Feature

Tom Stafford / 19 December 2019

Look Back

Look Back: The best songs of 2019

Here's what Ticketmaster UK's staff chose as their favourite songs of the year.

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It’s fair to say that the staff here at Ticketmaster HQ are obsessed with music. You only have to walk around the office and look at how many people have got headphones on to notice that.

As the year ends, we polled our colleagues to find out their favourite songs of the year. The eclectic list features everything from breakout pop stars to returning metal heroes.

As we look back on 2019, here are our ten best songs of the year. Scroll down to the bottom to check out the full playlist on Spotify.

Check out all of the action from the across the year

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#10 Tool – Pneuma 

2019 marked the return of Los Angeles rock band Tool who released their first album in 13 years, Fear Inncolum. Although not officially released as a single from the new record, the epic 12-minute long Pneuma – ancient Greek for breath – has quickly become a firm fan favourite, slotting in perfectly alongside the band’s vast back catalogue at gigs.

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#9 Ariana Grande – thank u, next

Ariana surprise dropped thank u next as a riposte to the overwhelming press attention she was receiving after the breakdown of her and comedian Pete Davidson’s engagement. An empowering anthem of self-acceptance, forgiveness and appreciation, the track was the lead single to the 2019 album of the same name and came to define the record’s sound.

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#8 Lizzo – Truth Hurts

Although originally released in 2017, Truth Hurts became a viral sleeper hit this year thanks to the song’s popularity on the video-sharing app Tik Tok. The track’s success was further bolstered by the featuring on Lizzo’s breakthrough third album Cuz I Love You, which dropped this past autumn.

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#7 Vampire Weekend – This Life

New York indie-pop makers Vampire Weekend upped sticks to sun-kissed California for the creation of their fourth album Father Of The Bride, and nowhere is this change of scenery more evident than on the record’s third single This Life. A bright pop ode to admitting that you’ve been cheating on your partner and you know they’ve been cheating on you, the inclusion of Haim’s Danielle on guest vocals further bolsters Vampire Weekend’s status as the new kings of West Coast pop.

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#6 Blossoms – Your Girlfriend

Heartbreak indie-makers Blossoms released Your Girlfriend, the lead single from forthcoming third studio album Foolish Loving Spaces in the same week as their biggest headline show to date at the home of Stockport Football Club, Edgeley Park. Your Girlfriend highlights the band’s penchant for storytelling in danceable song form and is a clear reminder of why they’re one of the UK’s hottest bands right now.

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#5 Sharon Van Etten – Seventeen 

An instant classic in her hugely impressive repertoire, Seventeen is the second single from Brooklyn native Sharon Van Etten’s fifth studio album Remind Me Tomorrow. The nostalgic, fuzzy single harks back to the New York Sharon knew in her youth, and the changes she’s seen it go though over the years.

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#4 Foals – The Runner

Not wanting to fall into the trap that many of their mid-2000 indie contemporaries have, Foals have continued to innovate and push their creative boundaries over the past few years with the release of their two-part album project Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost. This spirit is exemplified by Part 2’s second single The Runner, a bruising track about picking yourself up and dusting yourself off.

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#3 Charli XCX & Christine And The Queens – Gone 

Gone marks the first time pop powerhouses Charli XCX and Christine And The Queens have collaborated together and judging by the results, we’re really hoping it’s not the last. The chemistry between the pair on the dirty pop hit is palpable, as brought to life on the single’s official visuals.

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#2 Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road (Remix)

Old Town Road, the debut single from hip hop/country crossover star Lil Nas X, became a viral sensation on Tik Tok earlier this year and slowly started to rise up the US singles chart. The track would go stratospheric with the release of its remix featuring country legend Billy Ray Cyrus, going on to top the UK Singles Chart. In the states, Old Town Road stayed at No.1 for nineteen consecutive weeks, the longest run at the top in US chart history.

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#1 Slipknot – Unsainted

Slipknot came back with a bang this spring with the simultaneously ferocious and melodic Unsainted. The tune sees Slipknot at their most experimental to date, and the left-field use of the choir in Unsainted has drawn favourable comparisons with The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Unsainted is the lead single from the masked band’s sixth studio album We Are Not Your Kind, which topped the UK album chart on release.

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Listen to the full playlist of Ticketmaster’s best songs of 2019 on Spotify below.

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Discover more from the last twelve months at Ticketmaster.co.uk.