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Meet the Members of Lil Yachty’s Concrete Boys Crew

Here’s a breakdown with everything you need to know about each of the members in Lil Yachty’s collective.

Lil Yachty is determined to keep rap collectives alive with his eclectic Concrete Boys crew.

Over the past couple of years, he’s been assembling a collection of artists—Karrahbooo, Camo!, Dc2trill, and Draft Day—who each reflect the new and exciting sound that has been bubbling in the South.

Draft Day is the first ‘Crete signee who can fit on any type of beat with his chameleonic flow; Dc2trill is the spark plug who injects every track with Southern energy; Camo! has some of the most elite wordplay in the group; and Karrahbooo has emerged as the biggest star so far, with a laid-back personality that matches her effortless flow.

“Concrete [means] you’re just a solid individual,” Draft Day said during an interview with Montreality , explaining what bonds them all together. “You’re truly yourself. You know who you are as a person, at the end of the day. You’re gonna stand tall on whatever you put out into the world, whatever you’re doing. Can’t nobody tell you shit, and you’re just solid.”

Before Concrete’s first project as a collective It’s Us Volume 1 drops this week, here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know about each of the members in Lil Yachty’s crew.

What songs should I listen to first? “Running Late,” “Box The 40,” “On The Radar Concrete Cypher”

Who is she?

Karrahbooo, a 27-year-old rapper from Atlanta, realized she wanted to pursue rap while working as an assistant for Lil Yachty, before dropping her first song “Money Counter” when he fired her in 2022. At first, her main goal was to be an actor, and as she explained in an interview with Montreality , “I’m only rapping because I saw Boat doing a movie when I was his assistant, and that’s the day I was like, ‘I want to be a rapper,’ because you can just be an actor from being a rapper if you’re fly enough. That’s how Boat did it.” Regardless of what her original dreams were, however, Karrahbooo has become an integral cog in the Concrete Boys machine, earning her place as the most well-known artist in the crew (outside of Yachty) thanks to viral moments like her breakout verse on Concrete’s On The Radar freestyle cypher last year. And her aspirations as an actress can be seen in her cameo in an old Druski skit that resurfaced on social media recently.

What’s her role in the crew?

The First Lady of the ‘Crete doesn’t rap like any of her male counterparts in the crew. Instead, she adopts a syrupy flow similar to Detroit rappers like Veeze and Babytron who intentionally duck and weave the beat. Her laid-back flow has been getting a lot of people talking lately, because of how drowsy her cadence can sound over upbeat production (like on her most recent release “RIP Follies” ) but her unique style is setting Karrah apart from her peers. In most cases, she knows how to ride the beat at her own effective pace, like on “Running Late,” “Box the 40,” and Concrete’s Christmas cypher, where she lets her cadence flow freely like a meandering river. However divisive she may be, she has more charisma than anyone in the crew and she’s dedicated to being herself, which is her greatest weapon.

Can you explain this in basketball terms?

If you take her interviews about wanting to be an actor more than a rapper at face value, Karrah is like the Nikola Jokic of the Concrete Boys: she’s a natural bucket, but she’s very nonchalant about the game itself.

What songs should I listen to first? “With You” f/ Lil Yachty, “Swap Her Birk,” “Jet Lag”

Camo! is an Atlanta rapper who has been releasing music since 2019. He met Lil Yachty on the video shoot for “ Split/Whole Time” and the two would connect again a year later when Yachty invited the young rapper to the studio. From there, Camo continued reaching out to his new mentor until eventually falling under the Concrete umbrella around the same time as Karrahbooo in 2022. He has since appeared in several Concrete Boys cyphers and joined Yachty on a collab called “With You” in 2023.

What’s his role in the crew?

Camo raps with a cadence that is often very similar to Yachty’s, but the sound of his voice is smoother and he might have the best technical rapping ability out of anyone in the group. When Concrete needs hard bars on songs like their “ Concrete Cypher,” Camo is always ready to deliver, despite being one of the younger members of the group (his exact age is unclear, but he said he met Yachty in 2022 when he was just starting college, which would make him around 20 or 21 right now).

He’s lyrically savvy beyond his years, using clever bars to keep Concrete tracks seasoned, making him the scrappy young Rajon Rondo (think ‘08 Celtics era) of the crew.

What songs should I listen to first? “ Grooviest In The World,” “ Fomo,” “Show Me The Money”

Dc2trill was born in Texas, but he split time between Texas and Alabama for most of his life. He dropped his first song called “PassAround” nine years ago when he was in high school, which helped him gain some regional notoriety. Then he got in contact with Yachty after J Bans reached out and said that Boat was a fan in 2019, before eventually linking up a year later. “We ended up recording a couple songs. He pulled me out of the session and was like, ‘Yo, bro I want to sign you, and I want to help you with your music,” Trill explained in an interview with Tapped In . Dc2trill flew out to Detroit with Yachty while he was working on his Michigan Boy Boat mixtape, and was featured on the legendary “Royal Rumble” posse cut that dropped before the tape in 2021. The two have been working together ever since.

As the only artist who didn’t grow up in Atlanta, Dc2trill brings a different sound and perspective to the crew, and he’s been releasing music longer than anyone (besides Yachty). His solo music is very impressive, especially his most recent 2023 album, Family Matters, where he was able to pair gritty rhymes and a southern twang with silky jazz samples. The tape already has motion on the streets with tracks like “Grooviest In The World” and “Fomo,” and it’s clear the people are slowly catching up to the talent that he has.

Think of Dc2trill as Warriors-era Andre Iguodala; he might not always be super flashy, but he’s an MVP-caliber player in the framework of his team

What songs should I listen to first? “How Far Will I Go” f/ Lil Yachty, “Popovich Freestyle” f/ Lil Yachty, “Sunday Talkin”

Draft Day was the first artist officially signed to Concrete Boys back in 2021, and the two had already known each other for several years before that. He’s originally from Broward County, Florida, but eventually moved to Atlanta and started making music when he was in high school. He met Yachty around the same time through mutual friends when he was a freshman in high school. “We just built that relationship beyond music, just as a brother,” Draft Day said in an interview with Lyrical Lemonade. “Through the time, he just saw my work ethic, and now we’re here today. He signed me, and we’re here today.” Anyone paying close attention to the Lil Yachty extended universe is familiar with Draft Day through little cameos like when Drake noticed him looking out into the distance during an interview with Yachty and jokingly said, “I’ve just been looking at Draft Day staring off into the sunset, knowing his time is coming.”

Draft Day has a similar flow as Camo!, except he stays on the beat more than his Concrete counterpart, who sometimes intentionally slips in and out of it. His raspy voice and reliable flow help him add a different complexion to the group’s tracks, and hopefully the excitement generated from It’s Us Volume 1 will give him more momentum as he prepares to drop his first full-length solo project since 2019.

Because he’s helped build the collective from the ground up with Yachty, he has an instinctual understanding of how to rap with the other members of the crew and enhance their rhymes, making him the Chris Paul of the team. He’s an assist master, but is still hunting for that big solo moment to crystalize his career.

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Giovanna Ramos is an Atlanta-based model who formed a close friendship with Lil Yachty after she moved out to Atlanta last year. She’s included in the Concrete Boys family portrait that Yachty recently posted, so we’re including her on this list, and a photo of her gold grills were used as the cover art for Yachty’s “Slide” single art. “I genuinely did not know I was going to be the cover for these projects,” Ramos told Complex about her involvement in the “Slide” visuals. “[Yachty] sent me ‘Slide’ a while back and I kept telling him almost every day like ‘Bro this is my favorite song right now’ and then a few months later he hit me up saying ‘Come over tomorrow, we shooting the video’ and I was super excited.” Gio has been hanging with the crew ever since her involvement on “Slide,” and can be seen in the background of other Concrete artists’ music videos .

Gio doesn’t rap, so she isn’t an artist on the crew, but it’s clear by her inclusion in the family portrait that she’s an important part of Concrete. When you see the ‘Crete, you’ll see her. While Gio doesn’t make music, she provides the swag and energy that every rap collective needs.

Think of her as a player like PJ Tucker: someone who keeps the locker room in check and makes sure the team is staying fly.

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How old is Lil Yachty?

Lil Yachty was born on 23 August 1997 . Lil Yachty is 27 years old .

How old is Lil Yachty in days now?

Lil Yachty is 27 years 25 days old . Total 9,887 days old now.

When is the next birthday of Lil Yachty?

Lil Yachty's next birthday is in 11 months 6 days .

What is the zodiac sign of Lil Yachty?

Zodiac sign of Lil Yachty is Virgo .

Lil Yachty is an American singer and rapper known for his red hair. He was born Miles Parks McCollum in 1997 in Georgia. At the age of 17, he moved to New York City to pursue his career as a rapper and started promoting his music on SoundCloud. In 2015 his first single " One Night " became popular and opened Yachty a way to make necessary contacts in the world of hip hop. He collaborated with  Kanye West , DRAM, Kyle, and other rappers. In 2016 he released his two first mixtapes with the singles like " Minnesota ", " Wanna Be Us ", " Pretty ", " Life Goes On ", and many others. In 2017 his first studio album Teenage Emotions came out and managed to reach No 5 in Billboard Charts. A year later, two more albums were released and brought more popularity helping Yachty attract more attention of hip hop fans. In 2018 he became one of the presenters of annual MTV Awards. Lil Yachty also tried acting and modeling by collaborating with a few clothes producing companies. His YouTube channel is extremely popular and, as of the mid 2024, there are almost 2.9 million followers there.

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About That Yacht Life: How Teen Rapper Lil Yachty Made It Big

Meet the 18-year-old Atlanta rapper and Yeezy model making waves.

It was 3 p.m. on a Wednesday in New York, and the 18-year-old rapper Miles Parks McCollum, known to everyone as Lil Yachty, could not stop yawning. His bedazzled grill caught the overhead light of a Chinatown hotel room with each Wookie-like yawp; beneath his beaded red braids, it was almost impossible to tell whether or not his eyes were open.

His voice, which had the hypnotic drawl of a Novocaine-induced stupor, only reinforced the appearance of sleepiness. Only when the subject of Supreme surfaced did he perk up: “It went from me going in there to shop, to them playing my music now,” he declared. His friend Chalis, who came up with Yachty in Atlanta, reminded him that they once saw Joe Jonas in the store. Everyone in the room, including other core members of the “Sailing Team”—producer “Burberry Perry” and “Bloody Osiris,” plus Yachty’s manager, who goes by “ Coach K “—busted out laughing.

“I forgot we seen him,” Yachty recalled with a smirk.

Yachty, who came to seemingly everyone’s attention when he modeled in Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 3 show, wore a velvet Supreme sweat suit and Gucci slide sandals. On his neck hung a sizable diamond-encrusted gold medallion with the letters “QC,” which stand for Quality Control. Having only started making music a year ago, this is apparently the prize for going from no one to someone, boy to man, boat to yacht.

Lil Yachty, Perry, Chalis, and Osiris

“In high school, there was a group of older kids who called themselves the ‘Yacht Club,’” Yachty said of his stage name. “I was trying to get in the club.” They eventually let him in, but he had to start from the bottom as Lil Boat, which has since become his alter-ego. “They’re the same person,” Yachty continued. “Same soul. Same body. But one is more calm and the other is more aggressive.”

Chalis, who is two years older, was one of the charter members of the Yacht Club. “We were starting waves,” he said. “We used to record in my closet in Atlanta. We had a bum-ass mic and we put a sock on it. We had nothing.” After graduating, Chalis sailed off to New York. Once he was installed there, Yachty sent him a list of kids he followed on Instagram for Chalis to befriend. The advance team set the table for last summer, when Yachty arrived in town to stay with Chalis; together, they broke onto the scene, successfully networking with the likes of Ian Connor and Eileen Kelly .

“I just thought I’d give it a shot,” said Yachty. “I just wanted to get cool.” He shrugged and then paused, as if his rapid success had finally just hit him. “I was just in a dorm room. I was at Alabama State—I was literally just there !”

Last week, Yachty attracted a crowd so large at his VFiles show that the police had to barricade the street. He then went on to perform at the Museum of Modern Art, followed by a show in Philadelphia with Young Thug. On Tuesday, he released his music video for “ 1 Night ,” which is quickly making its rounds on the Internet for its meme-friendly visuals. “He’s one of the most focused young guys I’ve ever met,” said Coach K, who’s worked with stars like Young Jeezy, Migos, and Gucci Mane. “He’s going to be really big .”

When he’s onstage, Yachty comes to life. In one clip of a performance posted to his Instagram, he jumps up and down so energetically that his sweatpants practically fall off. His hair thwacks his face in sync with the beat. He dives into the audience. He is buoyant, like, well, a yacht.

Yeezy Season 3 at Madison Square Garden. Photo by Getty Images.

“He’s got a lot of little white boy fans,” Osiris said of the usual crowd.

“Like lemme-get-a-pic-for-the-gram !” Burberry Perry chimed in.

Music is something that Yachty simply tried, and found that he had a knack for it. “Growing up, my dad used to play India Arie, Coldplay, and Paul McCartney ,” he recalled. His father, Shannon McCollum , is a photographer who’s worked with everyone from Outkast to Dead Prez, so maybe the spotlight is the beam by which Yachty was meant to chart his route. His raps, which have the same hazy quality of his speaking voice and are infused with nonchalant humor, have little to do with the trap artists—like Migos, Young Thug, Young Jeezy, and Future—that came before him in Atlanta. In fact, Yachty claimed he’s not interested in the genre; instead, he described his sound as “colorful” and “soft.”

