The problem is, the songs that dominated the charts did very little for me. I found a lot of modern pop music to be dull or actually awful. However, I did find a lot of albums to be awesome, and so nearly every song here has come from albums, from Triple-J's Like A Version, from YouTubers I buy music from, and things like that.
So, if you're looking at the ARIA/Billboard charts and expecting me to rank them, sorry. They were generally bleh. This is my favourites. One song per artist (that was surprising hard in some cases to stick to), one version of each song (yes, 2 versions of the one song struck me this year), released in 2022. That last is important because so many songs that charted in 2022 were released earlier, even decades before. No live tracks/releases are included. Also, there were some albums released in 2022 of recordings from a long time ago. This would be an issue… except 'Paris Blues' by The Doors underwhelmed me a lot.
I was debating whether to split this year's list into cover songs and originals, but opted not to because the covers outnumber the originals by a fair bit. So, this is a long list of 27 songs. No honourable mentions, just the music, and links to any albums I might have reviewed in lieu of some explanations. Listed here in order of song title.
Enjoy my favourites of 2022.
'Africa' by Dave Winnel
From Like A Version, this is a fun updated but faithful cover version of the Africa classic.
'Anti Hero' by Taylor Swift
Midnights was a little let-down after her last 2 albums, but was not a bad collection. This song, though, deserved to top the charts. The opening line is brilliant.
And here is this list's acapella cong. Home Free have appeared a few times on these lists, and this Doobie Brothers' song works with this sort of arrangement.
'Lux AEterna' by Metallica
Welcome back, Metallica. We have missed you doing this sort of music. If this is indicative of the new album, I will be there front and centre. Great hard rock done superbly. Is it as good as their heyday? Probably not. Is it still really good? Definitely yes.
'Make You Suffer' by The Mountain Goats
Bleed Out was a strong album that I missed when it came out, but did catch up on later in the year. This is a great track from that collection.
From Like A Version, this acoustic-based version of Kate Bush's classic (which also charted again in 2022) was the song I had two versions to choose from.
'Shatter' by Maggie Rogers
My review of the album is here. At the moment, this is probably my favourite track of 2022. That surprised me, but as I collated this, yes – that is how I feel.
'Shining Of Your Soul' by Scorpions
I found Rock Believer to be not that adventurous as a collection, but this song stood out to me from the first time I listened to the album.
'Song 2' by Baker Boy
From Like A Version, Baker Boy took Blur's original and made it into a great rap/indigenous music cross-over track.
'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' by Bruce Springsteen
I received Only The Strong Survive, a covers album, for Christmas, and this is my standout track from that collection. He sings it, and sings it well.
27 songs showcasing the best from a weird year of music. There was some awesome stuff released… but very little of it bothered the charts. A shame, but that's a mixture of the way charts are collated (so many songs in the top 100 of 2022 were not released in 2022!) and the way the public is consuming music nowadays.
I hope you enjoyed at least a few from my own favourites.
I always look forward to your lists Steven. There are plenty of songs on the list I don't know - so I will investigate. My pick of new stuff in 2022 was the whole album Earthling by Eddie Vedder. In particular the song Invincible:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTZK8bwrBJk
