Rankstravaganza: My 30 Favorite Songs of 2024
OK, what is happening?
This time a year ago, I was saying that my annual ranking of most-played songs was dominated by a bunch of legacy bands I’d been listening to for decades. I was all prepared to settle in to my role as a middle-aged dad who just keeps listening to whatever Wilco and Ben Folds happened to put out. “It’s finally time,” I told myself.
And then 2024 happened.
I usually have a sprinkling of pop among the weirdo indie stuff, but this year the ratio is reversed. The Top 10, in particular, is dominated by some of the biggest female singers on the radio. THE RADIO.
What. Is. Happening??
Five of my 30 favorite songs also rank among Billboard’s Top 40 singles of 2024—you know, the list I normally look at whenever I feel the urge to mutter to myself, “Hmmmph I’ve never even heard of these people.” My list features more than half of the nominees for the Grammys’ Record of the Year. RECORD of the Year, not Song. Again …
I have four theories.
THEORY 1: This is what happens when you have an 11-year-old in your household.
My daughter Leeza for some reason would rather listen to our local iHeartRadio station than her old man’s Nickel Creek albums whenever we’re in the car. It’s exposing me to a lot of forgettable schlock, but occasionally also a really catchy single. So perhaps it’s just her influence on me. It’s true, we bonded a lot over music this year. She also at least attempted to goose my play-based rankings by requesting certain songs on purpose. At any rate, to offer more insight into the preteen perspective on music in 2024, Leeza—at her request—will be offering some color commentary throughout this post. Ladies and gentlemen, meet my co-blogger:
Hiiiiiiiiiii! Yes, this year I have been constantly listening to some of Bill’s music, or requesting to turn it off when it annoys me. Soooooooooo, this year, I may or may not have rigged some more better-er songs by making a playlist and playing it on repeat. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
THEORY 2: I’m just a poptimist now.
I’ve always been a bit of a hold out against the big trend in music criticism over the last 20 years, as it bends toward reverence for music that just makes you feel good. Even as ’90s alt-rock has fallen out of favor, it’s still the music of my teenage years and therefore the best most interesting artistic thing to every happen. I’ll admit to a bias that makes me much more likely to give a song a shot if it has guitars and lyrics about the human condition as opposed to a drum machine and lyrics about damn girl I wanna git wit u. And yet. … Looking over the last few Rankstravaganzas. … There’s been more and more synths and nu-disco and ephemeral pleasures unconcerned with authenticity sneaking their way in there.
THEORY 3: This was an exceptionally good year for pop music.
I am not alone in my championing the hit singles on this countdown. There is an emerging consensus from the polls of music geeks on Bluesky to The Recording Academy to the iHeartRadio algorithm to my daughter’s entire sixth grade class to curmudgeonly YouTube music guys: Everybody likes these songs.
THEORY 4: All of the above
Yeah, it’s probably some combination of all of these. Leeza and I hope you appreciate these songs as much as we do. And you can sample the full countdown via the Spotify playlist below or on YouTube Music.
30. “Screamland,” Father John Misty
A late-breaking addition to this year’s list, sneaking in under the wire. It’s not overtly political, but Josh Tillman somehow captured how the fog of November 2024 has played in my brain. The 7-minute epic is raw and mournful and comforting and apocalyptic and bleak and unsparing and romantic and cynical and enormous and personal and muted and impossibly loud. It’s all set to woozy, cinematic strings and a wall of electronic sound that together ask, “What if Sigur Rós was fronted by a droll, unflinching showman of a singer?”
29. “Bakunawa,” Ruby Ibarra [feat. Ouida, Han Han & June Millington]
I’ve got four songs by independent East Bay artists in my Top 30 this year, and I’m really glad this one made the cut. Ibarra is a San Lorenzo-based rapper wholeheartedly embracing her Filipino heritage. The title refers to a Filipino folktale about vigilance and resistance. There are rhymes in English, Tagalog, and Bisaya. And Ibarra has recruited a number of prominent female Filipino collaborators from across generations, including 76-year-old rock icon June Millington.
28. “Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter
This may or may not be one of the songs I “rigged.” Okay, I did, but this is a good song! Sabrina Carpenter is all the rage. Half the people at my school have sweaters from the concerts, and always have her songs in their heads. She and this song are both definitely super popular, and as this posty-post proves, it isn’t just popular with the people my age.
