Top 100 Songs of 2024
Updated by Eric Weiner on December 13, 2024
Dear music world,
We’ve been making these lists for 15 years now and in all this time, it’s hard to remember a stronger year for the sort of music we love. The worlds where indie and pop meet.
The music industry is nonetheless at a fork in the road. Streaming giants Spotify, Apple Music, and more arrived years ago promising to shake things up and create new opportunities for musicians. They certainly delivered on some of their promises but here we are in a world where it’s harder than ever for musicians to make a living delivering their music to listeners. It takes so many moving parts, and so many puzzle pieces for an artist to really “make it” in 2024.
Combining revenue from streaming, touring, merch sales, publishing, brand collabs, and licensing has become a passable formula for the biggest artists in the world but too many artists are being left behind. And it’s truly so painful to watch.
As a boutique business in the music industry, The Wild Honey Pie is hoping to play our own small part in creating new opportunities for musicians and labels. To build new communities around music and to connect artists in meaningful ways with their biggest fans. The fans that will be evangelists for new releases and spread the gospel. We do this by creating unique and intimate fan experiences where musicians and fans come together as one, to feed off each other’s passion and excitement for music. And it seems to be working. We’re finding a way to create a new way to experience live music, paired with food from our favorite chefs and restauranteurs, that can transform casual listeners to super fans. With the ultimate goal of creating lifelong listeners.
Because our parties are so intimate, it’s important for fans not in attendance to experience this magic the next best way, with stunning music videos and live recordings from these shows on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and beyond. We’ve found that music videos are still a very powerful tool for introducing artists to new fans, and we love producing them. Why the streaming platforms aren’t all curating music videos for their users, or letting tastemakers do the heavy lifting, is beyond me. Spotify and the other streamers are just scratching the surface of how we can do right by the musicians of the world.
We’re hoping that these tech companies will think about what it will take to grow this intricate puzzle of the music industry and find new and exciting ways to help artists increase revenue opportunities. Some of our ideas? Prioritize music videos. And not just official videos, but live videos, sessions, concert videos, and more.
How about a Patreon-like feature that allows fans to pay their favorite bands an extra $10 a month for priority access to new music, merch drops, exclusive live recordings, and more. Hell, the tech giants can keep their 30% and increase their own profits while we’re at it.
I’d also love to see music news add to these streaming services. The blog world is all but dead, and something like this would enable a new generation of music tastemakers to share their passion for music discovery.
2024 saw the releases of some of my new all-time favorite songs. With iconic new releases from Chappell Roan, Beyoncé, Lizzy McAlpine, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Charli xcx and more, it felt like there were more cultural viral moments this year than anytime in recent history. I’m hoping the industry can use this moment to make this a more equitable industry for all involved, and not just those at the very top.
Take a listen to our favorites and hit us up on Threads with what you loved or thought was missing. Keep in the loop of all our favorites next year with our Buzzing playlist, and we’ll see you with more new music in 2025.
List curated by Eric Weiner, Dara Bankole, Karl Snyder, Sam Kirschberg, Kayla Silverman, Sandi Irani, and Ysabella Monton.
Starting our list with some artists we’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with over the past few years. Salt Cathedral is a band we’ve worked with for over a decade, believe it or not, and their new album was really so stunning. Don’t miss this one. Some other notable inclusions at the back of our top 100 are favorites Bartees Strange, Voxtrot, Hovvdy, Remi Wolf, Dayglow, and Faye Webster. We’re stans.
100. Salt Cathedral - "cellphone"
98. The Lemon Twigs - "How Can I Love Her More"
96. Devon Again - "cherry cola"
93. Amen Dunes - "Purple Land"
92. Gigi Perez - "Sailor Song"
91. Still Woozy - "Frida Kahlo"
89. Kacey Musgraves - "Cardinal"
88. Jelani Aryeh - "Breaking By"
87. Nilüfer Yanya - "Like I Say (I Runaway)"
86. Faye Webster - "He Loves Me Yeah!"
85. Katie Gavin - "Aftertaste"
84. TOLEDO - "In Yr Head (1818)"
83. Cavetown, Frankie Cosmos - "magic 8 ball"
81. Voxtrot - "Esprit de Cœur"
The next 20 songs we included on our list has some incredible standouts as well. The new single from Daisy the Great is getting us so excited for their new album in 2025. Joanna Sternberg is one of the most unique voices on this entire list, and Lola Young is an absolute star. Can’t wait for more from these artists. Of course, we were also excited to highlight more longtime favorite artists of The Wild Honey Pie with Clairo, Buzzsession alumni COIN, Hayley Heynderickx, SXSW Beehive alumni Adrianne Lenker, and Waxahachee.
