With 2021 coming to a close, we take a look back on the 30 best songs of the year.
No. 30 Porter Robinson – “Look At The Sky”
Electronic, Progressive House
Porter Robinson’s idiosyncratic brand of emotional electronica is still going strong years after he first hypnotized fans with Worlds in 2014. Optimism radiates from this song like it’s radioactive – filling every pore in the production and lyrics until it spills over into each fold of your hippocampus.
No. 29 Zee Machine – “4 On The Floor”
Indie Pop, Pop Rock
Bay Area singer-songwriter Zee Machine has been writing pop bangers for years now, but the ease that comes with experience shows on the effortless “4 On The Floor.” The lyrical play of the title, the smooth and understated vocal, and the loose guitar riffs all feel natural, the culmination of years of work falling into place like dominoes.
No. 28 Jessie Ware – “Hot N Heavy”
Dance Pop, House
It was hard to put into words last year how insanely good Jessie Ware’s recent album What’s Your Pleasure was, and the predicament is still present when looking at the album’s star ‘Platinum’ bonus track, “Hot N Heavy.” It’s another bottling of dancefloor euphoria so pure that you’ll be (body) rolling in no time.
No. 27 Slayyyter – “Over This!”
Hyperpop, Electronic Rock
Hyperpop goes Rock on this massive single from Slayyyter’s (technically) debut album. Its mellow, dampened intro is quickly launched into the sky, with the song sounding like it’s one guitar string away from blowing a circuit. The ear-ripping bubblegum bass is enough to topple a skyscraper on its own, but when paired with Slayyyter’s fiery vocal, every nearby city feels like it’s in danger of being leveled.
No. 26 Doja Cat feat. SZA – “Kiss Me More”
Nu-Disco, R&B
The defining song of Hot Girl Summer (The Re-Up) is one filled to the brim with Pop greatness. As the mercury swelled higher, TikTok was inundated with users unable to escape the duo’s earworms, perhaps none more notable than the single triangle strike in the second verse. That perfectly satisfying, rounded sound from a single note drove the internet to its knees, culminating in the chronically online LGBT community making the sound their defining moment of the year.
No. 25 C. Tangana, Niño de Elche, La Húngara – “Tú Me Dejaste De Querer”
Reggaeton, Flamenco Pop
C. Tangana goes from writing hits to singing them on the smash single from El Madrieleño. The instrumental is layered beautifully, between its acoustic guitar strums, reggaeton beat, warm handclaps, raw backing vocals, and staccato electric guitar breakdown, “Tú Me Dejaste De Querer” has all of the markers of a quality dance hit.
No. 24 Alfie Templeman – “Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody”
Indie Pop, Psychedelic Pop
When the 18-year-old Templeman sings, “everybody’s gonna love somebody,” he sounds as if he’s just uncovered the most prolific discovery of his youth. Backed by confident guitar strums and a steady percussion, the song’s slow, mystical blossoming evokes the early works of The 1975… if those were dipped in LSD.
No. 23 Megan Thee Stallion – “Thot Shit”
Rap, Southern Hip Hop
2020 was Megan Thee Stallion’s year, as she not only secured two Hot 100 No. 1 hits but sent Trump’s America into a rage-filled frenzy with her take on audio porn, “WAP.” “Thot Shit” sees Megan somehow even more self-assured than before in the shadow of that controversy, dismissing the haters above a massive bassline with a single clip: “hoes taking shots, but they ain’t in my caliber.” No matter what comes her way, one can seemingly always look to Megan Thee Stallion for salvation.
No. 22 Royal Blood – “Trouble’s Coming”
Alternative Dance, Rock
Alternative, Dance, and Rock collide on the hypnotic Track 1 from Royal Blood’s third studio output. It sets the stage for a night out when mentally, you’d be best to stay in: “I hear trouble coming,” he breathes, the paranoia crisp around the edges. When something is too close to avoid, all you can do is embrace the feeling and hope you’re left standing afterward. For Royal Blood, if you’re already on the floor, you might as well dance.
