Top 50 singles of 2024
The top-tier pop musique I spent the year mainlining
Once again, it was lots of fun to run the Electric Angels Songs of the Year poll. But once again, it’s time for me to BREAK MY SILENCE* on my own favourites of these last twelve months and present you with a big ol’ Top 50. (*I’m aware I’m not that silent.) (*Except actually I haven’t posted on my Substack since January 3rd so maybe I am?!)
This is my seventeenth yes seventeenth end-of-year songs list; and as ever, I’ve stuck only to proper singles, even as the line between singles and… well, non-singles becomes more and more blurred. I’ll get to my Albums of the Year in the next day or two, as well.
A Spotify playlist of all the below is here!
(You can judge my previous rankings, many of which have aged terribly, here: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.)
50. Love On - Selena Gomez
‘Why are we conversing over this steak tartare?’ is exactly the kind of nonsense you’d expect from a Selena Gomez and Julia Michaels concoction, and there’s definitely an alternate universe where Love On got all the success, notoriety and virality achieved by Espresso just a few weeks later. (Of course things probably worked out the way they did because Espresso is better, but still.) Don’t give up the music, Selena! Watch lyric video
49. Strawberry Dream - Dagny
I’ve just about forgiven Dagny for releasing an album of only EIGHT songs earlier this year, and it says a lot that Strawberry Dream can be a long way from her best work but still a delightful bit of electropop heaven. Watch lyric video
48. Lead Me On - Fletcher
The way this builds and builds in such a way that octaves are jumped, emotions are unleashed and souls ascend from bodies is truly spectacular. What a star! Watch video
47. Forget About Us - Perrie
The last minute or so of this - from the middle-8 into the final chorus and onward to that BOW BEEYOW BEEYOW guitar at the end - scratches a particular Kelly-Clarkson-album-track-shaped itch of mine SO satisfactorily. Do I wish for more exciting songs from Our Pez in 2025 and beyond? Yes! But I could honestly just listen to her voice for hours (further listening - her highly enjoyable Christmas song). Watch video
46. Training Season - Dua Lipa
You know what finally made this one click with me? The BRITs performance. The whole era went from ‘meh’ to ‘yeh’ quite speedily after that. Watch video
45. Aftertaste - Katie Gavin
Katie’s solo work thus far has generally been quite different from the MUNAverse, but there’s something about Aftertaste - the yearning vocals, the deceptively catchy chorus, the FEELS of it all - that hits the same indie-pop sweet spot. Watch video
44. TRUST! - Rebecca Black
[Annie drives; sips Helen’s lemonade] “Goddammit, that’s good.” [Sips again] “Shit, that is fresh.” Watch video
43. Someday Best - Dolores Forever
“SHUT UP AND EAT THE PASTA!” is among the greatest sieze-the-day chant-a-long bits in any song this year, nay decade, nay century, and long may Dolores Forever continue their sharp upward momentum. Watch video
42. Ask & You Shall Receive - Rita Ora
TRAUMA FLASHBACK: being pissed at Two Brewers as this one played, shouting at everyone around me for having the AUDACITY to not be aware of it. I was a bit ~whelmed by Rita’s last album but I shan’t hear a word against this little delight; written by RAYE no less!
