billdifferen's top 100 songs of 2024 (part 1: 100-51)




Long time no see y'all - This music writing thing ain't for me but that doesn't mean that I still don't love this shit. Whilst dealing with a million other things, I've still been sleuthing around finding the best sounds our ears can manage in this constant hell-world. Can't believe I've been doing this manic stuff for this long, however I feel like this is my most varied list yet. Hope you can at find 2-3 new things on here AT LEAST on here (finding just one new thing is not enough for me). However, this list is absolutely exhaustive, so please like pencil me in for a whole afternoon or evening, because this is going to be a doozy. 

I appreciate any person who has said any bit of thanks or give me even a speck of praise - It really makes this strenuous work worthwhile and I hope that this can for real be a yearly ritual for as long as I got ears. However without further ado, let's get to diggin'! First, we have some:

Honorable Mentions

Oruam ft. Didi - Rolé na favela de Nave [Prod. LC da Roça]

Tyler ICU - Ebasini Wav.files ft. Leemckrazy, Tman Xpress, Ceeka RSA,Visca, AL Xapo, Sjavas DaDeejay

Oscar Maydon x Remp x Victor Mendivil - Don Dimadon

Shabjdeed & Al Nather - Tal Abib


















































100. Ja66 - shareyourspirit [Prod. Tr2y] 

"Make that choppa sing like 'bee-jork'"



Love how incoherent the beat sounds here - Like white noise 808s or something. Ja66's really cool though. A great find from this year; Sounds like what underground music sounds like in my dreams or something lol.

99. Nails - Imposing Will 

So glad these motherfuckers came back, despite it being a whole new band other than the frontman (who has long ass hair now for some reason???? Looks like a whole different dude). But this last record shows that they haven't faltered a bit. That ferocity from my high school days is still there and "Imposing Will" sounds like the band is just barking in your ear like Cujo. Todd sounds like he got spit all over the mic too - Literal inhuman babbling that's so ridiculously hard. Solid 82 seconds to crowdkill your grandpa during Christmas dinner.
Vaporwave???? Are you fucking serious Tyler???? Yeah, kinda. While that whole sphere is a bucket of shit to me, you cannot deny that there's been some great music minds that has come out of that whole scene - Vektroid, George Clanton, Death's Dynamic Shroud, oscob (LMAO I'M JOKING I'M JOKING WITH THAT ONE DON'T LISTEN TO THAT DUDE). Another one I feel like gets left out of that convo is christtt, aka father2006. 2016's reflection is like if OPN was trying to get the attention of TinyMixtapes - Like if Replica was robotripping while listening to 3000hz Healing Music. However, with this christtt moniker, it's a bit more traditional in the vaporwave sense, and for a genre that's a decade past its prime, it's still some good shit! Case in point: "bootcamp." I know the music video is affecting me here, but this is like if you told the Fortnite Battle Pass to make a French House song and it resulted in this plasticky plunderphonic slop of goodness. Emote-ass music. 
Might be my most "hit the fuck outta the replay button" song this year - Opium Max Verstappen (dutch) with Grindcore Gabber. The song is so short, it almost pisses me off, but it's just how Thunderdome-y it sounds and how it makes me want to Pauly D fist pump until my arm falls off that keeps me coming back like a fat kid at the ice cream truck. Irresistible.
If you need a song this year that shows you how increasingly evil-sounding drill has become over the years, take this St. Louis rapper Mo P's callback to Rooga & Dooski's "Wild" from 2018, "Clear Tha Street". The beat is practically the same (INSANE beat for 2018 with those 808s - Proto-Boolymon/TDF lol), however Mo P's version benefits from the kid just yelling at you on some Baby Kia shit. Honestly, a muddled mess like this shouldn't be good, but damn, put this on and you want to Evel Knievel your car over the St. Louis Arch. Just goes to show how vital Chicago still is to how hip hop sounds today.


