I try to be very careful with the recency bias that often creeps into my Top 100 of the year lists. It’s hard to separate what I’m excited about in the moment with what I’ll still stand behind next year. This is my personal Top 100, separate from the annual “Songs That Made a Difference” article, but I can’t help but award bonus points for any new song that adds year-end radio excitement, breaking the grip of Christmas and countdowns.
Right now, “Messy” by Lola Young generates some extra heat for me by being a fast-breaking multi-format hit, as well as a song that came to our attention through streaming but also happens to be a workable radio record. I hear most songs for the first time these days at my desk — a label promo e-mail, playing songs I haven’t heard while reviewing the Mediabase chart, Spotify’s New Music Friday. But I had an actual sitting-in-the-parking-lot experience, hearing “Messy” for the first time on SiriusXM Tik Tok Radio without knowing what it was.
The year-end effect happens in reverse, too. I still mostly leave on “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey or “Too Sweet” by Hozier when they come on the radio. But shock-of-the-new was a big part of the excitement with both those songs, and that’s hard to conjure again after 19 weeks at No. 1 or six months in power rotation on CHR radio. Most megahits I like return from that grey area eventually. I know there was a moment where I wasn’t enjoying “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz, but I can’t conjure it now. So I try to give songs the benefit of the doubt.
For the most part, it’s good that so many of my personal favorites in 2024 aligned so well with what was on the radio. Of the Sabrina Carpenter hits, only “Please Please Please” is in that blind spot now, but I still appreciate its audacity, and how it added heft to her hit streak. Either Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” or “Hot to Go!” could be my No. 1 song of the year.
Then there’s the newest (to me) song on this list. Compiling this list, I went back to Debbii Dawson’s “Happy World,” with its nod to The Visitors-era Abba. I wondered what Dawson had done since, and that’s how I stumbled on “Walla Walla,” which can best be described as “Witch Doctor” by David Seville as written for Eurovision 1969. It’s on the list on the basis of three spins; there are other “Sean vs. the World” songs that might antagonize people with “normal good taste,” and I’m sticking with those, too.
I always judge the strength of the year by how many songs make my “Top 100.” Even after cuts, it’s sitting around 115 now. And, of course, there’s a playlist.
THE TOP TIER
- Artemas, “I Like the Way You Kiss Me”
- Beyoncé, “Bodyguard”
- Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”
- Blake Shelton, “Texas”
- Chappell Roan, “Good Luck, Babe!”
- Chappell Roan, “Hot to Go!”
- Cyril, “Stumblin’ In” — probably gets extra points from the Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman original, but also from its radio ubiquity worldwide
- The Dare, “Girls” —I recognize both the pretense and the provocation; I still enjoyed the album a lot, and there were numerous songs that would have filled a need at radio
- Debbii Dawson, “Happy World”
- Dua Lipa, “Training Season”
- Girl in Red, “Too Much”
- Hozier, “Too Sweet”
- Imagine Dragons, “Wake Up”
- Jack White, “That’s How I’m Feeling”
- Jennie, “Mantra”
- Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
- Koe Wetzel & Jessie Murph, “High Road”
- Lainey Wilson, “Hang Tight Honey”
- Lola Young, “Messy”
- Mavis Staples, “Worthy”
- Michael Des Barres, “Dyna-Mite”–remake of the Mud UK bubble-glam hit is the most interesting choice on his “It’s Only Rock N’ Roll” album of ’70s remakes, but there’s also “Fox on the Run” and “Cum on Feel the Noise”
- Michigander, “Giving Up”
- Militarie Gun, “Do It Faster”
- Milky Chance, “Naked and Alive”
- Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, “Went to a Party”
- Noah Kahan, “Stick Season”
