Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2022

I'm purely making this best list because of completion really. But even with my reluctant here, I do have to say that I really love a lot of these songs. There's no doubt that the best list is for your personal record keeping because there's an emotional attachment to songs that you connect with. And that connection and emotional response is why I believe making best list is the best thing a critic do even if it doesn't draw views. And if there's any year that this is more true than ever was 2022.

To put it bluntly I had a rough 2022 and untangling that emotion was me just listening to Spotify Top 50 Chart and just trying to keep up with the chart. I missed out on a lot of great albums outside of the mainstream not because there weren't any, but I was too preoccupied with anything else that music became secondary. This alongside my frustrating college situation leading to me seeking the Hot 100 or more specifically the Global chart more than ever. A lot of the bad hits that appeared on people's worst list helped me a lot and because of that (as you saw in my worst list) they weren't on the worst list. Now that doesn't mean they'll be on the best list–it's more that my best list is gonna be very personal to me. 

And I will say in hindsight 2022 was not really a good year for the chart. Lots of stagnation that got more grating with lots of album bombs that shuffled out songs that should become hits. That's very true for the Hot 100 that year but in the Global Excl US 200 it was very much a different story. It was peak reggaeton year with Bad Bunny and Karol G notching a lot of good to great hits. KPop and JPop were having a solid year on this chart with lots of hits. EDM turned retro which either for the best and for the worst. And the biggest thing of all it helped offset what's going on for Hot 100. But I will say country this year is probably the best of the decade so far and you'll see why. And before you say anything, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) is not eligible for this list. What's eligible for this list is Billboard Hot 100, Billboard Global Excl US, and Top 100 Most Streamed Songs of 2022 that didn't appeared in both charts' year-ends this year or the next year. With that out of the way, let's play this music that's definitely not for sushi restaurant and take it to the moon as we count down!

THE TOP 10 BEST HIT SONGS OF 2022

10. 2022 might not seem a long time ago, but this might make you think about the passage of time. I'm putting a Lil Nas X song at #10 of the best list...

10. That's What I Want - Lil Nas X

The story of Lil Nas X depressed me. Everyone thought that he would be a flash in the pan after Old Town Road and his EP "7". But with his debut album "MONTERO" — and the subsequent singles — he was proven to be not a one hit wonder and actually helping 2021 such a great year for pop music. But what happened after that was series of mismanagement, bullshit puritanical culture, the current political climate, and mental health breakdown that his career is probably done for good. This tragedy is just sad especially for an openly gay black artist in the mainstream. But if this is the swan song that we will ever see from Lil Nas? Well I'm not complaining really.

There are actually a couple of songs here that tackled queer topics and a lot of them felt like trying to make bombastic thing out of...mundane even pedestrian thing about being queer. Actually two songs by queer artists here have been dubbed "Riverdale-core" because of the blown out productions. But this is the rare exception and what a blast this song is. Ryan Tedder giving Lil Nas the pop rock productions that's very much right up his alley with the guitar, the backing choir, and the faster tempo. It gave the song about yearning about a boy really potent dynamic that only Lil Nas can excels at. And also it's just great to see a really popular radio song talking about gay yearning at all. Especially what's to come — this song really sound like the last credit song for a romcom movie and that's a compliment. Hopefully you are fine out there man and I wanna hear more from you.

9. One of the things I dislike about being Gen Z is the fact that a lot of people think being nonchalant is cooler than trying. Everything that was deemed passionate or even have a slight hint of sincerity just goes out the window for them to search for some coolness irony. But not only is this thinking really damaging to the art as a whole, but I do remember when Gen X did this kind of thing and it can lead to some dangerous places. Maybe it's because me being raised around boomers and millennials but I really don't get that kind of mentality. I'm glad that in 2022, country music really got it for me.

9. Doin' This - Luke Combs

Told you that country had a great year in 2022. I mean even with a stronger year this song would still be in my top 10 because of the subject matter alone, This song is about Luke Combs reminscing about his come up and how he would still making and performing music even if he didn't get the success that he has up till that point. The central conceit of "Still be doing this if I wasn't doin' this" really resonate with me at how people will make art no matter if there's a profit motive or not. And Luke Combs really delivered it with the gusto and passion of every Luke Combs songs but this time with more muted productions. I do like the pedal steel here making it more distinct because this is basically early 2000 post grunge song but better.

