The Top 10 Songs of 2022

Our music editor's picks for the top tunes of the year

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Due to my music critic's propensity to wildly overwrite gushing portraits of songs I adore, I'll limit myself to single-line descriptions of my favorite tunes of the year and then let the songs themselves do the talking.

10. "Happy Accident" - Tomberlin

A spiraling sonic root that ensnares your heart with gorgeous repetition and refuses to loosen its thorny grip.

9. "Free" - Florence + The Machine

Three cheers for grandly majestic anxiety pop for the overthinking lot!

8. "Esperanto" - Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul

Social criticism is always best when it's delivered with a mountain of sharp-tongued humor and a killer beat.

7. "I Don't Think About You" - Tim Kasher

This song is a bold-faced liar, one that throws the heart freshly ripped from your chest on the floor and proceeds to stomp it into oblivion.

6. "Sara Jo" - Alex Cameron

Befuddled confusion in the age of internet anti-vax dummies with sweet sax grooves.

5. "Mistakes" - Sharon Van Etten

Sharon Van Etten may be the sad singer-songwriter queen, but "Mistakes" is enough to make one wish all of We've Been Going About This All Wrong was a moody, sultry dance-pop album.

4. "Anti-glory" - Horsegirl

The absolute coolest rockers on the planet who cannot legally drink.

3. "Hangover Game" - MJ Lenderman

More ramshackle indie rock songs about Michael Jordan getting plastered, please.

2. "Wet Dream" - Wet Leg

A blissfully cheeky blast of oversexed pop rock that crackles with an acidic glee, like Pop Rocks swallowed-whole.

1. "Wild for You" - MAITA

Sometimes love fades, and MAITA captures the knot-in-your-stomach messiness of that emotionally tormenting state — caught between accepting it's over and desperately yearning for a return to the wild passion of love's initial blossom — with a delicate hand and deft songwriting grace.