The Best Songs of 2024 So Far

Each instrument in Irish post-punk band’s scowling “Starburster” is ushered in one-by-one like a grand reintroduction. A seesaw of fuzzy synths lays the groundwork. Enter: a jangly piano, cascading sustained background vocals, a propulsive drumbeat … and then a total free-fall once frontman Grian Chatten’s punchy, grungy flow kicks in. Call it what you want — a sonic departure, a sexy reinvention — but one thing’s for sure: Fontaines D.C. are so back, and at their best. —L.L.

This Cowboy Carter highpoint applies the anything-goes spirit of late-Eighties hip-hop to Bey’s wide-open idea of American music. Over a stompin’, clappin’, snappin’ beat and a Nancy Sinatra sample, she evokes Tina Turner’s rock-soul sass, James Brown’s Black-and-proud testifying, and, most directly, the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” Her lyrics place her own family’s struggles against a backdrop of American economic, racial, and social hypocrisy, and wrap her anti-erasure gospel in a music that radiates freedom, resistance, and joy. –J.D.

“I’m-a hit the gas if you ready to go,” Kehlani sings. Since her forthcoming album is titled Crash, the romantic acceleration she’s singing about might end up taking a hard turn, but in the space of this moment of club-levitating R&B gorgeousness, the future sounds like nothing but endless horizons and shattered speed limits. It’s also a hot flash of early-2000s nostalgia, with Kehlani vibing along to the Coolie Dance dancehall riddim that lit up several hits 20 years ago. She makes the groove her own, lighting up one of 2024’s finest summer jams. —J.D.

After public scrutiny over her love life and her defiant response (“Yes, And?”), Grande showed a vulnerable side on “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).” It’s a moment of four-on-the-floor synth-glitz catharsis co-written and produced by Max Martin, alongside ILYA, that brings to mind another Martin-helmed masterpiece — Robyn’s introspective dance-floor classic “Dancing on My Own.” Whether the song is about Grande’s relationship with the press, an ex, or both, its raw mix of hurt and hope has the kaleidoscopic radiance of club lights in wet eyes. —B. Stallings

Of all the songs that Kendrick Lamar unleashed against Drake this spring in a paroxysm of pure contempt, this is the winner  — the one you’re most likely to hear at sporting events, club nights, and summer festivals, with crowds of thousands cheering along to each vicious insult. A good part of the credit goes to Mustard, whose bouncy, brass-boosted beat is the catchiest thing he’s done since his early-2010s heyday. Kendrick takes that baton and runs with it, dismantling Drake’s entire being in terms that might be morally dubious but are sure fun to shimmy to. —S.V.L.

Some people were shocked to hear Kim Gordon stepping confidently into post-industrial trap beats on her second solo album, but they shouldn’t have been — she’s been making freaky, brilliant noise since before much of today’s streaming audience was born. On “Bye Bye,” she talk-raps a packing list for a trip (“Blue jeans, cardigan, purse, passport”) in the same killer monotone she’s been using since Confusion Is Sex, only this time it’s over a deconstructed club banger. Your favorite avant-garde twentysomething wishes they sounded this cool —S.V.L.

While in the middle of opening for Olivia Rodrigo on the Guts tour across North America, Chappell Roan dropped a song that would help skyrocket her to the next level of her rising pop stardom. “Good Luck, Babe!” is a big, bold pop anthem that makes it clear Roan won’t deny fate. She sings to a lover who would rather “kiss a hundred boys in bars” than accept their feelings for the singer — and probably women altogether. The track builds up to a big chorus where Roan belts her way to the top, making it clear that in a few years’ time, no one will be able to deny her power. —B. Spanos

Who says the song of the summer has to make sense? The effervescent synth-pop buzz of Sabrina Carpenter’s smash single is strong enough to make you think that you, too, are that me espresso — even if it’s been years since you’ve had to work late because you’re a singer. Sabrina keeps the rich, honeyed vocals and the witty innuendos coming, giving 2024 a much-needed splash of fun. She’s Mountain Dew, she’s a dream come true, she’s a pop star whose rizz rivals early Madonna. Pour us another cup, this one’s tiny! —S.V.L.

