In 2022 hip-hop continued to dominate other genres, since 2017 rap and R&B have owned both streams and popular music. This year we saw new stars emerge and trusted names remain consistent. There were two Drake albums, Beyoncé came back, and dozens of women MC’s became household names in 2022!
The HOT 97 Digital Staff voted on what they thought the Top 22 Songs of 2022 were, and here’s how.
HOW DID WE DECIDE OUR SONG OF THE YEAR?
Members of the Hot 97 editorial staff were asked to rank their top 30 songs of 2022, those songs were given a point value based on their rankings. Each writers favorite song was rewarded 30 points, their second favorite song rewarded 29 then that continues all the way down to their 30th favorite song being rewarded 1 point. The maximum number of points a song could have gotten was 240, the winning song received 163 points.
Only songs that were released in 2022 were eligible to be the 2022 Song of the Year.
Here are your Top 22 Songs of 2022:
| 1 | Munch by Ice Spice |
| 2 | Just Wanna Rock by Lil Uzi Vert |
| 3 | Wait For U by Future ft. Drake and Tems |
| 4 | Last Last by Burna Boy |
| 5 | Tomorrow 2 by GloRilla and Cardi B |
| 6 | BREAK MY SOUL by Beyonce |
| 7 | Sticky by Drake |
| 8 | CUFF IT by Beyonce |
| 9 | Pushin’ P by Gunna ft. Young Thug and Future |
| 10 | City Of Gods by Alicia Keys, Fivio Foreign, and Kanye West |
| 11 | First Class by Jack Harlow |
| 12 | Shake It by Cardi B, Dougie B, and Kay Flock |
| 12 | Dont Play With It by Lola Brooke and Billy B |
| 14 | Do We Have a Problem? by Nicki Minaj and Lil Baby |
| 15 | Billie Eillish by Armani White |
| 16 | Gotta Move On by Diddy ft. Bryson Tiller |
| 17 | What’s My Name by Fivio Foreign Ft. Queen Naija And Coi Leray |
| 18 | Big Energy by Latto |
| 19 | About Damn Time by Lizzo |
| 20 | Jimmy Cooks by Drake & 21 Savage |
| 21 | FNF by GloRilla & Hitkidd |
| 22 | HOTEL LOBBY by Quavo and Takeoff (Unc & Phew) |
Breakdown
“Munch” by Ice Spice may shock West Coast and international readers however, this was undeniably one of the biggest songs in New York City in 2022. This is New York native Ice Spice’s breakout song! Munch had everything an artist hopes for out of a viral sensation. Drake co-signed the song, Munch blew up on TikTok then a month later it popped off on Instagram. Munch was in heavy rotation on Hot 97 and Ice Spice even came in to perform in front of the HOT 97 DJs as the song began trending
Gyalis was one of a few songs to be voted as “Song of the Year” by our staff. Alongside Munch was – Last Last by Burna Boy, Don’t Play With It by Lola Brooke & Billy B, Just Wanna Rock by Lil Uzi Vert, and BREAK MY SOUL by Beyoncé which all received 30 points from at least one writer. Last Last was given 30 points by three writers and BREAK MY SOUL was given 30 points by two writers.
Last year – the number one song was “Gyalis” by Capella Grey, who did not appear on this year’s top songs list. Similarly, newcomers like Baby Keem, Morray, and Mooski who made waves in 2021 are absent from the list. In fact Drake, Cardi B, Jack Harlow, 21 Savage, Quavo, and TakeOff are the only artists that appeared on both 2021 and 2022’s lists.
The glaring hole missing from our list is Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick dropped a phenomenal album with multiple amazing songs, however our staff couldn’t agree on their favorite K-dot track. Seven Kendrick songs were vote eligible and six of them received votes. However, on Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers no single song stood out as a top song of the year.