I'm going to be brutally honest here... 2024 did not hold a lot of music that I absolutely loved. Sure there were songs and albums I listened to quite a lot (you'll find a lot of them below), but it wasn't as it's been in past years where I'm just awash with music that makes it incredibly difficult to choose which I'm going to feature on my end-of-year recap. I don't know why that is. Maybe I spent too much time listening to old favorites instead of exploring something new? Possibly!

#1 Nonetheless - Pet Shop Boys
Well that's a new one... second year in a row that Pet Shop Boys have landed in the top spot. To be honest, this album ranks way below their best, but is still a good listen that tries to look back to their more classic stuff. The fault that this album couldn't overcome for me was yet another fucking song featuring "bohemia." Please. For the love of God. Just stop.

#2 Sincere — Khalid
Gotta say, Khalid really pulled it all together this time, crafting a beautiful album which has a little variety where it counts. Often times when I didn't know what I wanted to listen to, I'd just push play on this one from August onward.

STRFKR — Parallel Realms
This is a very late entry on my list, given that I only found out about it when Kapgar had it on his list two days ago. But I love the band, and a few listens later it was an easy #3. Not that this is new. I often find out about their releases months after it gets released because it's not mainstream enough to land anywhere I'm at. Which is a shame, because they really know how to craft some catchy pop music.

#4 eternal sunshine — Ariana Grande
Miss Grande has always been phenomenally talented outside of music, with her appearances on Saturday Night Live being the stuff of legends (not to mention a little film called Wicked which you may have heard of). But it's music where she shines brightest, and this is probably my favorite album of hers yet.

#5 Tortured Poets Department — Taylor Swift
While I'm thrilled that TayTay escaped from her Folklore/Evermore bubble with Midnights, this feels like a backslide given that the back half goes right back into acoustically-flavored tracks that I just don't care for. My favorite Swift album is 1989, and the further she gets away from it, the more she loses me. Even so, the first half of TPD has enough material to make my list.

#6 Short n' Sweet — Sabrina Carpenter
I was able to safely ignore Sabrina until her single Espresso dropped. It was very catchy, got played way too much, and I finally went back to take a listen to the album it came from. Very nice mix of well-crafted tracks.

#7 Adult Contemporary — Chromeo
It boggles my mind that Chromeo never seems to get the recognition they should. Sure there was a single that gets some play here and there, but their music is consistently excellent and deserves better. This album is yet another example why.

#8 Ask That God — Empire of the Sun
Visually-driven Empire of the Sun always seems to have a single stuffed somewhere in my playlists, and I look forward to when they manage to get together to record something new. This album drop was a complete surprise, and I happened across it completely by accident.

#9 Radical Optimism — Dua Lipa
For the life of me I still don't understand where Dua Lipa came from. One minute I hear her on the radio with Elton John singing Cold Heart and the next thing I know she's everywhere. Including the Barbie movie and Argylle. This is the first album of hers that I've gotten in on from the ground floor, and it's quite a good one.

#10 F-1 Trillion — Post Malone
Posty does Country! And even though I only like half the tracks on this album, those are enough to make my list because they're really good songs.

#11 Hit Me Hard and Soft — Billie Eilish
It seems that there's never enough material I love on a Billie album to propel it onto my list. Until now. Her style is still not one that I latch onto easily, but she's had some songs that are so remarkable that I guess I can call myself a fan. The song that pushed this album over the top for me was this one, which is sublimely beautiful...

As a bit of a bonus, I'm including the "story behind the song" because whenever Finneas and Billie do these I am absolutely captivated by how they create...

#12 Deeper Well — Kasey Muskgraves
Kasey came out of nowhere with Golden Hour back in 2018, and I loved it so much it hit #2 on my list that year. It had a wonderful variety of beautiful songs that each had a different feeling, which is something I really appreciate. This time her songs all sound pretty much the same, which I don't like at all. But they are still beautifully crafted, so Deeper Well just made the cut.

And here are some singles that I ended up really enjoying in 2024...