After sharing our Top Songs of 2024: #100 – #51 yesterday, today I am excited to reveal the final, top 50 songs of 2024. The tracks that hit in new, unique and exciting ways. The songs that begged to be heard again and again.
Examples of excellence in songwriting, musicianship and storytelling, from artists big and small. Without further adieu…
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50. Softplay – Everything and Nothing
Is jangle-screamo a thing? If not, Softplay should definitely make it a thing, as they makes it work beautifully in this coarse yet melodic banger.
49. Hermanos Gutierrez – Sonido Cosmico
The brothers create a lovely, tranquil soundscape as their acoustic playing ripples with spatial grace. The perfect song for stargazing or other types of tripping.
48. Jontavious Willis – Keep Your Worries on the Dance Floor
This upcoming blues singer dropped one of the most free-spirited, playful soul songs of the year. It has all the trappings of a timeless hit, with echoes of 50’s R&B all the way to modern pop rock.
47. Hurray for the Riff Raff – Colossus of Roads
HftRR turns a passionate queer love into the greatest act of rebellion in modern conservative America over almost three minutes of lovely acoustic guitar work.
46. Sunny Day Real Estate – Novum Vetus
Getting a new track from these 90’s emo pioneers was already unexpected, but that this seven minute opus would be so good was a wonderful shock.
45. Highly Suspect – Summertime Voodoo
There’s an effortless cool to this strutting blues rocker. The Zeppelin guitars and soulful vocals transport you, as the lyrics paint a picture of dangerous living.
44. Laura Jane Grace – Birds Talk Too
A pure, punk rock bop coming in just shy of two minutes. Sounds like a lost Replacements nugget, which is one of the best compliments I can give.
43. Daisy Grenade – Liquor & Kerosene (feat. The Maine)
“Liquor & Kerosene, kind of embarrassing” may be one of the best lyrical hooks in pop-punk this year, and the rest of the song is good as hell too.
42. Puerto Mariel – Yo Soy el Solitario
The Guadalajaran artist mixes surf rock, ska and Latin music together into a fantastic musical blend on this awesome single.
41. Sheppard – Edge of the Earth
Insanely catchy alt pop that will get you dancing ecstatically when you are chanting along with the band.
40. Phish – Evolve
While still known best for their jams, Phish show they can still write a breezy, condensed pop rock number with ease. No evolving necessary.
39. Judah & the Lion – Floating in the Night
Sometimes the best songs come out of looking at ourselves during our worst times. Judah & the Lion mine a dark period for this powerful, honest track.
38. Angus & Julia Stone – No Boat No Airplane
An ethereal, melancholy folk song from the talented Australian duo that is softly haunting.
37. The Rolling People – Before It’s Gone
Big, anthemic alt rock from Britain’s latest rock n’ roll torchbearers.
36. Aaron Lee Tasjan – Nightmare
Tasjan tale of a trans person’s life in the south into a devastating song that speaks to so much of the fear the queer community lives with in modern America. Genuine, thought-provoking, heartfelt and simply a well-written track.
35. Royel Otis – Fried Rice
While this duo broke out with some choice covers this year, originals like “Fried Rice” show why the world should be rabid for this Australian alternative duo. Catchy jangle rock with indie rock fervor.
34. Guided by Voices – Serene King
With all the music GbV puts out, sometimes it’s hard to focus in on any singular track by the band, but this power pop nugget will lodge in your head as stubbornly as the band are about releasing more music in a year than most band’s do in a decade.
33. Thursday – Application for Release From the Dream
These emo/post-hardcore pioneers triumphantly returned this year with this skyrocketing tune, filled with the angular breaks, amphitheater drums, cascading vocals and poetic lyricism that have made the band a favorite of the scene for two decades.
32. The Last Dinner Party – The Feminine Urge
A sultry, indie rock feminist anthem from THE buzz band of 2024. You’ll have an urge to keep listening to them and this song.
31. Syd Sidney – Surrender
Syd moves past his quiet folk and light pop rock sound towards full-blown arena (pop) rock on this excellent single.
