Top 30 Songs of 2024 (So Far)

By: Josh Kitchen / June 7, 2024

Chappel Roan by Ryan Clemens

We are so back. We, being Pop music, that is. Everything can be considered pop music, I know, but I'm talking about the shimmery, shiny, bubble gum, perfect 3 minute pop song kind of pop music. That definition spans so many genres, and so far in 2024, some of the best songs fit the bill. Even more exciting, art pop music is having a huge moment, making things even more interesting.

From perfect pop morsels like Chappel Roan's, (your favorite artists favorite artist,") Kate Bush inspired "Good Luck, Babe!," Waxahatchee's "Right Back to It," Blu DeTiger's dreamy cosmic jam, "Disapearing," to post Brit-pop tracks from Idles and Fontaines D.C., 2024 has been an incredible year so far for music. I gathered up my favorite 25 tracks released so far this year and present them to you here with all their respective music videos. If the rest of the singles we get in 2024 are as good as this, we're looking at a year full of stone cold classics. Enjoy this list. Good luck, Babe!

30. LUNCH - Billie Eilish

HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Billie Eilish's third album, is her most revealing to date. Billie said gay rights, baby. "Lunch", is Eilish's most sexual, straight forward, horny, and unapologetically queer song yet, with Eilish describing all the ways she wants to "eat that girl for lunch," and she's not talking about going to Sweetgreen. Accompanied by Eilish's signature smooth as butter vocal delivery, more confident than ever on "Lunch," her brother and songwriting partner, Finneas' full and tight production, and the aforementioned clever and in your face lyrics about some afternoon delight, "Lunch" will definitely satisfy your hunger for some sexy pop goodness.

29. Oh Boy! - Girl and girl

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Girl and Girl are a new addition to Sub Pop's ever impressive line-up of artists, led by Kai James on vocals along with his high school mate Jayden Williams on guitar, Fraser Bell on bass, and James' actual punk rock veteran Aunt Liss on drums. Their Sub Pop debut, the frenetic and drama inspired Call A Doctor! dropped last month, preceded by a few killer singles, the best being "Oh Boy!,” which James told me is his favorite track on the record, going so far as to get the title tattooed on his arm. James has a vibrato that reminds of the Cowardly Lion's puffed up braggadocio, and it's on full display on "Oh Boy", accompanied by Williams' Strokes-like crunch guitar playing. Girl and Girl rock, and their Los Angeles tour debut was at the Fonda last month in Hollywood, opening for fellow Sub Pop mates, Royal Otis. Girl and Girl arrived in La La Land, James declared from the stage. "Oh Boy" is fantastic.

28. Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us

"Grandpa, where were you the day the "Not Like Us" dropped? Well, I was there, kiddo, I was there. And I tell you what, you go sell it and go buy yourself a nice spaceship." This makes no sense, I know, and it's quoting Michael Scott, who was talking about gravel that the Scranton Strangler drove over outside Dunder-Mifflin. But you get it. Where were you when Kendrick Lamar ended Drake's career? Ok, Drake is still working, but the Kendrick/Drake rap battle is the closest thing this generation has gotten to the actually deadly ones from the 90s, and while this time they're a lot less frightening, "Not Like Us" is just as vicious, violent, and unforgiving. Oh, and it's also a bop. All hail K Dot.

27. Keys down if you stay - cola

Born out of Montreal post-punk band, Ought, Cola feature Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy from that band, along with Evan Cartwright from U.S. Girls on drums. Cola releases their sophomore album on June 14, entitled, The Gloss, and have dropped four singles in advance of it, "Keys Down If You Stay" being my favorite. Darcy's moody and dry vocal delivery backed by Stidworthy's post 2000's indie band guitar and Carwrights chugging drums. "Keys Down if you Stay" is honest and confessional, Darcy's lyrics opening himself up to listener's in ways that listeners will appreciate and relate to, "My fiction's in such a state/In situ, I will stay/'Til it comes back a little higher." Cola played the Troubadour in support of Snail Mail in February, and will be back in LA headlining at the Zebulon on October 11.

26. Running - Pearl Jam

Forget three minute rock songs, "Running" from Pearl Jams surprisingly great new album, Dark Matter knocks you out in a mere two minutes and 19 seconds. One of PJ's shortest tracks, "Running" reminds of Pearl Jam classics like "Spin The Black Circle," and "Hail Hail." I saw both of their shows at the Kia Forum in May, and they played the entire album, save one track, over the course of both nights, "Running" coming out on night one. It was heavy, furious, and reminds you of why you love Pearl Jam in the first place. (They're really fucking good.)

