15 best June 2015 singles: The Weeknd, Donnie Trumpet

The Weeknd, as Abel Tesfaye would rather we call him, was able to place two soulful singles on our playlist of the 15 best June singles, including the list-topping "Can't Feel My Face."

He's joined by Donnie Trumpet, Blur, Titus Andronicus, Son Lux and a soulful blast from the musical past, Janet Jackson.

Here's a look at those singles and more.

PLAYLIST:Best May singles

15. Samantha Urbani, "U Know I Know"

The voice of Friends sets the tone with a half-whispered pout of "You wanna meet me downtown and I've got visions that we could entertain" that could practically pass for a Lana Del Rey performance. Then she's joined by ethereal harmonies not far removed from Brian Wilson's sandbox before the groove kicks in, making its way through reggae-flavored waters en route to the club.

14. Santigold, "Radio"

It's just as well, I suppose, that a song called "Radio" would sound like it belongs there, especially the chorus hook, in which Santi White tells us, "I'm-a run up on the radio" while showing us exactly how she plans to do that. This dancehall-flavored hookfest, the first material she's given us in three years, is taken from the soundtrack to "Paper Towns," a forthcoming teen movie based on John Green's novel of the same name.

13. The Weeknd, "The Hills"

This is the other Weeknd song that made the list, the first single released from "Chapter III." The shadowy production is the perfect backdrop for his trembling vocal, which somehow manages to come across as vulnerable on a track that finds him warning the woman he's about to take to bed than he might move a little slower than his normal tempo because he had two other woman on his way there. And that's after setting the scene with "Your man on the road, he doin' promo / You said 'Keep our business on the low-low," a line that many have interpreted as being aimed at Ariana Grande, who did some work with the Weeknd while dating Big Sean.

12. Ty Dolla $ign feat. Future and Rae Sremmurd, "Blasé"

The sing-songy Auto-Tuned chorus hook on this electro-flavored track finds Future and Ty Dolla $ign boring themselves to tears with their material possessions: "Ordered up a hundred rosés / Need a Benz like blasé, blasé / I'm just whipping Maserati / I'm just blasé, blasé." Slim Jimmy of Rae Sremmurd gets in some of the best lines, from "If I let her in my Masi she might be a trending topic" to ending a boast about the sex he has with "I need knee replacements."

11. Veruca Salt, "Empty Bottle"

It's so good to have them back together. This song starts all soft and understated, setting the scene with a vulnerable delivery of "Time flies and I can't keep up / All the years I have to sweep up / Late at night I'm in my bed / And in my head / And the feelings start to creep up." It's after a second tender verse that the screaming and thrashing guitars come crashing in, reminding you how welcome their stuff sounded when they interrupted all the Eddie Vedder clones on commercial-alternative radio back in the '90s.

PLAYLIST:Best April singles

10. Bully, "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying"

The Belle & Sebastian original, from "If You're Feeling Sinister," has a wistful folk-pop vibe that could have slotted in alongside Chad & Jeremy and Cat Stevens on the "Rushmore" soundtrack. Bully's version lets you know it's chasing down a different vibe with the opening hail of feedback, following through on the promise of that feedback with a reckless post-punk reinvention that tops its driving fuzz-bass with a vocal that makes its way from melancholy understatement to full-throated screaming.

9. Active Child, "1999"

This is not a cover of the Prince song of the same name, but it sounds like something Prince would like — a soulful electro-pop ballad topped by a haunted falsetto that sets the tone with an aching delivery of "I think about you all the time / I wonder if when you think of me you smile / Because from the moment we met it was out of our hands."

8. Johnny Marr, "Exit Connection"

There's a punkish abandon at work on this B-side from the former Smiths guitarist that's closer in spirit to the Jam than anything the Smiths did. But he wears it well, sneering the words with attitude to spare while rocking the guitar riff with conviction. It just hit the streets as the flip side of "Candidate," the final single from last year's "Playland."

