It’s already that time again: below you’ll find my favorite 100 songs of the 2020s so far, ranked in order. It feels bizarre that I’m already dissecting songs from the last five years under the lens of them being the encapsulation of the decade so far. That might sound uselessly cyclical or redundant, but the last five years have felt and acted like no other half decade span I’ve lived through. The elasticity of time has never been more dynamic, and with it our perception of art and trends. Compounded with that, the last few years have been taxing beyond belief, molding our brains into contorted forms of what they once were. How much of my changing perception is due to these traumatic times versus just being a general byproduct of aging, times changing, and life events naturally accumulating brain wrinkles?

In making this list, I’ve been constantly looking back at the other decade-recapping lists I’ve done, taking note at what kind of songs rank high and why. These last five years already feel, music-wise, so distinct from the five years preceding the 2020s. Again, this might just be wholly due to the pandemic, and without it would have felt like 2019 part two in 2020 (it honestly started to in the beginning there).

What you’ll find below is a collection of 100 songs, ranked, with little blurbs (not Warm Visions descriptions) and stream links. It’s predominantly “indie rock, pop and electronic,” with a few crowd-pleaser mainstream pop tracks in the mix too. There are artists that repeat, but I only pull one song per project. I make a better note of it at the end of the list, but my Top 10 picks really adequately reflect my desired mental state as we hit the halfway point of the 2020s. I hope you enjoy looking back at these songs, or finding new ones you may have missed.

You can listen along to all of these with my Tidal and Spotify playlists.

100. NATION OF LANGUAGE – “The Wall & I” (2020)
An epic closer to an album that I thought was alright era worship. Gets a buff from coming out during the early pandemic, setting itself up for daydreams of times when we could be outside with our friends again. An auspicious sign for a band about to get BIG.

99. EN ATTENDANT ANA – “Wonder” (2023)
Divine jangle pop of the highest order. Calls back to golden days of the genre while still showing up as new and refreshing.

98. JAMES K & HOODIE – “Scorpio” (2023)
One of the first noises we hear in this song, along with the simple drum beat, is the sound of electronic buzzing, which eventually fades out to make way for the dubby bass and washes of dreamy guitar. This is pure shoegaze dream pop worship, with a potential trip hop twist, with fair comparisons to the greats: Cocteau Twins, Portishead, you name it. Above comparison though, this is a beautiful, slept-on track that perfectly nails the humid malaise I’ve felt stuck in for the last three years in the 2020s.

97. SOCCER MOMMY – “circle the drain” (2020)
One of the best chorus melodies of the decade so far. It felt like a classic of the era upon release.

96. CHAPPELL ROAN – “Good Luck, Babe!” (2024)
An undeniably fun, catchy pop song that deserves all the flowers it’s received. Plus it contains some sonic similarities to one of my favorite Japanese pop songs, Miharu Koshi’s “Ryugujyo No Koibito,” so that grants it some extra points.

95. JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ – “Visions” (2021)
Leave it to a Scandinavian to imagine a utopic world of harmony in a decade like this. Offers a safe haven in a hailstorm of terror.

94. ELYSIA CRAMPTON – “Grove (feat. Embaci)” (2020)
A beautiful moment at twilight on an LP that’s full of beautiful, cathartic moments. Embaci’s raw, intimate vocals provide a weight of clarity amongst a bleary, shifting instrumental of multi-layered guitar pickings and ominous walls of synths. A simple song that channels the sleep-deprived cocktail of bliss and uncertainty.

93. SADE – “Young Lion” (2024)
Sade’s first original song in half a decade, written for her trans son. If this isn’t an essential song for these demented, backwards times, I don’t know what is. A beacon of light shining through toxic clouds.

92. CFCF – “Night/Day/Work/Home” (2021)
Plug me into the mainframe of y2k-era Japanese acid and breaks, a vision of a enshittified future of constant economic growth and further isolation from each other. A thrilling eight-minute journey through this technopolis.

91. DEHD – “Bad Love” (2022)
Entered into the pantheon of songs that absolutely rip with the windows rolled down, or in headphones on one of the first few nice days of the year. Not many bands channel “summer” anymore. Early 2010s had a surplus of them, Dehd is here to be the torchbearer now.

90. YOLA – “Dancing Away In Tears” (2021)
Dazzling, devastating and triumphant disco record that soundtracked my summer 2021. One of the best chorus melodies of the decade so far.