Meet Lil Yachty, the Teen Rapper Making Waves

Louis Vuitton shirt, $850, louisvuitton.com ; Dries Van Noten tank top, $140, barneys.com ; Ami trousers, $355, amiparis.fr .

Raf Simons v-neck knit, $1,700, rafsimons.com ; Theory T-shirt, $75, theory.com ; Ami trousers, $355, amiparis.fr ; Converse sneakers, $55, converse.com ; Lil Yachty’s own jewelry.

Louis Vuitton shirt, $850, louisvuitton.com ; Dries Van Noten tank top, $140, barneys.com ; Lil Yachty’s own jewelry.

Prada shirt, $710, and sweater, $930, prada.com ; Ami pants, $350, amiparis.fr ; Falke socks, $28, sockhopny.com ; Louis Vuitton sneakers, $785, louisvuitton.com ; Lil Yachty’s own jewelry.

“When you think of trap, it’s like hard, gutter stuff,” explained Chalis, whose job description seems to be happily filling in Yachty’s long silences. “But we’re young kids; we’re not like that. Obviously, we love trap and are influenced by where we come from, but Yachty is fun. His voice is angelic! A lot of rap you can’t relate to, but Yachty is young. Not even a year ago he was a regular civilian.”

While Yachty claimed the only music he listens to is his own, his friends name-dropped people like Lil Uzi Vert , who is 21. “Why so many Lil’s?” I asked.

“It’s because everyone wants to be a kid again,” explained Osiris.

I turned to Yachty and asked him what else he might hope to accomplish next. He stretched out his arms and yawned deeply, and then mumbled something in his drowsy baritone.

“You want to what?” I asked.

Yachty stuck his hand down his Nautica boxer shorts and closed his eyes: “I just want to be mainstream.”

Let’s Start Here.

“something ether”.

Flex Up (with Future and Playboi Carti)

Strike (Holster)

sAy sOMETHINg

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The Rebirth of Boat

Between his high-profile bro-ship with Drake and a decidedly non-rap album in ‘Let’s Start Here.,’ Lil Yachty may have been the most talked-about hip-hop artist of 2023. The question is: What comes next?

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It’s easy now to forget how we thought of Tyler, the Creator before 2017, but it’s worth recounting. As the leader of the Odd Future clique, he was considered something of a juvenile prankster, more known for his (admittedly offensive) provocations than his (admittedly many) talents. Taken at face value, he was a jester in a Supreme cap, Bart Simpson trading his slingshot for a cracked copy of Fruity Loops.

That changed, however, with the release of Tyler’s fourth album, Flower Boy . It was a revelation: candid, confessional, mature—all without losing its sense of adventurousness. Flower Boy was daring and at times gorgeous. Maybe that version of Tyler was lurking inside all along, but it came as somewhat of a shock to the larger listening public. (Including us here at The Ringer , who called the album “radiant” and said it seemed to be made with “more purpose” than anything he had tried previously.)

Tyler’s journey to Flower Boy feels relevant when discussing the most important figure in rap music of this year: Lil Yachty. Once dismissed as a “mumble rapper” or a red-braided featherweight, the rapper born Miles McCollum has undergone something of a transformation the past 12 months. The one-time King of Teens is grown now, and at 26 years old, he finds himself at a crossroads similar to the one where Tyler was at that age.

Yachty’s metamorphosis has included several facets, from becoming something of a spiritual North Star for Drake to going viral with the most addictive song of his career, “Poland.” But when we talk about the renewed sense of artistry Yachty found in 2023, it begins with one thing: Let’s Start Here. , his LP from January, which does away with the “bubblegum trap” of earlier in his career and embraces vibey guitar music. It’s possibly the best album of his career—and almost certainly the biggest pivot any mainstream artist has made in the past few years. But more importantly, it’s a statement of intent that was, like Flower Boy , made with more purpose than anything he had previously attempted. “Fuck any of the albums I dropped before this one. … I wanted to show people a different side of me—and that I can do anything,” the two-time Grammy-nominated artist told Billboard last spring.

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Let’s Start Here. is the multiplatinum-selling artist’s fifth studio album and first official full-length in three years . From the outside looking in, it seemed like Yachty was at peace with doing more of the same musically (save for “Poland”; more on that in a minute) and that his influence had plateaued. He had obviously branched out and stacked up wins in other areas—his 2021 mixtape Michigan Boy Boat is a cult favorite—but when it came to his own music, the progression felt stagnant.

LSH , which is heavily inspired by Pink Floyd–esque psychedelic rock, replaces Yachty’s sticky refrains, trap production, and tongue-in-cheek rhymes with reverberating vocals, drawn-out live instrumentation, and very little wordplay. It’s also important to mention that he had a hand in producing 12 of the 14 tracks . Many of Yachty’s past projects have been predominantly feature-heavy, enlisting high-profile names ranging from Future to Vince Staples, but LSH is noticeably stripped back. The album has a seven -minute intro whose back half is completely devoid of lyrics. This is planets away from the repetitive earworms of his early career like “Minnesota” and “Peek A Boo.” That said, he doesn’t totally leave his trademark intoxicating melodies behind on LSH . “sAy sOMETHINg” and “paint THE sky,” a pair of back-to-back highlights, show what’s possible when he finds the right balance between his distinctly stretchy, auto-tuned riffs and the multilayered, slowed instrumentals.

Conversely, “drive ME crazy!” exemplifies one of the many moments when Yachty takes the back seat and lets his supporting cast take center stage. The love song opens with a groovy bass line and Diana Gordon’s voice gliding over a bed of high-pitched strings. Yachty matches her energy with his own crooning before his verse is hijacked by a kaleidoscope of synths that drown him out. He returns on the back end, closing out the song with a rare bit of rapping over a laid-back, snare drum–laced beat. It’s some of his most thoughtful work to date.

LSH is by no means a perfect album, and Yachty’s shortcomings are exposed on tracks where it sounds like he’s wearing his influences a little too much on his sleeve. Upon multiple spins, both “running out of time” and “THE zone~” feel closer to Tame Impala cosplay than anything groundbreaking.

Yachty’s always been known for being versatile and chameleonic, but not to the degree of making full-on, drug-inspired rock music, so to describe this as a creative risk is quite apt. However, the calculated gambit ended up marking a series of career bests for Yachty. LSH debuted at no. 1 on three separate Billboard charts , became his highest-rated album on Metacritic , and earned endorsements from sources as varied as Questlove and Anthony Fantano . But while a lot has been written about LSH and Yachty’s intentional move away from raps, the heat check that came next is equally as interesting.

Starting in April with “ Strike (Holster) ,” Yachty converted tracks from an already recorded rap album into a handful of singles he released over the next five months. The songs in question—“ Slide ,” “ Solo Steppin Crete Boy ,” “ Tesla ,” and “ The Secret Recipe. ”—range from a freestyle with online superstar Kai Cenat to going bar for bar with one of hip-hop’s finest, J. Cole. These weren’t just a few loosies he was trying to pump out before his next album, either; each song had a corresponding music video to match and felt aesthetically different from the last.

More importantly, the songs felt fresh, and his writing felt much more polished than in many of his earlier rap efforts (the less we talk about “COUNT ME IN,” the better). The decision to return to his roots in between non-rap projects is smart for a few reasons. It holds over his day-one fans by playing the hits, it sustains the buzz he generated from LSH without oversaturating the market, and it gives him a chance to move the needle on the long-standing narrative that he isn’t a “serious” rapper (a notion that’s plagued his career). There will always be those who question Yachty’s lyrical ability, but if nothing else, these drops showcase a noticeably refined pen game without losing his special knack for generating legitimate bangers .

This is a sharp shift from a few years back, when Yachty was (wrongly) seen as more of a mushed-mouth interloper than a capital-A Artist. His rapid rise was met with harsh backlash almost immediately due to some combination of Yachty’s perceived allergy to lyricism in his music and an indifference to rap’s history and the legends who came before him. After Yachty revealed that he didn’t take the storied art form seriously during a Hot 97 interview , the floodgates opened and many of the genre’s veteran gatekeepers (the old heads ) stepped up to take their shots. Funkmaster Flex took to the airwaves to disparage Yachty’s lack of bars, Ebro Darden, who conducted said interview, went back and forth with him online, and Joe Budden said point-blank that he isn’t hip-hop.

Fast-forward to November of this year and Yachty is still ruffling the feathers of rap traditionalists , but this time—in an ironic turn of events—from the other side of the aisle. “The place that hip-hop is in right now is a terrible place … it’s a lot of imitation. It’s a lot of quick, low-quality music being put out. It’s trendy. It’s a lot less risk-taking. It’s a lot less originality,” he said at a Rolling Stone event .

How did Yachty—the same artist who was once maligned for “ruining the culture”—reach a point where he feels empowered enough to act as a spokesperson and critique the very same genre that tried to reject him?

Well, having influence over the biggest artist rap has ever seen certainly bolsters his credibility on the subject.

“This lil Drizzy reppin’ Crete.”

Those are the opening words on “Another Late Night,” a memorable cut from one of the most popular albums of the year, Drake’s For All the Dogs . On the surface, the lyric is a simple hat tip from the Canadian megastar to Lil Yachty (and his blossoming label Concrete Boyz ), who spits the song’s infamous second verse and is credited as a coproducer. But after you dig deeper and reflect on the past 12 months for Yachty, that line—and, by extension, the song—serves as a fitting microcosm of his 2023 run, which is inextricably linked to a fruitful friendship turned partnership with Drake.

lil drizzy reppin crete pic.twitter.com/WstTwnDjbb — CONCRETE BOY BOAT^ (@lilyachty) October 25, 2023

Rewind the clock back to the end of 2022, and two important developments occur: the accidental virality of hit single “Poland” and the start of that Drake alliance. Last October, a snippet of a new Lil Yachty song leaked online and rapidly took over TikTok , so much so that he was all but forced to drop it. Yachty even admitted that he recorded it as a joke and never planned to have it come out. Just days later, “Poland” became his only solo release of that year. The song’s catchy hook and extraterrestrial beat set the internet ablaze almost immediately upon its streaming arrival. “Poland” is now up to more than 130 million streams on Spotify ( The Ringer ’s parent company) and over 30 million views on its accompanying Lyrical Lemonade music video . Not bad for an accident.

Not even a month removed from the “Poland” takeover, Yachty showed up all over Drake and 21 Savage’s surprise collab album, Her Loss . He appeared not as a featured act but instead as an executive producer of sorts, receiving coproduction credits on a fourth of the tracklist. He also supplied a handful of ad-libs on “BackOutsideBoyz” and “Jumbotron Shit Poppin” and even claimed to have chosen the project’s cover art as well. (At least he didn’t go with an AI image, like he did for nightmare fuel on Let’s Start Here .)

Yachty’s involvement on the album felt like a test run from Drake to see if their budding bromance could evolve into a prosperous musical union as well as prove that their past chemistry on “Oprah’s Bank Account” wasn’t a fluke. And boy, did Yachty pass with flying colors. Their collaboration on Her Loss launched a close working relationship between the two, as evidenced by his influence pouring over onto For All the Dogs .

The Concrete Boyz CEO and October’s Very Own boss linked back up for seconds on Drake’s eighth studio album. Yachty’s fingerprints are all over the project, with five coproduction credits as well as his verse on “Another Late Night,” which is the first time he’s been listed as an official feature on one of Drizzy’s songs. And this doesn’t even include two more coproduction nods on Drake’s Scary Hours 3 , a six-pack EP doubling as a FATD deluxe edition. Dating back to last November, that brings the total number of Yachty-produced Drake songs up to 12. Simply put, Her Loss and FATD don’t exist without Lil Yachty. The frequent collaborators have formed an inseparable bond over the past year-plus, which has simultaneously impacted the 6 God’s output and elevated Yachty’s commercial ceiling.

Yachty is no stranger to stardom, having featured on a couple of top-five Billboard Hot 100 hits (“Broccoli” and “iSpy”), being named to the now-iconic 2016 XXL Freshman Class , modeling for Yeezy Season 3 , and racking up millions of streams, all before he was legally old enough to drink. Additionally, he had cemented his status among rap fans and critics alike as a SoundCloud favorite born out of the so-called “mumble rap” era. His influence can be seen in the likes of Juice WRLD , Trippie Redd , Lil Tecca , and Yeat —all artists who shaped the past half decade of rap music in their own right.

Still, there’s nothing quite like the Drake stimulus package. According to Hip Hop by the Numbers , Yachty’s appearance on FATD subsequently boosted his monthly listeners on Spotify by a whopping 40 percent .

Over the years, Drake’s become notorious for attaching himself to the coattails of various artists—adopting the Weeknd’s moody aesthetics, Playboi Carti’s flow, Bad Bunny’s language, Skepta’s U.K. slang, the list goes on—as they just so happen to be peaking in their respective lanes. He’s pretty much got it down to a science at this point: He’ll seek out the hottest sound, find an artist who’s spearheading it, and pair up with them so it doesn’t come off like he’s fully biting their style. In Yachty’s case, it doesn’t hurt that he and Drake seem to be genuine BFFs outside the booth, but it’s also an endorsement of his musical worldview. Drake said it best on “ Wick Man ”: “Boat say he the recipe, I must be the key ingredient.”

