40) Galina – Allie X

The best song on one of 2024’s most consistently great pop records. Galina is everything a great pop song should be, just familiar enough to allow the hook to bury itself in your head. Every time the chorus comes back around there’s new layers, vocally and in the surrounding instrumentation. Just an absolute belter of a pop record.

39) II MOST WANTED – Beyoncé & Miley Cyrus

Maybe the most surprising song to pick from the singles off Beyoncé’s country juggernaut COWBOY CARTER, but hearing Bey and Miley together on this song has been a joy since I first heard it. Two pop vocalists whose tone and vocals suit country music so well, I love the way they sing this song. II MOST WANTED is a pretty straightforward country ballad elevated by two of my all time favourite singers.

38) Eusexua – FKA twigs

FKA twigs remains one of the hardest artists in music to pin down, at times baffling, at others surprisingly straightforward, it feels weird to describe a song like Eusexua as accessible but it’s way more instant than the music she made on Magdalene or LP1. I love the steady build and how emotionally overwhelming this record sounds. Every moment burying itself deeper than the last before the final stretch of bassy electronic sound. I cannot wait for the full album.

37) Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar didn’t need to go this hard on a track aimed squarely at one other person. ‘Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-minor’ is one of the lines of Kendrick’s career but we can’t be too surprised. What Kendrick and ‘Mustard on the beat’ absolutely didn’t need to do was go as hard on this production. Maybe the best beats of 2024. It’s impossible to deny, and yet another peak moment for one of our greatest talents.

36) LUNCH – Billie Eilish

A song that includes the line ‘You need a seat? I’ll volunteer/Now she’s smilin’ ear to ear’ and yet it’s Billie Eilish doing indie synth-pop that’s the most surprising part of Lunch. This song absolutely slaps and the closing 30 seconds are some of the most thrilling of Billie’s career so far.

35) Perfect Me – Blossoms

It’s predictable at this point to say that Blossoms have delivered another perfect jangly, jaunty and impossible catchy indie-pop song but Perfect Me is exactly that. There’s magic in Blossoms tunes and it’s heard in every moment of Perfect Me.

34) HEAT – Tove Lo & SG Lewis

A song that makes me want to dance till 5am in a sweaty nightclub to dance pop tunes as good as this. It’s the tiny details from Tove and SG that make this such an earworm. The record scratch noise as each hook finishes, the synth arpeggios that appear halfway through. Would happily have it in law that Tove Lo and SG Lewis need to make songs like this together until the end of time

33) Never Need Me – Rachel Chinouriri

Never Need Me is like watching 00s throwback Indie music videos on a music channel and I mean that 100% as a compliment. Rachel manages to target such a specific part of your brain that demands you jump up and down at a festival screaming the lyrics to your best mate next to you. The moment where the guitar drops out before crashing back in for the final chorus is indie-pop genius and Rachel is a master of it here.

32) Anything – Griff

‘I WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING YOU WANTED…I WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING YOU WANTED’. Singing this at the top of my voice at Griff’s show was a 2024 highlight. One of the year’s most underrated vocalists.

31) Perfume – Pale Waves

I might rename this list to be the 40 songs that got stuck in my head the most in 2024 as Perfume absolutely fits that label. Pale Waves made what I would consider the best music of their career this year and Perfume defines everything that resonated with me so much. It’s transcendent and huge in scale, this is a record that sounds huge. But at its heart it’s so small and simple. A joy of a song every time I hear it

30) Guess featuring billie eilish – Charli xcx & Billie Eilish

Would you believe me if I said this was the last time you’d see either of those artists in this list? Bold, bonkers and completely necessary. The two best artists of 2024 coming together in the most surprising way for an absolute banger of a song.

29) She’s Gone, Dance On – Disclosure

I was too busy dancing to write anything eloquent about She’s Gone, Dance On. That explains pretty much everything you need to know about this track. Disclosure have done it again.

28) Taste – Sabrina Carpenter

It’s time to admit something out loud. I’m not a fan of Sabrina Carpenter. I find her really underwhelming and just cannot see what everyone else seems to have gotten from her ridiculously massive album this year. I love Taste though. So comfortably the best song of Sabrina Carpenter’s career it’s actually ridiculous. The final chorus moment where she goes higher for ‘When he’s kissin’ you’ is pop perfection.

