2022 in Music: 100 Best Tracks

 

Last year I rather naively thought I'd summon the tenacity to write about one hundred songs individually. I gave up after about forty. So if I do indeed run out of things to say and just hastily copy and paste a ranking for the final half (or more), please forgive me. 

2022 was... a lot to take in. Musically? Not so bad, really - I gave those fifty albums an extremely high score after all. I do think pop singles suffered a bit of a dry spell for most of the year, however, and found myself scrimmaging for newcomers as established acts continued to stumble. You really should have done better, Nicki Minaj/ Calvin Harris/ Grimes/ Rihanna/ Harry Styles. No I couldn't go through all of these write-ups without mentioning how shite Harry's House was. It's been bugging me. Sorry.

As always, this is all incredibly arbitrary. Some days I will want to listen to number #93 and think that #30 is a COMPLETE waste of time. Music is fickle, and so are my moods.

100 - "Little Bother" by King Princess

99 - "Side Effect" by Alok & Au/Ra

98 - "Home to You" by ABISHA

97 - "Naturally" by Tinashe

96 - "Angelica" by Wet Leg

95 - "Drag Me Out" by Kah-Lo

94 - "Broken" by Alfie Templeman

93 - "Body Paint" by Arctic Monkeys

92 - "900 Degrees" by Deyah

91 - "KILL DEM" by Jamie xx

 

 

I might just make a short comment after each block of ten. That seems reasonable. So: yes, I enjoyed all of these. I strongly recommend ABISHA if only because I live in her hometown and it's RARE to see anything come of this shithole (but also because her voice is sublime). Deyah is another new talent that hasn't been picked up by the sea of Sound of 2023s and Critics Choice shortlists that I'd strongly recommend.

 

90 - "Pompeii" by Cate le Bon

89 - "read your mind" by Sabrina Carpenter

88 - "Keisha" by Yaya Bey

87 - "Vision" by Earl Sweatshirt & Zelooperz

86 - "Softly" by Arlo Parks

85 - "hollaback bitch" by Mura Masa, Shygirl & Channel Tres

84 - "Abomination" by Shamir

83 - "Typa Way" by Ms. Banks & Tion Wayne

82 - "Wolf" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

81-  "Bleu (better with time)" by Fred again.. & Yung Bleu

 

 

After pretty much dropping a new song every week it was tough to choose a favourite Fred Again.. one, because they're all pretty good. Mura Masa continues to produce mixed results; albums of filler punctuated with fantastic tracks.

 

80 - "I'll Try" by Sharon van Etten

79 - "Hurricanes" by Rina Sawayama

78 - "Twin Flame" by KAYTRANADA & Anderson .Paak

77 - "Not My Job" by FLO

76 - "THAT GIRL" by Bree Runway

75 - "Sunny day" by Beabadobee

74 - "Ghost of You" by Mimi Webb

73 - "Lavender Haze" by Taylor Swift

72 - "Big Energy" by Latto, DJ Khaled & Mariah Carey

71 - "Head on Fire" by Griff & Sigrid 

 

 

 That Griff/Sigrid song was one of my most played of the year, but then it literally dropped in early January so had quite the head start. THAT GIRL could've easily contended for top ten if it were just a minute longer. I often dismiss Taylor Swift completely but it was tough to pick Lavender Haze ahead of other album gems like Bejeweled or Bigger Than The Whole Sky. 

 

70 - "2AM" by Foals

69 - "Lightning" by Charli XCX

68 - "I Do You" by Anna of the North

67 - "Catwalk" by RuPaul & Skeltal Ki

66 - "Hotel Amour" by Tara Lily

65 - "Home By Now" by MUNA

64 - "Free" by Florence + the Machine

63 - "Good Will Hunting" by Black Country, New Road

62 - "Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard?" by Lana del Rey

61- "Taste So Good" by VINCINT, MNEK, Kesha & Hayley Kiyoko

 

 

You know, I should be a little embarrassed to pick a literal advert song but if marketing executives can give enough leeway to queer creatives and produce anything as catchy as Taste So Good in 2023, I'll be waiting. RuPaul drops arguably her best ever song, whilst Lana Del Rey teased us with a hopeful return to the quality of Norman Fucking Rockwell!

