My Top Music from 2022

As told by Apple Music Replay.

Image Credit: Apple

The end of 2022 is upon us, and with that comes the urge to review what this year has brought to us. In years past, I’ve done a single “These Are A Few of My Favorite Things” story to cover everything that I loved throughout the year, but this year I’m doing it a little differently. Instead of one long, all-encompassing article, I’m breaking some of my favorites down into separate stories, each focused on a specific medium (if you’ll pardon the pun). At some point in December, I’ll be posting stories for my top movies of 2022 (part two; part one was published back in July) and for my top television shows of 2022. But right now, I want to talk about my top music.

Frankly, I wasn’t going to bother writing about my favorite music this year; not to say that I didn’t love a lot of music this year — in fact, some of my very favorite music of all time came out or onto my radar in 2022 — but I just didn’t think there was enough to talk about when it comes to music. Put simply, I think music should be experienced more than it should be talked about, and so I’d much rather just give you a playlist and call it a day instead of trying to find things to say about what moved me with the songs (and don’t you worry; there’s a playlist to be had at the end of this).

But then Apple Music sent me a notification today, inviting me to visit a website for Apple Music Replay.

This story is going to be as much of a review of Apple Music’s Replay feature as it is of the music itself; after all, I feel like Apple Music did half of the work for me by collecting all this data on my music-listening habits over the year and presenting it to me in such a fun format. And if you use Apple Music for your daily auditory needs, I highly recommend visiting Apple’s website for yourself; all you need to do is sign into your Apple Music account and it will create the same experience for you. You can do this on your iPhone or in your web browser.

Before we dive in, I’d like to point out two things. First and foremost, Apple didn’t ask me to review this feature or to promote Apple Music or Replay; I simply got the notification to view my Replay on my iPhone this evening and it inspired this story. Second, I listen to a lot of soundtracks. And I mean a lot. Probably 2/3rds…