Compared to last year, 2014 was a pretty good year for the pop charts. I’m not usually a fan of pop music, but I managed to find a few hits from this year that I liked. After some negative album reviews this year, it’s about time I admit that not all pop music is terrible. For this list, a “hit” is any song that was in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 at any time during 2014. Obviously, this is my opinion. So…deal with it.

10. Stay With Me – Sam Smith

In his lonely breakout single, Smith croons about his love for someone who was meant to be a one night stand. The gospel choir beautifully accompanies his voice as he begs this person to stay with him. But more on him later.

9. Am I Wrong – Nico & Vinz

The fun, tribal sound of this track is really refreshing to hear on Top 40 radio. It’s a song about being different and asking why people would think that’s bad. “Am I wrong for thinking out the box from where I stay? Am I wrong for saying that I choose another way? I ain’t tryna do what everybody else doing, Just cause everybody doing what they all do.” Based on their other songs, it seems like Nico & Vinz are very good at doing that.

8. Cool Kids – Echosmith

As someone who liked this song before it became a hit, I had mixed feelings about its success. I was worried about overplay turning it into an annoying song. I feared hearing a terrible remix while flipping through radio stations. Luckily for me, I still like this song. I hope Echosmith continues to have hits for awhile.

7. Ain’t It Fun – Paramore

As a long time Paramore fan, I have mixed feelings about this song as well. I’m proud of the band for having a hit, but every time they do the song sounds so different compared to the style I’m used to. For example, I can readily admit that I don’t like “The Only Exception” at all. “Still Into You,” their big single from last year, was better but still didn’t feel like a real Paramore song. Upon first listening to their self-titled album, “Ain’t It Fun” was one of my favorite tracks. It’s a good kind of different. After hearing it a few too many times, it’s lost it’s luster just a little bit, but it’s still fun. It was a good album from a great band and I’m happy the general public still cares about them. And it had one of the best music videos of the year.

6. Uptown Funk! – Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars

This is one of the most fun songs I’ve heard all year. I can’t listen to it without dancing at least a little bit. I’m definitely not a fan of Bruno Mars, but I love when he’s not being Bruno Mars. I really liked “Locked Out of Heaven,” heavily inspired by the Police. And after some time, his R&B throwback “Treasure” really has grown on me. Now he’s singing a real live funk song, which is great for his voice. The break (“Uptown funk you up” on repeat) reminds me of Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” (“We are the coolest motherfunkers on the planet”). Thank you to Mark Ronson for doing….whatever it is he did on this track.

5. Burn – Ellie Goulding

Even though it was her breakout hit, I feel like “Lights” was far from Goulding’s strongest song. “Burn” has all the characteristics of a normal EDM song, it’s about partying and having fun and it’s pretty repetitive, but for some reason it stands out to me. I think her voice has something to do it, because her voice is odd in a good way.

4. Latch – Disclosure feat. Sam Smith

I swear I could not tolerate any kind of EDM-esque songs until this year. Maybe there have always been great songs and artists in the genre and I just didn’t know about them. This song is chill and smooth with the emotional performance I’ll probably always expect from Smith. For those of you who don’t like EDM or just want to hear it differently, he made an acoustic version. Just in case the original didn’t give you enough feels. But more on him later.

3. Pompeii – Bastille

Eh eh oh eh oh. Eh eh oh eh oh. That’s probably what everyone will remember about this song. If you look at the rest of the lyrics, though, it’s some pretty dark stuff. The lyrics may seem contradictory at first because they go straight from the melancholy, “And the walls kept tumbling down, In the city that we love, Rain clouds roll over the hills, Bringing darkness from above” to the optimistic, “But if you close your eyes does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?” Some context might be helpful. The song actually has two characters, corpses from the tragedy of Pompeii. That might sound sad, but….eh eh oh eh oh. Eh eh oh eh oh.

2. I’m Not the Only One – Sam Smith

Oh, have you not heard that Sam Smith is incredible yet? Well, this should be enough for you to know that. 2014 was not a happy year for this guy. At least this is when he got out a lot of sadness. This is a song about being cheated on but not wanting to believe it’s happening. Smith sings, “You’ve been so unavailable, Now sadly I know why, Your heart is unobtainable, Even though Lord knows you kept mine.” The strings add even more emotion and the more upbeat drums are a nice contrast.

Before we get to number one, here are some honorable mentions that didn’t chart in the Top 20 (in no particular order):

Centuries – Fall Out Boy: This epic track just barely didn’t qualify for the Top 10, peaking at #22 on Billboard. If it had, it might’ve been number one on my list. With the sample of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” and Patrick Stump belting lyrics like, “I never meant for you to fix yourself,” this song is as epic and catchy as you would expect a Fall Out Boy song to be. If you only want to listen to one of the songs on this list, choose this one.

Lazaretto – Jack White: An awesome song from one of the coolest musicians around. It would’ve been between this and “Centuries” when I was choosing the number one song. I really appreciate lyrics like, “And even God herself has fewer plans than me” and “When I say nothing, I say everything.” If you want to listen to two songs on this list, also listen to this one.

Girls Chase Boys – Ingrid Michaelson: A pretty, sweet song with a nice sound. Michaelson, an otherwise indie artist, has reached a wider audience with this song. I’m sure her hipster fans are furious.

3005 – Childish Gambino: So Childish Gambino is pretty cool, in case you weren’t aware. I appreciate rappers with smooth, melodic voices and I appreciate rap songs that aren’t about money, drugs/alcohol, or how great the rapper thinks they are. It was released in some formats in 2013 and others in 2014, but I’ll call it a 2014 song.

Go – Grimes: I don’t know if this charted at all, but I’ve been jamming to it this year.

And now….. *drum roll* 1. Take Me to Church – Hozier

Like Sam Smith, Hozier’s hit isn’t very happy. This song paints the picture of a man who is hopelessly in love with a woman and worships her even though she doesn’t seem to share those feelings. Definitely emotional and definitely good with the Irish man crooning, “Take me to church, I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies, I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife.” Please let this guy continue to have hit songs.

Overall, it wasn’t a terrible year for the pop charts. I won’t be making a list of the worst songs, but if I had, “Rude” by Magic would have been number one because it’s awful.

If you didn’t see your favorite song(s) of the year, they might be in this mash up.