Top Five Billboard No. 1 Hits of 2024's First Half

by Tyler Glover

There were 14 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 songs through the first half of 2024. Here are the five best of those No. 1 hits:
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Photos: Columbia Records, Republic Records & Island Records

5. “Yes, And?” - by Ariane Grande
When first hearing the beginning of this song with its 45-second intro, I was immediately taken back to the 1980s. The extended intro is so catchy that by the time Ariana Grande starts singing, you might feel as if you wanted the intro to continue a little longer. “Yes, And?” is a song that feels very similar to “Thank You, Next” in the best ways. Ariana Grande is shrugging off the haters, saying yes, this is my life and what I’m doing, and ... why is that your concern? Some people did not really like this song because of the fact that Grande is with actor Ethan Slater, who was married and a new father very shortly before their romance began. To be honest, though, music is subjective, and I do not think of this when listening to the song. I think of my life and how I want to brush off the haters in my own life. This song is such a bop and one of the best of 2024 by far.

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4. "Please Please Please" by Sabrina Carpenter 
Sabrina Carpenter is quickly becoming one of the hottest singers in the music industry. She has been putting out albums for years, but after touring with Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour, Carpenter blasted into the public’s consciousness with her massive single, “Espresso.” “Espresso” could quite easily be THE song of the summer. However, Carpenter followed up the success of “Espresso” with this Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song, “Please Please Please.” “Please, Please, Please” highlights those moments when we are with someone who has the potential to embarrass us. You go out into public, and you want people to like you, you want people to root for you, and you want people to think you are with someone perfect for you. However, sometimes, your significant other can just not help themselves. The lyric resonates when Carpenter sings, “Please, please, please don’t prove them right.” The public may think these things about you, but don’t play right into their hands; show them they are right about you. Carpenter is an artist that will be one to watch in the coming years. 

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3. “Fortnight” - by Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 
“Fortnight,” the lead single on Taylor Swift’s massively successful eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, talks about how sometimes, we are affected in life-changing ways by a romance, even a very short-lived affair. The lyric that stays with me from this song is “I love you. It’s ruining my life.” How many of us can say that being unable to get over someone has caused us severe anguish? I mean, it can be to the point of not feeling like you can go on with your life. You were supposed to be with that person, but you won’t be. There is nothing you can do about it, but you know that loving them is what is causing you so much torment. Swift has a way of writing lyrics like no other. In my opinion, she is the ARTIST and SONGWRITER of our generation. No one can tell a story like her, making this easily one of the best songs of 2024 so far.

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2. "Texas Hold 'Em" by Beyonce 
Beyonce’s commercially and critically successful album, COWBOY CARTER, is the frontrunner for the Grammy for Album of the Year, in my opinion. I also feel like the Record of the Year Grammy should go to the album’s lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The production, the vocals, the lyrics, and the catchiness of this single have been unparalleled this year so far. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is an EVENT song. It is the kind of song you hear and feel like you should be at a stadium dancing to it. The song uses the popular game of Texas Hold ‘Em as a metaphor for a guy who “won’t lay his cards down.” She wants him to get on the dance floor with her and be himself. When we are dating or at the beginning of a relationship, it is natural to have our guard up because of past trauma, but Beyonce encourages him to put his cards down and be himself. She is safe. She will not break his heart. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is such a bop, and the minute it comes on, there is no turning the radio station because it is time for a “real life hoedown!” 

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1. “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” by Ariana Grande 
The second single off of Ariana Grande’s blockbuster eternal sunshine album is not only the best Billboard Hot 100 number 1 song of the year, but also the best song of the year, in general. This song brilliantly captures that complex situation where you are trying to navigate a relationship with someone after a break-up. You want to stay friends with that person, especially if you are completely in love with them, but at some point, you realize that you love them so much and that love cannot be extinguished. When you are entering that new relationship with them, you cannot love them the way you want to, and if you are an all-in-or-nothing person, you have to make that sad decision to end all communication with them. Grande’s song captures this complexity in a way that no other song has. The lyrics that truly gut you are: “I don’t wanna tiptoe, but I don’t want to hide/But I don’t want to feed this monstrous fire/Just want to let this story die.”