Our no. 1 songs: 2024

NPR Music

NPR

Music

4.3 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In our final look back at our number one songs from the past 25 years, we visit Modesto, take an existential stroll through Petco, and find it all so confusing.

Note: This is a recurring series in celebration of All Songs Considered’s 25th anniversary. A shorter version of this episode ran earlier in the year.

Leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with a friend.

Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Stephen Thompson.
0:01.1	Hello, Robin.
0:02.2	We made it.
0:03.2	We did.
0:03.8	Not just to the end of the year, 2025, but to the end of our look back at the past 25 years of all songs considered.
0:11.0	It's for our anniversary this year.
0:13.2	I look forward to never reflecting on anything ever again.
0:17.0	Well, we've been doing a lot of reflecting looking back at our number one songs from each year.
0:21.2	All of our picks and the NPR Music team's picks for 2025 are up.
0:25.5	They're out in the world.
0:26.4	People can go online or listen to earlier episodes of this podcast to hear what's on those lists.
0:32.1	But we have one more year from our anniversary shows that we need to do, and it's 2024.
0:37.3	I've got a couple things that I
0:39.1	immediately think of for 2024, but why don't you go first? And this is sort of your last chance to
0:44.8	play Stump the Chump with a song that I can't even remember or never heard, even though it was just a
0:52.1	year ago. You know, I'm going to go, oh man, there's so many directions I could go because there were so
0:57.0	many great, like, big monoculture pop hits and also just songs that wrecked me in various ways,
1:03.6	which I'm sure we're going to get to.
1:05.3	But I think I'm just going to go with this banger, and I bet you don't know this song.
1:18.1	Yeah. going to go with this banger and I bet you don't know this song. Well, you're correct.
1:25.1	Well, this does sound really familiar.
1:37.3	Take a look around the town you grew up and it's tired and fading endlessly sighing your family is there expectantly waiting your mother complaining your father is quiet and on the way to the station you pass by the houses
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.