Kendrick Lamar tops Apple Music’s 2024 song chart and women make history
AP Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — “Not Like Us,” but people sure like him: Kendrick Lamar’s smash topped Apple Music’s global song chart in 2024 as the giant music streamer released year-end lists Tuesday and provided listeners with data on their own most listened-to tunes.
“Not Like Us” is Lamar’s first-ever No. 1 on the year-end global songs chart.
He’s followed by Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” in second. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” follows in third, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in fourth and Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” in fifth.
“Cruel Summer,” of course, is a cut from Swift’s seventh studio album, “Lover,” released in 2019. It had a resurgence back in summer 2023.
Of the 100 songs included on the list, 39 are from female-identifying artists, a record first in the global chart’s 7-year history.
And this one may come as a surprise: Japanese hip-hop act Creepy Nuts’ breakthrough track “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” topped Apple’s most-read lyrics in 2024. Following Creepy Nuts is “Not Like Us,” “Espresso” and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather.”
“Bling-Bang-Band-Born” also topped Apple Music’s Sing chart, which allows users to view which songs fans sang along to the most. Clearly, Japanese music is growing in international popularity: In 2023, another Japanese group, YOASOBI, topped the Sing chart in its inaugural year, with “アイドル (Idol).” This year, “Idol” continues to dominate, reaching No. 2.
New to 2024’s suite of year-end charts is the inclusion of a Shazam Global Radio Spins chart, which uses Shazam to uncover what songs are being played on radio stations around the globe. Dua Lipa’s “Houdini” tops that one, followed by Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” and Tate McRae’s “Greedy.”
Also available Tuesday is Replay — Apple’s alternative to Spotify’s Wrapped playlist — which allows Apple Music subscribers to engage with what music was most popular on the streaming service this year. Artists can now share their year-end data, too, using Apple Music for Artists.
In November, Apple Music named Eilish its artist of the year, following her remarkably successful 2024. This year, Eilish became the youngest person to ever win two Academy Awards, released her critically acclaimed third album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” which has ranked in seven 2025 Grammy Award nominations. At the awards this year, she took home two new gramophone-shaped trophies — despite not having released a new album — both for “What Was I Made For?” from the blockbuster “Barbie” film.
“It’s always special when a young artist can connect with so many people so quickly,” Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s senior director of Content and Editorial said in a statement. “But what’s been truly remarkable about watching her evolve over the course of this last year isn’t just that her voice and artistry have continued to resonate so widely. It’s that she’s blossomed as bravely and honestly as she has — on her own terms, in her own way.”
