Top Twenty Best Hit Songs of 2024 (20-11)

 

2024 was one of the most interesting years that I’ve talked about to date. I mean this in more ways than one. On one hand, the music scene this year was the most vibrant that it’s been in quite some time, perhaps since the start of this decade. Huge stories from multiple different genres came together to make this feel like one of the biggest years for music culturally in some time. I also mean this in terms of my own life. 2024 was a pretty wild year for me, as I completed my first year of college and settled into this new normal in which I now live. You may be wondering how exactly this is relevant, and to that, I say that one’s personal experiences have a huge impact on the way that they consume art, and I am no exception. It was true for me last year, and, if anything, it’s even more true for me now. But, enough about that, for now, at least. Let’s talk about the best songs that this year’s mainstream music scene had to offer.

If you are curious as to what songs were eligible for this list, these are the conditions that a song had to meet to be considered. Firstly, the song cannot have been eligible for any previous year’s list. From there, the song had to do one of two things: it either had to make the 2024 Billboard Year-End Hot 100, or it had to make the version of that list that I calculated which runs from a January-December timeframe, rather than the mid-October start and end dates that Billboard uses. That list can be found here.

Now, before we get into the top twenty properly, here are my honorable mentions for the year.

Honorable Mentions

“euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #3

Year-End List: #66

January-December List: #67

Yeah, this year was so good for music that I even wound up having to relegate this song to the honorable mentions! That mainly comes down to the fact that such a long diss track doesn’t really have a ton of replay value for me, but that doesn’t take away from how impressive it is! In the midst of his feud with Drake - on which I will have more to say later on - Lamar went in on a multi-part diss track that has plenty of clever lines, but, more than anything, just has a sense of sheer, visceral hatred that runs throughout it that makes it so much more compelling. “I’m the biggest hater, I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress” might just be the single-most quotable line from any hit song this year. It’s more of a song that impresses me than a song that I go back to frequently, but it is an impressive showing of the skills that Lamar would continue to use to handily win that feud.

“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #2

January-December List: #1

So, this was arguably the biggest song of the year in the United States, and I completely understand why! It’s a simple country bar sing-along song without anything crazy going on, save for the interpolation of “Tipsy” by J-Kwon that the pre-chorus and chorus are built on, but that’s all that it really needs to be. Shaboozey gives a pretty likable and energetic performance to it, and the country production works quite well here, which is not something that I would have expected for a song that’s built on an interpolation of a rap song from two decades ago. It admittedly doesn’t stand up as well to overplay as I would like, but I still enjoy it. I’m a little surprised that it managed to spend a record-tying nineteen weeks at number one this year, but, hey, it’s a great song. I’m not going to complain.

“Think I’m In Love With You” by Chris Stapleton

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #49

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #69

To keep with the theme of country music, we have this song. If you’re in the mood for a nice, slow-burn country song anchored by some chill and intimate-sounding production and a smooth, understated, and characteristically-excellent vocal performance from Chris Stapleton, then, I highly recommend that you give this song a chance. It misses this list largely because it’s not a song that I’ve revisited a ton, nor is it one that gives me a lot to say, but whenever I come back to it, I always enjoy it. If what I described sounds like your cup of tea, you should definitely check this song out.

“Timeless” by The Weeknd & Playboi Carti

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #3

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #68

So, The Weeknd is gearing up to release his final album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, later this month, and as someone who considers him my favorite artist, I’m extremely excited. I’d struggle to call this my favorite of the singles that have been released from that album so far when his Anitta collaboration, “São Paulo”, exists, but this song still slaps. It’s got a pretty solid Playboi Carti verse that transitions into a performance from The Weeknd with plenty of catchy melodies, and the trap-heavy production is pretty solid, too. If this is an indication of what’s to come on that album, then I’m very excited to hear more.

“Yeah Glo!” by GloRilla

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #28

Year-End List: #44

January-December List: #47

I thought that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this was a really good year for women in hip-hop, mainstream-wise. Of the many songs that I could have chosen to represent that, I felt like this was the best option. GloRilla has a ton of energy on this song, and it works really well for what’s essentially just a really fun hype-up anthem. Of the big rap hits from this year, this was one of the songs that went the hardest, and that’s absolutely worthy of a mention.

“Where It Ends” by Bailey Zimmerman

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #32

Year-End List: #87

January-December List: #81

When it comes to country music, a song with a lot of justifiable anger, energy, and a big hook tends to work for me. I really like how this song builds with its country rock instrumentation, and how its hook not only has some really potent emotion behind it, but also has one of the catchiest melodies that I heard in a country song all year. Again, it’s not a song that gives me a ton to say, but it succeeds at what it’s trying to do quite well.

“Where the Wild Things Are” by Luke Combs

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #26

Year-End List: #70

January-December List: #91

This is a remarkably interesting song to me. It’s a story song with a big hook and upbeat melodies and production that also has an extremely sad set of lyrics, and that’s entirely by design. Luke Combs sings this song from the perspective of someone whose brother left home to chase a wild life, and who eventually joined that brother out on the road, made memories, but ultimately, decided that it wasn’t for him. What makes the song infinitely more sad, however, is the ending, where it’s revealed that, in the midst of his wild adventures, the brother dies in an accident. Despite that, I love how the upbeat instrumentation and soaring melody make this song feel less like a wallow in sadness that he’s gone and more like a triumphant celebration of his life. It’s another song that I respect way more than I feel the urge to go back to it, but, credit where it’s due, this is an excellent song.