But the implication to the culture as a whole is why this song hold up so well for me. With the rise of generative AI and the bullshit fandom war has been happening this year, a song about a guy who would still making art even if there's no audience for it is a sentiment that are rare nowadays. Maybe it's because of the nature of country music being more traditionalist but I do agree that we need to do the things that we are passionate for even if it doesn't earn us profit. Heck you can see that this song can be very populous especially about pursuing your passion even if there's no incentive in it because you just love what you doing and that's really the main message of the song. Terrific stuff and if you haven't heard it, check it out maybe it'll spark something in you.

8. If one thing I'll give 2022 credit is that this is probably the best year for latin music this decade. This mostly because of the presence of Bad Bunny where he notched 7 songs on the Hot 100 Year-End with more on Global Excl US from his album "Un Verano Sin Ti" which I'd say better than Renaissance for that AOTY Grammy win yes I said that. There are a lot of great songs from that album to choose from, but I decide to choose the one that was performed at the Grammys where Taylor Swift danced.

8. Despues De La Playa - Bad Bunny

I love everything about  this song. The slow buildup from the desaturated synth to that mic check. And then boom the trumpet came in as the song devolved into merengue and mambo style that really is Puerto Rico. To the energy of the song. I mean what else should I add here? This song really works as a party song and as the anchor of the album. 

I will say that him making this song and then closing into more of a Puerto Rican heritage really making his music — and his image — shines more. I think I do have the impression before UVST that Bad Bunny was a good artist, but never rise above the reggaeton mold even when his previous album YHLQMDLG had some experiment in it. But starting with Un Verano Sin Ti something did change about my view on Bad Bunny. What I heard now in the past three albums were the guy that really cared about his hometown and how it should be protected with the power of music. And I'm glad at least he got what he deserved with the win for Debi Tirar Mas Fotos so there's that. Anyways I'm gladly take 7 songs from the same Bad Bunny album than any from Morgan Wallen or Drake thank you very much.

7. As an older Gen Z, there has been an identity crisis going on. On the one hand we usually don't have the same kind of optimism that Millennials had, but on the other we don't have the same doomer mentality as the younger zoomers. Especially as those older Gen Z are now working, marrying, and or not doing all of that — and more — that made things so exhausted for us. And if there's one song that could capture that frustration then there's no better way to put it than this.

7. Meet Me At Our Spot - THE ANXIETY (WILLOW & Tyler Cole)

Feels like deep down, we knew that Willow Smith would make rock music. Being with TMI father, let's just say eccentric mother, and weird brother must have felt very chaotic. But with the help of Travis Barker — Willow Smith became really versatile performer and notched her biggest album with "Lately I Feel Everything" and with song like "t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l". I do have to agree that alternative rock is perfect suit for her, but her collaboration project with Tyler Cole is just on a different level. 

There's gonna be some songs on this list that tackled what it is like to be Gen Z and this one is probably the most obvious one. A song about a couple who laments about not getting younger, broke, and have trouble sleeping — but they need to stay strong and just hanging around to help each others. This song also being written during the pandemic also has this longing feeling of "hey maybe when this is all over you can come over in our usual place". What makes this song works however is good chemisty and that production. Now if you want to listen to the better version, definitely listen to the live version. Not only it has better groove and bassline, it's also have a resolve ending that really highlighted that this miasma will be over and that's really a great optimism that I felt from this song. Even though WILLOW's career stalled after this with two underwhelming albums, this song is still a reminder of the optimism that we got slightly in the end of 2021. 

6. So Bruno Mars released his first solo album since 24K Magic came out nine years ago. Did y'all ever realized that it happened to begin with? Now part of it might be due to the fact that people's listening habit have changed. But there's also this sinking feeling that maybe just maybe we have run out of nostalgia tinge pastiche in pop music — people just want to listen to the original article. Or maybe he needed Anderson .Paak back because this song still held up well four years later.

6. Smokin' Out The Window - Silk Sonic

If it wasn't for the bullshit calendar year that the Grammys are still using that cut off eligibility to late August, this album would've won the 2023 Grammys and we don't have to deal with the Harry's House discourse which won't be appearing on this list. This album overall is really just a delight of 70s throwback that understands what makes those soul and funk sound worked so well with a flair of the modern age. And this song is the prime example as to why.

