Our no. 1 songs: 2012

Summary

All Songs Considered (NPR): "Our No. 1 Songs: 2012"

Release Date: October 9, 2025
Host: Robin Hilton
Guest: Stephen Thompson

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Overview

In this anniversary episode of All Songs Considered, Robin Hilton and Stephen Thompson revisit their favorite—and the most defining—songs of 2012. With the challenge of narrowing down a year bursting with pop juggernauts, indie discoveries, and every emotional note in between, they share personal stories, musical context, and the lasting cultural impact of songs that soundtracked the year. Listeners are treated to heartfelt reflections, lighthearted banter, and thoughtful music journalism.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Challenge of 2012’s Musical Abundance

• Both hosts agree 2012 was overloaded with memorable music:

  "There were several completely inescapable pop hits...an overwhelming number of terrific options to go with." —Stephen Thompson (00:49)

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Stephen’s No. 1: Frank Ocean, "Thinkin Bout You"

• Choice and lasting resonance:
  • Stephen champions Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” as his enduring favorite.
  • The song’s emotional power, unique songwriting, and musical arrangement prompt deep admiration.
  • Robin confesses he hasn’t revisited the song in years but is moved hearing it again.
• Notable Quote:

  "That song does so much in 3 minutes and 21 seconds. But what the guitar is doing in that bridge just sends me."
  —Stephen Thompson (03:04)

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Robin’s Pick: Fun., "Carry On"

• Mood Shift and Context:

  • Robin moves to a more uplifting, anthemic space with Fun's "Carry On," noting its emotional punch and positive spirit.
  • Calls it possibly even better than Fun’s bigger hit, “We Are Young."
  • Discusses the resonance of Fun’s Some Nights album as a whole.

• Memorable Moment:

  “If you want to feel good about everything, put this song on. Oh, my God.”
  —Robin Hilton (05:28)

• Personal Anecdotes:

  • Stephen jokes about growing older ("driving a beige minivan, but I can still hang") and curates tongue-in-cheek playlists like “Divorce, Vols. 1 & 2.” (05:48)

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Standout Albums & Indie Discoveries

Japandroids, "Fire’s Highway"

• Stephen calls Japandroids' album his favorite of the year:

  “Japandroids in 2012...that album is the soundtrack to, you might be turning 40, but you still got a fire inside.” —Stephen Thompson (11:07)

• Fun Anecdote:

  • Stephen drove into work blasting Japandroids; a colleague hilariously recognized his minivan by the volume.

Kishi Bashi, "Bright Whites"

• Robin and Stephen marvel at its universal appeal:

  “That felt like a song with 100% approval rating. Now, I'm sure there are people out there. Don't email me. I actually hate that song. But it was one where it really felt...”
  —Stephen Thompson (12:48)

  “He's gonna eat lunch off of this song for the rest of his life. It's gonna be in every movie, every commercial. It's so good.”
  —Robin Hilton (13:16)

Exitmusic, "The Night"

• Robin references Exitmusic’s 2012 album, Passage, and the band’s subsequent Tiny Desk performance:

  “Very Robin Hilton coded.” —Stephen Thompson (13:34)

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The Ubiquitous Pop Hits

Psy, "Gangnam Style"

• Cultural Phenomenon:
  • Discussed as both a novelty and a pivotal moment for K-pop in the US.

    "What a juggernaut, but also what a harbinger, yo." —Stephen Thompson (15:46)
    “This helped throw open the floodgates for K pop breaking through in the US...” —Stephen Thompson (15:47)

  • Robin notes how indelible it was:

    “It was kind of ridiculous. And at the same time...once it was in your brain, you couldn't get it out.” (16:25)

Cat Power, "Sun" (Title Track)

• Robin’s Top Album:
  • Highlights Sun as his favorite album of the year, a triumphant "rebirth" for Chan Marshall after years away from original material.

