50. Tobias “Grief”
49. Kacey Musgraves “Deeper Well”
With three years having passed since her last studio album release, the pressure was on for Kacey Musgraves’ March record Deeper Well. The album is excellent, but the title track is superlative; a mellow, stripped-down reflection on the personal growth Musgraves has experienced in the last few years. She speaks of her past with compassion, but firmly places herself on the other side of it, singing, “I’ve gotten older, now I know / how to take care of myself / I found a deeper well.” As low-key as the track is, it’s a powerful message. – Ali Meizels
48. Sharp Pins “Face of Youth Today”
Kai Slater’s power pop project Sharp Pins had a busy 2024, releasing not one but two full-length albums. The second track on the Chicago native’s excellent Mod Mayday 23 record kicked things into high gear with the low-fi retrotastic masterpiece “Face of Youth Today”, an upbeat, catchy-as-hell number that brought back memories of early Who as well as the Kinks’ rawest proto-punk moments. In exactly two minutes, the Lifeguard guitarist-vocalist hits it out of the park with a memorable lead guitar line punctuated with a snappy rat-a-tat snare. – Andy Mascola
47. Duster & Dirty Art Club “Anhedonia II”
46. Remi Wolf “Cinderella”
No one makes a danceable track like Remi Wolf. “Cinderella,” the lead single off of July’s “Big Ideas,” worms its way into your head on your first listen and stays there. Wolf’s signature catchy hooks are in full effect on this track, punctuated by gym-class-esque whistle blows. It all comes together to create the perfect song for strutting down the street, or getting ready for a night out, or any time you need a confidence boost. – Ali Meizels
45. Future Islands “The Thief”
44. Jack White “Tonight (Was a Long Time Ago)”
With its hard rock, start and stop guitar over evenly paced drums, “Tonight (Was A Long Time Ago)” could easily be interpreted as 2024’s answer to AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Jack White’s sixth solo studio album, No Name, was met with near-universal praise from both critics and fans, and with songs as strong as this, it’s easy to see why. “She’s flicking the light up on the stairs, the signal she’s finally there, you have to go now, before they come home, tonight was a long time ago,” Jack sings, his tense vocals helping to flesh out the song’s narrative that suggests a clandestine late-night rendezvous. – Andy Mascola
43. 22 Degree Halo “Swallows Wings”
42. Katie Gavin “Inconsolable”
“Inconsolable” is my favorite song of the year, a meditation on generational patterns of avoidance. In the chorus, Katie Gavin sings, “We’re from a long line of people we’d describe as inconsolable, we don’t know how to be helped / yeah, we’re from a whole huddle of households full of beds where nobody cuddled, we don’t know how to be held / but I’ve seen baby lizards running in the river when they opened their eyes, even though no one taught them how or why.” She gracefully unfolds a powerful comparison that manages to be impactful without being cloying, moving without being over-the-top. – Ali Meizels
41. JPEGMAFIA “JIHAD JOE”