89. JESSY LANZA – “Badly” (2020)
This was my immediate highlight off of Jessy Lanza’s 2020 album, but hearing it performed live at one of my first concerts “post-“pandemic felt so cathartic and freeing. So many little moving parts locking together in harmony and groove. What Jessy Lanza is the best at.

88. ROMY – “Lifetime” (2020)
This song dropping in the back half of 2020 conjured up such intense feelings of interpersonal connection that it almost felt like I was there with someone, dancing in a foggy club, cooped up in my studio apartment. I mean, I was with my person, and I could have bought a fog machine, but we’re talking about practicality here. A totally sublime celebration of monogamy. Love ya!

87. CHAT PILE – “Why” (2022)
Why do people have to live outside? We have the resources, we have the means.

86. COURTESY – “Night Journeys II” (2023)
Who doesn’t love to ponder at what wonders the infinite night holds? Danish producer Courtesy channels the quivering liminality of somnambulist adventures with pulsating and blinking electronics and spaced-out, disembodied vocals beamed in from some unearthly place. Free-floating like an untethered astronaut, but being pulled into an unseen orbit.

85. ARMAND HAMMER – “Pommelhorse (feat. Curly Castro)” (2020)
Skating across an alien beat by August Fanon, sourced from Brian Eno & Robert Fripp’s 1973 album (No Pussyfooting), billy woods and ELUCID showcase what they’re best at: examining the resilience of hope (or whatever you’d like to call this) against torrential collapse, societally and interpersonally. It’s a blown out, full open sky chuckle against doomsday.

84. LITTLE SIMZ – “Woman (feat. Cleo Sol)” (2021)
An authentic, unironic, feel-good, celebratory song. Something we got shockingly few of the last few years.

83. SHANNON & THE CLAMS – “Vanishing” (2021)
The fact that Shannon Shaw’s vocal performance on this song is being overlooked by so many as potentially the best of the 20s so far is criminal. I’m doing my part. Shaw is incredible.

82. BILLY WOODS – “Pollo Rico” (2022)
“I hope there’s nothing but love in paradise”

81. DUA LIPA – “Don’t Start Now” (2020)
If this song was just the chorus, it could have hit the top 20 songs of the decade so far. No, not even the chorus. The hook to the chorus. So many cornball moments to make it more digestible but it just happens to have one of the most sublime bundled within.

80. COCO – “Last of the Loving” (2021)
A cute little love song with enough energy to wrap any listener in. An instant good vibe.

79. CINDY LEE – “Lucifer Stand” (2020)
The centerpiece of Cindy Lee’s What’s Tonight To Eternity: a seven-plus minute deconstruction of the psyche that stalks like a horror villain. Its synths warp like VHS as we get deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole we’ve been exploring throughout the whole record. It culminates in this long monologue, from what seems like either a daytime talk show or a call-in radio show, of a woman being tormented by Satan. It’s a chilling, cinematic piece of music that brings me into its universe every time.

78. LUNAR VACATION – “Mold” (2021)
If you’re looking for the best hooks and melodies of the 2020s, Lunar Vacation claims a stake over a GOOD portion of them. Bangers on bangers.

77. DANIEL AVERY – “Wall of Sleep (feat. HAAi)” (2022)
This is how it feels to chew 5ive gum.

76. BLUNT CHUNKS – “Natural Actors” (2022)
One of those artists that I feel like a natural champion of (although I didn’t feature her 2024 album that much – sorry!). Blunt Chunks’ self-titled EP from 2022 was a revelation for me that year, and “Natural Actors” was a song that to this day still heavily bleeds with emotion and taps into the sense of ennui that continues to persist five years deep into the decade + pandemic. Surrounded by malaise, desires, bad decisions, vice-induced euphoria and more. She struck a vein on this one and the full EP, I must say.

75. WINGED WHEEL – “Sleeptraining” (2024)
This song feels too hot to touch. The guitars are searing. The synths are caustic, a pit viper rattling its tail. The drums razor sharp. Unbridled wailing, like escaping steam. A depiction of hazardous nuclear waste for future generations; a vast field full of massive granite thorns protruding from the barren earth. But yet, something within the gross, hypnotic chaos beckons you in further. A siren song for your decimation.

74. TYLA – “Water” (2024)
This song getting huge is proof that there are some good forces at work in the world, bending our otherwise dour fortunes into ones of fertile joy and free-flowing happiness. The joyful sweat of a midsummer evening.

73.  CARLITA – “Forever Baby (feat. Janet Planet)” (2024)
This song contains drugs, I’m convinced. A comically large syringe inserted directly into my limbic system, depositing its self-replenishing feel-good juice. I can blow your mind.

