You know the drill: not ‘best’ (whatever that nebulous terms means), ‘best-selling’ (however that is measured nowadays) or the coolest (except to us, natch), just our favorite of the songs we heard in 2018. We no doubt we missed many, let us know what in the comments below (or on our Favebook page or the ‘Gram).
True to eclectic mission statement of this site, this list has everything from trap to socially conscious hip-hop and pop, R&B and toe-tapping indie rock. Yeah there are wide swaths of popular music we missed from which we might have discovered even more favorites (sorry dancehall/reggae, electronic, grime and others) but such is life. There are plenty of other sites to peruse to get caught up on music that didn’t make it to the Kitchen.
One thing we are very proud of though is being able to say that 13 of the 46 tracks are by Canadian artists (although 3 of those are by Drake, granted!) and 2 more feature Canadian artists so a good third of this list is Canadian on some level. That’s a good great thing. Now, how many of those acts were legit nurtured and developed within the Canadian music industry system is a whole ‘nother discussion we’re not gonna get into here!
Anyway, we’re not sure what’s gonna happen with this site over the next year or so, we’ve been at this a looong time, but bring on 2019 and more great music. If we’re around, we’ll do our best to cover the best, as we see and hear it, just like we always have. In the meantime, hit play on the Apple Music or Spotify players below to hear that those songs were for 2018. Then hit the jump for the full list sorted alphabetically because no songs really ‘stood out’ other than the top section which were more or less our 10 favorites for the year but ask me tomorrow and maybe that list would be different. On a final note, we have to concede that Black Thought‘s “Rest in Power” tribute to Trayvon Martin, from the Paramount Network documentary about his murder at the hands of George Zimmerman, brings tears to our eyes virtually every time we hear it. If that’s not worthy of desigantion as the best song of the year, we’re not sure what is.
Previously on the Kitchen:
– DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2017
– DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2017
The Best (TOP 10)
– Black Thought – Rest in Power
– 1takejay – Hello
– Ashanti – Say Less feat. Ty Dolla $ign
– Bruno Mars – Finesse (remix) feat. Cardi B
– Gallant – Haha No One Can Hear You!
– Kallitechnis – Get Together
– Kyle – Playinwitme feat. Kehlani
– Migos – Stir Fry
– YG – Big Bank feat. 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Nicki
– Young Thug – High feat. Elton John
The Rest
– Baka Not Nice – Money in the Bank
– BlocBoy JB – Look Alive feat. Drake
– Catastrophic – Light$witch
– Charlotte Day Wilson – Nothing New
– Childish Gambino – This is America
– Drake – Duppy Freestyle
– Drake – God’s Plan / In My Feelings / Nice For What
– Dresage – Gallery
– Gorillaz – Lake Zurich
– House of Feelings – Touchscreen feat. Meredith Graves
– Jacquees – You
– Kali Uchis – After the Storm feat. Tyler, The Creator & Bootsy Collins
– Kendrick Lamar & SZA – All the Stars
– LolaBunz – West End
– Meek Mill – Stay Woke feat. Miguel
– Mr. Fingers – Full Moon
– Nicki Minaj – Chun-Li
– Pardison Fontaine – Backin’ It Up feat. Cardi B
– Reason – The Soul
– Rico Nasty – Countin’ Up
– Shawn Mendes – Lost in Japan
– Sheck Wes – Mo Bamba
– Skipp Whitman – La Traffic
– The Carters – Apeshit
– The Darcy’s – Chasin’ the Fall
– Tory Lanez – B.I.D
– Travis Scott – Stop Trying To Be God
– Trouble Mike WiLL Made-It – Bring It Back feat. Drake
– Tyler, the Creator & A$AP Rocky – Potato Salad
– Vintage Lee – Spice Up
– Xxxtentacion – SAD!
– Yukon Blonde – Too Close to Love