Now it’s up to Yachty to use that recipe for himself. His past year hasn’t been without its blemishes— awkwardly minimizing rapper Sexxy Red’s trauma on his podcast, singling out a Pitchfork critic for simply doing his job, calling internet trolls “gay,” and getting sued by the SEC among them—but Yachty is operating on a different plane now. He’s got more visibility, and it’s reasonable to expect that he’ll be more in demand as a producer. (His work with City Girls on “Act Up” shows that he’s more than just a Drake-hit wonder.) The Aubrey cosign has a mixed track record on helping the artist he’s borrowing from—ask Earl Sweatshirt his opinions on that—but given Yachty’s history and stature, he’s more likely to end up a Lil Baby than a BlocBoy JB. And he seems intent on making sure of it—as he told Variety , he’s already planning another non-rap LP for the new year, which could explore sounds beyond what he experimented with on Let’s Start Here .

It’s similar to the situation Tyler, the Creator found himself in coming out of 2017. Tyler could’ve easily rested on his laurels after Flower Boy , but instead he doubled down. (His fifth full-length, IGOR , was an even bolder artistic risk than Flower Boy and won him a Grammy; it’s a perfect album.) He’d later return to a more conventional approach with his 2021 Gangsta Grillz homage, Call Me If You Get Lost , but he did so from a position of power: having changed the trajectory of his career and earned the respect of even his most vehement doubters. Yachty took note: “He’s [Tyler, the Creator] the reason I made this album. He’s the one who told me to do it, just go for it. He’s so confident and I have so much respect for him because he takes me seriously, and he always has,” he said in March .

If the past 12 months have done anything for Yachty, they’ve made it clear we should take him as seriously as Tyler takes him—and he takes himself. But if he’s learned anything from Tyler, 2023 simply could be a launchpad into yet another transformation. Yachty titled his big pivot Let’s Start Here. because to him, it’s just the beginning of something. What happens next is arguably more interesting, even if the ending remains a question mark.

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The 15 Best Lil Yachty Songs

Let's talk about the best Lil Yachty songs - from his early days with "One Night" to his most recent unreleased leaks. The Atlanta rapper has come such a long way since his debut on SoundCloud and subsequent signing to Quality Control. In no particular order, here's our list of the 15 best Lil Yachty songs.

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15. "Plastic" - Lil Yachty (feat. Icewear Vezzo and Rio Da Yung OG) (2021)

What better way to start this list off than Lil Yachty's iconic Michigan Boy Boat album from 2021? This banger features the likes of Icewear Vezzo and Rio Da Yung OG, who matched Yachty's energy perfectly. Talk about a Michigan masterpiece: "Plastic" shows off the best elements of the hip-hop sub-genre.

14. "Who Want The Smoke?" - Lil Yachty (feat. Cardi B and Offset) (2018)

Who can forget the first time they heard "Who Want The Smoke?" with Lil Yachty, Offset, and Cardi B all together on a single song. The energy was absolutely electric, and it's no coincidence why all three of them have continued to thrive in their respective careers to this day.

13. "Split/Whole Time" - Lil Yachty (2020)

This is arguably one of the hardest Yachty songs ever, I will vouch for that on anything. From the intro to the very last moment of this song, there's something very special about this one. It's so characteristic of Yachty, so it's no surprise why it's become such a popular song.

12. "Minnesota" - Lil Yachty (feat. Quavo, Young Thug, and Skippa Da Flippa) (2016)

Off his debut album, "Minnesota" is an absolute classic Lil Boat banger. The song shows off all of the best sides of Yachty around the time of his breakout into the music scene. Ahh, the good ol' days of SoundCloud.

11. "Solid" - Lil Yachty (feat. SoFaygo) (2021)

The beat of this song makes you want to tilt your head back and ascend into the sky. From Yachty's cunning bars to SoFaygo's unmatched vocal approach, they bodied this beat perfectly, and showed exactly how fire a collab between the two of them is.

10. "T.D." - Lil Yachty (feat. Tierra Whack, A$AP Rocky, and Tyler, the Creator) (2020)

Let's not forget Yachty's song with this legendary cast of characters, which sampled the "Tokyo Drift" production, and became a modern classic. Every artist on this song has a reputation for being creative, and they didn't disappoint with this one.

9. "Demon Time" - Lil Yachty (feat. Draft Day) (2020)

Yachty has a knack for putting listeners on to the best underground artists, and that's exactly what he did here with Draft Day. If you're a seasoned Yachty listener, then this feature should've came at no surprise to you.

8. "Get Dripped" - Lil Yachty (feat. Playboi Carti) (2018)

Here's yet another one of the best Lil Yachty songs. Off of Yachty's Nuthin' to Prove album, "Get Dripped" gave fans a rare glance at just how special Yachty and Carti collabs are. The two artists morph their unique Atlanta-based styles together, and create music that literally nobody else in rap could replicate.

7. "66" - Lil Yachty (feat. Trippie Redd) (2018)

As far as timeless Lil Yachty classics go, this song is one of the top options. Trippie Redd and Lil Yachty both bring an unconventional style to the table, so of course the result of their collaboration is exactly that: unconventional.

6. G.I. Joe - Lil Yachty (feat. Louie Ray) (2021)

Another song from Yachty's Michigan Boy Boat album, "G.I. Joe" was yet another standout. It's great to see the chemistry Yachty has with all of the many features from this project, but there's something especially unique about the energy shared between Boat and Louie Ray.

5. "All of the Opps Is Opp'd" - Lil Yachty (Unreleased)

While not everyone is probably hip to this song, everybody should be. This Cash Cobain-produced banger samples Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the Sunshine," and turned it into a contemporary drill classic. Thank us later.

4. "Dynamic Duo" - Lil Yachty (feat. Tee Grizzley) (2021)

The name of the song is no lie: Lil Yachty and Tee Grizzley really are a "Dynamic Duo," but you should've known that already, after their prior collabs. To Lil Boat diehards, this was no surprise. On a stacked project, somehow this song managed to be one of the standouts.

3. "Poland" - Lil Yachty (2022)

Talk about "best Lil Yachty songs." It's impossible to forget the iconic moment Yachty had with the leak of this song. "I took the woOoOoOoOok... to Poland" will never get old, at least to the younger generation. The memes that were generated from this wave will surely never age, that's for sure.

2. "DipSet" - Lil Yachty and Offset (2016)

Lil Yachty and Offset have connected numerous times on collaborations, yet for some reason, this one never ceases to smack. If you haven't heard it already, here's your chance. Feast your ears upon yet another classic.

1. "Coffin" - Lil Yachty (2020)

One of the most memorable Lil Yachty releases ever was his 2020 single, "Coffin." From the moment the video teaser dropped, the hype was there. This felt like the start of a new era of Lil Yachty, embracing the most modern landscape of music, as he's always done in true Yachty fashion.

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Lil Yachty Brings the Hits, and His Psychedelic Rock Adventure, to Central Park: Concert Review

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Lil Yachty ‘s latest album, “Let’s Start Here,” did just that: It gave the rapper’s career a new starting point by setting aside his hip-hop origins and rebooting into psychedelic rock. Yachty 2.0 stopped by Central Park’s SummerStage and showed off his new sound, while also giving original fans a healthy dose of his classic bangers.

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The new chapter of Yachty had begun with this surreal, spacey production, and fans flooded into New York’s Central Park on Friday night to see it for themselves. Yachty’s band and singers appeared on stage first, all dressed in white, while trippy, dream-like visuals projected onto a huge screen behind them. The funky tunes of “drive ME crazy!” opened the show, with Yachty gliding in singing the soft vocals of “the ride” and “pRETTy.”

The typical 808s and bass of a normal rap concert wouldn’t be heard for a few more songs, as the band played an electric guitar-assisted rendition of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” before Yachty transitioned into the hip-hop portion of the night. It was as if the concert was divided into Act I and II, and finally the old Yachty came out to play some of his bangers. After the indie rock start, fans opened up the crowd to mosh along with “Yacht Club,” “Flex Up” and “Coffin.” Strobe lights and lasers illuminated the stage as Yachty jumped around screaming his lyrics as his braids and beads danced wildly in the air.

After the release of “Let’s Start Here,” Yachty got a shoutout from Questlove for “pushing the envelope” and being an example of “music’s future,” beyond just the rap genre. Whatever may come next, (he’s supposedly developing an action movie based on Uno — yes, the card game ) fans will want to keep an eye on where Yachty sails to next.

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Age, Biography and Wiki

Lil Yachty (Miles Parks McCollum) was born on 23 August, 1997 in Mableton, Georgia, United States, is an American rapper and singer from Georgia. Discover Lil Yachty's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 27 years old?

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 23 August. He is a member of famous Rapper with the age 27 years old group.

Lil Yachty Height, Weight & Measurements

At 27 years old, Lil Yachty height is 1.8 m .

Dating & Relationship status

He is currently single. He is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, He has no children.

Lil Yachty Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. So, how much is Lil Yachty worth at the age of 27 years old? Lil Yachty’s income source is mostly from being a successful Rapper. He is from United States. We have estimated Lil Yachty's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets.

Lil Yachty Social Network

On February 28, 2020, Lil Yachty released a collaborative project named A-Team with rappers Lil Keed and Lil Gotit as well as producer Zaytoven. The album featured 10 tracks and was preceded by the singles "Accomplishments" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven), "A-Team (You Ain't Safe)" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven), "Drip Jacker" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven), and "Hightop Shoes" (with Lil Yachty, Lil Keed, and Zaytoven). Following this, on March 9, 2020, Lil Yachty released the lead single from Lil Boat 3, titled "Oprah's Bank Account" with features by Drake and DaBaby. Lil Boat 3 will be released on May 29, 2020. Lil Yachty said he also plans to release another project, titled End of the Summer, in August 2020.

Lil Yachty announced on February 20, 2018, that his album Lil Boat 2 will be released on March 9, 2018. It was confirmed earlier, on January 21, 2018, that Lil Yachty and Takeoff have collaborated on an album that is yet to be released.

He was featured on the Ocean Park Standoff single "If You Were Mine", released on April 27, 2018. He joined FaZe Clan in December 2018 as "FaZe Boat".

In 2018, Yachty worked with Donny Osmond to create a theme song for Chef Boyardee titled "Start the Par-dee".

On May 26, 2017, Lil Yachty released his debut studio album, Teenage Emotions. It features guest appearances from Migos, Diplo, Evander Griiim, Grace, Stefflon Don and YG, among others. Three promotional singles were released to co-incide with the album. The first promotional single, "Harley", produced by K Swisha, was released on April 14, 2017. The second promotional single, "Bring It Back", produced by Free School, was released on May 4, 2017. The third promotional single, "X Men", produced by 30 Roc and Tillie and featuring a guest appearance from American rapper Evander Griiim, was released on May 18, 2017. He featured in a remix of "With My Team" by Creek Boyz, released December 15, 2017.

In February 2016, Yachty debuted as a model in Kanye West's Yeezy Season 3 fashion line at Madison Square Garden. Yachty's debut mixtape Lil Boat was released in March 2016.

In April 2016, Yachty collaborated with DRAM on the hit song "Broccoli", which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He featured on Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book mixtape, released in May 2016. On June 10, 2016 he announced he had signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, and Motown Records. Yachty released his second mixtape Summer Songs 2 in July 2016.

In December 2016, he was featured on the hip hop single "iSpy" by Kyle. He was featured in Tee Grizzley's single "From the D to the A", released in March 2017.

In a 2016 interview for CNN, Yachty expressed support for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election, and praised Sanders in his work during the civil rights movement.

McCollum was born in Mableton, Georgia. In 2015, he adopted the stage name "Yachty" and moved from his hometown of Atlanta to New York City to launch his career. He stayed with a friend and networked with online street fashion personalities, while he built up his own Instagram following. He worked at McDonald's.

Yachty first came to prominence in December 2015 when the SoundCloud version of his song "One Night" was used in a viral comedy video.

Yachty attended Alabama State University in fall 2015 but dropped out to pursue his musical career.

On September 1, 2015, Yachty and one other man were arrested at a mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for credit card fraud, Yachty was released after posting a bail bond of $11,000. According to Yachty, his records were expunged.

Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Yachty first gained recognition in August 2015 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" from his debut EP Summer Songs. He released his debut mixtape Lil Boat in March 2016. On June 10, 2016, Yachty announced that he had signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Music, Capitol Records, and Motown Records. His mixtapes Lil Boat and Summer Songs 2 were released in 2016 and his debut studio album, Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second studio album, Lil Boat 2, was released on March 9, 2018. His third studio album, Nuthin' 2 Prove, was released on October 19, 2018. His fourth studio album, Lil Boat 3, will be released on May 29, 2020.

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Lil yachty fans also viewed:, kendrick lamar, rich homie quan, o.y.g redrum 781, the notorious b.i.g., skull duggery (rapper).

Lil Yachty and James Blake to Release ‘Bad Cameo’ This Month

By Kory Grow

The time has finally come for Lil Yachty ‘s fans to ask themselves, “What the fuck? When they do this?” At least that’s what the rapper predicted his fans would think in February when he first started teasing his new collaborative album, Bad Cameo , with James Blake . Now, Yachty and Blake have set June 28 as the release date for the album, though they haven’t yet released a track list or single.

