From Amr Diab to Elissa, 15 Arabic New Year's Eve anthems for your playlist

Arabic popular music offers a song and melody for every occasion.

At times, these enduring tracks transcend their original seasons, resonating across different moments due to their universal messages and sentiments.

These odes to joy, love, and resilience continue to inspire us to embrace the New Year with optimism and a fresh start. Here are 15 songs, in no particular order, that deserve a spin on your New Year’s Eve playlist.

1. Kol Aam Wa Anti Habibati by Kadim Al Sahir

Even new year gets the normally taciturn crooner Kadim Al Sahir into the festive spirit. The Iraqi singer, known for string-laden emotive ballads, switches gears by adding brass and Latin percussion in this 2012 ode, meaning every year you are my beloved; to the New Year.

Then again, this is Al Sahir we're talking about, so the lyrics are not the usual breezy couplets. Opening with the refrain, “Every year you're my beloved, every year I'm your beloved,” the words use a tree and hands as metaphors for new life and building a better future.

2. Al Am Al Jadid by Fadl Shaker and Sherine

Veteran Lebanese singer Fadl Shaker teams up with then-burgeoning pop starlet Sherine for a track tailor-made to celebrate the new year. The 2004 song works by comfortably blending their disparate styles, with Sherine's zippy delivery and verve offsetting Shaker's stoic tenor, in a song asking us to look forward to the new year with hope and joy.

3. C'est La Vie by Khaled

From football stadiums to Burj Khalfia’s New Year’s Eve fireworks displays, C'est La Vie remains Algerian rai singer Khaled's finest hour. A dynamic mix of Algerian Arabic and French vocals, this anthemic 2012 track exudes joy and optimism, inviting us to momentarily set aside our worries and embrace the present.

4. Ras Sseni by Majida El Roumi

Lebanese soprano Majida El Roumi doesn't change her approach when it comes to New Year's Eve tracks, but who says the occasion doesn't benefit from a regal ballad in the playlist? Meaning “the new year,” 2015 track Ras El Sana is a plea for togetherness and celebration as El Roumi wishes “Every year may you be with us. Wherever we are, we gather. From everyone to everyone, may it return to all.”

5. Al Am Al Jadid by Hussain Al Jassmi and Mona Amarcha

Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi didn't save his best for last with his final release of 2015. While Al Am Al Jadid – not to be confused with the aforementioned Fadl Shaker and Sherine duet from years prior – will go down as a footnote in his hit-filled care