Top Twenty Best Hit Songs of 2024 (10-1)

 

Okay, I’m not here to waste any of your time. This is part two of a top twenty list. If you haven’t read part one yet and are curious what numbers 11 through 20, as well as my honorable mentions, are, feel free to click the link right here and read the first half of this list. Alright, with that out of the way, let’s pick right back up where we left off.

Number 10

For those of you who read the first half of the list, you know that it covers a fairly wide variety of genres, from pop to R&B to country. The second half of the list is admittedly a lot more homogenous as far as genre goes. Most of the rest of this list consists of songs by pop girls. I’m not sure how much this will surprise any of you, but it probably shouldn’t. 2024 is probably one of the best years on record for pop girls in the mainstream. As someone who loves pop music, I was naturally all for this big wave of new music from the pop girls. So, with that in mind, let me start the second half of this list by discussing perhaps my personal favorite female pop artist.

#10: “yes, and?” by Ariana Grande

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #92

January-December List: #83

Oh, come on! It’s a house song performed by Ariana Grande! A song like this was almost tailor-made for me to like!

Alright, let’s actually dive into this song properly. So, after Ariana Grande spent most of the period between 2021 and 2023 focusing on acting rather than music - save for the occasional remix of a song by The Weeknd - she made her return to pop music in 2024 with eternal sunshine. The album itself is really good, with a lot of really strong bangers that I found myself coming back to time and time again. I still really wish that “bye”, my personal favorite song on the album, had gotten a single release - honestly, it could have made a strong lead single - but, hey, the lead single that we actually did get is pretty great all the same.

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way quickly: the lyrics. I personally choose to take this song as a self-confidence anthem, a song where “yes, and?” is used more as a phrase to own parts of yourself that meaningless detractors try to attack you for than anything else. I choose to hold this interpretation because, in all honesty, this song is almost definitely trying to position itself as a response to all of the gossip surrounding Grande’s divorce and subsequent new relationship. Since I generally don’t care about celebrity drama, I find that my own personal interpretation of the lyrics helps the song connect with me personally a lot more. Obviously, I acknowledge what the intended interpretation of the lyrics is probably supposed to be, but, I went over this same sort of thing with “As It Was” by Harry Styles when I put it in this exact same spot on my “best of the year” list from two years ago. Sometimes, a song connects with me more because of what I choose to take from the song than because of what’s actually in the text. Okay, now let’s dive into this song’s sound, because that’s the real reason why this song is on this list.

As I said, this song is a house song. Yes, in 2024, we finally got another genuine house hit in the United States. This is increasingly rare, unfortunately. Worldwide, house music remains a huge presence, but here in the United States, I can only think of three other house songs from this decade so far - SAINt JHN & Imanbek’s “Roses”, Surf Mesa and Emilee’s “ily (i love you baby)”, and Beyoncé’s “BREAK MY SOUL” - that have actually become hits. That’s a real shame for me, because house is one of my favorite genres of music. So, with that now explained, how did Grande do with her attempt to make house music? Well, I’d say that she did a great job.

The instrumental here is remarkably punchy. I already really like the main melodic foundation, with those house pianos and the chopped-up vocal sample that’s also way catchier than you would otherwise expect, but the punchy beat brings this instrumental to another level. For a song that’s trying to sell this message of living freely and being yourself, a fun, danceable instrumental was definitely the right way to go. I’ve said before that I absolutely cannot dance, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to try. And, when I do try to have fun dancing, this is the exact sort of song that I’m most likely listening to. It’s just a really fun time! 

As for Grande herself, there’s not too much to say other than that she sounds great here. There’s none of her traditional vocal runs here, but, again, it’s house music. Usually with dance music, the production is supposed to take center stage, and while Grande knows how not to get overshadowed by the instrumental around her, she also knows how to play into it and keep the song light, upbeat, and fun.

So, yeah, all in all, this is just a really fun time. It was a song that I found myself returning to for months on end throughout the year, and I’m glad that it was able to debut at number one and become a hit. I know better than to expect this song to lead to a revival for house music in the American mainstream, especially since this wasn’t even Grande’s biggest hit from this album, but I can dream. In the meantime, though, this song still absolutely slaps.

Number 9

You know what? Ariana Grande wasn’t the only pop girl who tried her hand at an EDM pivot in 2024. Dua Lipa decided to lean even harder into that sound than she already had, with several big global hits that took inspiration from the genre. So, let’s take a look at one of those songs next.

#9: “Houdini” by Dua Lipa

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #11

Year-End List: #43

January-December List: #76

So, speaking as someone who considers Future Nostalgia to be one of my favorite albums of the decade so far, I was extremely excited for Radical Optimism. I wound up really enjoying that album, and it was nice to see songs like “Training Season” and “Illusion” become big hits globally. With that being said, here in the United States, the only song from the album that was eligible for this list was its lead single, “Houdini”, but I’m not about to complain. This song is probably one of the best songs on the album - I’d probably place it third, behind “Happy For You” and “Illusion” - and it’s also the song that initially got me so excited for this album in the first place! Let me tell you, this song grabbed me from the first listen and I never looked back.

The instrumental on this song is incredibly tight. Right from the moment the song starts, you can hear a bass groove in the distance, and then, once Dua Lipa says “okay”, it moves right to the front and center, as bright synths surround it to add more of a melodic foundation. It makes for a sleek, tight, and controlled dance-pop groove that I absolutely love. Lipa’s always at her best when she makes fun dance-pop, and leaning into the style - albeit a different, more alternative-influenced sound than her previous work - was the right move here. I bring up the alternative influence because of one of the song’s co-producers, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. I’m not that familiar with Tame Impala’s work - at the very least, I know less about it than I should - but based on what I have heard, you can hear Parker’s influence all over this track, especially on the drop. Speaking of which, the drop is excellent.

This song doesn’t have your standard EDM build-up and beat-drop chorus. It’s much more of a standard dance-pop song structurally. However, the drop that I’m referring to is actually the instrumental bridge after the second post-chorus. As there is a slight build-up, the word “stay” gets repeated a few times, as there’s a release of tension and a new synth melody comes in alongside the punchy percussion. The end result just sounds so good. This instrumental bridge might be one of my favorite instrumental moments of any hit song from 2024, where, yes, the Tame Impala influence is obvious, but that’s only a good thing.

