Say what you will about our political systems, but the United States sure knows what it’s doing when it comes to producing hit music. This last year alone saw the meteoric rise of artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey and more—leaving music fans of all stripes plenty to choose from when considering the best songs of 2024.
The shortlist, according to us here at Vogue? We’re so glad you asked. Find our favorite recordings of the year (so far!) right here:
I humbly nominate “AWARDS SEASON” by Bon Iver, which taps into heartbreak like only Justin Vernon can, telegraphing that aching, yearning feeling over a sparse track and layered vocals. While he’s an inimitable lyricist, this song doesn’t need to be intellectualized: anyone who hears it can feel his pain like an exposed nerve. —Hannah Jackson, fashion writer
I know “Birds of a Feather” is the album’s breakout star, but I just find “Chihiro” jaunty and beautiful. It’s been a mainstay on every bike ride, long walk, and contemplative moment of mine this year. —José Criales Unzueta, fashion news writer
Bladee and Yung Lean’s Psykos might be my most listened-to album of the year. “Ghosts” is catchier, but a bit of spoken-word by Yung Lean is hard to beat. This song anchors the album and also speaks to the current state of the world. For me, the contrast between the ethereal Bladee and Lean as a reluctant Atlas is amazing. —Laird Borrelli-Persson, archive editor
I am, for better or for worse, a sucker for a power ballad, and this one hit me right where I live. The music video is great, too, channelling throwback country acts like Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, or Tammy Wynette and George Jones. —Marley Marius, features editor
Welcome to the stage one of our rising pop girls! I loved her EP, but “Diet Pepsi” hit different this year. Cemented my late-summer vibe and has hit triple-platinum in my headphones. —JCU
It’s undeniable: Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” was the song of the year for me. It’s been on regular rotation since my very first listen (courtesy of my colleague Christian Allaire’s story on her beach-bombshell looks in the music video), and eight months later, it’s still putting a spring in my step. Also, like everyone else in the world, I’ve fallen head over heels for Carpenter herself: I love both her hustle (“I’m working late / ’Cause I’m a singer!”) and her humor (after backlash for filming a music video in a church, her response was simply: “Jesus was a carpenter”). A superstar! —Liam Hess, living editor
This is one of my favorite wind-down songs of the year. It’s the perfect blend of fairy-like vocals and a soulful beat, laid under poetic affirmations about being fabulous. —Qieara (Q) Lesesne, associate talent manager
Glaive broke out as a teenage hyperpop phenom during COVID, and now—at the wise, old age of 19—has evolved into something more interesting: a composer of irresistible emo-inflected noise-pop electronic tracks. His latest album, May It Never Falter, is his best yet, recorded in Iceland and suffused with a wintery, contemplative mood. The best track is probably the densely layered, angsty first one, “For God and Country,” which builds through choir samples to skittery beats to a pounding cathartic crescendo. Catchy and relentless; I can’t stop listening to it. —Taylor Antrim, global network lead & US deputy editor
Of all the culture-defining moments that Charli XCX gave us in 2024, her collaboration with Lorde was the one that perhaps best captured her album’s essence: bound up in vulnerability, personal ambivalence, professional competition, and female camaraderie. What more could we ask for? I love “Guess” with Billie Eilish as much as the next gay guy, but this is the song that really should have gotten the Grammy nomination. —Mark Guiducci, creative editorial director
Chappell Roan lets heartbreak calcify into self-righteousness on her single “Good Luck, Babe!.” With dagger-to-the-heart lyrics like, “And when you think about me all of those years ago / You’re standing face to face with ‘I told you so,’” and “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling,” Chappell explores ugly feelings over infectious synth pop. Whether you feel like dancing or crying, she makes room for both. —HJ
If you saw me walking down the streets of New York City dancing and singing, no you didn’t. But if you did, I was most definitely listening to “Hey Homie” by Sofi Tukker. It’s my favorite song of the year—an immediate serotonin booster! —Molly Barstein, associate manager, audience development
A very special shoutout to the remix: this has been a transformative year for me personally, and this song has fueled many reflections and helped contextualize many of my thoughts. I think about it all the time. —JCU
