What music stars were really listening to in 2024: ‘I appear on my own top 10 three times .. every stream helps!’

19 hours ago 1

Olly Alexander

Britain’s 2024 Eurovision entrant

I appear on my own list three times because every stream helps: I’ve got to get my numbers up! Dizzy was a big song for me this year. It had so much expectation on it, because it was the Eurovision song. The reception to it was both good and quite vicious. It came 18th in the contest and didn’t crack the Top 40, but I didn’t feel disappointed because I just love it.

I was surprised there wasn’t more new music on my list. I do listen to it, but I guess Beyoncé’s Bodyguard – well, outside of my own – was the only new music from 2024. Bodyguard touched my heart. It has that optimistic nostalgia sound.

Melody by Plustwo is absolutely amazing. It’s this random Italo disco song from 1983, by a duo who disbanded pretty soon after. It was fed to me by the algorithm because I was in a big 80s disco world, while making Polari, my next album. The Loving Kind by Girls Aloud is there because I performed with them in the summer at Brighton Pride. It wasn’t on their tour setlist but I asked them to do it and they did, so that was special.

Lauren Mayberry

Chvrches vocalist and synthpop solo artist

I expected there to be a lot of songs from [Taylor Swift’s] Tortured Poets Department, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t all that album. I feel like it’s rare to find something that is part of mainstream monoculture that you can talk about to any random person anywhere. There are only a few of those artists left now.

Speaking of monoculture, Defying Gravity being on there is disturbing because the soundtrack hasn’t been out that long. I found the film really emotional; I did small cries that I didn’t expect to do. Cynthia Erivo’s vocals on this are insane and it’s that lift on “if you care to find me / Look to the western skies” that gets me. That and the big “I told you so” line in Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe are the ones I try and sing at home, but never get close.

Most of the time I buy older records, so I won’t stream them, which is why my list has a lot of new stuff. The Jade single, Angel of My Dreams, is so fun and weird. It sounds like someone who is enjoying being free to break the rules. I like to think of myself as a woman of layers, which is why the Cure is there next to Jade. It was a long wait for them to come back and Warsong is the one I go back to a lot: the freaky organ sound really appeals to me.

Molly Tuttle

Grammy-winning bluegrass star

Every year my list has one hip-hop or rap song on it randomly. I’ll get obsessed with certain albums or artists that I don’t listen to all the time. I love Kendrick Lamar and earlier this year I got really invested in the rap beef between him and Drake. So I listened to Not Like Us on repeat, then started hearing it everywhere and it became one of the songs of the summer. Drake definitely lost the battle.

I was also surprised that my second most-listened-to song was O Cumberland River by Old Crow Medicine Show. My boyfriend is in the band. I haven’t told him that he’s my No 2 song and he’d probably be surprised he’s even in my Top 10. But when I don’t see him for a while I listen to some of their music. I guess I just fixated on that one song which I hadn’t heard before we started dating. They’ve actually stopped performing it, so I don’t get to hear them sing it and I keep telling them they need to put it back on the setlist.

Nilüfer Yanya

Acclaimed London alt-rocker

Crucify by Tori Amos is my favourite discovery of the year. I was researching album names and artwork when I was designing my own album stuff, and I came across Little Earthquakes. I knew her Boys From Pele album because a teacher showed it to me it when I was a teenager but I didn’t really appreciate it. She’s a super-interesting songwriter.

Apple by Charli xcx is quite a random song in the context of my list. I have an explanation; we had to do a cover for a radio station and we chose Apple. So that’s why it has so many plays. It’s a great song, I’m not ashamed, but I’ve never even tried to do the TikTok dance.

This year my listening has been either I put something on when I’m on a long journey, or I’ve just got home and I’m tired and I want something calming. Or I’m going for a run and need something to listen to. The Brittany Howard song, Prove It to You, is one of the running songs, as is Empress Of’s What’s Love. It’s uplifting and makes me feel like I can do it.

I find [Big Thief vocalist] Adrianne Lenker’s solo music calms my nervous system. It’s something I can have on repeat without noticing for about four hours and then I’m like: “Maybe I should change it.” Her solo albums are very seamless, they flow into each other, so you can just disappear into it.

Sherelle

Rising DJ and producer

My end-of list is usually filled with music that is very reflective of my mood for that year. I had one where it was just full-blown depression and misery. Whereas this one, I’ve had a really fantastic year and it shows with its kind of party mood. I’ve been trying to listen to a lot of songs that are outside of electronic music to expand my horizons and bring more to the table as an artist.

I like that my Top 10 is a mixed bag of genres. You’ve got a song like Dust to Dust by [70s disco band] Cloud One, which I play when I get home and it immediately puts me in a space of being at peace. On the opposite side of things is Where Da Melph At by [New Orleans bounce artist] Katey Red. I’ll be putting that one on because I’ve landed and am about to jump into the car to play at the rave. I do think I need a recount though. I’ve been listening to a lot of [US rapper] Sexxy Red’s music and can’t believe she’s not in my Top 10. Justice for Sexxy Red.

Rachel Chinouriri

Soulful Britpop revivalist

I love that my Top 10 is such a huge mix; I’ve got my gym stuff, my party stuff, my love stuff, my own album. It describes my entire personality. Von Dutch is my gym song, but also my shower song, my club song, my song for walking to the train station. It became part of my life ethos for 2024. I did have a Brat summer but in a very different way. If this album had come out last year I would have been a real brat, but this year I’ve been on my healthy, no drinking, no partying sort of thing because of my album coming out.

I have no clue as to why Never Need Me, my own song, is on there. I have a big mirror in my room and I look at myself and practise before live shows, so that song must have been the top one.