It was perfect to pair Bruno Mars with Anderson Paak because both of them bringing their strength — for Bruno is the theatrics and the singing while Anderson bringing the chop and the colorful lyricism — to create the best kiss off anthem of this decade so far. The production here sounds lush while also very tight with the drum, the harmonies, the tight bassline, and that damn flute (big year for the flute btw). It's very fun to hear both Bruno and Anderson trying to stayed off this woman and yet doing it so over the top — The Chuck E Cheese line and that whole second verse — and yet that bridge is just so good that I can't helped to root for these desperate guys. It's bravado without being very invasive and that's really commendable.

The Romantic felt kinda off to me because Bruno tried to recaptured this type of songs, but in the end failed because he doesn't have that kind of lyricism and production chop that Anderson has. I Just Might is fine but Risk It All kinda fall flat for me even if it has that Spanish guitar — and I'm afraid that he needs to evolved to get me back to his good side. But I'm glad that this still exist either way.

5. Jpop this year was strange to say the least. We have a lot of songs on the Global Excl US chart, but the year felt like a slump with the biggest song being an Aimer song for Demon Slayer movie that most of you probably forgot. There are also some hits from the adult contemporary side of Jpop from the likes of Yuuri and Tani Yuuki that I won't be considering for the list. But there are two songs I considered for the list and ultimately chose this one. The other one is "Mixed Nuts" by Official HIGE DANdism — the official intro song for Spy X Family that I love mainly because of the jazz production. But, the mixing is a bit too thin for me to give it the 10/10. This one however is just sublime and one of the reasons why Ado is still the best in Jpop industry.

5. New Genesis - Ado

Even though I have been a fan of her since her first debuted, I haven't really talked a lot about her on my blog. So lemme make the record straight — Ado is probably one of my favorite Jpop act to came out this decade so far. She's very versatile with any kinds of sound and genre but I love it when she's with rock production the most. Songs like Ussewa are probably the perfect kind of Ado for me. But that doesn't mean I don't like her other stuff — quite the contrary in fact. I love how her manic energy paired well with the more bombastic productions like on Odo or Show. But when she worked with the legendary Jpop producer Yasutaka Nakata for One Piece soundtrack I knew that it would be a banger, and I wasn't disappointed.

What makes Ado her own is her voice, and sometimes the pop side of Ado can be a bit much. But Yasutaka knew that and basically trying to recreate the Blinding Lights method of blood pumping 80s synthpop and it worked. The emphasis on the electric guitar with the huge bass, drums, and all of it enroped with Ado's voice is just something magical. I don't know what she took to make those voice and falsetto but it sounded so beautiful. And the fact that this song is for a One Piece movie soundtrack about a fictional singer it felt really big too. Honestly the whole soundtrack is amazing and I can't recommend Backlight and Fleeting Lullaby enough. Can't believe this all started from her basically making cover of Vocaloid song like what a great find. I can't praise her enough just listen to her alright!

4. My favorite part about music is when songs are about celebrating what music meant for them. Whether it's about dancing, singing, hooking up, or all of the above. The power of music really is something that drive me to like music in the first place. And I think this B-lister knew that and that's why Cole Swindell is so high up on my list.

4. She Had Me At Heads Carolina - Cole Swindell

One of the most cathartic moment is seeing Cole Swindell — the prepetual nearly man in country music — finally got his big breakthrough in 2022 with this song. I really love both of his songs "You Should Be Here" and "Break Up In The End". The former is a song that's supposed to be a celebration, but ended up very somber as his dad passed away and I actually cried listening to this song last year if you know you know. And the latter is just a great breakup song. And I will say that this song is better than both of those songs.

This is just a country version of Shut Up and Dance. If that sentence didn't get you excited enough for the song, well you probably don't like the song because of overplay. Anyways the premise of the song is basically a one night of awesomeness singing "Heads Carolina, Tails California" by Jo Dee Messina at a karaoke bar. What I love about the song is that even though he sampled a pretty decent cover of that song, the production here nailed the vibe pretty well with basically 90s country pastiche with the guitar, the steel pedal, and that texture that I love about that era of country. It's probably one of the most jaunty and exuberant song from this year's Hot 100 and just pure breezy fun. Sadly he can't really sustain more success after this but this song is still a ton of fun and you need to check it out.