72. JUST MUSTARD – “Still” (2022)
I want my guitars to not sound like guitars, please. I want them to sound like industrial machinery that I’m precariously dangling above. And I want my bass to sound like the bell that rings my death knell.

71. ERIKA DE CASIER – “Drama” (2021)
I don’t mean to cause any drama, it’s just somehow it always gets me.

70. NILÜFER YANYA – “the dealer” (2022)
Nilüfer Yanya is out here shouting, waving her arms to all the chuds that think that indie rock peaked in 2006. I could have picked a range of songs from her 2022 album PAINLESS, but the opener “the dealer” sets the stage for the rest of the album: a dynamic, thrilling ROCK song with plenty of depth and drama.

69. WESTERMAN – “Confirmation” (2020)
Ever feel like standing at the edge of a cliff, feeling the wind blow around you, the whole world seemingly at your fingertips? Something like that is felt in this song. That and the ultimate bordering-on-cheese feels of 80s pop from The Police or Phil Collins. This is a good thing.

68. BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD – “Basketball Shoes” (2022)
Although the supreme anxious nerves that power this song has faded with me at times, I cannot deny its hulking size and ambition, stretching across 12 minutes and covering so much ground. Crush me out here!

67. JAMIE XX – “Waited All Night (feat. Romy & Oliver Sim)” (2024)
Imagine if we got a full xx album that sounded like this?

66. JOANNA STERNBERG – “I’ve Got Me” (2023)
Sometimes songs can be simple. Joanna Sternberg understands this. They get to the heart of issues we all deal with: self deprecation, self hate, self-esteem issues, and harpoons it right there. Direct, effective, endearing songwriting kills me.

65. LAURA MARLING – “Held Down” (2020)
I’ve come to appreciate Laura Marling’s work more as a folkier singer/songwriter, which by all accounts is the majority of her career outside of a few tracks on 2020’s Song For Our Daughter, but it is reassuring that Marling can make a early 00s folk-rock jammer like this so well.

64. ML BUCH – “Working It Out” (2023)
So many songs from ML Buch’s Suntub to pick from, but its closer “Working It Out” has to be my favorite. It’s a wonderful closer, wrapping up the record on a sparser note, with Buch serenading the listener with a gentle guitar lullaby and tender lyrics. It feels like the final track you hear at the end of a long journey, healing your bruised bones and tattered spirit. A lone beam of light shining down from some unknown source, granting light-filled energy at sunset.

63. CHARLOTTE ADIGÉRY & BOLIS PUPUL – “Blenda” (2022)
Taking xenophobia and flipping it upside down, stuffing it into a trash can, and dancing on that pile of garbage. Demolish borders, demolish your fragile frame of mind.

62. BIG THIEF – “Vampire Empire” (2023)
Volatile relationships sound like a headache to deal with, but man you can make some real good songs out of them.

61. INDIGO DE SOUZA – “Kill Me” (2021)
Swinging with some of the most momentum out of any song on this list, “Kill Me” hits HARD. It’s a devastating track, but hoo boy it brings me right back to my mini emo phase in the 2010s.

60. NU GENEA – “Gelbi (feat. Marzouk Mejri)” (2022)
Tapping into a criminally overlooked piece of the Mediterranean diaspora, Napoli duo Nu Genea tap Tunisian musician Marzouk Mejri for a glittering, lounge-friendly dance heater complete with hand percussion, a blistering flute solo, and a loving dash of North African melodic goodness. It emerges on a blissful night at the coast, and dissipates into the humidity when the time is right.

59. NEWJEANS – “ETA” (2023)
I have not voluntarily listened to any other KPop outside of the NewJeans EP that this song is off of. Is it because writing and production credits go to Erika de Casier, Smerz, Fine and more? That’s a big reason. But whew… this is biologically-created pop perfection right here. It’s cutesy but packs a terrific punch, with complex rhythms and dynamic melodies thrumming against all the parts of the brain it needs to.

58. CHUQUIMAMANI-CONDORI – “Know” (2023)
Hard for me to pick which song from DJ E is my favorite, but penultimate track “Know” feels like a fantastic summation of the project as a whole. It feels like a resolution, with triumphant stings, celebratory whistling and a parade-like feel to the whole song. The back half of the track strips everything back to just feature a wavering synth line and an occasional strummed guitar, harkening back to their work on previously featured track “Grove.”

