![Reaching out. Christopher Lesh, student at Central Catholic High School, serves ice cream during the event on March 2, 2025, at the Portland waterfront. Central Catholic was just one of the schools that sent student volunteers out to cook, prepare, dish, and serve food. Interact club’s co-president Rachel Gerber, junior, plated the food during the event. “I like how direct the contact is,” Gerber said. “You’re there [and] you’re just doing something good. It’s simple, it’s easy, you can feel good about it.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/interact-1-edited-1200x744.jpg)
![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 105 Issue 2 of our news magazine the Amplifier.
2024 was undoubtedly a year for music, with brand-new artists and unprecedented genres taking center stage. Music culture was very strong this past year, with Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour making her a household name and earning her an even vaster fanbase of “Swifties.” This landed her in our sights as an honorable mention.
Other honorable mentions included Chappell Roan, a new artist with a couple of hits that brought her to social media fame, as well as Benson Boone for his consistently prevalent song “Beautiful Things,” which made the Billboard Top 10 during seven different months.
Our final honorable mention was Billie Eilish for her continued popularity and song “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” Her work for the Barbie movie, a major part of summer social media culture, adds to our reasoning for placing her on this list. All of the artists on this list received Grammy award nominations themselves or for their songs or records.
This brings us to our timeline of music. Sabrina Carpenter’s Grammy-nominated songs “Please Please Please” and “Espresso” made her the only artist to have two songs on our timeline. Consecutively from May through November, Carpenter had between two and three songs in the U.S. Billboard Top 10. Her consistency and prevalence make her songs must-adds to our list.
Kendrick Lamar’s iconic “Not Like Us” received Grammy nominations in several categories as well, and both the song and artist remained in the Billboard Top 10 sporadically throughout the year.
“Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, much like Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” earned its place for its consistency. Swims’ song made it into the Top 10 for 10 consecutive months, while Boone’s hit single appeared several times alongside some of his other songs.
Shaboozee’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” took an incredibly sudden rise to fame. Although it was the new artist’s only Top 10 hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was number one in the nation for four consecutive months. This country song, along with “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and featuring Morgan Wallen, has greatly contributed to the rebirth of the country genre, particularly through the slow addition of the pop genre into country’s mainstream songs. Both songs were vying for the Billboard “Song of the Summer,” but the title ultimately went to “I Had Some Help.”
This brings us to our final song of the list, “Die With a Smile” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. Alongside being a Grammy Song of the Year nominee, this song dominated in the final months of the year, consistently making it in the Billboard Top 10.
Our list was based mainly on the Billboard Top 10 and music nominations for the year, but also our own observations and experiences throughout the year. 2024 was a year where music was a very prevalent part of culture, whether it was online, on the radio, at concerts, or in the backgrounds of our lives, and we very much look forward to how music, both new and old, will shape 2025.