“Made For Me” by Muni Long

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #20

Year-End List: #56

January-December List: #58

If you’ve read this blog at all - particularly if you read my list of my favorite hit songs of 2023 - then, you know that I have a deep fondness for songs that invoke 2000s nostalgia, and this fits that bill perfectly. Sure, it’s a throwback to 2000s R&B rather than pop, so it’s a sound that I’m less nostalgic for, but that doesn’t take away from how great this sounds. It’s got nice, restrained, and tasteful R&B instrumentation that allows Muni Long to really shine as a vocalist. It’s little more than a really sweet love song, but that’s all that it needs to be, and it always puts a smile on my face when I hear it.

“Saturn” by SZA

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #6

Year-End List: #19

January-December List: #16

Here’s a song that I was sure was going to end up on my list properly this year. It’s an excellent R&B song about someone who feels exhausted by everything going on around her and decides that dreaming of a faraway place like Saturn might be her best bet. It’s not a song that’s grounded in any sort of rationality, but strictly in emotion, and that’s absolutely on purpose. It’s a song that can work really well as a comfort song, and I also saw SZA live at a festival this summer - she was amazing, by the way, absolutely see her live if you get the chance - where she gave a great performance of this song. With that said, overplay was not kind to this song at all. Still, that doesn’t take away from what a good song that this is.

“Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #26

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #51

To round out our honorable mentions, I felt like I had to include at least one Chappell Roan song on here, given how utterly ubiquitous she became during the second half of the year. I totally see why she’s gotten so big, given that not only did I like all three of her hits this year, but I also saw her at a festival this summer, where she also gave a great performance. I decided to give this song a shoutout mainly because I really like its lyrics, all about self-acceptance in the face of familial and societal pressure to be something you’re not, and owning who you are in the process. Combine that with a great vocal performance and some solid production, complete with a guitar solo, and you’ve got a really solid pop song on your hands.

Alright, enough about what songs missed the top twenty. Let’s get to the songs that actually made the list and get into the best that this year had to offer.

Number 20

So, there’s always an open question of, regardless of which song was statistically the biggest of a year, which song “culturally” defined a year the most. This question is always impossible to give a correct answer to. For someone, the Year-End #1 song was the song that defined their year. For someone else, some really niche underground song from twenty years ago with 500 Spotify streams defined theirs. It’s a question which everyone will answer differently. For me, I have two answers. We’ll get to the other one much later on, but here’s my first answer.

#20: “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #3

Year-End List: #7

January-December List: #5

Every year has its breakthrough artists, and this year, you can argue that the biggest breakthrough artist was either Chappell Roan, who I just discussed, or Sabrina Carpenter. In the latter case, that’s kind of surreal to me. I watched Disney Channel throughout the early-to-mid 2010s, which is to say that I had seen some of Girl Meets World while it was on, and as such, I’ve been familiar with Carpenter for about a decade now. However, even then, it was clear that Disney Channel was trying to push her as their next big teen-pop sensation, as I remember when her songs were getting Radio Disney play during commercial breaks. Ten years later, her continued efforts to become a pop star paid off, as she saw a huge amount of success this year with her pretty solid 2024 album, Short n’ Sweet. The groundwork had been laid with her previous album, emails i can’t send, over the previous two years, and this year was when it all came together for her in the mainstream. This song was arguably that huge turning point where she reached pop-star status, and it’s not hard to see why.

At its core, you would think that this song isn’t particularly complex, and you’d be absolutely correct in that regard. This song is as lightweight as they come. This all starts in the production. This song is built on a light, guitar-backed groove that isn’t anything crazy, but absolutely succeeds at being bright and summery. The percussion work is rhythmic, but at a “bobbing your head as you hear this song on your car radio” kind of tempo, if that makes any sense. It’s not particularly “in-your-face” or anything. The instrumental’s first and last goal is to set a vibe, and it’s able to do so quite easily.

As for Carpenter herself, she matches that energy perfectly. Save for some lighter vocal runs near the end, she sings nearly the entire song in her lower register, and in this summery context, she gives off a relaxed vibe more than anything else. Her M.O. on this song seems to be to project a cool, calm, and collected sort of confidence, which makes sense, especially when you take the lyrics into account. This song seems to cover the classic “cool girl has a guy wrapped around her finger” trope lyrically, with the title basically coming from the idea that, just like an espresso, thoughts of her are keeping this guy up at night. Still, there are enough sticky lines in this song to make it more likable for me. “Switch it up like Nintendo” is a personal favorite of mine as a proud Nintendo Switch owner, but, generally, the lyrics are just general self-confidence lines with a few quotable lines thrown in there.

So, with all this in mind, this song just reads as a comparatively simple, though pretty good, pop song, so, what pushed it over the top and helped it make the list? Well, the reasons for that are twofold. Firstly, I just really appreciate how this song, which was one of the biggest songs of the summer, happens to sound a lot like summer. The music video quite literally takes place on a beach, so it’s blatantly obvious that this is what Carpenter and her team were aiming for, but, you know what? I like when songs try to sound like summer. Summer’s a good season, and bubblegum pop is perhaps the genre that is best equipped to capture what makes summer enjoyable, so I’m giving this song a lot of credit for aiming for summer-song status and sticking the landing.