41. 15 Minutes - Madison Beer
Never before has a hook-up sounded so sexy but also so sinister. Full album when?! Watch video
40. Effortless - Jacqline
I tapped out of Eurovision this year but this Melfest banger from Q1 has stuck with me: a brilliantly straightforward banger with big vocals, slick production and some joyously silly lyrics (“call the police, ‘cause you just stole my heart”). It bears repeating: no-one does it like Sweden!! Watch Melfest performance
39. Mantra - JENNIE
Someone on social media (sorry, I forget who and where) said this what a Little Mix debut single would sound like if they’d launched in 2024, and I really can’t say it better than that. Watch video
38. Love Bites (feat. Tove Lo & SG Lewis) - Nelly Furtado
From the moment the first teaser landed on Insta and the world knew a Nelly Furtado x Tove Lo x SG Lewis team-up was on the horizon, there really was very little chance it wouldn’t end up on this list. The fact I don’t think I’ve heard it in a gay nightlife establishment yet is ABSURD. Watch ‘visualiser’
37. Candy Paint - Normani
Apparently this was a single, but the whole album arrived with such a whimper that you’d be forgiven for thinking there weren’t any at all. It’s a travesty: songs like this (and Take My Time; justice for Take My Time) were rife with Big Hit Energy. Listen
36. Looking For Love - Florrie
2024 being the year we finally got a Florrie album?! Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like etc etc! Watch video
35. Hearts On The Run - Delta Goodrem
After last year’s Back To Your Heart, Delta delivered another stadium-sized anthem with big vocals and a big big big chorus. I adore that bridge, too. Watch video
34. Edge of Saturday Night - The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue
Kylie’s best song this year and it’s not even close!
33. Guess featuring billie eilish - Charli xcx
Guess was one of my favourites in the initial (deluxe) Brat rollout so I was a bit reticent towards the Billie version when it first appeared. But obviously it slaps. Of course it does! The two are cheeky and playful and daft, and that production?! It’d make anyone feral. Watch video
32. Aquamarine - Addison Rae
Elvira first came on my radar when she remixed Taylor Swift’s Willow for the Dancing Witch(?!) version a few years ago; and then she did a cracking (read: actually listenable) version of Love Story around the time of the Fearless re-release. To hear her now producing music for Addison Rae that feels intrinsically linked to the William Orbit catalog is most pleasing. Watch video
31. MUSCLE - METTE
This might (and I stress might; it’s a very competitive field) be the gayest-sounding song of the year. Watch visualiser
30. Disease - Lady Gaga
Gaga’s highs have been so high that it’s easy to look at Disease and critique it for not pushing the whole bloody culture forward. That’s totally fair - but don’t FOR A SECOND lose sight of the fact that it GOES! THE FUCK! OFF! Watch video
29. HEAT - Tove Lo & SG Lewis
Four songs on this EP wasn’t anywhere near enough but what was there - including this lead single and title track - was pure homobanger heaven. Serious question that I’ve asked before and will ask again: is Tove Lo the century’s most underrated popstar? Watch video
28. Check - FLO
While no one FLO song in 2024 matched the highs of last year’s Fly Girl, it was so good seeing them finally enjoy some momentum; going from brilliant single to brilliant single in the run-up to what proved to be a brilliant album. Check is my favourite; a slick earworm with infectious lyrics, extremely gorgeous harmonies and weeks of replay value.
27. II MOST WANTED - Beyoncé & Miley Cyrus
Y’know I would never have thought these two voices would sound so good together but they DO!!! Wonderful track. Watch lyric video
26. JOYRIDE - Kesha
Kesha’s never really taken her foot of the pedal since Rainbow (justice for Raising Hell), but this is the first time in ages that she’s properly reactivated Party Girl Mode and ohhhhh boy does it feel swell. Watch video
25. Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter
Imagine your SIXTH album era being the one that catapults you to the A-list?!?! Espresso is one of those bottled-lightning songs that makes blockbuster pop sound so easy. Very silly, very satisfying. Watch video
24. Healing Out of Spite - CATTY
This whole EP/mini-album is excellent (Actress is a particular fave in this house!) but Healing Out Of Spite is a cracker in particular; CATTY’s emotive vocals elevating it from confident kiss-off to something much more complex. Gonna need a Kellyoke cover at some point. Listen
23. Girls - TSHA & Rose Gray
Rose’s upcoming album could very easily end up a highlight of 2025, but for now this team-up with the endlessly exciting TSHA is impossible to sit still to.