 

60 - "That's Where I Am" by Maggie Rogers

59 - "Grapefruit" by Tove Lo

58 - "Not a Love Song" by SASAMI

57 - "Scandalous" by Gryffin & Tinashe

56 - "Sleeping With You" by Sea Girls

55 - "All I Ever Asked" by Rachel Chinouriri

54 - "Happy Ending" by Kelela

53 - "Let the Lights On" by Sorry

52 - "YouYouYou" by Tove Styrke

51- "Starlight" by Dave

 

 

Long-anticipated return from Kelela here and her other song, Washed Away, was just as good. Tinashe continues to dominate my playlists lately, even without an LP release in 2022. And then there are the Toves. What a name.

 

50 - "Melody" by Sigala

49 - "I Love You" by Fontaines D.C.

48 - "Somebody Like You" by Bree Runway

47 - "Too Dead Inside" by yeule

46 - "Saudade, Saudade" by MARO

45 - "Illuminous" by Priya Ragu

44 - "No Romeo" by Dylan

43 - "Concrete Over Water" by Jockstrap

42 - "Firefly" by Shygirl

41-  "Virgo's Groove" by Beyonce

 

 

So I usually try to limit myself to just one Eurovision song from the year in these lists, and I spent a long time umming and ahhing between Sweden's aching banger Hold Me Closer and the sultry nonsense of Chanel's SloMo before realising that there was another I'd been quietly listening to more than either. Portugal's entry was a surprising fan favourite, so bare and serene, and it kept me coming back so I'm more than happy to throw it in here. Sigala's Melody was another of my most-played, and probably easily wins the year's catchiest song. And if you've waited this long for a Beyonce song... don't worry, there's still 3 to come.

 

40 - "Prettier Than You" by Rose Gray

39 - "Vibe Like This" by SG Lewis, Ty Dolla $ign & Lucky Daye

38 - "Turn the Table" by Empress Of & Jim-E Stack

37 - "Ancestress" by Bjork

36 - "Fake It" by SIIGHTS

35 - "NBPQ (Topless)" by Sudan Archives

34 - "Oh Caroline" by The 1975

33 - "Golden Hour" by Jvke

32 - "Candy" by Rosalia

31-  "It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody" by Weyes Blood

 

 

Golden Hour is a recent discovery for me, which should go to show how out of touch with TikTok I am, but christ what a gorgeous thing. Rose Gray's spent the year releasing phenomenal pop and I was torn between a good three or four of her singles. SG Lewis is pretty much a guaranteed listen for me, I adore his style.

 

30 - "papi bones" by fka twigs & Shygirl

29 - "Highway to Your Heart" by Lykke Li

28 - "Dream Girl Evil" by Florence + the Machine

27 - "Curious/Furious" by WILLOW

26 - "Kill Bill" by SZA

25 - "Mother I Sober" by Kendrick Lamar

24 - "Brightsider" by Dagny

23 - "Midnight Sun" by Nilufer Yanya

22 - "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade" by Black Country, New Road

21 - "Cardboard Box" by FLO 

 I think if I took this more seriously, the Kendrick and BCNR entries here are jaw-dropping pieces of art that left me with chills, but are too emotionally draining and sometimes I just put on my phone to bounce away stupidly to a Scandinavian popstar. God bless you Dagny, for slotting between them.

 

20 - "POSE" by MICHELLE

19 - "Massive" by Drake

18 - "Blessing" by Alex G

17 - "2 Die 4" by Tove Lo

16 - "Heated" by Beyonce

15 - "Welcome to My Island" by Caroline Polachek

14 - "2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)" by Lizzo

13 - "The Loneliest Time" by Carly Rae Jepsen & Rufus Wainwright

12 - "Kwenchy Kups" by Dry Cleaning

11- "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Perfume Genius

 

 

I'm uncomfortable with the idea of loving a Drake song because every good one is drowned in an ocean of about 300 shite ones, and the guy's also a fucking creep, but Massive was, well, massive. I could wax lyrical about any of these songs as much as I could about my top ten, but I had to whittle them down somehow and in the cases of some it was "I've left this too late in the year to discover" (Carly Rae Jepsen, Dry Cleaning, Caroline Polachek) and in the cases of others it was "well, she is sampling Popcorn" or "well, this did originally have an ableist slur".