    "She called it Sun...she saw this as sort of a rebirth for her...what a triumph I thought this record was." —Robin Hilton (17:27)

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The Soundtrack of 2012: Chart-Toppers That Defined the Year

Carly Rae Jepsen, "Call Me Maybe"

• Hosts recall furious debates and the song’s ubiquity:
  • Stephen loved it from the start; Robin admits he was wrong to resist.

    “You were wrong. You were wrong at the time, and I was totally wrong.” —Stephen Thompson (20:05)

• Origin of a Show Tradition:
  • Robin reveals that the tradition of singing the year’s biggest pop song at the start of NPR’s Holiday Extravaganza began with "Call Me Maybe" in 2012.

    “That ended up becoming this trope...Whatever the big pop song was that year, it's what I sing at the beginning...” —Robin Hilton (20:57)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Banter

• On music’s emotional impact:

  “You talk about songs that pack it just full of emotion and they hit you in the heart.”
  —Robin Hilton (02:54)

• On music and aging:

  “You might be turning 40, but you still got a fire inside.”
  —Stephen Thompson (11:07)

• On K-pop’s entry into mainstream America:

  “This helped throw open the floodgates for K pop breaking through in the US in ways it hadn't really...up to that point.”
  —Stephen Thompson (15:47)

• On pop ubiquity:

  “If you turned on pop radio, chances are you would hear one of three or four songs, right? ... Somebody that I used to know by Gaultier...Gangnam Style...Call Me Maybe.”
  —Stephen Thompson/Robin Hilton (18:16–18:50)

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Timestamps of Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:20 | Introduction: Anniversary episode, overview of 2012 | | 01:25 | Frank Ocean - "Thinkin Bout You" (Stephen’s Pick) | | 04:13 | Fun. - "Carry On" (Robin’s Pick) | | 09:24 | Japandroids and favorite album discussion | | 11:46 | Kishi Bashi - "Bright Whites" | | 13:31 | Exitmusic - "The Night" | | 15:18 | Psy - "Gangnam Style" (Emergence of K-pop and viral hits) | | 17:26 | Cat Power - "Sun" (Robin’s top album) | | 18:39 | Most ubiquitous pop songs of 2012 (inc. Gotye, "Call Me Maybe") | | 19:04 | Carly Rae Jepsen - "Call Me Maybe" and show tradition | | 20:57 | Holiday show anecdote, closing banter |

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Final Reflections & Tone

The episode is characterized by humorous self-awareness, deep affection for music, personal storytelling, and a sense of camaraderie. Robin and Stephen both acknowledge the impossibility of a singular "best" in a year filled with so much to love, but they bring infectious enthusiasm and insight into what made 2012 unforgettable for music lovers.

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Transcript

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[Robin Hilton]

I'm Robin Hilton. We're looking back at our number one songs from the past 25 years as part of the show's anniversary. Our quarter century anniversary doing a different year each week. Stephen Thompson here, as always.

[Stephen Thompson]

It's great to be here, Robin.

[Robin Hilton]

So, Stephen, when we talked about our favorite songs from 2011, you sort of telegraphed that 2012 was gonna be a tough year for us to narrow down. So what's the first thing that you think of? Well, maybe not the first thing, but maybe your favorite thing or what takes you back.

[Stephen Thompson]

Man, there are so many directions that we could have gone here. There were several completely inescapable pop hits. There were. There were tons of great discoveries. It's a hard year to nail down just because there is such an overwhelming number of terrific options to go with. When you say, what is the best song of 2012? But to me, the one that I have gone back to over and over and over again, arguably my favorite song of that year and certainly one that has best stood the test of time, is this one.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

A tornado flew around my room before you came. Excuse the mess.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, Frank Ocean. Thinking Thinking about you or.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

When I'm thinking about you oh, no, no, no, I've been thinking about you, you no, no, no, I've been thinking about you do you think about me still? Do you? Do you or do you? Cause I been thinking about forever.