22. Better Days - Benjamin Ingrosso
Benjamin’s entire Pink Velvet Theatre record is an ABBA-meets-Harry-Styles delight (Kite! Look Who’s Laughing Now! Angela!) but it’s this song that stands out for me; an instant mood-lifter that came along juuuuust when I needed it most. Watch visualiser
21. Fantasy - JADE
There’s something quite Jessie-Ware-but-kinkier about this that’s incredibly delicious: it may not come loaded with as much noise-making potential as Angel Of My Dreams but it’s a total 10; a song that cements JADE as the most exciting Little Mix soloist by far. Watch video
20. I CAN’T LOSE YOU - Confidence Man
Real ones know this was the actual song of the summer!! Watch video
19. Off With Her Tits - Allie X
If there’s a better opening lyric this year than “Stubborn Aphrodite, you got me in the tits”, I haven’t heard it. Watch visaliser
18. New Woman (feat. ROSALÍA) - LISA
Sorry, how am I JUST NOW in THIS SECOND realising that this absolute smash - which I fucking adore - has Tove Lo and Max Martin on the credits?!?! A multi-lingual, multi-tempo, totally banging masterstroke. Watch video
17. Glasgow - Pale Waves
I am a firm believer that Smitten is Pale Waves’ best album yet, and this soaring opener has one of my favourite shout-a-long choruses of the year. The influence of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan is beautifully apparent.
16. Diet Pepsi - Addison Rae
Seeing this become a big international hit? Stupendous. If the long-long-long-awaited release of the AR EP last year was a re-introduction to Addison’s popstar potential, Diet Pepsi was an “oh shit” moment of realising she could actually be The Next Big Thing. That key change!! Watch video
15. Not My Fault (with Megan Thee Stallion) - Reneé Rapp
A severely underrated soundtrackbanger from the new Mean Girls, Reneé sounds like she’s having a blast and Megan delivers yet another A+++ verse. A multi-platinum No1 in my mind! Watch video
14. 360 - Charli xcx
When all is said and done, who among us isn’t so Julia?! (Me, probably). Watch video
13. yes, and? - Ariana Grande
It’s so fab to have Ariana in this territory; giving confident, unapologetic nods to the noise around her personal life over strut-a-long, house-infused pop. And the way that long intro tears up the rulebook on how quick and snappy everything is in the streaming era? Divine. Watch video
12. Taste - Sabrina Carpenter
Espresso was the big breakthrough and Please Please Please showed versatility, but for me it’s Taste - the third chapter of Sabrina’s Big Hit Trilogy - that shows her at her very best: fun lyrics, breathy barely-there vocals and an unforgettably hooky chorus. She’s really in the pop Big Leagues for the long haul, huh? Watch video
11. Miss Me Too - Griff
The Griff album was stuffed with affecting electroballads and this, for me, was the standout. Her knack for dishing out melancholic FEELINGS over fist-pumping choruses is almost unmatched. Watch video
10. BET - METTE
If 2025 isn’t The Year Of Mette then it won’t be her that’s flopped; it will be US as a COLLECTIVE SOCIETY. Bet is the kind of song that should, with any justice, be a global phenomenon; but will at least be destined to live on as an under-rated homoclassic: punchy, anthemic, and - no matter how many times you hear it - a guaranteed dopamine rush.
9. You Love Who You Love - Zara Larsson
My No1 on Spotify Wrapped, You Love Who You Love is quintessential Zara: big on vocals, big on hooks, big on insufferable gays like me using it as an excuse to say “sTOP SLEEPING ON HER!” (but seriously, stop sleeping on her). The way she sings “you just TELL ME you LOVE WHO YOU LOVE!!” in the final chorus is pure bliss; and I cannot tell you how happy I was when the song got the Kellyoke treatment. Her and MNEK (who co-writes) just get it, don’t they?!
8. BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish
If you haven’t posted an earnest IG story soundtracked by this song in 2024, have you even lived?
7. Another Night - Grace Davies
If you’d told me a year ago that Grace would continue moving away from the synthballadry of Used To You and Toothbrush and I’d still think she was still going from strength to strength, I’d have looked at you with a lot of sceptisism. But here we are!! Another Night is one of her best songs yet: an almost ABBA-esque delight that’s got all the storytelling, emotion and bop-a-long musicality a pop gay like me could possibly want. An Insta pal said recently that a version featuring Benjamin Ingrosso would be phenomenal, and now it’s all I can think about.
