2019
100 top tracks
deepening
Trip-hop's steady dominance turns warmly geographic: Australian psych and funk reorient the groove.
2019 held trip-hop's 15.2% dominance steady from 2018, but the year's true story lies in what departed and what arrived. Downtempo collapsed from 13.1% to 2.8%; ambient, idm, and drone vanished. In their place: indie (6.6%), australian (6.6%), neo-psychedelic (6.1%), and soul (4.1%). Skinshape's 14 tracks and DOPE LEMON's 13 dominate—both Australian groove mystics. Khruangbin and Hermanos Gutiérrez add instrumental funk-psychedelia. The sound pivots from introspective electronic cool toward tactile, geography-rooted groove. It sets the stage for 2020's turn toward jazz-funk.
▶︎ Open “Your Top Songs 2019” ↗︎
Top tracks100
your top songs 2019
Distinct genres67
across the list
Sound of the yeartrip-hop
most-weighted genre
Most-played artistSkinshape
by track count
Top genres · what the year sounded like
trip-hop15.2%
Consolidation masks a deeper turn: from cool electronica's introspection toward groove-forward warmth.
indie6.6%
A sudden entry signaling geography—specifically Australian—as this year's organizing principle.
australian6.6%
Skinshape and DOPE LEMON anchor a year of Antipodean sun, psych, and accessible groove.
instrumental6.1%
Khruangbin and Hermanos Gutiérrez frame funk-psychedelia as intentional composition, not background wash.
neo-psychedelic6.1%
A new vein: guitar-driven, playful, pointedly turning away from the prior year's electronic introspection.
Most-played artists · by tracks in the list
Skinshape14 tracks
The year's anchor: Australian groove mysticism, psychedelic warmth, sun-soaked intention.
DOPE LEMON13 tracks
Skinshape's sibling; indie psych with retro soul, warmth, and accessible groove.
Hermanos Gutiérrez6 tracks
Latin instrumental psychedelia; a thread of world-groove amid the Australian tide.
Khruangbin6 tracks
Thai funk as cosmic meditation: instrumental, hypnotic, body-forward, and groove-obsessed.
Alessandro Cortini2 tracks
What changed · vs 2018
Newtrip-hopindieaustralianinstrumentalneo-psychedelicsoul
Climbingelectronic 53→7soul 15→6
Fadedambientidmsoundtrackacid jazzdronenew age
Downtempo's collapse (13.1% → 2.8%) and fade of ambient, idm, drone yield to indie, australian, neo-psychedelic, soul—a shift from electronic introspection to groove-rooted geography.
The arc · 2014 → 2025
2014neoclassical·2015soundtrack·2016ambient·2017downtempo·2018trip hop·2019trip-hop·2020nu jazz·2021nu jazz·2022lo-fi beats·2023soundtrack·2024soundtrack·2025retro soul
2019 marks trip-hop's final dominance (15.2%) before jazz-funk enters in 2020, completing the listener's five-year drift from electronica cool toward groove and body-forward warmth.