The Best Songs of 2024, According to Berklee

To quote the musical that defined my formative years, "how do you measure a year?" When you're a music institution, the (partial) answer is in songs. We asked the Berklee community to share their top tracks of 2024, and it's quite an eclectic mix to take us into 2025 and beyond.

Chappell Roan, "Good Luck, Babe!"

2024 was undoubtedly a breakout year for Chappell Roan. Her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess released late last year, but her star truly ascended this summer with her tour and the release of single "Good Luck, Babe!" Morgan Milardo, managing and artistic director of Berklee Popular Music Institute, says "it has so many iconic, classic elements of an ’80s pop song, while breathing fresh, vibrant fun life into today's landscape."

Senior concert producer Maureen McMullan agrees. "I thoroughly enjoy every aspect of this song, from the captivating musical performance to the quality of the songwriting, the narrative, and the art-pop production with its fusion of live instruments and sequenced layers. As a long-time fan of Kate Bush, I can hear her influence in the melodic writing, emotional expressiveness, and intricate sonic textures. Chappell Roan's impressive dynamic control, wide vocal range, and unconventional use of falsetto further enhance the song's ethereal quality. Her weightless, crystalline, and theatrical vocal delivery is particularly striking. I was immediately drawn to the song upon first listen in my car."

Another Chappell fan, marketing manager Johanna Snow chose "Red Wine Supernova" from 2023's Midwest Princess, saying it "had a moment" this year.

Coco Jones, "Here We Go (Uh Oh)"

Latoya Lee, director of industry relations, says "the vocal performance coupled with the production," make this a top song. "There's an ex who keeps coming back every time she wants to move on. Also, the fight against herself and those who love her, when they advise her to stop. . . . The lyrics are simple yet tell a whole story."

Beyoncé

With Cowboy Carter being one of the biggest albums of 2024, it's no surprise that Beyoncé came up a number of times as we compiled our list. Here are the three songs that rose to the top:

"TEXAS HOLD 'EM"

Rodney Alejandro, dean of Professional Writing and Music Technology, says "any song that breaks down of barriers and at the same time build bridges to pave the way for others is more than a song. It's the song!"

Sarah "Val" Valente, director of business operations and project management, agrees. "It’s got everything—a killer hook, clever lyrics, and a vibe that’s hard to forget. It’s part of a crossover album that blends genres effortlessly. The storytelling and production are so good that it’s been on repeat all year for me."

"JOLENE"

Claire Machamer, senior vice president of communications and marketing, chose "JOLENE" because "it unites two cultural icons—Beyoncé and Dolly Parton—in a powerful reimagining of a timeless classic that bridges generations and fanbases. Beyoncé brings her modern edge to 'Jolene,' while honoring Dolly's legacy as one of country music's most legendary storytellers. The result is a song that feels both nostalgic and groundbreaking."

"BODYGUARD"

Pat Healy, associate director of content creation for Berklee Online, chose another hit from Cowboy Carter. "It combines so many disparate genres so seamlessly that it can sit next to almost any song on a playlist. The words are both sultry and funny: she wants to protect the subject of the song in the mosh pit? Didn't see that coming! She even name checks John Wayne in a way I also didn't see coming! The song has so many sounds—is that the instrument that I've always called the 'Stand By Me' fish in the left speaker?—and they're all layered perfectly, with Beyoncé’s voice riding effortlessly on top, just like the way she rides the horse on the album cover: she’s having a blast and showing off some great tricks."

Tyler, the Creator, "St. Chroma"

Bryan Parys, associate director of content strategy, sees a throughline in Tyler, the Creator's career. He says, "The first song I heard by Tyler, the Creator was 'Yonkers' back in 2011, which opens with the line 'I'm a f***ing walking paradox; no I'm not.' He's changed an awful lot since then, from homophobic slurs to embracing his own queerness on 2017's Flower Boy, but that line remains the perfect thesis for his brand of brash poeticism. On 'St. Chroma,' the opening to his latest album CHROMAKOPIA, the first voice we hear is his mother, whose bold imperative to her son is to 'never dim your light.' It feels like the foundation that he built his paradoxical career on. He's just as brash as he always was, but now it's about a self-love that is incandescent and inviting. Can you feel the light?"