3. My favorite part of using the streaming chart is that I can put on TikTok hit that was songs that I might already love on my best list — even when they're hit in another year — I'll put it on the year it was released. This song did chart on the year it was released but then dropped off after just one week. Then this song was tied to a TikTok challenge and thus I'm putting JID on my best list.

3. Surround Sound - JID ft. 21 Savage & Yung Baby Tate

One of the biggest misopportunities in hip-hop this decade is the mismanagement of JID's career. I don't know which labels have the gravest mismanagement here OVO or Dreamville because JID should've been bigger than he is right now. He was supposed to be the replacement for J Cole and let him retire already. Sure The Fall Off might be it, but with the tepid reception of that album there's gonna be a chance that he'll make another album. That's kinda sad when JID has been better than him this decade. The Forever Story is one of the best rap album of 2022 and this song is the reason why.

The Aretha Franklin samples greeted us with this pure braggadocious fun rap song with both JID and 21 Savage having bars off. The hook here is so sticky and that production is just sublime. What I love about this song is that yeah it's bragging, but there's an undercurrent of street level reality that really make this song very potent. The last verse and beat switch up to this ominous murk as JID told the reality of being a rapper. As a lot of happening in 2022 rap scenes was not good especially after the death of King Von and the subsequent beef that turned deadly — the line that stuck to me is "I turned into a rapper ironically". Yeah it's true because the thing about being a rapper now is that sick sense of what you rap about will be consume by the masses of all races. And honestly the whole Lil Durk fiasco really gave this song a sick sense of joke — and the sad truth that makes this song aged better. 

Sure it needed the TikTok boost to get here in the first place. But really can you blame people for just finding the song catchy to make a TikTok trend about? The fact that I saw a lot of Indonesians on TikTok doing the trend really proved the power of the song. That's why it's so high up on the list and again what could've been if this is actually was popular in 2022. Now can we make Dance Now a viral hit too?

2. 2022 seems like not long ago, but one thing that stayed consistent about 2022 the same as 2026 is the inability of young people dating. A lot of factors are laid down and talked about a lot, but one overlook thing about dating scenes in 2020s that a lot of people didn't pay attention is the pandemic. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown really held back young people with real interactions during their pivotal moment of their lives like in college and or high school. Which is why this song might resonated with a lot of zoomers, but as an affiliate of Odd Future I think it's just that this is an excellent piece of music.

2. Bad Habit - Steve Lacy

As Todd put it — this song is revenge of the nerd style success that you rarely see in mainstream pop. Steve Lacy is a nerd and he really loves looking at classic RnB and trying to modernized it with his sense of musicallity that knows no genre. That's why on Wikipedia, the genres listed there beside RnB is psychedelia and alt-pop. You can hear a lot of those influence with the janggling guitar, the vocals, and the breakdown. This has been the sound of indie RnB that his band The Internet are known for and I'm at least glad that those sounds are now getting mainstream prominent — to a mixed results.

Also the reason why this song is revenge of the nerd style success is the subject matter being very much his inability of getting love because of his bad habit. Now if you wanna hear the worst case scenario of this situation look at any Malcolm Todd songs and you can hear the smarminess from his voice. Meanwhile Steve Lacy — while still pathetic — at least trying his best to project some self awareness and knows that he's actually the problem here. It played in the Rivers Cuomo playbook a bit but the best kind of this kind of subject matter. Now I don't know about his career moving forward. The Feeling isn't taking off as expected and I will be sad if he just became "one hit wonder" artists that shouldn't be called that because technicality. But Frank Ocean only has one Top 40 hit anyways so yeah hope the next album is great.

Now before we get to the #1, some honorable mentions that just missed the list.

What Happened To Virgil - Lil Durk ft. Gunna 

Lovely tribute to Virgil Ablo who was one of the best fashion designers of the decade. I really love how not showy the production here as well. If it wasn't for Gunna not locking in, this would've been on the list. This just beat out "Puffin On Zooties", "Gettin Into It (Yuh)", and..."Pushin P" for the best trap rap for 2022.

