While catching up on reactions earlier this month to our list of the year’s best albums, I was amused to come across a Reddit thread in which some people seemed to think Charli xcx’s BRAT was included in the chart merely as a “token” pop entry, or, better still, as an attempt to manipulate SEO so we got clicks from Google searches of the record. Putting aside the fact that I doubt its inclusion in our list is dominating the top search entries for one of the year’s most talked-about albums anyway, I felt that it was paramount to clarify that it appeared high up in the list simply because I, and some of my tQ colleagues, think it’s one of the year’s best records, and so I commented just that – yes, I know these things probably shouldn’t bother me enough to do so.
Every December, when we publish our Albums of the Year and Reissues Etc. of the Year lists, which you can find here and here respectively, the default reaction is to wonder how many artists we might have made up or picked to be ‘deliberately obscure’, and it’s certainly something we’ve played up to in our social media sharing of them in the past. Our assessment of the year’s best tracks then is often a chance to demonstrate that we’re not just being wilfully pompous in our listening habits and do genuinely love and pay attention to great pop or ‘mainstream’ songs like those of Charli xcx and the several other artists whose work sits neatly in the chart below next to less established, ‘alternative’ acts, for want of a better word.
With the suggestion put to those voting that they should look to avoid overly complex or extended pieces of music in their thinking, the list below spans grudge-fuelled hip hop, bright Amapiano-referencing R&B, bizarro alt-pop, dynamic techno, DIY punk, some of the year’s biggest chart hits, and much more besides. You might be aware of some of those aforementioned hits, but we still hope you discover something new from what lies within, or at least revel in having your music taste confirmed if that’s something you enjoy.
2024 has, as with many others in this increasingly fractious media landscape, been a difficult year for tQ but it’s also been one of huge promise. With the launch of a newly designed site this past spring, things are moving far more smoothly than in the past several years, and we’re ever-grateful for the support that you, our dear readers, give us just by returning to the page or sharing an article on social media.
We also hugely appreciate those who continue to subscribe to the site and contribute what they can financially to make tQ sustainable in its current form. With that said, it would be remiss of me not to encourage those who aren’t yet signed up to one of our subscription tiers to do so if they’re able. You can do so here, and get access to a bunch of extra perks including bonus essays, podcasts, newsletters and exclusively-commissioned music. Subscribers can also listen to the several hours of music that make up our various end-of-year charts via our streaming playlists.
We hope you enjoy the Christmas break, whether you celebrate or not, and look forward to bringing you more Culture Countered in 2025. – Christian Eede, December 15, 2024
This chart was voted for by tQ staff and core writers.
