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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThere was no single agreed-upon ranking of the best songs of 2024. Editors’ lists, a writer’s personal selections, a readers’ poll and chart-based awards reflect different kinds of judgment. Taken together, they show a year spanning mainstream pop, indie rock, Latin pop, rap, jazz, country crossovers and regional scenes.
What counts as one of the best songs of 2024?
It depends on who is choosing and what the list is meant to show. A critic’s selection is not a popularity ranking; a reader poll records the preferences of those who voted; and an award based on chart performance measures activity over a defined period. These lists are best read as distinct snapshots, not as a universal verdict.
- Editorial selections reflect the tastes and priorities of a publication or writer.
- Reader polls reflect the votes of a publication’s audience.
- Chart-based awards recognize performance against stated chart measures and dates.
Editors’ and writers’ selections
NPR Music: 124 songs for discovery
NPR Music’s 124 Best Songs of 2024 is a broad discovery list rather than a short ranked countdown. NPR’s editors describe its range as moving beyond the top 10 and the Hot 100, with selections touching new pop hitmakers and discoveries in indie rock, Latin pop, rap and jazz. The list invites readers to browse by genre or explore songs supported by public-radio music stations.
Pitchfork: 100 songs through an editorial lens
Pitchfork’s 100 Best Songs of 2024 offers another publication-curated view. Its account of the year points to a rising class of pop artists, returning favorites, regional rap, country crossovers and sexy drill. This is an editorial list, separate from Pitchfork’s poll of its readers.
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Associated Press: ten choices, no ranking
AP Music Writer Maria Sherman selected ten of the best songs of the year “in no particular order.” That framing matters: the article presents Sherman’s personal judgment, not a ranked chart or a vote by AP readers. Among her picks is Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
TIME: a ranked top ten
TIME’s ten best songs of 2024 uses a ranked top-ten format and also includes “Not Like Us.” Its appearance in more than one editorial selection is a useful sign that the song resonated with multiple writers, but it does not establish a broad consensus or make the lists methodologically identical.
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Official Charts: staff favorites
The Official Charts team published staff picks for favourite songs of 2024. These selections are personal favorites from the staff, rather than an audience poll or chart-performance ranking. As the team puts it, “everyone’s experience” of pop music is different.
What listeners voted for
Pitchfork’s readers’ poll is a separate list from the publication’s editorial selection. Thousands of readers voted in its 2024 poll, and Charli XCX and Lorde’s “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde” finished first. That is the poll’s number-one result—not Pitchfork editors’ selection.
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Pitchfork’s 2024 Readers’ Poll results rank 100 songs. A poll answers what participating readers favored; it does not necessarily represent all listeners, or the same preferences as a publication’s critics.
Which songs also stood out on the charts?
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and the limits of a chart milestone
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” illustrates how a song can register as both a cross-genre moment and a major commercial success. In a dated December 2024 report, the Associated Press said it had tied Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” with 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. That figure describes the status reported at that time; it should not be treated as a current record claim without updated chart verification.
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The Billboard Music Awards’ 2024 materials also list “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” as the winner of Top Country Song and Top Selling Song. Those awards draw on a defined year-end chart window: charts dated October 28, 2023, through October 19, 2024. That period is not identical to a list of songs framed as releases of 2024, so the award is evidence of performance within its stated window—not a direct ranking of the year’s artistic merit.
“Not Like Us” across editorial lists
Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” appears in both AP’s ten selections and TIME’s top ten; Pitchfork also describes it as a major crossover hit and notes its chart success. These appearances show the song crossing different editorial contexts. They do not turn those lists into a single combined ranking.
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- Billie Eilish's third studio album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, released via Darkroom/Interscope Records is her most daring body of work to date, a diverse yet cohesive collection of songs - ideally listened to in its entirety from beginning to end - does exactly as the album title suggests; hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically, while bending genres and defying trends along the way
How to use these lists to find your next listen
- Start with the kind of recommendation you want. For a wide-ranging browse, try NPR’s 124-song list; for publication-curated perspectives, compare Pitchfork, AP, TIME and Official Charts.
- Choose a scene or genre to narrow the field. NPR’s list encourages genre browsing, while Pitchfork’s framing points to pop, regional rap, country crossovers and other scenes.
- Use the readers’ poll for audience preference. Pitchfork’s poll shows what its participating readers voted for, which may differ from critics’ choices.
- Check chart claims against their time window. A year-end chart award or reported milestone measures performance under particular dates and rules, not a timeless judgment of quality.
What these year-end selections can—and cannot—tell you
Together, these publications offer a varied map of songs that editors, writers, readers and chart-based awards highlighted in 2024. They are primarily US and UK perspectives, not an exhaustive global canon. Use them as starting points for listening and comparison, rather than proof that one definitive list settles what the year’s best music was.
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