- oShamo, “oSHA-Piano”
- Rosé & Bruno Mars, “APT”
- Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso”
- Sabrina Carpenter, “Taste”
- Train, “Long Yellow Dress”
THE REST OF THE YEAR
- Anabel Englund, “Get Busy”
- Ariana Grande, “Popular”
- Ariana Grande, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”
- Arkells, “Big Feelings”
- Avett Brothers, “Love of a Girl”
- BBY, “Kinky”
- Bebe Rexha, “Chase It (Mmm Da Da Da)”
- Benee, “Sad Boiii”
- Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em”
- Bif Naked, “Champion”
- Big Wreck, “Summerlong”
- Billie Eilish, “Lunch”
- Black Keys, “Beautiful People (Stay High)”
- Blame My Youth, “The Break”
- Blessed Madonna f/Clementine Douglas, “Happier”
- Brittany Howard, “Prove It to You”
- Chase Matthew, “Darlin’”
- Cupid, “The Cookout”
- The Dare, “Perfume”
- Debbii Dawson, “Walla Walla”
- Deepend/Svnsets/Aloma Steele, “Lovin’ You” — the Minnie Riperton song
- Devon Cole, “I Got You”
- DJ Snake & Peso Pluma, “Teka”
- Dua Lipa, “Illusion”
- Eddie Vedder, “Save It for Later”
- Empire of the Sun, “Changes”
- Exile, “After You” — still putting out new material this year; their history was from a garage band to ’70s pop to ’80s Country, and this one has elements of all three
- Father John Misty, “She Cleans Up”
- Felix Cartel w/Tegan & Sara, “Right on Time”
- Fiddlestix, “I Quit Drinking (’Til the Next Time)” — from Canada, the hit song title of 2024
- Finneas, “For Crying Out Loud”
- George Birge, “Cowboy Songs”
- Girl in Red f/Sabrina Carpenter, “You Need Me Now?” —still deserves to be the next beneficiary of the Chappell Roan/Gracie Abrams hiding-in-plain-sight breakthrough
- Hardy, “Psycho”
- Hawksley Workman, “Obsessed”
- Heavy Heavy, “Happiness”
- Highly Suspect, “Plastic Boxes” — kept their tradition of the unsuspected going; wish it had paid off again at Active Rock
- Hozier, “Nobody’s Soldier”
- Jagwar Twin, “Bad Feeling (Oompa Loompa)”
- Jack Harlow, “Lovin’ on Me”
- James Bay w/Lumineers & Noah Kahan, “Up All Night”
- Janet Devlin, “Red Flag”
- Jim Cuddy, “You Belong”
- Jonah Marias, “Slow Motion”
- Kacey Musgraves, “The Architect”
- Kameron Marlowe & Ella Langley, “Strangers”
- Kehlani, “After Hours”
- Kendrick Lamar & SZA, “Luther”
- Kid LAROI, “Girls”
- Kiesza, “I Go Dance”
- Lady Gaga, “Disease”—still encountering it on the radio as it winds down; I always start with “why are they still playing this,” but always enjoy it more than planned
- Lake Street Dive, “Dance with a Stranger”
- Last Dinner Party, “Sinner”
- Linkin Park, “Cut the Bridge”
- Love Fame Tragedy, “Don’t You Want to Sleep with Someone Normal?”
- Lukas Graham, “Cheat Code”
- Madeline, “I’m Only Here for the Beat”
- Madeline Merlo, “One House Down (From the Girl Next Door)”
- Majestic & the Jammin’ Kid vs. Celine Dion, “Set My Heart on Fire (I’m Alive x The Beat Goes On)”
- Manu Chao & Willie Nelson, “Heaven’s Bad Day”
- Marbl & Banana Boy, “Peace”
- Mau P, “On Again”
- Meghan Patrick, “Whether You Love Me or Not”
- MJ Lenderman, “She’s Leaving You”
- Olivia Dean, “Time”
- Paul Kelly, “All Those Smiling Faces”
- Perrie, “Forget About Us”
- Post Malone f/Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help”
- Reklaws, “One Beer Away”
- Remi Wolf, “Cinderella”
- Riley Green, “Damn Good Day to Leave”
- Sabrina Carpenter, “Feather”
- Sabrina Carpenter, “Please Please Please”
- Sara Evans, “Pride”
- Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
- Sick Individuals, “No Drama”
- Steven Lee Olson & Mickey Guyton, “Never Not Care”
- Struts, “Can’t Stop Talking”
- Sunday (1994), “Blossom”
- Suzanne Vega, “Rats”
- Swamp Dogg & Jenny Lewis, “Count the Days (1-2-3-4-5-6-7)”
- Taylor Swift, “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart”
- Teddy Swims, “The Door”
- Tia Wood, “Sky High”
- Tigerlily Gold, “I Tried a Ring On”
- Tinashe, “No Broke Boys”
- Valley, “Bass Player’s Brother”
- Zedd f/John Mayer, “Automatic Yes”
- Zutons, “Creeping on the Dancefloor”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com