS from For Cryin’ Out Loud!
FINNEAS trumped his sister Billie Eilish with For Cryin’ Out Loud!, a deeply assured single and the clear product of years of quietly honing his own pop songwriting craft. A sighing chorus melody and wistful horns section are perfect companions for FINNEAS’ words about an incompetent lover who he can’t quite bring himself to leave. “The meaner you are, the harder to leave,” he summarises in an anthemic final chorus – as it happens, this track is just as difficult to forget.
Also try: Cleats pairs a nut tight, almost tropical verse with a breezy, washed out chorus to excellent effect.
34. Those Goodbyes
by Katy J Pearson from Someday, Now
Katy J Pearson’s recent rendition of Those Goodbyes in Leeds may have been faintly disappointing, but the studio recording remains one of her very best tracks: a wearied reflection on the ugly end of a relationship, blessed with a beautiful, meandering chorus melody. The production flourishes – a few tentative synths and vocal manipulations – are welcome, but really this is all about Pearson’s voice, which sounds as distinctive and graceful as ever.
Also try: Long Range Driver is the new album’s grooviest number, particularly in its closing stages. Also see Save Me for its expertly deployed synth breakdown – a new direction for Pearson.
33. All Falls Down
by Lizzy McAlpine from Older
Lizzy McAlpine showed vast creative growth with April’s mature and nuanced Older. It was an album not short on vulnerable, mouse-quiet ballads, but cheering up-tempo number All Falls Down was my pick of the bunch. Prominent clarinets add an air of Broadway comedy to proceedings, as do the perky countermelodies in the chorus. In the end the jolly instrumentation serves to add a new layer of tragedy to McAlpine’s heart-on-sleeve lyrics. “23, and a sold out show / I am happy but I’ll probably cry after you go home,” she admits, in a line that must be a mental challenge to sing live to an audience. Whether she likes it or not, bigger and bigger sold out shows are coming McAlpine’s way if she maintains this standard.
Also try: All Falls Down is a great bop, but McAlpine remains a ballad specialist. Drunk, Running features a gorgeous melodic shift for the chorus, whilst You Forced Me To’s distant piano is nothing short of chilling.
32. Suffocate
by Knocked Loose from You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
There’s heavy metal, and then there’s Knocked Loose’s extraordinary May album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. It’s a record that should come with a warning label – even by death metal standards, there are surely few pieces of music more sonically violent. Bryan Garris’s gender-ambiguous vocals are delivered with a superhuman rage, whilst not-just-a-pretty-face Poppy distinguishes herself as a unique talent in the world of metal. The grooves are monstrous and the final climax is genuinely shocking, but it’s production wizardry that makes this one for the ages. Quite how the producer Drew Fulk managed to generate such an almighty racket whilst keeping every instrument audible is difficult to fathom. It makes Mannequin Pussy sound like Kidz Bop.
Also try: Knocked Loose’s bravura performance of Suffocate on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show of all places is equal parts hilarious and terrifying. Elsewhere on the album, Blinding Faith’s brutal groove changes are the perfect match for a powerful lyric sheet about denouncing religion.
31. We Can’t Be Friends
by Ariana Grande from Eternal Sunshine
A gem initially hidden in the latter tracks of her excellent March LP Eternal Sunshine, We Can’t Be Friends is Ariana Grande’s best song in years. It’s cut through with a steady pulse of synths, which strikes the fine balance between danceable and emotionally devastating. “I don’t like how you paint me / Yet I’m still here hanging” Grande sings memorably in the bridge, recounting a breakup that was not messy or explosive, but instead a slow, melancholy falling out of love. It’s catchy, mature, nuanced, and essential listening.
Also try: in the wake of Grande’s lead role in Wicked, much of the great pop on Eternal Sunshine seems to have been forgotten. Bye is an entertaining, disco-tinged album opener, whilst Imperfect For You is an exquisitely sad end-of-relationship waltz.
30. Something Ain’t Right
by XG from AWE
Beware Something Ain’t Right. Emerging J-pop supergroup XG appear to have laced this bubbly bassline and ingenious hook with some highly addictive substance, because once you press play on this technicolour trip back to 2000s pop it’s hard to stop listening. A brief but rip-roaring rap verse ups the ante after the first chorus, whilst that bassline only gets bubblier as the song progresses. It’s the sort of dancefloor-filler most girl groups can only dream of.
