My Top 20 Favorite Hit Songs of 2022 Part 1: 20-11

 

Hey everyone, Drake, known online as Urtar Reviews here, and it's time for the unfortunately inevitably less popular of my lists, the one where I get to gush about hit songs from this year that I love. And while this year was boring to follow the charts for reasons that I mentioned in the worst list, the quality of a lot of the music was very good, at least to me. The entire top half of this list I would consider a 10/10. As usual, songs are eligible for this list if they made either the Billboard Year End for 2022 or an alternate year end chart that uses a January-December chart window. See my worst list for links to Spotify playlists of the lists I use for eligibility. And songs that previously made the Jan-Dec list for 2021 are not eligible, as they were eligible for last year's list. Finally, this is all just my opinion, if you disagree with any of these picks, that is fine, music is subjective and I will respect your opinion if you do mine. Without any further ado, my picks for the Top Twenty Best Hit Songs of 2022!

Round one of my annual unpopular opinions in this community. A song that drew comparisons to Treat You Better, but in my opinion works where that song did not. 

20. Boyfriend - Dove Cameron (Peak #16, Billboard Year End: #51, Jan-Dec Year End: #48) 

To be fair this song took a while to grow on me, I wasn't a fan at first. But it grew on me a lot recently, and I went from not knowing what to think to loving it. Anyway, the reason people in this community hate this song is because they claim it's just the female version of Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes. I hate that song as much as the next person in this community because one, it sounds awful, with some of the most annoying vocals of the decade, but also because it's framed as the guy telling the girl that her boyfriend is evil and he'd treat her much better. This song takes it in more of a flirting way, just telling this girl that she could be a better lover as a way of flirting, not making her current lover look evil. Which makes it work a lot better. "BUT IT'S IMMATURE" you say. So what? She's a fucking teenager and not every song needs to be mature jeez. And this song just slaps on a musical level. It's definitely a grower and something that not everyone would enjoy, but the chaotic power of the hook is just fantastic. If you wrote it off as just another Treat You Better and didn't give it a chance, consider doing so. You might enjoy what you hear. 

I don't know if I've said this before on the blog, but I'm a sucker for a good duet. I'm surprised I didn't like this next song more and put it higher than I did because of that, but I mean, it did make it here after all. 

19. Never Say Never - Cole Swindell, Lainey Wilson (Peak #27, Billboard Year End: #92, Jan-Dec Year End: #92)

This song is sort of like a country version of Unavoidable by Neon Trees, one of my favorite songs of all time. It's obviously not as good, since it only made it here and not near the top, but it's still a good comparison. A powerful duet between two singers who both have good voices and so much chemistry. And lyrically about a pair of unlikely lovers coming together, who don't have much in common, and yet they just can't help but love each other. As I said both singers sound great, and have a lot of chemistry. And it has a great guitar line and solo. So why isn't this higher? Well compared to Unavoidable, it doesn't have the otherworldly sounding instrumentation that made that song so phenomenal, which is one of the main reasons I love that song so much. Still a great song though. 

I don't know how to introduce this one. 

18. Bad Habit - Steve Lacy (Peak #1, Billboard Year End: #28, Jan-Dec Year End: #11)

This song just slaps. The bouncy instrumentation bangs, and Steve Lacy just demonstrates a ton of charisma, making every second feel incredibly engaging and lively. Also a song about little bad habits we have like biting our tongue is a cool concept to be honest. As someone with autism who can't be still, I always have to fidget some part of my body, and who also bites my lip all the time and because of that I have chapped lips a lot. But yeah just a really fun song. 

After 2021 which was a widely agreed in this community, bad year for country music (even if I liked most of the country hits that year more than others in this community), 2022 was widely agreed to be a much better year, and while I don't know if I agree that it was better, it was still a good year for the genre for sure. This next song is probably for most in this community the biggest example of this, and while I get it, after all it made this list, for me it wasn't my favorite country song on the year end list. But it's still amazing! 

17. Something In The Orange - Zach Bryan (Peak #12, Billboard Year End: #39, Jan-Dec Year End: #28)

This song becoming popular at all feels like an anomaly, let alone it becoming as popular as it did. To be fair, that was all streaming and sales, as this song didn't even get pushed to radio until October, and had been charting for months before then. This song becoming a big thing on country radio before streaming would be even more shocking. But it's just a fantastic song, even if not my favorite kind of country personally. I've never been the biggest fan of darker, brooding, acoustic, blues-y country like this personally. I do enjoy this one though. Zach Bryan's fantastic vocals, the great piano and guitar, and the fantastic lyrics. Still have no desire to listen to his triple album though. 

Round two of my annual unpopular opinions in this community! One I have to say I was surprised to see a lot of hate for.  