As for the other reason, well, that’s slightly harder to explain. You see, I did mention that this song feels like it was culturally one of the biggest hits of the year, if not the biggest. This may seem odd to some of you, since it wasn’t a number-one hit in the United States - a fact that future generations of chart nerds are seriously going to question, mark my words - but trust me, this song was everywhere. It got a ton of radio play on my local stations. When I traveled internationally over the summer of 2024, I heard this song on the radio just as frequently. It was all over my TikTok feed. Its instrumental even soundtracked perhaps the most viral Saturday Night Live skit in some time! And, yet, despite that, I’ve yet to really get sick of it. It’s always a good time whenever I press play, and despite its cultural ubiquity, it hasn’t really faded on me. Replayability is a big factor in what makes a pop song good in my eyes, and this song has it in spades. Like an espresso, it’s not something that you think too hard about, but it’s enjoyable in the moment. I mean, I don’t drink coffee, but at least, I assume that’s what drinking an espresso is like!

So, yeah, we start this list of twenty songs with a lightweight summer bop that, even eight or nine months later, still hasn’t faded on me. I get the feeling that this song is going to stick around in the popular consciousness long after 2024, and it’s deserving of that status if that comes to be true. This is a great song that I’m glad became as massive as it wound up being.

Number 19

Okay, so, did you enjoy that nice, fun, and lightweight opening entry? Good, because we’re going to shift gears here to something completely different for a second. Every year, there’s a song or two that I find really manages to capture something emotionally resonant for me. However, I rarely, if ever, find myself willing to put it on my lists properly, and I’m not quite sure why that is. Well, in any case, especially with the expanded twenty-song format for this list, I’m going to take the opportunity to rectify that. Songs like this deserve to be discussed in full, and in this particular case, I’m so glad that a song like this exists and was a hit this year.

#19: “End of Beginning” by Djo

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #11

Year-End List: #47

January-December List: #49

Okay, where do I begin with this one?

I alluded to this a bit earlier on in the introduction to this list, but, man, 2024 was a chaotic year for me. Like, insanely so. I’m not going to go into too much detail here, but to put it as quickly as possible, while fall 2023 threw me for a loop when I started college, 2024 was basically just a year-long process where I found my sea legs and tried to figure out how to navigate this new normal that I found myself in. I’d call it a pretty good year overall, though, despite how chaotic things could get. So, with that all out of the way, how does this song factor into that aspect of my life?

Well, let’s start by actually discussing the song first. The entire thing is very low-key, with a slow-moving alternative guitar instrumental, and some well-spaced percussion work that keeps the song moving at a steady pace. Still, the song’s instrumental does sound quite melancholic. It’s not necessarily depressing or anything, but there is a tangible feeling of sadness or something being lost that you can hear in this instrumental. Djo does a good job of matching that melancholic attitude with his vocals, as he sings this song in a lower, noticeably downbeat tone. Still, he sounds less outright sad than he does just kind of accepting of the circumstances around him, if that makes any sense. This brings us quite nicely to the content, which is the primary reason why this song is on the list.

To me, this song has always read as a story where Djo’s character returns to his hometown and looks back on all of the changes that have happened in his life, and how different he’s become since he’s last lived there. As he describes it, it’s almost as if that person who grew up in Chicago is another version of him entirely. I’m not quite sure if this is based in any sort of reality, but considering that Djo is the pseudonym of Joe Keery, an actor who I recognize most from Stranger Things, yeah, I definitely imagine that becoming a famous actor can make you feel like a completely different person than you were while you were growing up. Becoming famous definitely shapes you in a way that few other things can. Now, I do not relate to this song in that sense - I am not famous, nor do I ever hope to be, as evidenced by how I enjoy writing from the world of internet anonymity - but that main sentiment can still connect pretty strongly for me.

For a little bit of context, I am currently on break between semesters and am writing this list from my childhood home. However, even now, only a year and a half removed from when this whole “growing up” process started, it still feels like seventeen-year-old me and nineteen-year-old me are two different people entirely. In fact, not to get too sappy here, but that’s what I take the phrase “end of beginning” to mean. It’s the end of the beginning of your life, the end of your childhood, the point where you have to grow up into another version of you.

Still, I like how much Djo emphasizes that, even if he’s changed drastically since leaving Chicago, that city is still absolutely a part of him. As he says repeatedly on the bridge, “you take the man out of the city, not the city out the man”. Yeah, that line also has a lot of resonance for me. Even though, looking around at my surroundings, I feel like a completely different person than I was just two years ago, the place where I grew up still shaped me far more than anywhere else has up to this point, and I fully expect it to always have some sort of impact on the person that I am.

While this was admittedly a lot to unpack, it goes back to what I was saying earlier in this song’s intro. One’s personal experiences will almost always shape the way that they consume and experience art, and this song is a prime example for me. So, why isn’t it higher? Well, I admittedly didn’t return to it too much over the course of the year, so that’s always going to be a factor. Still, despite that, I have a lot of respect for this song. It’s a great song that struck an emotionally resonant chord for me and that absolutely deserved to be the big hit that it was this year.

Number 18

For the record, we’re not quite out of the woods yet when it comes to songs that struck a strong emotional chord with me. Yes, by the way, the Taylor Swift reference there was intentional. Swift remained very culturally dominant this year as The Eras Tour drew to a close, and she scored another batch of big hits. However, a story that was arguably as big as Swift’s own success this year was the success of her opening acts from The Eras Tour. Easily the most prominent example of this was Sabrina Carpenter, who I’ve already discussed, and who - spoiler alert - I will be discussing again, but another opener for Swift who found a lot of success this year was Gracie Abrams. She seems set to have a big year in 2025 with “That’s So True” looking set to be a huge hit over the next little while. As for me, I’m on board for that, especially if the music that’s yet to come is as good as a song like this.