And, of course, Lipa sounds great on this song. Lyrically, this song sees her right in her comfort zone: cool confidence. She described this song as being all about “the art of ghosting”, where she’ll be here one day and gone the next. She won’t be with this guy for a long time, but just for a good time. When she’s had her fun, she’ll pull her disappearing act - hence the Harry Houdini name-drop - but, maybe, just maybe, this guy will be good enough that she’ll be willing to stay. At its core, a song with this sort of lyrical idea needs a confident vocalist in order to be able to sell it, and Lipa’s always had confidence as a key part of her vocal repertoire. She slides into this song with exactly the sort of energy that she needs to make this song so much more enjoyable.

That’s really all that there is to it with this one. It’s an insanely fun dance-pop song like what I’ve come to expect from Lipa, and it became a mainstay on my playlist for the year. I’m looking forward to seeing where Lipa’s music goes next, but suffice it to say that songs like this one won’t be leaving my rotation anytime soon.

Number 8

For those of you who read my “best hit songs of 2023” list, then you all remember that I called “greedy” by Tate McRae my personal favorite hit song of 2023. I still firmly stand by that opinion, for the record, and if it were eligible for this list, it would have ranked at number one on this list, too! It was actually my most-listened-to song of 2024, according to my Spotify Wrapped. Since it’s become a bit of a tradition on these lists for me to highlight what my most-listened-to songs were in a given year before we get to one that was eligible for this list, here’s that list for 2024: number two was “LUNA” by Feid and ATL Jacob, number three was “bye” by Ariana Grande, and number four, funnily enough, brings us right back to McRae with this song.

#8: “exes” by Tate McRae

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #34

Year-End List: #93

January-December List: N/A

Okay, time for me to talk about the album that defined my freshman year of college more than any other, THINK LATER by Tate McRae. McRae was my most-listened-to artist of 2024, and this album was a huge reason as to why. I’ve already discussed “greedy”, my favorite song on the album, on last year’s “best of the year” list, but this album has so many other gems. Between bops like “guilty conscience”, bangers like “hurt my feelings”, and songs like “calgary” that act as emotional gut-punches, there’s so much about this album that I love. It all culminated in me seeing McRae in concert over the summer, and she put on a phenomenal show. This song in particular was a ton of fun to see live, as it had a full-on dance break when it was performed! Okay, but enough about all this backstory. It’s time to dive into what makes “exes” in particular a great song.

I’ll start off with the song’s sound. From the beginning, there’s this dark energy to the song as the instrumental starts to warp into what it becomes for the rest of the song. As soon as the percussion hits, the song turns into a solid trap banger that sounds way closer to rap music than it does to McRae’s usual brand of rhythmic pop. Sure, McRae has been known to experiment with trap production a lot, especially on her album cuts, but this song in particular seems to lean a lot harder on those trap elements. There’s even a rap verse on the song! Okay, well, technically, it’s melodic rap at best, since McRae is still singing on the song’s second verse, but she’s using an unmistakably hip-hop flow here. And, honestly, the whole song comes together really well. The instrumental slaps, and the way that the darker, muted melody slides and warps around the trap instrumental sounds really cool! McRae also sounds really good on the song, flowing over the instrumental really well in her lower register. This song, once again, serves as a reminder that Ryan Tedder is a great pop producer and that he and McRae work really well together.

Now, onto the lyrics. This song, not unlike “Houdini”, is a love-them-and-leave-them song, where McRae sings about going through relationships quickly, not really giving them much thought, and keeping the fun memories of these flings without actually staying committed to any of the guys themselves. On its own, it makes for a fun pop song, but when I actually listened to THINK LATER for the first time back in December 2023, I was a little confused about its placement on the tracklist. Keep in mind, on that album, this song comes on right after the heartbreak ballad “stay done” and right before the angsty rock-inspired track “we’re not alike”. So, what exactly is a song like this doing in the middle of an album about heartbreak and the difficulties of growing up? Well, after giving it some thought, I realized that this song is basically what I’ve come to label as a “Barney Stinson song”. Now, if you’ll excuse me, please indulge me for a second while I nerd out about my favorite TV show to explain what that means.

So, over the summer, I started re-watching How I Met Your Mother, a show that I already loved, after it got added onto Netflix in the United States. Now, I can safely call it my favorite show of all time, for a myriad of reasons that I’m not going to get into right now. However, on that show, there’s a character named Barney Stinson. His whole M.O. is that he’ll do pretty much anything to pick up a girl, sleep with her, and never call her again, and he does this dozens of times throughout the show. However, viewers learn pretty early on for reasons that I’m not going to spoil that it’s really all just a defense mechanism for issues that he doesn’t want to actually face yet. There are a few songs that I’ve dubbed as “Barney Stinson songs” for this reason, where the narrator rotates through romantic partners quickly to distract themselves from issues that they don’t want to face. I actually discussed one such song two years ago, with “Tití Me Preguntó” by Bad Bunny, where that song’s narrator rotated through girls to distract himself from his inner fear that he’d never find someone to love. That’s basically where I see McRae’s narrator on this song.

The more that I think about it, the more that I realize that “exes” is not a song celebrating the disposability of romantic relationships. Again, the instrumental is dark, not cheerful. Even McRae’s vocal delivery sounds somewhat resigned and dejected. She’s able to flow over the instrumental really well, but she doesn’t sound like she’s gleefully rotating through these guys. Again, the context of the album is important here. On those other songs, it’s clear that she’s going through a big heartbreak, getting betrayed by both an ex-boyfriend and a friend of hers, all while having to grapple with how much and how quickly she’s been forced to grow up as a result of being famous from a young age. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to deal with all that. So, to me, “exes” really just represents a coping mechanism more than anything else. She’ll talk to a guy and be with him for a bit as a distraction, but she won’t get attached, lest she opens herself up to more heartbreak. It actually becomes really compelling when you think about it like that.

This song is a really interesting one to me. On the surface, it’s a fun, fast-paced pop trap song with a catchy hook. However, if you look below the surface, you might just find a really compelling pop song that reveals way more than it lets on. I’m really glad that we got a second big hit from this album, and I’m extremely excited to listen to So Close To What in February and see where McRae’s music takes her next.

Number 7

And, just like that, we’re back to Billie Eilish. When I discussed “LUNCH” in part one of this list, I made it clear that I would be discussing her pretty heavily in the second part of the list, and I intend to make good on that promise. So, let’s dive into her biggest hit of 2024 and see what makes it so great.

