Paramore maintain their firm grip on the #1 spot for a third week on my Top 30 with “This Is Why”, while The Star Crumbles‘ “Shadows in the Dark” holds at #2 for a second week. Taylor Swift‘s “Anti-Hero” (which recently spent eight non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100) moves up a notch to #3. Entering the top 10 are “The Loneliest” by Italian rock band Måneskin, at #9, and “Dance For Me” by talented Brooklyn singer-songwriter Sam Rappaport, at #10.

I’m thrilled to add two fantastic new songs I’ve fallen in love with this week: The first is “Transmitter” by British alt-rock band Sea Power. Though they formed in the mid-90s and have been putting out great music since 2001 (originally as British Sea Power, which they shortened to Sea Power in 2021 due to, in their words, “a rise in a certain kind of nationalism in this world – an isolationist, antagonistic nationalism we don’t want to run any risk of being confused with“, I only recently became aware of them when I heard their brilliant 10th studio album Everything is Forever, which was hailed by many critics as one of the best albums of 2022. It’s certainly one of mine!

The second debut this week is the dreamy “You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do” by Portland, Maine-based artist Darksoft. The song is from his latest album Beigeification, a gorgeous work I recently reviewed. It’s his second song to appear on my Weekly Top 30, the previous being “Wannacry”, which spent three months on my chart, and ranked at #84 on my 100 Best Songs of 2019 list.

1. THIS IS WHY – Paramore (1) 3rd week at #1
2. SHADOWS IN THE DARK – The Star Crumbles (2)
3. ANTI-HERO – Taylor Swift (4)
4. TONIGHT – Phoenix featuring Ezra Koenig (3)
5. I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU – The 1975 (5)
6. TROUBLE WITH THIS BED – Beach Weather (7)
7. SAIL AWAY – lovelytheband (6)
8. NIGHT BUS – Caitlin Lavagna (10)
9. THE LONELIEST – Måneskin (11)
10. DANCE FOR ME – Sam Rappaport (12)
11. OUT OF MY SYSTEM – Louis Tomlinson (8)
12. BACKPATTERS AND SHOOTERS – The Zangwills (16)
13. DISORDER – Columbia (15)
14. OFFCUTS – Mount Famine (9)
15. WILD AS THE WIND – HULLAH (18)
16. MAYFLY – Callum Pitt (19)
17. PAGES – White Reaper (20)
18. KILL BILL – SZA (21)
19. LOVE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE – Crystal Cities (14)
20. THEN IT ALL GOES AWAY – Dayglow (17)
21. WHITE HORSES – Art Block (13)
22. STICK SEASON – Noah Kahan (25)
23. LUX ÆTERNA – Metallica (27)
24. EVERYTHING I OWN – Dom Thomas (28)
25. JUST BEFORE THE MORNING – Local Natives (29)
26. SNAP – Rosa Linn (22)
27. SLEEPWALKING – All Time Low (30)
28. WEIRD GOODBYES – The National featuring Bon Iver (23)
29. TRANSMITTER – Sea Power (N)
30. YOU GOTTA DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO – Darksoft (N)