DJ Smokey got that same disease as F1LTHY where you 32 and you got the mind of a 15 year old incel, but god I can't ignore this stupid ass song. Indiana's Infectious Jelqing might be the stupidest fucking thing in music right now and I feel almost terrible for liking it so much, but it's some of the dumbest slam metal you will ever hear. Real Delta 8 Music.
Unironically better than the Whitney version. Takes all the best bits of Pluggnb and turns it into a shitpost that's too good to be a shitpost. Makes 645AR's falsettos look like ancient prehistoric cave paintings. Just makes you wanna sing in the rain...
Listen, we can joke all we want about the Toronto accent and how Spongebob and Family Guy parodies ruined any crumbs of goodwill they had, however I LOVE whenever rap up north has that crazy ass accent (Shameless Smiley mention). It's like listening to rap from another planet sometimes. 

However, my favorite discovery from Canada this year was this group of dudes from Scarborough who really don't even have a group name, however they're so hard. Especially the main guy in this freestyle, Savv4x, I have really enjoyed a lot of the stuff that they dropped this year. This freestyle on StudioOfLegendsTV was my intro and it hooked me from the start - The beat sounds like if a 2014 TeamSesh Greaf instrumental was trying to get sturdy, while these guys are rapping like their lives depended on it. There's one dude ksbvnds who literally said half a line the entire song (That's called efficiency folks). However, it's these laterals between the guys that makes the energy impeccable - Real running out with the football team energy (bouta win the Grey Cup). 
Chaotic Evil Jude Bellingham with his greatest ever hit - Yet, this ain't even this best work of art from 2024. That would go to his 50 minute long avant garde short film that legit broke my brain when watching it. It got Lil Wayne and JP cameos and it's edited like a fucking fever dream. A true artist in today's anti-art world.
Another great discovery in 2024 was LA's CONNIE, someone who feels like a Connor O'Malley character if they were sucked inside of a computer that has a 2014 Tumblr dashboard burned into the screen. From the surreal, always-contorting music video that's one of the few tasteful uses of AI I've seen to the text-to-speech British lady that shouldn't be saying some of those words, to the song itself mutating within itself multiple times, it's an experience unlike anything else. TEK.USB is a great project from the one-man unit this year.
This new generation of underground kids is using Imogen Heap samples like 90s baseball players using steroids and it's resulting in that same excitement. It's such a cheat code but it's something that you shouldn't ever complain about unless you're a loser, because over a decade later, that British lady's voice still hits when sampled. Tennessee's idkcap is someone who's been on these lists before and seeing them grow over the past couple of years has been sick. This just feels so opulent and twinkly, while idkcap's floaty autotune crooning cuts through it all like a hot knife through butter. Could play this over and over again.
UK Drill is finally starting to sound fun and hard again thanks to groups like STK - Especially with Croydon's Lil Prezi: Like this kid is crazy (TapeDat is also hard and in that group). With UK Drill, there's always this relationship between with these moody, end-of-the-world-like melodies and 808 bass lines that are a few steps away from being on a Resident Advisor list that makes it unlike any of the drill scenes throughout the world. Also, that ping censor sound used here is so damn good - Feels like I hit something in Sonic the Hedgehog lol. However, let's hoping that UK Drill gets back to that late 10s glory in the couple of years.
I really do think MexikoDro is one of the most underrated figures in hip hop throughout the last decade; Like he's one of the most integral parts to practically the advancement of a lot of modern underground music today - It's pretty bonkers to think about and how he's really not talked about as much, compared to someone like a Pi'erre or even someone from Slayyworld. Especially with how fast this shit advances, Dro is like a grandfather in the grand scheme of things, however I had no idea he was just as good as a rapper as he's a producer - This shit is insane. His husky, filtered voice feels like it's just floating around this desolate space station, as the weightlessly dejected beat sounds like having a really hard time going on while is freely floating through the bullshit. Stupidly not talked about enough.

