Best songs of 2024 - Shobsy and Fontaines DC lead the way for top tracks of the past year
Musicians and music experts give their choice for best releases of the last 12 months - and Irish artists are top of the pops
Irish artists lead the way when it comes to music experts' tracks of the year of 2024. Fontaines DC, Shobsy and Sack are some of the top choices for best songs this past year, chosen by fellow musicians and music critics.
Internationally, Chappell Roan was the standout. To toast New Year's Eve, we asked some of our best songwriters and music writers for their favourite songs released this year - and here's their list.
Singer-songwriter and Late Late Show house band alumni Paddy Cullivan picked Irish singer Shobsy's single Entertainment as his top choice.
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He said: "With a voice like George Michael's and the stage presence of Freddie Mercury, it's unbelievable we have the best performer in the world here in Ireland, with Shobsy.
"Entertainment is an earworm that shows he's a top-tier songwriter as well."
Shobsy himself chose Fontaines DC's ballad In The Modern World from their latest album Romance. The singer - known for his epic version of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy - said: "This album - and particularly this song - marked a step into incredible musical maturity for the band. It's worthy of their description as one of Ireland's all-time great bands. Yet I feel they're still just getting started."
Globally, the 29-year-old enjoyed Sabrina Carpenter's Please Please Please (which was written about her then-boyfriend, Irish actor Barry Keoghan), saying: "It's a resurgence of truly quality pop music, along with Chappell Roan."
Rock man turned mental health advocate Bressie - guitarist with the Blizzards - picked composer Ludavico Einaudi's Pathos. He says: "It's a track that hits the full spectrum of emotions. You go from being a snotty emotional mess to wanting to run through a wall in six minutes."
Donegal blues prodigy Muireann Bradley says she loved Sadness As A Gift, a solo track from Adrianne Lenker of the American band Big Thief.
Meanwhile, our music-mad journalists all gave a nod to Fontaines DC's Romance album.
Features editor Larissa Nolan picked their single Starburster as the Track of the Year, saying: "It's menacingly sexy, with literary lyrics and unnerving sound effects. This is Grian Chatten as his best and my song of the year by a mile."
Sports editor and music writer David Coughlan reckoned Dublin band Sack blew away the competition with their single Wake Up People. He said: "Sack returned with their first album in 23 years and it was worth the wait.
Wake Up People, the album's title track, has all the band's hallmarks: unmistakable indie hooks and Martin McCann's incomparable vocals. It carries a serious message about the chaotic and confusing world today."
Our music writer Mark Kavanagh picked Fontaines track Favourite, saying: "Song of the year from the album of the year by the band of the year. Ireland's pride."
Music nut and sports writer of the year awardee Derek Foley also picked Favourite from Fontaines and also Chappell Roan. He said: "Favourite is like a Pogues' sleeper hit that will still be there 15, 30, 40 years on. Chappell Roan's 80s-tinged, subversive and subtle Good Luck, Babe! almost stopped the world to start that feeling. The 2024 MTV VMAs performance was a show-stealer. A belter of a song and a belter of a singer."
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