End of the year it's time for charts in the UK. 2024 was an extraordinary year for Noah Kahan, who with his hit Stick Season officially wins the title of song of the year in the United Kingdom.
This is confirmed by data from the Official Charts Company, which certifies the song as the most listened to and sold of the year.
Launched at the beginning of 2024, Stick Season debuted directly at the top of the Official Singles Chart, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks. With 1.99 million units sold, over 35,000 physical and digital copies purchased and 217 million streams accumulated, the song is established as a cultural phenomenon in the British music scene.
The silver medal goes to Beautiful Things by Benson Boone, an emotional rock ballad that reached the top of the charts in March, after a nine-week climb. The song totals 1.79 million units sold and confirms Boone as one of the emerging stars of the international scene. Boone is also present with Slow It Down, which ranks at number 31 on the year-end charts.
On the third step of the podium we find Sabrina Carpenter with Espressothe single that dominated the summer of 2024. The American artist stood out with a hat-trick of hits: in addition to Espresso (number 3), Please Please Please (number 10) and Taste (number 21) also made inroads on the charts, contributing to its record 21 cumulative weeks at number one.
Among other notable artists, Teddy Swims wins fourth place with Lose Control, the most downloaded song of 2024 (67,000 downloads). In fifth place we find Too Sweet by Hozier, which marks the return of the Irish singer-songwriter with his first chart-topping single.
2024 also saw a strong presence of country music in the UK charts. Shaboozey wins the title of best country single with A Bar Song (Tipsy), in sixth place, while Dasha's Austin (number 9) and Beyoncé's Texas Hold 'Em (number 14) consolidate the appeal of the genre.
The title of best British single of the year goes to Myles Smith with Stargazing (number 12), a success that opened new perspectives for the young singer-songwriter from Luton, already winner of the BRITs Rising Star 2025 award.
FINAL CONSIDERATION
An analysis of the 2024 music charts in the United Kingdom reveals an interesting aspect: many of the most loved songs across the Channel have not found the same response in Italy. This phenomenon once again underlines the disconnect between the musical preferences of the two countries, a gap that seems to have worsened in recent years.
Among the few artists present in both the British and Italian charts, Sabrina Carpenter is the only one to get a fair amount of attention from us too, even without getting close to the top positions. His single Espresso, the real hit of summer 2024 in the UK, had moderate success in Italy, but without reaching the commercial and cultural weight it had across the Channel.
Benson Boone, with his rock ballad Beautiful Things, also found an audience in our country, but with numbers far from those that brought him to second place in the British year-end charts.
Scrolling through the UK charts, the real hits that have conquered both the British and Italian audiences are the songs of artists already consolidated globally such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Eminem. These names represent the exception to a now evident rule: the songs that dominate the British charts are unlikely to be able to replicate the same success in Italy, unless they are signed by world-famous superstars.
This disconnect highlights a now consolidated trend: the progressive “nationalization” of pop music. If in the past British hits automatically found space in Italian playlists, today the panorama has changed profoundly. Italian preferences seem increasingly oriented towards a mix of national artists and global stars, with less attention to the new proposals emerging from nearby music markets such as the British one.
This phenomenon could be read in two ways. On the one hand, it could reflect a cultural shift: Italian audiences seem less inclined to embrace British musical trends, preferring to focus on styles and sounds closer to their own sensibilities. On the other hand, it could be the result of market strategies that focus less and less on cross-promotion between the two countries, instead favoring content tailored to each individual territory.
THE RANKING
| POS | TITLE | ARTIST | PEAK |
| 1 | STICK SEASON | NOAH KAHAN | 1 |
| 2 | BEAUTIFUL THINGS | BENSON BOONE | 1 |
| 3 | EXPRESSED | SABRINA CARPENTER | 1 |
| 4 | LOSE CONTROL | TEDDY SWIMS | 2 |
| 5 | TOO SWEET | HOZIER | 1 |
| 6 | A BAR SONG (TIPSY) | SHABOOZEY | 3 |
| 7 | BIRDS OF A FEATHER | BILLIE EILISH | 2 |
| 8 | GOOD LUCK BABE | CHAPPELL ROAN | 2 |
| 9 | AUSTIN | DASHA | 5 |
| 10 | PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE | SABRINA CARPENTER | 1 |
| 11 | CRUEL SUMMER | TAYLOR SWIFT | 2 |
| 12 | STARGAZING | MYLES SMITH | 4 |
| 13 | PRADA | CASSO/RAYE/D-BLOCK EUROPE | 2 |
| 14 | TEXAS HOLD 'EM | BEYONCE | 1 |
| 15 | I HAD SOME HELP | POST MALONE/MORGAN WALLEN | 2 |
| 16 | MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR | SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR | 2 |
| 17 | I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME | ARTEMAS | 3 |
| 18 | GREEDY | TATE MCRAE | 3 |
| 19 | FORTNIGHT | TAYLOR SWIFT FT POST MALONE | 1 |
| 20 | SCARED TO START | MICHAEL MARCAGI | 9 |
| 21 | TASTE | SABRINA CARPENTER | 1 |
| 22 | MR BRIGHTSIDE | KILLERS | 10 |
| 23 | END OF BEGINNING | DJO | 4 |
| 24 | WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) | ARIANA GRANDE | 2 |
| 25 | UNWRITTEN | NATASHA BEDINGFIELD | 6 |
| 26 | HOUDINI | EMINEM | 1 |
| 27 | BELONG TOGETHER | MARK AMBOR | 11 |
| 28 | LOVIN ON ME | JACK HARLOW | 1 |
| 29 | MILLION DOLLAR BABY | TOMMY RICHMAN | 3 |
| 30 | LAST CHRISTMAS | WHAM | 1 |
| 31 | SLOW IT DOWN | BENSON BOONE | 14 |
| 32 | THE DOOR | TEDDY SWIMS | 5 |
| 33 | HOT TO GO | CHAPPELL ROAN | 4 |
| 34 | KISSES | BL3SS/CAMRINWATSIN/BBYCLOSE | 5 |
| 35 | ALIBI | ELLA HENDERSON FT RUDIMENTAL | 10 |
| 36 | RIPTIDE | VANCE JOY | 10 |
| 37 | DIE WITH A SMILE | LADY GAGA & BRUNO MARS | 2 |
| 38 | I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART | TAYLOR SWIFT | 8 |
| 39 | I REMEMBER EVERYTHING | ZACH BRYAN FT KACEY MUSGRAVES | 14 |
| 40 | EVERYWHERE | FLEETWOOD MAC | 4 |
© 2024 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