No. 21 Vérité – “By Now”
Indie Pop, Alternative Pop
Electropop singer-songwriter Vérité makes her presence known with the thunderstorm of a song “by now.” Her whimsical lyrical style is as strong as ever, wrapping its hands around an ex-lover’s throat. The imagery is hard to miss – floating limbs, overflowing, winds breaking along the lake, but it’s also churning in the sound. Her oceanic piano chords, charged by sparks of electronic production, leave you feeling like you’re in the eye of her storm.
No. 20 Michael Medrano – “I Don’t Wanna Talk About Love”
Dance Pop, Electropop
Rising indie popper Michael Medrano, AKA Stache Papi, hits at the core thesis of The Velvet Rage on “I Don’t Wanna Talk About Love” – that queer people are taught to fear their eroticism, repress, and repel those feelings at all costs. Underneath an absolutely banging beat with a stellar hook, Medrano reveals the darker reality of the club as he brings those emotions to a boil.
No. 19 serpentwithfeet – “Fellowship”
Alt-Pop, Synthpop
“I’m thankful for the love I’ve shared with my friends,” 33-year-old serpentwithfeet sings on the closing track of his second studio album. He has the experience and the intelligence to present black queer love as a mystical and mysterious but precious force. On “fellowship,” queerness sounds like an eternal blessing, its trials preparation for a higher inner peace.
No. 18 Gojira – “Amazonia”
Metal, Hard Rock
If someone says that they love “all kinds of music,” you’ll notice that they tend to qualify that statement with an exception or two: typically Country and Metal music. But, as there are exceptions to every rule, Gojira’s “Amazonia” could and should escape that sort of close-mindedness. An ode to “the greatest miracle,” the band lament the destruction of the Earth’s lungs over a fiery instrumental with the choral chant straight from Pop music’s best hooks. As Pop-Rock surges courtesy of newer acts like Olivia Rodrigo, it’s only a matter of time before you see songs (and albums) like Gojira’s through trickle-down influence.
No. 17 Billie Eilish – “Happier Than Ever”
Pop Rock, Noise Pop
Billie Eilish’s second studio album saw her shed almost all of her hooks to embrace her inner auteur, including on its title track. Initially, Eilish seems resolved with the relationship, “Happier Than Ever,” she replies to how she’s feeling, sounding like she’s gritting her teeth to a stranger. But something shifts halfway through the song, as she shifts to addressing that “shitty” ex directly, “I never talked shit about you on the internet,” a simmering vengeance waiting to awake at any moment.
No. 16 The Weeknd & Ariana Grande – “Save Your Tears”
Pop, Synthpop
It’s hard to one-up one classic track with another, but The Weeknd rose to the occasion. Following the biggest hit of all time, “Blinding Lights,” he re-enlisted fellow hitmaker Ariana Grande for the rare remix that surpasses the original. “Save your tears for another day,” the duo croons, giving a timeless performance that we can be content hearing when it’s still playing at Target in 2054.
No. 15 Self-Esteem – “I Do This All The Time”
Indie Pop, Art Pop
Dialing back the intense percussion that dominates much of ‘Prioritize Pleasure,’ Self Esteem lives up to her stage name on the centerpiece of her second studio album. “So look up, lean back, be strong / You didn’t think you’d live this long,” she sings, taking a break from the slam-poetry-esque speech that fills the verses of the song. It’s a slow burn as she gives advice to her younger self and calls back to other songs on the album, but its final culmination is a joyous holy rite.
No. 14 Magdalena Bay – “Something For 2”
Synthpop, Electronica
One Achilles Hell of Electronic music is its tendency to through beautiful lyricism to the side. Contrary to how many people listen to music lyrics first, producers focus primarily on crafting a classically sound composition, verses later. Magdalena Bay remedies the issue with the Teflon Billie/Finneas formula, and the result is a well-rounded banger. As the music whirls and melds around her, Tenebaum pleads with a lover to let their walls down again: “Instinctively I know that I’ve / Been changing all my colors / I finally wrung out all the blues.” Not only is she better emotionally with a partner, but musically too.
No. 13 St. Vincent – “The Melting Of The Sun”
Psychedelic Soul, Soft Rock
It feels somewhat paradoxical to have a woman empowerment anthem on an album entitled ‘Daddy’s Home,’ but St. Vincent proves it’s intentional. Reflecting on the women who have paved the way before her, she wants their legacies to be remembered to the end of the Earth itself, all while downplaying her own importance. She lays out the song’s central motif too over a hazy sitar – “It’s just the melting of the sun.” However, none of this feigned ambivalence can stop the song from ascending to celestial heights.