It’s true. I really listened to the Summer Jam of 2024 of my own volition. Repeatedly. “The lyrics aren’t really, ‘That’s that me espresso,’ are they?” I asked myself eventually. But they are. They really are. Whatever. The brew of perfect pop production balances out the lyrical froth.
27. “Always / Never,” STRFKR
I only really started listening to STRFKR long after “Portland indie rock band” became a bit of a joke, but they won’t be the last one in this countdown that’s been at this since the ’00s. And while I haven’t explored their first five albums like at all yet, it seems like Joshua Hodges et al. haven’t changed up the formula much. They’re still plugging away, making casual, melodic, synth-inflected grooves that are hard to resist.
26. “Igual Que Un Ángel,” Kali Uchis [feat. Peso Pluma]
If this sounds a bit like the Latin-influenced, dreamy dance-pop of “Espresso” just two spots up, the good news for my monolingual ass is that it’s in Spanish. So if there is a line as clumsy as “that’s that me espresso,” at least I don’t notice it.
25. “Patterns,” Laura Marling
The daughter of Marling’s 2020 album Songs for Our Daughter was still a theoretical narrative device, but the English folksinger has since given birth to a baby girl and recorded this follow up in her home studio. The result is a gorgeous, stark, and intimate meditation on domesticity, habits, family, and passage of time.
24. “Like I Say (I Runaway),” Nilüfer Yanya
To be fair, so far I’ve only heard this single from the British singer’s third album. She ceded much more control over the composition and instrumental performance to longtime creative partner Wilma Archer, and the results are reportedly more confident, collected, and consistent. I can hear that shine through on this single. It still has the things I’ve loved about her until now, though, including folk influences reflecting her Turkish heritage and guitar work that oscillates between intricate and forceful.
23. “Cassius, Brutus & Judas,” Osees
I’ll be honest: I can’t understand most of the words to the latest by the prolific L.A.-by-way-of-S.F. band, currently billing itself as “kraut synth trash.” We all remember from high school English that Cassius, Brutus, and Judas are three of the most famous traitors in history, so much so that Dante put them all in Satan’s mouths to be chewed for eternity. Songwriter John Dwyer says the song is about how people are willing to give in to their most base instincts in return for a little bit of money. Treachery, greed, and moral ambivalence unfortunately seem particularly topical these days.
22. “Broken Man,” St. Vincent
Let’s just accept that Anne Clark is always going to elicit comparisons to David Bowie. Given that, her latest self-produced single can’t help but recall Bowie’s mid-’90s collaborations with Trent Reznor, melding industrial alt-rock and art-pop. It’s a song that never fails to surprise, from the unexpected explosions of distorted guitar to the blurring of religious and sexual imagery in the lyrics.
21. “In Front of Me Now,” Nada Surf
No band has paralleled the arc of my life quite like Nada Surf. In the ’90s? Contempt for the trappings of high school popularity. In the 2000s? Existential crises while desperately searching for deeper human connections. And now that the band members and I undeniably middle aged? It’s all about acceptance of the routine, valuing stability, not expecting to be part of some grand narrative, living in the moment, and being OK with the fact that melodic guitar-pop is never going to be cool.
20. “Ricky,” Wolves of Glendale
The L.A. comedy trio excels at taking a silly but not-too-complicated concept—in this case, “I’m jealous of the rugged cowboys in this picture at the local dive bar”—and spinning a narrative out in unexpected directions. They’re also exceptionally skilled at sending up specific genres, including bro-country.
Heheheheheh. Wolves of Glendale are pretty great. Especially “Ricky.” It’s just an overall hilarious song with incredible lyrics that are very funny if you listen to them closely. There are a couple of no-no words that me and my dad have to cough over so my 6-year-old brother doesn’t hear them, but the entire household sings along to this Wolves of Glendale hit whenever it comes up. RICKY’S LOOKING HUNGRY BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE EATS, SO I MAKE HIM RAVIOLI, AND PRAY HE GOES TO SLEEP.