80. Daisy the Great - "All The People"
77. Adrianne Lenker - "Free Treasure "
76. KAYTRANADA, Charlotte Day Wilson - "Still (feat. Charlotte Day Wilson)"
75. Joanna Sternberg - "A Country Dance"
73. The Last Dinner Party - "Nothing Matters"
71. Hayley Heynderickx - "Redwood (Anxious God)"
70. ROLE MODEL - "Something, Somehow, Someday"
68. Clairo - "Sexy to Someone"
66. beabadoobee - "Take A Bite"
65. Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman- "Right Back to It"
63. Luna Li - "Confusion Song"
61. Charley Crockett - "America"
As we make our way towards the top of this extremely subjective list of our top songs, we want to highlight the inclusion of Porches, Mannequin Pussy, new fave songwriter Cece Coakley, Gordi, Kate Bollington, our besties Local Natives, and Kristina Wilson, an artist who might not be a household name, but nonetheless released one of our favorite songs of the year.
60. Gracie Abrams - "That's So True"
58. MJ Lenderman - "You Don't Know The Shape I'm In"
57. Maggie Rogers - "Don't Forget Me"
55. Side Saddle - "All My Days"
54. Mannequin Pussy - "I Don't Know You"
52. Jessica Pratt - "The Last Year "
51. Kristina Wilson - "Mother Wound"
50. Kate Bollinger - "Any Day Now"
49. Beyoncé - "TEXAS HOLD 'EM"
46. Bonny Light Horseman, Eric D. Johnson, Josh Kaufman, Anaïs Mitchell - "The Clover"
45. Good Neighbours - "Weekend Boy"
44. Madi Diaz - "Everything Almost"
43. Screamland - "Father John Misty"
42. Billie Eilish - "BIRDS OF A FEATHER"
41. ROLE MODEL - "Look At That Woman"
No Honey Pie year end list of late would be complete without some music from The Japanese House and I also really want to highlight the inclusion of newcomer Romy Mars, recent fave quinnie, FINNEAS, Welcome Campers alumni Ashe, Maye Hawke, Tinashe, Bleachers, and artists we’re really hoping to work with in 2025, Madi Diaz and Nemahsis.
38. quinnie - "where does god go at commercial break"
37. Jamila Woods, duendita - "Tiny Garden"
36. FINNEAS - "For Cryin' Out Loud!"
33. Ashe - "Running Out Of TIme"
32. Medium Build - "John & Lydia"
31. Maya Hawke - "Jack London"
29. Iron & Wine, Fiona Apple - "All in Good Time"
26. MJ Lenderman - "She's Leaving You"
25. Christian Lee Hutson - "After Hours"
24. Nemahsis - "cloured concrete"
22. Madi Diaz, Lennon Stella - "One Less Question"
Top 20, here we go. This was incredibly hard to whittle down and rank, but ROLE MODEL has become one of my favorite artists and this new album was a gem. No shame here for including four songs from it in this list, including “The Dinner” and “Writing’s On The Walll”. Phoebe Go came out of no where and releases one of my fave songs of the last couple years, and a new song from our besties Great Good Fine Ok with Andrew McMahon was a sneaky favorite I listened to constantly over the past few months. So happy they played our Pizza Party at Graduate by Hilton in Berkeley. It was a no brainer to include rising stars Annie DiRusso and Jelani Aryeh, and some Honey Pie staples Charlie xcx, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Lizzy McAlpine, and Chappell Roan at the top of the list. While this list is totally subjective, these were without a doubt our top songs of the year and we hope you find some new faves here.
20. ROLE MODEL - "Writing's On The Wall"
19. Sammy Rae & The Friends - "Coming Home Song"
18. Sabrina Carpenter - "Sharpest Tool"
17. Charli xcx, Julian Casablancas - "Mean girls"
16. Pheobe Go - "Something You Were Trying"
15. Rachel Chinouriri - "Garden of Eden"
13. Great Good Fine Ok, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - "Let's Talk"
11. Beyoncé, Post Malone - "LEVII'S JEANS"
7. Charli xcx, Ariana Grande - "Sympathy is a knife"
6. Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Kacey Musgraves - "Overtime"
3. half•alive, Jordana - "Songs"