No. 12 James Blake – “Say What You Will”
R&B, Electronica
Long heralded as a premier electronic producer, James Blake lets his brilliance as both a vocalist and lyricist shine on “Say What You Will.” He holds no illusions of himself or his fame: “I look okay in the magic hour / In the right light with the right amount of power / And I’m okay with the life of the sunflower.” His characteristic, croaky baritone will be familiar to most, but the remarkable ease in his voice as he goes full operatic in the bridge shows that a former student of the craft is closer now to being a master.
No. 11 Charli XCX feat. Caroline Polachek and Christine & The Queens – “New Shapes”
Synthpop, Dance Pop
Announcing the death of Hyerpop earlier this year, its standard-bearer Charli XCX sees her stylings germinate with the most significant trend in pop: 80s synth-wave. Her sound now is certainly less angular than 2020’s How I’m Feeling Now, yet even as she reinvents her sound once more, the same emotionally unavailable bad girl beneath remains constant: “And when the morning comes / I’m sorry, I stayed / Tell you honestly, I can’t change, can’t change.” Taking something old and making it new, Charli proves once more that her finger is still firmly placed over the pulse of Pop.
No. 10 Indigo De Souza – “Hold U”
Indie Rock, Soft Rock
Indigo De Souza’s ‘Any Shape You Take’ is a brutal excavation of emotion, but it’s not merciless. The romantic, feathery-light “Hold U” is a much-needed respite from the album’s heavy themes. It sees De Souza accept that, despite her best efforts, she’s in love. She fawns just as much as she pleads: “You are a good thing, I’ve noticed, I’ve seen it,” which morphs into, “I am a good thing, and I promise you got me.” She wants to hold as much as she wants to be held, she wants to love as much as to be loved, and when listening, you can’t resist the need to give it.
No. 9 W.H. Lung – “G.D. Tym”
Alt-Pop, Dance
A barrage of icy synths set the stage for W.H. Lung’s conflicted night out on the town. “I want to go home,” lead vocalist Joe Evans whines. Nights out can’t give him the substantive happiness he seeks, but neither can life at home: “I see my papa, he no good… I see my mama she no good.” Feigned happiness is better than none at all, as he commits to enjoying his time on the dancefloor with the rallying cry, “Give me that new jazz, I want peace.”
No. 8 The Weather Station – “Atlantic”
Art Pop, Baroque Pop
“My God,” Tamara Lindeman opens above a gyrating piano and percussion. As she revels at the sights before her, it’s clear that the imagery of an Atlantic cliffside at sunset is purposeful. As she laments the desire to “cover [her] eyes” and ignore the suffering of the distant world connected by the same sea, she questions the globalized and monetized proliferation of despair that supports lives like hers.
No. 7 Jazmine Sullivan – “Pick Up Your Feelings”
Neo-Soul, R&B
Jazmine Sullivan has had enough of someone’s shit. After uncovering a lover’s infidelity, she flips through her emotions with as much dexterity as the coloratura she nails: there’s spite, heartbreak, and disappointment, but ultimately and most importantly, peace. Level-headed, Sullivan knows that she’s not to blame, and she can acknowledge her grief and move forward with her life at the same time. And she’s already proven that she can do two things at once: she sounds like both an artist and an instrumentalist here – enviable emotional freedom and incredible technical precision.
No. 6 MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers – “Silk Chiffon”
Indie Pop, Alternative Pop
If you would’ve told a MUNA fan earlier this year that the saddest girl band on the planet, in tandem with sad girl President Phoebe Bridgers, would write the hook “life’s so fun” on their next single, they would’ve accused you of homophobia. Yet, on “Silk Chiffon,” they kindle unbridled joy as if they’ve never been tainted. It’s a song for the girls & gays that celebrates queerness and its unparalleled catharsis but doesn’t sound the least bit invested in its own novelty.