25. St. Vincent - Broken Man

Annie Clark is back to form, not that she needed to get back there. Her 2021 stylistic detour, Daddy's Home, was her most divisive album to date then, many critics labeling it forgettable and weird, with weak thematic heft. They were wrong. It was funky, grimy, and a risky swing, and it paid off. While her excellent new album, All Born Screaming has given most of those naysayers a sigh of relief, it's still heavily inspired by the last record, the grime is still there, but this this time, Clarks' signature heavy axe-shredding is there too, the record is filled with some top tier St. Vincent jams, chief among them, the first single from the record, "Broken Man." Propelled with a riff laden chug along that explodes into a sludgy desert rock sounding jam session, "Broken Man" is St. Vincent doing what she does best.

24. Prep School Gangsters -

Vampire Weekend

Only God Was Above Us is Vampire Weekend's best album since 2013. It also feels a little like coming home. It was hard to narrow this record down to one track I felt is a cut above, and you could make an argument for several of the tracks, but "Prep-School Gangsters" is Vampire Weekend looking back at what made them such a breakout band in 2008. It’s got the playful, Paul Simon-esque shakedown riffs, now with more assurance of their craft. Ezra Koenig playfully mimics the guitar-playing with his signature high pitched wails. "It's just something people say!"

23. BODYGUARD - Beyoncé

Cowboy Carter cannot be avoided. It was everywhere this Spring, blowing up what is allowed in country music, what's accepted, and what should be. Beyoncé was not the first Black woman to record great country music. It's been happening for a long time. But now that she’s done it, people are paying attention. Whether that's fair or not, isn't for this blog to decide, but I'm glad people are paying attention. “BODYGUARD" is Bey doing her best Fleetwood Mac impression. Imagine the late Christine McVie singing this song! Someone, have AI do it! It's an instant classic.

22. Von Dutch - Charli XCX

Charli XCX is a pop genius. I'm writing this on the day that her sixth album, Brat was released, and it's one of the best albums of the year so far. It's certainly the best pop album of the year so far, with Charli sounding confident and full of a zeal to take the mantle of of the world's most interesting and exciting pop stars. "Von Dutch" was the album's first single, released in February, and it opens with her declaring, "It's okay to just admit that you're jealous of me." It's that mastery of the craft that makes Charli XCX so fun to watch and listen to. She knows how great she is, and knows you know it too. With that out of the way, you can chill with the insanely good songs on the record, "Von Dutch" set to a furious hyper charged techno beat, "I'm your number one," Charli repeating over and over. It's fucking great.

21. Tired Boy - Sunday (1994)

Sunday (1994) are a very new band. Releasing their first single ever in February, "Tired Boy" is melancholic, dreamy, and inspired by 90's films and romances. It's a throwback to the listless fantasies found on so many great songs from that era. "We're always at your place/Even though it's a pigsty/But so is your life and your mind/But I told you that I'd die/For you again and again," vocalist Paige Turner sings. That's a pretty brutal lyric. It's that kind of restless and despondent outlook in their songs that make Sunday (1994) such an interesting and exciting new band. Their self-titled debut EP dropped in May, "Tired Boy" accompanied by five more songs just as mournful and dreamy. Check out my interview with Sunday (1994) here.

20. Gift Horse - IDLES

Idles are it, man. Their fifth album, Tangk, is excellent, and "Gift Horse" is nuclear. Made to be moshed to, maybe with some wall of death action, it's starts out fast, and builds to an explosive end. Vocalist Joe Talbot sing speaks in his Bristol accent furiously, "Fuck the king, he ain't the king, she's the king!," and screams at the song’s final blow up. The track was killer at the show I saw them play at the Hollywood Palladium in May, the song demanding to be heard live.

19. Boom Boom Back - Hinds, Beck

Spanish indie band, Hinds is in a new phase. Their rhythm section abruptly quit the band in 2022, "Boom Boom Back" being their first single since the departure. The band, now consisting of Carlotta Cosials, and Ana García Perrote, both on vocals and guitar, is sounding better than ever. "Boom Boom Back" has an instantly ear wormy guitar and beat, the lyrics funny, snarky, and delivered in a style only they can. Beck features on the track as well, adding to that tongue-in-cheek vibe of the whole thing.

18. Claw Machine -

Sloppy Jane Feat. Phoebe Bridgers

I Saw The TV Glow is a remarkable film, directed by Jane Schoenbrun, and plays on the feelings of acceptance, identity, and nostalgia and features several great bands not only on the soundtrack with new songs, but also in the film as well. The best of these tracks being "Claw Machine," by Haley Dahl's Sloppy Jane, and features her high school buddy, Phoebe Bridgers. The track is beautifully sung, and is an emotional high point in the film, without revealing too much. Give Haley Dahl her Oscar! Check out my full write-up here.