Waxahatchee, "Lone Star Lake"

Berklee Online academic advisor Eric Zawada is also a Chappell fan: "Like the rest of the world 'Good Luck, Babe!' dominated my listening in 2024." But his favorite non-Roan song is "Lone Star Lake" by Waxahatchee. "The line 'my life's been mapped out to a T, but I'm always a little lost' is probably my favorite lyric of this year. She sings it with such vulnerability, it's just beautiful. I feel like I'm floating down a gentle creek down south as I listen. The whole Tigers Blood record by Waxahatchee is incredible, and I'd say it's my favorite album of the year. 'Right Back to It' is rightfully getting a lot of attention, but 'Lone Star Lake' is my standout track from that project."

Mei Semones, "Tegami"

Daedalus, assistant professor of electronic production and design, chose the Brooklyn-based indie artist with jazz influences. "Tegami" is "that tune!" they say.

Magdelena Bay, "Cry for Me"

"I love that it somehow manages to sound both sinister and uplifting at the same time—like you’re dancing through something you’re not quite ready to process," says Nick Balkin, senior director of communications. "On first listen, I thought it sounded like ABBA meets MGMT, which turned out to be pretty spot on: the band says they were obsessively listening to 'Dancing Queen' while working on the track, and it was mixed by Dave Fridmann, MGMT’s longtime producer. My only gripe is that the instrumental section from 3:25 to 3:42 isn’t twice as long."

Shaboozey, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)"

Tara Bellucci, director of content strategy, says "while Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter topped my Spotify Wrapped, I can't stop cranking this up every time I hear it. As a millennial who loved the J-Kwon version, Shaboozey puts his own spin on the early-aughts hit. I don't usually consider myself a country fan, but the genre's recent renaissance has been exciting to watch."

SOFIA ISELLA, "The Doll People"

Student writer Andrea Recalde picks this as her best song of 2024 "because of its narrative, production, and perspective. It immediately captured me from only a verse. I saw this song on Instagram as a short video reel, and it was so eerie and creepy, and I wasn't really sure what it was talking about until I did. This song is a wonderful, dark, and intelligent play of words about women and how women are viewed in society. It talks about the oppression women face and has faced from society and men specifically. The instrumentation, backing vocals, visuals, and everything else are eerie and beautiful. It is the best song I have heard this year, from production to arrangement to songwriting and visuals. It's so good and inspirational, so different and fresh, like poetry but in a song."

Billie Eilish, "Birds of a Feather"

Ana Olivera, event marketing assistant, chose this "because it is not only written by an incredible artist, but took the world by storm and has a different meaning to many people. Beautiful song!"

Zach Byran, "Pink Skies"

Publicist Daniel Pesquera says this is "an incredibly moving song. When I play it on guitar, I can barely get through it without weeping. It's the specifics and the way the guitar/harmonica come in after each verse that does it for me."

Adult Jazz, "No Relief"

Senior content manager John Mirisola picks this track, saying, "I’m willing to acknowledge that this band is not for everybody. Their minimal-yet-often-noisy arrangements, their rhythmic eccentricities, singer Harry Burgess’s impressionistic vocal style—these can all be turn-offs for some. But there’s an intimacy to the idiosyncrasy, in the way that so much good poetry makes a reader feel as though they share a secret language with the poet. 'No Relief' is Adult Jazz at their sharpest. A song of unrequited or unsatisfying devotion—maybe with a partner, maybe with a certain idea of God—its genius can be tracked in the evolution of the refrain, 'I don’t mind if he bores me, if sometimes he ignores me.' What begins as a sweet, believable falsetto soon evolves, via increasingly disconcerting rhythmic switch-ups and dissonant disruptions, into a cry of protest, of protesting-too-much, of minding quite a bit, actually."

Listen to all the top tracks of 2024 below: