Top 10 Songs of 2022

Ok damn it’s the end of the year again. When I was looking through the songs to put on this list, there were actually a lot of good songs I’ve discovered this year. My final list that I sorted through for 2022 was way bigger than previous years. I definitely branched out again and really embraced my love for girl pop this year, as well as getting more serious into listening to music on vinyl. I’m very happy that I was able to explore and land on some truly amazing music this year. But before we distil it down to 10 tracks for the purpose of this list, I have some honourable mentions and it’s gon be a lot of songs that I wanna spotlight that missed the top 10:

• Out of Time - The Weeknd

• Johnny P’s Caddy - Benny the Butcher ft. J Cole

• Skinnydipped - BANKS

• Call my Bluff - Pusha T

• Holy Ghost - ASAP Rocky

• Watching Movies - Mac Miller

• The Darkest Part - Danger Mouse/Black Thought ft. Kid Sister/Raekwon

• Sometimes - Danger Mouse/Black Thought

• Dreams and Nightmares - Meek Mill

• Get it Right - Aretha Franklin

• Get Even - dvsn

• Raydar - JID

10. Arya - Nigo ft. Asap Rocky

This was the first song I really liked this year, I think it came out around the end of January. I never explored much of Nigo’s music before. Even though I knew he was a producer, he’s just so much more known for his exploits in fashion that I didn’t pay it any mind. But damn he dropped a whole ass album this year with some top notch features and Arya is my favourite out of the bunch. Rocky’s chorus flow is dope with where it takes breaks in the bars, and some really nice verses round out a truly well produced song to kick off the list.

9. The Party and the After Party

This was maybe my most replayed song of the year? At least in March/April it was cause Spotify rewind tells me otherwise lol. I love revisiting my favourite albums every year and seeing what new songs catch my attention, and this year there were 2 major instances, this being one of them (the other coming up on the list). It’s still kinda weird to me why I like this song so much cause it essentially repeats the same melody for its entire lengthy runtime, but I think it’s more of how the instrumental switches from the party to the acoustic after party part. Plus there are nice quirky parts like the sniffing sound in the second chorus. Overall the song just flows so naturally and the melody is too addictive, the Weeknd rarely disappoints.

8. N95 - Kendrick Lamar

Ok new Kendrick here, obviously I liked Mr Morale overall but some parts of it was a bit of a hit or miss for me. I think I’m actually in the minority because I liked the first part of the album more than the second part. But hey, a relisten in the future might change my mind. I was very impressed by how this album started, United in Grief was a nice opening track but the second I heard it transition to N95 I knew I was in for a new sound. I was trying to think if I ever heard Kendrick rap over a beat so blatantly digital on his own song, but I am super into it. This song feels fresh with every listen the way he switches his persona almost with each verse and his delivery is second to none (the last verse that starts in the shaky voice is my favourite). Everything about this song feels very deliberate, and it makes for a banger of a sonic experience.

7. Starry Eyes (Mike Dean Remix) - The Weeknd

Dawn FM was an album that grew on me a lot since my first listen, and I think the remix of Starry Eyes was one of the reasons I was prompted to give it more listens. I found this song in July after spending about 2 months traveling around and being with friends and family, which meant very little musical exploration during that time. It was a great breath of fresh air to discover a song like this to appreciate some new sounds. I mean this song made me appreciate the original Starry Eyes more, but I would still say it’s a fairly down to earth song without any risks. The Mike Dean remix though, damn it changes the game. The more sparse instrumental gives the short runtime of the song so much more punch, making you feel every line the Weeknd sings that much more. The outro synth solo is fucking ridiculous, I’ve listened to just that part over and over again and it really makes me miss the synth masterpieces Mike Dean was able to create with Kanye during the MDBTF phase.

6. Neck and Wrist - Pusha T ft. Jay Z

Ok it took me a lil while to come around to this song but god damn is this a fucking track. I love the eerie synths that Pharell chose to pair with some of the coldest verses spit this entire year. Every single bar fucking slaps hard and I like how different Pusha and Jay’s verses sound while both fitting the song so well. Cold as fuck chorus too, idk man this is the first song that comes to mind when I think “cold as fuck” is the best way I can describe it. Even in his old age Hov puts in easily one of his best verses in recent memory. The “hov was always gon be hov” line is nasty. I cannot believe how Pusha continues to progress his music even past Daytona. It’s Almost Dry is by far my favourite album of this year and has occupied so much of my listening time this year it’s insane. It’s got another entry coming up on this list. It’s really a shame this song missed the top 5 cause honestly this could have easily been the best song of the year too.