16. Big Energy - Latto (Peak #3, Billboard Year End: #7, Jan-Dec Year End: #7) 

Yes this was produced by Dr. Luke. Yes this samples the same song sampled by Mariah Carey's Fantasy and doesn't do anything new with it. Do I care? Not really. I know I got mad at First Class for sampling Glamorous, but that was cause they took a song I loved and found incredibly beautiful and made so stiff and used it in a otherwise bad song.  I mean I get not liking this song cause of that, but the song is a bop, just like the Mariah Carey song. The sample works well for a pop rap song like this, Latto rides the beat well, and the chorus slaps. I don't really have much more to say, it's just a banger.  Oh and speaking of samples...

After Doja Cat growing on me in 2021 with the great album Planet Her, and me putting two of her hits last year on my best list, one pretty high, I was unfortunately not as impressed with her hits from Planet Her this year outside of Need To Know and Kiss Me More carrying over. I hated Woman for most of the year (now indifferent towards it) and I still hate Get Into It (Yuh). Luckily, there was one song I enjoyed from her this year, even if it only fully clicked recently. 

15. Vegas - Doja Cat (Peak: #10, Billboard Year End: #47, Jan-Dec Year End: #37)

DAWG PLAYA I GET IT!

This song comes from the Elvis movie. Doja made a song sampling a recording of Hound Dog by the actress who played Mama Thornton in the movie, the artist who made the original song, which got covered by Elvis and his version became a big hit in the 50s. I love how Doja (who is black) sampled a cover of the original song by a black woman and not the Elvis cover, as a way of like reclaiming the song that was stolen decades ago. Particularly since this is in a movie about Elvis. And the song itself is amazing. Doja shows a lot of personality in a way that isn't annoying like on Get Into It (Yuh) but fun and silky. And the bubbly beat is the kind of beat I like Doja on most and just amazing in general. 

I remember when people on Billboard Twitter were saying that this woman couldn't get a hit with a song that came out the year it got popular. Lol that aged well. 

14. About Damn Time - Lizzo (Peak #1, Billboard Year End: #12, Jan-Dec Year End: #6)

I haven't talked about Lizzo before on this blog, so I'm just gonna say that I usually like her. Truth Hurts and Good As Hell are both still fantastic, and Juice would be one of the best hits of the 2010s if it had the chart run it deserved to have (not just quality-wise, everyone knows it). And this song is a fantastic disco throwback. Lizzo as always has a ton of charisma and she rides a disco groove fantastically just like she did on Juice. Also amazing flute solo. And the lyrics about partying after having made it through hardships are great too. And of course. IT'S BAD BITCH O' CLOCK. IT'S THICK THIRTY!

Sampling in country music is something that just hardly ever happens. The only country song other than the next song I can think of that samples another country song is Hard To Forget by Sam Hunt. An awful song! But thankfully, we now have a good song in that category. 

13. She Had Me At Heads Carolina - Cole Swindell (Peak #16, Billboard Year End: #46, Jan-Dec Year End: #41)

As someone who's lived in California for my entire life, and whose grandma was raised in North Carolina, I feel legally obligated to love this song and the song sampled. Okay but for real this is just such a fun country song, and a great tribute to Heads Carolina Tails California, which is also a fantastic song for the record. The original song was about moving somewhere with your loved one. Taking it and flipping it into a song about meeting a girl at a party, seeing a girl sing a song you love in karaoke, falling in love with her, and taking her wherever she wants to be to have a fantastic time with her, is a fantastic way to use the sample. Also it just slaps. I've always enjoyed upbeat party/bro country more than most in this community and this song is no different. 

Before I talk about this next song, I wanna say that like I thought in my best list last year, Industry Baby clicked for me this year and is now a 10/10 and better than Montero. And while this next song isn't as good, it's still a worthy follow up. 

12. That's What I Want - Lil Nas X (Peak #8, Billboard Year End: #14, Jan-Dec Year End: #21)

After all the hits he had through controversy and over the top visuals and other marketing like that, it was interesting to see Lil Nas X have a normal hit song. I mean it's about wanting a gay partner, but I'm talking more in promotion. No over the top visuals or controversy. Just a song becoming successful on streaming, sales and radio. Anyway, it's also a fantastic song. The fantastic guitar rhythm, Nas X's great vocals, and the great lyrics about being lonely and just wanting a partner to love. 

2022 was the year where I transitioned from high school to college. So in other words, for me, it's not the same as it was. 

11. As It Was - Harry Styles (Peak #1, Billboard Year End: #2, Jan-Dec Year End: #1)

No matter what Billboard tells you, this song was the biggest hit of the year. Even if you don't like the song you have to admit that this was the biggest hit of the year not Heat Waves. And for me, while Harry's House is a very mediocre album that I don't go back to at all outside of this song, this is the best hit Harry has had, that somehow never got old for me despite lots of overplay. This song soundtracked my transition from high school to college and it did a good job of it. And I love the throwback instrumental and fantastic vocals. This was the song of the summer and it was a great one that never got old for me despite lots of overplay. 

And here we end part 1! Part 2 will be out soon hopefully! See you next time.