“Hiss” was a potent warning to anyone who thought they could disrupt what the H-Town hottie has dubbed “The Year of the Stallion” (and a pointed comeback to disparagements from Nicki Minaj and Drake). Everyone took heed, and it brought with it Megan Thee Stallion’s third time topping the Hot 100, and her first time doing so completely solo. For longtime fans, it represented the down and dirty, no holds barred, UGK-studied rapping that made them fall in love with her. She herself credits it to her beloved ego, Tina Snow. —M.C.

Shakira channeling her Nineties rock-era energy was not on anyone’s 2024 bingo card, but we sure as hell will take it. On the track off her 12th LP, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, the Colombian singer taps into the angsty soundscapes of her classic 1998 album, Dónde Están los Ladrones?, for an exquisite pop-rock moment. Shakira proclaims, “Life’s a bitch,” before using this grungy cut to essentially say “Fuck it” and remind herself and her listeners to seize the moment, no matter how, where, or when. —M.G.

Few, if any, indie songwriters can deliver an earworm as well as Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin. On “Can’t Be Still,” she puts her gift for grabby arrangements and grabbier hooks — simple but effective riffage, percolating verses, frothy chorus — in service of lyrics about needing to stay in constant motion. The words are fitting for someone who, in addition to making her own albums, stays busy mixing, producing, and engineering others’ (she got nominated for three Grammys for her work on the last boygenius album). Here’s hoping that even if Tudzin slows down the catchy tunes don’t. —C.H.

It’s taken Olivia Rodrigo two albums and change before she finally delivered her first joyful love song, and maybe that’s why this is so great. She just can’t stop talking about how much she loves her new Brit boyfriend. The singer’s breathless adoration is palpable as she sings over a headlong bass line, bouncy, distorted guitar, and neon-tinted keyboards straight out of an old New Wave hit, delivering delicious lines like “He’s like a poem I wish I wrote.” It’s a giddy pop earworm and an absolute rock & roll banger. —M.G.

On the raging “Docket,” Blondshell’s Sabrina Teitelbaum mulls about love and trust on the road, while Bully’s Alicia Bognanno swoops in to join her on the second verse. This collaboration between the two indie-rock greats is so damn good that you end up wishing they’d join forces for an album. Until then, we’ll keep this on repeat. “It’s about uncertainty when you’re in different environments all the time,” Teitelbaum said. “In a way, it’s about wanting to cope with distance and change, but it’s also just a bit about being reckless.” —A.M.

Eliza McLamb first gained notoriety during the pandemic with the spicy TikTok song “Porn Star Tits,” and as the co-host of the podcast Binchtopia. But her excellent debut, Going Through It feels like the proper introduction to this fiery songwriter. The opening track “Modern Woman” contains some of the best songwriting you’ll hear this year, jam-packed with lines like “They love me when I’m miserable/Because I’m super marketable” and “2 p.m. is a wormhole into buying clothes on Instagram/And standing in front of my fridge eating deli ham.” It doesn’t get more relatable than that. —A.M.

Ten years after his debut hit “Take Me to Church,” Irish folk-soul singer-songwriter Hozier had his first Number One single with “Too Sweet,” and deservedly so. “I’d rather take my whiskey neat/My coffee black, and my bed at three/You’re too sweet for me/You’re too sweet for me,” he croons against the song’s tough, catchy retro-R&B groove. The song didn’t appear on his album Unreal Unearth because it didn’t fit the mood, but it’s landed perfectly now. —J.L.

Every indie head who heard MJ Lenderman’s Boat Songs in 2022 walked away thinking that they’d like to be and/or be bros with the shaggy North Carolina riff slayer. Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield did one better, recruiting him to play lead guitar all over her latest country-rock LP. Their musical chemistry peaks on this sweet, leisurely duet about the joys of long-term partnership. Crutchfield and Lenderman harmonize like Emmylou and Gram, evoking Sunday-afternoon splendor in warm vocal tones punctuated by his laconic solos. —S.V.L.