30. Daniel Nunnelee – Do You?
This disciple of Brian Wilson wrote a shimmering alt pop tune that will make you want to hit the road with your perfect partner in crime. A wonderful lyrical journey and free-spirited melody.
29. Ruston Kelly – The Wreckage
Kelly continues to dig deeper into his past and pain, writing lovely prose about acknowledging the wreckage addiction can leave in its wake, while also showing some kindness to himself (“I know I have a good heart, I just don’t know where to start”).
28. The Menzingers – The Last One Killed Me
The Philly punks looks at the sadness of growing old through the lens of watching all the bands you grew up with break-up, and realizing your own band’s time may soon be up. This one will get the pit in tears.
27. Joyner Lucas – Best for Me (feat. Jelly Roll)
Lucas narrates this letter to someone he was once close with who abandoned their relationship due to addiction with true power and conviction (and a helpful hook from man-of-the-moment and addict Jelly Roll).
26. Adeem the Artist – Part & Parcel
Adeem has a way of singing in a way that makes each line sound like it carries a century’s worth of experience and wisdom, even when singing about ordinary life moments like taking the train to buy guitar strings or using money earned from a sync deal to take their future partner on a date. The little details that sprinkle their lyrics enhance the moments, making them timeless.
25. Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Her Way Out
These 90’s survivors still sound fresh on this folksy, pop rock jam that will leave you wondering why they didn’t become as big as groups like Counting Crows.
24. honestav – I’d Rather Overdose (feat. Z)
If the crazy catchy blend of folk, alt. rock and hip-hop doesn’t hook you in, the surprisingly honest lyrics sung both from the perspective of a person in love with an addict and the addict themselves paints a full picture of a story too many people can sadly relate to.
23. The Lemon Twigs – My Golden Years
Peak power-pop, filled with the kind of 70’s harmonies and jangly arrangement that will have you feeling like you’re living in your own golden years.
22. Faulty Cognitions – Your Inheritance
Riotous lo-fi punk rock filled with the rage of Husker Du and the melodies of The Replacements. And when you dive into the lyrics, you realize these guys are also great storytellers, blasting out anthems for failures picking themselves up by the straps and turning their lives around.
21. Skegss – Spaceman
These scuzz-punks go mid-tempo for this slice of lyrical psychedelia (“I am so far from space man”), making you feel the sense of being lost and searching for yourself in the vastness of everything.
20. Charley Crockett – Solitary Road
Crockett leveled-up with this rootsy road ballad. The excellent production and Dylanesque lyrics calls to mind “All Along the Watchtower”, but Crockett’s bluesy delivery gives it a life all its own.
19. Glass Animals – Creatures in Heaven
It may not have been as big as “Heat Waves”, but Glass Animals‘ first single from their latest album hit with a perfect combination of nostalgia and heart to make it just as timeless.
18. Phantom Planet – Drive On
Perhaps embracing their label as the “California” band, the group wrote the perfect power pop song for driving up the 1 along the ocean as the fix for moving on from whatever hurt you.
17. Fantastic Cat – All My Fault
The cheeky lyrics in this endearing folk pop track will win you over as the narrator takes you from the initial flirtations with his paramour to the romantic conclusion.
16. The Calamatix – Loves, Lies and Alibis
Tim Armstrong‘s newest proteges create a breezy groove on this ska-infused roots reggae bop.
15. Gallowstreet – Consider it a Calling
Triumphant brass-band music with some hip-hop attitude thrown in. Music that will power you through and make you feel god-tier.
14. New Junk City – Cleveland
These Jersey punks wistfully capture unease of growing old and figuring out where you belong, connecting with lyrics like “Half my friends are getting sober, the other half are getting worse. I’m stuck right here in the middle.”
13. Cold War Kids – Heaven In Your Hands
This band never missteps, throwing out this single early in the year that asks big questions while grounding itself with slick, soul-rock hooks and danceable grooves.
12. Mt. Joy – Highway Queen
Standing by a troubled lover has never sounded so good as on this soaring, road-ready folk rock gem.
11. Me Like Bees – Stay Safe
These alt rockers had “So I’ll fake my own death, Like I fake pretty much everything else” stuck in my head for days, with the track’s stuttering rhythm and crescendoing guitars driving through me like a shock of lightning.
10. Reddy Hollow – Paper Days
What first struck me about “Paper Days”, from NY indie rock duo Reddy Hollow, were the vocals. There was such an assuredness to them, and this smooth, pure melodicism that I hadn’t heard since Fall Out Boy‘s Patrick Stump. As I listened to the song again (and again), I realized that every part of this track was on point. Superbly produced, the shuffling acoustic rhythm is a throwback to early greats like The Everly Brothers, even as the modern production and upbeat rock arrangement echoes a chilled-out Strokes. This is all-around one of the best undiscovered gems of 2024, and here’s hoping more people get turned-on to it in 2025.
9. Green Day – Strange Days Are Here to Stay
It was hard to choose one song from Saviors (my Top Album of 2024). It is truly the band’s best work in decades. What made “Strange Days Are Here to Stay” the eventual Best in Show (aside from “The American Dream is Killing Me” and Look Ma, No Brains” officially coming out in 2023) was how relevant it felt to the year. Depending on your world POV, lines like “These are the best of times, Twisted and borrowed times, These are the loneliest of times” all ring true. And if you can’t feel “Strange days are here to stay, Ever since Bowie died, It hasn’t been the same” then you’re living under a rock. Delivered through Armstrong’s understated yet emotive singing, the track just hits in a sad, meaningful way.
8. Death Lens – Cold World
There are certain labels I trust to always sign quality bands, and Epitaph is high on that list. It was this backing that led me to give Death Lens‘ single “Cold World” a spin, and man I’m glad I did. The post-hardcore band delivered a song that was stadium-ready, with epic sonics casting rays of musical fury across the spectrum. Lines like “a stench of rot watching the world decay” create the apocalyptic universe the band is living in, yet belting out “cold world, something’s gotta give you know” beckons all of us to hang on and battle our pride to hold out for love. Think of it as a rallying cry for an internal revolution.
7. Alien Ant Farm – Last DAntz
Nowhere on my 2024 bingo card did I have early 2000’s alt rockers Alien Ant Farm making an artistically successful comeback, but you should never count a good rocker out. A highlight from their latest Mantra~, “Last DAntz” (forgiving the silly pun) is as ear-catching as anything the band has ever released. Frontman Dryden Mitchell’s delivery of lines like “I used to confuse my joy and pain” entices with it’s subdued melancholy, before breaking free from the chains of misery with the fighting chant “I don’t want to dance with the dead alone, and be just another ghost on the radio.” In a way, the song is a battle cry for not being a forgotten voice in music, which Alien Ant Farm have proven they don’t deserve to be.
6. Charm of Finches – Clean Cut
Another great discovery from 2024 was this Australian sister-duo. Specializing in immaculately-crafted harmonies, what sets Charm of Finches apart from local acts like Lucius are the baroque touches and gothic aura surrounding their songs. Sharp first single “Clean Cut” was the perfect intro to their sound. The thumping opening drums and choral backing vocals create an ominous and ethereal vibe. while the sisters’ harmonized vocals pierce the haunting veil, powering the track with a melody that glides with a confident tenacity. Expect to hear more from this duo in the states in the years to come (if there is justice in the world).
5. Strung Out – New Gods
Though they have a die-hard following, Strung Out have still always felt like one of the most under-appreciated punk bands conquering the highways of the world. Songs like “New Gods” just solidify that belief. An ode to the bands like them “coming from your stereo” who earn the devout fan following through their powerhouse, blistering music, “New Gods” has everything that make Strung Out stand-out. Metal-tinged guitars, a fiery rhythm section that barrels down like a raging bulls, and Jason Cruz’s fierce yet melodic vocals crafting undeniably memorable lyrical hooks that will make you feel baptized in the holy waters of punk rock.