#7: “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #2

Year-End List: #15

January-December List: #9

It’s funny. Just like when “Kill Bill” by SZA became the big hit from her album, SOS, in 2023, I was initially confused as to why this song was the breakout hit from Billie Eilish’s album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. I’ve made it clear that I love that album, and I did add this song to my playlist upon first hearing it on the album - I thought that it sounded pretty nice - but it was just a pretty good song to me, not a top-tier album track. But, TikTok users took to this song quickly, and it overtook “LUNCH” on the charts just as quickly, even though that song was the planned single. However, just like with “Kill Bill”, repeat listens over the course of the year helped me to fully understand what makes this song so special.

The best way that I can describe this song is that it just sounds so nice. It’s got a nice alternative pop instrumental that does a really good job of setting a relaxing vibe. In a way, it’s the sort of song that works really well as a late summer or early fall hit - which is convenient, since that’s exactly when the song reached its peak in popularity here in the United States - and, more importantly, it’s very replayable. This is a song that I heard a lot during 2024. Part of this was just the natural effects of this song being a huge radio hit, given that I still listen to the radio when I’m in the car, but it also came on pretty frequently on my playlist. I usually shuffle my playlist when I’m walking to and from my classes, and when I’m skipping around on that playlist, trying to find something that matches my current vibe, this is a song that I usually keep playing. It just works really well as a song to listen to while you’re walking around in the middle of the day. It sounds nice and relaxing, while also having a decent tempo to it thanks to some rhythmic percussion. Its sound kept me coming back to it again and again.

As for Eilish’s vocals, she fits into this song’s vibe nicely, as well. She’s got a very wide vocal range, as has been made clear by some of her previous hits, but here, she stays in more of a mid-range, save for one pretty impressive belting moment towards the end of the song. Her vocal performance here sounds very soothing and very content, if that makes any sense. She sounds calm and she sounds happy, which, on some level, makes a lot of sense, seeing as this song is a love song. Or, at least, it presents itself that way. The lyrics are where things get a little bit more interesting.

So, when I listened to this song for the first time while I listened to the album, I took this song to be a simple love song without much more going on within it lyrically. However, as I heard the song more and more, I came to pick up on some other details. The first verse and the post-chorus bring up the idea of death a lot, as Eilish reiterates over and over that she wants this person to stay for as long as she’s alive. From there, the second verse highlights that this person does not feel that same sense of deep devotion towards her. Lines like “you would keep the compliments I throw you”, “you’re so full of shit, tell me it’s a bit”, and “say you want to quit, don’t be stupid” all highlight that the object of Eilish’s affection is not nearly as all-in on this relationship as she is. 

Still, she’s so deeply in love that she’s not quite ready to see that yet. She may not know what she’s crying for - at least, not yet - but if the rest of the album is any indication, it’s because this relationship isn’t built to last, and she’s not ready to see that yet. To very briefly go back to How I Met Your Mother, there’s a line in that show where the character Ted Mosby says “we only see what we want to see when we’re ready to see it”. Eilish still wants to see this relationship as something that’s going to last and bring her lifelong happiness, so she isn’t ready to see the reality of the situation yet. There had been close calls earlier on the album where she came close to seeing it - more on that later - but it takes until the mid-section of the album - songs like “THE GREATEST” and “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” - before she sees what she needs to see. This song, to me, represents a sad moment of ignorant bliss before reality properly hits for her, and that makes it extremely compelling to me.

This is a song that really snuck up on me throughout 2024. It’s a song with a complex lyrical idea that made more and more sense to me over time, as well as a sound that kept me coming back to it over and over again throughout the year. I’m glad that it became Eilish’s biggest hit in years, and if I were to make one more request, I hope that either it or its parent album win some Grammy Awards in February. This is partially because they would absolutely deserve the awards, but also because this song is currently still in the Billboard Hot 100’s top three as of the time of this writing, and I’m hoping that some Grammy wins can be what it takes to finally help this reach number one for at least a week. I don’t know how likely that is, but, hey, I can dream! Plus, it would deserve it, since it’s absolutely an excellent song.

Number 6

Okay, let me preface this by saying that me putting this song right above “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” on this list was not intentional, and it was purely coincidental. But, with that said, speaking of songs with the word “feather” in the title, this song is also great.

#6: “Feather” by Sabrina Carpenter

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #21

Year-End List: #25

January-December List: #25

I’ve gone on at length about the huge year that Sabrina Carpenter had in 2024, primarily because of her album Short n’ Sweet. As such, it’s kind of funny that, ultimately, the hit song of hers that I liked the most from 2024 actually wound up not even being from that album! This song is instead from the deluxe edition of her previous album, emails i can’t send, entitled emails i can’t send fwd:. Side note, that’s a good name for a deluxe edition of that album. Anyways, in the lead-up to 2024, that album did a lot of heavy lifting for Carpenter. “Nonsense”, from the album’s standard edition, largely got her in the door of the mainstream in 2023. However, despite that song’s hugely popular concert outros that spread rapidly through social media and the fact that the song has over a billion streams on Spotify, it never became a proper hit on the Billboard Hot 100, only stalling out in the lower half of the chart for a few months. Still, that song did what it needed to do in terms of establishing Carpenter as a presence on the Hot 100, so that once this deluxe track got released as a single and started charting, it was able to serve as her first proper hit in the United States. And that was absolutely well-deserved, because this song is great!

The best way that I can describe this song is “lightweight”, and I’m not just saying that because of the fact that it’s called “Feather”. It’s just very airy and light, especially from a production standpoint. The fluttery piano keys, the present but not overpowering percussion, and the general upbeat sound of the song all sound like they’re hovering, moving like a feather in the wind. Even Carpenter’s voice matches that tone. Especially on the chorus, she sings in her airy upper register gliding across the chorus in such a nice way. Even on the verses and outro, where she stays more in her lower register, she still does so in a way that feels lightweight and playful, which I quite like. The entire song just feels kind of playful on the whole.

That attitude extends itself well to the lyrics. Carpenter sings this song from the perspective of someone who’s just tired of this guy not being who she needs him to be. He wants her to be a convenient partner for him, always available at his beck and call, but if she dare try to do anything that makes this relationship seem serious, he’s going to back away from it. To paraphrase from Carpenter, his signals are mixed, he acts like a bitch, and he fits every stereotype. So, she just decides not to put up with him anymore, and feels so much freer for it. I really like just how playful she can get with these lines, from the audible giggle of “I’m so sorry for your loss” on the second pre-chorus as she realizes that this relationship ending is his loss and not hers, to how, when he indicates that he misses her on the outro, she just says “no duh”. The song just feels like a huge sigh of relief as Carpenter realizes that she’s got better things to do than waste her time with him.

