Top Songs of 2022: Canada

Apple Music’s end-of-year charts are based on plays between November 1, 2021, and October 31, 2022. Anyone listening knows that hip-hop is the dominant sound in pop. Less obvious is how much the sound and feel of hip-hop has changed. Drake continued to dominate charts, both through club-influenced tracks like “Sticky” and “Massive” and his ruthless, more traditional collaborations with 21 Savage (“Jimmy Cooks,” “Knife Talk”). And Vancouver’s bbno$ added to the conversation with his Rich Brian collab “edamame.” But it wasn’t all hip-hop, of course, as up-and-coming Canadians Lauren Spencer Smith and Tate McRae continued to put new contours on pop alongside standard-bearers like Harry, Justin, Ed, Dua, and Abel. But maybe the most unexpected turns were the classic songs that reentered the collective consciousness, whether it was Journey’s 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” (whose recurrent popularity goes on and on and on and on) or Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” her 1985 track that cracked the top 10 in 2022 after its appearance in the show Stranger Things. However they got here, one thing is for sure: Great tunes transcend era and context. Revisit the songs Canadians listened to most this year on Apple Music, and add any favorites to your library.