First Brazil appearance and it's not funk???? There's no refund policy in this motherfucker so tough shit - Belo Horizonte's Paira was a really nice discovery this year, as this duo combines the fuzz and sereneness of shoegaze/dream pop with the frenetic nature of club breaks, and my god, does this work so well. Part Brazilian-Anime-Opening, part Music-You-Would-Find-On-Your-Cousins-Ipod-From-2004. Makes you want to go out driving at night with the windows down.
I love me some NoCap - Real You-Ever-Just-Sit-In-Your-Truck ass music, however this track with Florida's FCG Heem is only on here because the chord progression reminds me of a Sigur Ros song - I seriously can't stop thinking of it when I put this on. Fast version goes even harder tbh. The super-melodious stuff coming from the South is always so underappreciated.
I had no idea this band was just 2 dudes, plus the fucking drummer is the vocalist? Especially with something as visceral as war metal, that just boggles my mind. Just angry, slapping-the-shit-out-of-your-steering-wheel-at-the-stop-light-type shit. Great album from earlier in the year too.
The first, and most absolutely not the last DMV rap song you'll see here today - Easily rap region of the year. For as evil-sounding crank can be at times, artists have really embraced more calmer sounds to pair with that signature percussion - It's almost Clam-Casino-adjacent; Very cloudy, and it fits these DMV rappers so well.
3 of Argentina's best get together on a track that accompanies one of my favorite music videos of the year. Surreal MTV Cribs from hell. Beat is like lowend, but also it's not lowend? It's weird, but the constant slaps in the face with those claps really drive this song. Really have grown to enjoy Dillom this year - Easily the country's most interesting rap artist next to the Swaggerboyz at the moment.
Might be the best thing both parties have ever been apart of - MCVERTT really has shaped himself as one of the best hip hop producers in the US today. Especially from his humble club beginnings, seeing his growth and rise has been mind-boggling to say the least. However the song's so silky and hypnotic - Those horns makes me feel like I'm slowly falling off of the Earth's atmosphere. Might be one of the best club rap songs that's been made; Much more reserved and lowkey compared to most of the club stuff that has you sweating 30 seconds in. Also, seen someone say this a few weeks ago, but 41 might be the best rap group of the 2020s.....
Here's some Belgian lads I really grew to enjoy this year - Just super fun dancey ass music. They also got the Che Pizza Time visuals going on too with the funny internet references and things of that sort (Crazy that these kids were prolly 5 years old when that visual shit was popping on tumblr lmfao). However, I really enjoy Chisa. This kid wishes he was a teenager in 2014 so damn bad lmao - Someone in Europe to keep your eye on.
Real motherfucking ones know Nader Khalil. Those who know, know. One of my favorite artists of the 2010s and even after so many years later, this man is still making some of most unique shit out there. Take "Wil3a," a dabke-inspired heater that makes you want to tear both your ACL & MCL dancing like you're at one of those weddings, whilst also clotheslining the shit out of your worst enemy. Those fat, slurry synth lines just tear through your entire body while Nader's signature gravely autotune voice makes you feel like you can take on an army all by yourself. Powerful and incredibly underrated.
Adagio for Strings for Kids born in 2009 who Play Roblox Roleplays - One of the best rising stars out of Chicago right now.
One of my favorite French artists I found this year is wasting shit - Kid looks like he got kicked out of the Montpellier Football Academy for smoking too much (also looks like the dude from Pinkletank), however he's been making some really cool dance-adjacent tunes that's a mishmash of super dark and deep garage and average zoomer digi-whatever tendencies. "MAUDIT MGL" is the perfect balance between those two sides, as that 2-step beat gets every joint in your body poppin'. Bring in that ghastly, almost Burial-like synth that casts upon this song like a cloud of despair, you got the perfect backdrop for a dirty French ginger dude chilling in the swamp. Super under-the-radar even overseas, so get in the know madames et monsieurs. 
We all love Mr. Trapper out here - First of all, Certified is rapping like he's whispering inside of his momma's closet trying not to wake her up, however can we just talk about this video man?  He's driving like a madman in a pick-up truck in Detroit filming himself with a whole ass kid in the back lmfao. Then the burnout at the end - I hope to god that ain't a rental... Insane song though but I can't stop thinking about little dude in the back.





There was this weird white boy 2013 rap (think early Drain Gang and not like pseudo-racist SESH shit) renaissance going on this and as there's this group of kids in California, like NorCal's myspacemark, who's really bringing that sound back like I'm scrolling through a functional SoundCloud website (old). Very Clams-Casino-Imogen-Heap-adjecent, but really fresh and modern to the point where it's not some weird half-assed worship type thing. Got the feeling back for real.

