Big Hits of ‘24: Music & Pop Culture

Album photos from Genius

Truth Frazier
2024 was no doubt an impactful year for many aspects of pop culture and arguably the most impactful year of the ‘20s so far. The music industry brought a plethora of new artists, songs, albums, hits—and drama—to pop culture nonstop throughout the entire year.

Here’s an overview of the big hits of last year month by month:

January

The year had an amazing start with many releases from many artists, most notably being Nicki Manaj’s two drops: Pink Friday 2 and FTCU. On the 10th of January Nicki dropped her five song extended play (EP) FTCU. The EP contains the base song "FTCU" with the other four tracks containing variations of the song. These include a clean version, a clean radio version, and the instrumental. FTCU was a hit and stayed at number 17 on Billboard 100 for a whole month alongside two of her songs on Pink Friday 2. At number 27 on Billboard 100 was the song "Everybody" featuring rapper Lil Uzi Vert with her song "Needle" featuring Drake at number 83.

Coming into 2024, lots of songs from 2023 were still in and higher up on the charts like "Lovin on me" by Jack Harlow and multiple songs from hit albums For All The Dogs by Drake and SOS by hit artist, SZA. As the month progressed, however, more singles made their way up the charts. Songs like "Redrum" and "Yes, and?" by 21 Savage and Ariana Grande gained popularity rapidly through social media. These posts were made primarily on Tik Tok paired with a numerous number of Instagram posts prior to the releases.

February

The second month of the year featured artists Megan Thee Stallion, Beyonce, and Doja Cat. Megan came out with her number one charting song "Hiss" in February of 2024, staying on the charts for the entirety of the month. The number one song went from "Hiss" to "Lovin on me" then to a new hit, "Texas Hold "Em" by Beyonce. Her album, Cowboy Carter, went viral like all her other works and the title song kept its place within the top three songs on Billboard for over three weeks. Although the song didn’t hit number one on the charts for nearly as long as Beyonce’s or Jack Harlow’s music, "CARNIVAL" by Kanye West and Playboi Carti struck the social media and pop culture scene undoubtedly hard. Multiple trends came from the song and its profound bass, lyrics, and beat; the song was lip synced and danced across the internet for at least a month after its release, being played on the radio and most famously at school dances.

March

The start of March didn’t bring anything new in terms of hits or charting songs, Beyonce holding the spot for number one song on Billboard 100. However, hit artist Bruno Mars was being talked about all across social media. On the 17th of the month, multiple pop culture pages on Instagram posted about Bruno’s debt allegations. Posts read that Bruno had over a 45 million dollar debt from gambling at MGM Casino. These allegations were denied and stumped shortly after their announcement nonetheless, with MGM Resorts International coming out with a statement reporting that “he has no debt with MGM. Together, we are excited to continue creating unforgettable experiences for our guests.”

Toward the end of March, newly found drama arises. On the 22nd of March, Metro Boomin and Future dropped the hit song "Like That" featuring Kendrick Lamar. The song went viral because of Kendrick’s verse dissing rappers J. Cole and Drake, hitting number one just a week after it was released.

April

In April, "Like That" stayed on the charts along with other songs like "Type Sh**" and "Cinderella" that also appeared on Metro Boomin" and Future’s collab album We Don't Trust You. Further down the chart were the same songs from March and February.

The rap beef between the three rap artists continues. On the 5th J. Cole dropped an album titled Might Delete Later. In the last track, "7 Minute Drill", he takes shots at Kendrick and his consistency as an artist. The song's lyrics contain things about how Kendrick isn’t active in the music industry anymore, disputing Kendrick’s words and claims of always being direct and calling Drake as well as J. Cole "bums". J. Cole wrote “he averaged" one hard verse like every thirty months or somethin’, " If he wasn't dissin’, then we wouldn't be discussin’ him”. However, shortly after the release of J. Cole’s diss track, while the artist was on tour, he expressed feelings of regret. While performing in the Dreamville Festival on April 7th, he apologized to Kendrick for the song and told the crowd that it was out of his nature.

