The Best Songs of 2022 Ranked

Teaming up with the acclaimed experimental-pop connoisseur Perfume Genius (Michael Hadreas), Yeah Yeah Yeahs delivered their first cut since 2013 with the richly expansive and fittingly cinematic ballad “Spitting Off The Edge of the World”. Like theatre curtains swinging open for a much-awaited encore, the track is one of momentous gravitational potential. As the production builds with every crashing wave of percussion the smooth vocal cadence of both YYY’s Karen O and Hadreas is like a sort of brinkmanship, remaining firmly at the helm of the ship and steering it through the precipice. THOMAS TURNER

Cheat Codes, Mouse and Thought’s 2022 collaboration album, ostensibly brings the pair full circle – Danger Mouse from a stint producing indie rockers; Black Thought from releasing mixtapes and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” – and likewise goes back to basics, trying to locate a trace of rap DNA in a hip-hop body that is nearly unrecognizable from its origins. The highlight is ”Belize,” which includes a posthumous MF Doom recording located from old sessions. Thought and Doom trade boom-bap verses that cast each in hip-hop legends mode, truthseekers and flamekeepers whose faith never wavered. Thought obliquely references Doom’s illness and, intriguingly, Doom’s verse presages the travels he took before his 2020 death. Amazingly, however, it sounds as if they recorded side-by-side in the booth. DM’s unfussy sample is modest and nonchalant by comparison, a reliable water carrier on this road to redemption. STEVE FORSTNEGER

Salvaged from memory after the hard drive storing the original demo was stolen, “Easy On Your Own?” is a product of Alvvays’ resilience - a theme woven throughout their 11-year lifespan. Here, everything that makes Alvvays) shines: melancholy-tinged shoegaze and introspection twisted into poetic lyricism that takes aim at time-wasting exes. A euphoric chorus sweetens the emotional punch of an all-encompassing heartbreak, and there’s the fun of (unintentionally?) name-dropping themselves (“‘Cause we’re always / Crawling in monochromatic hallways”). Now long-time architects of era-defining, heart-wrenching indie anthems, “Easy On Your Own?” cements Alvvays as the dream-pop pioneers of our time. LAURA MOLLOY

After a five-year absence, Paramore returned at the peak of their powers with a knockout comeback single. Across three-and-a-half-minutes of fizzy funk-punk, Paramore deliver a bold mission statement, steeped in scuzzy synths and subversive lyricism. “This is Why” combines the defiant pop-punk leanings of Paramore’s early work with the disco-inflected grooves of their previous record After Laughter. Frontwoman Hayley Williams warns doubters to keep their opinions to themselves over a slow-crawling instrumental before launching into an anthemic chorus, punctuated with choppy guitar lines and a stomping drumbeat. It’s a rallying cry, and a refusal to be defeated amid the chaos of 2022. SARAH TAYLOR

One of few tracks on Fossora that deal directly with her mother’s death, Björk’s 7-minute epic “Ancestress” is an epitaph in the Björkiest fashion. “My ancestress’ clock is ticking / Her once violent rebellion is fading,” Björk sings over ticking clocks and explosive beats, creating a regal new identifier for her late mother. The song fluctuates between the vague (“When you die, you bring with you what you’ve been given”) to the terrifyingly real last moments Björk had with her mother: “The doctors she despised / Placed a pacemaker inside of her,” she sings. At once an ode, a warning to those who think time is on their side, and a full-circle moment where she sings with her own son, “Ancestress” shows Björk is able to surprise at any stage of her career. SAM FRANZINI