The year is just one day away from ending, and that means I can officially reveal my favorite 25 songs of the year. From country to pop to EDM to rap, there’s a bit of everything on this list. Since I’ve already written about these songs a bit in the individual genre lists I released throughout the last week, I’m not going to repeat myself.
Instead, I’m going to share some of the lyrics that spoke to me from each song. After all, music can be catchy but it ultimately serves a higher purpose of making you feel something. Lots of these songs (though not all) spoke to me deeply this year. I hope you enjoy them, presented alphabetically by artist.
- Last Time for Everything – Brad Paisley
- Kissing goodbye on her porch and driving away/Introducing her as your fiancée/Getting woke up at 5 am to see if Santa came/There’s a last time for everything
- Biscuits and gravy at your momma’s house/Spring break on a fold out couch/Little Jimmy on the Opry stage/Hearing Prince sing “Purple Rain”/Last time for everything
- Havana (feat. Young Thug) – Camila Cabello
- I knew it when I met him/I loved him when I left him/Got me feelin’ like/Ooh, and then I had to tell him/I had to go, oh na-na-na-na-na/Havana, ooh na-na/Half of my heart is in Havana, ooh-na-na
- Reggaetón Lento (feat. Little Mix) – CNCO
- It started when I looked in her eyes/I got close and I’m like “Bailemos”/La noche está para un reggaetón lento/De esos que no se bailan hace tiempo
- I’m the One (feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne) – DJ Khaled
- I’m the one that hit that same spot (hit it)/She the one that bring them rain drops (rain drops)/We go back, remember criss-cross and hopscotch? (hopscotch)
- And you sick of all those other imitators/Don’t let the only real one intimidate ya/See you watchin’, don’t run outta time now/I’m the one, yeah
- Galway Girl – Ed Sheeran
- She played the fiddle in an Irish band/But she fell in love with an English man/Kissed her on the neck and then I took her by the hand/Said, “baby, I just want to dance”
- You know she beat me at darts and then she beat me at pool/And then she kissed me like there was nobody else in the room
- Walk On Water (feat. Beyonce) – Eminem
- Always in search of the verse that I haven’t spit yet/Will this step just be another misstep/To tarnish whatever the legacy, love or respect/I’ve garnered? The rhyme has to be perfect, the delivery flawless/And it always feels like I’m hittin’ the mark/ ‘Til I go sit in the car, listen and pick it apart/Like, “This shit is garbage!”
- Paparazzi – Falling in Reverse
- Now we’re steady making progress and it’s hard to stop it/We got our t-shirts in the mall’s Hot Topic/Warped Tour famous, and the fans devotion/Walking towards our signings like we’re in slow motion
- Good Life (feat. Kehlani) – G-Eazy
- Raise up a cup up for all my day ones/Two middle fingers for the haters/Life’s only getting greater/Straight up from nothing we go/Higher than the highest skyscraper/No Little League, we major/The proof is in the paper
- Feel Good (feat. Daya) – Gryffin & Illenium
- Take my hand in the middle of a crisis/Pull me close, show me, baby, where the light is/I was scared of a heart I couldn’t silence/But you make me, you make me feel good, I like it
- Yeah, sometimes I need someone to pick me up/Overdose my mind with the things I love
- Little of Your Love – HAIM
- You’re just another recovering heart/I wasn’t even gonna try/You wouldn’t even give the time/Could be so easy, you make it hard/Don’t think about love too much/My love is gonna be enough
- In Between – Kelsea Ballerini
- Sometimes I’m my mother’s daughter/Sometimes I’m her friend/Sometimes I play grown up/And sometimes I play pretend/Sometimes I’m a princess, dress all ribbons and all curls/And sometimes I just wanna scream “I’m not a little girl”/Dumb enough to think I know it all/Smart enough to know I don’t/Young enough to think I’ll live forever/Old enough to know I won’t
- Thank You – Kehlani