5. Ascension - Mac Miller

Damn GOOD:AM is really becoming a treasure trove of wildly conceptual songs that Mac executed so perfectly it blows my mind he was 23 when he made this album. More than any other album I think, so many of the songs here play out like it’s own individual narratives and it’s so fucking cool, I might have to rethink how I feel about GOOD:AM in great all time album territory. As I said, this song starts with its own conversation opening the narrative up. Mac has some of the best introspectively comedic bars that ever exist, the “met god before a church” line, or the “crucifix heavy who gon carry mine” lines are nice as heck and tie together the religious motifs that are all throughout the first verse so well. That extra long second verse he spits too is wild, he flows so freely over the beat and he switches flows so effortlessly, continuously emphasizing different syllables in his lines, when Mac is at his peak he makes it sound so smooth. And how he also kinda just riffs off lines in the outro of the songs, it’s just crazy how many different topics he covers in one song. Like this is what I’m saying when songs on this album have such distinct themes from each other. Man music is crazy sometimes, it’s really a beautiful thing and songs like this make me really appreciate the pure creativity of artists who are truly good at what they do.

4. Wesley’s Theory - Kendrick Lamar

On the topic of new songs that catch my attention when revisiting albums, I have no idea how I missed this one on TPAB, after proclaiming it to be my most listened to album last year. I mean nice to know I always got room to grow. Every single part of this song is enjoyable for me like damn. Every single part from the record crackle and sample that sets the tone, to the instant beat switch with some of the meanest storytelling verses I’ve ever heard. The first verse paints a picture of Kendrick making it big in his craft, only for the second verse to reveal that racial divides will always have others profiting off of his success far more than he could, while also dehumanizing black people in general. It’s a beautiful contrast to the verses with a chorus that wraps it together perfectly, with Kendrick unsure of what to do with his newfound hip hop fame. The line “little white lies but there’s no white collar in you” is one of my favourites for sure, just that second verse in general stands out so much in his interpretation of white america drinking from the black man’s cup. This album keeps getting better and better for me.

3. No Drug Like Me - Carly Rae Jepsen

Man I cannot believe how strong this year was for new music for me, with this song being 3rd. I think this year cemented Carly as a potential goat of pop music for me, she hits so consistently on all of her albums, even if they’re not amazing albums they’re still all really solid, and that type of consistency is so rare for pop artists who adjust their sounds so frequently to better fit with trends. This second track (second tracks always get me bruh) of Dedicated has one of the most addictive choruses I’ve ever heard. The way those 2 different synths play off of each other in the instrumental is crazy, it’s really got a groove to it. Also the lyrics to this chorus bruh, I love it. The blossoming lines coupled with the pulsing drums is perfection. I love when I like pop songs this much cause they’re so fun to replay over and over again, and I’m sure I did that a ton with this song this year.

2. Hurt Me Soul - Lupe Fiasco

Ok so the reason this song made it so high on the list is cause these the best bars I’ve heard all year straight up. I took a dive through Lupe Fiasco’s discography this year too, at least through Food and Liquour and The Cool, and boy can that man tell a story. I think I’m conflicted now as to who the storytelling goat is, cause I used to think it was prime Eminem hands down, but Lupe is in that conversation for sure. The first line of this song got me instantly hooked “Now I ain’t tryina be the greatest / I used to hate hip hop” cause who the fuck starts a song like that. But you get to hear his perspective of coming around to hip hop from seeing the benefits of uniting communities together, yet still recognizing the harm that it can promote by glamorizing certain things (not unlike Wesley’s Theory). It’s a truly beautiful message in the song. And we haven’t even gotten to my favourite part which is that incredible last verse he spits, one of my instantly favourite verses of all time. The way he flows to rhyme those ending syllables so frequently and so consistently gives a smoother MF Doom type feel. Which is amazing cause my only gripe on why I personally don’t listen to much Doom is that his words are so aggressive when he rhymes the amount of syllables he does. I like how he changes up the chorus as well with every verse, just a nice touch.

1. Diet Coke - Pusha T

Just looking down this list, I don’t think this is the best song of the year, but god damn is this my favourite song for sure. It’s really a fairly simplistic song but I’ve repeated this song so many times it’s crazy. This song is a winning combo for me hands down, I’m a simple man sometimes when it comes to music. Kanye and 88 Keys on the beat, creating a throwback 2000s chipmunk soul beat. Pusha T, my favourite MC, spitting his shit over the keys. It don’t get much better than this for me. So many memorable bars, starting right off with “Imaginary players ain’t been coached right”, to “My tunnel vision’s better under stove lights'', “I’m still pitching batter up”, “Young G’s like we Hov and Puff” man can this dude rap. I don’t even have that much to say about this song, Pusha’s literally been rapping about the same thing for his entire career and I still eat that shit up. And the beat don’t even change through the whole song, there ain’t much to analyze here. It’s just truly that enjoyable for me, oftentimes I just need some great music to mindlessly listen to, and that’s why it’s my favourite song of the year.