The desperados may be threatening to burn this world down but with the songs of 2018 – in text and in handy plug-in-and-keep playlists - you can turn off the radio, shut the blinds, turn up the speakers, and dance, or sing, or lie down and cry quietly, or get close to someone you loved and whisper in their ear, “thank you, next”.
Or, and here’s a thought, get up now and buy actual copies of these songs, or more songs, by these artists. Feed a musician!
So, these are my songs of the year. It’s not unequivocally the best songs (let’s not get into that argument), nor the ones that sold the most, not necessarily the ones which moved the culture forward or were even released as stand-alone tracks (remember when we called them singles?).
Nope, just songs that got played a lot around here, often ending up on one of my weekly playlists, and which I reckon tell us something about 2018. Or at least how it played out in my head.
Given there was the rule we could only have one song per artist, some people – and I’m looking at you with an apology Kylie Minogue, Tracey Thorn, Presets, Robyn, Okenyo, Miss Blanks – were a bit short-changed as some of my favourite songs of 2018 didn’t make the cut.
But keep an eye out for albums of the year tomorrow and you might find some extra material in that accompanying playlist.
For now, you can hear all of these songs-of-the-year in two easy to digest playlists cunningly engineered to be exactly 95 minutes long - scientifically proven* to be the ideal listening length.
So here, in no particular order, because this site doesn’t do star ratings and rankings are for the anally retentive and friendless, here are 50 songs that made 2018 a fine year.
*don’t ask for proof.
RAINING GLITTER – Kylie Minogue
THIS BITCH – Miss Blanks and Dugong Jr
HOUSE PARTIES AND BLACK BALLOONS - Captives
APESHIT – The Carters
20/20 - Okenyo
MY PEOPLE – Remi and Thando
MAKE ME FEEL – Janelle Monae
CRIPPLING SELF DOUBT AND A GENERAL LACK OF CONFIDENCE – Courtney Barnett
THE COMEBACK KID – Lindi Ortega
AN AIR CONDITIONED MAN – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
BETWEEN THE LINES - Robyn
THANK U, NEXT – Ariana Grande
MY MY MY! – Troye Sivan
SAVE SOME LOVE – Handsome
THIS IS AMERICA – Childish Gambino
BAD BAD NEWS – Leon Bridges
NEED YOU – Flight Facilities with Nika
MOLOTOV – Kira Puru
HARD FEELINGS – Antony & Cleopatra
SHORT COURT STYLE – Natalie Prass
FACES – Holy Holy
YOUR TRUE NAME – The Radio Dept.
HOLD ON KID – Shogun And The Sheets
BRING MY WALLS DOWN – Bloods
FAR TOO LATE – Mojo Juju
BLACK MAGIC – Baker Boy and Dallas Woods
GUITAR – Tracey Thorn
I’M NOT OK – H.E.R.
NORTHERLY – Laura Jean
DARWIN HEAT – Evelyn Ida Morris
TO LIVE A LIFE – First Aid Kit
SCHOOL OF DESIGN – Tiny Ruins
LOVE DECLINE – Abbe May
KAIJUFREM – Roman Filiu
ARGUING WITH GHOSTS – Gretchen Peters
NOBODY GETS WHAT THEY WANT ANYMORE – Marlon Williams with Aldous Harding
ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD – The Milk Carton Kids
REDEMPTION – Zacari and Babes Wodumo
EYES – Rufus Du Sol
YOU LET MY TYRES DOWN – Tropical Fuck Storm
THE ECHO FORGETS – George FitzGerald
TWO COLD NIGHTS IN BUFFALO – Courtney Marie Andrews
PG13 – Ara Koufax
A DOG WITH A BONE – Palace Of The King
TOOLS DOWN – The Presets
OFF MY MIND – Shelby Lynne
SHE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING – Rosanne Cash and Sam Phillips
LOVES LIES – Khalid and Normani
ALL THAT I SEE – Matt Corby
ALMOST HAD TO START A FIGHT/IN AND OUT OF PATIENCE – Parquet Courts
Tomorrow: the best albums of 2018.