[imagesource: Wikimedia Commons]

Despite Taylor Swift almost breaking the internet (well, Ticketmaster’s side of the internet) with her Era Tour ticket sales, she is not number one in Rolling Stone’s ranking of the best songs for 2022.

Although, a lot of the 10 best songs of 2022 follow along similar lines as Spotify Wrapped‘s top songs, artists, podcasts, and listening trends of 2022.

Yep, Bad Bunny yet again takes the crowning glory, with Swift’s ‘Karma’ and Harry Styles’s ‘As It Was’ following close(ish) behind.

What made a 2022 bop unforgettable, according to the music publication, was a song with an “irresistible beat and a sense of humour”, one that felt like “an introspective, bittersweet dream”, or a song that was “an absolute dance floor banger”. It was even a song that was “lo-fi, high-res, loud, soft, twangy, poppy, sleek, distorted, hugely anthemic, and perfectly tiny” all at once.

So really, anything they deemed worthy.

Rolling Stone did list 100 songs so I guess the criteria had to be somewhat wide and generous. Anyway, we’re showing you the top 10, starting at number one:

1. Bad Bunny, ‘Titi Me Preguntó’

This song is where the “sense of humour” thing comes in:

Using the archetype of the concerned Latin American aunt asking about her nephew’s potential girlfriends as a starting point, the Puerto Rican icon launches into a hilarious tirade of salacious puns to a bouncy party vibe that — in typical Bad Bunny fashion — unexpectedly morphs into moody self-reflection.

2. Beyonce, ‘Cuff It’

The impact of ‘Cuff It’ is apparently undeniable:

At track four, the immediacy and ease of its funk is in sharp and exhilarating contrast to the shadowy electronic music that comes before it. As soon as “Cuff It” starts, we’re jetted to an ethereal disco in outer space, welcomed at the doors by the genre’s greatest practitioner, Nile Rodgers, who co-wrote the track and plays guitar on it. Aided by the Chic icon’s magic touch, Beyoncé reached the pinnacle of the modern throwback.

3. Steve Lacy, ‘Bad Habit’

This thesis track is described as cruising “like a daylit ride through a psyche in healing, at once peaceful and turbulent”:

Lacy’s lyrics make peace with the parting and long for reunion; he knows he has power, but gives some away. There’s musical genius in making melancholy groovy enough to soundtrack the summer and soar to the top of the charts. 

4. Taylor Swift, ‘Karma’

Taylor Swift did a decent job of cementing Midnights as a middle finger to the people who prayed for her downfall. She also skillfully sealed this song’s fate as its album-defining hit:

Yes, “Anti-Hero” is the single, and “Maroon” is the one your moody friend keeps quoting. But “Karma” marries Swift’s mastermind lyrics (check out how “Karma is my boyfriend” shifts from smirking metaphor to lovebird literality as the song goes on) with the sleekest, most flexible production tendencies from longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff.

5. Rosalia, ‘Despecha’

Rosalía is said to have an “encyclopedic knowledge of genres” and she isn’t afraid to play around with them:

“Despechá” uses a mambo piano line as starting point, then delves into merengue territory chiseled by touches of avant-pop. Her respect for the bounce of the Dominican Republic’s most trusted dance format is poignant, but it is the soaring energy in her vocals that moves this summertime single closer to the sacred ground she’s aiming for.

Rounding up the top 10, we have:

6. Quavo and Takeoff, ‘Hotel Lobby’
7. Pharrell feat. 21 Savage and Tyler, The Creator, ‘Cash In Cash Out’
8. Beyonce, ‘Break My Soul’
9. Harry Styles, ‘As It Was’
10. Drake feat. 21 Savage, ‘Jimmy Cooks’

Shortcut to Spotify to listen to the Rolling Stone playlist with all 100 songs.

[source:rollingstone]