57. DOSS – “On Your Mind” (2021)
Endlessly bingeable, like candy without any sugar fatigue. Brain-warping pleasure that puts you into high-flying video game-like scenarios, hurtling down LCD-lined pipes, bouncy trampolines launching you into bubbling pits of oxygenated liquid. Always thrusted towards the next checkpoint, endlessly thrilling.

56. PALM – “Tumbleboy” (2022)
Despite this song coming out in 2022, there was a moment in mid-2023 where it came back to me. My world was in a freefall, a tumbling journey down a twisting staircase, making sure to strike every sharp surface on the way down. An uncontrollable chaos, with everything in flux. Palm channels that brilliantly on this song (and in the majority of their catalog), with crushing guitars and stuttering drums that enhance confusion to a state of hypnosis, eventually slowing down into a pure trance state. One could say I’ve emerged from said trance that I found myself in in 2023, but maybe all of this since has been a hallucination?

55. MDOU MOCTAR – “Afrique Victime” (2021)
A bolt of lightning rockets into the sky from West Africa, fracturing the sky around it, resulting in a seismic thunderclap heart ’round the world. This shot of energy is the wild guitar playing of Nigerien guitar hero Mdou Moctar and his band of savant shred merchants, who rightfully took the indie world by storm in the 20s. “Afrique Victime” is the quintessential Mdou Moctar song, with wicked shredding, the rhythm section firing on all cylinders, and Moctar laying out all the injustices that his continent has been victim to for nearly its entire “western” existence. Fiery retribution for the future.

54. FACS – “Version” (2020)
An excellent example of caustic noise rock or dare I say even “post punk.” Shambling guitar noise and percussion are loosely bound together with minimal lyrics. At the track’s halfway point, the filter on the drums comes off, allowing them to really go buckwild. The sonic assault that follows is always thrilling to hear, despite repeated listenings. It’s a complete meltdown, one that’s likely improvised. We need more music like this. Caustic disintegration.

53. AMAARAE – “Co-Star” (2023)
I don’t believe in any astrology stuff but Amaarae has gotten me close to reconsidering after listening to this song endlessly.

52. ALEX G – “Runner” (2022)
I saw this song performed at karaoke once with a bunch of twenty somethings and it went off.

51. TOBACCO CITY – “Never On My Mind” (2021)
A syrupy country love song that just screams “last call” – a warm summer evening at the dive bar, staring at the bottom of your glass, warmth and loneliness , glancing up at the low-lit couples around you. Pure, melancholic heaven.

50. LOW – “Days Like These” (2021)
Encompasses the blown-out, high-contrast terror and bliss that comes with our current times. Completely blasted and smeared thin, only to be left scattered and pulsating in the great expanse.

49. JACK J – “If You Don’t Know Why” (2022)
Hey if you don’t know why I put this song so high, why don’t you listen to it and figure it out yourself. One of the decade’s best grooves by far.

48. MAPLE GLIDER – “Good Thing” (2021)
When you need to put your heart on “crushed” instead of “cubed” (because you’re a lame-ass nerd), try slipping into a “Good Thing,” because holy smokes this song is a ballistic missile launched from a satellite above and aimed right at your emotions. An expert in dynamics and composition.

47. KATY KIRBY – “Cool Dry Place” (2021)
Truthfully I could have picked nearly any song off of Katy Kirby’s 2021 record to fit here, but I thought the title track, whose chorus melody gets stuck in my head even at the pure thought of the song’s name, would suffice. Swinging, powerful weight first condensed into a small, neat package that then bursts open like a fake snake prank jar. Heartfelt music that I don’t think has been touched in the decade since its release.

46. CAROLINE – “Dark blue” (2022)
Talk about dynamics. caroline made a shirt with a depiction of the songs dynamic flow printed on it. A slow, methodical rise like a chain lift, shuttling like a steam engine via the steady snare brushes, the wind picking up with the whipping violin layers, and the guitars chugging along with patient intent. It’s a song that slowly surrounds you, not revealing its intentions until it has engulfed you, allowing you to emerge as a changed person.

45. KIM GORDON – “BYE BYE” (2024)
A skull-rattling bon voyage to this modern world, making a mundane packing list into an agenda. Alt icon Kim Gordon continuing to show the world, in her 70s, that she is the most badass person alive.

44. CUT WORMS – “Sold My Soul” (2020)
This was a song that connected with me the instant I heard it. I don’t really listen to this type of country, but the storytelling aspect of someone selling their soul, and then later seeing it on Antique Roadshow, is so endearing to me. A fabulous track worth all of your time.