#18: “I Love You, I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #19

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #82

So, for me, there are two types of “emotionally resonant” songs. In one case, you have a song like “End of Beginning”, where I can take that song’s lyrics and more directly apply it to a situation that I was in recently. Then, there’s the other type, where even if I’m not actively in a position to relate to it or anything, the emotions that it’s trying to channel come through so clearly for me that I’m able to connect with it regardless. That’s where a song like this stands for me.

This song is a very understated acoustic ballad sonically. The acoustic guitar melody is the foundation upon which the entire rest of the song is built, and it works really well for that. On some level, it has an almost breezy feeling to it, to the point where it makes perfect sense why a song like this got so big in the late summer and early fall of this year. However, there’s still something very distinctly somber about this instrumental. The song doesn’t feel breezy and relaxed, it feels almost resigned, in a way. Abrams herself honestly sounds that way, too, and that’s definitely by design. She stays in her lower register for pretty much the entire song, minus one climactic moment in the bridge where her voice opens up for a brief second before going right back down to where she’d stayed for the rest of the song. This feeling of resignation carries over perfectly to the lyrics.

If we’re following the thematic throughline of this song, then it’s set two years, or at least, two Augusts, after a breakup which was primarily caused by Abrams, or at least, by something that she said. You can clearly tell that this hurt her deeply, seeing as there are many prominent moments where she blames herself for what happened. Lines like “I was a dick, it is what it is, a habit to kick, the age-old curse” and “lay on the horn to prove that it haunts me” paint that picture vividly. As such, all that she can bring herself to do is dwell on the situation, wonder what this person is doing now, and dream of a future two summers from now where the two of them are at least on speaking terms, if nothing else.

However, what really gets to me about this song is that, more than anything else, it feels like pure rumination in song form. The description of how the breakup happened is based in reality, but the entire second verse is based in hypotheticals. Maybe, in the future, these two will be cool with each other, maybe they’re not going to speak again, who knows? The lyrics strike me as Abrams overthinking a situation because it’s all that she can think to do. 

The line that stands out the most to me is “I tend to laugh whenever I’m sad, I stare at the crash, it actually works”. I take that line to mean “I think about and replay the situation over and over again in my head because it feels productive”. And, yeah. When you’re going through a bad situation, it can feel productive to think about how the situation could have gone differently or how it could be resolved using hypotheticals with no guarantee of actually coming true. Is it actually productive? Of course not! The actually-correct thing to do in this situation would be to put in the work to move on from the situation. However, the writing does make it clear that Abrams knows that, hence the way that she apologizes for saying “I love you”. She knows that she needs to move on. She knows that she shouldn’t still love this person. However, she just doesn’t know where to actually start the “moving on” process, but she does know how to ruminate, so that’s what she’s going to do. In that way, it feels very distinctly human in a way that few big hits did this year. It’s not necessarily the greatest part of human nature, but sometimes, when going through a bad situation, we need that period of dwelling on it and trying to process it before actually doing anything about it. That right there is why this song is on this list.

This was another song that managed to click with me more on a lyrical level than anything else. I know that it may seem weird to say that I appreciate a song for emotional honesty more than anything else. In fact, I don’t even have any clue if this song is based in any reality for Abrams herself. But, at least for me, this song tapped into something real that I was able to really connect with. This is a great song that’s absolutely worth a listen.

Number 17

I touched on this last year, but I’m still in the midst of learning more about country music and which types of it that I like. One variety of it that I’ve found can work for me pretty well is the angry, rock-infused breakup song. I briefly mentioned an example of this sort of song in my honorable mentions with “Where It Ends” by Bailey Zimmerman, and for another great example of this sort of song working really well for me, we have this.

#17: “World on Fire” by Nate Smith

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #21

Year-End List: #90

January-December List: N/A

Listen, if there’s anything that this list should have told you up until this point, it’s that I can really appreciate a pensive, understated ballad. Country music has a lot of those, and I can definitely find more than a few of those that I appreciate in the genre. However, something that will almost always win against those sorts of ballads for me is a song that brings energy and fire - no pun intended - into its presentation. And, yeah, this song, perhaps more than any other country song this year, worked really well for me specifically on that basis.

I’ve talked quite a bit about songs that come across as understated on this list. This is not one of those songs. Almost immediately, this song hits you with a strong guitar melody that balances that line between country and rock, with punchy percussion being brought in to match that sort of intensity. The song does quiet down a bit during the verses, but that’s only so that it can build right back up to a blowout on the chorus, where all of the intensity comes right back in. That honestly describes Nate Smith’s vocal delivery on this song as well. He stays in a comfortable lower range on the verses, but as the song progresses, the gruffness and anger in his voice comes through much more sharply, as he sings with a ton of angry energy towards a girl who broke his heart.

Then, there’s the lyrics, and let me tell you, managing to properly sell a song with these lyrics is a balancing act in and of itself. This is your classic melodramatic breakup song. By breaking up with Smith, this girl set his world on fire. In everything he does and everything he sees, all he can see is her, and it’s enraging him to no end. Here’s the thing, though. As far as we know, there isn’t anything that this girl really did wrong, here, so, on some level, it might seem odd that these lyrics seem so vitriolic in blaming her for ruining everything Smith loves for him. Well, on some level, that’s kind of the point.

I’ve always imagined this song to have taken place in the immediate aftermath of a bad breakup, or, in other words, the point in the post-breakup timeline when someone is in their least rational state of mind. Yeah, that corner bar and the roads that Smith rides on are probably not actually ruined for him forever. However, it’s the weight of the moment that makes it feel like they might be. It’s not rational to blame everything on his ex, but it’s all just so fresh in his mind that he’s cursing the relationship for even happening because it left him in so much pain. Is it melodramatic to a strong degree? Yes, of course it is! Is it also, on some level, a pretty human response to some strong emotions? Also, yes!

