Favourite Songs of 2022

Favourite Songs of 2022

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Posted 2023-01-11 by Steven Gfollow
2022 was a great year for music!

What? you ask, looking at the charts. Are you serious? Yes I am – it really was.


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.
'Blue Guitar' by Amy Sheppard

My review of the album is here .
'Can't Help Falling In Love' by Jared Halley featuring Hillary Halley

Every year Jared Halley appears on my list somewhere. This is not acapella, but is beautiful, with Jared's wife joining him.
'Dancing On My Own' by Tove Lo

From Like A Version, this is a slowed down version of the Robyn track, and far better than that drippy version by Calum Scott.
'Everyone Is Lying To You For Money' by The Smith Street Band

Life After Football was an album that came out at the end of 2022 and this is my favourite track from it. I am growing into quite a fan of TSMB.
'Favourite' by Bananarama

My review of the album is here .
'Forest For The Trees' by a-ha

True North was a decent album, maybe a little too slow across too many tracks, but this is the best song from it and is such a good track.
'Get Out Of My Head' by Bodyjar

Language warning!
My review of the album is here .
'Ghost Riders In The Sky' by Geoff Castellucci

Image/strobe warning.
I found this while looking for some bass singing, and managed to get a download of it. What a cover of the old country classic.
'God Only Knows' by Ozzy Osbourne

My review of the album is here .
'I Come From Your Future' by Hoodoo Gurus

My review of the album is here .
'I've Been Looking For You' by Bryan Adams

My review of the album is here .
'Listen To The Music' by Home Free

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.
'Rebecca' by Phil Jamieson

My review of the album is here .
'Running From The Ghost' by Billy Idol

My review of the album is here .
'Running Up That Hill' by The Wombats

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.
'The Zealot Gene' by Jethro Tull

My review of the album is here .
'Wicked Ways' by Halestorm

My review of the album is here .
'Wouldn't It Be Nice' by She & Him

My review of the album is here .
'You Are The Light' by Alan Parsons

My review of the album is here .
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.
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83014 - 2023-06-11 06:36:47

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