Ara City Radio Top 100 Tracks of 2022

All year on the Breakfast Show we’ve been keeping you up to date with the best new music to come out in 2022. Our top 100 countdown of the best tracks of the year includes music by superstars that made huge comebacks this year like Beyonce, Gorillaz, Placebo and Yeah Yeah Yeahs but also our favorite underground artists like Horsegirl, Faux Real, and Special Interest.

Here’s the countdown of our top 100 tracks from the year, compiled with input from our listeners, originally broadcast on the final two shows of the new 2022.

100-50:
100. Sunflower Thieves – ‘I Don’t Know Why’
99. Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul – ‘Ceci N’est Pas Un Cliche‘
98. Teleman – ‘Short Life‘
97. Alvvays – ‘Belinda‘
96. Lord Huron – ‘Your Other Life’
95. Angel Olsen – ‘All the Good Times‘
94. Everything Everything – ‘Jennifer‘
93. Belle And Sebastian – ‘Young And Stupid‘
92. Alt-J – ‘Hard Drive Gold’
91. Beabadoobee – ‘Talk‘
90. Mitski – ‘Stay Soft‘
89. Plains – ‘Problem With It‘
88. Big Thief – ‘Simulation Swarm’
87. Phung Khanh Linh – ‘Nam ngoai gio nay (afte rall)’
86. Gal Costa & Marina Sena – ‘Para Lennon e McCartney’
85. Shanti Celeste – ‘Shimmer’
84. Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Black Summer’
83. Quasi Qui – ‘Epoch‘
82. Michigander – ‘In My Head‘
81. Danger mouse & Black Thought – ‘Belize ft. MF Doom‘
80. The Smile – ‘Thin Thing‘
79. Leftfield – ‘Pulse‘
78. Special Interest – ‘Midnight Legend‘
77. The Killers – ‘Boy‘
76. Kelis – ‘Feed Them‘
75. John Cale – ‘Night Walking‘
74. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – ‘Edge Of the Edge‘
73. Four Tet – ‘Scythe Master‘
72. The Beths – ‘Expert In A Dying Field‘
71. Bill Calahan – ‘Natural Information‘
70. Peter Doherty & Frederic Lo – ‘You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever‘
69. Warpaint – ‘Champion’
68. The Big Moon – ‘Trouble’
67. King Hannah – ‘All Being Fine‘
66. Fontaines DC – ‘Skinty Fia‘
65. Fleet Foxes – ‘A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen‘
64. Warhaus – ‘Open Window‘
63. Winston Surfshirt – ‘Only One ft. Genesis Owusu‘
62. Silk Sonic – ‘After Last Night‘
61. White Lies – ‘Break Down Days‘
60. Soccer Mommy – ‘Shotgun’
59. Arctic Monkeys – ‘Body Paint‘
58. First Aid Kit – ‘Angel‘
57. Braxe + Falcon – ‘Step By Step ft. Panda Bear‘
56. Alex G – ‘Runner‘
55. Young Fathers – ‘I Saw‘
54. Frankie Cosmos – ‘One Year Stand’
53. Dope Lemon – ‘Howl With Me‘
52. Ibibio Sound Machine – ‘Something We’ll Remember’
51. Royksopp – ‘Unity ft. Karen Harding‘

50. Blood Orange – ‘Jesus Freak Lighter‘
Dev Hynes’ Blood Orange sneaks into our top 50 tunes of the year with this beautiful piece melancholy indie electro pop.

49-40:
49. Liam Gallagher – ‘Diamong In The Dark‘
48. Harry Styles – ‘As It Was‘
47. Abiodun Oyewole – ‘My Life‘
46. Caroline Polachek – ‘Welcome To My Island‘
45. Royksopp – ‘Impossible ft. Alison Goldfrapp‘
44. Working Men’s Club – ‘Widow’
43. New Body Rhumba – ‘LCD Soundsystem’
42. Franz Ferdinand – ‘Curious‘
41. Jack White - ‘Love Is Selfish‘

40. Imarhan – ‘Assossam’
40th place in our countdown goes to Algerian Tuareg blues band, Imarhan. in 2022 they released a brilliant album, ‘Aboogi‘. Our pick from the record is this one ‘Assossam‘