Very very rare hardcore appearance on the blog, but here we got one of my favorite and most unique bands revolving around that sphere - Philly's Kaonashi. Like I'm entirely convinced there's something different in the air there, because truly some of the craziest shit is coming from that damn city - As for Kaonashi, I had no idea who these guys were until the beginning of the pandemic, where I came across this hate5six set of theirs and immediately, I was just enthralled by this band. There's so many different influences being thrown in like a cook throwing every spice in their spice cabinet, but the thing that hooks you the most is that damn vocalist. Peter Rono probably is one of the best frontmen in music right now, as their shrieking, ripping-through-your-ears vocal style is a perfect intersection of pure raw rage and something that could make you do a double pike handstand off of the stage - His voice is like if Chip King got turned into a Sesame Street character: Hilarious on paper, but so incredibly effective once you press play.

With "We Got One," you see Kaonashi at their best. Every member seems like they want to actually beat the shit out of their instruments throughout the entire song, while Peter is taking command as the angriest story-time guest your local library has ever had. I highly recommend checking out the entire 5 track EP to get the full picture, but this perfectly encapsulates the experience of societal pressure and paranoia in today's world. Then as for the music itself, it's an anxiety attack mixed with the fear of sleep paralysis - It's so frenetic and jittery, whilst also being so menacing and belittling, as from the breakdown on, I feel like I'm being chased in the dark or something. As someone who was never in hardcore circles, this band finally makes me understand crowd killing because this shit makes me want to powerbomb the nearest jabroni near me. But if you don't know about this band, shame on you for real...
The first time I ever heard of South London teenager LeoStayTrill was on this Balamii set where just about blew my mind with his frantic swagger-filed flow - I was a fan immediately. Kid is just so cold, and his biggest hit to date is this bubbly, airy goody "Pink Lemonade" that's part Love Island UK montage music part Cole Palmer Skill Compilation TikTok 2024 - I feel like it's supposed to be evil because of how "viral" it is, but I couldn't stop playing this song this year. Shit makes me want to put on a floral shirt or something.

Without a doubt, the most insane sample flip from any part of the planet this year- Like who the fuck thinks of even touching this. However, this is just pure world-ending euphoria from 2 of my favorite all time Glasgowians, 500 and GG12. Like seriously, put this on and start floating out of your house. Jesus fucking christ man. 

69. Luna Lalich - Stayed A Summer Remix 5th Ver.

Another random pop remix that I couldn't stop playing this year - I feel like these types of songs are so vital to SoundCloud culture, and I'm so happy that people are still out here remixing some bullshit, like this random pop country song, and elevating it into something that is so far and beyond what it was originally intended to be. It's almost like something that would be in a Chuquimamani-Condori set, as it feels like the original song got infected by this ancestral robotic parasite and started morphing into a biblically-accurate angel. Real crying in the truck music. 


68. Jlin ft Philip Glass - The Precision Of Infinity

Craziest collab of the year? Like this is some Mad Libs shit, however, this insanity lives to the hype, as those signature Glass arpeggios met with Jlin's tactically sharp style of footwork would make any lover of music go mad. Need Tim Hecker x RP Boo next please.

67. Squillo - SLAUGHTERHOUSE [Prod. Boolymon & SenseiATL] 

Those deep fried rattling Nissan Altima 808s from hell has been a reoccurring theme in the underground for the past couple of years, with folks like Smokingskul, Boolymon, and tdf, however in 2024, I feel like this trend has just gone off the deep end, as I'm getting scared to play this shit at a reasonable volume in my car in fear that I'll have to visit Los Santos Customs by the end of the day. Jersey's Squillo is one of the best purveyors in this hellish sound, as I'm pretty convinced he's part goblin with how grating and inhuman he sounds at times. The Panamanian rapper's unhinged energy matches that constant barrage of 808s so well, that you're almost concerned for his well-being. Take "SLAUGHTERHOUSE," an insane production collab between 2 of the underground's greatest, SenseiATL and a more recent stalwart Boolymon, where it sounds like you're about to die inside of the Legends of the Hidden Temple set. You have these cursed flutes buzzing in your ears while Squillo is barking and leading a command of 808 bombers that are well to give you CTE after a few replays. It's so incredibly visceral and angry, and a great exhibition of some of the coolest sounds in rap at the moment.