One other thing that I want to highlight about this song is, once again, replayability. For those of you who pay attention to the chart statistics that I provide for each entry on these lists, you may have noticed that, despite only peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, this was the twenty-fifth biggest song of the year in the United States. The song streamed very well, which was a major part of its chart stability, but just as important to that was its radio stability. This was one of the biggest pop radio hits of the year, and I heard it a lot. The thing is that I never got sick of it. It’s always fun to sing along to, regardless of how many times I’ve heard it. I also streamed it a lot, too, as this makes for yet another song that’s fun to listen to as I walk to and from class. In fact, I’d like to share the exact moment when this song was most enjoyable for me.

So, I’ve discussed my time in college extensively over the course of both this list and my “best of the year” list from last year. As I said, 2024 was kind of a chaotic, though generally enjoyable, year for me. Still, by the end of my freshman year, I could not wait to head home and enjoy my summer, as I’d been exhausted from the work and ready to have some fun over the summer. So, back in May, as soon as I finished taking my last final, I put my headphones on as I exited the school building and headed back to my dorm room, and put on “bye” by Ariana Grande because that just felt appropriate. However, the second song that I listened to was “Feather”. Let me tell you, listening to this song while walking around in the nice spring weather with the huge burden of finals week stress lifted from my shoulders gave me a feeling of euphoria that I absolutely relished in for the entire song’s run time, and it made for such a fun experience!

This song was the sigh of relief that I needed in 2024, being nothing more than an infectiously fun little pop song that I came back to consistently throughout the entire year. It was the song that most helped to get me onboard Carpenter’s hype train, and I’m extremely excited to see where her music goes next.

Number 5

At the very start of this list, I said that there were two songs that I considered to be contenders for what was “culturally” the biggest song of 2024 in my eyes. One contender was “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, the upbeat bop that made a strong case for being one of the defining songs of the summer. Well, the other contender is quite different, but it felt year-defining for very different reasons. After detailing five different songs from pop girls in a row, I’m now going to switch gears and talk about what was undoubtedly the defining hip-hop event single of the entire year.

#5: “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #6

January-December List: #6

I told you that I would have more to say about the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar on this list, and now, it’s time for me to make good on that promise. I’d long known that these two had been feuding for at least a decade, and I wasn’t sure if it was ever going to turn into a proper rap beef. Well, that happened when Lamar collaborated with Future and Metro Boomin on “Like That” and contributed a verse that directly called out Drake and J. Cole for mentioning him on “First Person Shooter”, and started a massive back-and-forth that went on for over a month. J. Cole largely stayed out of the feud minus one diss track that he later apologized for, but Drake answered the challenge with multiple diss tracks. The whole feud culminated in one weekend in May, where Drake released “Family Matters”, and then Lamar released “meet the grahams” not even an hour later, firmly winning the beef with that song in the eyes of many, including myself. However, a day later, he released “Not Like Us”, easily the biggest song to come from the beef, and, in my opinion, the best.

Lyrically, this is another diss track against Drake, but I feel like everything that was going on around it was just as compelling as what’s going on within it. As I said, Lamar probably could have just stopped with “meet the grahams” and won the beef in the eyes of the general public. However, “meet the grahams” is not a song that was designed to be a huge hit. It’s a dark, unnerving, borderline scary song. It’s effective as a diss track, but it’s not exactly a song that I’ve come back to much since that weekend in May when it came out. In fact, it was the only diss track that Lamar released to streaming platforms from this feud that didn’t become a proper hit on the charts. As such, if the beef had ended there, Drake probably could have just kept releasing music unrelated to the beef and nothing really would have happened. This, to me, is why “Not Like Us” exists at all. Lamar wanted to release a diss track that people would play regularly, that would become a big cultural moment. A win in a battle of words is respectable, but doesn’t always have a lasting impact in the world of entertainment. Drake’s lost in rap beef before - namely to Pusha T - and come back from it without issues. However, a cultural win is what tends to stick with the general public much more, and that’s what Lamar attempted and succeeded with here.

The biggest reason why this song is as effective as it is comes down in big part to Mustard’s production. He gives this song a bouncy and melodic West Coast groove that makes this song a lot more danceable than you would ever expect a diss track to be. The actual melodic pattern itself isn’t anything crazy, but it’s the punchy percussion hits that really keep the song moving. Lamar is also great on this song, with a bunch of different flows that all flow together seamlessly. I especially love the bit where Mustard’s beat is chopped up right before Lamar switches up his flow, that works really well. I’m not here to give you a long-winded lyrical breakdown of “Not Like Us” - everyone and their mother has already done that - but pretty much nobody could deny that the combination of Lamar and Mustard on this song resulted in an absolute banger! I mean, Lamar continued to lean into the bouncy West Coast rap sound on his latest album, GNX, and not only is it a great album, but it’s also become a massive commercial success, so, I’m hoping that he continues to explore this sound further.

Now, back to what I was saying earlier about this song helping secure a cultural win for Lamar. To put it simply, diss tracks don’t usually become pop hits. They’re primarily for the fans and they don’t usually get a ton of radio play, outside of maybe R&B/hip-hop stations and rhythmic stations. This song naturally became huge on both of those radio formats, but it went even beyond that. Keep in mind, this song crossed over sheerly by being the sort of fun and danceable rap banger that people would bump in their cars. It got so big that even pop radio took notice of it, sending it all the way to the top fifteen on that format. For a straight-up hip-hop song with no real vocal melody to speak of, that’s insanely impressive, For a diss track, that’s almost unheard of.

Of course, it goes beyond the radio blasting this song en masse. This song wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much attention from the radio if people weren’t streaming this song consistently, and they were. As of the time when I’m writing this, it’s accumulated almost a billion streams on Spotify. Not to mention, Lamar promoted it like it was a cultural event. He had a concert called “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends” back in June, and at that concert, he played “Not Like Us” five consecutive times. The music video was such a big deal that it sent the song back to number one for another week, and in this modern music climate, where music videos don’t usually have that same sort of chart impact, that’s impressive. This song was omnipresent in a way that few songs were in 2024. If anything, that’s how he firmly secured the cultural victory. It’s not like Drake could really ignore the song, go back to releasing music regularly, and go back to the top of the charts like he did after he lost his beef with Pusha T in 2018. You can’t exactly do that when a song that’s written explicitly to diss you is getting played at events across the country, getting blasted on hundreds of radio stations across the country, and performed five back-to-back times at a highly-talked-about concert that basically served as a victory lap for your rival! By keeping this song in the general consciousness for months on end, the listening public named Lamar the victor of this beef, creating an exciting moment for hip-hop and elevating a great song in the process.