I met my boyfriend last December and on 7 January we went on a trip to the Peak District. We were in a cabin in the middle of the night listening to the radio and Ryley Crowe by Foreign Fields came on and we both went dead quiet. It was like a lullaby. We’ve just played it back to back since then. It’s our song.

Sarah Cracknell

Saint Etienne vocalist

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So it appears that [Latin experimental artist] Helado Negro’s I Just Want to Wake Up With You is my most-played song and I’m not surprised. From the moment I heard it I’ve been a bit obsessed and keep sharing it with everybody I know! Cut to me seeing the video and then I was really mind-blown. I love the fact that it’s one of those linear tracks, not a lot changes or happens but it hits an emotional point that is universal.

I’m also thrilled that I finally feel comfortable to come out of my hiding place and reveal how much of a yacht rock fan I am, and always have been. There are quite a few groups that I like in the genre but I think Steely Dan tread such a perfect line between pop, melancholy and slightly overblown chord structures. They also have lyrics a bit like mine, a lot of painting pictures and scenarios, adding characters and a story. Check Rikki Don’t Lose That Number and Peg: both great and there are plenty more where they came from. Happy to call myself a Dan Fan! Apparently that’s a thing.

I think my Top 10 also shows how much pure pop and dance I enjoy, there’s a lot of dancing around my kitchen involved!

Noodles from the Offspring

Spiky-haired pop punk veteran

My list is kind of skewed because I listen to Offspring songs when I’m rehearsing and getting ready to play the songs live. That’s why my first two songs are OK, But This Is the Last Time and Make It All Right from our latest record. I always feel a little weird if I’m in my car and our music comes on. I don’t want people to see me listening to my own music. It seems a bit masturbatory, so I’ll usually change the channel. But it is nice if it’s a song I haven’t heard a lot or recently on the radio, particularly a song that’s a deeper cut.

Sorry Baby is my friend’s band and they are a little more hardcore than some of the melodic punk I listen to a lot. I also love BAD LUCK! because it breaks a lot of pop rules and Jhariah reminds me of Steam Powered Giraffe in the theatricality of his music. I’m also a big fan of Amyl and the Sniffers from Australia who I’m surprised aren’t on this list. They are punk rock, really in your face, and their music has a different sense of melody, harmony and rhythm. Go listen to Security from their first album to hear what I mean.

Yasmin Williams

Finger-picking folk composer

Even though Spotify said I’ve listened to 65,000 minutes of music this year, I feel like I’ve listened to less this year than any other year. It’s honestly because many of these songs in my Top 10 have been on repeat for most of the year. In the midst of the ever-changing landscape of touring, I’ve sought some grounding and stability in the music I’ve listened to. So I wasn’t really surprised by anything in my year-end list.

I did think Walkin’ by Cleve Francis would be No 2 because I’ve blasted that song for so long. I stumbled upon his music this year researching about the now-defunct Black Country Music Association he was a part of in the 1990s. He turned out to be local to me and has played in the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia loads of times. Walkin’ is a really good pop-country song with relatable lyrics, a catchy musical arrangement and his voice sounds great. It was so cool to find this song because I wasn’t aware there’s even more Black country folks who didn’t get their notoriety or acclaim when they should have, but they were still making great music with limited to no funding or help.

Poppy

Ferocious-vocalled pop-metaller

My top song this year is Plantasia by Mort Garson. It’s an instrumental song that’s supposed to help your plants grow, but I listen to it a lot when I’m travelling and on planes, so I think that’s why it’s so high on my list. Apparently I listened to Mort Garson for 718 minutes this year. I cannot vouch for whether or not it actually helps your plants grow.

I am one of those people who when I find a song or album I like, I just play them to death. Which is basically anything by the Violent Femmes, so it makes sense that Kiss Off is in my Top 10 ten. I also love road trips and listening to soundtracks and musicals when I’m in the car. I have a fond memory of driving to a festival in Las Vegas with my manager and we were listening to The Little Mermaid soundtrack. Though I also can’t get enough of the original Mulan soundtrack and in particular, I’ll Make a Man Out of You, so it’s a shame it’s missed out on my top 10 this year.

Pip Millett

Neo-soul star

I’m kind of surprised by my Top 10 list and how eclectic it is. I thought I had been unbothered by lots of music this year, but clearly I’ve been listening to loads of different stuff. Sober is No 1 because it has such a nostalgic feel about it. I feel like I’m a young kid at a fair when I listen to it. I’ve also loved Nia Smith and Tendai’s music because not only are they both incredible artists, they are also genuinely lovely people. Not every artist you meet is like that.

I started this year hating on men quite a bit, which is partly why Cobra is so high on my list. I like the anger and rockiness behind the song. If you put it on when you are walking down the street, you feel so powerful – like you’re stomping down the street. It makes me feel like I’m Beyoncé in her music video for Hold Up when she’s got the baseball bat in her hand and is about to smash up the car. Listening to powerful women like Megan Thee Stallion and Doechii has helped me set better boundaries with men in my life this year.

Sofia Kourtesis

Peruvian house DJ and producer

The last couple of months I’ve been a little down and when I listen to Caribou’s Honey it’s like my morning coffee. It’s the kind of song that really pushes me out of bed and gives me energy. Honey is basically all I’ve been listening to the last couple months and it’s also one of my favourite tracks to DJ at festivals right now.

Disarm is also one of my favourite tracks ever. Since my dad died a few years ago, I’ve really missed Peru and have felt very vulnerable. Sometimes, when you feel pain, you want to fully go through it and this is the song I listen to when I really want to feel it. The lyrics are such beautiful poetry and the way Billy Corgan sings it with all his heart, it’s so special. I haven’t ever found another song quite like it. Disarm will be in my Top 10 for years.

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