10 songs that defined 2024

Looking through the end of year best of lists, it feels impossible to pin down a narrative or a dominant theme. We kind of knew that the days of one genre or musical movement feeling all-consuming were long gone, but 2024 has confirmed it.

Nothing will ever feel as widespread as Britpop did when Blur and Oasis were inescapable, or as ubiquitous as when The Strokes and The White Stripes were at the heart of the garage rock revival. The way and where we listen is far less tribal and far more all-over-the-place as we genre-hop and genre mash-up. And that’s never been more true than in 2024. The best songs are all bangers, naturally, but they jump from genre to genre, often within the same song.

So, as we look forward to 2025, which will definitely deliver new albums from Lana Del Rey, Manic Street Preachers and Sam Fender, and could bring new albums from everyone from Oasis to The 1975, we can look back at the year just gone and celebrate.

To say goodbye properly, here are 10 songs that defined 2024, and, as promised, it’s a right old mixture...

Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

This year, no song has felt as ever-present and inescapable as Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’. A frothy, supremely catchy and irresistible jam, it spent seven weeks at Number One and it’s been streamed over 1.6 billion times in eight months. Some of those were almost certainly you.

Fontaines DC - Starburster

From frothy pop to swaggering post-punk and the continued rise of Dublin’s Fontaines DC. In the summer, they released Romance, their best album to date, and its lead-off single, ‘Starburster’, proved why they’re still the most exhilarating band out there. It’s menacing, catchy, affirming and poetic all at once.

Beyonce - TEXAS HOLD ‘EM

Hands up if at the start of 2024 you had Beyonce doing a country album on your bingo card? Thought not.

As ever though, with everything she puts her mind to, Beyonce found a way to make it authentic, uniquely hers and completely brilliant. The album it previewed, Cowboy Carter, is a wild, wild ride, but acted as continued proof that Beyonce has no interest in following trends or doing anything other than whatever the hell she wants. Long may it continue.

Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)

The country rap drinking song that none of us knew we needed. A total smash, full of swagger and poise, and a chorus the size of a skyscraper.

Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer

Though she’s had a new album out with the release of The Tortured Poets Department, the story of the year for Taylor Swift has been the unprecedented success of her Eras Tour, which, on its way to becoming the highest-grossing tour of all time and the first-ever tour to surpass one billion $$$ in revenue, landed in the UK in the summer.

‘Cruel Summer’ was one of the standout moments of the show and has ruled the streaming services in the months after.

Charli XCX - Apple

No one in music has had a better year than Charli XCX. She’s gone from critically beloved pop oddity to a household name, and her album Brat has been a sensation. ‘Apple’, a fizzy piece of electropop, sums up that album’s vibe perfectly.

The Cure - Alone

We’ve been reading about the possibility of a new Cure album for more than a decade and fans, both diehard and fair weather, were excited about the prospect of the band’s return. But did anyone expect their new material to feel as vital and powerful as ‘Alone’? Absolutely not.

A brooding, sprawling masterpiece, the song is built around this eerie twangy guitars and soaring electronics. At almost seven minutes, it’s best consumed on headphones. Prepare to be transported.

NSYNC - Bye Bye Bye

2024 has been sorely lacking on the blockbuster movie front, but one real highlight and gigantic success has been Deadpool & Wolverine. The movie’s hilarious, blood-soaked and gloriously violent opening montage is set against NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ and it brings an instant smile to the face.

Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe

You cannot compile the songs that have defined 2024 and not include something from Chappell Roan. She has gone from total obscurity to become one of the biggest stars in the world over the course of the year, and ‘Good Luck, Babe’ has been her defining anthem. A perfect fusion of synth-pop and baroque theatricality, it soars into orbit and carried away millions and millions of us in 2024.

Oasis - Don’t Look Back In Anger

After years and years and years of angry exchanges between the Gallagher brothers, in the middle of August, the world was caught off guard when it was announced that hatchets had been buried and Oasis were getting back together. 14 million people tried to buy tickets for their reunion tour, 1.4 million managed to do it, and the band’s back catalogue suddenly shot up the streaming charts.

‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, the band’s defining, arms aloft anthem, went back in the Top 10 in September. Just imagine how glorious it’s going to sound next summer when Noel and Liam are back on that stage.

Happy new year. So long 2024.

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