Also try: nothing from XG’s slender November album really holds a candle to Something Ain’t Right, but IYKYK’s maximalist R&B is not without merit.
29. God of Everything Else
by Porridge Radio from Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me
Dana Margolin verges on losing all control – both emotionally and vocally – on this potent indie slow-burner. “It was a sick, sick sickness loving you / I wake up choking on dreams,” she belts in the daringly ragged finale, a long-hidden rage finally bubbling up to the surface. Her band urge her onward with expressive drumming and plaintive additions in the backing vocals and distantly wailing strings. It’s a songwriting triumph from an indie band to keep an eye on.
Also try: there’s plenty more of this single’s appealing raggedness throughout their October album. Try Anybody for the folksy vocal harmonies, or closer Sick of the Blues for its delusional lyricism “I’m in love! I love everything!” set to dismal instrumentation.
28. No More Blues
by Samara Joy from Portrait
Samara Joy, current flagbearer of vocal jazz in the US, followed up 2022’s breakout Linger Awhile with October’s more introspective Portrait. Latin number No More Blues is a barnstorming highlight, not least for Joy’s vocalisations at the song’s height, which spiral ever skywards as the horns section and clattering drums raise the stakes again and again. It’s one of her best-written heads too, and it’s shrewdly left up to the listener how earnest she’s being with lines like “I’ll settle down, never roam and find a man and build a home / When we settle down, there’ll be no more blues.”
Also try: You Stepped Out of a Dream is a silky ballad that showcases Joy’s unique ability to write engagingly detailed accompanying parts, in this case with adventurous flutes and a fluttering piano.
27. Prologue
by Kamasi Washington from Fearless Movement
Formidable jazz saxophone visionary Kamasi Washington’s third album Fearless Movement was his wildest yet, full of epic, transcendentally-inspired jazz fusion opuses that challenged the musical tastes of even his most ardent fans. Listening to closing number Prologue certainly feels like a serious undertaking, clocking in at over eight minutes long, but it also features an unusually accessible and catchy head melody, played softly over excitable drum and synth bass parts that impatiently wait their turn to erupt into action. And erupt they certainly do: Washington’s exquisitely paced solo crescendos into a staggering din, the steel-lunged saxophonist squealing higher and higher, one excruciating note at a time. The payoff is so immense is a wonder how he manages to calm himself down for a final, quiet run through the head. The eight minutes of your attention will be richly rewarded.
Also try: Dream State does what it says on the tin with a meditative 10 minutes in the company of trending flautist André 3000, whilst The Garden Path is classic Kamasi: in other words, beautiful chaos.
26. Caught Up
by FLO from Access All Areas
Where did all the girl groups go? It’s been well over a decade now since Girls Aloud, Sugababes and Spice Girls were topping the charts, and a new era of solo female pop appears to be upon us. Taking up the girl group baton is R&B trio FLO, and Caught Up suggests they might be onto something. It’s an ingenious piece of pop that features a finger-picked classical guitar in the starring role. It sounds odd on paper, but in practice it’s an inspired instrumental choice, the rococo flourishes providing both an attention-grabbing hook and funky bass line. FLO add plenty with their densely layered vocal harmonies and quiet disdain towards a cheating boyfriend. Caught Up wasn’t quite a chart hit, but with a few more songs of this quality there’s no reason to believe FLO couldn’t herald a new era of girl group pop.
Also try: FLO’s debut album sadly didn’t live up to Caught Up’s sonic daring, although statement-making opener AAA is an enjoyable trip back to 2000s-era R&B.
25. Conceited
by Lola Young from This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway
It could be argued that the tides of pop have been kind to fast-rising Londoner Lola Young, who released a hit single literally called Messy just as Charli xcx was christening messy, self-aware solo female pop as the current zeitgeist with Brat (more on that later). But to suggest Young was merely in the right place at the right time would be to overlook the unique strengths of her songs. Conceited in particular is a thriller – a hypnotic, baleful synth bass that eventually explodes into a high-octane punk rock blast. Lucky or not, it’s quite conceivable that Young could come to help define the increasingly rough-and-ready sound of pop music in the 2020s.
Also try: Young’s feature on A-league rapper Tyler, the Creator’s latest album is something of a coup for the 23-year-old Brit. A jazzy R&B waltz, it also happens to be one of that record’s best numbers.
