Well, it's finally time for the end of the year lists! It's always fun going through the year in review and seeing all these songs and albums that have made an impact on me this year! Of course, just a reminder that this is my list of favorite songs of 2021, so don't get mad if I'm missing your favorite song. Please let me know some of your favorites in the comments somewhere. Also, I'm self-imposing a rule for the songs list that only one song per artist is allowed. So once an artist is used, that's it. There'll be a Spotify playlist will all 50 songs if it at the end of part 2, which comes out tomorrow. Without further ado, here are my top 50 songs of 2021!
50. Danny L Harle - "Take My Heart Away"
If those candy and sugar stores had a soundtrack, it would be this song. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but this song sounds like a rainbow. Everything about it is synthetic, glitchy, pretty, and full of light and energy made for a cartoon rave. There are many moments throughout the track where it seems like the amount of synth layers is going to plateau, but it just keeps getting brighter and brighter. Whether it’s the extra oscillating synths in the second chorus or the extra computer sound during the final chorus, this song just keeps ascending. I will say, this song has kind of fallen off for me over the course of the year, but revisiting now at the end still makes me realize why I loved it and constantly played it in the early stages of 2021.
49. Bo Burnham - "Welcome To The Internet"
This one’s kind of cheating because I don’t listen to this song very often, but it’s also a heartbreaking picture of what the Internet is doing to society. In this track, Bo’s personifying the Internet as if it was a human supervillain come to life. It goes from a carnival-like first half that shows the Internet how we view it, lots of amazing and wild things mixed in with terrible acts of violence and hatred. The bridge shows him explaining his “secret” plan about how it becomes entwined with us younger people and society as a whole, but it doesn’t seem inherently evil until the final line of the verse, “It was always the plan, to put the world in your hand,” which is followed up by the classic evil laugh we always here in movie. But of course, a line like, “Apathy’s a tragedy and boredom is a crime” hits just as hard looking at us right now and how we are with the Internet. It’s a heartbreaking song, but very poignant for the times we’re living in.
48. Slowthai - "Mazza" (Feat. A$AP Rocky)
This song came out in the first few days of 2021, but it’s still a really quality banger from two extremely talented artists. Especially for someone like Rocky who we all assumed would release an album this year, hearing him sound this great on a track makes it kind of bittersweet how he stayed quiet this year. But then again, I suppose dating a billionaire probably quiets your drive to make music. Either way, Slowthai sets off the track really well with a verse that gets increasingly crazed as the track goes on. The production might be the highlight of the track, with it sounding almost like an old-school Playboi Carti type beat, except these guys are attacking it differently than he would. For a song named after a made up word, this is pretty fantastic!
47. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, & The London Symphony Orchestra - "Movement 6"
This project has been getting a lot of praise this year and will be one of the best reviewed albums of the year by critics, and even though it did feel a bit too repetitive and meandering at times, this movement is nothing short of incredible! Throughout the nine-minute runtime, the entire orchestra builds slowly while Floating Points’ subtle electronics provide the canvas for the orchestra to paint. Songs like this make me wish I knew music theory, because I’d imagine this is much cooler when you can explain what’s happening. But I can say that the way they create and release subtle tension during this track is outstanding, especially once all of the orchestra starts playing. They just hold these slightly off-putting notes for so long that they seem normal, and just when that happens, it changes again to more off-putting notes until it finally releases. Easily one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard this year.
46. Mick Jenkins - "Truffles"
This was one I got stuck with trying to figure out which track from the album to pick. While “Things You Could Die For If Doing While Black” is a powerful track and has a fantastic, bouncy beat, “Truffles” is still the more enjoyable track and also has a good amount of meaning as well. The song and video are both about gentrifying neighborhoods with Mick feeling uncomfortable in his rapidly changing environment. The beat also deserves a lot of credit for this track as well with its heavy bassline and eerie, but watery keys that feel very much like a traditional Mick Jenkins track, just elevated. Of course, Mick’s bars are nothing short of fantastic, but he also incorporates a bit of humor into this track as well when he just yells obscenities after saying he forgot his mask. Just a powerful, unique banger by Mick that does all the little things.