[Robin Hilton]

This is timeless and it's a classic and it's one I should listen to more. But I honestly, I don't think that I have put this on in all the years since Robin.

[Stephen Thompson]

I know.

[Robin Hilton]

It's so good to hear it again.

[Stephen Thompson]

Also, I'm gonna do something we don't usually do on this show. I'm gonna skip ahead.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Yes, of course I remember. How could I forget? How could I how you feel? You know, you were my first time. A new field. It won't ever get old not in my soul not in my spirit Keep.

It alive.

We'Ll go down this road Till it turns from color to black.

[Robin Hilton]

And white I mean, Robin, I know you talk about songs that pack it just full of emotion and they hit you in the heart like that.

[Stephen Thompson]

That song does so much in 3 minutes and 21 seconds. But what the guitar is Doing in that bridge just sends me. I'm not sure. Other than occasionally encountering it on the radio, I'm not sure I've ever heard that song only once consecutively. Because every time I hear it, I immediately need to hear it again in part so I can relive the that bridge.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, I'm gonna do a completely different mood shift again. Great.

[Stephen Thompson]

I mean, there's so much. This 2012 is such a good year for us.

[Robin Hilton]

You know what the first note is that I wrote for 2012 when I was Throw a rock. Yeah, I really. I just wrote throw a rock. I don't know. Because it could be any number of things. For our 2016, for our Sweet 16 anniversary show, we picked Tessellate by Alt.

[Stephen Thompson]

J. Oh, my God. Which is a great song.

[Robin Hilton]

Which is an incredible song, but I'm gonna go with this one.

[Stephen Thompson]

You just picked a song from 2012 by Fun that is not we are Young.

[Robin Hilton]

Now. I get to do this one instead. Carry on.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Well, I woke up to the sound to silence the cause we're cutting like knives in a fist fight And I found you with a bottle of wine your head and the curtains and heart like the fourth of July you swore and said we are not, we are not shining stars this I know I never said we are though I never been through hell like that. I've closed enough windows to know you can never look back.

[Podcast Announcer]

If you're lost.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

In a loan or you're sinking like a stone? Carry on May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground?

[Robin Hilton]

Carry on.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Carry on, carry on.

[Stephen Thompson]

The curtain pulls back? You realize you've been in stadium the whole time.

[Robin Hilton]

I will say I think this is maybe better than we are young.

[Stephen Thompson]

I think you might be right. And we are Young is great.

[Robin Hilton]

And it is this whole album, some nights by fun, though, is just full of this. It is just like, if you want to feel good about everything, put this song on. Oh, my God.

[Stephen Thompson]

But who's to say that I do?

[Robin Hilton]

Robin, you mentioned Euphoria on more than one occasion with some of your picks, and. Well, actually, you did a. Your divorce. What'd you call it?

[Stephen Thompson]

No, that's what I call divorce, volumes one and two.

[Robin Hilton]

And didn't you have songs from 2012? No.

[Stephen Thompson]

No, that was 2010 and 2011. 2012 is. Is when I really was like, yes, I'm driving a beige minivan, but I can still hang.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground and carry on.

Oh, oh.

My head is on fire but my leg like are fine after all they are mine Lay your clothes down on the floor Close the door hold the phones show me how no.

If you're lost in a room or.

You'Re sinking like a stone Carry on May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground Carry on.

[Robin Hilton]

So again, the band fun Carry on is the song. Let's take a quick break here and then we'll run through some of the other stuff that takes us back to 2012.

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[Robin Hilton]

Thompson, what else from 2012 stands out to you?

[Stephen Thompson]

You know what my favorite album of 2012 was that we haven't even talked about yet is Japandroids.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh wow. Yeah, I had a band that just.

[Stephen Thompson]

Split band that just split. But they put out one more record. It's very good. But Japandroids in 2012 the song fires Highway. I mean that whole.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

A northern soul.

