
NPR's Best Songs of 2024 List Highlights Berklee Alumni Arooj Aftab, Adrianne Lenker, Tiny Habits, and more made the cut on NPR's roundup of this year's top tracks.
By
Tara Bellucci
December 6, 2024
Adrianne Lenker performing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Image by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
Tis the season for year-end lists, and NPR just dropped one. The public radio institution picked 124 songs to include on their Best Songs of 2024 list, and several choices feature Berklee alumni.
NPR broke the songs into categories based on genres like pop, jazz, and beyond ; favorites from partner public radio stations; and what they are calling the best of the best, a curated top 25 songs of the year.
Here are some of the songs by or featuring Berklee alumni that made the list:
Arooj Aftab
Image courtesy of the artist
Arooj Aftab, Raat Ki Rani The song is a pure crowd-pleaser, as the Pakistani-American singer sets her atmospheric, decidedly Sade-esque yearning against sumptuous harps and a portentous piano line, says Stephen Thompson of Aftab BM '10.
Sabrina Carpenter, Espresso Amy Allen '15 has written some of the most iconic pop songs of the last decade, and Sabrina Carpenter's summer smash Espresso is one of them. NPR named it a Best of the Best, with Stephen Thompson saying, Espresso' was the shot [and] Please Please Please' was the chaser.
Deerlady, Masterpieces Lars Gotrich says that Magdalena Abrego's [BM '15] guitar solo at the climax of this beautiful and brooding indie rock song gurgles with molten life over crackling shoegaze riffs.
Madi Diaz, God Person Robin Hilton says that this was the rare song that absolutely wrecked me this year. The song by Diaz '07 is partly about finding joy and purpose in life's smallest moments-time with friends, gazing at the sky or the ocean. But it's also about realizing that maybe those moments are precisely where god' and the ultimate meaning of life exist.
Adrianne Lenker, Sadness as a Gift Ann Powers calls Lenker BM '12 to many, the most gifted of her own cohort of singer-songwriters, and says the song offers a breakup ballad ideal for a generation redefining the way ties bind: You could write me someday, and I think you will.'
Nourished by Time, Hell of a Ride Marcus Brown PD '16 made a soaring, blissful ode to dissolution, a better to have loved and lost' anthem stripped of all clich that also reads as a valedictory for late-stage capitalism, its consumerist focus and lack of third spaces, says Sheldon Pearce. Somewhere at the center of R&B and art-pop and post-punk lies Brown's rousing voice, which is so compelling it can make even parting feel like a balmy, loving embrace.
Tiny Habits (left to right: Judah Mayowa, Maya Rae, Cinya Khan)
Image courtesy of the artist
Tiny Habits, Wishes The intimacy of close harmony singing has rarely served a song the way this young trio's blend does in this heartfelt expression of the human tendency to feel unmoored within one's own skin, Ann Powers writes about Tiny Habits' Judah Mayowa '21, Cinya Khan BM '23, and Maya Rae BM '24. NPR named the song a Best of the Best pick, with Powers adding, Each member takes a verse, confessing sorrows with painful honesty; then, in the choruses, their voices gently connect, like fingers intertwining. This is what empathy sounds like.
Chappell Roan, Good Luck, Babe! Justin Tranter '01, the hitmaker behind numerous chart-toppers, cowrote this larger-than-life pop anthem, recognized as a Best of the Best track. Has anyone who's nonchalantly muttered, It's fine, it's cool,' ever actually felt fine or cool? asks NPR's Elle Mannion. Chappell Roan, this year's biggest breakout pop star, is anything but low key.
Did we miss anyone? Let us know.
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
Rihanna sings during the Concert for Valor in Washington, DC, November 11, 2014.
Image by EJ Hersom / CC-BY-2.0
This Rihanna Song Has Secret' '80s Easter Eggs The SOS songwriter revealed a nostalgic twist to the lyrics, and it's going viral on TikTok.
Latest
MAMO is one of seven Berklee acts performing at the Snowport holiday market.
Image courtesy of the artists
Berklee Artists Perform at Boston Snowport Holiday Market The performances are a result of a partnership between the Snowport, Mohegan Sun, and the Berklee Popular Music Institute.
