As I did for 2021, here I include a playlist with 36 of (in my opinion*) 2022’s best tracks.
Encanto was a Disney animated film that came out towards the end of 2021, and ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ was not only the biggest song to come out of the film, but it was also the first Disney song to reach number 1 on the UK charts (yes, I was surprised by this considering how popular the songs from ‘Frozen’ and ‘Lion King’ were). With music and lyrics written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, this song is particularly clever in how it plays on themes within the song. Each voice is singing a different melody, overlapping each other. There’s a really good video explaining more about this song here. Strangely, Disney chose to submit other songs from Encanto to the Academy for consideration of Best Song at the Oscars and ended up losing out to ‘No Time to Die’.
‘abcdefu’ (here I’ve included the slightly nicer version, ‘abc’) by GAYLE is a song cleverly using the alphabet to complain about her ex-boyfriend, who she’s over, apparently… His family and friends also don’t come off well, but the dog seems okay.
Emmy Meli has a distinctive voice, and the song ‘I Am Woman’ she initially posted on TikTok, where it has over 22 million views. Meli says she wrote the song to “empower women” and called seeing it resonate with listeners “the most amazing and beautiful thing” she has experienced. Sadly it only reached number 63 on the UK charts (we don’t always get it right), being most prevalent in Romania with a high of 8.
Gang of Youths are an Australian alternative rock band from Sydney, now based in London, that formed in 2011. ‘In The Wake of Your Leave’ is possibly my favourite tune of the year, despite not making it into the UK top 100. However, in January, it became Greg James’s ‘record of the week’ on the Radio One Breakfast Show.
Years & Years teamed up with Galantis for the single ‘Sweet Talker’, which features an impossible-sounding violin section.
Ed Sheeran was back (he never left) performing a duet with Taylor Swift called ‘The Joker and the Queen’. A slow-paced folk ballad driven by a cinematic piano, waltz tempo, and 1950s-inspired strings, it just missed out on the top spot in the UK, peaking at number 2.
‘Boyfriend’ by Dove Cameron has strong Billie Eilish vibes; also sounding like it could be a Bond theme.
One of the year’s biggest hits came from Harry Styles (formerly of One Direction), proving himself as a solo artist with the song ‘As It Was’. It parked at number one for ten weeks and stayed in the charts for 48 weeks.
One of the years’ surprises was ‘Chaise Long’ by Wet Leg. Sounding like it could have come from the early 80s; it proved to be a favourite of the year. “Is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?”
George Ezra performed ‘Green Green Grass’ at the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. Although palace officials forced him to leave out the line “you better throw a party on the day that I die”, covering it up with trumpets. That was wise, seeing what would come later in the year!
After years of ridicule and ‘nul points’ at the Eurovision Song Contest, 2022 finally saw a great song fall just short of winning the competition (some saw the loss to Ukraine as a result of sympathy voting for the country that had just been thrown into a war with Russia). Nevertheless, ‘Space Man’ would eventually get to number 1 on the UK charts for Sam Ryder, although I’m sure he would have rather had number one in the competition. Sam had been a TikTok sensation gaining millions of views for his versions of popular songs.
‘Brazil’ by Declan McKenna is a song about the 2014 World Cup, the dismal poverty in the country and the corruption surrounding Sepp Blatter and other FIFA officials. It was initially released in 2015, but after going viral on TikTok in May 2022, it had a resurgence in the UK charts. At 16, McKenna has written an exceptionally mature tune.
Sam Fender took my record of the year title in 2021, and ‘Getting Started’ was also a strong contender for the 2022 title.
After reaching number 1 for the first time in 24 years in 2021, Elton John was back with a remixed version of his song ‘Tiny Dancer’, this time titled ‘Hold Me Closer’. Dueting with Britney Spears, they spent 13 weeks on the UK charts peaking at number 3.
The Amazons from Reading are a popular festival band but have yet to reach the UK singles charts, and I had hoped that ‘How Will I Know? would have been the song to do it. Sadly, once again, they missed out, but it has an anthemic sound, which I include here.
That’s it! Enjoy the sounds, and feel free to leave a comment. *Remember, these are my opinions; you are entitled to your own. If you think something else deserves to be the record of the year, you are not wrong, and neither am I. We have different thoughts, and that’s okay!