Then again, the only way that this song could work for me is if every aspect of its sonic landscape, from the instrumental to Smith’s vocals, fully committed to that melodrama, and let me tell you right now, they absolutely did. The strong guitar melody and Smith’s loud vocals all lean as hard into that melodrama as they possibly can, and the song just goes all in. The sourness and bitterness is the entire point of the song, and its sonic landscape conveys that perfectly. Of course, it also helps that it’s really catchy. To give credit where it’s due, this chorus is incredibly fun to sing along with, and the instrumental absolutely slaps. It’s just a very enjoyable song to listen to all around.

So, yeah, this song is a prime example of melodrama at its finest, done in a way that makes it really fun to listen to. If you’re looking for a great country hit from this year and you haven’t heard this song yet, then I highly recommend that you check this song out. It’s a great song.

Number 16

Now, I think that we’re due for something that’s a bit brighter as far as mood goes. Sometimes, a song can just win me over on confidence and vibes alone. A song that projects good vibes is never something that I’m not in the mood to hear, and this song right here has confidence and good vibes in spades.

#16: “On My Mama” by Victoria Monét

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #33

Year-End List: #91

January-December List: N/A

This song is a pretty interesting one to me. Victoria Monét is someone who I’ve been aware of for a few years now, but not necessarily as an artist. Rather, I was more familiar with her as a key collaborator for Ariana Grande. You may know that they worked together on the song “MONOPOLY” back in 2019, but Monét has actually been doing a lot of co-writing with Grande behind the scenes, having credits on each of her first six studio albums and one of her Christmas EPs. These credits range from hit songs like “thank u, next” and “7 rings” to personal favorites of mine, like “west side”, “goodnight n go”, “Be Alright”, and “Step On Up”. With that in mind, I’m honestly kind of surprised that I never got around to checking out Monét’s own music sooner than I did, but for what it’s worth, this first impression got my attention in the best way possible.

If I were to describe this song in one word, it would probably be “smooth”. I’m not sure that there’s a better word to describe that chilled-out bassline that serves as the basis for the song’s instrumental, or the drums which are able to leave an impact, but are not so loud as to overpower the chill atmosphere of the song. Even when louder elements in the production come in - namely, the horn section - it all still comes together and matches this nice and calm atmosphere that the rest of the instrumental has cultivated.

In fact, “smooth” is also the exact word that I would use to describe Monét’s vocal performance. It kind of goes back to what I was saying about Sabrina Carpenter’s vocal performance on “Espresso”. Monét is also clearly going for the cool, calm, and collected approach here, and that’s absolutely the right move. This song is all about confidence, but the best way to make the listener believe you isn’t to tell them that you’re confident, but to show them. This song definitely does talk a lot about confidence, but Monét’s absolutely able to back it up by showing that confidence in her delivery. She sounds comfortable and in control on this song, which is exactly what you need in order to make a song like this work.

As for the lyrics, well, as I said, it’s a self-empowerment anthem. It’s built on both a sample and an interpolation of “I Look Good” by Chalie Boy, a hip-hop song from 2009 that I admittedly don’t have much experience with beyond hearing its hook a few times on my social media feed. That being said, that hook, “on my mama, on my hood, I look fly, I look good”, is a great hook, and it works really well when Monét interpolates it in a more melodic R&B style. With that being said, I am definitely very glad that she was kind enough to sample the original song as well as interpolate it, because it is so much fun to rap along with that sample every single time I hear it. In fact, the way that the sample bounces off of the more relaxed instrumental works way better for me than I ever would have expected. It clicks for me in just the right way.

There isn’t that much more to say here. This song is just a fun time from start to finish. Between this song hitting it big and winning the 2024 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, this proved to be a big year for Monét, and if this song is any indication of what the rest of her back catalog is like, then I’d say that the Grammy win was well-deserved. This song is a ton of fun, and I’m glad that it managed to stick around and become a hit.

Number 15

Let’s make one thing clear really quickly: there’s going to be a lot of Billie Eilish songs on this list. Like, a lot. Her most recent album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, was handily my favorite album that I listened to in 2024, and it was thankfully also an extremely successful album, too, scoring four hits with solid chart longevity. Well, there’s no point in stalling any further, so, here’s the first song of hers that I’ll be discussing on this list.

#15: “LUNCH” by Billie Eilish

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #5

Year-End List: #48

January-December List: #50

It’s fitting that this is the first song from HIT ME HARD AND SOFT that I’m discussing on this list, because, funnily enough, when I listened to that album on its release day, it was the first song that got my attention. The album opens up on a pretty soft and vulnerable note with “SKINNY”, and then, before I knew it, I was getting hit with a chugging alternative rock groove and Billie Eilish singing, “I could eat that girl for lunch”. Yeah, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this caught my attention. Well, thankfully, this song kept my attention in the best possible way by being an absolute banger!

Let’s start off with the lyrics this time around. For a bit of context, Eilish is someone who has unfortunately had to deal with a lot of speculation around her sexuality for years now, and that all culminated in an Instagram post that she made in 2023 where she confirmed that she is, in fact, attracted to both men and women, while reaffirming that her sexual orientation is nobody else’s business. This whole situation obviously sucks and should never have had to happen, as nobody should ever have to feel pressured by other people to publicly confirm which gender they’re attracted to. With this added context, at least to me, these lyrics carry a bit more weight than they otherwise would. To be fair, the song was apparently recorded before she’d properly confirmed anything about her sexuality, but knowing that history does add an extra layer to this song, in my eyes.

