I think it’s the heaviest song on my top 100, although there were certainly some good metal tracks and albums in 2018 that didn’t make it (Riverside’s “Vale of Tears” comes to mind).ĩ2. A new Finnish prog metal band with an English lead singer, Wheel plans to release its debut album in 2019, with this single a very promising debut. I love DMA’S’ unapologetic throwback sound to late-90s Oasis, although their newest album, For Now, had too few rockers like this one and the title track, even though it’s what this Aussie band does best.ĩ3. Chernoff has one of the best voices of anyone recording today, but is still looking for that breakout song to get more mainstream attention this new single from the summer showcases her range and ability to work in different vocal styles, with a solid hook in the chorus.ĩ4.
The duo are now a trio, still building songs around a guitar-and-drum skeleton, but adding enough additional elements, like this song’s electronic line, to keep their sound interesting and show real growth since their sophomore album.ĩ5. This Irish trio recently dropped a cover of the Cranberries’ “Dreams,” with singer Aoife Power doing a damn good impression of Dolores O’Riordan this song is my favorite of their original songs so far, going from an almost dissonant line in the verse to a power-pop chorus with a hook that stayed with me all year.ĩ6. My second-favorite track from HAERTS’ solid yet safe second album New Compassion, a strong showcase for Nini Fabi’s voice with some urgency to the backing track.ĩ7. Swervedriver returned a few years ago after a 17-year layoff with I Wasn’t Born to Lose You, but this track, from their next album Future Ruins, is the best thing they’ve done since 1998’s “99th Dream.”ĩ8.
This Brighton quartet made my list last year with the snarling “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya,” and continued this year with several more solid singles, including this similarly raucous, indignant rocker, along with another song further up the list.ĩ9. You can view the Spotify playlist of all 100 songs here if you can’t see the widget below.ġ00. As always, this is subjective: It’s what I liked, so it’s probably not what you like, and that’s fine. This is now my sixth annual ranking of the top 100 songs of the year, and while I wrote yesterday on my ranking of my favorite albums of 2018 that I thought it was a down year for albums, especially ones by artists I already liked, it was still a great year for new music overall, with far more than a hundred songs I thought worthy of mention on this list.