Joy was elusive in 2017, in everything from politics to Hollywood to the isolated cultural bubbles where most Americans now look for shelter. The one exception? Pop music.

In 2017, pop established a true counter-narrative: cross-pollinating, democratic, and often as buoyantly unbothered as it has ever has been. Genres melded and sometimes combusted completely. An almost entirely Spanish language reggaeton track by two relative unknowns was the year’s biggest hit. And with Spotify and YouTube further entrenched at the center of music consumption, the year’s best and biggest songs underscored a new kind of egalitarianism, allowing the public to directly drive the conversation and charts, and giving the artists room to take risks.

This year in pop can ultimately be boiled down to one emblematic moment, when a stripper-turned-Instagram-star-turned-reality-star-turned-hip-hop princess dethroned the biggest major label superstar of her generation at No.1, with nothing but a freestyle rap and a whole bunch of streaming clicks.

So with that spirit of radical inclusivity in mind, here’s a sampling of some of the best songs of 2017. Like great pop should, these songs united, delighted, made us feel, think, and sometimes provided hope, even if just for four minutes while rapping “Bodak Yellow” with 100 strangers at 3 A.M. Let’s dive in.

Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”

While “Bodak Yellow” was the most surprising hit of 2017, its ascension now seems inevitable for how effortlessly it distilled Cardi B’s iconic, irreverent, and irrepressibly charming Instagram persona into a bombastic trap jewel.

As with her famous social-media riffs, nearly every line of “Bodak” is quotable. Just to recap: our heroine gets paid to party, her nether regions are gold-plated, and bank tellers are completely exhausted by her frequent deposits. But even if your rhymes haven’t made you wealthy or made your privates shimmer, you’re powerless against Cardi’s exceptional knack for conveying authenticity. “Bodak” ’s rapturous celebration of self-actualization—and the fact that it knocked Taylor Swift’s most self-indulgent single to date off the top of the charts—made it the most universal song of the year.

Demi Lovato’s “Daddy Issues”

Demi Lovato always seemed like a workhorse pop star, diligent but never quite expanding past middle management. That changed this year on her sixth album, the excellent Tell Me You Love Me, and its crowning achievement, “Daddy Issues.” “Issues” obliterates the very concept of lyrical subtly as Demi explores the cross-section of her challenging relationship with her father and her destructive romantic choices. “Lucky for you” blares the chorus, “I’ve got all these daddy issues!” That the track does psychodrama atop triumphant synthetic horns, shimmering major-key melodies and palpable delight at one’s shortcomings makes what could have been a maudlin overshare feel ebullient instead.

Sampha’s “No One Knows Me (Like the Piano)”

Sampha’s spare ode to the powers of family and music as salvation suggests that the simplest experience—returning to your childhood home and picking up the instrument through which you first expressed your feelings—can pack a gut-wrenching punch. His celestial voice doesn’t hurt either.

Charlie Puth’s “How Long”

In what may have been 2017’s most unsuspecting about-face, Charlie Puth charged from guy-whose-name-no-one-can-pronounce-and-sung-the-hook-on-that-Paul-Walker-in-memoriam-song-and-also-some-other-stuff right to the head of the overcrowded male pop starlets pack. This was evident on his very good hit single “Attention,” but it’s the self-produced “How Long”—a devilishly slinky slice of blue-eyed funk—that solidifies Puth as a true contender and is, simply put, the best Maroon 5 song of the decade.

Paramore’s “Forgiveness”

Paramore excels at big, brash, emotional calls to arms. “Forgiveness,” with it’s dreamy guitar loop and delicate rebuke of a partner who’s finally messed up for good, takes the opposite tack. Stripped back, tender, and ultimately tragic, the push and pull between singer Hayley Williams’s desire to absolve and the knowledge that she can’t is as beguiling as it is heartbreaking.