Top 5 songs of 2024: From Charli XCX to Kendrick Lamar, here’s our take on the top tunes of the year

2024 was a year of stand-out music with fans’ lives soundtracked by redefining pop tunes, beefy diss tracks and viral songs taking off across social media platforms.

With so much content to consider, narrowing down the world’s best five tunes of the past year proved challenging. However, some stood out above the others, not just on the charts but in the impact they could deliver.

So, in no particular order, here’s our take on the best songs of 2024.

Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar

It debuted at No.1 on the Hot 100 and became the longest-running No.1 in the history of Billboard’s rap chart.

It is none other than Lamar’s response to Drake’s seven-and-a-half-minute diss track that dragged his long-simmering beef with the fellow rapper even more into the public eye.

The controversy centres around extremely serious allegations of paedophilia and exploitation aimed at Drake and his associates which remain unproven and are denied.

Lamar’s vocals are sharp and relentless, matching the song’s intensity, synth and ratchet vibes.

Pitchfork’s Paul A. Thompson described how Kendrick “tap dances across the beat, as nimble as he’s sounded since he signed to Interscope”.

The feud between Lamar and Drake is among the biggest in hip-hop in recent years but many people are clearly enjoying singing along to it.

Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan

The 26-year-old has been a name in the music industry for almost a decade but this year she has really kicked off thanks to this song which was her first top 10 hit to make it onto the Billboard chart.

The catchy heartbreak track consists of good wishes to a former lover in denial about their queerness.

Billboard wrote: “The verses are every bit as strong as the glistening chorus, all playful, pillowy synths and easygoing ‘80s beats.”

It’s just as glittery as her onstage costumes and awards outfits.

Before she was Chappell Roan, she was Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, a closeted sad-girl singer-songwriter who got dropped by her label Atlantic Records in 2020.

In 2023, she released her debut album via a new label and cued instant success which doesn’t seem to be waning.

Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter

Some music lovers have declared the former Disney Channel actress’ song as the hit of the summer.

The catchphrase “That’s that me espresso” was the “foam on top of what was already one of the most unmistakable, invigorating and naturally addictive singles of 2024”, Billboard wrote.

The play-on-words and lyricist queen demands to be heard with lines such as “walked in and dream-came-trued it for ya”, and “I can’t relate to desperation / My give-a-f---s are on vacation”.

If it wasn’t the song itself garnering chatter online, it was the accompanying music video that featured a flirty Carpenter getting herself into all sorts of trouble.

While the caffeine-injected hit didn’t earn her spot on the Billboard Hot 100, her breezy Please Please Please follow-up sure did making it a breakout year for the star.

This year was also a big one for Carpenter having toured with Taylor Swift on her The Eras Tour.

It’s Ok, I’m Ok by Tate McRae

This generation’s so-called Britney Spears has said goodbye to her child-star days and is preparing to enter a fiery adulthood with this relatable and personal viral track.

The 21-year-old is happy to tell the next girl in her ex’s life that she can have him with the line: “It’s okay, you can have him anyway.”

McRae alludes that she’s detoxed herself from a past relationship and is letting both her ex and the other woman know she’s over it and onto bigger and better things.

With humour and sarcasm shining through, the track was first teased to fans via TikTok with a snippet of the chorus doing the rounds on the video-sharing platform prior to its anticipated release.

The pop star has well and truly risen up the ranks this year having completed her first world tour. And she even kicked off the Aussie leg right here in Perth last month. McRae has extended the tour with more dates in Europe, the UK and the US in celebration of a new album coming out on February 21.

Girl, so confusing featuring Lorde by Charli XCX

Rumours of a feud between UK pop star Charli XCX and New Zealand’s Lorde were finally addressed and put to bed when Charli released a remix of her song Girl, so confusing.

She turned her original song about her fears of a frenemy’s intentions into an emotional moment of resolution between the two singers who not only have the same hair but also a lot of self-doubt and mutual admiration in common.

Billboard wrote: “A song born out of real life that’s committed to remaining grounded in that messy and complicated reality. Equal parts reactionary and revelatory, ‘Girl, so confusing’ is a towering peek inside the psyches of two of pop’s most important women.”