In 2022, there was more than enough music that caught my attention to power Big Hits Energy, my playlist of uptempo songs that were Top 40 hits (at least, somewhere in the world) or should have been. At the end of the year, Latto’s “Big Energy” was new and in the lower reaches of my Top Songs of 2021. Within a few months, “Big Energy” was big enough to name a playlist after.
At its peak, Stereogum’s Tom Breihan characterized (but didn’t quite dismiss) “Big Energy” as a trifle based on a three-year-old meme. “Big Energy” seems like a big deal mostly because nobody came up with anything like it for at least the last 5-6 years, a time when Top 40 was starved for tempo and Hip-Hop/R&B radio was particularly starved. But that is a big deal, and the Megan Thee Stallion/City Girls wing of the format has put more Hip-Hop and R&B back on my year-end list over the last few years.
How I feel about music usually has something to do with how hard it is to put together the Top 100 list of the year. I’ve managed to top 100 candidates for the last few years; this year, I pruned the list down from well over 150. (That doesn’t count a few like “Chaise Longue” or “That’s What I Like” that were 2022 songs at radio, but made the list last year.)
This isn’t my list of “Songs That Made a Difference in 2022.” That annual list is still to come, and it’s harder than ever to say that any song made a difference in the fortunes of contemporary radio as those formats struggle so publicly. A half-dozen of my top tier of songs were Top 40 hits. A few others scored at but did not cross over from other formats. Many had a quick life in streaming, but not enough for either radio or labels to nudge themselves into action on their behalf. I think radio would have done better to embrace more of them, and you can’t prove me wrong.
Of my top 100 (or so) songs of the year, the top tier is followed by songs that gained radio traction in some form (even if mostly abroad), then those songs more likely to be new to readers. You can hear most of them on this playlist.
The Top Tier
- Beyoncé, “Break My Soul”
- Billy Idol, “Cage”
- Black Keys, “Wild Child”
- Danielle Bradbery, “A Special Place”
- Def Leppard, “Kick”
- Devon Cole, “W.I.T.C.H.”
- Finneas, “Naked”
- Florence + the Machine, “My Love”
- George Ezra, “Anyone for You (Tiger Lily)”
- Harry Styles, “As It Was”’
- Imagine Dragons, “Sharks”
- King George, “Keep On Rollin’” — a “southern soul” hit that grazed the Urban AC chart, but his “Saturday Night” was a top 5 pop song in New Zealand!
- Latto, “Big Energy” — on last year’s list, but on a higher tier this year
- Lizzo, “About Damn Time”
- Lizzo, “Someday at Christmas” — features a one-word lyric change that makes it especially devastating (but also encouraging)
- Maddie & Tae, “Strangers” — they were sidelined in 2022 but released several solid singles
- Miranda Lambert, “Strange”
- Onerepublic, “I Ain’t Worried”
- Paramore, “This Is Why”
- Sam Fender, “Seventeen Going Under”
- Shanguy, “Lava”
- SZA, “I Hate You”
- Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”
- Weezer, “Records”
Radio Songs (Or Those That Almost Were)
- AJR, “I Won’t”
- Banx & Ranx f/Reve, “Headphones”
- Beyoncé, “Cuff It”
- Brandi Carlile f/Lucius, “You and Me on the Rock”
- Bruno Mars & Anderson.Paak (Silk Sonic), “Love’s Train”
- Charlie Puth f/Jung Kook of BTS, “Left and Right”
- City Girls f/Usher, “Good Love”
- Coi Leroy, “Players”
- David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, “I’m Good (Blue)”
- Dear Rouge, “Meet Me at the Rio” — One of several Canadian alternative titles this year
- Diddy f/Bryson Tiller, “Gotta Move On”
- George Ezra, “Green Green Grass”
- Ghost, “Mary on a Cross”
- Hardy f/Lainey Wilson, “Wait in the Truck”
- Harry Styles, “Late Night Talking”
- Harry Styles, “Music for a Sushi Restaurant”
- Iggy Pop, “Frenzy”
- Imagine Dragons, “Bones”
- Interrupters, “Raised by Wolves”
- Jack Harlow, “First Class”
- Jackson Dean, “Don’t Come Lookin’”
- Jess Moskaluke, “Knock Off” — Canadian Country from a reliable hitmaker
- Joss Stone, “What Christmas Means to Me”
- Karol G, “Provena”
- Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”
- Kendrick Lamar f/Blxst & Amanda Reifer, “Die Hard”
- Kolby Cooper, “Excuses”
- Lewis Capaldi, “Forget Me”
- Lizzo, “2 B Loved (Am I Ready)”
- Marshmello & Khalid, “Numb”
- Megan Thee Stallion, “Her”
- Nikki Lane, “First High”
- Post Malone f/Doja Cat, “I Like You”
- Queen Najia w/Big Sean, “Hate Our Love”
- Regard f/Years & Years, “Hallucination”
- Ronald Isley & Isley Brothers & Beyoncé, “Make Me Say It Again, Girl”
- Rosalia, “Despecha”
- Sam Smith f/Kim Petras, “Unholy” — the fastest I’ve come around on a song this year
- Sharon Von Etten, “Mistakes”
- Steve Lacy, “Bad Habit”
- Surfaces, “I Can’t Help but Feel”
- The Band Camino, “I Think I Like You”
- Tom Grennan, “Remind Me”
- Turnstile, “Holiday”
- War on Drugs f/Lucius, “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”
- Wet Leg, “Wet Dream”
Did You Hear?