27) I Can Do It With a Broken Heart – Taylor Swift

The best ‘single’ from an album full of great album tracks, it has been so long since we’ve had a Taylor Swift single like I Can Do It With A Broken Heart. It’s high energy, perhaps her most danceable song since Lover and I love that we see Taylor’s personality shine through so much on this song. A song so good that I wish she had been bold enough to end the Eras tour with it this year.

26) Crowded Roomz – Nia Archives

The first great song of 2024, the rhythms of Crowded Roomz hit me deep inside my chest. And Nia Archives continues the long held tradition of emotional dance records that dive into how lonely the dancefloor can feel. My favourite moment on the fantastic SIlence Is Loud album, this has been one of the most constant songs on rotation since the very first week of 2024.

25) Close To You – Gracie Abrams

Maybe I should have included the more recent and deserving #1 hit That’s So True instead. That song definitely is rooted more deeply in what makes Gracie Abrams such an exciting songwriter and artist, but I had to go with the song that defined way more of my 2024. Is Close To You a revolutionary song? Absolutely not. But to my ears it was one of the best ways to spend three and a half minutes this year. A euphoric pop moment.

24) Messy – Lola Young

Messy sums up what made this year’s brilliant Lola Young album so engaging. Lola’s songwriting is so matter of fact, ‘It’s taking you ages, you still don’t get the hint, I’m not asking for pages, but one text or two would be nice’ it’s so relatable and delivered with so much specificity that it makes that knockout chorus even more impactful. There’s a chance this might become a #1 single in the UK at the start of 2025 and honestly no one and no song would be more deserving than Lola Young for Messy.

23) Life – Jamie xx & Robyn

There was a moment watching Jamie xx’s set at Glastonbury where Robyn came out to perform this absolute belter of a song from two of my all time favourite artists. She rips off her jacket and starts dancing like I’ve not seen her dance since the Honey tour. I was overwhelmed and emotional watching Robyn lose herself to the music in a way only she can and that’s how I’ve felt hearing Life ever since. Robyn and Jamie xx making one of my end of year lists in the least surprising moment of 2024.

22) APT. – ROSE & Bruno Mars

I don’t know what they baked into APT. it cannot be healthy to listen to a song as infectious as this. The best Bruno Mars songs, think Locked Out Of Heaven, Runaway Baby or 24k Magic manage to sound timeless and yet super current. APT. is no different and the second time around the ‘don’t you want me like I want you baby’ bridge is pop music gold. An inescapable song I never want to escape from.

21) Von Dutch – Charli xcx

A gateway drug that buried itself in my head to the point where it should be no surprise I had a Brat summer. Charli xcx at her chaotic best where an impossibly catchy hook meets someone who isn’t chasing one at all.

20) Angel of my Dreams – JADE

When was the last time a popstar from a group going solo was genuinely as exciting as Angel of my Dreams? Do I genuinely need to go back to Robbie in the 90s? A bold, brash and daring way to launch a solo career, what I love is that JADE isn’t here looking down on her time in Little Mix, in fact Angel of my Dreams works in exactly the same way that so many of the band’s best songs do. Instead it’s the sound of someone who has defined British pop music for a decade deciding she wants to do it again and knowing that she definitely can. A confident triumph.

19) Starburster – Fontaines D.C.

Never thought I’d be saying this, but Fontaines D.C. make great pop songs. Starburster is musically bold, full of clattering drums at times and lucious strings at others. It’s a relentless ride held together but a knockout performance from Griann Chatten. This might be the best he’s ever sounded and Starburster hits hard from start to finish. An undeniable hit.

18) Prove It To You – Brittany Howard

I could have included every song from Brittany Howard’s phenomenal album What Now if I didn’t enforce my own ‘singles only’ rules but Prove It To You remains my absolute highlight of the album. It’s such a surprising sound for Brittany and she sounds so good her vocals soaring above such thrilling beats and basslines. I love the distortion on that high top line melody that keeps returning, it’s such a detailed song and so dangerously engaging.

17) Training Season – Dua Lipa

The best Dua Lipa songs feel like pop records that have always existed. Training Season hits hard immediately and I have never regretted a single time I’ve hit play. ‘Who understands I’ is a peak Dua vocal moment and of the 2024 singles from the brilliant Radical Optimism this was by far my favourite. I said last year that Houdini was the ‘song you release when you are the popstar of an era’ and Training Season is absolutely worthy of being the follow up to that.

