Great Scots: 2024 in Scottish Music

When it gets to the end of the year, looking back at the wealth of music released in Scotland will never not astound us. But this year has been busier than most. Month to month we’ve seen an uptick in the music being written, recorded and produced by artists in Scotland, as well as Scottish artists based further afield, despite many, many funding setbacks.

We cover as much of it as we can in our weekly Spotlight On… features, monthly new Scottish music column – Music Now – and do our best to update our Spotify playlist of the same name every Friday with the best new Scottish music we can find. But on our last day in the office, it’s always fun to look back at the year on the whole, trawling through 12 months of coverage, and pulling together a vast and definitely far too long playlist (click here or see below).

This year we’ve stopped ourselves at 140 songs, which span eight-and-a-half hours of playtime(!). The perfect length for a day in the office, if you’re at work, or a day at home if you’re pottering around and getting ready for your festive celebrations. Sure, you won’t like everything, but from award winning talent to brand new artists, across an embarrassment of genres – ambient, experimental, folk, trad, dance, electronica, hip-hop, pop, musique concrète and more – we’re almost certain you’ll find something that you like. So jump in, play it in order or stick it on shuffle, and prepare to be proud of the wealth of talent coming out of Scotland – we know we are.

Merry Christmas from us, happy holidays, and enjoy the wind down if you’re lucky to be afforded one. Here's to more great new music coming out of Scotland in 2025. x