19. “Capricorn,” Vampire Weekend
For a brief moment, I fantasized that Ezra Koenig had written a song about me, but I’m a January Capricorn. The song is about Capricorns born on New Year’s Eve, who only get to experience a few fleeting moments of the year they were born in before the next one arrives. What a curious idea for a song, Ezra! I’ve also been wracking my brain to figure out exactly which sci-fi movie score the orchestrations on the choruses remind me of. Something with realistically detailed spacecraft slowly spinning through the vast harshness of space. Interstellar? I don’t think that’s it. Anyway, the song definitely has Zero-G vibes.
18. “Egún,” Danielle Ponder
I feel like I’m the only one who watched “Manhunt,” Apple TV+’s ambitious historical series that tried to combine a police procedural/conspiracy thriller about the aftermath of the Lincoln assassination with a political drama about the seeds of Reconstruction’s failure to provide true racial reconciliation. A majority of the show’s runtime was devoted to the former, but the opening credits really shine a light on the latter. A dynamic R&B singer from upstate New York, Ponder’s theme combines elements of traditional spirituals and modern folk-rock (more successfully than the TV show’s genre mashup, I might add).
I don’t know the show, but it’s a very catchy song that seems good for a mystery.
17. “Polkamania!,” “Weird Al” Yankovic
Hehe, Bill found some real good songs this year, this one being one of them. Aaannnnddd, Weird Al FINALLY covered Taylor Swift! In puppet form. Yay!! Anyhoo, Weird Al is pretty awesome. We’re gonna see his concert in 2025. Looking forward to that. I’ll hand it over to Bill who will probably have more to say on him than I did.
It’s been 10 years since Al did a proper polka medley of pop hits (2018’s “The Hamilton Polka” notwithstanding). The longer-than-usual break meant he was able to be really selective and only choose the absolute best tunes that lend themselves to accordion, double-time tempo, and humorous reinterpretation (duh!), including singles by Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, and, I think my favorite of all, Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion (you know the one).
And Taylor Swift!!!!!!
Yes. Taylor Swift.
16. “Poison,” King Isis
This benefited from from being on my 2024 Halloween playlist and got some extra plays during October. And it is a bit spooky and dark and about (metaphorical) poison. An Oakland native now based in L.A., King Isis is self-described as “queer, black, genre-bending.” Specifically, they’re bending gothy alt-rock, industrial, and R&B.
15. “Más O Menos,” Fake Fruit
The Oakland post-punk band seem even more high-strung, jittery, and volatile on their sophomore album. When they do unleash that pent-up energy—as in the final moments of this track when Hannah D’Amato sarcastically chants “I hope you had a good time on your sympathy tour” before rapid-fire declaring “I am more or less so-so” in rapid-fire Spanglish—it is usually directed at some toxic dude, and it is glorious.
The music video is pretty hilarious. Just saying
14. “Waiting For You,” Charly Bliss
The trendline of the Brooklyn band’s progression from pop punk to bubblegum pop continues unabated. I’m OK with that. There are still guitars and lyrics about fucking up. Everything is just brighter and new wavier. This could be interpreted as a standard-issue love song, but Eva Hendricks has confirmed that she wrote it about not taking her bandmates for granted. And it has a Ben Folds Five shout-out!
13. “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé
When this dropped, I of course had no idea Beyoncé was planning on putting out an entire country/Americana concept album reclaiming the genres’ black roots. I was just listening to the radio, saying, “This sounds like … Beyoncé … and banjo?” It was! (And not just any banjo but Rhiannon Giddens‘ banjo.) That would have been enough to pique my interest, but the single is remarkably complex, in its lyrics, structure, and production. That kept me coming back to it throughout the year.
Yay!! Beyonce!! I’m so glad that Bill has started to take interest in actually interesting and good music. Good for you, Bill
12. “Lost,” Soccer Mommy
I keep saying this, but Sophie Allison would fit right in on the lineup for Lilith Fair circa 1997—you know, the year she was born—among all the vaguely folky female alt-rockers of a prior generation. Emphasis is on “folky” on her fourth album. It is full of lush songs about grieving and loss, for which this opening track sets the tone.
