31 December 2012 10:28 AM, PST | Huffington Post | See recent Huffington Post news »

Though 2012 might have been the year of the boy band, women in music were making plenty of waves as well.

Female artists dominated the major music award shows. Adele won six Grammys, Album of the Year (and Best British Female Solo Artist) at the BRITs and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist at the AMAs. Beyoncé and Katy Perry were nominated for four VMAs each –- next to Rihanna’s five nominations.

Here's our list of our 12 favorite songs released by women this year, ranging from feel-good car radio sing-along tunes to dance floor favorites to tracks made for headphones and downtime. Read through, then watch listen in the slideshow below.

“Diamonds” -- Rihanna

Rihanna's made headlines for increasingly unfortunate reasons this year, but her music is as solid as ever. The lead single from "Apologetic" reached number one in sixteen countries, and we're not tired of it yet.

Anything from "Girl »


- Nina Bahadur

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