43. THUNDERCAT – “Dragonball Durag” (2020)
A song I vividly remember rinsing in the first few days of the pandemic, Thundercat’s “Dragonball Durag” (and its music video) has persisted as one of the grooviest and goofiest tracks of the decade so far. This is exactly what I’m looking for in a Thundercat song: absurd grooves and even more absurd lyrics, covered in cat hair.

42. CHLOE X HALLE – “Do It” (2020)
It’s a homies-only kind of mood! Also the beat on this one is chef’s kiss. That rubbery bass? Cmon man we need more pop songs like this. Are people clamoring for another Chloe x Halle record? They should be!

41. CHANEL BEADS – “I Think I Saw” (2024)
A real “come to jesus” moment, for me anyways. This song makes me confront my life’s choices and makes me think: “do I want to keep living like this?” I don’t think Chanel Beads were explicitly going for that specific level of introspection, but the sense of momentum throughout the track suggest otherwise.

40. KOKOROKO – “Home” (2022)
I once saw a very large man shed real, ugly tears next to me while seeing this song live. I wasn’t too far behind him. It’s a two-minute reprise of a song from earlier in Kokoroko’s album Could We Be More, “Dide O,” but played with more a more tender, reflective timbre, with gentler instrumentation and vocals. But purely through the performance alone, it’s a song that can bring tears to my eyes at the right moment, and maintains as one of the best songs of the decade.

39. TRUTH CLUB – “Exit Cycle” (2023)
Another track with a marvelous crescendo and ultimate payoff, with glorious, interlocking gang vocals and climactic, crushing guitars. A beautiful track that rises out of the mud and ends up emerging from the forest, shining in the mid afternoon sun.

38. FONTAINES D.C. – “Favourite” (2024)
Undoubtedly the sunniest track in Fontaines discography also happens to be my second favorite. A blissful trip down memory lane for the band, putting into perspective their slow climb into one of the decades premier bands.

37. ARMAND HAMMER – “Trauma Mic (feat. Pink Siifu)” (2023)
Backed by a DJ Haram beat and a doomsday proclaiming opening verse by Pink Siifu, ELUCID and billy woods bulldoze through the scrap metal and carnage left in the wake of a broken world.

36. FCUKERS – “Homie Don’t Shake” (2024)
Turn off the brain and turn up. Fcukers has been a revelation in this middle point of the decade, scorching my pleasure receptors with pure, unadulterated pop. I’ve said that Fcukers is like if you took elements of pop, hip hop, electronic dance and melted it all down into syrup. Hedonism distilled.

35. TWO SHELL – “Dust” (2022)
What the future of interplanetary travel sounds like. Or at least, what we’ll be seeing / feeling / hearing / touching in our cryostasis pods that our tech oligarchs will place us in, complete with our own cheery AI assistant and just enough life support to keep our brains smooth and collective body heat harvestable to heat their hot tub. This flight is almost over, you’re coming home soon. Warp speed into the dumb future.

34. GROUPER – “Kelso (Blue sky)” (2021)
You’re reading Warm Visions and you’ve encountered a Grouper song. You know what you must do.

33. DRY CLEANING – “Her Hippo” (2021)
Not sure how rock music can get cooler than this. We’ve done it, folks. This is the coolest we’ll ever get.

32. FONTAINES D.C. – “Jackie Down The Line” (2022)
In 2022 I labeled “Jackie Down The Line” as one of the first classic rock songs of the 2020s. This statement still stands, and it makes me happy they followed up this stellar track + album with an album just as good, if not better, with standout tracks. Always cheering on this band and glad they’ve formed into one that defines our current era.

31. SOFIA KOURTESIS – “Madres” (2023)
A rich, organic electronic dance song, with elements that feel sourced from the Earth, with wide open skies coursing with smooth, clean air. An immense peace blankets this song, despite its thumping bass and club-ready pedigree.

30. KASSIE KRUT – “Reckless” (2024)
The newest song on this list, sneaking in from December 2024 and rising from the ashes of Palm’s dissolution, Kassie Krut revel in destruction and trickster behavior. A child game-like melody is backed up by brain stem-rattling bass and electronics, almost mocking you as it gets stuck in your head… again.

29. BILLY WOODS – “No Hard Feelings” (2022)
woods, the master lyrical portrait painter, illustrates two tragic scenes in this song, with plenty of impressionistic details buoyed around its central conceit. Add in an arresting instrumental from producer Preservation and you’ve got a song that I’ve played over and over the last three years.

28. LAURA MARLING – “Caroline” (2024)
A song about the power of a song, and a song as a metaphor for an old flame. Return to an old song to allow memories of a time past flood back in. The lyrics might not all be there but the melody of feeling stays the same.