Michael McDonald, one of yacht rocks icons.
Image by Soul Train/Getty/Courtesy HBO
Yacht Rock: Smooth Sailing on Rocky Waters Read about how the soft-rock genre has weathered the test of time, and listen to a playlist of some of the best yacht rock songs, from Christopher Cross and Toto to Steely Dan and Thundercat.
Applications Open for the Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant The deadline for the grant application is December 6, 2024.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
North America Stories
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
09/06/2026
FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...
09/06/2026
Cosm Atlanta, a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue located within Centennial Yards adjacent to State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Sta...
09/06/2026
NESN captured five awards at the 2026 Boston/New England Emmy Awards, including four program honors and one individual award.
These awards reflect the passion...
09/06/2026
Ateme has announced that its support for Apple Immersive Video workflows was referenced by Apple during its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26).
Atem...
09/06/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Axel Springer SE has deployed Player Web X, Bitmovin's web video player, to power audio readouts of news articles and an audio-o...
09/06/2026
Grass Valley and Lawo have announced a technology collaboration to validate orch...
09/06/2026
LiveU has announced a deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) t...
09/06/2026
Globecast has announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform, powered by ...
09/06/2026
NBC Sports will present live coverage of Overtime's OT7 football league Championship Weekend from Sullivan Field at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angel...
09/06/2026
We're in three different locations, three different production teams. Coveri...
09/06/2026
The intro video for Men's Basketball won Outstanding In-Venue Video in the C...
09/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
09/06/2026
Since their debut, the clock-and-score graphic has drawn the affinity and ire of...
09/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
A project aimed at modernizing scheduling operations across Mediaset's channel portfolio
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitab...
09/06/2026
tvONE, an ACT Entertainment brand, debuts its most powerful video processor ever built: the 4RU CALICO PRO (C7-PRO-4200), at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N6813). Engine...
09/06/2026
Composer and Conductor Eric Whitacre to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee Va...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Technology collaboration to validate AMPP and Lawo HOME orchestration integration, showcasing Dynamic Media Facility principles in practice.
Grass Valley and ...
09/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced that Axel Springer SE, international media and technology company, has deployed Playe...
09/06/2026
LiveU, the global leader in live IP-video solutions, today announced a landmark deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) that has brought Video ...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Two Alumni Win Tony Awards Mike Morris and Cedric Leiba Jr. won awards for Best Orchestrations and Best Play, respectively.
June 8, 2026
By
Tori Donahue
...
09/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Images And Poster For Wrath, A New Brazi...
08/06/2026
The two execs discuss the goals and the challenges of building a huge multi-cult...
08/06/2026
This industry legend has been a road warrior since the early '90s and is, today, a lynchpin on College GameDay
The sports-production industry continues to ...
08/06/2026
DAZN has agreed a multi-year rights partnership with Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC), expanding its global combat sports portfolio.
DAZN will broadcast EFC...
08/06/2026
As fans move across broadcast, streaming, social, mobile and creator-led platforms, and they expect every angle, in real time, TVU Networks has released a new e...
08/06/2026
Infront has further strengthened the 2026 Diamond League's international bro...
08/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced the appointment of Sam Craig as Vice President, Global Pre-Sales. Based in the United States, Craig will lead Grass Valley's glob...
08/06/2026
SMPTE has announced its summer 2026 education lineup covering IP networking and SMPTE ST 2110, including two standalone courses, a 13-week boot camp, and a hand...
08/06/2026
Sportradar Group AG has announced a multi-year global agreement with Kalshi, a p...
08/06/2026
FIFA and Gamefam have announced the launch of a FIFA World Cup 2026 event on Roblox, running June 5 through July 31, 2026. The event centers on FIFA Super Socce...
08/06/2026
A collaboration of NHL Productions, Monumental Sports, and Michael Levitt Produc...
08/06/2026
CBS Sports production staffer Bryce Adair has died at the age of 31 after sustaining injuries during a car accident on Wednesday while in Ohio working the the P...
08/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...
08/06/2026
WMT Digital today announced the launch of WMT Fan Intelligence, designed to unif...
08/06/2026
The Heat are the seventh NBA team to air their games over-the-air next season...