16) Die With a Smile – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

It was a year of Gaga back singing in a movie, the mixed Joker: Folie à Deux, as well as her return to danceable pop, the banger Disease that just missed my top 40, but her greatest moment was this collaboration with one of her closest peers. Gaga and Bruno are basically equals in pop, both defining the 2010s sound, constantly imitated and never replicated. They both sound transcendent on this, especially together. The harmonies on the first bridge and chorus together are otherworldly. Die With a Smile is like the classic duets of the 60s and 70s, two of pop music’s all time greats together for one night only.

15) New Woman (Feat. ROSALIA) – LISA

Two members of BLACKPINK making my end of year list could be a surprise but not when the songs are as good as APT. and New Woman. Lisa absolutely bosses her opening verse here before the song shapeshifts into another standout moment for Rosalia. New Woman could very easily not work at all but there’s magic across every second of this song. Whether it’s the Max Martin and Ilya influence or just the sheer magnetism of two of the most exciting women in music smashing their unique styles together, New Woman is a certified banger.

14) places to be – Fred again.., Anderson Paak., & CHIKA

Fred again.. does it again. Everything about this track makes me feel so joyous, the pulsating drum rhythms, Anderson’s shining personality on every lyric or the thrill of CHIKA’s sampled vocal. It’s said best near the end of the song ‘I don’t know, there’s something about that song that just makes you wanna get up and bust a motherfuckin’ move’. There absolutely is.

13) All You Children (feat. The Avalanches) – Jamie xx

I’m quickly realising I wanted to DANCE this year and getting to see Jamie xx play All You Children on a rainy Manchester night in September was a peak live moment for me. The throb of that bassline is what makes this such a thrilling record, offset with the screeches of the sample it’s pure Jamie xx magic.

12) Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan

As the only actual new music released by Chappell Roan in 2024 this is my only opportunity to talk about her so buckle up, this might take a while. First off, Good Luck, Babe! Is absolutely the best song of Chappell’s career and deserves every bit of success it has seen. It’s thrilling vocally, lyrically so engaging and pop music at its most accessible in the best way. The rise of Chappell this year has been incredible to witness and what has surprised me the most is the sheer reach of her music outside of who I would have expected her to appeal to. Building an audience within the space of a year completely down to live shows is what has impressed me the most. Although people saying things like ‘this is the first good pop music since the 00s’ have had me baffled and wondering what the hell people have been listening to these last 2 decades, but in general seeing so many people fall in love with pop music like this has been amazing to witness.

11) BACKBONE – Chase & Status & Stormzy

The squelch of the bassline on this song is disgusting and I cannot get enough of it. The best #1 single of 2024 and a victory lap for Chase & Status as British music legends. Huge.

10) High – Jorja Smith

The most underrated song of 2024 I don’t think I have seen a single other person mention High by Jorja Smith. Little Things defined so much of 2023 for me and High is the follow up I was craving. Jorja sounds effortless throughout every moment and the instrumentation makes this such a euphoric song. I love the strings near the end and how the song builds and builds.

9) Girl so confusing featuring lorde – Charli xcx & Lorde

When people talk about Brat as an album and why it resonated so much I think lots will think about the viral hits like Apple or Guess. But it’s the honesty and starkness of songs like Girl so confusing that I think have allowed Charli xcx to have the greatest year of her career. This song was already great, but Lorde’s response verse takes this to another level that’s almost overwhelming to hear. Two artists who have defined the sound of the last decade just being people for 3 minutes. Leaving everything on this one track in the most relatable way possible.

8) WILDFLOWER – Billie Eilish

The best vocal performance of Billie Eilish’s career WILDFLOWER is a devastating song that will far outlast any silly little lists I might be creating. I don’t say that because of the power of Billie Eilish’s voice on moments here, it’s how she holds back. That’s where she manages to truly break me.

7) Favourite – Fontaines D.C.

Genuinely not a clue what happened to me this year but I could not stop playing Favourite. There’s a melancholy here that is so powerful, Griann’s delivery giving everything such a poignancy. But at its heart Favourite is simply a catchy guitar riff, a song performed in a way that makes you feel at home, and instantly relatable.

