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There's still some fight in 2019 left. Some of November's best songs come from late-year album contenders, some are stand-alone singles and still more point to what's ahead in 2020. We say, "Bring it on!"
Below you'll find an alphabetized list of NPR Music's top 15 songs of November 2019. Be sure to check out our top 10 albums from the month as well.
Andras, "Honeybird" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Orbital fans won't need this fun fact to appreciate "Honeybird," but as for the rest of you: This gorgeous ambient techno track by Melbourne's Andrew Wilson is named after the Australian Honeyeater bird.
Anna Thorvaldsdottir, "Metacosmos" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Describing this 13-minute piece as an "ecosystem of materials," Anna Thorvaldsdóttir constructs a heavy-breathing, rumbling, shimmering sound sculpture that completely envelopes and astonishes. — Tom Huizenga
Bill Fay, "Filled With Wonder Once Again" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
A quiet, quaking reminder to seek out simple beauty in a world filled with pain and injustice. — Lars Gotrich
Bjarki, "Coil Opinons" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
This song is the sound of producer Bjarki Runar Sigurdarson trying to contain a boogeyman below ground and barely succeeding. — Andrew Flanagan
Cimafunk, "El Potaje (feat. Omara Portuondo, Chucho Valdés, Pancho Amat and Orquesta Aragón)" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
That funky guitar? That funky flute? That outrageous list of Cuban features? Time to slurp this funk and get on down. — Lars Gotrich
Darkoo, "Gangsta (feat. One Acen)" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Afrobeat singer Darkoo is just 18, but she's already got a Top 40 hit in the U.K. in "Gangsta," thanks to a buoyant chorus that only acts tough.
HAIM, "Hallelujah" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
HAIM closes the year with a final offering in the form of "Hallelujah"; it's an empathetic end to an unexpected trilogy of intimate singles. — Lyndsey McKenna
Lady Antebellum, "That Thing That Wrecks You" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Lady Antebellum's soaring vocal harmonies exude a sense of deep, conflicted yearning. Here, the band doubles down on its brooding side — and its gift for blending voices — with an assist from Little Big Town. — Stephen Thompson
Leslie Odom Jr., "Hummingbird" ♬ APPLE /SPOTIFY
Three years, two films and one child after his Broadway breakthrough, Odom reintroduces himself with a sly, sexy earworm that does everything right: growling horns, twinkling piano and an unmistakable voice gliding every which way between them. — Daoud Tyler-Ameen
Miranda Lambert, "Tequila Does" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Our heroine spends the night flirting with a cowboy named Flores from Juarez, but goes home with her old pal Patron in this pure honky-tonk ode to the pleasures of rowdy nights in border bars. — Ann Powers
Ms. Lauryn Hill, "Guarding the Gates" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
In this soundtrack cut from the upcoming crime drama Queen & Slim, Ms. Hill is at her best, painting a lush, but strong portrait of black love. — Zoë Jones
Ricky Martin, Residente & Bad Bunny, "Cántalo" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
The aftershocks of urbano's mainstream eruption continue to rumble. This time, one-man earth-quaking machine Bad Bunny teams up with Residente to overturn the salsa of favorito permanente, Ricky Martin. — Cyrena Touros
Soccer Mommy, "Yellow is the Color of Her Eyes" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Sophie Allison pulls us into a hazy, sun-tinged fever dream in which she expertly makes loss sound lovely. — Zoë Jones
Wiki, "Promises (feat. Duendita)" ♬ APPLE / SPOTIFY
Two New York mystics dance and mingle over a groove that you might hear in a Williamsburg café. Five years removed from the heyday of NYC rap group Ratking, Wiki's all grown up, and he hasn't sounded better. — Mano Sundaresan
Wye Oak, "Fortune" ♬ APPLE /SPOTIFY
Cavernous, skyward, sedimentary — Wye Oak treats instrumental lines like geological and geographic phenomena, building sonic landscapes on "Fortune" ever more evocative of rock's enduring, primal power. — Cyrena Touros
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