One of the best death metal bands going right now is Rochester's Undeath, dudes who are now 3/3 with good ass albums with this year's More Insane (Lesions of a Different Kind still the one though in my opinion). This band feels like eating a steak sandwich with bread being steak as well - This is just some chonky-meat-big-men-slapping-meat-ass music. Crunchy riffs, tight drumming, claymation video - What more could you want here?
I can't get over the fact that they look like Brazilian Karrahbooo, however São Paulo's Sayle is one of the coldest rappers in South America right now. Their flow is so damn smooth (lowkey reminds me of Baby Smoove at times lol) and feels like she could pop up behind you to slit your throat at any second. Bring in this Michigan-style beat that sounds like Batman standing over a skyscraper smoking a blunt, you get an absurd mix of cultures that works like magic.





It baffles me that we don't have more footwork/juke rap out in Chicago - Like you can see here, this is some of the most fun music that can be made on any part of the globe. Seriously, if you aren't smiling and grooving to this right now, then you might have to seek a consultation about a lobotomy because something's severely wrong. The way the DJ Roc beat starts having a breakdown towards the end is one of my favorite music moments this year - Got you moving like a massage chair.
"Steppin' out with a nuke" is how I'm approaching 2025 at this point. One of the grimiest rapper/producer duos in the underground back together again to make more inhuman music for tapped in green dudes from Warcraft. Hits you like a vat of acid.
The winner of the 2024 "I can't believe this motherfucker makes good music again" award has to go to Chicago's Adamn Killa. His run in 2015/2016 is something that should get more love in my opinion, as their work with Blank Body was and still is one of the most insane things from that era. Almost a decade later, after being a bit of a joke over the past couple of the years, Killa brings his magic back with "Prada at 13," a super short and twinkly pluggnb number that has been stuck inside my head like a parasite for a good part of the year. Shows that he still has it, and it has caused a bit of a resurgence, as these bite-sized, hilarious songs have been some of his best work in ages.
Western Mass weirdo art legend Cooper B Handy aka LUCY has been an artist that has stuck out like a thumb that has been run over about 45 times the past decade, as he's just this outsider pop chameleon who can adapt to any sound that is thrown at him - It's really astounding. From reggae that your weird white cousin with dreads would show you (but it's actually good), to music that the weird kid that says nothing at school plays at the talent show, to strange disjointed juke tunes, to hands-in-the-air rave anthems, to even god damn Evilgiane beats, LUCY continuously proves himself as this versatile artist who can meld to just about anything with his goofy and sincere charm. On "SAND," they conjure up this beat that sounds like Romeo Santos bachata music is being played inside your dreams - Like the groove is there with the fragments of prickly guitars and that heavenly voice, however LUCY bends it in this DIY manner to where it's more akin to something coming from some New England version of Margaritaville. LUCY is just laying on some hammock on the beach singing this one, as it feels so carefree, but he still giving all of his heart on it as usual, making this another Cooper B Handy classic.




Now the winner of the "What The Fuck Is Honestly In Their Water" Award this year has been the cultural giant that is the Dominican Republic - When you look past the Pios and memes about the insanity that is DR culture, you really get to see one of the most underrated music scenes in the world that literally no one in the English-speaking world is talking about (I mean understand why but y'all some bitches). With Dembow, there's such a barebones set of parameters that makes it what it is, however as like most music ecosystems south of us demons, they bend these finite variables in such an atom-splitting way, the sensory overload light in your head starts popping up like a car once you press play. 

From its tame-sounding, more prototypical beginnings with Shabba Ranks and Dominican founder DJ Boyo, to its worldwide rise with stars like El Alfa and Tokischa, it's a genre and music scene that mutating faster than the speed of light. Especially in the last year or so, there's been this influx of younger stars that are turning Dembow upside its head. It just keeps getting faster and more experimental, to the point where it's almost sounding like a whole different wave of the genre. With folks like Lomeiil and his breakneck astronomical hit "HAY LUPITA", the solid partnership of Tato el x5 and Negrette Game Over,  and then other emerging artists like Flow 28, DONATY, and Diente 27, the Dembow talent pool is genuinely endless and I feel like I'm finding new artists weekly there.  