 

10 - "What I Want" by MUNA

I'll write individually about the top ten. They deserve that much. MUNA have been sitting on this since the lockdown days and its release pretty much encapsulated that sense of catharsis and release that the gays and girls felt when clubs reopened. "I'm gonna make up for it all at once," they plead, desperate to return to simultaneous normalcy and that pop-fueled rush.

 

9 - "Dance for You" by Empress Of

There's something so hypnotic about this track to me, whether it's the bland commands she's telling herself whilst trying to forget an ex, the 90s house backing that has you dancing and swaying along like a Crystal Waters classic, or that bridge that feels like a drunken haze. I'm unsure. Combined, it's one of my songs of the year, and what first got me hooked on Empress Of.

 

8 - "Break My Soul" by Beyonce

Speaking of classic house... I. God. Where do I start? Every time there's a lead single from a Beyonce project I'm going to pay attention, but when this dropped... very few songs invoke such a reaction in me. This man can put it better than I ever could. God bless Big Freedia.

 

7 - "Free Yourself" by Jessie Ware

So yeah I love house music. I love disco. I'm queer AF. This was a no-brainer, like it was carefully created in a laboratory to drill its way into my heart and take up full fucking residence. Jessie Ware didn't even need to follow up What's Your Pleasure? so quickly, she'd earned herself a long break after all of that excellence, so to return so soon with just one track was... overkill, in the best sense. 

 

6 - "In the Dark" by Purple Disco Machine & Sophie and the Giants

I didn't discover Hypnotized, the 2020 collaboration between these two, until the very end of 2021 and so I was ecstatic to find this on its release not even a fortnight after my discovery. Whether or not it's as good as Hypnotized I can't decide, but I can assert that both are some of the best tracks I've heard in a decade. My second most-played song of the year (after Break My Soul, because, Beyonce)... this is just a camp, atmospheric, yearning bit of melodrama that is right up my street.

5 - "Happy New Year" by Let's Eat Grandma

2022 was a strong year for January releases. None were more anthemic and uplifting than Let's Eat Grandma's heraldry of the new year with this. Really, at top five songs of the year, I'm running out of words to express adulation, because how do you describe the adrenaline a song like this makes you feel?

 

4 - "Shotgun" by Soccer Mommy

I mentioned that the album this built up to was something of a let-down after Color Theory, but truth be told it might be because I went into it expecting 11 tracks of equal quality to Shotgun. The way the track elevates in the chorus with those synths probably wasn't even necessary, I was already aboard, but god does it shift into this transcendent 90s throwback. 

 

3 - "SAOKO" by Rosalia

I normally bemoan a track's brevity if it's anything like this, but there's enough chaotic percussion and vocal distortions going on that anything longer might turn it into a nauseating experience. Unlikely, but possible. Rosalia has now established herself as one of the world's most fascinating musicians but when this dropped so did my jaw. The way that random dizzying piano riff breaks up the dark, industrial rest is genius.

 

2 - "Cuff It" by Beyonce

I mean... it's literally perfect. If you can't appreciate a good roller disco floorfiller then you need euthanising. At this point I'm so starved for visual content I'd happily take her just rereleasing the Blow music video with this laid on top of it. "I'm in the mood to fuck something up" is the cathartic lyric of the year.

 

1- "Bites On My Neck" by Yeule

One of my favourite traditions in writing these lists is to fill the top ten with songs that make sense, of course they're there, and then crown something that sits completely at odds with the rest of it. Not one to break tradition, my song of the year is Yeule's Bites on my Neck. A slow, hesitant and magical opening is deceptive, but it's the song's journey from serenity to animalist energy that keeps me coming back and feeling exhilarated every single time. The second the first chorus ends, I'm screaming along with her.

 

 

 

Thank you for reading. A bientot!