The duo recently discussed the collaboration with Complex , with Yachty revealing that he DM’d Blake in 2020 about how much he loved Blake’s Assume Form but never heard back since Blake wasn’t checking Instagram at the moment. Fortuitously, though, the admiration was mutual. “I’ve been a fan of Yachty for years,” Blake said. “And when I heard his last record [ Let’s Start Here ], I was like, this is really a turn. Not many artists are brave enough to do something that’s kind of opposite of the last thing they did.” A mutual friend eventually introduced them.

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“I can tell why you chose that beat because it just feels wistful and sort of, I don’t know, endless,” Blake told Yachty in the Complex interview. “It just keeps going round and creates this perfect bed for you to just tell the story or say how you feel about her.”

In February, Yachty spoke about how unusual the project is for both artists in an Instagram video . “I think James has worked with a quite substantial amount of hip-hop artists, but this project is just like … It’s so left … for both of us,” he said.

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The 100 Best Songs of 2022: Staff List

The hits that defined the year, and our favorites found in between.

By Billboard Staff

Billboard Staff

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It was a refrain heard throughout the Billboard offices in the first half of 2022: Where are the hits? The slow start for new entries really impacting the Billboard Hot 100 had us all looking left and looking right for the sort of songs we usually take for granted — the kind that slowly (or not-so-slowly) spread to all corners of the culture, connecting every kind of music fan and becoming unavoidable parts of a given year’s experience. With 2021’s biggest singles refusing to go away and this year’s listenership seemingly too spread out to elect new consensus hits to replace the incumbents, it was starting to look like we might go the whole calendar subsisting on nothing but reruns.

Luckily for us, the hits showed: first from some of pop’s biggest returning heroes, then from some artists taking the next step towards stardom, some longtime hitmakers we hadn’t heard from in a bit, and some new names we hope to be hearing a lot more from in the years to come. And of course, it wasn’t just the big songs that enraptured us in 2022; we found plenty of smaller favorites to save to our streaming playlists and inspire our vinyl orders in between those. But the year just wouldn’t have felt complete without those late-arriving, chart-crashing smashes, particularly since we ended up getting a handful who proved more than worthy of their position.

Here are our 100 favorite songs of 2022, a year that once again proved that no matter the time or context, pop music always finds a way. (Songs were considered eligible for the list if they either came out in 2022, were first released as an official single in 2022, or peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 — though sorry, Stranger Things heads, we still couldn’t quite justify including “Running Up That Hill” or “Master of Puppets.”)

Tariq, The Gregory Brothers & Recess Therapy, "It's Corn"

Before this summer, Tariq was just like any other seven-year-old in Brooklyn, hanging out at the park with his grandmother and sister. But then he openly declared his love of corn to YouTuber Julian Shapiro-Barnum, and his squeaky-voiced ode to the grain was flipped into one of the catchiest hooks in recent memory by Michael Gregory, and the most wholesome meme song of the year was born. There may be many hits on this list that are forgotten as time rolls by, but years from now the refrain from this track will still pop into your head from out of nowhere and bring a smile to your face. After all, it has the juice. — DAN RYS

Grupo Firme & Camilo, "Alaska"

It’s hard to tell what’s more winning about “Alaska” : its witty lyrics or its upbeat sound. Both are important in making the song so effective and catchy, but in the end it’s the fact that it’s a huapango (Mexican music style) that just makes you want to get on your feet and dance. Plus, you add lyrics that are fun to sing along to because of their play on words (staying true to Camilo and songwriting partner Edgar Barrera’s style), and Camilo and Grupo Firme struck gold with “Alaska.”  — GRISELDA FLORES

Blondshell, "Olympus"

“I’d still kill for you / I’d die to spend the night at your belonging,” sings Sabrina Teitelbaum, a.k.a. Blondshell, in the opening of her debut single “Olympus.” It’s a telling introduction to one of the industry’s most talked-about new indie rock talents, and received instant-enough acclaim to lead to her inking a deal with Partisan Records. Like her singles that proceeded it, “Olympus” is brazen and cutting – depicting the collision of love and addiction — and full of lyrical barbs that will stick with you long after the song is over. Teitelbaum has released high-quality music before, first as the feminist indie-pop artist BAUM, but now, as Blondshell, Teitelbaum’s identity as a songwriter has never been mightier. — KRISTIN ROBINSON

Nicky Youre & dazy, "Sunroof"

Sunshine pop lives! This song about a new crush doubles as an ode to the timeless youthful joy of cruising around your neighborhood in a convertible – or as close as you can come to one – with your favorite music at full blast. The beyond-catchy song, which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, has a modern pop sheen, but really could have been a hit at any point in the last 50+ years. – PAUL GREIN 

MICHELLE, "Pose"

The first moments of the beat on “POSE” climb in decibels, drawing in the listener like they’re opening the door to a party and making their way to the dancefloor. From there, MICHELLE’s track thumps like a quickening heartbeat. The slick single off the collective’s stellar After Dinner We Talk Dreams album queues “the fog machine to run real slow,” and would sync perfectly over a montage of poses from the underground ballroom documentary  Paris is Burning , showcasing the New York group’s appreciation for queer culture. — TAYLOR MIMS

d4vd, "Romantic Homicide"

One of the more unexpected trends of early ’20s popular music — gauzy indie balladry scoring a number of Tik-Tok-accelerated breakout hits — finally crossed over to the Hot 100’s top 40 with d4vd’s “Romantic Homicide,” a beautiful and violent daydream of a pop song. The straight-faced contrast between its murderously nonplussed lyrics (“In the back of my mind, you died/ And I didn’t even cry”) and the swooning guitar melodies made it an easy sell for viral success, and the fact that the teenage d4vd already has a follow-up hit makes it clear “Homicide” is merely his first offense, and won’t be his lifetime sentence. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

Kaytranada & Anderson .Paak, "Twin Flame"

“Attempting to correct the vibe” could have easily been 2022’s mission statement — and if it was, Kaytranada & Anderson .Paak’s glorious “Twin Flame” would have made a fitting theme song. The grooving single serves as a testament to Kaytranada’s flexibility as a star producer — the looping piano lines blend seamlessly into the four-on-the-floor beat patter, giving way to .Paak’s liquidized flow and perfectly restrained voice. — STEPHEN DAW

Central Cee, "Doja"

Full of bold one-liners, Central Cee’s July hit “Doja”  puts a flawless U.K. drill spin on Eve and Gwen Stefani’s 2001 classic “Let Me Blow Ya Mind.” The West London rapper samples the all-star team-up and expresses his admiration for the titular pop star, rapping, “Somebody tell Doja Cat, that I’m tryna indulge in that,” for the chorus. Cench’s one-off single also earned him some social media buzz, and he continued to flex his wordplay forte with an impressive  L.A. Leakers freestyle  explaining U.K. slang, which went viral not too long after. — CYDNEY LEE

Rauw Alejandro, "Dime Quién ????"

Throughout  Saturno , the Puerto Rican space cadet finds a sweet spot between new wave coolness and ‘80s freestyle momentum. On “Dime Quién????,” El Fókin Zorro continues to bring his insatiable vigor and howling vocals to the spotlight, while he pleads to know who the  sancho  is. But the high-energy banger gets you on your feet in an instant (think Michael Sembello’s “Maniac”), accentuated by analog synth-pop and a thumping bass that harkens back to 1984’s  Footloose  — to match with Alejandro’s footwork, as seen in its accompanying video . The chameleonic singer further proves his genre-hopping prowess while never losing his sly emo edge. — ISABELA RAYGOZA

BLACKPINK, "Shut Down"

BLACKPINK may have kicked off their sophomore album Born Pink with a taste of “Pink Venom,” but the K-pop girl group elevates their latest era to even greater heights with the swagger and savvy of second single “Shut Down.” Melding bouncing hip-hop with a sample of Niccolò Paganini’s 1826 violin concerto “La Campanella” proves ingenious as Rosé, Jisoo, Lisa and Jennie assert their status as the biggest girl group in the world. Now catch ‘em when you hear their Lamborghini go vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom… – GLENN ROWLEY

Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal, "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)"

A London-born triple-threat (DJ, producer, singer), Rose made her mark in the house underground in 2021, injecting tracks like “Moves” and “Another Love” with airy, carefree charm. She charged into the mainstream this year with “B.O.T.A.,” which merges cheerful club come-ons (“do you wanna dance baby?”) with memorable sloganeering (“she’s the baddest of them all”). The pelting beat, courtesy of Manchester producer Interplanetary Criminal, gallops at 137 beats per minute, considerably faster than your average house track, like it’s hoping to win the Preakness. “B.O.T.A.” performed well in a different sort of competition, rising to No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles chart. — ELIAS LEIGHT

Anitta, "Envolver"

Beyond the steamy booty-ography from the song’s music video or the viral TikTok dance challenge that first put it on the map, “Envolver” is the undeniable worldwide hit (topping the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart) that the Brazilian superstar had been building toward, thanks to its saucy lyrics and hypnotic beat. The no-strings-attached reggaetón romp cemented such a pop profile for Anitta, in fact, that she’s up for best new artist at the 2023 Grammys. –  KATIE ATKINSON

Doechii & SZA, "Persuasive"

You don’t need to talk Doechii into having a good time. The buttery “Persuasive” tracks the rapper’s loving relationship with weed, as she croons her way through a particularly effective smoke session over a jolting beat. The song was already a stellar kickback before it invited along a mind-altering guest verse from R&B paragon SZA — with her inclusion, it becomes a performance worthy of the hype surrounding the acclaimed artists at its center. — S.D.

Kelela, "Happy Ending"

The finest of several excellent singles Kelela released this year in advance of her 2023 album Raven — her first since 2017 debut LP Take Me Apart — “Happy Ending” reminds us of the alt-R&B singer-songwriter’s unique blend of accessibility and mystery. It feels like club music, and its ’90s rave-looking video certainly shows it being at home in that element, but its energy is more confounding than cathartic, with puzzle pieces of song lyrics and a woozy, synth-blanketed drum n’ bass beat that never quite slides them into place. “It’s deeper than fantasy,” Kelela insists, and we have to take her word for it. — A.U.

HitKidd & GloRilla, "F.N.F."

GloRilla bulldozed her way into the rap game when she and Memphis producer HitKidd dropped “F.N.F.” ahead of summer. “F.N.F.” became a rallying cry for single women embracing freedom and drama-free lives admonishing half-assed relationships and trifling men with her gruff delivery (“I’m F-R-E-E, f–k n—a free,”). The single detonated Big Glo’s career, as she landed a deal with Yo Gotti’s indomitable CMG Empire, and it also notched her a Grammy nomination last month for best rap song. — CARL LAMARRE

FLO, "Cardboard Box"

From the opening notes of their debut single, British trio FLO makes it clear they’re channeling the spirit — and chill-inducing harmonies — of late ‘90s/early ‘00s R&B. Taking inspiration in equal measures from the likes of 702, Blaque and Destiny’s Child, “Cardboard Box” is something of a little sister to Beyoncé’s classic 2006 kiss-off “Irreplaceable.” By the time the threesome finish kicking a cheating beau to the curb, they’ve proved they might just have the charisma and vocal chops to be crowned those girl groups’ latest heir apparents. — G.R.

beabadoobee, "Talk"

Much of beabadoobee’s sophomore album,  Beatopia , floats by in a dreamy soft focus, but lead single “Talk” was built to stand out. A swirl of guitar and drum starts the song, but seven seconds in, it vanishes as Bea Laus drops in to give a snapshot of her favorite day of the week for going out: “Call you up on a Tuesday.” Gritty electric guitars balance Laus’s whimsical voice, as she considers the temptation of a weeknight escapade. But that hesitation lasts for only a fraction of a second before she makes good on a “bad decision,” one that leaves partying on a weekend seem painfully lame by comparison. — CHRISTINE WERTHMAN

Lil Uzi Vert, "Just Wanna Rock"

“Lil Uzi Vert makes a Jersey Club hit” may not have been on your 2022 bingo card, but in hindsight, the hyperactive bounce of the Newark-born sound makes perfect sense as a sonic avenue for the elastic-voiced rapper to explore. At barely over two minutes and with one clipped verse, “Just Wanna Rock” bashes the listener between the eyes and sees itself out; we’re left dizzied, adjusting to Uzi’s new lane, and eager to absorb that sound again. — JASON LIPSHUTZ

Carly Rae Jepsen feat. Rufus Wainwright, "The Loneliest Time"

Kiki and Elton. Dolly and Kenny. Well, now add Carly and Rufus to the canon of iconic pop duet partners. It feels a little like destiny that these two Canadians — both experts at deploying sticky pop melodies saturated with deeply-felt emotions, albeit usually against very different musical backdrops — should unite on a song blending drama, camp and danceability. Few artists could sell an over four-minute track with a spoken interlude with the charm that these two do. And speaking of that interlude, don’t underestimate the catchiness of its refrain: it’s coming back to (your head), baby. — REBECCA MILZOFF

Lil Nas X, "Thats What I Want"

As he often does throughout 2021 debut album  Montero , Lil Nas X waits but a few seconds before launching into its third single , a top 10 Hot 100 hit in 2022. The controlled chaos of its yearning yet frustrated lyrics and feverish backing guitar all feel a bit like the thrill of a fast-paced roller coaster; it zooms around in a blink, and before you know it, you’re in the thick of a chorus reminiscent of the ride’s most exhilarating slope. And even if you can’t catch your breath until it’s over, it’s only a matter of time before you’re in line for another go. — JOSH GLICKSMAN

Cody Johnson, "'Til You Can't"

There’s no shortage of country songs that espouse seizing the moment, whether it’s Garth Brooks’ “If Tomorrow Never Comes” or Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying,” but few have the urgency of Johnson’s chugging, mid-tempo missive “Til You Can’t.” Through vivid imagery and an increasingly driving melody, Johnson runs through several quotidian, non-urgent scenarios (whether it’s “taking the phone call from your mama” or “fixing up that Pontiac” with your granddad or even just following your dreams) before encouraging the listener to “take it while you got a chance” — because, unfortunately, there will be a day when the opportunity is no longer there. — MELINDA NEWMAN

Elton John & Britney Spears, "Hold Me Closer"

The otherworldly piano and guitar riffs of “Hold Me Closer” sound as if they have been bouncing around the cosmos since, say, 1971. The origin of this entrancing track, of course, is actually pure Pandemic Era, an outtake from Elton John’s album of remotely recorded collaborations,  The Lockdown Sessions .  Tapping another of his classics, “The One,” for the song’s opening lyrics and borrowing the “WHOO HOO!” exclamation from his Hot 100-topping “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” Elton warmly led Britney back to the pop world — and also to her first No. 1 hit in five years, as “Hold Me Closer” topped both the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and Adult Pop Airplay charts, and hit No. 6 on the Hot 100. — THOM DUFFY

Chappell Roan, "Casual"

Long before her latest single went viral on TikTok, Chappell Roan was making hypnotic, derisive songs about fraught relationships. But with “Casual,” her fiery ode to a lover refusing to commit, the singer let her pen run wild. The lyrics, co-written with pop auteur Dan Nigro — who knows a thing or two about  bitter   love   songs  — causticly bemoan the pitfalls of the supposedly less-than-serious entanglement, while the production lays the snark on thick with its bedroom-pop dreaminess. If the war on situationships has begun, then Roan stands on the front lines with this rousing battle-cry. — S.D.

