A sure sign that Minnesota music fans haven't given up on Lizzo — and that radio programmers shouldn't give up on Minnesota music — 89.3 the Current's listener-voted Top 89 Songs of 2022 tally prominently featured the "Truth Hurts" hitmaker and other artists from the music scene she rode in on.
Lizzo's "About Damn Time" was named the No. 1 song on the public rock station's poll, the results of which were revealed on New Year's Day. That's not too surprising given the song's overall prominence in Billboard's Hot 100 chart, Top 40 stations, Grammy categories, department store playlists, etc. But then again, the megahit's ubiquity could have prompted Current listeners to shun the former Twin Citian's second No. 1 single.
Other homegrown acts to land high on the list: orchestral rockers Cloud Cult with their dramatic track "One Way Out of a Hole"; string-band favorites Trampled by Turtles with their Jeff Tweedy-produced "It's So Hard to Hold On"; twangy siblings act the Cactus Blossoms with the bouncy ditty "Hey Baby"; not-so-twangy sibling act Durry with their winning anthem "Losers Club," and the locally rooted indie-folk quartet Big Thief with "Simulation Swarm," sung and written by Minnesota's Adrianne Lenker.
All of those aforementioned acts landed other songs deeper into the Top 89 list, where Dessa, Hippo Campus, Chastity Brown, Ondara, Jeremy Messersmith, Nur-D and the Gully Boys also all showed up to represent the Minnesota scene. The non-Minnesotans who factored most heavily on the list included Spoon, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Orville Peck, Maggie Rogers, Mitski, Amanda Shires, Gorillaz, Steve Lacy and up-and-comer Harry Styles.
Here's an abbreviated version of the year-end poll. See the full list at thecurrent.org.
1. Lizzo — "About Damn Time"
2. Harry Styles — "As It Was"
3. Orville Peck — "The Curse of the Blackened Eye"