27. CHARLI XCX – “anthems” (2020)
Listening to this song alone in my parents house at 3am after binge watching TV in the early pandemic, curled up in a ball in bed and basking in the glow of my laptop screen, reminiscing about nights of friends and concerts and lights and dancing… yeah that’s the stuff.

26. ANZ – “You Could Be (feat. George Riley)” (2021)
A delightful, punchy confection of pop music. “I want you, do you want me?” is what most pop songs boil down to, and Anz with singer George Riley ask it point blank. One of those songs where I feel like I need to double take while listening – how can a song be so simple yet so perfect?

25. DESTROYER – “June” (2022)
Another entry into the long-storied canon of Destroyer songs that are really two or three songs mashed into one. This’ll take you on a journey that can be guided by no other than Dan Bejar, plumped with fretless bass, dazzling synths, an insane soundstage and a radiating cosmic energy that’s hard to deny.

24. WET – “Blades of Grass” (2021)
To put it simply: one of the most beautiful, haunting songs I’ve ever heard. Simply calling it ethereal would sell it short. It’s a song of threadbare elements that billows in a digital wind, stretching out into gossamer tendrils and casting its luminous colors and shades upon the otherwise desolate landscape. Kelly Zutrau’s voice is always beautiful, but here she enters another dimension. Something about the vocal processing here makes her voice sound even better and not in an auto-tune kind of thing. It highlights both the purities and impurities in her delivery, making the song one that feels nude, despite being feeling like a digital ripple on a watery canvas. Just leave it to the latter half of the song, where rolling waves of synth and plinks of piano breathe with layers of her processed voice; one organic being strung together.

23. TOPS – “Colder & Closer” (2020)
The drama. The suspense. The intrigue. TOPS pull it all off in marvelous fashion, making you feel like the hero of an 80s action movie, maybe the best b-movie you’ve ever seen. A hidden gem in a sea of bad impersonations.

22. JESSIE WARE – “Spotlight” (2020)
Want to feel expensive? Lavish, even? “Spotlight” distills every gold flake of glitz and glamor from the disco archetype for the opener of her acclaimed 2020 record, one that I was fully obsessed with that year. When the strings and the backing vocals soar together while the sleek groove continues to pound in the background, that’s when you’ll be really wrapped up in it all.

21. CHARLI XCX – “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde” (2024)
Never been a Lorde fan, but her contribution to this track was one that sent massive ripple effects into the future, ones that will be felt in stories of old. A squashed pseudo beef that resulted in a triumphant, confessional and exhilarating song that partly feels era-defining. When Lorde came out during this song at Madison Square Garden, it was if my body was levitating at that point.

20. SPELLLING – “Boys At School” (2021)
A whirling coming-of-age epic, “Boys At School” really set the stamp down that SPELLLING is serious about her songcraft and vision for her projects after putting out solid records in the 2010s. The Turning Wheel would be stellar even without this song, but this as its centerpiece sets it over the edge into masterpiece territory.

19. YVES TUMOR – “Kerosene!” (2020)
2020 was a beautiful moment for Yves Tumor, as they were in between their blown-out noisy art pop and glam phases, resulting in a song like “Kerosene!” which held a similar vibe to the songs on 2018’s Safe In The Hands of Love, but was properly in the canon of Heaven To A Tortured Mind. Dramatic guest vocals and an explosive electric guitar moment elevate this song to being something like if Prince were dangled off a cliff over a vat of toxic sludge.

18. MK.GEE – “I Want” (2024)
A more lowkey song from the brilliant Mk.gee record, but one that carries a ton of momentum and shines brightest in those calculated moments. It’s a slow burn that glimmers until its eventual explosion near the end of the song, but for the most part it’s a totally moody, gorgeous song that captures the art of yearning wonderfully.

17. PERFUME GENIUS – “On The Floor” (2020)
As soon as I heard that wonky keyboard / guitar shuffle for the first time, I knew this was going to be a special song that held my heart for a long time. And when the song breaks free for a bit in the middle, with only Mike Hadreas to exist among the heavenly chiming keys and somber digital strings, only for the chugging instrumental to return, this time more jankily-wound? Pure cinema. Inspiring songwriting, daring even.