You walk into some bar in some city — Greensboro or Akron or whatever — and there’s a band in the back that somehow sounds like Linda Ronstadt fronting Crazy Horse. That’s the vibe on Roasli’s album Bite Down. “On Tonight” is her stand-out moment. “Yeah, you freak me out/And that’s what I came for,” she sings. Sounds like a party, the dark hunger in her voice adding to the slow-build tension in the guitars. The result is a roots-rock booty call of the first order. —J.D.

Nate Amos is best known as half of the ravenously all-over-the-place Brooklyn noise-pop duo Water From Your Eyes. He’s also been churning out dolorous little lo-fi tunes at a relentless clip under the moniker This Is Lorelei. His forthcoming record, Box for Buddy, Box for Star, is a great entry point into his sweet little sound world, particularly “I’m All Fucked Up,” a lickity-split blast of pencil-necked guitar gush with bad-dream lyrics that’ll leave you smiling along as you struggle to keep up. With this guy, the ideas don’t ever seem ever stop flowing —J.D.

The Texas party animal sums up the “Damn Near Normal” life he’s carved out for himself in this bleak yet swaggering ode to indulgence. All the beers and late nights may seem like rock-star fun, but Wetzel admits he secretly “hates it,” and self-medicates with melatonin, weed, and a “fistful of Xans just to fall asleep.” He watches with something close to regret as his friends marry off, raise kids, and work steady jobs — while the touring musician is left wondering, “Can’t believe I’m livin’ like this.” —J.H.

While Oasis fans continue to hope against hope for a Gallagher-brothers reunion, Liam is off making some of the best music of his solo career, teaming up with Stone Roses guitarist John Squire for this sneering blast of Brit-pop. Gallagher could sing the phonebook and make it sound cool: Here, he croons the colors of the rainbow — “Red and orange/Yellow and green” — to equally mega results. —J.H.

To open her latest studio album, Deeper Well, Kacey Musgraves looked to nature to set the tone. “I saw the sign or an omen on the branches in the morning/It was right after I lost a friend without warning,” the country superstar sings on the LP’s introspective opener “Cardinal,” which was inspired by Musgraves’ late friend John Prine. “Cardinal, are you bringing me a message from the other side?” she sings on the chorus of the transfixing track, which is steeped in Seventies melodies and rolling acoustic riffs that would surely make Prine smile. —J.L.

Kentucky songwriter Elvie Shane adds an instant classic to country’s pantheon of prison songs with this look at how the penal system dehumanizes inmates. “My name ain’t my name no more/It’s 215634,” he sings in a whine straight out of the holler, rattling off his new identity. The song is also a statement on recidivism: The protagonist ends up back behind bars for shooting a man in self-defense with a gun he illegally owned. —J.H.

“I want to drink my milk in my own filth,” sings Abby Sage on “Milk,” her fragile tone floating above a swaying, sly acoustic guitar and contained percussion. Sage’s lyricism throughout her album Rot is totally carnal, evocative, and fantastical, anchored by her thoughtful interiority and utter awareness of her physical form. “Milk” is a whimsical exploration of childhood through several lenses: the innocence of being young, the filthiness of discovery, and the charm of curiosity. —L.L.

The Los Angeles singer-songwriter dives deep into her family mythology for the enchanting “Red Cloud.” On it, she paints a simple, pre-industrial portrait of Nebraska, complete with dreamy plains, ponies, and a magical stew. She told Rolling Stone about channeling her hero Joanna Newsom on this track, but what you hear is ultimately Allen herself, a brilliant songwriter on the rise. —A.M.

Tini, a massive celebrity in her native Argentina, is a former child star who hasn’t been afraid to share the dark side of the fame as a young tabloid fixture. On “Ni De Ti,” she unceremoniously melts the haters: “To the people who believe or feed these lies, I desire from the bottom of my heart that you find something more productive with your empty lives,” she offers in Spanish, flashing knife-eyed rage as her distorted voice slams against a scorched-earth electro-punk track. Take Kesha at her most no-fucks-given, subtract about ten-thousand fucks, and you’ve got the idea. —J.D.