6) we can’t be friends (wait for your love) – Ariana Grande

There’s a softness to the way that Ariana Grande performs we can’t be friends that I’ve never heard from her before. My favourite Ariana songs have always been danceable likes of Into You and break up with your girlfriend, but it’s the likes of No Tears Left To Cry that feels like the precursor to this song. Ariana has such a way of teasing out emotion from every lyric and I love how delicately she places every word here. The bit near the end where she ascends on ‘Know that you made me’ is glorious but not overdone. She lets go without letting herself overdo it which makes for an incredible pop record.

5) 360 – Charli xcx

Charli xcx finally makes it into my top 5 songs of the year with what has quickly become my all time favourite Charli song. No song defines the unique magic of 360 in any of the seemingly endless versions we heard it in during 2024. You could put any of the versions of 365 alongside this too but that felt like cheating. Charli just owns every second of this track. It’s pop music in its purest form, effortless, catchy, unexpected and undeniable. ‘I’m everywhere I’m so Julia’ the girls who get it get it.

4) HISS – Megan Thee Stallion

‘I just wanna kick this shit off by sayin’ fuck y’all’ nobody bodied 3 minutes as expertly like Megan Thee Stallion does on the song of her career. I could type out every single lyric here and say it’s my lyric of the year. Right now it’s a toss up between ‘My pussy so famous, might get managed by Kris Jenner next’ and ‘ Don’t speak on my body count if the dick ain’t worth comin’ back for seconds’ but no song has had me gagged, howling with laughter and in pure awe like HISS has. The ultimate Megan Thee Stallion moment. A relentless takedown that was by far the best rap record released this year.

3) Baddy On The Floor (feat. Honey Dijon) – Jamie xx

I needed euphoria this year, good times and no times in 2024 feel as good as the 3 minutes that Baddy On The Floor is playing. Every moment there’s a new drop, a new instrument sound or a new vocal sample and it just feels so good. Jamie xx and Honey Dijon capture what it means to dance. It’s escapism, it’s emotive and it’s musically an absolute thrill. The start of an incredible year for Jamie xx, Baddy On The Floor is maybe his most effortlessly danceable song yet.

2) BIRDS OF A FEATHER – Billie Eilish

The most basic choice of my entire list but there’s a reason BIRDS OF A FEATHER is the biggest hit of Billie Eilish’s career. As a writing duo Billie Eilish and FINNEAS are pushing pop music to its limits, always daring, always trying to find something no one has heard before. What happens if they strip it right back and aim to create a perfect singular pop song. That’s what BIRDS OF A FEATHER is, the most perfectly crafted track by two of the most talented people in music. The layers that surround everything make me feel overwhelmed and emotional. Billie’s soaring vocals on that final ‘Don’t wanna say goodbye’ transitioning straight into that final riff right on the final chorus. It’s genuinely astounding and I get emotional listening to it every time. A song so detailed and perfectly crafted that Billie says it best ‘I don’t know what I’m crying for’.

1) Genesis. – RAYE

The top four songs were all at the top of this list at some point, but when it came down to it no single track defined 2024 for me like the 7 minute epic Genesis. from RAYE. From the very first time any of us heard brand new music from her on her triumphant night sweeping the BRITs in March I was enamoured by what would soon appear as the full song Genesis.

Nothing else this year is as daring, genre spanning, confident and musically creative as this song, 7 minutes where every second is completely necessary. The opening spoken word intro so plainly spoken in a way only RAYE can ‘I’ve been losing friends as if I’m tryna get rid of them, I Googled why I’m still desperate for validation and sedatives’. Or part 2 with its huge ambitious scale. The production and instrumentation is full of subtle details and bold sounds with lyrics that match this ambition ‘I don’t wanna be alive, but I don’t wanna die/A fistful of pills and rivers in my eyes’. Or the final third of the song that captures the joy of RAYE as a live performer, riffing her way through almost like a jazz improvisation.

The painstaking effort to make it sound so effortless is what has made this such a phenomenal achievement. RAYE is one of our best and across this one song she pulls together all of her influences as well as all of her own love of music, Genesis feels like a celebration. Of music, of the person RAYE is, the person she wants to be and of life itself. It’s a lot. And is definitely not my most played song of the year. But as the year closes it’s the greatest achievement I heard this year put into a song.