7. Beck, "Dreams"

This is the first we've heard from Mr. Hansen since he picked up album of the year at this year's Grammys, much to Kanye West's dismay. And anyone expecting Beck to follow "Morning Phase" with yet another batch of understated folk-pop songs hasn't been paying attention to the man's career trajectory. He doesn't even bother with an afternoon phase on his way to the nightclub on this very funky dance track of the sort that would have sounded right at home on "Midnite Vultures" (and would sound amazing coming after "Uptown Funk" on mainstream radio). It's artier than "Uptown Funk," though, letting the drums drop away on a dreamy, acoustic-guitar-driven pre-chorus and abruptly shifting tempos midway through to great psychedelic effect. Even Kanye would have to acknowledge the artistry on this one. It hasn't hit the Hot 100 yet but it's already topped the adult-alternative chart while cracking the Top 10 at rock and alternative radio.

6. Son Lux, "You Don't Know Me"

There's an eerie sense of drama here that does a brilliant job at underscoring Ryan Lott's wounded vocals, which appears to be delivered as an open letter from Jesus to the members of his flock who use his words to justify their less-than-Christ-like. "You see my face in the stars," he begins in a rasp recorded while he had bronchitis. "You don't know me / You write my name on your walls / But you don't know me / I feel you tracing my scars / But you don't know me / You don't know me at all."

PLAYLIST:Best March singles

5. Janet Jackson, "No Sleeep"

She sounds so effortlessly of the moment here, riding a rubbery bass groove, her voice a seductive half-whisper as she promises a lover, "We ain't gonna get no sleep." And yet, there's nothing to suggest a desperate bid at relevance by following the latest trends. It just sounds fresh — and relevant — recorded with her own longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The lead single from a still-untitled album due sometime this fall, "No Sleeep" has already put the singer back on Billboard's Hot 100, where it bowed last week at No. 67. So let's put an end to those "What Have You Done For Me Lately" jokes.

4. Titus Andronicus, "Fatal Flaw"

There's such a great rock-and-roll groove to that opening riff. And Patrick Stickles' vocal track is as impassioned as he's taught us to expect, rasping its way through a song about waiting on a drugstore line for the prescription meds he craves like he's some kind of unhinged missing link between Joe Strummer and Bruce Springsteen. The Clash-like urgency is undeniable, as are the serious pop sensibilities.

3. Blur, "Ong Ong"

It fades in on a singalong "la la la la" chorus hook so shamelessly infectious, it sounds like it was beamed in from the golden age of bubblegum. In a good way. And the hooks keep coming strong when Damon Albarn starts sharing his dreams of escape "to the isle of the black kites and the wishing tree." The gently swaying island vibe gets stronger as it goes along. And the overall effect feels like some great lost Kinks song from the early '70s.

2. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment, "Wanna Be Cool"

This doo-wop flavored hip-hop track finds Chance the Rapper and Jeremih setting the tone with their own version of "Through Being Cool" ("I don't wanna be you / I just wanna be me / I don't wanna be cool / I just wanna be me"). Big Sean ends his opening verse with "All the confidence I was trying to buy myself / If you don't like me, f—k it, I'll be by myself / Spend all this time for you to say I'm fine / I really should have spent it trying to find myself." But Kyle's verse is funnier. After asking "Is being cool that cool?" and "Is being a tool that big of a tool?," he puts his own spin on an old cliché with "If a cool guy's cool in the middle of the forest, man, nobody f—king cares."

1. The Weeknd, "Can't Feel My Face"

The first single out of the box from the Weeknd's second album eases you in with an ominous opening verse, which suits the premise, comparing the obsessive high of new romance to drug addiction. "And I know she'll be the death of me," he sings. "At least we'll both be numb / And she'll always get the best of me / The worst is yet to come." So far, so dark. But the mood starts to lighten a bit with the introduction of finger snaps as she tells him, 'Don't worry about it." And by the time he hits the chorus, it's morphed into rubbery funk with a groove as contagious as anything this side of "Uptown Funk," the Weeknd channeling the near-euphoric highs of classic disco as he tells her, "I can't feel my face when I'm with you / But I love it." With Max Martin and Peter Svensson co-producing, the end result is practically as slick as Michael Jackson in his prime, which may explain why it's already cracked the Top 10 on the Hot 100 in its third week on the charts, No. 6 with a bullet at last count.