Lamar didn’t just turn this diss track into a banger, but into a cultural moment, cementing his win and creating a song that will inevitably go down as one of the most iconic songs of 2024. Lamar’s continued to remain dominant culturally since this song was released, between the success of GNX and his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show performance, which I am extremely excited for. This song was a victory lap unlike anything that I had seen in mainstream music before, and I’m so glad that we got such an excellent song out of it.

Number 4

Alright, everybody, let’s welcome Billie Eilish back to this list! This time around, I’ll be discussing the big sleeper hit from HIT ME HARD AND SOFT that had a big streaming resurgence once the late summer and early fall set in, and that actually managed to stick around into the new year. I’m very glad about that, and I hope that it continues to see success in 2025, because it’s excellent.

#4: “WILDFLOWER” by Billie Eilish

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #17

Year-End List: #89

January-December List: #46

Look, when I listen to albums, the songs that tend to catch my attention first are the bangers and bops, or the songs that get me dancing along to them the most. That’s just the type of music fan that I am. However, sometimes, a really good story song manages to grip me even from the first listen, and that can wind up in my good graces just as much. That’s precisely what happened here. This isn’t a flashy, upbeat pop song, but rather, a slow soft rock song with a compelling lyrical idea, and while it wasn’t an immediate smash hit out of the gate, it built up momentum throughout the year as people realized how great it was. And, yeah, I see where they’re coming from, because I definitely love this song.

Let’s start off with the lyrics here. This song’s first verse details how Billie Eilish watched as two of her friends who were in a relationship fell out of love and broke up. Immediately, Eilish comforts one of those friends, as she’s clearly distraught over the relationship ending, and Eilish wants to help her, since that’s what good friends do. However, Eilish then ends up in a relationship with the other friend in the breakup, despite literally having just comforted this person’s ex-girlfriend over that same breakup. And, look, love is unpredictable, and it’s pretty blatantly obvious that Eilish wouldn’t have chosen to wind up in this situation, but it’s where she finds herself. She knows that nobody technically did anything wrong here, but that doesn’t stop her from being ravaged with guilt over the situation, as every time she looks at the person that she’s dating, she sees her heartbroken friend in the back of her mind, and she wonders if she crossed the line by even entering this relationship to begin with.

The moral ambiguity of this song is what makes it so compelling to me. The second verse highlights it even further. She says that she’ll never ask who was the better girlfriend between her and her friend, but the fact that it’s mentioned at all clearly means that it’s an intrusive thought that popped into her head, or maybe something that she’s thought about more extensively, but would never admit. She wonders if her significant other sees that friend when looking at her, or if this guilt is shared between them. It clearly sucks for her, because new relationships are supposed to be exciting, and she can tell that the person who she’s with really loves her, so nothing should be wrong here. However, the guilt consumes her so much that she can’t bring herself to enjoy any of it. The lyrics on the bridge and outro highlight that especially, where she sings “Valentine’s Day, crying in the hotel, I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, so I kept it to myself”. Imagine that: on theoretically the most romantic day of the entire year, Eilish spent the day crying over her own guilt, and she can’t even talk about it with the person she cares most about because she knows that this relationship is fragile, and the reason why is also the reason for that guilt. It’s a very emotionally complex song, and while I thankfully can’t say that I’ve been in a situation like that and I can’t relate to it, the song’s lyrics are still extremely compelling to me.

And then, there’s the song’s sound, which only adds to this song’s general atmosphere. It’s largely an acoustic soft rock ballad, and what I love about it is how it builds over time. The song starts out with just that guitar melody serving as the instrumental, and it’s completely acoustic for the first verse, the first pre-chorus, and the first chorus. Then, once the second verse starts, the drums kick in, slow enough to contribute to the sad and melancholic atmosphere but still able to leave a noticeable impact. Then, there’s a bigger buildup towards the end of the second chorus that pays off with Eilish’s voice getting louder, releasing the tension and the guilt that had been building up throughout the entire song. Even the acoustic outro adds to this, as even though there was that big release of tension earlier, Eilish can still be heard in the distance reiterating the story about Valentine’s Day, showing how her pain from this situation still hasn’t gone away. In fact, Eilish’s vocal performance here is stellar as a whole. She’s singing in her typical soft-spoken manner, but that vocal tone lends itself really well to portraying the conflicting and melancholic emotions that are on display in this song’s lyrics. It comes together into a really cohesive whole that sounds excellent.

In a way, it makes perfect sense why this song was the big sleeper hit from its parent album. It may not be flashy, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s an incredibly gripping and emotionally complex song that also sounds great as a slow-burn acoustic rock ballad. I’m glad that it’s been having its moment in the sun recently, and if it sticks around and continues to be huge into 2025, then I’ll be very happy with that. This is an excellent song that’s extremely deserving of having become the big hit that it now is.

Number 3

So, while this is a list of my favorite hit songs of the year, “hit” is a pretty broad term. Some of these songs were massive number-one hits, while some of these songs mainly sat in the middle of the charts for a few months and peaked outside of the top ten. So, if any of you were curious what my favorite number-one hit song from 2024 was, it would be this song.

#3: “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” by Ariana Grande

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #26

January-December List: #24

There was a part of me that was pretty curious to see if we were going to get a house album from Ariana Grande after “yes, and?” was released, but that didn’t happen. Instead, eternal sunshine wound up being a collection of various different types of pop songs from various different subgenres within pop, which made for an interesting and a very enjoyable listen. This was one of the songs from that album that grabbed me the most on my first listen of the album, and I’m so glad that it became so huge.

Musically, this song is a synth-pop song, but not in the way that Grande’s songs within that genre usually are. This song isn’t meant to mirror a rush of adrenaline like a song like “Into You” or “Touch It”. Instead, there’s a lot more of a mellow energy to it, with the synth-pop elements giving the feeling of just chugging along, giving the song tempo and pace, but not setting it over the top. This isn’t a song where Grande is supposed to do her signature belting, but rather, a song that’s meant to invoke a more pensive-sounding vocal performance from her.

And, generally speaking, that’s exactly what we got from her. Yes, Grande is generally known for having a wide vocal range and using it to the fullest extent of her ability, but the thing about having a wide vocal range is that those with one usually sound great both when they’re going for broke and when they’re dialing it back, and Grande is no exception. She sounds great on this song, perfectly giving the impression of being left heartbroken and confused, but also sounding generally accepting of the circumstances. That matches the content, and it also matches this instrumental, which is definitely bright, mirroring that acceptance, but isn’t a rush of euphoria, still containing a hint of that sadness. 

