Dasha Novotny was plugging away at making pop songs for small labels for a few years before her first attempt, or one of her first attempts, at a country song, "Austin," blew up and got her a major label album and network TV performances and airplay on both pop and country radio. "Austin" is definitely a pop country song, but it's a good country song in the ways that matter, and country's a good genre to dabble in, you never know if you might be good at it. And this feels a little more genuine than, say, Bebe Rexha doing a song with Florida Georgia Line and briefly reorienting her career around the idea that she had a big country song, even if it's also not a grand statement on cultural history like Cowboy Carter. Here's the 2024 singles Spotify playlist I update every month. 

Chappell Roan released her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess last September, and it didn't make big waves at the time. But 6 months later, its momentum has been building and building, finally breaking into the Billboard 200 after a stint opening for Olivia Rodrigo and a great Tiny Desk Concert appearance, and suddenly people like me who maybe heard her name in passing last year are realizing she made a great record and seems like a total star. She's refreshing in the same way Lady Gaga was when she first came out, just to see someone do something unapologetically theatrical and over-the-top at a moment when nobody else is really going for that. One of my pet peeves about the music industry right now is that nobody just keeps working an album when it has legs, they always rush to put out new songs or a deluxe edition instead of getting hits out of an album that's resonating with people. So I was a little annoyed that Roan released a new single instead of just getting the label behind one of the album's more popular tracks like "Pink Pony Club" or "Red Wine Supernova." But the new song "Good Luck, Babe!" is excellent, would have no problem with this being the big one. 

Willow Smith was basically born famous, and had a serious shot at conventional pop stardom when she released "Whip My Hair" and signed to Roc Nation back in 2010, but she's managed to carve out a more interesting path since then (her brother kind of has as well, but I don't really care for Jaden's fake deep post-Kanye rap career). Willow's last two albums tapped into the pop punk revival zeitgeist, the latter produced by Chris Greatti (Poppy, Yungblod, Blink-182). But Willow and Greatti have created a completely different sound for her last couple singles, "Symptom Of Life" and "Big Feelings," Willow's voice and pianos circling around each other in these jazzy syncopated 7/8 patterns, it's really different and exciting. I kind of rolled my eyes at the title of her upcoming album Empathogen (her first not on Roc Nation), but I'm prepared to possibly love it. 

The fact that Latto and Ice Spice have an undercard beef somewhere a few rungs between the Drake/Kendrick main event just makes the 2024 rap civil war seem even sillier. But Latto's diss has grown on me, especially in contrast to Ice Spice releasing the worst song of her career, "Think U The Shit (Fart)." And the "get in the booth bitch" meme from the "Sunday Service" video might end up one of the most enduring images from this insane year. 

One of my favorite Baltimore rappers is named Bossman, so I feel bad that the rise of Florida rapper BossMan Dlow is definitely fucking up his SEO. But "Get In With Me" is one of those barrages of extremely detailed, slightly implausible boasts that's often one of the most entertaining kinds of rap songs. "Bad bitch, 50th floor, eatin' hibachi" is the most popular line in the song, but I've been kind of fixated on "I'm drivin' the Bentley Bentayga like I don't love my life." No, BossMan Dlow! You've got too much to live for to be driving a luxury car I've never heard of so recklessly! Think of your bad bitch up on the 50th floor! 

Gunna's been on a great run lately, and this feels like a strong single to launch the next album with, he's really got a great ear for beats. And since he's not being called as a witness in the Young Thug trial, maybe all the seemingly nonsensical 'snitch' rumor stuff can stop and he can just move on with his life and career. 

I was championing Dua Lipa's debut album when it debuted at #86 on the Billboard 200 before the "New Rules" video came out and changed her trajectory in America. So when people say that Dua Lipa's recent singles aren't hitting like the Future Nostalgia singles, I don't know, I'm not really worried that she's going to 'flop,' if anything it feels like these songs are a calculated risk from somebody knows that they're here to stay. So what if her recent singles are a little too ABBA for America and do better in Europe? They still kick ass. I particularly like the extended versions of "Houdini" and "Training Season" that add an extra minute to each song, they're not exactly epic disco edits but they put a little meat on the bones of the songs. 

My 2023 single of the year "Nonsense" was a weird little outlier that kicked in the door for Sabrina Carpenter's next couple singles to dominate pop radio. This one might take a bit more to grow on me, but I like that she's still working with "Nonsense" producer Julian Bunetta, and that pre-chorus vocal melody is great. 

Justin Moore was the opening act at that Cody Johnson show, which amused me because both of them currently have singles on the chart with similar themes that have "dirt" in the title. 

I like Sophie Ellis-Bextor's 2001 single "Murder On The Dancefloor" and have been happy with Saltburn turning it into a belated American pop radio hit in 2024. But it strikes me as incredibly dumb for alternative stations to take to playing the Australian indie band's half-assed cover, played live on Triple J's 'Like A Version' segment a few months ago. Hell, those alt-rock stations should just play the original Ellis-Bextor track, which was written by New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander, who recently revealed it was actually in the running to be the band's first single instead of "You Get What You Give."