45. Renforshort - "virtual reality"
Let it be known that Renforshort had the 18-year-old-teen-girl-angsty-pop-punk hit before Olivia Rodrigo by two or three months, and this song is definitely more widely relatable to this generation. But to get out of the comparison, “virtual reality” is a quick, anthemic track about losing yourself in the Internet. The guitar chords scream pop-punk, especially during the chorus, but they progress nicely over the runtime and change during the outro. This song is also mostly chorus, with the verses being extremely short, but it’s ok because it’s extremely catchy and made for screaming at high volume. The lyrics aren’t exactly clever, but their message gets across easily with lines like, “Sometimes I wonder if I need a break from it before I break from it.” There’s just something about this track that kept me coming back to it for months, and hopefully Renforshort can continue to progress into a great artist.
44. Brittany Howard - "Stay High" (Childish Gambino Version)
Brittany Howard’s original probably would’ve made it onto the list back in 2019 when the song came out, but Childish Gambino released an equally entertaining cover. It’s a fairly straightforward cover vocally, with him not changing any of the melodies or notes at all. He’s just singing the track the same way Brittany is, but the production just has this additional level of bounce. Instead of the laid back acoustic indie track the original is, this cover has these heavy electro-pop drums that change the entire feel of the track. It’s still not something you would play at a party or anything, but it’s now an upbeat track instead of something to just lay back to. I guess that just goes to say how great the original way if Donald can just almost recreate the original with some small adjustments and have it be a top track of the year.
43. Pop Smoke - "Brush Em" (Feat. Rah Swish)
Honestly, this was the only track from the new Pop Smoke posthumous album that I actually played after it’s release, and this song stayed in rotation for a very long time. It’s clear that they had this song finished before Pop passed away, and there’s actually a makeshift music video they had filmed before he passed as well, which has an earlier version of this song. It has a slightly different beat, but it’s mainly just elevated and cleaned up for the Faith version. It’s not a lyrically impressive track, but the energy that both Pop Smoke and Rah Swish bring is fantastic! I’ve never heard of Rah Swish before, but it’s great that they left him on the song after replacing seemingly every other feature with a high profile posthumous collaboration. There weren’t many better bangers than this one in 2021!
42. Westside Gunn - "Bash Money" (Feat. Lil Wayne)
There’s no way I could make a Top 50 list and not have a Lil Wayne verse on here. I haven’t heard every verse he did this year, but everything I did hear was nothing short of fantastic. Westside Gunn brought him onto a classic Griselda track that’s full of muted drums and eerie synthesizers. This track is significantly slower than the normal Wayne verse, but he still fits it beautifully. There aren’t any classic Wayne lines on here, but everything he says just bleeds into the next line so perfectly that it’s amazing he basically freestyles everything he does. Maybe the best one-liner here is, “I can make your Kim, Kourtney, Khloe do the dash for me,” referencing both the Kardashian sisters and their work with a boutique brand called Dash. Hopefully Wayne and Griselda continue to link up because they’ve yet to miss.
41. Parcels - "Somethinggreater"
“Somethinggreater” brings together all the best parts of Parcels into one track. The production is extremely tight and clean, especially when it comes to the guitar and piano parts. Their harmonies really help the song vocally, especially towards the end of the track. It could easily be played at a lighthearted family get together, and no one would second guess it. But this track also has the new version of the Parcels as well, which includes these subtle string sections during the pre-chorus that add so much. The track even continues for about a minute longer than it had to with them just jamming out and extending the instrumental. Lyrically, the song is also much more mature than any of their previous releases. Parcels continue to level up in the indie-pop/fancy disco-esque sound.