May

May was an amazing month for upcoming and returning artists. Taylor Swift released her album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) [Deluxe]. Kendrick Lamar dropped another single, a continuation of the March and April rap beef, "Euphoria", and hit artist Childish Gambino dropped a long awaited album. Taylor’s album fills up nearly 10 spots throughout the top 30 songs on Billboard 100 as of the second week of May 2024. It was no surprise that Kendrick persistently continued to aim at Drake, "Euphoria’s lyrics containing things about Drake being soft, not accepted by the african american community, his father and about the hate Kendrick himself has for Drake. He wrote “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress”, making sure that his opinions were heard.

Upcoming artists that blew up include Sabrina Carpenter, Shaboozey, and Tommy Richman. Sabrina Carpenter has been known in pop culture for years since her role as Maya Hart in Girl Meets World, and even in the start of her music career, but with the help of social media---she became a nationwide renowned singer. Shaboozey is completely new to the music scene, his song "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" being the first hit he's had since starting his career. As for Tommy Richman, his hit single "MILLION DOLLAR BABY" went viral after a snippet was posted from his Tik Tok page. The sound was used by over 100,000 Tik Tok users, fans and people begging for the song to be released fully.

Soon after these few weeks of fame for every artist, Kendrick Lamar drops another single dissing Drake. Allegations of pedophilia and predatory actions from Drake were made and fans were given proof, Lamar’s number one charting song "Not Like Us" seemingly exposing Drake. Although Kendrick was evidently dropping music left and right, this song stayed up for a month, never dropping lower than number four on Billboard 100.

June

The start of the summer was kicked off with music from Eminem, Charli XCX, new artist Gracie Abrams, Glorilla, and more from Sabrina Carpenter.

The release of "Houdini" from Eminem gained a lot of attention from both Gen Z and Gen X, a somewhat one-sided feud going on between the two generations. The more recent generation gave input that the single was "corny", "inappropriate", or just plain boring. Gen Z says that his music has no shock factor anymore, and that his lyrics are just simply offensive. Gen X argues differently, favoring the rapper that they grew up with and around. They argue that Gen Z is "soft" and that they "don't know what real music is". Despite the controversy, Eminem gained himself a number eight spot on the charts for a couple weeks.

Sabrina Carpenter releases another social media hit, "Please Please Please". Her music fills up the number two and three spots on Billboard 100 as of the second week of June 2024. Charli XCX floods the internet with new music with a trendy, hyper, and upbeat mood with her hit album Brat. The green color of the album cover also became famous, the color being referred to as "brat" for a period of time. Tik Tok dances and trends as well as even foods at some businesses were derived from Charli’s album, her title song "360" was used by over 400,000 Tik Tok users in a matter of weeks after its release. Rising rap star Glorilla also made an appearance on Tik Tok, the release of her song "TGIF" triggering the start of multiple trends. "I Love You, I’m Sorry" by Gracie Abrams was released and went viral on social media platforms, primarily Tik Tok, and gained thousands and thousands of listens from teen girls across the country.

July

July didn’t bring too many artists into light for the music scene, a rotation between "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" and "Not Like Us" occurring the entirety of July for the number one spot. Like the past months, Taylor Swift still holds many places on Billboard 100, with her album receiving a heavy amount of coverage due to the Eras tour paired with media coverage and trends on the internet. New artist Chappel Roan blew up on social media, with her song "Good Luck, Babe!" hitting the charts despite its release being in April of 2024. Chappel's music brought representation to the LGBTQ community, with her lyrics being deemed "relatable" and "real" by thousands of people across the internet. The song climbs up the charts throughout the month, going from number eight to number 6 in a matter of three weeks.

August

Lots of music came from hit artists in the month of August. Rappers and singers like Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion, Latto, Polo G, Drake, Sabrina Carpenter, and more dropped new music. Kanye dropped a collaboration album with Ty Dolla $ign, VULTURES 2 that gained traction after the popularity of VULTURES 1 but didn’t chart for nearly two weeks and even when his song "Field Trip" was seen on Billboard 100, it placed at number 48. Other artists continue to stay on the charts as well as the backtrack of social media trends like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappel Roan, both artists maintaining a spot on Billboard at least number 30. The female rap game amps up as artists Glorilla, Megan Thee Stallion, and Latto all drop, making appearances at summer music festivals across the country.