24. Don’t Forget Me
by Maggie Rogers from Don’t Forget Me
What Maggie Rogers’ country rock album Don’t Forget Me lacked in stylistic innovation is made up for in spades with consistently impeccable songwriting. The title track is as good an example of Rogers’ talent as any track on this no-skips record – a passionately-sung breakup ballad and a moving account of Rogers’ loneliness. Her own romantic misfortunes are portrayed through evocative character portraits of her friends: Sally rushing into an early marriage, Molly fawning over a guy who merely lets her “follow him to parties”, a semi-mythical “stranger standing, holding out for love / Just waiting on the next street”. It seems Rogers is yet to meet this ideal lover, but that’s what makes her music so emotionally rich.
Also try: up-tempo rager Drunk features one of the best vocal performances of Rogers’ career, whilst Never Going Home’s glorious, sunkissed chorus would make a perfect road trip soundtrack.
23. Doing In Me Head
by Amyl and the Sniffers from Cartoon Darkness
So-called ‘pub punks’ Amyl and the Sniffers had a hit on their hands with October’s Cartoon Darkness, an album packed with head-banging hooks and muscular riffs, none more so than the Doing In Me Head, a song that incapsulates rising terror around the climate crisis. We are “driving head first into natural disaster” Amy Taylor reminds us, before turning her scorn to nefarious ‘Big Tech’ overlords. The song might have felt a little bogged down by all the doom and gloom had the guitar riff not been such a corker: a roar of distortion, shrewdly refreshed in the bridge with a key change. Taylor herself is as vocally imperious as ever, spitting out every last syllable with utter disdain before powering through an anthemic chorus.
Also try: Jerkin’ is textbook Sniffers irreverence, whilst U Should Not Be Doing That’s funky bass line is addictive.
22. Death & Romance
by Magdalena Bay from Imaginal Disk
Forget Brat – for my money Magdalena Bay’s Imaginal Disk was 2024’s best album. An exquisitely detailed concept album about an alien learning to become human, Imaginal Disk was a reminder of the dazzling sonic possibilities available when you forget the traditional guitar-drums-vocals set up for a pop band. Lead single Death & Romance best exemplified the record’s brilliance. A yacht rock piano is the main attraction, but Matt Lewin’s gifts on the production desk are on full display with the fuzzy electronic flourishes in the chorus. Mica Tenenbaum’s angelic vocals sound spectacular over an epic set of lyrics. “I give and you give ‘til it’s all that we have / Nothing is fair in death and romance,” she sings, and it’s a credit to the strength of Death & Romance’s songwriting that those melodramatic words end up sounding nothing less than heartbreaking.
Also try: it’s best to treat yourself to an hour of listening to Imaginal Disk front to back, but highlights include the blown-out production on Image, prog rock finale on Tunnel Vision and That’s My Floor, which sounds like Olivia Rodrigo’s swaggering hit get him back! only with double the attitude.
21. Punk’s Dead
by Soft Play from Heavy Jelly
Punk duo Soft Play wrote a career-defining single in Punk’s Dead, a no-holds-barred rager that squarely addresses the criticism the band received after changing their name from Slaves. Laurie Vincent’s razor-edged guitar hook is brutal, whilst vocalist Isaac Holman takes no prisoners with a furious chorus. “I don’t like change,” he mocks the critics cleverly. When they performed the song live in Newcastle last autumn, the crush of giddy bodies in the mosh pit was so tight it was almost difficult for fans to belt the words back at him.
Also try: Act Violently’s scratchy verse is monstrously groovy, and the chorus features the band’s catchiest earworm by some distance.
20. Von dutch
by Charli xcx from Brat
It’s now very difficult to say anything about Brat that hasn’t already been said before, many times over. Album of the Year? Definitely, at least when it comes to the main publications. Album of the Decade? Quite possibly. Brat went further in terms of cultural reach than anyone could have imagined: it re-wrote the Collins English Dictionary, popularised a new, hip shade of green, sparked what may be an era-defining shift in pop music from hyper-produced, heavily preened pop divas to willfully messy and morally complex ‘brats’ heading the charts. Such is the album’s unimpeachable greatness that my generally positive yet restrained four-star review, written just before the world turned brat green, feels like it’s landed on the wrong side of history (although I maintain opening song and monumental hit 360 is boring). Every song somehow marries vast global appeal with genuinely daring production and electronic oddities; abrasive closer 365 is surely one of those most intense, club-focussed megahits in history. Choosing Brat’s best song is a painful task, so I’ve copped out by selecting the lead single Von dutch, perhaps the record’s most accessible pop banger. The synth bass line is straightforward and unforgettable, and Charli’s audacious lyrics (“It’s okay to just admit that you’re jealous of me”) are simultaneously boastful and empowering. It’s a song – and an album – we’ll no doubt hear for many years and decades to come.