11. “America,” Charley Crockett
Oh, a soulful minor-key lament about how you can both love your country and fear what its capable of? Don’t mind if I do, 2024! I’d kinda hoped that by the end of the year this song would end up being a reminder of what might of been and the work that remains, rather than an indictment. Ah! Well. Nevertheless, …
The song also sounds very James Bond-y …
10. “Rewind,” Rosali
Eeeeeeeee! Top 10! This is where the good ones are!
Some songs are on this list primarily because it’s really fun to ride a bike while they’re playing on a Bluetooth speaker. Some (like, I dunno, No. 23) are good for when you gotta book it somewhere. This one is good for a mild spring day when you have nowhere to be and you can swoop and swerve back and forth on a Slow Street blocked to Thru Traffic after spending an afternoon at Almanac Brewery … for example. I didn’t know anything about Rosali prior to her releasing her fourth album this year, which is probably one of the most impressive mismatches between cover art expectations and actual musical content since, I dunno, Boys and Girls in America. Anyway, Rosalie and her thoughtfully crafted Americana is one of my favorite discoveries of 2024.
9. “The Black Maria,” The Decemberists
Dad is quite fond of The Decemberists, and they’re not bad. This song’s kind of sad, though.
Yes, here’s another minor-key lament that I’d hoped would sound like a warning from an alternate universe by now, rather than a prescient depiction of incipient fascism. Of all the songs from The Decemberists’ ninth album, the 19-minute prog epic about Joan of Arc understandably vacuumed up most of the attention. But this song—with it sad french horns and lyrics about jack-booted thugs, lists of enemies, and neighbors in hiding—is a bit more on the nose for these times.
8. “Change Shapes,” Lauren Mayberry
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEeEEEEeeeeeeeeee! I told you Top 10 is where the good ones are. I really like Lauren Mayberry’s music, and me and Bill got the pleasure of hearing her live when she opened for Bleachers (they’ll come up, don’t worry). She is super fantabulolosasuperterrificcalifragilisticexpialidocious (hum-diddle-diddle-diddle-um-diddle-aye).
My second favorite part about that concert at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre was watching the reaction of everyone in the crowd as it slowly dawned on them (and me) that the diminutive woman on stage with the Scottish accent was the singer from Chvrches. My favorite part was getting to hear her solo material (much of which is about establishing herself as something more than just “the singer from Chvrches”) before it was released. At the time, the only ways to hear most of the songs from her solo debut were at live shows or from crappy cell phone videos of those shows. This fun little feminist indie-pop banger, however, had a proper studio version available, so it became me and Leeza’s go-to takeaway from the concert.
7. “Tiny Moves,” Bleachers
What did I tell you? This band is super cool. As a child, I would occasionally hear Bill play their songs. Then I found myself remembering song titles, and certain melodies. Songs like Modern Girl and 45. Oh, and definitely Rollercoaster. Then Bill was like, “Wanna go to a concert?” and I was like, “Yeah!” And so, yeah. The concert itself was LOUD. And awesome. The band has two whole saxophonists! TWO. I especially like this song. I will find myself singing it every now and then without realizing it.
Is it time yet for the Jack Antonoff backlash backlash? Yes, the man is everywhere and—by co-writing and producing songs for everyone from Lana Del Ray to Kendrick Lamar, not to mention just about every Taylor Swift hit of the last 10 years—has had more influence on the sound of modern pop than just about anyone. The stuff he writes for his own band is likewise often huge and impassioned, but sometimes it’s more intimate. This pop-rock song starts as the latter with a simple pulsing synth, then gradually builds to a shimmering, stadium-ready singalong.
6. “The Hourglass,” Shannon and the Clams
Oakland’s own freaky garage-punk heroes returned with another album of scorching retro rock, but this one comes with a heartbreaking backstory. Singer/bassist Shannon Shaw’s fiance died in 2022 just weeks before their wedding. The Moon is in the Wrong Place tackles the tragedy head-on in a whirlwind of grief, remembrance, bitterness, acceptance, and celebration. This song comes early on and is among the darker tracks, a feverish nightmare of interweaving chromatics, a relentless beat, and lyrics bemoaning our inability to stop or reverse time.