4. Pete Yorn – Someday, Someday
Though his songs can be mellow and serene, you should never sleep on Pete Yorn. When you’re not expecting it, he’ll come at you with a song that drags out some painful, emotional memory, and manages to heal the forgotten wound. Hearing Yorn’s soothing vocals sing “Should’ve seen the truth but you held it so tight,
Hidden so well that it fooled me” dug up moments seared into my memory, ones I would just as soon want to forget due to the hurt associated with them. Yet, as Yorn enters the chorus with his calming “ooohs” and telling himself “Someday I’ll, someday I’ll try, to forget the look in your eyes”, I felt less alone in my memories, and even more willing to forgive. It’s music that acts as self-care; folk rock therapy. The quiet power of Pete Yorn.
3. American Aquarium – Crier
BJ Barham has always been punk in the ethos he and his band American Aquarium live by, but never have they sounded as punk rock as they do on “Crier”. And as far as subject matter, writing a barn-burning rock n’ roll track about why it’s okay for men to cry walks the walk. The drummer sets the mood with a heavy, dark beat, fitting the growling vocals of Barham, as he sets up his argument, from the moment we’re torn from our mothers’ arms at birth, “trying to make sense of a world overwhelming”, and continues his use of anecdotes not to point out moments when we cry, but to enforce the harshness of the world and reality we live in, making crying not just understandable, but emotionally necessary for survivable. You “deserve to be a crier”, and as Barham keenly points out, even Jesus wept. Just more proof that Barham is one of the best American songwriters of his generation.
2. The Bolokos – Kouté Pou Tann (feat. Fanswa Ladrezeau)
When you listen to as much much music as I do, it seems almost impossible to discover something that makes you stop and say “wow, I’ve never heard anything like that”. So thank god for The Bolokos for coming along. Not since Gogol Bordello has a band truly turned punk rock on its head like the face painted musicians do. The island of Guadeloupe’s first punk band, this three piece group has a bedrock of familiar working class rock at their base, but the influences they pull from, Creole to Celtic to Latin to Caribbean sounds, make songs like the excellent “Koute Pou Tann” a fresh, revitalizing energy. With an assist from local hero Fanswa Ladrezeau, The Bolokos are carving their own sound and path towards greatness, and they deserve to be discovered worldwide.
- Donovan Woods – Back for the Funeral
Sometimes you watch a movie, and realize they just took two and a half hours to tell a story that could have been told in one. Donovan Woods takes a film’s worth of narrative, character development and heart and packs it into just over three minutes. Such as the talent of a first-class songwriter like Woods. Musically, the track has a hushed quality, reverberating with warm tones and soft acoustics that put you at ease, making all the easier for Woods’ expert storytelling to catch you off guard. His way with slice-of-life, relatable details puts you in the scenes (“Katie got divorced, moved back in with her mom
Needed a fresh start, dyed her hair blonde”), while setting up the story and backstory in just two lines (“We are older now, she’s still beautiful, I am back for the funeral”). The way in which Woods describes the circular journeys life can take us (“You can build yourself a rocket, you can ride it to the moon. You’ll still wake up some morning in your old bedroom. And it’s not gonna kill you but it feels like it will”) is all the more powerful due to his understated delivery. And with “When your shithead friend takes a month worth of pills” captures the mix of anger and grief at the core of the story’s narrator. More and more layers are built with each new stanza; the heartbreak from the dreams failed to achieved (“And we’ll laugh about all the young dumb dreams we had, And we’ll pretend we’re all only sad, Because we’re back for the funeral”), the loneliness of growing old and drifting apart (“And I was hoping I would see you, and how fucked up is that? That somebody’s gotta die for us to call each other back”). With each listen the song becomes more moving (it’s the only song from this year that actually brought tears to my eyes). It’s a song that will hold up as the years go on (probably better than The Big Freeze or Garden State), and reminds you of how incredible good songwriting can be.
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What an incredible year for music (if only music). Hold on to this positive part of 2024 and listen to all of these songs in our Top Songs of 2024 Playlist!
The Indy Review 
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