And southern lands will always find his way to southern hands. She'll kiss away your gypsy fears and turn some restless nights to restless years.

[Stephen Thompson]

I remember I drove into work and I ran into Jacob Ganz, our dear colleague. And Jacob says, God, it's just like a little while later, Jacob comes in. He's like, God, it's so funny. I gotta tell you guys the story. I was walking to work, and this car kind of pulls up at a light near me, and it's just blazing. The Japandroids just, like, so loud. And I look over, and it's like a minivan. And I was like, jacob, that was absolutely me. Was this on, you know, Georgia Avenue or whatever? He's like, yes, it was.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, bless your heart, Stephen. You still got it.

[Stephen Thompson]

And the thing is, you know, 2012, that was the year I turned 40. And so to have a record come along, that album is the soundtrack to, you might be turning 40, but you still got a fire inside.

[Robin Hilton]

You keep telling yourself that. Also, we mentioned Kishibashi on an earlier episode. I think I confused him with the Yonzi record that you played. But Bright Whites came out in 2012.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Sam.

You and me at the edge of the world with the pretty secret smile for me to see for me to see New bright whites and a cage full of ice and a naked little canopy to feed my disease my disease I live your to smile.

[Robin Hilton]

This song is still amazing to me.

[Stephen Thompson]

Absolutely. I mean, really, just an electrifying discovery. That year. That was one where I felt like I could get almost anybody into that song. That felt like a song with 100% approval rating. Now, I'm sure there are people out there. Don't email me. I actually hate that song. But it was one where it really felt. It felt like not only a discovery that I would get to experience. It's like, wow, I just got to hear this great new artist, but it's like, I am going to look so smart. Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

You know what else I thought when I heard this? I thought, he's gonna eat lunch off of this song for the rest of his life. It's gonna be in every movie, every commercial. It's so good. Also, that same year, 2012, Exit Music. Do you remember Exit Music?

[Stephen Thompson]

I do. I remember them being very Robin Hilton coded.

[Robin Hilton]

Very Robin Hilton coded. And they had that album Passage that came out, and I think maybe my favorite song was one called the Night.

[Stephen Thompson]

O.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Erased from the darkness the rules of decay fold like bones giving back to the earth I'll vacuum the stone spaces used to separate me from you, you from me Death from bir.

[Robin Hilton]

So this is Alexa Palladino, Devon Church also saw them at south by Southwest, and then they came in and did a tiny desk that year, 2012. I think they broke up maybe around 2018, 2019 or so. What else, though? What else you got that takes you back to 2012?

[Stephen Thompson]

Well, I think when we talk about the songs that kind of represent 2012 and directions that music was going, I don't think you can fully talk about the year without at least acknowledging the existence of this. Oh, God.

[Robin Hilton]

Gangnam Style. I mean, you're right, though. I mean, how could you not? How could we not have led with this song? What a juggernaut.

[Stephen Thompson]

What a juggernaut, but also what a harbinger, yo.

[Robin Hilton]

For sure, right?

[Stephen Thompson]

This helped throw open the floodgates for K pop breaking through in the US in ways it hadn't really, you know, certainly hadn't done up to that point. As far as, like, suddenly getting played on pop radio, going fully viral and like, Psy, who performed Gangnam Style, you know, was not necessarily like the bleeding edge of current era K Pop in 2012. And so, you know, audiences had to adjust to the fact that not all K pop music sounded exactly like that. But that song was enormously influential, even as everybody kind of processed it as a novelty song.

[Robin Hilton]

That's the thing. It was kind of ridiculous. And at the same time, once it was in your brain, you couldn't get it out. And so much of the K pop we've gotten since then is so much more sophisticated and refined and. But, yeah, what an opening salvo, for sure. I'm going to counter program.

[Stephen Thompson]

You're not going to name an equivalent song?

[Robin Hilton]

I don't know that I can.

