From Troye Sivan's impending pop takeover to Ariana Grande's definitive Sweetener anthem, these were the songs that moved the EW staff all year long.

10. "Space Cowboy" – Kacey Musgraves

Oh, what a difference an invisible comma makes. Though the title of Golden Hour's gorgeously sparse ballad evokes the Steve Miller Band's deathless yacht-rock boogie "The Joker," it's no midnight toker she's talking about. "You can have

your space, cowboy/I ain't gonna fence you in," the singer promises a recalcitrant lover over soaring piano lines and mournful slide guitar. "Go on, ride away in your

Silverado, guess I'll see you 'round again/I know my place, and it ain't with you/Sunsets fade and love does too." It might have been true romance, but her cowboy's got too much wanderlust to stay in one area code long enough to know—and Kacey's far too smart to believe she can make him change. —Leah Greenblatt, Critic-at-Large

9. "Say Something" – Justin Timberlake feat. Chris Stapleton

The friends and neighbors in Tennessee crafted the perfect pairing of salty and sweet on this pleading, pulsating jam off Timberlake's Man of the Woods. Marrying the pop star's insistent melodic sensibility to Stapleton's grounding grit takes them to a place that remarkably suits each artist. That it simultaneously functions as both feathery light and deeply introspective is an impressive feat. It's true that sometimes the greatest way to say something is to say nothing at all, but we're glad someone decided to say, "Let's do this." —Sarah Rodman, Features Director

8. "God is a Woman" – Ariana Grande

When all is said and done, you'll believe Ariana Grande is an artist to reckon with — and one who's gotten far less credit than she's deserved in her still-budding career. Exuding a cool maturity, Grande came into her own this summer, in part thanks to the definitive anthem off Sweetener. This slow jam infused feminine empowerment and raw sexuality into the perfect button-pushing pop ballad for 2018, at times feeling like a sweltering stiletto piercing your chest as it drives its message home. Long after its release, it lingers. —Marc Snetiker, Digital Editor

7. "King's Dead" – Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future, SZA

The first rule of Wakanda Fight Club is: Tell everyone about Wakanda Fight Club. As capo of the Black Panther sound- track, Lamar made it his prerogative to bring on top-level talent. But few tracks reached the team-swagger levels of "Dead," an all-star banger with so much Alpine-rattling bass it should have its own curfew. Still, no cameo could match his own wild end run channeling the movie's ultravillain. All hail King Killmonger; now bow down to Kendrick, too. —LG

6. "Boo'd Up" – Ella Mai

Rising artist Ella Mai struck platinum with this insatiable onomatopoeic slice of '90s-inspired R&B. Over breathy synths and clean piano chords, the British singer coos about her significant other (read: boo) by cleverly incorporating the sound a beating heart makes — "Biddy-da-do, boo'd up" — into the chorus. "It just won't stop," Mai says about the feelings she's having. Same goes for the amount of times "Boo'd Up" has been played this year. —Alex Suskind, Senior Editor, Music

5. "I Like It" – Cardi B

Cardi B likes dollars, diamonds, shining, and exes begging for a second chance on this year's fiery Song of Summer winner. Over the riff from boogaloo musician Pete Rodriguez's legendary 1967 song "I Like It Like That," Cardi (joined here by J Balvin and Bad Bunny) is in pure aspirational mode, rapping about Balenciagas and securing bags. A song so hot it comes with its own stoop party, "I Like It" will be on summer rotation long past 2018. —AS

4. "Nice for What" – Drake

Leave it to Drake to turn a melancholy Lauryn Hill sample (1998's "Ex Factor") about relationship battle scars into one of the year's best club-ready hits. This bounce-inflected track — shout out to Big Freedia, who makes an appearance here — is Drizzy at his most fun and flirtatious. "With your phone out, snappin' like you Fabo/And you showin' off, but it's all right," he raps. Drake, as always, is here to reassure you that doing it for the 'Gram is A-OK. —AS

3. "My My My!" – Troye Sivan

In a year that saw a rush of movies about the realities of young gay life — including one Sivan himself costarred in, Boy Erased — and an emerging class of trans pop stars led by SOPHIE and Kim Petras, the 23-year-old South African-born singer's fizzy, shimmering celebration of same-sex love and desire still somehow felt revolutionary. And as he performed the song's joyful refrain everywhere from the soundstage of Saturday Night Live to a surprise duet with Taylor Swift on the Rose Bowl stop of her Reputation tour, it started to feel like something even better: totally, unremarkably mainstream. —LG

2. "Apes—" – The Carters

Nobody wins when the family feuds — not even the most successful couple on the planet. On the first single from this summer's surprise album drop Everything Is Love, music's reigning monarchs flip an energetic Migos-penned track for their own independent, we-shot-the-music-video-for-this-song-at-the-damn-Louvre flex. After mining the depths of an alleged cheating scandal via respective solo records (Bey's hypnotic visual LP Lemonade from 2016, and Jay's introspective 4:44 from 2017), "Apes—" shows that the A-listers are finally back together, happy, and livin' lavish. —AS

1. "Make Me Feel" – Janelle Monáe

With the click of her tongue, Janelle Monáe reminded everybody in 2018 why she so naturally takes up the mantle of Prince (an artist who championed Monáe's work when he was still alive, and who Monáe says influenced Dirty Computer). The singer co-wrote this infectious lead single with Julia Michaels, Mattias Larsson, Robin Fredriksson, and Justin Tranter, resulting in a soulful, retro-funky groove that sizzles and vibrates, with a sensuous music video to match: So good and so f—ing real. —Katie Hasty <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/ew.com/playlist/4gQxLfgjyI3vx1aZqSZ2Lm" width="500" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media" class="" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" resize="0" replace_attributes="1" name=""></iframe>õ÷ß÷­tw§=÷½_y§ÚóV›ëÝ¼u­ÝqýzóÝ: