I listened to a lot of music this year, but not as much as I wanted. Here is a list of songs I did hear and absolutely loved… and played over and over all year. (Also, because I was replaying these songs so much, there are a lot of great albums I haven’t devoted time to yet, so there are definitely some great songs missing from this list.)
In no particular order, my favorite songs of 2012 (as of Dec. 31):
Fun. – Stars
Haim – Forever
Beach House – Irene
Dry the River – Lion’s Den
Keaton Henson – You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are
Awolnation – Not Your Fault
Grimes – Genesis
Grimes – Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U)
Frank Ocean – Forrest Gump
Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love
Drake feat. Rihanna – Take Care
xx-Angels
Dirty Projectors – About to Die
Japandroids – The House that Heaven Built
The Walkmen – Line By Line
The Walkmen – Dance With Your Partner
Sky Ferreira – Everything is Embarrassing
Gary Clark Jr.- Ain’t Messin ‘Round
Solange – Losing You
Mark Eitzel – I Love You But You’re Dead
Taylor Swift – Trouble
The All-American Rejects – Heartbeat Slowin Down
Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid
Major Lazer feat. Amber Coffman (of Dirty Projectors) – Get Free
samccarty.com 
Beach House’s “Irene” is one of the most spectacular songs ever.
Agreed. It is actually my No. 1 favorite song this year. I plan to go back and write blurbs for each one of these when I get a chance, and particularly want to stress how much I love “Irene.” I listened to it for an hour straight when I first heard it.
Did you see my interview with the band’s singer. At some point I talked to her about that song, which she said they recorded live. She called it a magical moment.