Lyrically, on my first listen of this song, I took it to be about Grande’s divorce, where she recognizes that the divorce hurt both her and her ex-husband and that it’s for the best if they don’t stay friends, but still hopes that they can eventually find friendship with each other somewhere down the line. Of course, I know now that this song has a double meaning, also being directed at the press who used that divorce for headlines and drove gossip about the situation. The line “but I like to just pretend you cling to your papers and pens, wait until you like me again” should have made that clear to me from the start. Still, despite the fact that I am not, nor have I ever been married, nor am I famous or in any position to have to deal with the press, I found ways to emotionally connect with this song.

This is yet another song that connected with me in a similar vein to “End of Beginning” by Djo, which I discussed in the first half of this list. When I listen to Grande on this song, I hear someone who is more sad about everything that’s been lost, given that she still has memories attached to her ex-husband, even despite the fact that she knows that she needs to move on. In a similar way, one of the most daunting aspects of moving onto the next phase of my life as I entered adulthood was balancing the positive memories that I knew from my comfortable, pre-college life with the fact that I needed to move on, find comfort in new things, and grow as a person. This obviously wasn’t the most fun process, but it’s one that I was ready to accept, much like Grande portrays herself as being ready to accept her situation, as well. I especially really like the outro of this song, where the synths get swapped out for strings, and they just sound absolutely beautiful. They also sound like a natural conclusion, matching that hopeful vibe of the rest of the song, and that wound up sounding pretty comforting to me.

If you wanted the full rundown of why this is my favorite number-one hit of the year, there you go. It’s a song that sounds excellent, gives off a bittersweet and hopeful vibe really well, and that struck an emotional chord for me personally. Because of all this, I connected to this song and am so glad that it exists, since it truly is an excellent song.

Number 2

So, for those of you who haven’t been keeping count, I’ve talked about a song from Billie Eilish’s album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT three separate times on this list so far. How about we make it four?

#2: “CHIHIRO” by Billie Eilish

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #12

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #93

And, with that, I’ve officially put all four of Billie Eilish’s hits somewhere on this list! Time to get to the best of the four!

So, of the four big hits from this album, this is the one where its success gave me the biggest sense of pleasant surprise. After all, it’s a five-minute-long alternative pop song with multiple different rises and falls and heavy synth work that primarily functions as a key point in its parent album’s narrative! This isn’t the sort of song that would normally get pushed as a single, and, indeed, it was not pushed as a single, but the fact that it stuck around long enough to become a hit really is a testament to just how great this song is. People kept it around strictly because they love it that much, and I absolutely concur!

To start with the lyrics, this song is very much central to the narrative of HIT ME HARD AND SOFT as an album. It serves as the point where Eilish first starts to truly doubt if her relationship with this person is really going to last, repeatedly asking her partner if they took her love away from her. She realizes that, regardless of whatever she may have been led to believe before, she really doesn’t know her partner at all. Whatever she believed about their love may have been all in her head. Still, there are moments within this song where she still thinks that she recognizes them, that there’s a chance that this can work out, but the song ends in total disorder anyway. Her doubts never fully go away throughout the entire song because, as the rest of the album makes clear, they were justified. She never knew this person or what their intentions were. The relationship was doomed from the start. Given that this song does precede “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” on the track list of the album, she still hadn’t fully internalized those doubts, but this is where she begins to become aware of them.

What I love most about these lyrics is the way that the production works in tandem with them. It starts off with a slick, bouncy bass groove and some percussion, as Eilish’s fears start to pop into her head, but when things really begin to ramp up is midway through the track. After the second verse, as Eilish repeats “I don’t, I don’t know why I called, I don’t know you at all”, the synths on the song begin to envelop her. Soon enough, they’re dominant in the mix, where Eilish can still be heard, but she sounds like she’s being dominated by that fear, represented by the loud synths. And then, almost as quickly, the song goes back to just the bass groove and the percussion, as Eilish talks about how there’s still a part of her that recognizes her partner. Things remain calm for a bit, but those synths soon come back with a vengeance. As Eilish realizes that, to quote the song, “it’s all been a trap”, the synths come back and swallow up the mix, remaining dominant for the entire rest of the song until they leave in its final seconds, and all that can be heard is a faint hum from Eilish. This is an absolutely phenomenal demonstration of a song using its instrumental to mirror the emotions of the narrator, and it’s truly something to behold! Of course, it helps that it all sounds amazing, too. Those synths do sound really cool, and the bass groove makes this a pretty fun song to listen to casually, especially when walking. FINNEAS once again deserves so much credit for an amazing composition here!

And then, of course, there’s Eilish herself. Once again, she does come across as soft-spoken on the verses, but there are a lot of little touches in her vocal performance that I love. I especially love when she goes for the higher notes on the chorus. Not only does she sound great, but her voice possesses a really fragile and delicate quality to it, almost like she knows that her relationship is indeed just that fragile. And that’s to say nothing of how she sounds during the two distinct sections where the synths envelop her vocals. She sings in a much louder voice than she does in the verses, but she is still shoved further back in the mix, where she sounds like she’s fighting for space amidst a sea of fears and doubts, and she’s losing. Again, the way in which this song’s sonic landscape and its lyrics work together is truly astounding, and Eilish also deserves a ton of credit for fully committing to it!

There isn’t much more to say, really. It’s just a really impressive piece of music that, despite its length and complexity, still managed to keep me coming back to it again and again. I wouldn’t call it my favorite song from HIT ME HARD AND SOFT - I would have called it that when the album first came out, but “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” has since overtaken it for me - but I will call it the album’s best hit song. It’s an excellent song, and, in my opinion, one of the best hit songs of 2024.

But, before we get to my favorite hit song of 2024, here are some international hits that were big outside of the United States, in no particular order, that I wanted to highlight.