No. 5 Arooj Aftab – “Mohabbat”
Chamber Folk, Hindustani Classical
Arooj Aftab commands attention through intimacy on the nearly 8-minute epic “Mohabbat.” Gently carrying the words of a 100-year-old poem, she crafts impossibly intricate phrases through both virtually imperceptible flourishes in her voice and broader, more powerful melisma. Cinematic in its expanse, “Mohabbat” mesmerizes with its combination of simplicity and intricacy.
No. 4 Rostam – “4Runner”
Art Pop, Indie Pop
As a producer, Rostam’s work often mimics his personality: thoughtful and meticulous, but also a little shy. However, on “4Runner,” the delirious highlight track from Changephobia, Rostam drops his walls and lets his timidity melt into passion. The song’s heady sugar rush evokes the euphoria of his (former and recent) collaborator Carly Rae Jepsen and her no-bullshit, “cut to the euphoria right now” mentality. An introvert’s biggest fear is the one thing that can set them free, and Rostam has never sounded as weightless as he does here.
No. 3 Silk Sonic – “Leave The Door Open”
R&B, Funk
While Pop music has been enamored with the synthpop sound of the 80s in recent years, Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak take it back to the 70s with incredible success on the smash hit “Leave The Door Open.” From the moment the drums and piano kick in, the song sounds classic, with the duo’s vocal performances oozing professionally crafted swagger and sex in every bar. The musical handoffs between the two are so seamless that it’s easy to forget you’re listening to a duo.
No. 2 YOLA – “Diamond Studded Shoes”
Power Pop, Americana Blues
Across YOLA’s incredible sophomore album, she paints each song with different hues of musical genres, ascending to the peak Appalachia with the power-pop of “Diamond Studded Shoes.” The sound could be described as both Americana and 60s pop, with lyrics that are unmistakably those of the blues: smiling through her words, she knows “it ain’t gonna turn out right.” Even if you believe her that the elite will always hold us down, the raw energy of the song will make you cast those worries aside, if just for a moment.
No. 1 Japanese Breakfast – “Be Sweet”
Indie Pop, Indie Rock
It’s a simple request, “Be Sweet to me baby,” but nothing else is simple in the career-defining single from Japanese Breakfast. Every songwriting component feels like the star of the show, worthy of your brain’s limited attention – the instantaneously groovy bassline, the saccharine melody, the tinkering synthesizers. It commands so much attention that before you’ve realized it, you’ve played it for an hour straight, trying to absorb every detail into your cerebellum.
No. 30 Porter Robinson – “Look At The Sky”
No. 29 Zee Machine – “4 On The Floor”
No. 28 Jessie Ware – “Hot N Heavy”
No. 27 Slayyyter – “Over This!”
No. 26 Doja Cat feat. SZA – “Kiss Me More”
No. 25 C. Tangana – “Tú Me Dejaste De Querer”
No. 24 Alfie Templeman – “”Everybody’s Gonna Love Somebody”
No. 23 Megan Thee Stallion – “Thot Shit”
No. 22 Royal Blood – “Trouble’s Coming”
No. 21 Vérité – “By Now”
No. 20 Michael Medrano – “I Don’t Wanna Talk About Love”
No. 19 serpentwithfeet – “fellowship”
No. 18 Gojira – “Amazonia”
No. 17 Billie Eilish – “Happier Than Ever”
No. 16 The Weeknd & Ariana Grande – “Save Your Tears”
No. 15 Self Esteem – “I Do This All The Time”
No. 14 Magdalena Bay – “Something For 2”
No. 13 St. Vincent – “The Melting Of The Sun”
No. 12 James Blake – “Say What You Will”
No. 11 Charli XCX feat. Caroline Polachek and Christine & The Queens – “New Shapes”
No. 10 Indigo De Souza – “Hold U”
No. 9 W.H. Lung – “Gd Tym”
No. 8 The Weather Station – “Atlantic”
No. 7 Jazmine Sullivan – “Pick Up Your Feelings”
No. 6 MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers – “Silk Chiffon”
No. 5 Arooj Aftab – “Mohabbat”
No. 4 Rostam – “4Runner”
No. 3 Silk Sonic – “Leave The Door Open”
No. 2 YOLA – “Diamond Studded Shoes”
No. 1 Japanese Breakfast – “Be Sweet”