Usually Conan Gray is an emo-anguish folk-pop singer-songwriter guy. Here, he switches it up for a Max Martin-produced (and sung on) synth-pop homage to Eighties greats like Erasure, Yaz, and Depeche Mode, matching sad romantic overkill with peppy keyboard glitz. Gray even adopts a flouncy Euro-sleaze accent, committing to the bit like a champ, and in an inspired twist of historical revisionism, the bridge adds in a spritz of Thriller-era Michael Jackson, like we’re twisting between radio stations on a summer drive in 1982. —J.D.

A different kind of breakup song. On “If It’s Gone,” frontman Tyler Jordan holds an ex to account and hopes the best for them, too. It’s a standout single from Texas indie-rock outfit Good Looks’ second album, Lived Here for a While, propelled by Tom Petty-esque drums and shimmering War on Drugs-style guitars. Good Looks are beating the sophomore slump by wearing hearts on sleeves and showing that maturing doesn’t mean becoming less fun. —B. Stallings

The heartbreaker and the brokenhearted — you can’t have one without the other, you can’t be one and never the other. It’s a contradiction the Chicago indie-rock trio Dehd drive to life-affirming heights on “Dog Days,” the opener from their new album, Poetry. Rambunctious, infectious, and the right amount of reckless, “Dog Days” speeds by in tantalizing flashes punctuated by spitfire downbeats that recall (in the best way) Blink-182’s “First Date” and a call-and-response refrain that starts with Jason Balla bellowing, “It’s a dog day,” and Emily Kempf replying, “Ahhhooooo!” —J.B

There’s something almost theatrical about Willow’s “Big Feelings.” It’s soaring and chaotic, with a complex opening piano giving way to her explosive opening verses — “I have such big feelings/Can’t shut ‘em down without a sound” — sung as if she has no choice but to blurt out the messy, giant tangle of feels building up inside right now. Willow has said the track “has a darkness and complexity that reflects what we all experience in our own minds.” It’s definitely a showstopper. —L.T. 

You know the Y2K nostalgia cycle is in full effect when acoustic guitars paired with record-scratching comes roaring back. That’s not to say Hovvdy’s “Forever” is full-on Sugar Ray pastiche. Its charms are ultimately more back-porch country, fused with some of the tender, electronic open-heartedness of the Postal Service, a novel combination that blossoms into the simple declaration: “Goddamn I swear I/Will always love you/Yeah, I’ll fall forever.” The record-scratching is deftly placed accoutrement, a fun feature that warms the heart, and makes the prospect of “Forever” irresistible. —J.B.

Time doesn’t exactly slip into the future on Nilüfer Yanya’s “Like I Say (I Runaway).” It’s more inescapable. Rife with the pressure to seize it, make the most of it, spend it the right way, because it’s the one thing you can’t get back, can’t control. The London singer-songwriter pairs this meditation with a mesmerizing lead guitar riff that bends through the verses with a rich acoustic thunk before leaping into fuzzed-out delirium as she sings, “The minute I’m not in control/I’m tearing up inside/And I can’t stop you leaving/Is the biggest fear of mine.” —J.B.

“Tshwala Bam” may be the year’s first globally resonant amapiano track. South African producers TitoM and Yuppe teamed up on its intense and brooding beat, tapping S.N.E for lead vocals and EeQue for additional ones (you may recognize his voice from Uncle Waffles’ “Yahyuppiyah,” one of our top Afropop songs of 2023). “Tshwala Bam” is performed in isiZulu, their country’s most widely spoken indigenous language. S.N.E, who wrote the hook, told The Native that what sounds like a party song is actually about the perils of abusing “tshwala” — alcohol, which he’s seen torment people around him. —M.C.

Sweet and sunny, Tems’ “Love Me Jeje” is inspired by a radically different Nigerian hip-hop song from 1997 by Seyi Sodimu of the same name. Tems completely reimagines its rap and boom bap with new lovelorn lyrics wrapped around Sodimu’s cute chorus, tinny guitar, and raw Afro drumming. The way Tems sings about her utter devotion takes the piecemeal, straightforward shape of other parts of her freestyled discography but forgoes the gravity of hits like “Higher” and “Free Mind.” Intimate in its simplicity, “Love Me Jeje” builds into a grand, orchestral affair. —M.C.