Orville Peck, "C'mon Baby, Cry"

On latest album  Bronco , Orville Peck evokes the attitude of outlaw and the rich soundscapes of countrypolitan. The masked mysterian run laps around his vocal contemporaries on this lush, Orbison-esque album highlight, flaunting a silky baritone and a tremulous tear in his voice, while urging the smile-while-your-heart-is-breaking types to drop the façade and “C’Mon Baby, Cry.” — JOE LYNCH

Florence + the Machine, "King"

With a lush garden of mystic instrumentation, corralled by producer Jack Antonoff, and a spiritual commitment to honoring everyday feminine divinity, Florence Welch’s comeback single is an absolute stunner from start to finish. Everything about this ballad – its gothic feel and occult aesthetics, the sparking electricity of her quietly powerful voice – is a reminder that Welch is one of our most singular artists, operating on her own terms to serve her muses alone. — HANNAH DAILEY

Lizzo, "2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)"

More than just about any other celebrity, Lizzo freely lets us see her faults and imperfections. In this follow-up to “About Damn Time,” Lizzo quips “I did ‘the work’/ It didn’t work.” Later, she has an aha moment, posing a question that might take someone years of therapy to formulate – “How am I supposed to love somebody else when I don’t like myself?” That’s pretty profound for what is for the most part a feel-good pop song. As for the question Lizzo poses in the parenthetical part of the song title, Lizzo, you were born ready. — P.G.

Vince Staples & Mustard, "Magic"

First teased in a Beats Fit Pro commercial, “Magic” became the first single off of Vince Staples’s highly anticipated fifth album,  Ramona Park Broke My Heart . The Long Beach rapper joined forces with Grammy award-winning L.A. producer Mustard for the feel-good, G-funk-inspired track, which sees Staples rapping about his childhood antics, growing up in the Ramona Park section of Long Beach and ultimately making it out of his city. “When you get two n—as from different sides of the city to do something like this, I guess you could call that magic,” Mustard says on the outro. He’s not wrong. — C. Lee

Tove Lo, "No One Dies From Love"

While Tove Lo songs often rely more on hook construction than bravura vocal takes, the strength of the post-breakup synth-pop fantasia “No One Dies From Love,” which preceded her  Dirt Femme  album, rests in her performance of the couplet “No one dies from love/ Guess I’ll be the first.” Her voice collapses in resignation, the final syllable elongated to demonstrate a level of sadness that, in her mind, is biologically unprecedented. It’s one of the best pop moments of the year, within a gem of a lead single. — J. Lipshutz

Wizkid, "Bad to Me"

P2J helped produce Wizkid’s biggest hit, “Essence,” so it’s no surprise that the two continue their fruitful partnership with “Bad to Me.” But where “Essence” was feather-light, like a contented sigh, “Bad to Me” is more rugged, with meandering guitar giving way to jabbing bass. Wizkid is a multi-tasking master: He flirts charismatically, boasts convincingly, and keeps an eye on his friends all at once, demanding “Casamigos/For my amigos.” — E.L.

Ice Spice, "Munch (Feelin' U)"

This year signaled the rise of a stunning variety of women rappers, from Latto and GloRilla to Flo Milli and Doechii. Now jot down another name: Ice Spice. With a smooth flow riding on stuttering drill beats, the Bronx rapper went viral with this tough-talking track that unflinchingly dismisses a would-be suitor, a.k.a. “munch.”  “Bitch, I’m a baddie, I get what I want, like / You thought I was feelin’ you?  … / That n—a a munch,” raps Ice Spice. The catchy hook made Ice Spice an instant sensation and simultaneously introduced a new noun to 2022’s vernacular. — GAIL MITCHELL

Grupo Frontera, "No Se Va"

Many thought this was an original song by norteño band Grupo Frontera, but it’s actually a satisfying blast from the past. Breathing fresh air into Morat’s 2019 pop ballad “No Se Va,” Frontera’s version is a nice cumbia-norteña version that exploded on TikTok and put the group from McAllen, Texas on the map. The cover became only the fifth regional Mexican song to hit the Hot 100 in the chart’s 64-year history, reaching a No. 57 high after entering the chart in November. — GRISELDA FLORES

Taylor Swift, "Lavender Haze"

When Taylor Swift first announced at the  2022 VMAs  she’d be dropping her 10 th  studio album this year, she told us, “Meet me at midnight.” We the Swifties came running, and that phrase went on to become the opening line off  Midnights’  opening track, “Lavender Haze.” Her gauzy vocals soar atop whirring synthesizers and backing vocals from Zoë Kravitz (among others), while the lyrics encapsulate Swift’s desire to wholeheartedly reject “the 1950s s—t they want from me,” focusing her energy on her relationship. Sounds like she’s still working on that part — but crafting irresistible nocturnal pop bangers, she’s got that down. — DANIELLE PASCUAL

Rina Sawayama, "This Hell"

Showing the difference between writing a great Lady Gaga tribute and a straight-up great Lady Gaga single, Rina Sawayama’s “This Hell” was born this way, baby, and deliciously proud of it. The song’s stomping synth-rock groove burns a hole in the road from here to the afterlife, making all the right decisions along the way as it flips the bird to the gatekeepers of the great beyond and makes plans to party down below deck instead. By the time it hits the “Pass the wine, b–ch/ We’re going straight to Hell” bridge, you can practically see Mother Monster throwing up the devil sign in the front row. — A.U.

Kendrick Lamar feat. Blxst and Amanda Reifer, "Die Hard"

Though Kendrick Lamar’s  Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers  lacked the same commercial appeal that made  DAMN  a mainstream thriller, K. Dot didn’t leave fans who were looking for big new singles empty-handed. On “Die Hard,” Lamar dials back the lyrical intensity, but his message remains poignant as he nosedives into his past relationship trauma (“I got some regrets/ But my past won’t keep me from my best.”). With singers Blxst and Amanda Reifer on deck, the embattled MC aims to right his wrongs for the sake of his family and become the man he always dreamed of being. — C. Lamarre

GAYLE, "abcdefu"

Nashville-based singer-songwriter GAYLE unleashed an unescapable hit this year with an alphabetic hook, a singalong melody and a cathartic cataloging of all of her ex’s shortcomings. From the “F you” that starts the very first verse of this musical middle finger, GAYLE wastes no time disparaging an ex-lover and basically everyone in their orbit (except the dog, of course), right down to that “Craigslist couch and the way your voice sounds.” Written by GAYLE with Sara Davis and David Pittenger, “abcdefu” became a viral TikTok sensation-turned-No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Global 200 chart for four weeks, and earned a song of the year nod at the upcoming 2023 Grammys. — JESSICA NICHOLSON

HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson, "Wait in the Truck"

An ominous, slow-building murder ballad (are there any other?) from the stylistically unpredictable HARDY, “wait in the truck” is a harrowing dual-perspective tale of abuse, vigilante justice, imprisonment and redemption. The songwriter-turned-solo artist’s voice is as uncompromising and potent as an unfiltered Marlboro on this gospel-flavored country odyssey, while a shotgun-riding Lainey Wilson fills up “truck” with a fragility and resilience that give it a haunting emotional core. — J. Lynch

Megan Thee Stallion, "Plan B"

“Plan B” marked a palpable career shift for Megan Thee Stallion, who first debuted the scorching track during her set at Coachella this year. The Houston rapper had long proved in her previous work that she can deliver sexy and self-assured, but over a sizzling sample of the remix to Jodeci’s 1995 hit “Freek’n You,” she asserted high-heeled dominance in a different category, which would later become one of the core themes of her sophomore album  Traumazine : female wrath. — H.D.

Charlie Puth, "Light Switch"

In this frantically paced  Charlie  single, Puth learns the hard way that just as quickly as his love interest can turn him on, she can also shut the whole thing down with a titular flip. “Why you always wanna act like lovers, but you never wanna be each other’s?” he asks. While Charlie picks up the hint (or not), we’ll be bobbing our heads to the top 40 hit ‘s brisk, synthy beat. –  K.A.

Fred again.. feat. Romy & HAAi, "Lights Out"

A peak club night is ultimately simple: you, your friends, dancing, darkness and the ineffable sensations of joy and catharsis that these components together are uniquely capable of delivering. Therein lies the vibe of “Lights Out,” the January stunner from U.K. producer Fred again.., The xx vocalist Romy and Australian star HAAi. Mixing in elements of house, breakbeat, garage and one perfectly placed air raid siren, the exultant, occasionally tender track (“now my heart won’t break, it bends,” declares Romy) moves at a warp speed, building to a rapturous climax that sounds just like how your best nights out feel. — KATIE BAIN

Pharrell Williams feat. 21 Savage & Tyler, the Creator, "Cash In Cash Out"

A 21 Savage-Tyler, The Creator collaboration produced by Pharrell Williams probably would have worked well at any point in the super-trio’s respective careers, but the blistering heater “Cash In Cash Out” benefits from particularly fortuitous timing. Savage, in the middle of a dominant 2022, is in flamethrower mode over Pharrell’s tics and whirrs, pummeling the track into submission with Ferrari reference and Redman puns; meanwhile, Tyler is still basking in the bar-splitting triumph of  Call Me If You Get Lost , and aims at tossing up catchphrases and flow switches like they’re heat checks. — J. Lipshutz

Rosalía, "Despecha"

While fans were still exploring the expansive world of Rosalía’s third studio album  Motomami , the Spanish artist dropped an additional 12 tracks, remixes and interludes — including standout “Despécha.” Never one to shy away from mixing and matching sounds like a musical Frankenstein, Rosalía fuses mambo, pop and merengue for a monster hit that landed the Catalonia-born artist her first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100. If your feet can move fast enough, it’s an irresistible dancefloor anthem to shirking off heartbreak by going out with your friends and not leaving the club until you’ve got your crown. — T.M.  

Maren Morris, "Circles Around This Town"

With its soulful electric guitar groove and vivid opening lyric painting a picture of Morris as an aspiring songwriter, driving to Nashville in a “Montero with an AC busted,” “Circles” feels like the flipside of her early hit “80s Mercedes” — the story of a scrappy young woman “trying to find something worth singing about.” It’s a classic Morris lead single, anchored by her trademark soulful vocals and a sinuous melody aided by co-writers Julia Michaels, “The Bones” collaborator Jimmy Robbins, and hubby Ryan Hurd. But it’s knowing how far she’s come in achieving her Music City dream — and how far from over her creative journey is — that gives “Circles” its real heart. — R.M.

Quavo & Takeoff, "Hotel Lobby (Unc and Phew)"

Takeoff’s legacy as one of the most distinct and technically gifted rappers of his generation was secure long before his joint project  Only Built for Infinity Links  with fellow Migo Quavo. But listening to its lead single, “Hotel Lobby,” in the weeks after his tragic death at the age of 28, only reminds us how effortless showcasing those skills had become for him. From the opening declaration “Let’s get it” to every line-punctuating ad-lib (“Chill out!”) to the loving nod to his cohort (“I call him twin, ‘cause that be my brother”), Takeoff glides over the trap beat of “Hotel Lobby” with majestic, timeless ease. — J. Lipshutz

Phoebe Bridgers, "Sidelines"

Phoebe Bridgers’ standalone single “Sidelines” gives her fanbase a rare look at the evolution of her songwriting from 2020’s  Punisher  to now, and a lot has changed in her life since her acclaimed sophomore project: the number of Pharbz grew exponentially (even to fandom-nickname size); she got engaged to  Normal People  actor Paul Mescal; and she earned four Grammy nominations. Though “Sidelines” is a notably subdued cut from Bridgers, anchored simply by a toy piano chords and minimal production, its subtlety allows the storytelling to take center stage. In “Sidelines,” Bridgers tells of her recent love-inspired epiphany, and being ready to live her life “with something to lose.” — K.R.