To put it bluntly, this song is literally just Eilish fawning over a hot girl and lusting after her. I mean, once again, the opening line of the song is literally “I could eat that girl for lunch”. There’s no subtlety here. That means one thing and one thing only. It’s definitely the most bluntly sexual song that I had ever heard from Eilish, at least at the time of its release - in the months since, her Charli xcx collaboration “Guess” firmly overtook it for that title, and it’s also a great song, for the record - but that bluntness seems very intentional. The best way that I can describe it is that it feels like a sapphic version of “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X from three years prior. Like Lil Nas X on that song, this song sees Eilish owning her sexuality and proudly making it a part of her musical identity, and I respect it a lot for that.

Of course, it helps that the song absolutely slaps, and as always with Eilish’s work, FINNEAS deserves some credit for a great production job here. As I mentioned, it’s built on a chugging alternative rock guitar groove that gives the song a real sense of momentum, with the percussion helping to define the song’s groove. I especially like how much rougher the guitars get towards the end of the song, as the song ramps up in intensity as it closes. It makes for a pretty fun closing to a really fun track. It also helps that Eilish is clearly having a lot of fun delivering these lines as well. You can almost hear her smiling as she delivers some of these lines. I mean, if I were to find out that she wasn’t smirking while singing the line “I don’t want to break it, just want it to bend, do you know how to bend?”, I’d be outright flabbergasted. But still, her energy and sheer joy on this song is palpable and infectious. It just makes for a really fun song that I’m always happy to hear whenever I hear it!

Pardon the pun, but on “LUNCH”, Eilish absolutely cooked. The song is so much fun to hear every single time that it comes on, and I’m glad that this song and the album that it came from were able to see success. It’s an absolute banger and serves as a strong indication of just how good Eilish’s music could get in 2024. I’ll have much more to say on that in the second half of this list, but as for this song, it’s great all the same.

Number 14

Every pop music fan has a few artists that were instrumental to building their love of the genre. Generally speaking, it’s often the artists that we listened to as kids that fall into this category. These two artists are definitely in that category for me, as I grew up on their music and have been a fan of both of them since I was a kid. So, naturally, when I heard that they were working together on a new song, I was excited. When I saw what a big hit that song would wind up becoming, I knew that it was going to find its way onto this list.

#14: “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #62

January-December List: #17

You should all be well aware that, as someone who grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s, these two artists have made some of the most iconic hits of my elementary school days and that I have a deep appreciation for their work. Even up to the present day, that holds true. I’ve spoken at length about Bruno Mars’ work with Anderson .Paak as Silk Sonic numerous times on this blog, including when I called “Smokin Out The Window” my favorite hit song of 2022. As for Lady Gaga, if I ever get around to actually writing that “best hit songs of 2020” list that I’ve considered working on for a while, then “Rain On Me” will almost certainly find a place on that list. The point that I’m trying to make is that I was extremely excited when I found out that these two were going to work together on a new song, and the end product that we got certainly did not disappoint.

This is admittedly not really a song that I have a ton to say about. Truthfully, it just feels like a prime example of two incredibly talented people firing on all cylinders. The most prominent example of this is in the vocal department. Both Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars are phenomenal singers, and they both sound fantastic on this song. They also have really strong chemistry with each other, which I found to be interesting. When I first found out that the two of them were teaming up for a song together, I hadn’t the foggiest idea of what to expect. This was because I still associate Lady Gaga with the sounds of late-2000s and early-2010s electropop, while Bruno Mars has largely decided to spend the past decade making throwbacks reminiscent of the last few decades of the twentieth century. What we got instead wound up being neither of those. This song leans much more on soft rock, which, honestly, feels much more representative of Lady Gaga’s current sound, at least over the past little while. If any style of hers would work well with Bruno Mars’ vocal style, it would be that one, so, that proved to be the right move.

As for that specific soft rock instrumental, it’s a really good one. I really like the guitar work in particular. It does a good job of establishing a similar atmosphere to a lot of the music that I would characterize as easy listening. As someone who tends to like that style of music, I find that to be a welcome addition to the modern pop scene. The guitar solo is a really nice touch, too. I’m never going to be one to complain about one of those showing up in a big hit. The instrumental as a whole isn’t necessarily anything mind-blowing - there’s no wild twists or turns or anything - but it knows exactly what it needs to accomplish and which vibe it needs to create, and it does just that.

As for the lyrics, this song follows a story where these two people remind each other that, even if tragedy were to strike, they’d still be there for each other until it were physically impossible for them to do so. Yeah, it’s nothing groundbreaking as far as love songs go, but this song, in both sound and lyrics, seems to be the embodiment of doing the basics to such a strong degree that it becomes great almost through the artists’ technical skills alone. And, yeah, as I said, both artists sound fantastic, fully committing to the song and selling it as well as they can. 

On the whole, the best thing that I can say about this song is that it’s just such a well-made piece of music. It’s not even that easy of a song to discuss simply because it feels like a song where actually listening to it will determine whether or not it’s for you. It’s hard to say much more than “this song sounds really good”. But, hey, I’m clearly not the only one who believes that. Quite literally as I was writing this entry, “Die With A Smile” was revealed to have hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. That’s absolutely a big win, and I hope that it continues to be a huge hit as we head further into 2025.