- Alessa Amoroso & DB Boulevard, “Camera 209”
- Angele, “Libre”
- Ashe, “Another Man’s Jeans”
- Bbno$ & Diplo, “Pogo”
- Bedouin Soundclash f/Skints, “Shine On”
- Billy Strings, “Long Journey Home”
- Brooke Combe, “Miss Me Now”
- Caity Baser, “Friendly Sex”
- Carly Rae Jepsen, “Western Wind”
- Double-eff & Gigahutz, “Hunnids”
- Dove Cameron, “Girl Like Me”
- Eli “Paperboy” Reed, “Mama Tried”
- Elizabeth Chan, “Merry Merry”
- Eric Hutchinson, “Everybody’s Gotta Beating Heart”
- Fefe Dobson, “Fckn in Love”
- FLO, “Cardboard Box”
- Franz Ferdinand, “Curious”
- Fredrick Ferrier, Dan Carasco & Yann Muller, ‘Ain’t No Sunshine”
- George Ezra, “Green Green Grass”
- Gilbert O’Sullivan & KT Tunstall, “Take Love”
- Hailey Whitters, “Everything She Ain’t”
- Harry Styles, “Matilda”
- Jack Ducker, “Rockstar”
- Jackson Wang, “Blow”
- James Blonde, “Back to Life”
- Julia Still, “Ain’t Made Weak”
- Jully Black, “Half Empty”
- Jungle, “Good Times” — they fall between formats, but they’re getting to be regulars here
- Kah-Lo, “Drag Me Out”
- Killer Mike f/Young Thug, “Run”
- Korvez f/Jenny Grace, “Secret Places”
- Lindsey Stirling, “Joy to the World”
- Lodato & Janice Robinson, “Dreamer” — the Livin’ Joy song that was part of the 1994-95 up-cycle
- Lucius f/Brandi Carlisle & Sheryl Crow, “Dance Around It”
- Mark Owen, “Magic”
- Mika, “Yo Yo”
- Monowhales, “Stuckinthemiddle”
- Mount Westmore, “Too Big”
- Neal Francis, “Problems”
- Oliver Heldens & Nile Rodgers, “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”
- Olly Murs, “Die of a Broken Heart”
- Ozuna, “La Copa’
- PJ Western, “Blah Blah Blah”
- Ramon Vega & Michelle Maciel, “Escorpion”
- Rina Sawayama, “This Hell”
- Salt Ashes, “Didn’t See It Coming”
- Shemekia Copeland, “Too Far to Be Gone”
- Sloan, “Scratch the Surface”
- Stevie Nicks, “For What It’s Worth”
- Suggs & Paul Weller, “Ooh Do U Fink U R”
- Supafly & DeFunk, “Pleasure Love”
- Tears for Fears, “My Demons”
- Tom Grennan, “Remind Me”
- Tones And I, “Charlie”
- Trombone Shorty f/ Lauren Daigle, “What It Takes”
- Tropea, “Cringe Inferno” — Heard it on Italian radio; the song title that wraps up 2022 anyway
- Vaccines, “Planet of the Youth”
- Why Don’t We, “How Do You Love Somebody” — After years of trying, they made their best shot at a hit seconds before breaking up
