In the lead-up to the release of this year’s Apple Music Replay, here are my predictions for what my top song, album and artist will be.
Top Song:
Based on the number of streams alone, I predict that my top song from 2024 will be “Road Regrets” by Dan Mangan, which is funny because I’ve only been listening to it since August. Yet, with a whopping 437 streams in just four months, this track is a testament to my almost inhuman ability to listen to the same song over and over again without ever getting bored.
In truth, I’m not a huge fan of Dan Mangan — a preference that has way more to do with my own ignorance than some kind of bitter distaste for the British Columbia native. You might say “Road Regrets” worked its way into my musical repertoire by chance. Still, upon listening to it for the first time, I immediately fell in love.
The first track on Mangan’s quintessential 2009 album Nice Nice Very Nice, “Road Regrets” is a raring and raucous musical masterpiece that puts every other attempt at folk-rock to shame. It’s easy to let loose, head banging and all, as it builds to new heights with unrestrained passion and fervent soul. Balancing its brash and chaotic musicality with Mangan’s rich and tender vocals, “Road Regrets” is still almost completely untouchable in its pandemonium-infused greatness, even 15 years after its release.
Top Album:
Unlike the other two categories, this prediction was harder to nail down. The rate at which my taste changes is dizzying and it’s likely that pigs will learn to fly before I sit down and listen to one album all the way through. I simply don’t have the attention span for it. Still, my best guess is that the real answer for what my top album was in 2024 lies between two options: Twenty One Pilots’ Clancy and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
These albums both came out this past April, just as exams were ending and the weather was getting warmer. I immediately fell in love with both records, meaning that they quickly became the thematic score of my summer. Whether they were pulsating through my headphones on an airplane, blaring out of my crappy iPhone speaker while I catalogued old Brock Press newspapers or simply droning in the background as I read a book, both Clancy and The Tortured Poets Department were the dulcet sounds of my summer break.
Both albums, while wildly different, are extensions of artists I love very deeply. It would be impossible to compare them which makes this whole toss-up even more laughable, yet they are still likely to be the top contenders for my top album of 2024.
Top Artist:
Finally, and most importantly, my top artist of the year. This prediction was not hard to make. In fact, it was incredibly clear very early on who would take that highly selective spot: Taylor Swift.
Some would say it has been the year of Ms. T. Swift, and if there was a world where her popularity was based solely on my streams of her music, there is no doubt in my mind that she’d be just as popular there. This year, in my anticipation for the Eras Tour I spent a lot of minutes listening to Taylor Swift. Approximately 8,000 minutes, in fact, which adds up to a whopping 134.4 hours or nearly six whole days. This number is guaranteed to go up in the next month as I plug away at my friendship bracelets and reminisce excitedly about my Eras Tour show once it has come to an end. My genuine enjoyment of nearly every song she has released in the past 18 years is why Taylor Swift will most certainly be my top artist of the year.