The rolling drums, the feathery harmonies, the mouth trumpet! I have nothing more to say except that I’m obsessed. —MM
You’d think that Sabrina Carpenter invented sex based on the reaction “Juno” gets during live performances. (And with an unending stream of tweets like, “Sabrina Carpenter unveils new ‘Juno’ position,” she may as well have.) But honestly, the song deserves the hype. Between its poppy, foot-tapping beat, catchy lyrics, and healthy dose of humor, it’s a total earworm. —HJ
Something special happens every time Kendrick Lamar and SZA collaborate, and their latest track, “Luther,” is a testament to that. Aside from the fact that it feels like you’re floating on air for all two minutes and 57 seconds of the song, I love that Kendrick was able to sneak the word “kumbaya” into one of his verses. —Taylor Lashley, social media manager
On the Childish Major-produced tune “Nissan Altima,” Doechii delivers bar after bedazzled bar, reminding us why she is the undisputed Swamp Princess. I cannot drive, have never gotten past a high school permit test, and yet this song makes me want to be in the driver’s seat with all my girls, wearing something completely devastating and blasting the track until the speakers shake. —Maya Layne, entertainment associate
My favorite songs of the year range from a classic house hit to a very folky track. The first time I heard “She’s Gone, Dance On” by Disclosure, I knew it would be a staple on my summer playlist. Then, once the season ended, Jungle dropped “Let’s Go Back” (which may or may not be one of the top songs on my Spotify Wrapped). I also can’t forget my year-round favorite: “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners (feat. Caamp); while the song has been out for a bit already, it was reworked this year to sound even better. —Kylee McGuigan, associate pooduction manager
I just love her tapping into merengue for this one. The lyrics are sweet, and I love a song that makes me feel like it’s summer all year long. —Ignacio Murillo, global talent casting director
Jack Kays is a 26-year-old singer-songwriter from Ohio who creates ragged folk-meets-punk music about drinking too much, failing, wasting his life, and hauling himself back from the brink. His new album, Deadbeat, chronicles the ups and mostly downs of life at the American margins, and what it’s like to be in your 20s and struggling with depression, addiction, and gathering the will to keep going. Check out “Sleep When I’m Dead”–a fist-pumping singalong that hits like Noah Kahan channeling the spirit of Social Distortion. —TA
I saw Nick Cave play with just one other musician at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn last fall, where they teased a couple of songs from the new album Wild God. I love the whole thing, but this one in particular really gets me. Volume way up! —Nicole Phelps, Vogue Runway global director
If you haven’t yet got into Fontaines D.C.—the brilliant Irish post-punk revival band releasing the best British rock albums in recent memory—then now is the time. Their fourth album, Romance, released in April, featured gnarlier riffs, bigger choruses, and plenty of bonkers fashion. My favorite is still the lead single, “Starbuster”—inspired by a panic attack frontman Grian Chatten had in a London train station—with its thundering trip-hop drums, fuzzy Madchester guitars, and Chatten loudly gasping throughout like he’s puffing on the world’s biggest asthma inhaler. —LH
I love Talking Heads and I love Lorde, so what more could I ask for than a Lorde cover of “Take Me to the River”? There’s a lot to love in Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Taking Heads’ Stop Making Sense—Miley Cyrus covering “Psycho Killer” and Chicano Batman on “Crosseyed and Painless” among them—but I find myself returning to Lorde’s hazy rendition over and over. It’s a faithful interpretation, capturing David Byrne’s cool, but with a heady, sultry spin. —HJ
With their genre-bending rollercoaster ride of a second album, Imaginal Disk, the alt-pop duo Magdalena Bay have taken things up a gear. It’s tough to pick a favorite song, but I think I’d have to go with the barnstorming “That’s My Floor,” a funky, proggy, party-ready anthem that I can’t wait to chant along to when I see them live later this week. A banger. —LH
Though Imaginal Disk is a no-skips album for me, Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin of Magdalena Bay bring their best with “Tunnel Vision.” The lyrics grapple with self-loathing over a sweet, poppy tune that you can’t help but bop to. And with that noisy outro, there’s really something for everyone here. —HJ