16. PEARL & THE OYSTERS –  “Pacific Ave” (2023)
Want to get away? SS Pacific Ave has you covered. Embark on a relaxing cruise along the coast of some nondescript beach, where the boredom of paradise surely won’t ever set in. You’ll absolutely have ocean views. You’ll be surrounded by brilliant colors, sights and sounds that won’t ever get old. You’ll love it here. No one is sad. Just get lulled to catatonia with blissful, beachy vibes. In all seriousness – any song that approaches the brilliance of Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki & Tatsuro Yamashita’s Pacific is a legend in my book.

15. BIG THIEF – “Spud Infinity” (2022)
What’s it gonna take
To free the celestial body?

14. DJ SEINFELD & CONFIDENCE MAN – “Now U Do” (2023)
“You never used to love me now you do – do – do – do.” The beginning of my Confidence Man obsession that started in mid-2023 and blossomed in late 2024.

13. HATCHIE – “Quicksand” (2022)
If these last five years haven’t felt like sinking into quicksand, I don’t know what to tell you. Hatchie nailed it, full marks, no notes, on every paranoid, dread-filled spiral we’ve fallen into this half-decade. Reckoning with the thoughts of what we love killing us. What are we fighting for anymore? Is this passion worth it in the end? All this wrapped up into a stellar pop song. Nothing a little existential dread can’t fix!

12. WAXAHATCHEE – “Right Back To It (feat. MJ Lenderman)” (2024)
A universal classic for this era. Show me a person who doesn’t like this song. Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield + MJ Lenderman’s vocal harmony on this song should be the high watermark for future generations. A love song for the hard times, a resiliency anthem. You just settle in, like a song, with no end. If I can keep up, we’ll get right back to it.

11. FEVER RAY – “Carbon Dioxide” (2023)
A love song at its most chaotic, reveling in the radical spikes in emotion and drama that comes with a deep infatuation. Deeper than that, this song felt like Fever Ray finally letting their freak flag fly. Not that they didn’t do that already (their whole thing is freak flag), but this was the purest, most direct interpretation of that. Dizzying, powerful emotions and letting an obsession with love convert your brain into full lizard mode.

10. JAYDA G – “Both Of Us” (2020)
You have to understand: when this song dropped in 2020, two months into the pandemic, this was maybe the only thing keeping me afloat. Jayda G knew she had a burner on her hands with this one, and despite not being able to lose our minds to it on the dancefloor immediately upon its release, we were able to inject its unabashed joy into our personal lives in that moment. The freeing euphoria I felt that spring, listening to this song on repeat and going on runs regularly… this song really improved my health. “I JUST WANT TO BE WITH YOU!!”

9. CONFIDENCE MAN – “I Can’t Lose You” (2024)
There may be songs ahead of this one in this list (not many), but no song on this list has a tighter chokehold on my pleasure center than “I Can’t Lose You.” It is a laser-guided lightning bolt of the purest euphoria known to man, earth, god, whatever. A distillation of y2k-era eurodance, trance pop, whatever you want to call it. It’s endlessly replayable bliss in the form of a fun-size candy bar: hit repeat, hit repeat, hit repeat. I can’t lose you.

8. COLE PULICE – “If I Don’t See You In The Pasture, I’ll See You In The Future” (2023)
From one realm of bliss to another. “If I Don’t See You In The Pasture, I’ll See You In The Future” brings me into a full-body, trance-like, meditation over the course of its 22+ minutes, which was one continuous take of saxophone and live processing. Pulice says that the song is about the transition between chapters of your life; holding onto the grief of loss while still forging into the future. All that comes brightly through on this track, radiating with warmth in one breath and sadness in the other. A little past the halfway point when Pulice start playing their sax atop the soundscape they’ve created, it’s a true perspective shift, a survey the landscape type moment. A solo saxophone that will bring ugly tears to the fore. A ceremonial burning of what once was in the blazing sunrise, and the strength of a spring sprout to emerge from the ashes as the sun starts to set.

7. SHABASON, KRGOVICH & HARRIS – “Friday Afternoon” (2020)
“Friday Afternoon” struck me and the rest of the world at the absolute best time. Fall 2020, when everything was at its slowest. Moments where you’re forced, or maybe encouraged to observe the world around you with a more artful lens. Walking around Brooklyn in the fall of 2020, at sunset, with this song ringing in my ears, beautiful light on the east river ferry, or enjoying the sunrise in my wife and I’s big bay window at the time. Walking the Union Square Greenmarket and buying a pint of blueberries. Warm, dripping pedal steel guitar melanges with new age-like chiming keys, fretless bass and blissful vocal harmonies, with Nicholas Krgovich’s observational lyrics painting vivid portraits. What seals the deal for me is vocal refrain of “wrap your loving arms around it,” a mantra that I’ve tried to hold onto throughout the last five turbulent years. 2020 made us really hone in on what mattered to us, and since then it’s felt as though the powers that be are trying to wrench those from us. Now we must hold tight to those we love, and embrace those with kindness.

