Sometimes, making my best albums list can feel like a chore. There’s so much music out there, and narrowing it down to my 10 favorites sometimes feels pointless. But I often feel like my best songs list is better representative of my taste. There’s a lot more stuff to dance to, for one, and it usually just comes down to one criterion: Did I enjoy listening to this? So while there are definitely plenty of songs that represent America in 2018 (“This Is America” to name but one), there are just as many songs that don’t really mean anything. Enjoy.
The 1975 – “Love It If We Made It”
Antarctigo Vespucci – “Freakin’ U Out”
James Bay – “Pink Lemonade”
Leon Bridges – “Forgive You”
Chance the Rapper – “Work Out”
Childish Gambino – “This Is America”
Christine and the Queens – “Comme Si”
Chromeo (feat. The-Dream) – “Bedroom Calling, Pt. 2”
CHVRCHES – “Get Out”
The Coup (feat. LaKeith Stanfield) – “OYAHYTT”
Lucy Dacus – “Pillar of Truth”
Keegan DeWitt and Kiersey Clemons – “Hearts Beat Loud”
Disclosure – “Love Can Be So Hard”
DJ Koze – “Pick Up”
Drake – “Nice for What”
Duke Dumont (feat. Ebenezer) – “Inhale”
Empress Of – “When I’m with Him”
Fall Out Boy – “Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)”
Father John Misty – “Please Don’t Die”
Gallant – “Doesn’t Matter”
Greta Van Fleet – “When the Curtain Falls”
Kimbra – “Right Direction”
The Knocks – “Shades”
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – “Shallow”
Kendrick Lamar (feat. SZA) – “All the Stars”
Let’s Eat Grandma – “Falling into Me”
Little Dragon – “Best Friends”
Ella Mai – “Boo’d Up”
Manchester Orchestra – “No Hard Feelings”
Bruno Mars (feat. Cardi B) – “Finesse (Remix)”
Andy Mineo (feat. Lecrae) – “Coming in Hot”
Mitski – “Two Slow Dancers”
Janelle Monáe – “Make Me Feel”
Kacey Musgraves – “High Horse”
harunemuri – “kick in the world”
Anderson .Paak – “Bubblin’”
Robyn – “Missing U”
Amy Shark – “Adore”
Troye Sivan – “My My My!”
Snail Mail – “Pristine”
Sons of Kemet – “My Queen Is Harriet Tubman”
St. Vincent – “Fast Slow Disco”
The Struts – “In Love with a Camera”
Titus Andronicus – “Above the Bodega (Local Business)”
Twin Shadow (feat. HAIM) – “Saturdays”
The Weeknd (feat. Kendrick Lamar) – “Pray for Me”
Kanye West (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR) – “Ghost Town”
“Weird Al” Yankovic – “The Hamilton Polka”
Thom Yorke – “Suspirium”
Yuno – “No Going Back”