17. Brown Paper Bag - DIIV

DIIV rocks. Their latest album, Frog in Boiling Water is full of shoegazey, nostalgic, and guitar solo heavy tracks, the best being, the exceptional, "Brown Paper Bag.” Over four minutes, lead singer Zachary Cole Smith makes you feel, makes you sway, and makes you want to keep listening for another 10 minutes. Pitchfork released a pretty nasty (but seemingly technically positive) review of the album, where they brought up Smith's past issues with addiction for no apparent reason, and Smith responded in a series of posts on Twitter in a way that will make you root for him and DIIV even more. DIIV will be at the Wiltern at the end of this month. You gotsta go.

16. Burning Down the House - Paramore

Paramore, Paramore, Paramore. I feel bad for anyone who ever tried to count out Paramore. That means I feel bad for myself. I ignored this band when their debut was released when I was in high school, chalking them up as another crappy pop punk band, at a time when I was growing out of the genre. I was wrong. "Oh my god, he admit it!" Their last record was unreal, easily some of my favorite music of the last few years, and here we have their cover of Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House" for the companion tribute album to the new Stop Making Sense re-release and restoration by A24. The tribute record is mostly lackluster, standouts being this song and Blondshell's "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel, (which I got to see them perform at the Pantages this week with all four Talking Heads in attendance for a screening of the film.) This is the greatest Talking Heads cover of all time. Hayley Williams absolutely loses her mind on this. You can hear how passionate she is singing and if you've seen footage of them playing it live, you cannot look away. It's an impossible feat to put out a Talking Heads cover that rivals the original, but dare I say it, Paramore have done it!

15. Like I Say (I runaway) - Nilüfer Yanya

I've been following Nilüfer Yanya since I saw her open for Sharon Van Etten at the Theatre at Ace Hotel (RIP!) in 2019 when she completely stunned me. Yanya is from London, and has been putting out angsty and grungey stuff since 2016, debuting her superb debut full length, Miss Universe in 2019, which she supported on the aforementioned tour with Sharon Van Etten. Her latest, "Like I Say (I runaway) is a perfect track, Yanya using her velvety London accented voice set to perfect double tracked vocals, with a pummeling grunge chorus, drowning the listener in guitar fuzz and feedback.

14. Igual que un Ángel (with Peso Pluma) - Kali Uchis

Kali Uchis has become a superstar. Uchis released her great fourth album, Orquídeas this year, just nine months after the release of Red Moon in Venus, her equally fantastic third album. Orquídeas is easily a top ten album of 2024, and "Igual que un Ángel" (translated to Just Like An Angel) is the highlight. Set to a disco beat and sung entirety in Spanish, the track is an undeniable perfect piece of pop music. Accompanied by fellow superstar Peso Pluma who is having a huge year, it's very exciting that latin stars like Uchis and Pluma are so popular.

13. If You And I Are Not Wise -

The Lemon Twigs

The Lemon Twigs feel like a fever dream. Even if you've never heard a Lemon Twigs song, you know Lemon Twigs songs. That's because The Twigs, consisting of brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario, make music that is entirely familiar, but also completely fresh. You can find songs inspired by The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Todd Rundgren, and on their latest record, A Dream Is All We Know, you'll be reminded of Carl and Brian Wilson's vocals, and also The Byrds. The Byrds being what I heard when I first heard "If You And I Are Not Wise." This song feels like a long lost Byrds song from right around the time they started to become trailblazers in alt country music and Gram Parsons joined the band. "If You And I Are Not Wise" has that classic jingle-jangle rickenbacker guitar and the brothers Brian and Michael's singing here is coated in warm production that makes it sound like you're listening to it on a well worn vinyl LP. Long Live The Lemon Twigs.

12. Docket (feat. Bully) - Blondshell

Sabrina Teitelbaum, AKA Blondshell released her best song of her career this year. Known for her killer pop grunge indie output, Docket is the king of them all, Teitelbaum sings with ferocious and angry delivery set to a twangy, bendy, and heavy guitar cascade. Joined by Bully along for the ride, Docket is like if you mixed Nirvana and like...Garbage with some Alanis Morisette thrown in? When I heard it my jaw dropped and I think I listened to it about fifteen times in a row. It's loud, blistering, and it's necesary that you listen to it.