Number 13

As I mentioned earlier, the number-one song of 2024 on the January-December chart that I calculated was “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey. However, on the official Billboard Year-End Hot 100, the number-one song of 2024 was “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims. I’d consider it a deserving song for the title. Not only is it a massive enduring hit - even over a year into its chart run, it’s still in the Hot 100’s top five as I type this - but it’s also a pretty good song, probably the best Year-End number one song since Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” in 2021, at least, in my opinion. With that being said, when an artist scores a hit that big with their first charting single, naturally, there’s a question of how they are going to follow it up. As for Teddy Swims, not only did he manage to follow it up with a notable hit single, but that hit single also wound up being really great.

#13: “The Door” by Teddy Swims

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #24

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #63

One thing that I’ve held off on mentioning that actually proved to be quite useful in helping to get me to listen to more up-and-coming hits this year was the Hot 100 Challenge app. Basically, during the spring and early summer, there was this app where, every weekday, users would predict the chart peak of a randomly-selected song and answer a chart trivia question. In case any of you are curious, I did pretty well in the trivia aspect, but not so well in the predictions. I bring this up because I tried to listen to most of the songs that we were asked to predict the peaks for, which included this song. This song was listed on the app not long before it started charting, and I checked it out, curious to see how it sounded, seeing as I thought that “Lose Control” was pretty good. As soon as I heard it, it went straight onto my playlist, and I’ve come back to it my fair share of times since then.

The thing that caught my attention immediately was the production, and that might have been what initially hooked me in. The song has this almost swinging rhythm to its percussion pattern, which gives it a real sense of groove. When it comes to this sort of adult-contemporary pop soul, a good groove is an easy way to get me on board for a song, as it can give the song some real energy. That’s exactly what we have here. Otherwise, the song’s production is mostly pretty standard for this sound. Then again, it’s not just the fact that the song has a good instrumental that can make it good, but also what the performer chooses to do with it.

One thing that pretty much every critic that I follow brings up about Teddy Swims whenever his music gets discussed is that he’s got a great, powerful voice. And, yeah, this man can sing. What I love about his vocal performance on this song is that, while he’s got a big voice, he’s also very much able to hit some impressive high notes and manage a solid balance between his lower and higher register, which I can absolutely respect. As someone with a very, very limited vocal range myself, being able to pull off something like that is absolutely something that I’m willing to commend.

Then we have the lyrics, and these lyrics definitely serve to tell an interesting story. Yes, it may read as a simple kiss-off breakup song, but I definitely see a little bit more than just that in these lyrics. This is primarily because of “Lose Control”, funnily enough. That song’s lyrics seemed to detail how desperately Teddy Swims felt like he needed to keep his significant other around, and those lyrics made it pretty clear that he knew that this was not good for him. Then, we get to “The Door”, where he’s just about done with this person. He recognizes that this person has been playing games with him, which has been eating away at him. So, he shows this person the door, committing himself to trying to better himself rather than to remain so dependent on someone else. Connecting the two songs lyrically makes this song feel like the resolution of a self-improvement arc that definitely makes it a lot more likable for me.

If anything, these lyrics make the vocal performance even better. Teddy Swims goes into a bit of a higher register on the song’s chorus, which makes sense, given the lyrics of that chorus. There, he details how he honestly thought that this relationship was going to last, and how, deep down, he doesn’t actually want to end things, but he knows that he needs to, for his own sake. That higher singing does a good job of portraying himself as pained in making this decision. Because, yeah, heartbreak sucks, and if you can avoid going through it, most times, you probably will. However, this song is more about doing what’s actually right for yourself, which, in my opinion, helps it to have a lot more emotional resonance. Also, on an unrelated note, I love songs with big hooks like this. They’re so much fun to sing along to. I don’t really have the vocal range for a song like this, but that’s not going to stop me from trying to sing along!

On the whole, this is just a really great pop soul song. Teddy Swims has managed to score a few more charting singles since his big breakthrough at the start of the year, and if this song is any indication of what to expect with his future material, then I’m excited to hear more. This song slaps, and it’s absolutely worth a listen.

Number 12

Last year, when I discussed Post Malone’s hit song, “Chemical”, I made the observation that he was moving in more of a rock direction with his music. Well, this year, it turned out that he was actually looking to make a pivot towards country music. This isn’t altogether surprising, given how he’s been experimenting with country music for years now, but it was interesting to watch unfold. His album from this year, F-1 Trillion, was stacked with big-name country music collaborators, past and present, and it had some really strong tracks. It scored three pretty notable hits, and of those three, this was the one that I had the most fun with this year.

#12: “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #1

Year-End List: #4

January-December List: #3

Okay, I should have been able to call the whole “Post Malone is going to try country music” thing way earlier than I did. I mean, I heard “Stay” off of beerbongs & bentleys from 2018, and I heard his cover of “Only Wanna Be With You” by Hootie & The Blowfish from 2021. Yes, I know that neither song technically falls under the category of country music, but they’re close enough that, if they had been pushed to country radio, I could have seen them getting played. Plus, with the massive resurgence in popularity that country music has seen in the 2020s so far, now would be as good of a time as any to try to make some of it. So, Post Malone seized the opportunity, and for his first proper venture into country music as a lead artist, he teamed up with Morgan Wallen. This also makes a lot of sense, seeing as, not only is Wallen handily the biggest name in country music right now - this was just one of five hits that he had this year - but he’s also dabbled a lot with genre experimentation, much like Post Malone. And, you know what? The song that we got out of their team-up wound up being a banger!