39-30:
39. Cate Le Bon – ‘Moderation‘
38. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Kepler 22b‘
37. Metronomy – ‘Things Will Be Fine‘
36. Phoenix – ‘Winter Solstice’
35. Placebo – ‘Happy Birthday In The Sky‘
34. Lifeguard – ‘I Know I Know‘
33. Leon Bridges & Khruangbin – ‘Mariella’
32. Gorillaz – ‘Cracker Island ft. Thundercat
31. Burna Boy – ‘Last Last‘

30. Beach House – ‘New Romance‘
Beach house returned with another masterful album ‘Once, Twice Melody‘ this year. Our pick from the record was ‘New Romance‘

29-25:
29. Foals – 2am
28. Wet Leg – ‘Angelica‘
27. Aldous Harding – ‘Tick Tock‘
26. Florence & The Machine – ‘Free‘

25. Fontaines DC – ‘Roman Holiday‘
Fontaines DC released their third album and continued their rapid ascension to superstardom. The are the most featured act in this year’s countdown with three entries.

24-20:
24. Men I Trust – ‘Billie Toppy‘
23. Phoenix – ‘Tonight ft. Ezra Koenig‘
22. The Lazy Eyes – ‘Starting Over’
21. Faux Real – ‘Full Circle

20. Hot Chip – ‘Down‘
Another huge comeback act for 2022 was hot chip. They put out another album of synth pop bangers ‘Freakout Release‘. ‘Down’ is their first entry in our countdown and it kicks off our top 20.

19-15:
19. Pond – ‘Hang A Cross On Me‘
18. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – ‘Spitting Off The Edge Of The World’
17. Foals – ‘2001‘
16. Hot Chip – ‘Eleanor‘
15. The Black Keys – ‘Wild Child‘
14. Aldous Harding – ‘Fever‘

13. Dry Cleaning – ‘Ana Calls From The Arctic‘
Dry Cleaning followed up their 2021 debut album with some brilliant singles this year. ‘Anna Calls From The Arctic’ marks a brilliant evolution in their sound.

12-10:
12. Fontaines DC – ‘Jackie Down The Line‘
11. Beyonce – ‘Alien Superstar‘

10. Arlo Parks – ‘Softly‘
Following on from a massive year in which she won the mercury prize, Arlo Parks only new music in 2022 was this brilliant pop single, ‘Softly‘

9-5:
9. Kendrick Lamar – ‘The Heart Part 5’
8. Rokia Kone – ‘Shezita‘
7. Horsegirl – ‘World Of Pots And Pans‘
6. Beyonce – ‘Break My Soul’

5. Metronomy & Katy J Pearson – ‘Love Factory ‘
Metronomy teamed up with rising Bristolian star Katy J Pearson on this beautiful piece of indie pop which takes number 5 in our list.

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fleez’
Returning in 2022 with ‘Cool It Down‘ their first album since 2013. Yeah Yeah Yeahs produced one of the best albums of the year and this track is our favorite from the record.

3. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Magenta Mountain’
The prolific and chameleonic Australian psych rock outfit released their 22nd and 23rd Albums this year, covering everything from industrial hip hop to tropical jazz. One of our favorite tracks of this year was this piece of cosmic synth rock.

2. Leon Bridges and Khruangbin – ‘B-Side’
’B-Side’ by Leon Bridges and Khruangbin was one of the most requested and talked about songs in our communications with listeners this year and we can see why. It’s an addictively groovey and laid back jam that claims the second-to-top spot in our top 100 countdown.

1. Horsegirl – ‘Anti-Glory’
The most exciting new band to cross our radar this year was, without a doubt, Horsegirl from Chicago. With our discovery of them through their 2022 album ‘Versions Of Modern Performance‘, we were exposed to the thriving and exciting DIY music scene of their home city Chicago - including bands like Lifeguard, who are also featured in this list. Horsegirl are an amazing trio of shoegazing alt-rockers that are bearing the torch for the music scene of their home city and making really good music. Anti-Glory is a Gang Of Four-esque piece of angular dance rock that takes the top spot in our top 100 tracks of 2022.