Let's be honest - trying to sum up a year in music is like attempting to explain Matty Healy to your grandparents or giving a sensible answer when someone asks you, 'What kind of music do you like?'. It's messy, it's subjective and someone is definitely going to disagree with you in the comments.

But here we are again, Dear Reader, doing what we do best: Ranking things and having opinions about them. 2024 has been the kind of year that makes music journalists reach for increasingly elaborate metaphors - a year where artificial intelligence tried to write pop songs (badly), where every other week brought another "unexpected" collaboration, and where pop girlies ruled all.

From bedroom pop breakthroughs to stadium-sized statements, from heartbreak to hyperpop, we've listened to it all. Multiple times. Probably while crying in the shower or doing our silly little tasks or commuting to our silly little jobs. These are the albums that made 2024 feel less like a simulation and more like somewhere we actually want to be - ranked meticulously, debated passionately, and served up with a signature side of mild sass. Strap in. Things are about to get opinionated.

50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1

There's always been a spark at the heart of everything Pale Waves. A dose of magic, a glint of something special, that has guided them through different chapters across their three studio albums. It's indescribable and irresistible. 'Smitten' embraces that emphatically: an album of soaring ambition and unstoppable pop hooks ready to be the go-to coming-of-age album of 2024. An irresistible soundtrack to a modern diary of love and life, 'Smitten' is the sound of that Pale Waves spark turning into a headline firework display.