11. Wild God - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Nick Cave & The Bad Seed's 18th studio album, Wild God, doesn't come out until August 30, but he dropped the first single back in early March, the title track, "Wild God," is everything you've come to accept from late era Nick Cave. It's got a traipsing beat where Cave describes the titular Wild God searching the girl from "Jubilee Street" off of Cave's astounding Push the Sky Away record. All hell breaks loose from there as the song builds to that epic modern bad seeds crescendo. It's hard not to wonder if the track is autobiographical, with Cave ruminating on his modern sage like responsibilities he attends to on his online Q&A series, "The Red Hand Files." "Wild God" rivals some of Cave's later classics like "Higgs Boson Blues," "Jubilee Street," and "O Heaven." Wild God can't come out soon enough. See my original review here.

10. Crazy - NIIS

The most exciting hardcore punk band out there right now is undeniably Niis. Fronted by Mimi Doe, Niis consists of members from the Bay Area and Los Angeles, and have been setting fire to small venues for almost four years now, Doe prowling around the stage screaming into the faces of adoring fans, her ruby red hair whipping in a windstorm of punk rock glory. "Crazy," Niis' latest single leading up to a new record, is a fast, furious, and intense two minute track with unreal drumming, in your face playing, Doe's great singing complimented with her perfect screaming voice later on in the track. "I'll take you back if you want me," Doe sings before blowing up in pissed off diatribe of any man who calls her crazy behind her back. Niis will be headlining the Teragram Ballroom in LA on July 19, and are coming off a west coast tour with Starcrawler. See ya at the Teragram.

9. Right Back to It -

Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman

Like so many others on this list, Waxahatchee put out their best record this year. Tiger's Blood is already being hailed by many as the best album of the year so far, Katie Crutchfield hitting that perfect nostalgic and melancholic feeling of a country song that wraps you in its arms and doesn't let you go. "Right Back To It," featuring MJ Lenderman, features banjo, electric guitar, and Crutchfield's twangy country fried voice is a highlight of the record, being the song on the record that wraps you up. I saw Waxahatchee play at the Hollywood Palladium last month, and when they did this song, it was one of the most joyous playing I've ever seen, Crutchfield soaking in the sold out Palladium singing every word back to her.

8. I Got Heaven - Mannequin Pussy

Mannequin Pussy's fourth album, I Got Heaven is my favorite album of the year. Mannequin Pussy have been crushing it since their debut, but the latest record really feels like a band that know how great they are and it can be heard all over it. The title track is at once "I got chills" beauty and "I got fuckin' guys to punch." Singer Missy Dabice told the crowd at their sold out Fonda show last month that the track is about reclaiming yourself from all the religious fanatics who seek to control women. Plus the track has maybe my favorite lyric of any song this year, "And what if we stopped spinning?/And what if we're just flat?/And what if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?"

7. BYE BYE - Kim Gordon

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth released a wild and completely left field fucking banger this year in BYE BYE. The track is literally a heavy techno track with razor sharp guitar with Gordon just listing things she has to take with her when she travels and keeps in her purse. "Sleeping pills, sneakers, boots, black dress/White tee, turtleneck, iBook, power cord, medications." Medications being an epic conclusion of thought that took on a life of its own on TikTok. BYE BYE is a good reminder that Kim Gordon is cool as fuck and we're lucky to have her.

6. Disappearing (feat. Magdalena Bay) -

Blu DeTiger

Blu DeTiger is the current reigning bass God. One needs to only listen to a few of her tracks and watch some live vids to agree. (She threw it down at the Troubadour in May, one of the best shows I've seen all year.) Claiming the bass as her primary weapon at a young age, DeTiger has been bubbling up on TikTok and releasing bass forward perfect pop songs since 2019, tracks like "Vintage", "Toast With The Butter," and "Elevator" amassing millions of streams, along with collaborating with the likes of Chromeo, Jungle, and MUNA. DeTiger released her debut album, All I Ever Want Is Everything in March, and it's loaded front to back with songs that should be top ten singles. "Moxie" is a slinky Prince-esque number, and "Hey You," co-written with fellow top 30 artist here, Chappel Roan, is a tongue in cheek head bopper referencing her placement on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list. "Disapearing," the track on this list, is a floating, cosmic, outer space track featuring Magdalena Bay, with funk guitars, and DeTiger's signature bass playing guiding the track through it's infectious groove, ending in a synth jam. If you get a chance to see Blu DeTiger live, you 100% need to be there.

