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I have no idea how many songs get released a year. I’d assume the number is somewhere in the millions, depending on your definition of “song.” Even if you limit it to only major label releases of English-language songs, you still wouldn’t have enough time to listen to everything that got put out in 2022, let alone rank them. Thankfully, I am under no pressure to be a completist or even close to rigorous in my methodology. I just pick my ten favorite songs of the year and call it a day. No sorting, no dealing with other people’s preferences, no having to justify the inclusion or lack of any specific song. Easy breezy, beautiful, no covers here, girl. That’s nice. Awful, shoe-horned puns aside, these are the ten actual best songs released in 2022. There are no other songs better than these. If they were, they’d be on this list. Sorry if your own personal favs didn’t make it, but those are the breaks.
Find all the songs here:
10. The Hardest Cut – Spoon
I’ve said this before, on here I think, but Spoon is one of the best, most consistent rock bands of all time. Every album they do is solid. They’ve never had a bad batch of songs. They don’t always hit the heights of Gimme Fiction or Kill the Moonlight, but they always deliver. The Hardest Cut is just one more example of this. The best song off their 2022 album Lucifer on the Sofa, The Hardest Cut finds Spoon in their zone. Hard guitar licks, a bass line that keeps you awake, and lyrics that don’t ruin the mood. A great running song if you’re into that sort of thing.
9. Far – Black Marble
I have to be honest with you. This is a song off an album made for a new Dungeons & Dragons expansion. It should suck. If history has taught us anything it’s that branded content is garbage. And yet we have Far by Black Marble. The universe continues to amaze. Far is an out-and-out hit. A cosmic dance party that comes in at just over four minutes long. Black Marble really showed up for this one. This song spins and flips over galaxy-eating grooves. You’ll be stuck with this one in your head for a while.
8. There’d Better Be A Mirrorball – Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys are determined to not be the band they were in 2004. Moving away from the neo-pop-punk (wtf is that Dylan? I dunno, sounds right though) that brought them to fame, the Arctic Monkeys now make lush, orchestral, walls of beauty. Dense lyrics, concept albums, and a dearth of bpms over 60 are all hallmarks of their current sound. It works for them. Their lead singer holds it all together with precise, emotive singing, and the band is up to the task of creating drama with their instruments. Mirrorball is an out and out hit.
7. Music for a Sushi Restaurant – Harry Styles
Yeah yeah yeah. I know. Harry Styles. Whatever. This is a good song. Styles, the breakout star of One Direction, seems to be trying to make a go of a movie career, but he’s still got some killer songs in him. This one is poppy without being repetitive, interesting while still being danceable. It sounds a bit like The Weeknd’s older stuff. That is a compliment. Plus, Styles can sing. So, he’s got that going for him. I don’t know if I would actually listen to this in a sushi restaurant, but that’s not the point. A great song to listen to while you walk down the street, pretending you’re in a J. Crew commercial.
6. Baby – Charli XCX
Charli XCX is a perennial entrant on these lists. What can I say, she makes great songs. Baby is one of those. Charli’s singing really brings this song over the top. XCX is one of pop’s best vocalists; that talent shines throughout this song. Charli changes registers, voices, and tones at will and with skill. The bright shimmer of the music provides a nice background to her singing and lyrics. A hit.
5. Silence is Golden – The Beths
I limited myself to one song per artist on this list. If I hadn’t another Beths song, Expert in a Dying Field would have also made this list. Silence is Golden beats out Dying Field on the strength of its chorus and bridge. I’m a sucker for a chorus and bridge combo that just repeats the same words over and over. Just as a side note, “silence is golden” is a funny thing for a punk song to be about. A nice little bit of irony. This song also has a killer guitar solo, which is pretty hard to beat. A song that will make you want to scream your head off when it’s played live.
4. Totally Fine – PUP
PUP is my favorite currently active band. They rip. Can’t be beat. Totally Fine is the lead single off their new album and it loves up to the other stuff the band has done. Sing-along choruses, incredible guitar playing, and powerhouse riffs. While “Lately, I've started to feel like I'm slowly dying / And if I'm being real I don't even mind / Whether I'm at my worst or I'm totally fine” may be little too emo for some of my followers, sometimes it do be like that you know. If that’s too much of a downer, just singalong with the “Ahhhhasss” at the end and you’ll be, uh, totally fine.
3. First High – Nikki Lane
Nikki Lane is not shy about her love for weed. She talks about it in her concerts, and in a number of her songs, including this one. This is not just some boring green song, however. It’s also about performing for the first time, meeting your first love, and a thousand other firsts. It also absolutely rocks, both recorded and live. A stadium song if I’ve ever heard one. I thought it would blow up when I first heard it, but it has yet to do so. It still has a shot at it imo. A nice string breakdown in the middle of the song is the cherry on top.
2. No One Dies From Love – Tove Lo
When it comes to pop music I have a very specific type of song that I like. I’ve never really been able to describe it, but “noir daydream” probably gets closest to the vibe. Tove Lo’s “No One Dies From Love” is right in that pop sweet spot. The music has this sense of deepness, like a river running underground just out of site. This is a song that plays as the lead in a cyberpunk rom-com falls in love.
1. Spitting Off the Edge of the World – Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Perfume Genius
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs should have a statue in every major American metropolitan center for excellence in musical composition. Spitting Off the Edge only strengthens the case for that. Coming off a long hiatus with a vengeance, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs called in Perfume Genius for some help, and together they came up with this absolute banger. A deep, minor-key smash, SOEW really hits a groove from the opening notes and stays in it until the end. A woozy, gauzy piece of music, this is far and away the best song of the year.
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