International Hits

“Strangers” by Kenya Grace

Canada Year-End List: #59

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #93

United Kingdom Year-End List: #52

This song technically could count as a 2023 international hit song, since it did make the United Kingdom’s end-of-year chart that year, but, since it remained on the charts in the United States well into 2024 - to the point where it seemed to have an outside chance of becoming big enough to be eligible for this list properly at one point - I’m counting it for this segment. And, for the record, this would have comfortably made the list had it been eligible. This song has some dark, melancholic, but still rhythmic drum-and-bass production with a great soft-spoken vocal performance from Kenya Grace and some great lyrics about the cyclical nature of meaningless flings that leave Grace questioning if she’ll ever even find something real in her pursuit of love. It’s a bleak song, lyrically, but it’s written really well and it matches with the cyclical, melancholic production perfectly. In the fall of 2023, I listened to this song while taking a ride back to my dorm late at night after a music festival, and something about riding through the busy streets late at night with this song playing just hit different. If you want to know what the ideal way to listen to this song is, it’s probably that. Still, in any case, this song is fantastic.

“Illusion” by Dua Lipa

Canada Year-End List: #95

Ah, yes, my favorite single from Radical Optimism! Honestly, if anything, I’d probably consider this song to be the most danceable song on the entire album, with a tight dance-pop groove and a sweet synth solo to boot! As for the lyrics, I like them, too, where Dua Lipa describes meeting a guy who’s clearly trying to put up an illusion and play her, but knowing that she’s past the point where that works on her and calling it out. Still, just because she knows that it’s an illusion doesn’t mean that she can’t have some fun with it, and that’s exactly what she does. For the record, throughout 2024, I wound up having a lot of fun with this song, too.

“Spin You Around (1/24)” by Morgan Wallen

Canada Year-End List: #98

Man, talk about a song that really snuck up on me! Look, I don’t bring this up often, but if there’s one way for a country song to really win me over, it’s to tug on my heartstrings a little. This song, all about how Morgan Wallen is just trying to work up the nerve to ask a pretty girl to dance with him on a night out, manages to do just that for me. This song is a re-recorded version of an old song of Wallen’s from 2015, and the original is a solid country rock song. This re-recorded “1/24” version, in my opinion, is even better. The instrumental is entirely limited to an acoustic guitar on this version, and Wallen uses a more soft-spoken delivery that really conveys the sense of nervousness that a situation like this can inspire. Still, he sings it with such a strong sense of earnestness that it’s hard for me not to get hit in the feelings when I hear this song, and, to his credit, the melody on this song sounds great, too. This song appeals to the romantic in me more than anything else, and it’s an extremely effective and excellent country song that won me over more and more throughout 2024.

“LUNA” by Feid & ATL Jacob

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #32

So, as I mentioned earlier, this was my second-most-played song of 2024 on Spotify. It also was the single-biggest hit song of 2024 globally to never chart on the Billboard Hot 100, and that’s a real shame, because it’s great. There isn’t too much for me to say about it, with it being a simple reggaetón song about heartbreak at its core, but something about it just kept me coming back to it over and over again. Between Feid’s great vocal performance, the extremely catchy vocal melodies that he sings, and ATL Jacob producing a great reggaetón instrumental that creates such a nice nighttime vibe - fitting, given that the word “luna” is Spanish for “moon” - this song stayed in heavy rotation for me throughout 2024. If you haven’t heard it yet, I highly recommend that you check it out.

“Standing Next to You” by Jung Kook

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #36

One thing that I have always appreciated about BTS as a group was their ability to create a bright, flashy pop song. Even as a solo artist, Jung Kook proved that he’s still more than able to do that with this song. As someone who was in the school band in high school, I can always appreciate a brassy big-band instrumental, and this song goes all in on that sound as Jung Kook sings about how he’ll always be there for the song’s subject. Combine that with a groovy bass instrumental that supplements the big-band aesthetics, and you’ve got a great pop song on your hands.

“Prada” by cassö, RAYE & D-Block Europe

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #71

United Kingdom Year-End List: #13

Once again, just like with “Strangers”, this song could technically count as a 2023 international hit song, since it made the United Kingdom’s end-of-year chart that year, but it was higher on their 2024 end-of-year chart than it was on their 2023 one, and it made the Billboard Global 200’s end-of-year chart for the first time in 2024, so I’m counting it for this segment. There isn’t a ton to say about this song. It’s a remix of “Ferrari Horses” by D-Block Europe and RAYE, a song that was a hit in the United Kingdom in 2021 and that I don’t really have any experience with. This remix by cassö speeds up snippets of the song’s chorus and first verse, and turns it into a rush of adrenaline that’s a ton of fun to listen to. It works extremely well at what it’s trying to do, and it’s a really fun song, to boot.

“Murder On The Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #174

United Kingdom Year-End List: #16

Again, this song might seem out of place in a discussion about 2024’s music scene, since it made the United Kingdom’s end-of-year charts in both 2001 and 2002, but given that it’s higher on their 2024 end-of-year chart than it was on either 2001 or 2002’s charts, and that it had a massive resurgence globally in 2024 that caused it to chart in the United States for the first time ever, I’m counting it for this segment. This was one of those big global hits from decades ago that I completely missed because I live in the United States, which is one of the only places where this song wasn’t a massive hit in the early 2000s, but I’m so glad that its resurgence - which came courtesy of Saltburn, a movie that I haven’t seen - allowed me to finally hear it! It’s a slick, danceable pop song that’s a ton of fun, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor sounds great on it, too, delivering an insanely catchy chorus that hasn’t left my head since the moment that I first heard it. She sings that you better not kill the groove, but trust me, that was never going to be an issue, this song’s groove is alive and well. I do wish that I had been made aware of this song before 2024, since, again, it’s older than I am, but, hey, better late than never. This song slaps and I’m so glad that it became a big hit globally for a second time.

“Move” by Adam Port, Stryv & Malachiii

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #177

United Kingdom Year-End List: #82

There’s a subgenre of music that’s gotten pretty big in the dance music scene in recent months called afro house. Basically, it’s a style of dance music that takes a lot of cues from traditionally African genres of music, like amapiano. I’ve generally liked what I’ve heard from the afro house scene, and this song, easily the biggest song to come from this new wave of afro house music, is a prime example of why. It’s a very low-key song that captures the vibe of a summer night perfectly. Not to mention, it’s also extremely catchy, and it stands up really well to repeat listens. I found myself coming back to it over and over again throughout 2024, and it proved to be an absolute vibe every single time I heard it.

“Whatever” by Kygo & Ava Max

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #182

United Kingdom Year-End List: #78

If there’s anything that this “international hits” segment should have made clear to you, it’s that I love dance music, and Kygo has always played a pivotal role in that. His early global hits have remained in consistent rotation for me right up until the present day. So, naturally, a song like this, which fits perfectly in his usual brand of tropical house, was a pretty easy sell for me. Using the chorus melody of “Whenever, Wherever” by Shakira gives this song a solid melodic foundation, and Ava Max delivers a great vocal performance here. This is a song that tugged pretty hard on my nostalgia for this era of mid-2010s-style tropical house, and I had a lot of fun with it as a result.

