Earlier this week, I shared a massive playlist of some of the best music released in 2024 — over 100 tracks, selected by Times music critics, from our lists of the year’s greatest albums and songs. Today, it’s time for another end-of-year Amplifier tradition: my playlist of older songs that defined my year.
When we look back at any given year, sometimes the soundtrack of that particular time is simply whatever hit was inescapable on the radio, or whatever new album we wore out on car speakers, turntables or headphones. But just as often, a year’s defining soundtrack can be an older song we discovered (or rediscovered) and came to associate with an indelible moment.