Also try: Brat, a modern classic by all accounts. The album is noted for the contrast between Von dutch’s rampant braggadocio and remarkably vulnerable moments of introspection. Try Club classics and Mean girls for the former, I think about it all the time for the latter and Sympathy is a knife for an intriguing mix of the two.
19. All Now
by the Staves from All Now
Watford sister duo the Staves welcomed the New Year with All Now, a wonderfully sentimental pop anthem and their first release since a third sister, Emily Stavely-Taylor, left the band after becoming a mother. “Would it be alright / If I sit this one out tonight?” the remaining pair sing in unison, perhaps channeling their sister but also the trepidation and anxieties that accompany all new beginnings. “It’s all now, isn’t it exciting?” they sing over an ever-present buzz of synths, and the sense of possibility feels electric. By the time they’re belting the words “Happy New Year”, the plangent guitars have blossomed into a triumphant, cinematic rock chug. Emily’s newborn is a powerful lyrical allusion, but this beauty of a song will resonate for anyone looking ahead towards the thrilling mysteries of the future as 2024 becomes 2025.
Also try: After School is an endearing and joyful reminiscence of high school romance.
18. Juno
by Sabrina Carpenter from Short n’ Sweet
Let’s tackle with the obvious first – newly crowned pop princess Sabrina Carpenter loves sex, and she’s not afraid to tell people about it. Whereas elsewhere on her smash hit album Short n’ Sweet she’s willing to try out some playful innuendo and double entendres, on Juno it feels like she’s ran out of ways to hide the core message. “Whole package, babe, I like the way you fit / God bless your dad’s genetics,” she sings cloyingly in the first verse. Later she fantasises over “freaky positions” (her gigs, clips of which are all over TikTok, include a live demonstration) and by the bridge all she famously resorts to simply announcing “I’m so fucking horny!”. The magic of Juno is how the end product doesn’t sound like cheap smut, but pure euphoria bottled in a four-minute pop song. That glorious chorus melody certainly has something to do with it: an elegant rise and fall, Carpenter’s usually coy vocals opening up into a magnificently controlled belt. Then there’s the pristine production, and the heavenly guitar solo that elevates the song to new levels of ecstasy. In the end, the perfectness of the music adds the complexity lacking in the lyrics. This is a song about sex, yes, but a particular, rose-tinted view of sex, where the act is not merely a fulfilment of carnal desire, but an act of pure, eternal love. Or something like that – lyrics like “Want to try out my fuzzy pink handcuffs?” make any attempts at close analysis of Juno feel absurd and irrelevant. Put it another way: Juno is one of the best pop songs of the year.
Also try: unlike Juno, the sultry Bed Chem does have some genuinely clever innuendo, whilst Taste is straightforwardly great guitar pop.
17. Beaches
by Beabadoobee from This Is How Tomorrow Moves
Hidden in the latter stages of her enjoyable recent album This Is How Tomorrow Moves, in Beaches beabadoobee nailed the grungy 90s rock sound she’s been honing for years. A timeless chord progression on guitar is key to the song’s success, whilst beabadoobee’s pronouncements of “I’m sure now / I’m sure!” underscore the confidence oozing from this neatly crafted rock track.
Also try: the harmonised guitar lines of California are well worth a listen.
16. Three Words Away
by Orla Gartland from Everybody Needs a Hero
Irish singer-songwriter found new levels of artistic creativity with this tightly-written funk rock banger, an underrated track on her highly rated recent album Everybody Needs a Hero. A honking baritone saxophone is employed to tremendous effect in the verses, whilst Gartland’s galivanting melodies in the chorus leap over punchy guitar playing. “On the cusp of greatness, it’s the life I’ve waited for” she sings and indeed, with a big-stage UK and Ireland tour incoming in 2025, it seems Gartland’s imperial phase is upon us.
Also try: Late To The Party is a noisy collaboration with indie hero Declan McKenna, whilst Kiss Ur Face Forever is a winningly bratty romp.