6. JAZMINE SULLIVAN – “The Other Side” (2020)
I tried explaining the concept behind this song’s lyrics to my wife and she wasn’t moved. A story in which a woman fantasizes about escaping her dead-end life, marrying a rich rapper or millionaire and living out the rest of her life in luxury. Then I played the song for her, and she changed her tune. On a basic level, who doesn’t dream about having a life with no worries, breaking free from the low corporate and service industry shackles the vast majority of the world has been chained to? Sullivan paints a perfect portrait on “The Other Side,” with the main character laying out scenarios in which she could escape the hand she’s been dealt, and then going deeper into laying out what she’d do with this new life, from being a “damn good housewife,” a “proud mama,” a “soccer mom getting wasted” and “anything but basic.” She’ll be rich but not boring. She has ideas on what to do with wealth and she deserves the chance. One could also say, purely off the positioning, that this is the best “dream pop” song on this list. Yes the song is literally about dreams, but the production itself, with its plush guitar, spacey piano, cinematic strings and woozy vocal effects channel the essence of fairy tale-like, head-in-the-clouds storytelling that many songwriters attempt to achieve. Either way, it’s a victory of a song in general and doesn’t fail to wrap me up in its tale during each listen.

5. EVAN J CARTWRIGHT – “impossibly blue” (2022)
This song has been a beacon of peace over the last three years, and I hope placing the song this high helps others bring it into their lives as well. A zen meditation of the passing of time that sounds like nothing else out there. It’s a meandering listen, one that makes you stop and breathe; look around you, recognize the beauty that surrounds you. The gentle, loping acoustic guitar strums, the warbling organ and synths that emit a comforting glow. Cartwright’s upfront, untouched vocals, earnestly singing out a simple melody. The birdsong, at once straightforward, suddenly warped with the passage of time. This song is a special one for me, and I hope more people let it explore their hearts as well.

4. JESSICA PRATT – “The Last Year” (2024)
I know it’s only been a few months, but I’d like to amend my Best Songs of 2024 list right here. “The Last Year” is clearly the best song that came out in 2024, all respect to Confidence Man’s “I Can’t Lose You”. What changed? Well, aside from the scorn of my wife, and the fact that “The Last Year” was the song we used for our first dance, the second half of 2024 and now in 2025 has felt like the ending of a few different chapters, and the opening of a new book. One that’s studded with a fair amount of challenges throughout, but one that we can find the golden threads of happiness, joy and love woven throughout. The song is the soundtrack to reflection, remembrance, and a cheers to a brighter future.

3. MARCI – “Stop” (2023)
A pop song of the highest order, perfectly sculpted into an instant classic. I am probably this song’s biggest fan, and I will ride that honor until the day I die. Glossy synths, snappy drums (for some reason I am obsessed with how the drums sound on this song; the way they’re tuned in a muted but punchy way, and how they’re mixed. It’s perfect), dreamy guitars, and plenty of memorable sonic quirks (the “pop” sound effect when Marci says “pops!” is the big one for me) set the song up for success. It’s the pinnacle of dreamy, laid back, late 80s-referencing pop music we can get, in my opinion. It was my favorite song of 2023 for good reason.

2. CASSANDRA JENKINS – “Hard Drive” (2021)
It was really a toss up between this and my #1 for the top spot. At the point in the pandemic when this song came out (early 2021), there were no songs that came close to this level of introspection and beauty, something that pointed towards getting out of the hell we lived in and emerge into a better world. A real sparking point to kick off a prospective new era. A song that acted like glue, bonding together everyone who has been isolated for the last year. A torch of hope pointed toward a hopeful future. This is still just a hard drive, but we have this to look back upon and be thankful for.

1. BRAXE + FALCON – “Step By Step (feat. Panda Bear)” (2022)
It couldn’t have been anything else, really. A steady push towards the future, feeling the winds of change swirling around you, helping you get through whatever you’re stuck in. The dreamy, pared-back French Touch instrumental paired with Panda Bear’s unmistakable croon is enough to keep you going. It’s a song that centers, that pulls together and looks forward.

Looking back at the topmost songs in the list, especially the top 10 or so, I’ve noticed that in a world that’s devastatingly corrupt with irony, my favorite songs are ones that bleed sincerity, ones that genuinely believe good things are on the horizon. All we have is each other, and we need to believe in that.