I haven’t made a publicly consumable year end list in over half a decade.
When more of my life centered around covering new music, I found list-making a bit of a cruel chore. What if my tastes change? If I receive new information? What if my favorite song of one year comes from another? How do you rank things everyone experiences differently?
As with everything I have attempted via Applied Science, my “best of 2024” list is a deeply personal enterprise. For better and worse.
I’m not ranking things. Every entry is listed in alphabetical order with no regard to chronology or relative quality.
I’m including songs and albums from different years that sustained me in this one. I’m including lists of movies/shows and books.
If I listed an album from an artist, I did not also list an individual song they made.
I did not watch a lot of movies this year, but I watched enough Bluey to tell you that it is a modern masterpiece and every adult should experience it with their child or otherwise.
I read a bunch of books this year. I disliked roughly half of them.
I am sparing you my editorial. These lists are just lists. No commentary.
And, of course, if you’ve followed my Five Obsessions column in 2024, you will know that I often mention my son. He stars again below, with a list of obsessions that I will likely remember from this year far beyond my own.
Anything from 2024 is in bold for easy identification.
I hope you enjoy. I hope you find cause to disagree (except with the things my son likes). I hope you discover something.
See you again in 2025.
Songs & Albums
50 Cent - “Hold On” (2014)
AR-AB - “Blow 3” (2021)
Asake - “Uhh Yeahh” (2024)
Being There - “Where Does the Time Go” (2024)
Beyonce - Cowboy Carter (2024)
Bounty Killer, Jeru the Damaja - “Suicide or Murder” (1996)
Brittany Howard - “Prove It To You” (2024)
Cam’ron, Juelz Santana - “I Just Wanna” (2002)
Cameron Winter - “Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed)” (2024)
Cash Cobain - “Problem” (2024)
Charlotte Day Wilson - Cyan Blue (2024)
Childish Gambino - “Human Sacrifice” (2020/2024)
Clairo - “Add Up My Love” (2024)
Clipse, Ab-Liva, Sandman - “Coast 2 Coast” (over “Whole City Behind Us” instrumental) (2008)
Current Joys - “California Rain” (2024)
Curtis Mayfield - “Here But I’m Gone” (1996)
D’Angelo - “The Root” (2000)
Debii Dawson - “Even If It Kills Me” (2023)
Deftones - “Error” (2020)
Denzel Curry, Key Nyata - “ULTRA SHXT” (2024)
Dijon - “Big Mike’s” (2021)
Doechii, JT - “Alter Ego” (2024)
Don Toliver - “Glock” (2024)
Elmiene - “Lover You Should Have Come Over” (2023)
Empty Shell Casing - And Slowly…As I Turn My Back (2024)
Erykah Badu - “Telephone” (2010)
Future - “Surfing A Tsunami” (2024)
Future, Metro Boomin, Lil Baby - “All My Life” (2024)
Goodie Mob - Soul Food (1995)
Gucci Mane - “Father’s Day” (2017)
Gunna - “fukumean” (2023)
Jazmine Sullivan - “Lost One - Live” (2021)
Johnny Blue Skies - “If the sun never rises again” (2024)
Jordan Ward - “FAMJAM4000” (2023)
julie - “feminine adornments” (2024)
Jungle - “Back On 74” (2023)
Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign - “PAID” (2024)
Kendrick Lamar - the snippet “squabble up” that led the “Not Like Us” video (and also the full version) (2024)
Leon Thomas - “MUTT” (2024)
Lola Young - “Big Brown Eyes” (2024)
Lucky Daye - “Diamonds & Teal” (2024)
Meshell Ndegeocello - “Nite and Day” (2018)
MF DOOM - “Gazillion Ear” (2009)
Mutant Academy - “Rock, Paper, Scissors” (2024)
Nosaj Thing, Jacques Greene - “RB3” (2024)
NxWorries, Thundercat - “KeepHer” (2024)
Perry Maysun - “I Am Worm Food” (2024)
Pete Rock, Jimes Jones, Max B - “We Roll” (2008)
Rod Wave - “Great Gatsby” (2023)
Schoolboy Q - BLUE LIPS (2024)
$uicideboy$ - “Us Vs. Them” (2024)
SZA - “Scorsese Baby Daddy” (2024)
That Mexican OT - “1982” (2024)
Tierra Whack - “MOOD SWING” (2024)
Tinashe - “Nasty” (2024)
TOBi - “Gone 2024” (2024)
Trap Dickey - “Blue Devils” (2023)
Tyler the Creator - Chromakopia (2024)
Vince Staples - Dark Times (2024)
Willie Hutch - “Tell Me Why Has Our Love Gone Cold” (1973)
Yaya Bey - “chasing the bus” (2024)
Movies & Shows
All the President’s Men (1976)
Bluey (2019)
Cure (1997)
Dune 2 (2024)
The First Omen (2024)
Kneecap (2024)
Late Night With the Devil (2024)
Sinister (2012)
Soulsville USA (2024)
The Sympathizer (2024)
Books
Audre Lorde - Sister Outsider (1984)
Dan Charnas - Dilla Time (2022)
David Halberstam - The Best and the Brightest (1969)
Haruki Murakami - Novelist as a Vocation (2022)
J.G. Ballard - Hello America (1981)
James Baldwin - Giovanni’s Room (1956)
Kelefa Sanneh - Major Labels (2021)
Marcia Douglas - The Marvelous Equations of the Dread (2016)
Mike Davis - Planet of Slums (2017)
Mike Davis - The Monster Enters (2020)
Naomi Klein - No Logo (1999/2009)
Percival Everett - James (2024)
Robert Woodward & Carl Bernstein - All The President’s Men (1974)
Rosecrans Baldwin - Everything Now (2021)
Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Message (2024)
My Son’s Obsessions
The Beatles - “Yellow Submarine”
“This Is Halloween”
Dried strawberries
An episode of Bluey where Bluey’s dad takes Bluey and Bingo to their uncle’s pool and everyone learns a valuable lesson about the importance of doing boring things on the road to being able to do fun things.
Beyonce - “YAYA”
Outkast - “Hey Ya”
A scarecrow we bought from a thrift store for $7.99 and generally anything related to Halloween.
The Beatles - “Got To Get You Into My Life”
Telling me to leave his room when I walk in in the morning (he is two years old)
My wife’s rendition of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid (an excellent, touching lullaby).
My rendition of “You’re Welcome” from Moana (I have absolutely nailed the rap portion; a decidedly unsuitable lullaby).
Chuck Berry - “Route 66”
Cars of all sorts.
Two very different versions of “The Ants Go Marching,” one performed by a male singer, the other performed by a female singer, each of which would either receive his extreme desire or scorn at different times for completely inexplicable reasons.
Three 6 Mafia - “Ridin Spinners” (perhaps my single greatest victory thus far as a father)
wholesome af