6. Make You Mine - Madison Beer
I loved Home To Another One last year but Make You Mine was the Madison Beer song that really made me sit-up and say “ohKAY THEN”. She pitches the sultry, borderline spoken vocals brilliantly as her own co-produced synths gather momentum around her; ultimately climaxing in one hell of a strobe-friendly finale. It’s been one of my faves to play at DJ gigs in 2024: the girls that get it, get it!!
5. we can’t be friends (wait for your love) - Ariana Grande
I cried the first time I watched this video, you know. I was hungover and under-slept, but still. It’s just a gorgeous midtempo pop song on which Ariana, Max Martin and Ilya all prove why they’re still among the best of the best; and the Robyn comparisons are absolutely deserved. Isn’t it funny to think that back in Q1, folks were wondering if Ari was entering her flop era?!
4. Girl, so confusing featuring lorde - Charli xcx
But goodness ME, what a moment. A song that was somewhat reductively called a ‘diss track’ on the initial Brat release, it was turned completely on its head by the surprise addition of the very person it was thought to be about. And even better, the collaborative version isn’t just a straightforward middle-finger to ~the haters~; it’s something much deeper, more thoughtful, and ultimately more healing - a nuanced and cleverly-written evaluation of a difficult would-be friendship that’s also - lest we forget!!! - a total earworm. (Also: it mixes very pleasingly with Call The Shots by Girls Aloud.)
3. Never Need Me - Rachel Chinouriri
The pop-rock stan in me just loves this so, so much: I’ve been telling everyone who’ll listen that I want Rachel’s upcoming support slot on the Sabrina Carpenter tour to do huge things for her, and she really is an A-list popstar-in-waiting: not only is she a cracking singer-songwriter adept at thoughtful lyrics and contagious melodies, she’s also witty, hard-working (the most powerful marketing this era has had is her own social media), and has an ever-growing catalog of brilliant songs in her pocket. Never Need Me really is - and I’m sorry to be basic here - a FUCKIN TUNE.
2. Angel Of My Dreams - JADE
Every New Year I make a list of artists that I predict will feature highly on my next year-end list, and Jade’s been on there ever since Little Mix announced their hiatus. With expectations high, in 2024 she finally arrived - and good GOD did she deliver. Angel Of My Dreams has the kind of playbook-destroying energy that the best Girls Aloud and Gaga stuff has - it’s a wild beast of a song that could be at least three different ideas rolled together; a firecracker that sounds like it’s been beamed down from the future. I believe in a Jade supremacy, and that album can’t come fast enough.
1. Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan
In my end-of-year album list last year, I said “Wherever Chappell’s going next, I’ll be seated and ready”. Turns out, Chappell was going to GLOBAL DOMINATION. It’s strange to think Good Luck, Babe! is the only song she actually released in 2024, but what a song it is: a semi-ballad that’s at once defiant and yearning; sad and triumphant; from a place of turmoil but also emotional clarity.
Chappell’s got a brilliant knack for lyricism and obviously a fantastic voice, but my favourite thing about her is the inherent theatricality: that’s evident not just in the performance and presentation, but in the very DNA of the songs. In this case, the way the middle-8 goes from anger to relative calm to that glass-shattering “I TOLD YOU SOOOOOOO!!!!” is just godly. And let’s not forget, it’s also all gay as hell.
For many reasons (not least her own refreshingly honest reactions to newfound fame), her ongoing megastar status feels a little less secure than, say, Sabrina Carpenter’s; but whether she remains at the centre of mainstream public consciousness or not is almost immaterial: as long as she continues to write music as good at this, she’ll have a dedicated audience ready to lap it up. She’s one of the most exciting artists of her generation, and FRANKLY you’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.
The playlist, one more time, is here! And also literally here: