I start a new playlist for each year in Apple Music, going back to 2018. I didn’t post my 2023 list for some reason which was probably depression (that’s usually the reason the big good happy thing simply doesn’t happen), but here is this year’s.
It’s not made of songs that came out in 2024 per se, but rather songs that caught my attention during the year. Old favorites, classics I missed, songs from movies and shows I was watching that dropped at peak moments, songs I heard in the wild in strange or funny or charming moments; that sort of thing.
To be clear, there are a lot of bangers in here. But this is mostly a thing I do for me. If you discover something nice in here, that’s nice too.
I do a bit of light sequencing before sharing — moving a few songs around for better flow as a playlist — but I try to keep that minimal so the list remains roughly chronological, January through December. The cover art is a photo of Lukas Nelson, filling in for his dad on tour in Mansfield, CT. Dad really wanted to see Willie, so that was kind of a bummer, but it was great to see Lukas, and Robert Plant, and the one and only Bob Dylan.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out my 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 musical scrapbooks.