Clementine Yost

Damn, 2024 came through with some absolute bangers. We had Brat summer with hit-after-hit from Charli xcx, but we also saw Sabrina Carpenter sing silly little outros to her sleeper hit Nonsense, Taylor Swift quite simply refusing to leave the charts (by any means necessary) and Chappell Roan catapult into fame faster than you can say ‘Pink Pony Club’. The past year really was for the pop girlies. But what are the songs that defined the year? Well, aside from the above, we’ve seen chart-topping country boy crooners, instantly iconic rap takedowns and joyously twee indie – all making 2024 a pretty stellar year for new music. I was tasked with building our ranking of the best songs of 2024 and compiled this list by asking our amazing international team of writers and editors to contribute their year-defining tracks. Expect to find a global list of tunes, from personal favourites to chart-toppers that simply can’t be ignored. 

Ah, London. From Notting Hill to Love Actually, it’s the star of many rom-coms. And with the grey waters of the Thames flowing through the city, its hidden wine bars and ancient streets, it’s definitely a romantic – in its own unique, gritty sort of way. That said, it doesn’t always feel like love is all that easy to find here. As part of Time Out’s annual best cities survey, we asked more than 18,500 city-dwellers about their dating life. Most of the Londoners we surveyed have a pretty bleak view of dating: only 28 percent of London locals said they think that getting coupled up here is ‘easy’, meaning our city ranked the joint seventh worst in the world for finding love.  The higher cost of going out here – from £7 pints to extortionate tasting menus – doesn’t really help matters. A study released in 2024 found that the cost of living crisis is dramatically impacting our dating lives, with 64 percent of single people admitting to spending an average of between £90 and £140 on dates. As a result, 76 percent of single people have said they have started to lower their budgets for dates, with 32 percent opting for cheaper options like going for coffee over a meal out.   But what do Londoners really think? We took to the streets of Soho and asked people how much they think you should spend on a first date, as well as that all important question: who should pick up the bill? This is what we found.   View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out