As I mentioned in the intro to my list of the best albums of the year, I listened to an obscene amount of music this year, which made deciding on my 10 favorite LPs was a herculean task. One upside to that, though? I had plenty of songs to pick from for the best songs of this year. So I decided to share 50 songs that I listened to a lot this year, that covered the emotional highs and lows and nearly every genre imaginable. It’s a lot, but this year was pretty daunting. Enjoy.
Aesop Rock – “Blood Sandwich”
Mike Adams at His Honest Weight – “The Lucky One”
ANHONI – “Crisis”
Ashanti feat. Ja Rule – “Helpless”
Band of Horses – “Casual Party”
Beck – “Wow”
David Bowie – “I Can’t Give Everything Away”
Car Seat Headrest – “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia”
Chance the Rapper – “Same Drugs”
Childish Gambino – “Redbone”
Crowder – “My Victory”
De La Soul feat. Snoop Dogg – “Pain”
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein – “Stranger Things”
Ramin Djawani – “Light of the Seven”
Father John Misty – “Real Love Baby”
Gallant – “Weight in Gold”
Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone – “City of Stars”
Tim Heidecker – “Ghost in My Bed”
Japandroids – “Near to the Wild Heart of Life”
Carly Rae Jepsen – “First Time”
Jimmy Eat World – “Sure and Certain”
Junkie XL & Hans Zimmer – “Is She with You?”
The Knocks feat. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Love Me Like That”
Michael Kiwanuka – “Love & Hate”
Lake Street Dive – “Call Off Your Dogs”
Ray LaMontagne – “Hey, No Pressure”
Lecrae feat. Propaganda – “Gangland”
Lizzo – “Good as Hell”
Local Natives – “Fountain of Youth”
The Lonely Island feat. Pink – “Equal Rights”
M83 (feat. Mai Lan) – “Go!”
Bruno Mars – “Versace on the Floor”
James Vincent McMorrow – “Rising Water”
Merchandise – “I Will Not Sleep Here”
Modern Baseball – “Just Another Time”
Mumford & Sons – “There Will Be Time”
Conor Oberst – “Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out”
Frank Ocean – “Nikes”
Anderson .Paak feat. ScHoolboy Q – “Am I Wrong”
Radiohead – “Burn the Witch”
Corinne Bailey Rae – “Stop Where You Are”
Rihanna – “Same Ol’ Mistakes”
Saint Motel – “Move”
Sing Street – “Drive It Like You Stole It”
Solange – “Cranes in the Sky”
Regina Spektor – “Bleeding Heart”
The Struts – “The Ol’ Switcheroo”
Swet Shop Boys – “No Fly List”
Two Door Cinema Club – “Bad Decisions”
Kanye West – “30 Hours”