September

The end of the summer and the start of fall was filled with new and trendy music from artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Bruno Mars. Sabrina Carpenter fell right behind Shaboozey who held the number one spot for over 15 weeks as of September of 2024, with her songs "Please Please Please", "Taste" and "Espresso" taking the second, third, and fourth spots on Billboard 100.

Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga didn’t fall far behind, with their hit song "Die With a Smile" at number 6. The song swooned hearts all over the world despite the suspected reason of why it was made. Fans and people across Tik Tok started making jokes about how the song was made to pay off his debt that he was accused of having back in March of 2024.

October

October started off with a release by Ariana Grande---the deluxe and live version of her album she dropped in March, eternal sunshine. Rapper Big X The Plug made another larger appearance, his album Take Care dropping on the 11th and almost immediately gaining thousands and thousands of listens. Not far after Memphis rapper Glorilla dropped her album GLORIOUS. Her song "WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME" featuring Sexyy Red went viral on Tik Tok and was danced to by over 50,000 people. An unreleased song by The Weeknd and Playboi Carti was previewed at a concert and people were demanding the song be released. The song was used for lip syncing, sports and TV show edits, and dances all across social media and the song officially dropped on the 27th of October. Shortly after, on the 28th, album CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator dropped and rose in popularity as soon as it was released. Within the first 24 hours of it being on streaming platforms, each song on the 14 track album had around six million streams, totaling up to 84 million streams for the entire album. Rounding off the month was an album released by Lil Uzi Vert---Eternal Take 2. The album didn’t gain as much popularity as it was easily outshined to most of the media due to Tyler and Carti’s music.

November

More country music made its appearance on Billboard in November, with the song "Love Somebody" by Morgan Wallen taking the number one spot in the first week. Tyler, The Creator took over the charts for the next few weeks; the rapper had seven songs in the number one to thirty spot range on Billboard 100 for three weeks straight. Close behind was "Timeless", the full song of the snippet that previewed in October.

On the 22nd, Kendick Lamar dropped a full album and took the media’s eyes off of anyone else who recently dropped. GNX had no particular focus, all songs simply displaying the rapper’s lyrics and pacing skills. Kendrick stopped taking shots at artists (for the most part) and instead just disses the entirety of people who don’t agree with him. This is seen in his lyrics on the first track "wacced out murals": “F*** everybody, thats on my body”. The album also featured popular R&B artist SZA, their song "luther" hitting over 100 million streams in less than a month.

December

Kendrick Lamar takes over the number one, two, three, and four spots on Billboard as well as the five, eight, nine, eleven, thirteen, and fourteen spots. GNX’s popularity isn't dimming one bit as of the start of the next month, Kendrick gaining the number one spot on many people’s Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay across the world.

Lots of new music came out to end this year, albums from new and older artists dropping left and right. Katy Perry dropped her album 1432 that included her song "I’m His, He's Mine" that was performed earlier in the year at the 2024 MTV Awards. New York rapper Ice Spice dropped on Christmas this past year, her album Y2K getting over six million streams the day it was released. It was no surprise that her album didn’t gain the traction people predicted before the announcement of the release date because of the annual rise of Christmas music. Mariah Carey’s "All I Want For Christmas Is You" at number 10 on the first day of December. Not far behind is "Last Christmas" by WHAM and Brenda Lee's "Rockin ' Around The Christmas Tree".

Despite all of the Christmas music being undoubtedly high on the charts, one of the last albums of the year made up to number 20 on the charts. SZA’s deluxe version of her album SOS, Lana, was dropped on the 20th of December and blew up as soon as it was on streaming platforms. Her song “BMF” was the most popular on the album, fans love the lyrics and the upbeat sound of the song.

2024 was an amazing year for American music and pop culture. New trends, dances, drama, and artists arose from all over the country and made the year as memorable as it could’ve been.