5. Lego Ring - Faye Webster, Lil Yachty

Faye Webster's laid back, jazzy, genre defying music has propelled her to alt-rock stardom very quickly. Her latest album, Underdressed at the Symphony, features some of her silliest and chilled tracks, Lego Ring being the most fun. Featuring backup vocals from her fellow Georgian buddy, Lil Yachty, Lego Ring is perplexing and at once a song where you're totally committed to after like, one verse. It's progressive, and Webster and Yachty's vocals together make for a very dreamy sound. It also features more favorite lyrics, sung by Yachty at the end, "You and me the dream team/always together like string beans." Their friendship is infectious and it's great to hear it culminate artistically here.

4. Starburster - Fontaines D.C.

The most exciting band right now is from Dublin, and they're called Fontaines D.C. My friend Stephen affectionally and cheekily calls them "his Irish sons," and I think we all wish we had some Irish sons who threw it down like Fontaines D.C. does. The band just announced their fourth album, Romance, which comes out August 23, and the first single from it, "Starburster" is unreal. "I'm gon' hit your business if it's momentary blissness," lead singer Grian Chatten sings rpeeatedly in the chorus with his very heavy Dublin accent, every "Blissness" followed by a shocking, but entirely addictiing "HUHHHHHHHH" sucked in breath, making for one of the most unique vocal tricks on any song this year. Fontaines D.C. are making some of the most unique and forward thinking rock and roll music right now, and "Starburster" is unbelievable.

3. Good Luck, Babe! - Chappel Roan

Chappel Roan has arrived. To those who don't pay that much attention to pop music except the radio, this might come as a surprise, but Chappel Roan, as she playfully says, is "your favorite artist's favorite artist." Known for her campy, colorful, and pop supercharged sing along anthems, Roan has become one of pop music's greatest queer icons. Hot off the release of her 2023 album, the excellent The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Roan has released perhaps her greatest song this year, "Good Luck, Babe!" It's a one of the most infectious and most expertly crafted pop songs, that like great pop anthems before it, hiding heartbreaking and regretful laments, Roan detailing here a former lover who's settled for a married life with a man, Roan's overly dramatic and theatrical vocal delivery, singing, "Good Luck, Babe!" reminiscent of Kate Bush's "Babooshka," from Bush's 1980 album, Never For Ever. The most savage part of the song being the bridge where she sings, When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night/With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife/And when you think about me, all of those years ago/You're standing face to face with "I told you so." Chappel Roan is exciting. She's going to continue to get bigger as well, with "Good Luck, Babe!" easily being her "Bad Romance."

2. Common Man - Grace Cummings

Have you ever reached a breaking point and wanted to throw it all away and go become a cowboy on the range with nothing in front of you but the rising sun? Grace Cummings has. "Common Man" from her latest record, Ramona is about refusing to accept an unfulfilled life. Set to a backdrop anyone who's seen a Western would be familiar with, Cummings draws from the great country and California singer-songwriter anthems from the likes of Marty Robbins, Jimmy Webb, and Glen Campbell. Bruce Springsteen did something similar on his 2019 album, Western Stars. That's a fine record, but Cummings has mastered Springsteens intent. "I am a Cowboy/I ride and I ride/My idea of heaven and a pistol by my side," Cummings sings, dramatically building to the crash of, "I can't stand/To be the common man." Grace Cummings is from Melbourne in Australia, and has the greatest voice I've heard in at least the past 10 years. It is powerful, and full of experience, wrath, sorrow, and a life that has been lived. Hearing her sing this song, it is abundantly clear, she will never settle being the common man. Cummings played her second ever show in Los Angeles in May at Gold Diggers in East Hollywood, and it was one of the greatest live shows I have ever witnessed. You can read about it here.

1. Butterfly Net (feat. Weyes Blood) -Caroline Polachek

The best track of 2024 so far technically came out in 2023. This author's personal favorite from Caroline Polachek's genre bending Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, "Butterfly Net" is a prayer for the dead. "I collected stupid ashes, so that after you'd gone, I could hold on to something," Polachek sings over the synth-laden track as it builds to a revelatory cascade of voices. On this version, that line is sung by Weyes Blood, bringing in her otherworldly voice to the wake. The original version is bigger, and reminds of Peter Gabriel's "San Jacinto." This version is so much more intimate, stripped down to its essence, with the addition of Weyes Blood making it a shared experience of loss. I was lucky enough to get to hear them perform it live together for the first time last Spring, and it was unbelievable. "Butterfly Net" could be released every year with a new version, and it would be the best song every year it came out. It's my favorite song of the past five years, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Listen to this playlist here: Top 30 Songs of 2024 (So Far)

Weyes Blood and Caroline Polachek, photo by Aidan Zamiri