Most of Heavy, SIR’s highly anticipated follow-up to his excellent 2019 LP, Chasing Summer, finds him burdened by internal tumult — particularly, as he told Rolling Stone, with addiction and its impact on his marriage. Tucked toward the end of the album, “Trying My Hardest” feels like the first ray of sun breaking through passing storm clouds (“We’re good now, but I did a lot of dirt,” the singer told us). It’s a methodical confession of the ways SiR is giving being better a shot, beautifully crafted with soft guitar, jazzy bass, delicate piano, and upbeat percussion that, in unison, sounding like the epitome of cautious optimism. —M.C.

Ahead of a groundbreaking Super Bowl half-time retrospective and Coming Home, and his first album in more than five years, Usher released this Afrobeats-tinged confession to a spree of heartbreak-induced rendezvous with women who don’t mean much to him. Gorgeously complemented by Nigerian producer-performer Pheelz’s buoyant touch, “Ruin” falls in line with all other evidence that Usher is one of the most timeless musicians of his generation, able to remake almost any Black sound in his image. —M.C.

“Like That” isn’t just a setoff to “the great rap war,” it’s a top-tier party track that exemplifies why Future and Metro can stake a claim for artist-producer duo of their generation. Riding Metro’s flip of Rodney O and Joe Cooley’s “Everlasting Bass,” Future laces his melodic ode to everyone who’s “Like That” with characteristic vivid toxicity. But Kendrick Lamar’s verse is what turns the track into one of the most memorable of the decade. Kendrick and Drake’s beef was bookended by two party records with affirmational choruses; The same people who are now screaming, “They not like us,” were probably raving about being “Like That” first. —A.G.

“I know for a fact I make fucking hits,” Cardi B told Rolling Stone in her June cover story. She’s been hard at work on her long and much-anticipated sophomore album, with “Enough” dropping earlier this year like something of an appetizer — and sure enough, it’s one of her best declarations of how much she’s accomplished and how little shit she’ll take. “I’m in Miami, I pull up on cruise ship/You in Miami four-ho’s-to-room shit,” she teases, pulling the insult from experience. Sure enough, it’s the hard-hitting rap track like this one that leveled her up. —M.C.

Earlier this year, MIKE told Rolling Stone that he viewed his Pinball album with Tony Seltzer as a chance to pivot from the soulful, traditionalist-leaning sound he’s known for without making a big deal about it. It all comes together on “On God,” where they’re joined by Earl Sweatshirt. All three men are experts at barely enunciative delivery that feels free-jazz-esque, and here they deliver nonplussed flows that meld into Seltzer’s ominous, hypnotic composition. —A.G.

There’s something to be said about a signature sound, when any artist who collaborates with you wants to enter your world. That’s rapidly become the case with Cash Cobain, who’s had Drake and J. Cole both jump on his beats. His peak this year is the “Fisherrr” remix, on which Ice Spice gives Cash and Bay Swag’s already buzzing hit a feminine touch, mirroring their slinky cadence and rhyming. Cash has been on a roll as of late, but we didn’t forget this May harbinger for a slizzy summer. —A.G.

While Fletcher’s new album, In Search of the Antidote, reflects a shifting point of view in her music toward healing, “Doing Better” reminds us that the rising pop songstress isn’t afraid to get messy and dominate your For You Page. Singing about an ex’s new girlfriend — who was also the focus of her 2022 hit “Becky’s So Hot” — Fletcher sings, “Your girlfriend never thanked me/For making her go viral/Fuck it, I’m her idol.” The song reflects the record’s theme of stepping into the light — even if there’s still some edge and get-back to be had. —W.A.

Taylor Swift is often at her best when she allows all sides of her musical interests and capabilities to co-exist at once. This soft-rock banger is a little pop, a little folk, and a little country, as she dreams of another man while still in her current relationship. This dangerous fantasy allows Swift’s dreamiest songwriting to shine through; she sings about “drowning in the blue Nile,” while thinking about her imagined lover and writing “mine” on her upper thigh. Not since “The Piña Colada Song” has an almost-infidelity sounded so radio friendly and romantic. —B. Spanos

This lush border crossing collaboration between Musica Mexicana star Carin Leon and rootsy Texas R&B artist Leon Bridges beautifully updated the rich Mexican-American tradition in country music, which goes back to Seventies greats like Freddy Fender and Johnny Rodriquez. “It Was Always You (Siempre Fuiste Tú).” is a painstakingly lovely heartbreak ballad in which the two artists’ voices weave together in a sublime moment of bilingual harmony.–J.D.

