About creating a top 100 list for a year in which things seemed to be turning the corner for pop music:

I didn’t quite find a hundred titles in 2018. This year I had 125. That was encouraging.

When doing the year-end list, it’s always a challenge to decide how you feel about big radio hits after months of saturation airplay. Certain songs depend on the first-time reaction—e.g., “Wow, an uptempo Post Malone song!” I can say now that I don’t punch away when “Circles” comes on the radio. But I am extrapolating forward to a time when it again means more than that to me. It’s one of the reasons that I don’t try to rank the songs anymore.

If I did choose a No. 1 song, it might come down to the Grammy battle—Lizzo vs. Billie Eilish. If you want the song I’ve played most recently, it’s “Mess With My Head,” in which Miranda Lambert channels both Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” and late-‘00s Pink. “Mess With My Head” would sound great on either Country or Adult CHR. It wouldn’t sound like what either format is playing now, but that’s part of why it’s so badly needed.

Many of the songs I liked are again the straight-ahead pop songs eking out a place among the lingering EDM ballads. Many are deliberate throwbacks in some way. Every year, I wonder if my tastes are becoming more retrograde, but if our biggest, most current superstars are still looking backwards, that’s what I’ve got to choose from. Besides, why shouldn’t there be a hundred available songs for any taste?

For the last few years, there have been a surprising number of songs I liked from the Active Rock charts, possibly because so many of those songs are now channeling Classic Rock influences. Volbeat made my list for the first time a few years ago with the Kiss-inspired “Heaven Nor Hell.” This year, there’s “Last Day Under The Sun”—‘70s corporate rock with a little bit of Michael Jackson’s “Black Or White.”

My year end chart is only one of many you’ve encountered this year; hoping readers will seek out some of its least familiar titles is asking a lot. I have brothers and sisters in chart geekery who might know the songs that have made their way here from the Australian charts (Jessica Mauboy, Illy), or courtesy of CKOI Montreal (Barry Moore, Les Trois Accords). For everybody else, I’ve created a Spotify playlist.

Top 12

• Billie Eilish, Bad Guy
• Freya Riding, Castles
• Jessica Mauboy, Little Things
• Kygo & Whitney Houston, Higher Love
• Lizzo, Good As Hell
• Miranda Lambert, Mess With My Head
• Post Malone, Circles
• Taylor Swift, You Need To Calm Down
• Tones & I, Dance Monkey
• 21 Savage, A Lot
• Vampire Weekend, Harmony Hall
• Volbeat, Last Day Under The Sun

The Rest

• Alanis Morissette, Reasons I Drink
• Ariana Grande & Social House, Boyfriend
• Arizona Zervas, Roxanne
• Arkells, Hand Me Downs
• Ashley McBryde, Girl Goin’ Nowhere
• Ava Max, Sweet But Psycho
• Avett Brothers, High Steppin’
• Barry Moore, Hey Now
• Beaches, Want What You Got
• Beyoncé, Before I Let Go
• Billie Eilish, All The Good Girls Go To Hell
• Billie Eilish, My Strange Addiction
• Black Eyed Peas x J. Balvin, RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)
• Black Keys, Go
• Black Keys, Lo/Hi
• Black Pumas, Fire
• Blackbear, Hot Girl Bummer
• Blanco Brown, The Git Up
• Blink-182, I Really Wish I Hated You
• Blue Stones, Shakin’ Off The Rust
• Brad Paisley, Bucked Off
• Brittany Howard, Stay High
• Carly Pearce & Lee Brice, I Hope You’re Happy Now
• Carrie Underwood, Southbound
• Ciara, Thinkin Bout You
• City Girls, Act Up
• Cold War Kids, Complainer
• Dominic Fike, 3 Nights
• Dua Lipa, Swan Song
• Ed Sheeran & Chance The Rapper, Cross Me
• Eric Church, Some Of It
• Florida Georgia Line, Colorado
• Galantis & Dolly Parton, Faith
• Gary Clark, This Land
• George Strait, Every Little Honky Tonk Bar
• Glorious Sons, Panic Attack
• Greta Van Fleet, You’re The One
• Guster, Overexcited
• Haim, Now I’m In It
• Halsey, Without Me
• Harry Styles, Lights Up
• Harry Styles, Watermelon Sugar
• Highly Suspect, 16
• Hu, Yuve Yuve Yu
• Illy, Then What
• J. Cole, Middle Child
• Jonas Brothers, Only Human
• Justin Moore, Why We Drink
• Kane Brown, Short Skirt Weather
• K.Flay, Bad Vibes
• K.Flay, Sister
• Khalid, Talk
• Kiana Lede, Bouncin’
• Leon Bridges, If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be)
• Lil Nas X, Bring You Down
• Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus, Old Town Road
• Lil Peep & ILoveMakonnen f/Fall Out Boy, I’ve Been Waiting
• Lizzo, Juice
• Lizzo, Truth Hurts
• Lizzo, Water Me
• Les Trois Accords, Ouvre Tes Yeux Simon
• Maren Morris, All My Favorite People
• Mary J. Blige, Know
• Mary J. Blige & Nas, Thriving
• Meg Myers, Running Up That Hill
• Megan Thee Stallion, Hot Girl Summer
• Meghan Trainor, All The Ways
• Midland, Mr. Lonely
• Miley Cyrus, Mother’s Daughter
• Miranda Lambert, Bluebird
• Mitchell Tenpenny, Alcohol You Later
• New Pornographers, Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile
• Niall Horan, Nice To Meet Ya
• Nicole Bus, Mr. Big Shot
• Onrepublic, Rescue Me
• Peking Duk & Jack River, Sugar
• Post Malone & Swae Lee, Sunflower
• Post Malone, Internet
• Raconteurs, Help Me Stranger
• Raphael Saadiq f/Rob Bacon, Something Keeps Calling
• Regard, Ride It
• Rob Thomas, One Less Day (Dying Young)
• Rubinoos, Do You Remember
• Saint Motel, Van Horn
• Sheryl Crow, Prove You Wrong
• Sheryl Crow & Chris Stapleton, Tell Me When It’s Over
• Skylar Gray, Ain’t Nobody
• Sleater-Kinney, Can I Go On
• Sturgill Simpson, Sing Along
• Taylor Swift, Christmas Tree Farm
• Taylor Swift, Lover
• Taylor Swift, The Man
• Taylor Swift, Paper Rings
• Tegan & Sara, I’ll Be Back Someday
• Tenille Arts, Call You Names
• Tenille Townes, White Horse
• Thomas Rhett, Look What God Gave Her
• Tones & I, Never Seen The Rain
• Tyler Shaw, To The Man Who Let her Go
• Tyga, Haute
• Upsahl, Drugs
• Vampire Weekend, This Life
• Vampire Weekend, Sunflower
• Vampire Weekend, Bambina
• Walk The Moon, Timebomb
• The Weeknd, Blinding Lights
• Weezer, The End of the Game
• White Reaper, Might Be Right
• X Ambassadors, Boom!
• Yola, Faraway Look
• YouNotUs, Narcotic
• Zacardi Cortez, Oh How I Love You
• Zedd & Kehlani, Good Thing