5. “Fortnight,” Taylor Swift [feat. Post Malone]
We listen to a lot of Taylor in our house, but Tortured Poets Department didn’t quite catch on. Frankly, most of the reason “Fortnight” is ranked so high was me listening to it all on my own. Leeza still gets credit, though. I probably wouldn’t have given this song a shot if not for her efforts to get me onboard with Swiftie fandom. I’m not sure I have much to add beyond this meme I made earlier this year:
— All The City Lights (@atcl.bsky.social) July 23, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Yeah, credit to me. I made the playlist Taylor Swift Songs Bill Should Hear. I mean Taylor kind of speaks for herself. There is not too much to say. Except: Bill, you’re really bad at making memes.
I’ll have you know that post got **checks notes** … ONE whole like.
Yeah, one whole like from Uncle Jeremy.
4. “Good Luck, Babe!,” Chappell Roan
I, for one, welcome our new upper-register soprano pop overlords. As a dude with a relatively high tenor voice, I’ve been able to sing along with every female pop star in her own register for the last decade. Not so on the chorus of “Good Luck, Babe!” I hope the trend catches on. I also just want to say that this is an absolutely bonkers way to end an ostensible radio single. Like, “We’ll HAL 9000 the hook to really drive home the emotional apocalypse” is a total Flaming Lips move. The kids are all saying this.
I can kind of sing the chorus—just maybe some parts an octave lower. Anyhoooooooooo, Chappell Roan is pretty awesome. Google can’t say her name, but nonetheless.
(She means that the Google Assistant on the smart device in our kitchen can’t pronounce Chappell Roan correctly.)
Oh, and Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is good, too. I really like some songs on there.
3. “Perfect Storm,” Jane Weaver
Don’t worry, folks! I’ve still got a few indie favs sprinkled among the pop megahits here at the top—songs that got nowhere near the Billboard Hot 100 that’ll make the normies say, “Huh?” English folksinger-turned-psychedelic-pop-enigma Jane Weaver was my favorite discovery of 2021, and if her latest album doesn’t go down quite as smooth as Flock, it’s still got plenty of vaguely krautrock-y, cool-as-hell jams.
2. “How Can I Love Her More?,” The Lemon Twigs
On the one hand, it’s a fine line between pastiche and stolen musical valor. On the other hand, I really like Pet Sounds, and nobody makes anything that sounds like Pet Sounds nowadays. There are approximately 1 million bands out there making new wave synthpop like it’s 1985, because all you need is a keyboard and a drum machine. If you’re going to really sound like 1965—and not just throw in a semi-ironic Beach Boys vocal pad like you called up the Fountains of Wayne Hotline—you’re going to need a lot more instruments. Yes, you absolutely have to have a harpsichord and cello section. Non negotiable. And you’ll need lyrics that border on cringe in their awkward emotional exuberance. R.E.M. pulled it off 26 years ago. And now The Lemon Twigs have done their homework and committed fully, and I can’t help but respect it.
1. “Birds of a Feather,” Billie Eilish
What do the all hits by female pop stars in my Top 5 have in common?
Majority plays on my favorite radio station?
Well, yes, but also they’ve all got a vein of harsh resentment barely hidden under a covering of genuine sadness and vulnerability, don’t they? It’s been a long time since I had to deal with major heartbreak, thank God, but back in the day, that’s pretty much how I played it. So, yeah, I can relate to these songs—none quite as well as Billie’s.
We’re not breaking any new ground with the chord progression. The repeated four-bar I-vi-ii-V pattern means it’d be not-that-difficult to do a “Birds of a Feather”/”Hungry Heart” mashup, to give just one example. But what a satisfying, beautiful, nostalgic progression it is.
I probably don’t talk enough in my little write-ups about vocal performance. I fancy myself a singer, so you’d think I’d pay more attention to delivery, but Billie really does nail the vulnerable-yet-resentful vibe I was talking about. She’s also very proud of being able to belt out a D for the first time in her recording career. (Like I said, high-register singing is a trend I’d love to see continue in 2025.)
What elevates this into the No. 1 position, though, is once again instrumentation. It’s that noodly little electronic appendage that comes in after the aforementioned high D. It sounds a bit like a theremin, although I suspect it’s one of the many theremin-esque alternatives. You’ll have to ask Finneas. Either way, good job, my man: I look forward to whatever that thing is making its entrance every single time.