Sacrifice - The Weeknd

Probably an even bigger Michael Jackson pastiche that The Weeknd has ever made and I do think this is probably one of the most pedestrian lead off singles to an otherwise great album. Still the guitar and bassline here is disgusting in a great sense and The Weeknd is just on his A Game and again this just beat out Moth to a Flame as the best The Weeknd offering.

Glimpse of Us - Joji

As just a straight piano ballad, it's surprisingly giving the most haunting performance I've heard from this guy and I heard Slow Dancing In The Dark. The stripped back approach really worked on playing the distance between him and his ex even if both of them have moved on and yeah it works. 

Flower Shops - ERNST ft. Morgan Wallen

Look I know putting Morgan Wallen here especially with this song charted after his first performance at the country establishment event since the n word incident is not a good look. But I will have this stance that political leanings doesn't make me turn off of the act immediately unless they're being an active harm of society (Jason Aldean has entered the chat). So I will say that this song is heartbreaking and one of the best songs of the year...maybe I should just put that Chris Stapleton song here instead huh. Btw that song from one half of Florida Georgia Line talking about his tall wife is the final cut of this honorable mentions.

Last Last - Burna Boy

A lot of afrobeats songs that charted this year felt like a great background song with the exception of this song. Great samples, infections chorus, and lyrics about celebrating the come up and yet still somber. What more do you need here? You know maybe 2022 might be the most diverse year for pop music huh.

Overpass Graffiti - Ed Sheeran

Speaking of diversity, here's a white Brit. The reception of this album could've been better if this was the lead singles because you can't denied how infectious and sticky the chorus here. I don't think the equation saga is as bad as people made it out to be and I will die on this hill being this song is the best Ed Sheeran singles.

Enemy - Imagine Dragons ft. JID

This was my most played song of 2022 according to Spotify and I kinda get why. Again that year was very turbulent for me and I need something to let out my frustration and this song is actually perfect for it. If it wasn't for the infamous status as the song from Arcane that's been overplayed to death I would actually gonna put it on my best list proper. But I'm glad this song is here all the same.

1. Like I said previously, 2022 was a turbulent year for me. Definitely the senior year of college I really want to forget as I have some sort of identity crisis. Not getting into more detail but suffice to say that in a year where I'm on autopilot, this song really helped me to stay afloat. And it's none other than a song with a late 2000s throwback to Sara Bareilles sound.

1. Numb Little Bug - Em Beihold

There's something about when talking an discussing your favorite music is how emotional response affect your feeling about a song. Now all of this isn't new I think art and taste is very subjective and came from the feeling and the experience of the person that's either making or critiquing art. At the time of writing this, both Halsey and a fellow music critic Anthony Fantano has been going back and forth on arguing about her album "The Great Impersonator" and looking at the discourses really missed the one thing from that — mainly those emotional responses. It's why talking about this song — my favorite song of 2022 — very complicated.

Again 2022 was a very turbulent year for me and this song really helped a lot untangling those feelings that I have during that time. The subject matter about being in a meandering state of being where you felt like secure and yet still have problems that got you restless and can't do anything is really potent. As an older zoomer myself I really felt like a lot of bullshit around me really hinder me to improve upon myself and it didn't helped that I quitted hrt during that after my parents found out about it. The line of perscriptions that she can't pronounce hits really hard even if I know she's not mentioning hrt here. 

But with say Jax I think this song wouldn't worked as well. Em Beihold is good enough songwriters to actually have empathy and it's more of a showing and not telling what you should do. And what anchored it is that late 2000s productions that Sara Bareilies popularized with the heavy synth, piano, and that chord progression. It drew on the millennials earnesty and gave it the Gen Z sheen and it worked so well. Honestly as the world getting bleaker every day, this song reminded me to stay afloat even if you don't like it and that's enough for me. The best hit song of 2022.

That's the list done! Again this is all for like historical records I've been trying to make these for awhile and I dunno I might wanna do this more with the years I haven't talked about on this blog. Maybe I'll be revisiting 2018 or making a real 2016 best and worst list but we'll see. I still need to finish the 1980 one and I'm definitely more pumped talking about the best stuff of that year more.