The instrumental is definitely the best part of the song. Given Post Malone’s roots in hip-hop and the fact that Wallen seems to love integrating trap instrumentation into his work, you might think that this would be some sort of genre fusion, but that’s not what we got. Rather, this is very clearly going for typical pop country, and even that’s absolutely in both men’s wheelhouses, as evidenced by some songs on some of Post Malone’s previous albums, and some of Wallen’s past hits, like “One Thing At A Time” or “Everything I Love”. This particular instrumental is really solid, being melodically bright and summery - as such, it makes sense why this wound up being Billboard’s Song of the Summer for this year - and also having a really sticky guitar hook. Man, I didn’t realize it before I started writing this list, but this was a good year for songs with guitar instrumentation, wasn’t it?

As for the vocal performances, I like what both men brought to the table here. The song has both a really catchy verse melody and a really catchy chorus melody. Post Malone and Wallen both have very distinct voices, and, I’ll say it, Post Malone actually is a great fit for country music vocally. He’s got a bit of a rasp in his voice that complements this instrumental in a similar way to the twang in Wallen’s voice. They both sound really good here. My favorite moment vocally is probably the bridge. That bridge was my first exposure to the song, seeing as Post Malone teased the bridge and final chorus on Instagram before the song came out, and it’s really good. It highlights that these two actually have some really solid vocal chemistry with each other, and that makes the song even better for me.

Lyrically, this reads as a standard toxic relationship song, where these two are being blamed for their respective relationships’ demise, and while they’re not shying away from that blame, they’re basically saying “you had just as much fault in this as I did”. It’s a simple enough lyrical sentiment, but the song doesn’t sound as sour as those lyrics may lead you to believe that it would. It’s just a big and fun country sing-along song at its core. That’s ultimately why I like it. It’s just really fun and really catchy. Despite the fact that it’s a country song, it appeals to me on a similar level that pop songs do. To give credit where it’s due, both of these two men have shown great pop instincts in their past work, and that’s on full display here.

For those of you who are curious, I found F-1 Trillion to be a really solid album. I’m curious to see just how much further Post Malone goes with this sound, and if we might even get a second country album from him. If he does continue in that lane, then I hope that the music stays as good as this song is.

Number 11

As I wrap up the first part of this list, I thought that it would be appropriate to bring us right back to where we started on this list: with Sabrina Carpenter. So, as I mentioned, Short n’ Sweet has proven to be an extremely popular album, and it’s also a very good album. It spawned four pretty big hits, and if I had to pick one hit from the album to label my favorite, I’d probably go with this one.

#11: “Bed Chem” by Sabrina Carpenter

Billboard Hot 100 Peak: #14

Year-End List: N/A

January-December List: #64

Finally! As someone who was in his sophomore year of high school during 2020 and 2021, I frequently had to wind up logging into my online chemistry class from my bed, so I really appreciate finally having a hit song about that experience–wait, that’s not what the song’s about? Never mind, then.

Okay, but in all seriousness, one of the things that I enjoyed the most about Short n’ Sweet was its sonic variety. Even if you just look at the hits, there’s the bubblegum pop of “Espresso”, the slight country experimentation of a song like “Please Please Please”, and the pop rock influence of “Taste”, and I think that all three of these songs are pretty good, and even great in the case of “Espresso”. However, deep down, I’m well aware that I’m a sucker for some good pop R&B, so, naturally, a song like “Bed Chem”, which leans as hard as possible into that sound, was going to be the song that won me over the most out of the four of them.

I’ll start off with the lyrics once again. First of all, I wasn’t wrong about this song being about bedroom chemistry. It’s just that “bed chem” is a very blatantly obvious sex euphemism and not a reference to drawing Lewis dot models at 8:00AM on a Tuesday while you’re logged onto a meeting and haven’t gotten out of bed yet. There’s a bit of lyrical detail as far as how Sabrina Carpenter met this person, and there are some funny lines here - “come right on me, I mean, camaraderie” is the obvious standout - but this is trying to be an intimate-sounding sex song first and foremost. Who is this song written about? Well, I remember seeing Carpenter repost a TikTok video which said that the “cute boy with the white jacket and the thick accent” was Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, so, make of that what you will.

What makes this song work so well for me, however, is this production. The instrumental just feels so relaxed and so serene that it’s always just pure ear candy for me. The song’s slower pace only further works to create that vibe. This sort of atmosphere is a ridiculously easy sell for me when it comes to this brand of pop R&B, and the production here nails that vibe perfectly. The melody is very simple, but it gets stuck in your head. The song as a whole is catchy, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found myself humming that main instrumental motif over and over again, it sticks in the brain remarkably easily!

And, finally, there’s Carpenter herself. Yeah, she absolutely nails the vibe here. Much like the instrumental around her, Carpenter knows how to underplay her vocals to create that greater sense of calm and give this song a bit more of an intimate vibe. Even when she decides to go for those higher notes on the chorus, she still knows how to do so in a way that doesn’t detract from the vibe. Also, she brings a real sense of humor to the song. As I’ve said, there’s a lot of funny lines here, so that alone makes that sense of humor apparent, but even Carpenter’s delivery of these lines makes that clear, too. This is another song where I feel like I can hear her smirk as she’s singing some of these jokes. Honestly, that sense of humor is pretty infectious, and it once again adds to what’s already a pretty great song.

On the whole, this song just has a really nice vibe. It’s a very pleasant song with a solid sense of humor, and it’s a solid showcase of Carpenter’s strengths as a performer. It makes perfect sense to me why this was the deep cut standout on Short n’ Sweet for the general public, and I hope that it continues to remain a big hit as we head into 2025.

That’s all for part one of this list. I’ll be working on part two right now, which should be out later in the week. I’ll see you guys then!