Here we are, halfway through 2024. Congratulations on making it this far. Where does the time go? Hell if I know. So there’s this tradition that right around the start of July every year, you get a playlist. 100 songs that function as sort of a capsule of the many great things released over the last 6 months. There are no rankings here, even if Spotify assigns numbers to each track in order. Rather, the way these are arranged is more by genre and vibe than anything else. Smooth transitions and similar-ish sounds abound so you don’t end up in some weird mish-mash of a rap song into a folk song into a dance song into a harder rock song. If you listen on shuffle (which I do recommend!) those sorts of shifts might happen regularly, but if you listen in order I can promise a lovely time from start to finish.
One of my favorite things about a playlist like this is it provides the opportunity to share a bunch of songs you might have missed during the first half of the year. If you’re curious about new music and enjoy a little adventure, this is the playlist for you! I can firmly promise you haven’t heard all 100 songs (yet, unless you listened before reading this), and there are plenty of baby indie artists that could use some love and a bit of discovery. There are also some big hitmakers should you enjoy Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift and Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar. One thing I might recommend is picking a song you know and then listening to two songs before and two songs after it. That’ll give you a little nudge around your comfort zone.
The only “rules” for this playlist are as follows: all songs must have been released within the first 6 months of 2024, and no artist gets more than one track in order to maximize the spread (featured artist spots are excluded from this rule). Simple enough! This playlist is available via Spotify and YouTube, because pretty much everyone can access one or the other. The individual songs will be linked on YouTube as well, in case you only want a taste. Please enjoy all 6 hours! Put it on when you’re hanging at the pool or working the grill. There will inevitably be songs I’ve missed, so hit me up on social media and let me know what I should be listening to!