15. Juna
by Clairo from Charm
US songwriter Clairo had one of the albums of the year with July’s silky-smooth Charm, 38 minutes of slinky soul and retro pop that served as Brat’s more well-behaved and tasteful counterpart. Juna exemplified everything Charm did best: expertly composed jazz chord progressions and wispy, almost through-composed melodies delivered in Clairo’s trademark disaffected style. The result is sensual and dreamy, with Clairo almost whispering lyrics like “You make me wanna buy a new dress / You make me wanna slip off a new dress” as if divulging her desires directly to a lover. She eventually recedes from the microphone, leaving space for a gorgeous horn interlude to close out the track. The musical references may be to classic soul and jazz, but this beauty of a single feels timeless.
Also try: Nomad’s breezy delivery of the line “I’d rather be alone than a stranger” is unforgettable, whilst Sexy to Someone and Thank You offer more pop-inclined hooks.
14. Elephant
by jasmine.4.t from You Are the Morning
Manchester singer-songwriter jasmine.4.t announced herself as one of the most exciting voices in UK indie with Elephant, a stunning slow-burner produced by the superstar members of Boygenius no less. It’s their meticulous production that elevates this four-chorder into something greater, but jasmine.4.t’s soaring melody – repeated for the entire song – is devastating, as are her words about a relationship’s breakdown in communication. Keep an eye on her – her debut album, set for release next month, could be something very special indeed.
Also try: You Are the Morning is a touching ballad about trans love blessed with intricate guitar picking and charming strings.
13. No One’s Gonna Love You Like I Can
by Laura Marling from Patterns In Repeat
Laura Marling, now one of the best respected songwriters of her generation, gave birth to her daughter last year, and this year’s album Patterns in Repeat is filled with thoughtful reflections on that life-changing event. Standout track No One’s Gonna Love You Like I Can is short but perfectly formed, with a stunning piano chord progression and a fresh perspective on love as a deep, unique form of ‘knowing’ another person. The strings parts are staggeringly beautiful but never detract from Marling’s delicate melodies. “If life is just a dream / I’m gonna make it worth a damn”, she tells us in a particularly affecting harmonic flourish towards the end. Love songs don’t get much lovelier than this.
Also try: Caroline is equally stunning, with Marling recounting an awkward encounter with an almost-forgotten friend. Lullaby, addressed to her newborn, is profoundly comforting.
12. Real Move Touch
by Confidence Man from 3AM (LA LA LA)
To say Confidence Man’s recent performance in Newcastle was a revelation for me would be an understatement. Not since I experienced Carly Rae Jepsen’s sugar-coated pop in February 2023 have I felt this much intense joy at a gig, or anywhere else in fact. Real Move Touch is perhaps the noisiest corner of the Australian band’s club-focussed recent album, 3AM (LA LA LA). Like most Confidence Man songs, silliness is never far away – Janet Planet and Sugar Bones’ vocal performances are pastiches of girly girl and sleazy man respectively, and reggae singer Sweetie Irie clearly understood the assignment with inane yelps of “Selecta!” and “Naughty, naughty, naughty!”. The music itself is wave upon wave of ravey hedonism, culminating with Planet’s exhilarating scream of “Don’t you know you make me wanna scream!”. Sweetie Irie throws in percussive ad libs between chants of “never too much” and “never enough”, the perfect dichotomy of heady dancefloor euphoria. He closes the track with the throwaway couplet “Confidence Man, Sweetie Irie / Put dat inna yuh diary”. It apparently means little to nothing at all, but that’s what makes this track such a straightforward joy.
Also try: 3AM (LA LA LA) is an unmissable record. I Can’t Lose You is a route-one pop banger, whilst Janet is an anthemic deep cut and Who Knows What You’ll Find is a fun-filled homage to Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough.
11. My Golden Years
by the Lemon Twigs from A Dream Is All We Know
Fresh from scoring Undertone‘s best song of last year with Any Time of Day, soft rock duo the Lemon Twigs submitted another strong entry on only the second day of 2024 with My Golden Years. It’s as well-written as ever from this one-of-a-kind band that sound like time travelers from Pet Sounds-era rock. This particular form of dreamy nostalgia (“In the blink of an eye / I’ll watch these golden years fly by”) is the mood the Twigs do best, and wave after wave of shimmering falsetto vocals at the song’s climax lay on the sentimentality gloriously thick. It’s not quite Any Time of Day levels of bliss, but the golden years of this band’s creative output continue.
Also try: How Can I Love Her More? is a timeless composition with an unapologetically loud, brass-laden chorus designed to get the crowd singing their hearts out.
