Quite a bit has changed in the eight years since Friday Nights Alone first launched. I write for a living full time now, and consequently I write for fun… never. But I still find myself spending more Friday nights at home than not, and as we close out 2024, I thought I would take advantage of mandatory PTO to talk about some of my favorite pop songs that came out of the dumpster fire of a year that we call 2024.

I will note that these are not the BEST songs of 2024, nor are they necessarily the ones I’ve played the most. They’re simply the ones that resonated most with me, personally. I’ve left some great artistry off this list, because frankly I wasn’t trying to expand my horizons in 2024, I was usually just trying to make it through the week.

10. FLETCHER – “Doing Better”

At the start of this summer, I created two playlists: “Summer of Longing” and “Summer of Lusting.” (Plan for the life you want, right?) However, both were quickly supplanted by “Summer of Strugglin’,” which remained in heavy rotation well into the waning hours of 2024.

“I told you in December that you wouldn’t recognize me”

2024 has been a bit of a slog, and FLETCHER’s “Doing Better” is an apt track for year where personal growth could often be found only in rooms that were fully engulfed in flames. Quit your job, move to a new city, get that revenge bod, hard launch your relationship or soft launch your divorce. Whatever you chose to do this year, 2023 You wouldn’t recognize the person you became.

9. Sabrina Carpenter – “Espresso”

Sabrina Carpenter was really a vibe this year, wasn’t she?

“Espresso” was an instant inductee into my Song of the Summer Hall of Fame, claiming its seat on the dais next to 2019’s “Cruel Summer” (the always and forever GOAT), 2016’s “Closer,” 2015’s “Cool For the Summer,” and 2010’s “Teenage Dream.” When this track dropped in April, I immediately was filled with visions of a Magnum P.I. summer, filled with yacht rock and suntan lotion.

Ultimately, I got more of a Von dutch Summer – an unrelenting sprint that leaves you slush-mouthed and bloodied at the end. But for those of you that got to enjoy a true hot dog legs summer, I will say that it looked pretty fun. If I start working on my Tom Selleck mustache now, maybe it’ll be ready in time for next summer.

8. Remi Wolf – “Toro”

Remi Wolf has been around for a minute, but Big Ideas immediately jumped to the top of my rotation when it came out. Not all of these picks have a real in-depth thesis, but I will say that Remi Wolf’s music simultaneously makes me feel like I did in the summer of ’89, when I watched 3-2-1 Contact every day and like I did in the summer of ’09, when I played “Me & Mr. Jones” on repeat and spent my Saturdays downing Seven-and-7’s and Bud Heavys in the gloom of The Matador (may she rest in peace). Make of that what you will.

7. Taylor Swift – “The Manuscript”

“The Manuscript” is the final track of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. In other words, it’s a deep cut from Side B of album of deep cuts. While it’s generally not a critic or fan favorite, I immediately fell in love with how devastatingly understated it was.

I’m not surprised that Taylor Swift chose this as the final surprise song of The Eras Tour. To be a Taylor Swift fan is to be bought in on Taylor Swift as both a person and as an avatar for our shared experience. When she sings “Afterwards she only ate kids’ cereal / And couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mother’s bed,” is she talking about herself or is she talking about YOU?

6. Maggie Rogers – “The Kill”

Don’t Forget Me came out of the day after “Espresso” (what a week that was) and immediately lunged straight for my jugular. While this is not my favorite song on this album (more on that later), this was my most listened track of 2024 according to Spotify, and I’m not surprised. Leonard Cohen said that love was learning how to shoot at someone who outdrew ya; but Maggie’s willing to close the distance before delivering the blow.

5. Chappell Roan – “Pink Pony Club”

I was originally going to omit this track because it was released in 2023, but… how could I? While we had Brat Summer and I think “Espresso” was the undisputed Song of the Summer, “Pink Pony Club” is the clearest contender for the song of the year and I think Chappell Roan is likely to emerge as the most influential artist to come out of 2024.

Expressions of joy were often hard-won and hard-to-find this year, and in my life, this song was the soundtrack to many of them: seeing queer friends belt this out at karaoke, watching my best friend belt this out at her wedding, even seeing Chappell belt it out alongside her parents.

4. Charli xcx – “Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde”

Brat was obviously a phenomena and I won’t be able to do it justice in this list (although I want to note that Barack Obama choosing “365” and not “360” for his annual playlist is WILD). I love almost all of the tracks on this album, but metanarrative behind this track remains one of my favorite bits of pop culture lore for the year.

3. Taylor Swift – “But Daddy I Love Him”

I tried not to repeat artists on this list, but is one of two exceptions I allowed myself. The Tortured Poets Department is a sprawling, self-indulgent album that was unlikely to be a critical or commercial favorite in the same way that “1989” or “Folklore” were. Which makes it all the more interesting that she chose this venue – an album for the fans – to air some grievances with them. The fact she returns to her country roots to make this point makes the song all the more interesting.

2. Maggie Rogers – “If Now Was Then”

This was not my most listened-to Maggie Rogers song in 2024, but it’s definitely the one I personally find most devastating. There is something so gut-wrenchingly visceral the lament, “But if now was then / I would get out of my head / I would touch your chest I would / Break the bed I would / Say the things that I / Never said,” followed by that rueful “but you can’t take it back.” Regardless of the last time you experienced longing or loss, by the time this song ends you want to curl up in the fetal position and wail along with Maggie, “I’m sorry / I’m sorry / I’m sorry.”

1. Gracie Abrams – “Risk”

There are actually two Gracie Abrams songs that carried equal weight for me, this year: “Risk” and “I Love You, I’m Sorry.” Both tell story of someone who approaches relationships the same way that the Kool Aid Man approaches brick walls. We’re going with “Risk” for this list, partially because I’d like to end with a hint of optimism, and partially because this song always makes me think of the eighties TV show “thirtysomething,” for reasons that are known only to the depths of my subconscious and the Almighty.

Honorable Mention: Everything from “Cowboy Carter”

Cowboy Carter is an amazing album that will have a lasting impact on how we think about country music. I also wasn’t really in the mood to listen to country music, this year. My favorite from this album is “16 Carriages” for its stark, soaring vocals, but if I’m being honest, the Beyoncé song I listened to most in 2024 was Lemonade’s “Freedom,” while I vainly dreamed of a slightly better tomorrow.

Dishonorable Mention: Addison Rae – “Diet Pepsi”

“Diet Pepsi” is a silly, infectious pop track. As Nathan Hubbard and Nora Princiotti noted on “Every Single Album,” one of the cruel ironies of 2024 is that Tate McRae worked really hard to have a breakout hit this year, only to get absolutely bulldozed by Addison Rae. It makes this list solely for the line “my lips reflect off his cross-gold chain,” which I always hear as “Costco chain.” Personally, I think my version gives the song deeper meaning, because it definitely sounds like she’s singing to a guy who buys his jewelry at a warehouse store.

Still In Heavy Rotation:

• Noah Kahan – Stick Season
• Carly Rae Jepsen – The Loneliest Time / The Loveliest Time
• SZA – SOS
• Tove Lo’s “No One Dies From Love”
• Terror Jr’s Entire Discography

Good luck in 2025, kids.