2024 was a great year for pop, and that’s reflected in the results for the Uproxx Music Critics Poll for 2024.
Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, and Ariana Grande were among the frequent favorites for the nearly 300 music critics who voted on last year’s top albums, songs, album covers, and music videos. These are the honest results from the experts thinking about music “365” days a year. We’ve also included breakouts for certain artists and pop-specific surprises, as well as analyzed the overlap between the critics’ picks and the 2025 Grammys nominees.
Check out the full results of the poll here.
Charli XCX
It’s the next best thing to getting credit for the Word Of The Year by a literal dictionary: Brat by Charli XCX is the No. 1 album on Uproxx’s Music Critics Poll for 2024. Charli was all over the results with multiple entries in the top 20 for songs, led by the Lorde remix of “Girl, So Confusing” at No. 4, and music videos, including “360” at No. 6. The album’s deceptively simple, instantly iconic green square cover also was collectively voted the year’s best (shout out to Pantone 3507-C). For years, Charli XCX was hailed as the future of pop music. The future is now, and it sounds like Brat.
Beyoncé
“This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” That’s how the one and only Beyoncé announced Cowboy Carter, the second installment in a planned trilogy — and her first to fully embrace her yeehaw Texas roots. The album could earn the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer her first (and long overdue) Album Of The Year at the Grammys, but for now, it had a strong showing in our poll: No. 6 album, No. 16 song (fittingly, “16 Carriages”), and No. 2 album cover.
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter had the Song Of The Summer in “Espresso,” but she’s no one-hit wonder. The first single from Short N’ Sweet was followed by “Please Please Please” and “Taste,” all equally irresistible — and all represented in the Critics Poll: “Espresso” at No. 8 song and No. 20 music video, “Taste” and “Please Please Please” at No. 2 and No. 17 music video (If there was a Best Songs That Should Have Been Released As A Single category, “Juno” would have been a lock.) It took nearly a decade since her debut album came out, but Sabrina Carpenter is finally — and deservedly — the world-famous pop star she was born to be.
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish’s career accomplishments are too numerous to name them all… but here’s a few: millions of albums sold, billions of streams, two-time Oscar winner, and sweeping the Big Four at the Grammys. Eilish also went four for four in our Critics Poll for Hit Me Hard And Soft: No. 16 album, No. 6 song, No. 11 music video (and No. 8 for “Guess” with Charli XCX), and No. 9 album cover. Not bad for someone who is still, somehow, only 23 years old.
Jade
After a decade with Little Mix, Jade Thirlwall dropped her surname and became, simply, Jade. She was calling her shot, Babe Ruth-style, and with her first single as a solo star, she hit a home run. If the rest of her eventual debut album is as good as the bold and ever-shifting “Angel Of My Dreams,” which placed at No. 14 for songs and No. 9 for music videos in our Critics Poll, it will be on the albums list, too.
Biggest Surprises
The biggest surprise among the pop picks was the lack of the year’s biggest album: Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. We really liked it (especially songs like “Guilty As Sin?” and “The Black Dog”), but some voters might have been turned off by the hefty tracklist. It’s also surprising that neither Rosé’s drinking game anthem “APT.” or Lady Gaga’s dreamy “Die With A Smile,” both massive singles featuring Bruno Mars, failed to make the cut. Oh, and in case you’re wondering about Chappell Roan: “Good Luck, Babe!” was the only song she “officially” released this year; The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess came out in 2023, and was therefore not eligible.
Grammys Overlap
All three of the pop albums in the top 10 — Brat, Cowboy Carter, and Short N’ Sweet — are up for Album Of The Year at the 2025 Grammys. There’s also a lot of pop overlap between the critics’ picks and Record Of The Year (“Birds Of A Feather,” “Espresso,” “360,” and “Good Luck, Babe!”) and Song Of The Year (“Birds Of A Feather” and “Good Luck, Babe!”). The biggest difference is which Beyoncé song is represented: it’s “16 Carriages” on our poll, and “Texas Hold ‘Em” for the Grammys. But here’s the thing: they’re both great.