“Guess” by Charli xcx feat. Billie Eilish

Billboard Global 200 Year-End List: #189

United Kingdom Year-End List: #73

To end off the “international hits” segment, it’s time that I talk about the whole “BRAT summer” phenomenon. Charli xcx took the internet by storm this past summer, as her album, BRAT, became perhaps the biggest dance album on the American charts in what feels like ages. So, I figured that I’d talk about this song to represent that phenomenon, partially because it gives me an excuse to heap praise onto Billie Eilish one more time, but mostly because this song is excellent. It’s a bass-heavy dance song without much melody, but with so much energy. Both Charli xcx and Eilish sound great on it, and it’s really just a ton of fun from start to finish. When it comes to the songs that I heard from the big BRAT summer wave, this was definitely my favorite.

Alright, that wraps up the “international hits” segment. Let’s finish this off by discussing my favorite hit song of 2024.

Number 1

Picking my favorite hit song of a given year is always a nearly impossible task. I look at my previous picks for the top spot - “Levitating” by Dua Lipa, “Smokin Out The Window” by Silk Sonic, and “greedy” by Tate McRae - and they’re all very different songs that look to accomplish very different things. However, when I wrote about my choice to call “greedy” my favorite hit song of 2023, I said that I put it in that position because it was the hit song from that year that brought me the most joy. To further elaborate on that, it really felt like the song that connected most with where I was at in my life and always managed to put a smile on my face. I decided, for my number one pick for this list, I wanted to choose a song that did just that. And so, after thinking about which song met that criteria the most, I realized that this song was definitely the right pick for my favorite hit song of 2024.

#1: “Stargazing” by Myles Smith

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #19

Year-End List: #73

January-December List: #34

It’s a funny story. I remember where I was the first time that I heard this song. It was the day before my last final exam in my freshman year of college. I opened up the Hot 100 Challenge app - the same app that I brought up when discussing “The Door” by Teddy Swims in the first half of this list - and looked at which song’s peak position I had to predict that day. It was this song. It hadn’t previously been on my radar, and I decided to check it out, curious as to what sort of song I was about to listen to. I let it play, and something about it really piqued my interest. There was just something about it that drew this strong positive reaction from me, that drew me to immediately add it onto my playlist. Over time, as I listened to it more, I began to understand why I loved this song so much, and it kept growing on me until I decided that it was my pick for the top spot on this list.

I’ll start by discussing the song itself before I go into further detail as to why it’s my number-one pick. So, this song is a part of a larger wave of folksy alternative songs that received a huge boost in worldwide popularity recently in the wake of Noah Kahan’s breakthrough. The best way that I can describe this wave is that it’s basically the grand return of early-2010s folk pop to the mainstream. However, this song puts me less in the mind of the folk pop of an act like The Lumineers and more in the mind of the sort of folktronica music that the late Avicii was pushing to the mainstream around 2013 and 2014. I mean, think about it. The song definitely has folk pop influences, especially in the guitar melody and the stomping percussion, but it also has a big buildup. The only thing that songs like “Wake Me Up” and “Hey Brother” have in terms of structure that this song doesn’t have is the electronic drop, and even then, that millennial whoop that comes in after the second chorus is as close to a drop as you can get without having actual electronic elements. Now, in case I haven’t made this clear, that brand of folktronica is a sound that I personally love, so to hear something that isn’t quite that, but reminds me a lot of that in a mainstream hit was awesome!

Then, we have the lyrics. This song is your classic “it was always you” song where Myles Smith realizes that this person, who had been in his life for a while at this point, is the right person for him and has been all along. His past relationships all failed because he was with the wrong people, and now that he’s with the right person, he’s going to do everything he can to make sure that he gets it right this time. Look, is it a cheesy lyrical sentiment? Oh, yeah, no doubt. Is it also really sweet, honestly? Also yes. I mean, come on, I’ve literally spoken at length on this list about how my favorite show is How I Met Your Mother! This sort of song is exactly the sort of song that can connect with me on a similar level to that show! Not to mention, the image of stargazing late at night with someone you love honestly sounds pretty euphoric, and this song’s propulsive sound only further emphasizes that sense of euphoria. It also helps that Smith sells this song really well with his vocals. He’s got a deep voice that’s able to convey a strong sense of contentment, and what I really like is his vocal melody on the chorus. It’s bright, and it requires him to go for higher notes, which work really well at expressing his elation over finally having found the right person. There’s just something really sweet about it, and his energy is just infectious!

Alright, now, it’s time to discuss why this song connected with me so much. And I’m not going to mince words. This song reminds me of something straight out of the early-to-mid-2010s, and that’s why I love it so much. I mean, come on, I literally just made the Avicii comparison and compared the whole modern folk pop scene that this song comes from, or at least shares some common DNA with, to the folk pop boom that took place during that era! And, look, 2024 was a solid year for me. However, it was a chaotic one. That comes with the territory when you’re an adult, as I’m coming to find out. So, on that level, there is still a part of me that does long for the simplicity of childhood. As such, naturally, a hit song that sounds like the type of music that I loved so much as a child is going to be really easy for me to love. This song appeals to the same part of me that enjoys indulging in things that remind me of my childhood. Keep in mind that I’m beyond excited for the upcoming new season of Phineas and Ferb, and I bought Sonic X Shadow Generations for my Nintendo Switch on release day strictly because I have fond memories of playing Sonic Generations a decade ago, and I’ve had a ton of fun playing it! On some level, listening to “Stargazing” gives me a feeling that’s somewhat close to how listening to early-2010s throwback pop songs makes me feel, and that’s something special in my eyes. Combine that with the generally bright, upbeat, and propulsive sound of the song, and you’ve got a song that always makes me so happy to hear it. 

The best thing that a song can do is make me feel happy, since, for the most part, that’s the primary reason why I listen to and love pop music so much. This song managed to do that perhaps more than any other big hit song from 2024. It’s a song that takes a sound that I like and gives it enough of a modern spin to still feel fresh while also having enough of that original style in its composition to make me feel a bit nostalgic. It’s a song that I’ve enjoyed a lot since I first heard it on that May night in my dorm room, and it’s one that I’m extremely glad managed to become a big hit. “Stargazing” by Myles Smith: my favorite hit song of 2024.