10. Ode to Clio
by Man/Woman/Chainsaw from Eazy Peazy
Precocious London six-piece Man/Woman/Chainsaw have been the subject of increasingly excited chatter in indie circles in recent months, and they look set for a breakout 2025. The emotive songwriting and presence of a violin mean there are easy comparisons to be made with Black Country, New Road, whose highly influential 2021 album Ants From Up There is already gaining a mythic quality, but (quirky punctuation aside) M/W/C are more than just a rehash of BC,NR. Few BC,NR songs, for example, have a change in pace as dramatic and explosive as the one in Ode to Clio, which switches from heartfelt piano ballad to punk rock rager with an expertly deployed transition. Violinist Clio Harwood is fittingly the song’s star player, and her soaring violin melody in that thrashy outro feels genuinely innovative and rousing. This band could be destined for very great things indeed – my tickets for their upcoming show in York are already booked.
Also listen: Ode to Clio is unquestionably the best song from the band’s debut EP, but Sports Day has an appealing post-punk rawness.
9. Ruined
by Adrianne Lenker from Bright Future
Good songwriters know the most interesting, creative chords to assemble to make a great song. The best songwriters – and make no mistake, Adrianne Lenker is one of the leading songwriters in the world right now – can make do with the most basic four chords in the book. Ruined takes the same four chords I used when writing my very first compositions on piano aged nine and loops them, with no change at all, for four and a half minutes. What’s more, the piano playing would indeed be befitting of a nine-year-old, plonked on the beat without any hint of the pianist’s undoubted technical excellence. So why does Ruined sound so utterly devastating? Perhaps it’s Adrianne Lenker’s voice, thin as silk, tip-toeing through each melody as if she doesn’t know where the notes will take her next. Or maybe it’s in the words, sparse yet heartfelt, painting pictures of the “fern bending to the window” of her bedroom or a lover’s “jewelled vest” growing damp with tears. “Can’t get enough of you / You come around, I’m ruined,” she yearns again and again, leaving the listener to join the dots of this raw anguish. There’s magic too in the eventual piano solo, a childlike, barely-cohesive mush of notes that seems to suggest this time Lenker is too heartbroken even to play her instruments. Quite how Lenker manages to turn such a simple composition into a masterpiece is a testament to her unrivalled skill as a musician and poet.
Also try: Sadness As a Gift comes with a stunning fiddle part, whilst Lenker’s version of Vampire Empire adds even more emotional heft to the song originally released by her band, Big Thief.
8. The Moon Is In The Wrong Place
by Shannon & the Clams from The Moon Is In The Wrong Place
No song on this list has an intro quite as spine-tingling as this one. The Moon Is In The Wrong Place’s unique thrills are teased out one by one – first a rhythmic synth, as if sending an SOS message in morse code, then a furious pair of congas, a menacing descending bass line, a twisty guitar hook and a thunderous drum groove. By the time Shannon Shaw’s verse begins in earnest – precise, dissonant vocal harmonies – a dense psych-rock tapestry has been constructed. It’s the title track of an exceptional album that bravely reflected on the unimaginable loss of Shaw’s fiancé just weeks before their wedding. The title comes from an ominous sentence her husband-to-be uttered one night when the pair were out stargazing shortly before that car crash. It’s a tragic tale, and the fact that Shaw and her band have transmuted that loss into a terrific, terrifying piece of music is nothing short of miraculous.
Also try: up-tempo barnstormer Bean Fields somehow manages to find joy amidst Shaw’s grief, whilst wildly swinging Big Wheel features a massive bluesy chorus.
7. Flex
by Courting from New Last Name
Courting’s performance of Flex in Newcastle last February was the stuff boyhood indie rock dreams are made of. The room was cramped, the crowd was sweaty and inebriated, and the stage was barely six inches high. Frontman Sean Murphy-O’Neill had a hard time resisting the urge to dive into the moshing crowd during this stellar track, and who could blame him – Flex is comparable to beloved indie classic Mr. Brightside with its simple yet magically catchy melodies and its ability to spark pandemonium in every venue it’s played. Courting play their youth and inexperience as a strength, singing about adolescent nights out and dreams of a “livestreamed lie-in forever” with infectious glee. The rousing trumpet melody is played loose and endearingly error-strewn, as if recorded live during one of Flex’s glorious performances in an crowded boozer. The end result perfectly evokes young love in all its wonderful, enthralling messiness.