[Stephen Thompson]

It sounds a little like Metric.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Here it comes, here it comes Here comes the sun.

It's hot, it's hot.

[Robin Hilton]

It's Cat Power.

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, of course.

[Robin Hilton]

Cat Power. Cat Power. So Kat Power, Sean Marshall. This was my number one album of 2012, actually. Kat Power's Son. And this is the title cut from it. My favorite. Just such a big, bold return for Shawn Marshall. You know, she hadn't done an album of all original songs, something like six years or so, and she said she called it Son. I remember because she saw this as sort of a rebirth for her. She'd been through all kinds of stuff leading up to this album, and what a triumph I thought this record was.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. You know, she's been around for so long, sometimes it's easy to kind of disconnect her from a given era. You know, even if she's been putting out Music on and off for what now? 20, 25 years?

[Robin Hilton]

I mean, at least 25 years.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

What else you got? 2012.

[Stephen Thompson]

Well, I think it's hard to talk about 2012 without talking about the songs that really dominated the year. You know, it was definitely a year in which if you turned on pop radio, chances are you would hear one of three or four songs, right? And those songs were on the charts for, you know, God knows how many months. I'm talking about your Somebody that I Used to Know by Gaultier, which actually came out in 2011.

[Robin Hilton]

Right. Yeah, that was when it blew up. I mean, honestly, I'm having a hard time thinking of anything other than Gangnam Style now for, like, what was the most ubiquitous everywhere pop song of 2012. Oh.

[Stephen Thompson]

But when we were talking about ubiquitous, the sound of 2012, you gotta start here.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

Oh, yes.

[Stephen Thompson]

You and I had furious debates about this.

[Robin Hilton]

So, Carly Rae, call me baby.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

But now you're in my way? Your stare was holding ripped chains skin was showing Hot night. I mean, come on where you think you're going, baby? Hey, I just met you and this is crazy but here's my number so call me maybe? It's hard to look right at your baby but here's my number so call me maybe? Hey, I just met you and this is crazy but here's my number so call me maybe and all the other boys try to chase me but here's my number so call me, baby.

[Robin Hilton]

I have never seen you move like this in my life. Stephen. Do I need to call a doctor?

[Stephen Thompson]

Oh, my God.

[Robin Hilton]

Let me tell you. No, I was not. I was not on the Carly Rae Jepsen. You were wrong. You were wrong at the time, and I was totally wrong. But there's. There's actually an interesting little fun fact about this song for super All Songs Considered nerds, if. If anyone is paying really close attention, and that's this. You know, we do the holiday extravaganza every year. The first year we did the holiday extravaganza was 2012.

[Stephen Thompson]

Ah, I didn't know that.

[Robin Hilton]

So we had a party. We had this cabin in the woods that Bob Boylan at the time we met at. And you show up at the end and say, hi. Hi, fellas. But anyway, at the very beginning of that episode, as I am walking up to the cabin, I've got Call Me maybe on my headphones, and you can just kind of faintly hear it.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

And I'm going to Smith me. You just met me call me maybe.

[Robin Hilton]

And that ended up becoming this trope that we had at the beginning of every single one of our holiday shows. Whatever the big pop song was that year, it's what I sing at the beginning as I'm approaching. We'll probably do it again this year when we do our holiday extravaganza. No, good. Good call, Stephen. We'll go out on this. I know we can keep going here, but until next week, thanks, Stephen.

[Stephen Thompson]

Thank you, Robin.

[Robin Hilton]

And for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's ALL SONGS Considered.

[Guest Singer or Performer]

It's hard to look right at your baby but here's my number so call me maybe. Hey, I, I just met you and this is crazy but here's my number so call me maybe. And all the other boys try to chase me but here's my number. Don't call me maybe. Before you came into my life I missed you so bad. I missed you so bad. I missed you so, so bad. Before you came into my life I missed you so bad. You should know that don't call me maybe.

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