- I never said that I was done with my growth/I never said, I never said that I was done doing the most/And I swear all I’ve ever done was stay honest/Keep my promise/So here goes my real life, unscripted/Unwritten for all that you’ve given/Forgiving, I’m driven/I wanna be better than I was/Greater than I am, so I say/All I gotta say is I thank you
- Plead the Fifth – Kip Moore
- Have I ever mixed your memory with Tennessee?/Have I ever dialed you up, but never let it ring?/Do I wonder where you are with every sip?/Getting onto who you might be with/Drown myself in 90 proof, what else?/I plead the fifth
- I Like Me Better – Lauv
- I like me better when I’m with you/I knew from the first time, I’d stay for a long time ’cause/I like me better when/I like me better when I’m with you
- Heavy (feat. Kiiara) – LINKIN PARK
- You say that I’m paranoid/But I’m pretty sure the world is out to get me/It’s not like I make the choice/To let my mind stay so fucking messy/I know I’m not the center of the universe/But you keep spinning ’round me just the same/I know I’m not the center of the universe/But you keep spinning ’round me just the same
- Miss You – Louis Tomlinson
- Is it my imagination?/Is it something that I’m taking?/All the smiles that I’m faking/“Everything is great/Everything is fucking great”
- Tuesday night/Glazed over eyes/Just one more pint or five/Does it even matter anyway?
- When It Rains It Pours – Luke Combs
- Now she was sure real quick to up and apologize/When she heard about my new found luck on that FM dial
- And I’ve been on a hell of a redneck road for three weeks now/And it all started on the day that she walked out
- Childish – Makeout
- Can we get back our beginning/Can we get back to the start/Can we make a life that’s childlike, not childish
- Can we take back our decision, to keep our voices down/And hold onto the vision/Can we change up our position, to leave the final round/And hold onto the vision
- Silence (feat. Khalid) – Marshmello
- I’m in need of a savior, but I’m not asking for favors/My whole life, I’ve felt like a burden/I think too much, and I hate it/I’m so used to being in the wrong, I’m tired of caring/Loving never gave me a home, so I’ll sit here in the silence
- Scared to Be Lonely – Martin Garrix and Dua Lipa
- Is it just our bodies? Are we both losing our minds?/Is the only reason you’re holding me tonight/’Cause we’re scared to be lonely?
- Sound of Surviving – Nichole Nordeman
- But my story is only now beginning/Don’t try to write my ending/Nobody gets to sing my song/This is the sound of surviving/This is my farewell to fear/This is my whole heart deciding/I’m still here, I’m still here/And I’m not done fighting/This is the sound of surviving
- What’s Wrong – PVRIS
- I know it’s so wrong but I’m so far gone/Don’t need you to tell me I’m so cynical/Quit being so over-skeptical/Don’t need a metaphor for you to know I’m miserable/I don’t need a metaphor for you to know I’m miserable
- James Has Changed – Phoebe Ryan
- James has changed/He don’t want me anymore/I feel strange, he don’t love me like he did before/It’s a shame, ’cause my James was all I had/And he’s not even sad/James has changed/He don’t want me anymore/It’s insane, ’cause he wanted me so bad before/It’s a shame, ’cause my James don’t even cry/And he won’t tell me why
- Beautiful Trauma – P!nk
- These tough times they keep coming/Last night I might have messed it up again/Some days like I’m barely breathing/After we were high in the love, doped out/It was you/The pill I keep taking/The nightmare I’m waking/There’s nothing, no nothing, nothing but you/My perfect rock bottom/My beautiful trauma/My love, my love, my drug, oh
- Five More Minutes – Scotty McCreery
- At eighteen turned my helmet in and walked to the fifty yard line/Just the coach and me after we lost eighteen to nine/And I cried “man next time to get in here I’ll have to buy a ticket/Can’t you give me five more minutes”
Listen to these songs here:
https://open.spotify.com/user/22fdwfhlwd66hxywvmjdcwvji/playlist/5jtUnW71OlBpr0rejAbOuv