Also try: Emily G is another endearingly youthful love song with a singalong chorus.
6. Running
by Fat Dog from WOOF.
Fat Dog announced themselves as one of the best new bands of the year with the monstrous Running, the climax of their entertaining new album WOOF. Already gaining a reputation as one of the liveliest live acts in the UK right now, Running is a song that demands to be experienced live and at deafening volumes. The dance-rock groove is brutally heavy, and Joe Love’s lyrics about escaping an apocalypse are a fitting reflection of modern anxieties. Thankfully, unlike the real climate crisis, this tale ends in glorious musical catharsis after an excruciatingly tense bridge. The eventual Phil Collins-esque drum fill and inundation of killer hooks will have you wishing your speaker could go louder.
Also try: if you like Running, you’ll love the seven-minute opus King of the Slugs, which is as bizarre and deranged as its title suggests. Vigilante has the band’s best melody, inspired by evocative Jewish folk music, whilst Wither teeters towards techno territory.
5. La Noia
by Angelina Mango from Poké Melodrama
La Noia, Italy’s typically high-quality entry for Eurovision 2024, may not have won the contest due to mildly disappointing staging (although their eventual 7th place finish was harsh), but Angelina Mango’s three minutes of virtuoso pop deserves recognition of the best-written entry of the year. Whilst Måneskin’s rapidfire Italian lyrics rightly powered the country to victory in 2021’s glam rock firecracker Zitti e Buoni, here the unique musical beauty of that language is set to dazzlingly detailed dance pop. A thumping bass line, club-primed drum machine and addictive strings hook compete for space alongside creative flourishes like squeaking electronics and sunshine-filled flashes of Spanish classic guitar. An authoritative vocal performance from Mango is the icing on the cake, including in an almost operatic a capella bridge that seemed engineered to give Mango an opportunity to lift up her winner’s trophy in a triumphant encore. It didn’t quite happen like that on the big night but, based on the music alone, Europe didn’t produce a better pop song all year.
Also try: addictive single Melodrama was the best of the rest from Mango’s sophomore album Poké Melodrama, which sought to capitalise on her Eurovision success and shot to No. 1 in Italy.
4. Starburster
by Fontaines D.C. from Romance
“The best band in the world” say the Fontaines D.C. superfans, and with Starburster they may actually have a point. The lead single from the Irish band’s blockbuster August album Romance, the track christened Fontaines as a stadium-filling act, and the undisputed kings of post-punk’s recent resurgence in the UK and Ireland. Whilst Grian Chatten’s grating vocals weighed down the melodies of 2022’s dreary Skinty Fia, on Starburster he sounds right at home diving into a monotonic torrent of words, evoking a panic attack with rapid fire cultural references and disarmingly poetic lines about “twisted constellations” and “God-given insanity”. Musically, it sounds like nothing you’ve heard before: a Strawberry Fields Forever-style Mellotron synth, an overblown drum groove, minimalist guitar inflections. It shouldn’t work, but by some strange alchemy it does, and Chatten’s desperate gasps for air that punctuate the chorus are a stroke of genius. The shockingly graceful bridge – perhaps the most heartfelt and affecting passage of vocals Chatten has delivered to date – only makes the return to that meaty chorus all the more awe-inspiring. Fontaines D.C. are the hottest band in the world right now, and with a single as innovative and masterful as this one, they deserve every last plaudit.
Also try: for many, album closer Favourite is just as worthy a Song of the Year as Starburster. A nuanced, self-deprecating love song blessed with a truly beautiful guitar melody, it’s destined to enter the canon of faintly nostalgic indie classics alongside the likes of Don’t Look Back In Anger and Not Nineteen Forever.
3. Floating On A Moment
by Beth Gibbons from Lives Outgrown
Beth Gibbons’ Floating On A Moment begins with an amazing bass line. Woody in tone and lithely sliding up and down the octaves, it’s a stunning melody in its own right, even before Gibbons’ enchanting vocal melody joins in, falling into place like a jigsaw piece. The highlight from Gibbons’ exceptional Lives Outgrown – an earthy, uniquely dismal musical experience and former Portishead frontwoman’s first release in 22 years – Floating On A Moment is a profound meditation on mortality. “I’m heading toward a boundary that divides us,” she sings morosely, reminding us of the transitory beauty of the present moment through a delicately plucked mandolin and haunting background vocals. “Not that I don’t want to return,” she later sings, and the whole song turns on its axis, that menacing bass riff swapped out for a blissful flute melody. The masterstroke is a children’s choir, who sing “we’re all going to nowhere” in the climax, fully aware of their own impending demise yet sounding painfully innocent. Like all the best pieces of music, the resulting cocktail of emotions can’t properly be translated into words: nihilistic yet idyllic, frightening yet life-affirming. To listen to it is to be reminded of the extraordinary power of music as an art form.
Also listen: Oceans’s dreamlike chorus is as expansive as the waters it describes, while Whispering Love’s birdsong and flute melody creates an almost unbelievably tranquil atmosphere.
2. Virginia
by Boys Go To Jupiter (non-album single)
Not nearly enough people are talking about Boys Go To Jupiter. The fresh-faced trio are far from the only funk-pop band emerging out of New York at the moment, but in terms of song quality and attention to detail, this band is simply operating in their own league. The group have steadily built their reputation this year with a string of invariably flawless singles that blended punky indie rock with nostalgic disco and soul, plus a clear affinity for Broadway musicals in Jess Kantorowitz’s fully committed vocal performances and dense instrumentation. Virginia felt like a culmination of the band’s progress up to this point – a masterclass in song structure that miraculously balanced indie rock and delightful disco, juggling dense string sections and mournful piano interludes all whilst telling a vivid tale of the titular character’s entire life. Kantorowitz’s starts with an image of Viriginia lonely and disillusioned sat outside a cinema (“Living in the shadow of the light of other people’s dreams”) before she runs away from home, becoming estranged from her family. The narrative transitions from empowering to tragic as Viriginia’s loneliness intensifies, culminating in an exhilarating disco interlude funky enough to make even Parcels jealous. Such an ambitious, high-concept rock-disco crossover should be a mess, but somehow Boys Go To Jupiter find a way to make it all make sense. Virginia is a song that will keep you coming back again and again, and you can be sure to find more delights with every listen.
Also listen: I’ve spent much of the year drafting my review of Lovers Always Lose for this post, certain that that song would be a Song of the Year contender until Viriginia blew me away in December. A soulful reflection on the curse of love (“I miss you sometimes / Even when you’re around”) complete with sly musical theatre references to Wicked and Les Miserables, this too is one of the very best songs of 2024.
1. Good Luck, Babe!
by Chappell Roan (non-album single)
Songs like Good Luck, Babe! only come once every five years or so – a certified megahit that summarily announced Chappell Roan as one of the planet’s A-league pop stars. Plenty other songs from her 2023 debut album gained global attention this year, but it was GLB that ignited the great surge to fame for Roan in what has been a truly extraordinary 2024 for the previously unknown Missouri singer. More than a blockbuster hit, in GLB the drag-loving performer heralded a new era of queer pop. There have been plenty of songs simply about the pride of coming out, but here was a song that examined the lived complexities of queer love in 2024, namely the particular flavour of bittersweetness when a same-sex love interest is unable to confront their own sexuality. “It’s fine, it’s cool,” Roan shrugs in a gorgeous baritone at the song’s opening, before working up her rage with the climactic “You’re nothing more than his wife!” in a colossal bridge. Yes, this is far from the first song to dissect same-sex love with such piercing angst (see: boygenius), but it’s surely the first to become a year-defining chart smash, its reach far surpassing Roan’s core LGBTQ+ fanbase.
In fact, it’s nigh on impossible to find any pop fan who can’t muster at least grudging respect for Roan’s art. GLB is a song that showcases all of her unique strengths to a tee: the 80s-hued yet timeless instrumentation, the touch of gleeful campness in that acrobatic chorus melody, the remarkable vocal shift from coy introspection in the first verse to a roof-raising belt in the bridge. As the high notes ring out in the final chorus, all that pent up emotion – from agonising heartbreak to fist-in-the-air empowerment and back again – threatens to become overwhelming. To use Roan’s own, career-best lyric – a line that evokes not just GLB’s overflowing heartache but Roan’s own unstoppable rise to the summit of pop – you’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.
Also try: it’s hard to believe it given her current fame, but Good Luck, Babe! was Roan’s sole release this year. If you’ve been living under rock and need catching up, try HOT TO GO! (as featured on last year’s top songs list). Red Wine Supernova is her best bop, Casual is a stunning ballad with genuinely shocking lyrics, and Pink Pony Club is the definitive statement-of-intent single.
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