Songs in 2019 were bigger, bolder and brasher than before. They broke records we never even knew about (we’re looking at you, Lil Nas X) and introduced music from around the globe in a completely new way. From K-pop to empowering funk ballads and experimental collaborations, here are the best songs of 2019.

Special mention: 'Harmony Hall' by Vampire Weekend

That guitar hook that climbs and falls, almost like someone in swimming trunks climbing onto a diving board and tumbling back into the warm water of an LA swimming pool. Those syncopating piano chords, an American tribute to Happy Mondays. That timely refrain, lifted from Modern Vampires Of The City: “I don’t wanna live like this / but I don’t wanna die.” It’s rare that an opener (and this is the first “real” song on Father Of The Bride, as well as its first single) so perfectly signposts the direction of the album to follow. Thomas Barrie

10. 'Aute Cuture' by Rosalía

Last year’s trap-tinted El Mal Querer was an exceptional and moody mission statement from Catalan flamenco disciple Rosalía. Then came 2019 and Rosalía has dropped single after single, banger after banger, with no less audacity and confident visual flair. While Rosalía has released more club-friendly singles this year – “Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi”, “Con Altura” – “Aute Cuture” came out loud and strong, with flamenco percussion and a banjee gaucheness that translates into her video full of ornate nail designs and glorious outfits. It’s Rosalía at her funnest, proof she deserves to be 2020’s biggest star. David Levesley

9. 'Kill This Love' by Blackpink

Whenever people in my life suggest they don’t like K-Pop, the litmus test is always “Kill This Love”. Blackpink have never shied away from songs that feel like the Amazons staging a military parade, but their biggest single from 2019 takes it to a whole other level: the verses build and build, the bridges are sensual and feature a more mature, earthy vocal from Jisoo and Rosé and the chorus is absolutely exceptional. You don’t even need to know their choreography to get your jush to those pounding horns, but their routine full of jagged poses takes it to new pop heights. DL

8. 'Don't Start Now' by Dua Lipa

As soon as the bass slides into the first verse of Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” you know you’re going to dance, whether it’s Saturday night or Monday morning’s commute. The first single from her second album, Future Nostalgia, it kicks off the next era of her career with a modern disco jolt, pairing her signature assertive lyrics with a Studio-54-meets-Printworks sound. There won’t be a New Year’s Eve party in the country that isn’t blasting this tune out come 31 December, that’s for sure. Olive Pometsey

7. 'Shake It' by Charli XCX (featuring Big Freedia, Brooke Candy, Pabllo Vittar and Cupcakke)

Charli XCX’s eponymous 2019 album is one full of experimentations, playing with just how far her industrial beats and aloof vocals can go. While there are bigger hits on the album, nothing is weirder than “Shake It”; in some ways, it’s the spiritual successor of Pop 2’s “I Got It”, both queer-rap "Lady Marmalades" featuring Brooke Candy, Cupcakke and Pabllo Vittar. But here, with the added feature of bounce legend Big Freedia, the result is dissonant and elemental, more like Stravinsky than Sophie. Full of heavy breathing, twisted vocals, and with that perfectly written whisper verse from Cupcakke, it turns every dance floor into a coven of horny witches in an instant. DL

6. 'Old Town Road' by Lil Nas X

As well as being the catchiest song of 2019 (you're humming it in your head now, aren't you?), newcomer Lil Nas X's debut was also a record-breaking smash hit, spending more weeks – 19 – at No1 in the US than any other single, ever, as well as 20 weeks in the Top 20 on this side of the pond. Even its genesis is peak 2019, having risen to mainstream attention via TikTok, taking 20-year-old Montero Lamar Hill from making memes in his bedroom to global name and LGBTQ+ hero (not to mention GQ Hype cover star) in just a couple of months. While the original was itself a serious earworm, Billy Ray Cyrus' turn on the remix is what took this trap-rap-country mash up to outright omnipotent after an identity-politics controversy was kicked off by Billboard, which removed the track from the country charts for not being “country” enough. Here’s betting the cowboy obsession continues well into 2020... Kathleen Johnston

5. 'Crown' by Stormzy

Stormzy’s sweet spot is when he threads gospel influences through his music, giving an extra gravitas to his already poignant lyrics. Soulful and contemplative, “Crown” is one of those special instances, his own shy vocals contrasting with those of the choir, as he reflects on the pressures of life as a black role model for Britain’s youth. In typical Stormzy style, the lyrics are brutally honest, but this single marked a noticeable elevation of his sound, with its full-bodied production and finessed air of a king who wears his crown with pride. OP

4. 'Bad Guy' by Billie Eilish

If Billie Eilish is a world away from your average teen, then her dark, eerily beautiful brand of pop is even further from the kind of cookie-cutter floor fillers that dominate the charts. "Bad Guy" is a case in point. Fast paced, ominous and brilliantly beat-driven, with a malevolent melody that makes you feel as though you're stuck inside a scary video game, there's a reason this wholly original hit has been streamed more than one billion times on Spotify. Beyond the production (props to Eilish's beat-making brother, Finneas) it's her breathy, destabilising but still saccharine-sweet vocals and the mischievously ironic lyrics, not to mention a thoroughly unusual beat change in the last third, which makes it stand out from the rest. The best part? The titular "Bad Guy" isn't some loser boyfriend or commitment-phobe love interest, but Eilish herself. As she says in the chorus, "Duh". KJ

3. 'Nothing Breaks Like A Heart' by Mark Ronson (featuring Miley Cyrus)

The song that popularised the sad banger. There’s something desperate about “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart”, perhaps thanks to that outlaw drumbeat, reminiscent of the galloping hooves of a bandito running for the border (a theme fully in keeping with the song’s awesome music video), or because of the sheer depth of cinematic emotion in Miley Cyrus’s vocals. Back in June, Ronson told GQ that he still gets shivers when Cyrus’s voice first comes sweeping in over those opening chords that sound like something out of a classic Hollywood film. “This world can hurt you / It cuts you deep and leaves a scar,” she sings. It sure can, but “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” is proof that we still need that human melancholy to spur the very best dark, seductive bangers – and that they don’t have to sacrifice their pop qualities to be moody as hell. TB

2. 'Motivation' by Normani

The “Check On It” of the 2010s, the throwback gift that 2019 pop music needed, Normani swooped in at the end of summer and gave us all the motivation we needed to get through the rest of the year. A track that paid homage to pop legend Beyoncé, with a confident and self-assured attitude that respectfully said, “I’m now ready to take over as queen,” “Motivation” and its accompanying music video established Normani as a triple-threat force to be reckoned with. Bow down, there’s a new pop monarch in town. OP

1. 'Juice' by Lizzo

"Juice" was the defining sound of 2019, with its retro glamour, confident swagger and mass appeal, it became this year’s "Uptown Funk", a song that manages to celebrate old heroes – in this case drawing on David Bowie-esque guitar lines and Prince funk-pop – while still being familiar and current enough for it to fill the pointless hours of game segments on Love Island and also draw in mass crowds to Glastonbury. Percolating in January, the single came into its stride with each passing month, as more people warmed to Lizzo’s charm, her playful sense of humour and love of jazz flutes. “Juice” was the antidote people needed in 2019, a feel-good, empowering pop anthem to escape to. Anna Conrad

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Read more:

The albums that made 2019 great again

Great news everybody: Lizzo’s already dropped the best song of the year

Mark Ronson: ‘Miley Cyrus was born to sing “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart”’