Becky G & Karol G, "MAMIII"

It was the collaboration we had all been waiting for, and good things come to those who wait. The Gs joined forces to deliver an anthem that is blunt, empowering and defiant. The ultimate song to belt to in unison with your best gals after getting out of a toxic relationship, “MAMIII” — which starts off with melancholy guitar chords but quickly transitions into a hypnotizing reggaetón beat — captivates both sonically and lyrically. — G.F.

Mitski, "Love Me More"

In “Love Me More,” Mitski re-examines themes she has focused on throughout the course of her career — isolation, love, and fear – which feel timelier than ever in the wake of social distancing. With up-tempo synth-pop production, the song’s racing rhythm demonstrates the anxiety she feels over both needing to be seen and adored as an artist and also “wish[ing] that this would go away.” It’s an illustrative look inside the head of one of indie rock’s most masterful but elusive stars, over a decade into her career. Plus, it’s one of her most radio-ready singles to date, hitting No. 32 on the Hot Rock Songs chart and helping parent album  Laurel Hell  reach No. 5 on the  Billboard  200. — K.R.

Rihanna, "Lift Me Up"

Rihanna finally put an end to her long-drawn-out musical hiatus with  “Lift Me Up,”  the lead single from Marvel’s  Black Panther: Wakanda Forever  soundtrack. The unquestionably beautiful ballad – which acts as a tribute to late lead actor Chadwick Boseman – swells with affection, as Rihanna’s lithe, matured vocals effortlessly float above Ludwig Göransson’s arrangement, pulling on harp and heartstrings alike. With a No. 2 debut on the Billboard Hot 100, “Lift Me Up” also hopefully marks a solid start to RiRi’s comeback season. — HERAN MAMO

Lil Yachty, "Poland"

Lil Yachty did not intend to release “Poland,” but after the warbling track, inspired by cough syrup and a  Poland Spring bottle,  leaked and blew up on TikTok, the melodic rapper gave the people want they wanted and dropped the full version — all 83 seconds of it. With an assist from a  Cole Bennett-directed video  and millions of streams, the one-verse ditty landed Yachty his first top 40 hit in a lead role when it peaked at No. 40 on the Hot 100. The song also got love in the country it namechecks, traveling to No. 15 on the Poland Songs chart, so it sounds like a fieldtrip is in order. Wock’ OK in the checked bag?  — C.W.

Alex G, "Runner"

“Runner” begins with a brief nod to the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” before morphing into an infectious confection of sunny ‘70s California rock and sinister-lite lyrics. (Think Warren Zevon living long enough to write the  Pineapple Express  soundtrack.) G’s narrative leans toward the abstract, ping-ponging between the first and second person, but his reference to “a couple grand rolled up” in a pocket, and the song’s “Load it up, know your trigger like the back of my hand” refrain suggests the runner of the title is not training for a 5K. There’s also the song’s banger of a third verse, on which G repeatedly bleats then screams, “Yes, I have done a couple bad things” — the indie singalong line of the year. — FRANK DIGIACOMO

Latto, "Big Energy"

“Big Energy” turned out to be nothing short of a sweet, sweet fantasy for Latto, with the Tom Tom Club-interpolating smash serving as the rising rapper’s breakout track and catapulting her onto the Hot 100. Of course, the only thing more potent than Latto slyly referencing Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” on the original track was the Elusive Chanteuse herself hopping on the official remix , which helped send the crossover smash straight to No. 3. — G.R.

Shervin Hajipour, "Baraye"

There aren’t too many scenarios where a year-end songs list pick could have cost the artist their life. But at the center of a painfully long-awaited political revolution, it can happen. In September, singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour released the pained but hopeful “Baraye,” loosely translating to “For.” In doing so, the 25-year-old artist made history, creating a rallying call for Iranians everywhere who are demanding the removal of a government that has oppressed, imprisoned, tortured and murdered its people—especially women—en masse for over four decades. 

Following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and subsequent uprisings, Hajipour pulled the poignant ballad’s lyrics from tweets shared by Iranians, spelling out the forbidden privileges they’d be willing to die for—privileges that for many of us are basic rights. “For dancing on the streets/ For the fear of kissing your lover in public,” he begins, going on to mention child labor, pollution, mass imprisonment and “nonstop tears.” The song earned international recognition, being chanted word-for-word in protests across the globe, gaining over 40 million views in two days and being submitted over 100,000 times to the Grammys’ new category for a song dedicated to social change. No matter the outcome of Iranians’ valiant efforts in their home country, “Baraye” will forever be cemented in history as a reminder of the power of music in galvanizing a generation. — NEENA ROUHANI

Let's Eat Grandma, "Happy New Year"

Not many artists would think of using a New Year’s celebration song — with fireworks and the whole bit — as the framework for a song about rediscovering and treasuring friendship, but that’s the boundless open-hearted creativity that U.K. psych-pop duo Let’s Eat Grandma usually operate with. “Happy New Year” captures a specific moment in the relationship between its soulmate creators so vividly, and with such dynamite synth riffing, that it becomes universal — the kind of pop anthem that you’ll gladly throw an arm around a stranger and belt along to together like you’ve known them all your life this Dec. 31. — A.U.

Beyoncé, "Alien Superstar"

“Alien Superstar” opens with a blaring warning to “not attempt to leave the dance floor,” before transforming into one of the most danceable self-love anthems of the year. With a booming bassline, a heavenly interpolation of Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” and “masterpiece genius/ drip intravenous” wordplay, the track is truly as “U-N-I-Q-U-E” as Beyoncé claims  she  is. An unapologetic celebration of her hard-earned success, she also pays homage to the greats that came before her, with references to the ballroom scene and a speech sample by Harlem’s National Black Theatre founder Barbra Ann Teer. Here and throughout  RENAISSANCE , Bey proves she is still “that girl” and she’s not going anywhere. — D.P.

Yahritza y Su Esencia, "Soy el Unico"

There is a yearning quality to Mexican-American trio Yahritza y Su Esencia’s “Soy El Único,” and a very unlikely one too. Whether it’s Yahritza’s arduous vocals, with the potential to make your heart sink when she hits those high notes; the sad sierreño melodies that resonate from the trio’s acoustic guitars; or the lovelorn lyrics she wrote when she was just 13 years old (now 16), the song hits a nerve that most teenage artists wouldn’t even know yet to look for. “How sad is it to love another person that doesn’t know how to value you,” she wails with a gut-wrenching delivery, capturing a unique-but-relatable feeling. — I.R.

Brandi Carlile feat. Lucius, "You and Me on the Rock"

With opening guitar lines that echo Joni Mitchell’s “Carey,” a chorus that gives a hat tip to the Gospel According to Matthew, and luscious background vocals from Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius, “You and Me on the Rock” is a joyous love song to Carlile’s wife Catherine Shepherd. As the singer tweeted upon release of the track as a single in June 2022, it celebrates “what my life is really built on, which is faith and my family, it’s a rock, and it’s solid,” So nice, she recorded it twice: the version from Carlile’s 2021 album In These Silent Days was re-cut for her live 2022 Laurel Canyon tribute set In The Canyon Haze . The original single earned Carlile a trifecta of 2023 Grammy nominations, including record of the year. — T.D.

Arctic Monkeys, "There'd Better Be a Mirrorball"

It’d have been easy for U.K. indie paragons Arctic Monkeys to return from their latest four-year hiatus — during which their stateside fanbase swelled exponentially, with Tumblr-era appreciation crossing over to TikTok-era virality — with more alt-rock rave-ups and late-night drunk dials to enrapture their new generation of fans. Or maybe it wouldn’t have been easy, and that’s the point: “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” shows frontman Alex Turner so entrenched in his Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker crooner dress-up, it’s hard to believe they weren’t always his clothes. But the song is stunning, with a gentle lushness worthy of 21st century Radiohead at their best, and a deeply felt (even when overtly sarcastic) Turner vocal that seems to chide anyone who expected different from him: “You’re getting cynical, and that won’t do.” – A.U.

Bizarrap & Quevedo, "Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52"

Not so long ago, the Argentine DJ Bizarrap was just a rookie producer with a penchant for dropping a hot beat on a great freestyle. Meanwhile, Spanish hip-hop artist Quevedo was a locally praised lyricist and an internationally respected rap-battle player. When the Buenos Aires alchemist set the blueprint for his BZRP Music Sessions, he quickly became a force to be reckoned with. However, when he joined forces with Quevedo on  “Vol. 52,” all hell broke loose. The track contains all the right elements for a monumental EDM banger: suspenseful opening synths, hard drops, and a ravenous thump. That, coupled with Quevedo’s baritone rap bars about a flirtatious rendezvous, sets the stage for “Vol. 52” to fulfill our listening and dancing urges — and propelled the song to the top of  Billboard ’s Global 200 chart for four nonconsecutive weeks. — I.R.  

Soccer Mommy, "Shotgun"

Like much of Sophie Allison’s best work as Soccer Mommy, this impeccably crafted single and its vivid hook – “So whenever you want me, I’ll be around / I’m a bullet in a shotgun waiting to sound” – would’ve felt right at home on ’90s alternative radio. Oneohtrix Point Never, who produced “Shotgun” along with the rest of 2022’s sterling Sometimes, Forever , helps Allison secure a fittingly massive sound as she continues her evolution from lo-fi bedroom-pop auteur to bonafide rock star. — ERIC RENNER BROWN

Maggie Rogers, "That's Where I Am"

Less than three months  after promising  a record that “sounds like feral joy” — a notion that has since defined her  Surrender  album cycle so much she named  her current tour  after it — Rogers released its rocking lead single, which illustrates the feeling to a tee. Highlighted by a building vocal and brash drums, “That’s Where I Am” harnesses all of the energy that made debut  Heard It In a Past Life  such a standout effort, and then jubilantly unleashes it at the apex of its bridge, spurring Rogers to take off sprinting through New York City in its music video. Listening, it’s hard to resist doing the same. — J.G.

Omar Apollo, "Tamagotchi"

The Mexican-American alt-everything singer comes out to play on this Neptunes-produced, bass-thumping earworm. Named after the ‘90s digital toy, “Tamagotchi” finds Apollo slipping in and out of his Spanish mother tongue when singing about living the fast life (“…los chicos me quieren tocar,” he croons about boys wanting to touch him) yet constantly craving physical connection from that special someone. The stylistic leap he took on “Tamagotchi” and its parent album  Ivory  helped Apollo earn a best new artist nod ahead of the 2023 Grammys. — H.M.

Drake, "Sticky"

“Gordo got me on a wave,” Drake announces on “Sticky,” shouting out the veteran dance producer whose work on the track and the album from which it comes,  Honestly, Nevermind , helped escort Drizzy further into clubland upon its June release. The dreamy, stuttering beat, layered in with a chopped falsetto vocal from multi-hyphenate musician Ry X, goes soft then hard, creating the foundation for Drake to muse about life, love and “how sticky it gets,” on one of the album’s only songs to inspire actual bars from its creator. — K.B.

Doja Cat, "Vegas"

“Vegas” was the uncontested standout of Baz Luhrmann’s  Elvis  soundtrack, on which Doja Cat’s spitfire rap reimagining of Big Mama Thornton’s original version of The King’s “Hound Dog” — via vocal samples from Elvis actress Shonka Dukureh’s performance as Thornton — sparkled as the lead single. Peaking at No. 10 on the Hot 100, the track was a swaggering exhibition of the L.A. native’s talent as a master of her craft, artfully blending old-fashioned flair with modernity, masculinity with femininity and rock n’ roll with hip hop – all delivered by Doja with a wicked smile you can somehow hear through the microphone. — H.D.

Paramore, "This Is Why"

After a five-year absence, the Hayley Williams-led trio returns with the jittery, retro “This is Why” — and if you don’t like it, “you can keep it to yourself,” Williams declares. It’s hard to know if the band is paranoid after almost three years of a panic-inducing pandemic or if they simply don’t have time for your crap as Williams sings, “This is why I don’t leave the house/ You say the coast is clear/but you won’t catch me out.” But the juxtaposition of the staccato melody with the antsy lyrics is prime Paramore. — M.N.

Sabrina Carpenter, "Vicious"

On “Vicious,”  Sabrina Carpenter sings about being manipulated by a partner who’s tricked the rest of the world into considering them virtuous. Yet before singing the opening line, “One year, ten thousand bad moments,” Carpenter chuckles atop the chugging guitar — she’s no longer wounded by their deception, but she’s rolling her eyes for not seeing it sooner. That attention to detail separates Carpenter’s Emails I Can’t Send from most other pop albums this year, and turns “Vicious” into an appropriately cutting toast to the ones we’ve all spent too much time needlessly defending. — J. Lipshutz

Charli XCX feat. Rina Sawayama, "Beg for You"

A reimagination of September’s classic 2007 dance hit “Cry For You,” this late January release set the tone for a year filled with indelible samples and interpolations. While it doesn’t stray far from its predecessor sonically, it never needed to in order to live up to the hype it built ahead of its arrival. “Beg For You” combines two artists that excel at dance-pop on a club-ready romp squarely in their wheelhouse. Sometimes, the obvious formula works — as Charli XCX and Sawayama demonstrate while seamlessly trading verses on the sparkling homage. — J.G.