However out of all of them, my favorite Dembow artist lately has been BIGOBLIN, someone who has been gravitating towards some of the most abrasive, car rattling sounds coming out of the genre. It almost has this 2017 SoundCloud XXX grime to it, with the overdriven, distorted kicks and BIGOBLIN's shouty voice, however his name is almost a gimme that you're getting your socks knocked off. With the Yoan Retro collab "Vete A Mia," it practically gives you the same anxiety of the Jaws theme with those forceful, yet small chromatic jumps, however instead of swimming for your life, you are hitting the most insane footwork moves you are physically able to do as these kicks are approaching industrial-levels. Couple that with babbling in the background that sounds like Donnie from The Wild Thornberries if he huffed computer duster, you get one of the weirdest sounding dembow songs of the year

St. Petersburg's TANK JR. never fails to show up on these lists because she continuously makes some of the stupidest (good) and most insane mutations of hardcore and terrorcore out of anyone in the world. No Dutch motherfucker has the ability to do this shit, I'm serious. However with this new monstrosity, TANK JR. tries to make hard Jersey Club????? Like the pattern is there and everything, however it feels like a 7000 pound bull who wants to maim me limb from limb the moment that gate opens. It's constantly face-melting to the point where there's no face to melt and then it ends in this serene, purgatorial state where DMX is ascending to the heavens. Might need a smoke break after this one.


57. Bodybox - Skante

Evil Ned Flanders from Florida(great doc about him) yelling at you over Reggaeton Slam Metal (fuck you Knocked Loose these guys did it first), like what else y'all fucking want?!?!?!?! Also, some of the best merch in all of music lmao.

Ornette Coleman Flow - One of the craziest flows in rap right now; It seriously feels like jazz phrasing at times with how fragmented and calculated Percatric approaches his bars, and then you add in this SNES JRPG banger from perc40 it feels like floating over an overworld where you're about to suddenly flash into a battle. Seriously though, this kid's flow like a chameleon or something - So uncanny but it works in a world where all these rappers are yelling at you lol.
An incredibly underappreciated release from Nyege Nyege Records this year is Tubo de Ensaio, a look at the mind of Lisbon's Normal Nada the Krakmaxter, someone who has one of the most unique strains of batida in the country, as he's a self-proclaimed creator of PAT, aka Psychedelic African Trance. It relies on this combination of intoxicating industrial drones tacked on top of these raucously frantic drum beats, and what you get is a real life simulation of what it's like to drink a pint glass full of mercury. So tinny and absolutely surreal where you're just frozen in time. The closer of the album, "Pika Chu" is a bit more conventional in the batida-sense, however it's Nada's voice reverberating like he's stuck inside of a well that just puts you in a trance. Later on, these random Pac-Man-like bleep and bloops start popping in the background to get you really moving. Check out that whole album though - Pure insanity.

54. bladee ft. SICKBOYRARI - OTHERSIDE [Prod. F1LTHY & Lucrative]

Isabella and Kamixlo might be the best power couple in music period, however this woman just cannot miss. The best in reggaeton/neoperreo today. Someone who feels like they should be loaddddssssss bigger than they are now.
Man.... I'm so sorry for even bringing this bullshit upon y'all, but god. Music don't get more stupider than this. We gotta do something about Europeans man lmao
Atlanta's talent pool is so deep, I have to get a deep sea diving crew with me to check out what the hell is going on there these days. With RRoxket, he was like a predatory fish ready to chomp the fuck outta me; it was super hard to ignore the wackiness and fun of this dude's music. He raps like he would be a protagonist of a crazy Cartoon Network show about Atlanta rap - It's so extra, however it stands out in an already-insane crop of ATLiens.  On "Ganger" it feels like he's giving an emotive Shakespearean soliloquy to a crowd of inter-dimensional beings, about to beat somebody up with a hammer - It's so sinister and slithery. Someone who's bound to have a huge 2025.

Click here for Part 2 (50-1)