After last year’s Hayla-assisted “Where You Are” turned John Summit into the hottest name in house music, the two linked up once again and knew they had to recapture that magic. Enter the euphoric “Shiver,” which Summit describes as the most emotional track he’s ever made. “The ‘I want this forever’ line just really, really hits me because I feel like I’m at the top of the world right now and I love it so much,” Summit, who’s set to headline Madison Square Garden, told Rolling Stone. —W.A.

Charli XCX promised a tribute to the underground London rave scene with her sixth album, Brat, and lead single “Von Dutch” proved she wasn’t lying. The brash, aggressively fun single is one of XCX’s many tributes to being the It girl on everybody’s minds this year, both flipping off and embracing the gossip and obsession. One of pop’s boldest auteurs, XCX still finds new ways to make it clear she’s pushing boundaries and creating trends. And as an added bonus, the A.G. Cook remix featuring Addison Rae triples the excitement and is bound to be a club staple beyond just this summer. —B. Spanos

“Igual Que un Ángel,” Kali Uchis’ turn toward dreamy disco pop was a surprise even for an artist that’s down to experiment with most sounds and genres. She practically coos the lyrics, about a woman owning her autonomy, juxtaposing the strength of the message with an air-light touch. Then there’s another unexpected moment: Mexican crooner Peso Pluma slides in for a verse, his gravelly voice suddenly soft and silk-smooth. Their quick chemistry might be why the song made the Top 10 of Billboard‘s Global 200 earlier this year. —J.L.

Nobody really saw FloyyMenor and Cris MJ’s dark, lo-fi reggaeton hit coming. The shadowy track is wrapped up in a bit of mystery — until “Gata Only” broke through, FloyyMenor was a local, hard-to-pin-down Chilean artist whose face and identity had been hidden from the internet. But once he teamed up with fellow Chilean and rising star Cris MJ, they had some magic in their hands: “Gata Only” blew up on TikTok and blasted up the charts, becoming one of the summer’s most inescapable club bangers —J.L.

Myke Towers and Bad Bunny have been frequent collaborators throughout the years, but “Adivino” is their most unexpected link-up yet, starting with the song’s dark, dubby production and thudding electronic beat, thanks to work from producers Cruz, Eiby, Finesse, Jerom Su’a, and Tainy. From there, they keep things unpredictable: Bad Bunny charges in and throws some cryptic lines about an old relationship that instantly got the Internet wondering who he was referring to, while Towers goes hard on his verses, even rapping a few lines in English.–J.L.

Only Allie X could make a song inspired by a Russian woman’s natural eczema cream. On “Galina,” the dark-pop troublemaker heightens the existentialism of her new album, Girl With No Face, with the real-life story of Galina, a woman who made a magical eczema-curing cream. “Galina, wake up/I’m running out of luck/And I get so ugly without you,” she sings in the chorus. The track is a synth-filled banger and a standout on the Eighties-inspired album. —T.M.

Pounding, distorted beats, twisted vocal samples, and a guy screaming incomprehensible lyrics about protozoa and perdition. If this sounds fun to you, you’ve gotta check out Lip Critic, the New York quartet making some of the strangest sounds in any genre. Lead bellower Bret Kaser has a disorienting sense of humor that comes out on songs like this one: “Standing in the Wawa, convinced I’m a god/So I’m gonna get any sandwich I want.” Is that a satire of toxic male ego, a comment on convenience-store economics, a Yeezus reference, or none of the above? Don’t worry about it. —S.V.L.

An opening with heavenly harmonies, a catchy chorus with sultry lyrics, and a can’t-miss bridge? What else would we want in a song by Flo? MNEK produces “Walk Like This” to perfection, giving Stella Quaresma, Jorja Douglas, and Renée Downer their time to shine. Seeing the fast-rising British trio perform this track at Coachella was a reminder: Girl groups are back. —T.M.