Nicki Minaj, "Super Freaky Girl"

One thing about Nicki — she makes the freakiest hits. The animated rapper revisited her “Anaconda” playbook this year, flipping a Rick James sample all the way to No. 1 on the Hot 100. The playful smash works so well because it’s delightfully dirty (“I can lick it, I can ride it while you slipppin’ and slidin'”), yet rapped in such an innocent, sing-songy cadence that it sounds as sweet as apple pie. Only the superest freak could pull that off. –  K.A.

Muni Long, "Hrs and Hrs"

Under her real name Priscilla Renea, Muni Long already had her pen game on point, writing songs for big names such as Rihanna and Ariana Grande. But with this self-penned R&B song, Long became a star in her own right — and a Grammy nominee for best new artist. Set off by the track ’s seductive beat and Long’s sultry vocals (“I wanna give you your flowers / And some champagne showers”), the undulating ballad resonates with anyone in love, who wants to spend the titular time period doing whatever comes to mind with that special someone. — G.M.

Jessie Ware, "Free Yourself"

“Free! Your! Self!” U.K. chanteuse Jessie Ware demands on her serotonin swirl of a single, released in July and produced by dance world legend Stuart Price. The pure-energy anthem braids urgent piano stabs, disco strings, funk bass and a dirty, swaggering beat into pure uncut dancefloor mania, over which Ware delivers dually punchy and purring vocals that command what the track itself is already expressing: “if it feels so good then… baby don’t you stop.” — K.B.

Burna Boy, "Last Last"

Who said men don’t hurt too? Sampling Toni Braxton’s 2000 hit “He Wasn’t Man Enough,” Burna cleverly flips the heartbreak anthem into an Afrobeats heater with “Last Last,” his first Hot 100 hit. Over ad-libs and guitar riffs lifted from Braxton’s smash, Burna ruminates about a past relationship gone sour. (“Maybe another time, maybe another life, you will be my wife, and we’ll get it right”). He doesn’t mince words, and welcomes his pain with aplomb, making “Last Last” the go-to soundtrack for us sadboys in 2022. — C. Lamarre

MUNA, "Anything But Me"

MUNA, 2021 signees to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records, have a knack for capturing the complexities of relationships. This year, the alt-pop trio delivered a somehow both gentle and scathing rebuke of a lover on their self-titled album’s “Anything But Me.” It is a pop song with layers — its production is light and playful, alluding to the freedom of walking away from a relationship that no longer serves them. And it’s backed by the steady, consistent beat of someone firm in their conviction, who has “never been afraid of goodbye.” — T.M.

The Weeknd, "Out of Time"

The Weeknd has perfected the formula for making amazing pop songs, but the real magic lies in how that formula never seems to get old. Like so many of the Toronto-born musician’s Hot 100 hits before it, the ‘80s-inspired “Out of Time” is equal parts fresh and familiar, with all the indefinable qualities of feeling instantly timeless, as its title might imply. And that creepy-yet-soothing Jim Carrey outro? Icing on the cake. — H.D.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs feat. Perfume Genius, "Spitting Off the Edge of the World"

The last three years have played out like a disaster movie, and in June, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs gave us its theme song. “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” starts out as a funereal synth- and drum-driven indictment of those who have made a royal mess of the world. “Cowards, here’s the sun,” Karen O declares, sounding like an avenging angel arrived to kick off the rapture. Evoking defiance and disbelief – “Mama, what have you done?” she sings plaintively on the bridge – and with Perfume Genius serving as her quavery Greek chorus, the song builds to a fist-pumping call-to-arms, urged on by Nick Zinner’s screaming guitar, for the “kids” now saddled with fixing it. The track recalls another dystopian anthem, Tina Turner’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero” from 1985’s  Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome . Four decades later, the question asked in that song remains unanswered: are we ever gonna change? — F.D.

Post Malone feat. Doja Cat, "I Like You (A Happier Song)"

It’s all there in the title of Post Malone’s infectious, earnest Twelve Carat Toothache collaboration with Doja Cat: The song , like many of life’s peaks, is happier, but not purely happy; melancholy lurks just below the surface as Posty yearns for prosaic, unflashy romance (deliberations about whether he should take the Benz or the Maybach notwithstanding). The strikingly wholesome song – even Doja dials back her typically raunchy bars to PG-13 – peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100, and by the end, you can’t help but root for the guy. — E.R.B.

Bad Bunny, "Moscow Mule"

This Hot 100 top five hit’s irresistible reggaetón beat opened Bad Bunny’s  Un Verano Sin Ti set — and what better way to kick off an album about the summer than with a single named after a popular drink? “Moscow Mule” finds Bad Bunny lusting over a particular lover, one with whom he has a type of authentic connection you cannot explain but only feel, even though it is kept private. A sexual ode to enjoying the moment of two souls uniting, the video features a love story between a mermaid and a naked Benito as a genital-less merman. — INGRID FAJARDO

Jack Harlow, "First Class"

Harlow’s “First Class,” the second single from his album  Come Home the Kids Miss You , spent three non-consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 this year. Launching with a sample of the 2006 hit “Glamorous” by Fergie and Ludacris, the song mixes nostalgia, TikTok-friendly beats and a celebration of hustle and aspiration (“I got visions of my mom sayin’ ‘Wait, this house mine?'”). With his coolly relaxed vocal, Harlow revels in the perks (sexual and otherwise) brought by the success of songs such as “What’s Poppin’” and “Industry Baby,” as he spits out a victor’s checkmate of lyrics: “I got plaques in the mail, peak season.” — J.N.

The 1975, "Happiness"

There’s something refreshingly simple about The 1975’s “Happiness,” even down to the title. In a musical landscape where the themes can feel overly complicated, political or emotional, the often-prolific The 1975 gave 2022 a shimmery disco-pop beat with wholesome, hopelessly loved-up lyrics and sax to spare. There’s something so earnest in repeating “Show me your love, why don’t you?” in the chorus that perfectly captures falling in love, and all the “Happiness” that comes with it. — R.A.

Gunna & Future feat. Young Thug, "Pushin P"

The first two months of the year in hip-hop were definitely brought to you by the letter “P,” as Gunna, Future and Young Thug submitted the shortest-ever new entry to hip-hop’s eternal lexicon. The luxurious Wheezy and Juke Wong beat gives the star rap trio room to stretch out as they pop their p’s like they’re testing out a new microphone, and confirm the song’s cool with the distinctly less-is-more refrain (“I’m pushin’ P… pushin’ P…. yeah”). Then, the beat suddenly gets horror-movie dramatic, as if Future was about to deliver the most pivotal line of the year — which he of course does: “She not a lesbian, but for P, she turn Pesbian.” — A.U.

Karol G, "Provenza"

Karol G became the first woman to replace herself at No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart when “Provenza” traded places with “MAMIII.” Released in April, “Provenza” stands out with its liberating, anthemic lyrics (“I was with someone but now I’m free”) that are paired with an equally chill calypso, Afro-fusion beat that allows you to get lost in the moment. Nominated for record and song of the year at this year’s Latin Grammys, the track is a testament to the Colombian artist’s ability to make music that garners both critical acclaim and commercial success. — G.F.

Zach Bryan, "Something in the Orange"

Bryan shows why he’s one of the breakout stars of 2022 on this raw, stripped-down, acoustic heartbreaker that rose to No. 2 on both Billboard ’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Country Songs charts. He’s got it bad for a woman who couldn’t care less about him, but he is utterly helpless to let her go as he begs for her to turn her car around — because, “To you I’m just a man, to me you’re all I am.” Bryan’s quiet desperation is part of the atmospheric song’s appeal, never resorting to vocal dramatics as he sings of his devastation. — M.N.

Ethel Cain, "American Teenager"

Ethel Cain is the American Gothic alter ego of Hayden Anhedönia, a 24-year-old transgender woman who was raised a Southern Baptist in Florida and now turns her memories into weighty, haunting dirges. But on the explosive  “American Teenager,” the third single from her debut album,  Preacher’s Daughter , Anhedönia disrupts her own format with a driving pop-rock anthem that speaks of the American dream without celebrating it. “I do what I want, crying in the bleachers/ And I said it was fun,” Anhedönia croons in a warm, sturdy alto before reassuring those around her, and perhaps herself, “But I’m all good out here.” — C.W.

Harry Styles, "Music for a Sushi Restaurant"

Amid  Harry’s  House tracks like the introspective “As It Was” and the yearning “Satellite,” on “Music for a Sushi Restaurant,” Harry Styles is having a whole lot of fun. You can hear the smile on his face as he sings his “scuba-duba-do-boo-boo” in the second verse or as he belts out in the bridge, “ You know I love you, babe! ” There couldn’t have been a better choice for his album opener, as it introduced fans to a lighthearted new era, full of groovy horn sections and more references to fried rice and green tea than you’ve probably ever heard in a pop song. — R.A.

Wet Leg, "Wet Dream"

Everything about “Wet Dream,” the infectious lead-in to indie rock duo Wet Leg’s self-titled album, begs you not to take it seriously. Whether it’s the intentionally cheesy guitar-and-bass lines, the lyrics that mean next-to-nothing (other than flaying douchey guys who tell prospective dates about their love for ’90s indie flick  Buffalo ‘66 ), or the perfect vocal impersonations of every U.K. indie group you’ve ever heard, “Wet Dream” is a perfect send-up of everything about Wet Leg’s genre — while simultaneously capturing exactly what makes it so utterly enjoyable. Clearly it worked, since their own country’s biggest star decided to  join in on the fun . — S.D.

Joji, "Glimpse of Us"

The big-chorused piano ballad has basically been a one-woman show on the Billboard charts since the 2010s, with the rare exceptions usually scanning as overwrought and under-developed. That’s what made Joji’s top 10-crashing “Glimpse of Us” such a welcome addition to 2022 pop — the wish-she-was-you lament is both toweringly mighty and snugly intimate, conspicuously detailed in its delivery and considered in its execution, even as it clears out the whole room to make way for its behemoth of a refrain. It marked a long-overdue crossover breakthrough for the alt-R&B singer-songwriter, proving beyond a doubt that he could handle the solo spotlight. — A.U.

Doja Cat, "Woman"

This slinky track , the fourth single from  Planet Her , is a celebration of womanhood which contains this jab at sexism in the culture: “They wanna pit us against each other/ When we succeedin’, for no reasons.” Doja both sings and raps on the Afrobeats-flavored smash, which brought her a Grammy nod for record of the year – marking the third year in a row she’s been nominated in that marquee category. The video, also Grammy-nominated, draws inspiration from Michael Jackson’s 1992 “Remember the Time” visual. — P.G.

Sam Smith & Kim Petras, "Unholy"

Sam Smith and Kim Petras put the bawdy in body shop and the hole in “Unholy” on their first (and hopefully not last) team-up. A slinky infidelity tango that drips with filth without ever actually getting explicit, this sub-three-minute single brings a church chorus’ eerie, lugubrious tones to the hump-n-grind of hyperpop. An instant viral hit thanks to (you guessed it) TikTok, it’s the first Hot 100 No. 1 for Smith or Petras – and the  first time  an openly transgender solo artist and openly nonbinary solo artist have sat atop that chart. — J. Lynch

Beyoncé, "Cuff It"

Beyoncé’s  RENAISSANCE  album saw the global superstar take a deep dive into house music and absolutely slaying the genre’s past, present and future. But amidst the thumping bass and buttery transitions, Beyoncé dropped a little morsel of a disco-flavored R&B treat for the loyal Hive. “Cuff It” is as delectable as it gets, with its promise to “f–k up the night,” backed by a dazzling brass section. The groover is an exquisite amalgam of two beloved Black music traditions – R&B and house – that has the combined effect of getting everyone’s hips moving and fists bumping. — T.M.

Future feat. Drake & Tems, "Wait for U"

Since Future and Drake’s initial meet-up in 2012 for the “Tony Montana” remix, the pair became one of hip-hop’s most reliable duos. A decade later, they continued their torrid streak when Future and producer ATL Jacob nimbly lifted Tems’ 2020 deep cut “Higher” to create the rapper’s first Hot 100 chart-topper as a lead artist in the sentimental “Wait for U.” And though the superstar deftly pen verses about their worldwide escapades, it’s Tems’ soothing hook that ultimately makes “Wait” an indelible gem. — C. Lamarre

SZA, "Shirt"

Despite getting its official release back in October, SZA’s latest single “Shirt” has been making waves on social media since she first electrified fans with a snippet of the song on her Instagram Story back in 2020. The Darkchild and Freaky Rob-produced stripped-down track soundtracks her battling her imperfections head-on, following a suffocating relationship. “Blood stain on my shirt/ New b—h on my nerves/ Old n—a got curved, going back on my word/ Damn, b—h, you so thirsty,” she reflects over the song’s 808-driven beat on the instantly memorable chorus. The entrancing cut features an always-relatable SZA admitting her mistakes and letting go of burdens — a reminder that despite her stardom, she’s human like the rest of us. — C. Lee

GloRilla & Cardi B, "Tomorrow 2"

GloRilla’s solo “Tomorrow” was already one of the year’s best hip-hop songs, thanks to an exquisitely menacing Macaroni Toni beat that instantly finds the ascendant MC in Bully Mode — delivering body blow after body blow and making landing the chorus KO: “Can’t say yo’ name up in my songs/ Might not f–k with you tomorrow.” But it’s the remix with Cardi B that takes the song from a contender to a champion, with Cardi rising to the challenge with her most vicious guest verse in years: “I don’t speak dog, ho, I don’t care what no b–ch say/ I stay on her mind, I got condos in that b–ch head.” Together, the pair stormed the Hot 100’s top 10 and then the AMAs , and you can bet your bottom dollar that we’ll be hearing a lot more of “Tomorrow 2” and the two heavyweights behind it in 2023. — A.U.

Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & ‘Encanto’ Cast, "We Don't Talk About Bruno"

Despite repeated assurances that “We Don’t Talk About” him, you don’t have to twist any CGI arms to get the Family Madrigal to share head-scratching half-truths about the clan’s estranged Tío Bruno.  Encanto  maestro Lin-Manuel Miranda complements the comical inescapability of familial gossip with a slightly sinister salsa rhythm and sophisticated overlapping harmonies, creating an addictive ensemble number so irresistible that the viral “Bruno” became more than just the dark horse Hot 100 topper of 2022 – it’s now the  biggest  Disney hit of all time. — J. Lynch

Dove Cameron, "Boyfriend"

Dove Cameron presents a very convincing argument as to why her love interest should bid her toxic beau goodbye in this sultry 2022 breakthrough single, closing her case with bedroom-ready vocals over a jazzy dark-pop waltz. “Boyfriend” is the most authentic and comfortable we’ve seen the former Disney teen star musically — as she openly explores her sexuality and her sound — so it’s no surprise that this track is the one that pushed her into the mainstream this year, earning her a No. 16 Hot 100 hit. — R.A.

Tems, "Free Mind"

Tems’ “Free Mind” has been around since 2020, but the smooth, spirited groove took off in the U.S. this year and earned the Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer the No. 1 slot on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart, making her the first woman to ever top the listing. “I try to be fine, but I can’t be/ The noise in my mind wouldn’t leave me,” Tems admits, agitation sneaking into her otherwise steady voice as she wrestles with pain and trouble on the pre-chorus. The production, courtesy of Tems and Omeiza, remains unflappable despite the stressful themes, carrying her on a wave right up to the closing bridge, where the beat drops out and she finally reaches calm waters. — C.W.

Rosalía, "Saoko"

“Saoko” references the title of the 2004 reggaetón hit by Wisin and Daddy Yankee, “Saoco,” released back when having a flirty female vocal was an obligatory part of the song’s hook. (“Who are you?” the pair ask, and a girl answers “tu bizcochito,” or “your little cupcake.”) Now putting her own spin on the “bizcochito” role, Rosalía’s “Saoko” starts off with the signature infectious thumping reggaetón beats of the original, infused with electric guitar riffs and a dembow base, and laced with her powerful vocals. It portrays the Spanish singer as the influential independent musician she is in her lyrics: “I’m not, nor will I ever be, your babycakes, but I got everythin’ that’s criminal/ Put me in the sun, so then I melt, I can cast off the evil eye sent my way.” — I.F.

Kendrick Lamar, "N95"

What physical item could be more emblematic of the last few years than the N95 face mask? In his song of the same title, Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar uses the COVID-19 symbol – which evokes a complex range of reactions, like feelings of safety or concealment or division – as a tool to speak about interpersonal culture. His bars are especially potent when calling out the superficiality of the “fake deep,” “fake woke” facades he feels people hide behind today: “Take all that designer bulls–t off and what do you have?” he challenges. The highest-charting single from his fifth studio album  Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, Lamar delivers a dexterous, dynamic vocal performance – with verses leaping from hysterical to serene to deadpan – over deep sawtooth synths and delicate piano, with topical lyrics fit for a society in the aftermath of a global pandemic. — K.R.

Bad Bunny, "Tití Me Preguntó"

Bad Bunny’s love for Caribbean culture runs deep, as exemplified by “Tití Me Preguntó.” Leading with a slinky guitar riff sampled from “No Te Puedo Olvidar” by bachata legend Antony Santos, the Boricua singer/rapper begins pondering his aunt’s question:  Do I have many girlfriends ? Tití’s innocent question gets answered with an outpouring of girls’ names that date back to Benito’s kindergarten days, right up to his present as the world’s most sought-after superstar. With an explosive combination of dembow and reggaetón — courtesy of Puerto Rican-Dominican producer Mag — the song also embraces Dominican culture and the  teteo  lifestyle, as portrayed in its video, where viewers see the Bunny turnin’ up in the Bronx with fellow Dominican compatriots. “There’s no wedding,” he assures Tití. As soon as she claps back (“Let go of that bad boy life that you’ve got on the street/ Find yourself a serious woman for you”), the hard-hitting banger becomes a hypnotic hip-hop opus, where Bad Bunny is presumably pressured into settling down — making this the greatest playboy retirement anthem of our generation. — I.R.

Taylor Swift, "Anti-Hero"

Within a career full of momentous, often inescapable singles, “Anti-Hero” may be the Taylor Swift smash that best showcases the different facets of her songwriting brilliance. There’s the linguistic somersaults packed into digestible melodies (how many artists could sneak the phrase “my covert narcissism I disguised as altruism” into a chart-topper?), and the world-building, steeped in fantastical imagery (the bridge-long dream sequence, punctuated by “She’s laughing up at us from Hell!”). And of course, there’s the unforgettable hook, both immediately ready for TikTok challenges and everlasting as an era-transcending catchphrase (“It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me”). As a self-deprecating synth-pop anthem, “Anti-Hero” sounds deceptively simple — but the minutiae has been pored over, every moment of its runtime manicured for maximum pleasure and never growing tiresome. The result is a pop song without, ironically, a single problem. — J. Lipshutz

Lizzo, "About Damn Time"

It’s always Lizzo Standard Time when this carefree nu-disco Hot 100 topper comes on. The pop-rap superstar has released a lot of bangers over the years, with empowering lyrics, sassy one-liners, and bad bi–hes galore, but the lead single from  Special  is Lizzo at the top of her glorious game, with a song that makes equal sense as a TikTok dance challenge, a bouncy radio hit, or a wedding dance-floor filler for years to come. It’s the kind of cross-generational smash that we rarely see anymore, and it’s fueled by Lizzo’s contagious conviction that we’re all way too fine to be this stressed. – K.A.

Harry Styles, "As It Was"

If you looked up “bop” in Webster’s, this song would be there — but the propulsive, bouncy beat deceives. Lyrically, the lead single from Styles’ excellent third solo album  Harry’s House  digs deeper and reveals — albeit cryptically — quite a lot about the former One Directioner beyond his clear love for ‘80s production.  Coming in at a lean 2:47, “As It Was” serves as a broader anthem about how nothing is “the same as it was” before the pandemic, but on a micro level, it turns out Styles isn’t the same either as he grapples with fame and the realization that “he’s no good alone” when left to his own devices and pills. Spending 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the most for any song ever by a U.K. act — “As It Was” set the tone for what a pop song can and should be in 2022, as its combination of immediate accessibility and evolving depth make the 100th listen as rewarding as the first. — M.N.

Beyoncé, "Break My Soul"

Bey is back, and beckoning everyone to the dancefloor with her infectious diva house anthem “Break My Soul.” The lead single from her Billboard 200-topping album  Renaissance  – which references the synth hook to Robin S.’ ‘90s smash “Show Me Love” and  samples Big Freedia’s vocal callouts from her 2014 bounce track “Explode” – leaves fans blissfully drenched in their own sweat while thirsting for joy amid life’s usual drabness. Queen Bey pays homage not only to dance music’s Black and queer roots, but also other iconic Black female artists and ballroom houses on the song’s “Queens Remix”  through  samples and interpolations from Madonna’s No. 1 hit “Vogue.” B reclaimed her place on the pop throne when “Break My Soul” became her first solo Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 in 14 years and scored three 2023 Grammy nominations, including record and song of the year. — H.M.

Steve Lacy, "Bad Habit"

If you were a fan of The Internet’s Ego Death album upon its 2015 release, and were told that someone from the alt-funk collective would have a solo Hot 100 No. 1 hit seven years later, you’d think some extraordinary shift must have happened with one of the members — they went mega-pop, they became Drake’s go-to sidekick, they got offered an Avengers theme, something . But the shift that made it possible came with the music industry, not the band. Say what you will about the oft-unwelcome chaos that TikTok has wrought on artists and labels, but the plus side of such a democratic platform becoming the industry’s biggest consumption driver is that the best song in the world can now become the biggest song in the world without any tastemakers needing to press a button to make it so. Such was the case this year with Internet guitarist Steve Lacy’s solo smash “Bad Habit” — the perfect pop song for 2022, and more crucially, just a perfect pop song in general.

Kicking in partway through its opening chorus, “Bad Habit” has a casualness to its liquid grooves and ping-ponging vocals that almost makes it feel tossed off, spontaneous. But the craft on display here is actually impossibly high-level. There’s little things, like the heart-racing guitar slide after Lacy’s first “I bite my tongue, it’s a bad habit” lament, and the way that blushing admission evolves to a sly “Can I bite your tongue, like my bad habit?” request in the next verse. And then there’s big things, like the way the simple and frustratingly universal “I wish I knew you wanted me” refrain both anchors the song and bursts your heart, and how it dissolves into a gorgeous sea of Lacy a cappella after the climactic chorus. The TikTok era would dictate the song end there, except that Lacy’s of this time but not tethered to it, so there’s still an entire second half to come — stretching the song to an unthinkable 4:03 — with less-immediate hooks, but highs (“ Let’s f—–k in the baaack of the maaaaallllll ….,” the inappropriate shout-along lyric of the year) that slowly reveal themselves to be just as intoxicating.

It could be frustrating to be a pop fan in 2022, when the biggest stories seemed to be about recent hits staying around forever, or about old songs getting resurrected, or about established megastars cashing in on the successes they’d long been ticketed for. We desperately needed some new blood — new, as in, actually from 2022. Even as someone who’d already been growing to underground stardom for years, Steve Lacy instantly became the freshest voice in the pop mainstream once he crossed over, and a rare feel-good breakthrough success story in a year that didn’t produce a lot of them. But none of that is as important as just how damn good “Bad Habit” sounded every single time you heard it this year — whether on TikTok, Top 40 radio or anywhere in between — and how it never ran out of new thrills, big and small, to get you swooning like the first time. Everything else is just biscuits, just gravy. — A.U.

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Lil Yachty Wiki, Girlfriend, Age, Height, Family, Biography & More

Lil Yachty was born on August 23, 1997 (age 27 years; as of 2024) in Mableton, Georgia, United States. His real name is Miles Parks McCollum . He attended Alabama State University in 2015 but soon dropped out to pursue his musical career. His Father’s name is Shannon McCollum and his Mother’s name is Venita McCollum . He has a sister named Kodie Shane.

Lil Yachty Wiki / Biography

• Name – Lil Yachty
• Real Name – Miles Parks McCollum
• Nick Name – Lil Boat, Darnell Boat, FaZe Boat, C.V. Thomas
• Birthday – August 23, 1997
• Age – 27 Years (as of 2024)
• Gender – Male
• Nationality –  American
• Zodiac/Sun Sign – Virgo
• Religion – Christianity
• Born In – Mableton, Georgia, United States
• Hometown – Mableton, Georgia, United States
• Famous As – Rapper
• Profession – Rapper , Singer , Songwriter
• Years active – 2014 – present
• Debut Album – Teenage Emotions (2017)
• Debut Single – One Night (2016)
• Debut Music videos – One Night (2016)
• Genres – Hip hop, trap, pop rap
• Father – Shannon McCollum
• Mother – Venita McCollum
• Brother – N/A
• Sister – Kodie Shane

Lil Yachty Wife, Girlfriends, Affairs and More

• Affairs/Girlfriends – Megan Denise
• Marital Status – Unmarried
• Wife Name – Not known
• Children – 1
• Daughter Name – Name not known
• Son Name – N/A

Educational Qualifications

• School – Pebblebrook High School
• College – Alabama State University
• Qualifications – Dropped out

Physical Stats & More

• Height – 178 cm (in feet inches- 5′ 10″)
• Weight – 75 kg (in pounds- 165 lbs)
• Body Measurements – Not known
• Eye Colour – Black
• Hair Colour – Black

Lil Yachty Wikipedia

Lil Yachty is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is from Mableton, Georgia, United States. He is famous for his single “ One Night ” in 2015.

He released four studio albums Teenage Emotions in 2017. His second and third studio albums Lil Boat 2 and Nuthin’ 2 Prove released in 2018 and Lil Boat 3, was released in 2020.

He is very active and famous on social media. He has more than 12 million followers on Instagram and more than 2.5 million followers on his Facebook account as of July 2024.

Lil Yachty’s Net Worth is $8 million.

Favorite things

• Favorite Actor – Not known
• Favorite Actress – Not known
• Favorite Food – Burger
• Favorite Holiday Destination – Miami
• Favorite Sports – Cricket
• Favorite Color – Black
• Hobbies – Playing Music, Traveling

Who is Lil Yachty

Lil Yachty is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Lil Yachty Age

August 23, 1997 (age 27 years; as of 2024)

Lil Yachty Height

178 cm (in feet inches- 5′ 10″)

Lil Yachty Father Name

Shannon McCollum

Lil Yachty Mother Name

Venita McCollum

Lil Yachty Net Worth

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