40. Zack Fox - "fafo"
We finally got a Zack Fox rap album this year, but the lead single “fafo” is still easily one of the best bangers of the year. Zack’s always talked about a love for Memphis and this single does sound straight out of the Three-6 Mafia days. Of course, the song is filled with both hilarious and random pop culture quotables. Most of them are just funny and meant to be clever, like “Drip like Alex Mack, I spent them racks and turned to fluid,” which is referencing a 90s Nickelodeon show, or even just a straight reference like, “Money tall like Iron Giant”. But there are a couple that are genuinely good lines, like when he says, “Play me like a square, I spin the block like it’s a Rubik’s”. Zack is showing that it’s not impossible to still make comedic hip hop and have it be good.
39. PinkPantheress - "Just For Me"
I’m not sure what it is about PinkPantheress or this song in particular, but “Just For Me” is incredibly infectious! PinkPantheress got her popularity on TikTok, but I also don’t know what kind of content this song was getting on the platform. Thankfully though, it got popular enough to be covered by Giveon and Coldplay and is now a staple of this year, and for good reason! The chorus is immediately infectious, the length of the song is perfect for the new generation, her voice is muted but still contains lots of personality, and even Mura Masa delivers some fantastic production that has lots of little quirks worked into it. It balances that line of being a sad song lyrically, but it still has the production that people can just vibe out without paying attention to the lyrics. She’s got a bright future in front of her.
38. Nardo Wick - "Who Want Smoke??" [Remix] (Feat. 21 Savage, Lil Durk, & G Herbo)
This is the most evil song I’ve heard all year. Nardo Wick had the most surprising song to me on the Judas and the Black Messiah Soundtrack at the beginning of the year, and the come up this year has been leading to this remix. Nardo has a similar emotionless delivery that 21 Savage had early in his career, and it fits almost worryingly close compared to what he’s actually talking about, like killing anyone who wrongs him. Durk echoes similar statements, and even takes it a step further with the line, “Called him for a feature just to kill him cause we know he sweet.” And of course, 21 and G Herbo aren’t far behind this evilness, but the song itself is so well constructed as well. Whether it’s the eerie beat or the fact that each verse incorporates the counting scheme, it’s clear a lot of work was put into the track. The chorus is even just this melody of what’s originally stomping, and then each feature changes it slightly for their verse. These guys aren’t here to play, but it makes for a great banger for sure.
37. Poppy - "So Mean"
Talk about catchy, Poppy made what might be the catchiest rock song I’ve heard all year with “So Mean”. She doesn’t have the traditional rocker vocals, instead, the vocal performance during the chorus would fit a pop song much more than this alt-rock track. The verses have more subdued vocals that took me a while to get used to, but I now love that part as well. It’s also helpful that the track contains some easily recognizable and straightforward guitar riffs. The subject matter is also very self-reflective with Poppy looking at the person she became and how she got there. It doesn’t really go into her actually working to improve herself, but that’s fine. Sometimes, acknowledging the problem is enough.
36. Japanese Breakfast - "Slide Tackle"
This is a perfect summertime song. Japanese Breakfast’s voice fits this upbeat track perfectly, but the instrumental is a big reason why this song fits that time of the year perfectly. The bassline that starts off the track and provides much of the instrumental is amazing, and the drums that come in during the chorus make it an easy song for anyone to dance along to. But then, just to make it even better, she adds in a saxophone solo after the chorus that adds in the gliding feelings the song gives off. Even during the second chorus, there’s an additional synth and guitar melody to help it stand out just that much. The brass instruments come back again for the perfect, summer-y outro. This song would’ve been amazing to see live, but I imagine it’ll be a live staple for much of their future sets.
35. Kenny Mason - "Pup"
Songs like this are what makes Kenny Mason different from other artists. Sonically, no one else is putting ideas like this together onto one track. Granted, his lyrics did take a decent hit with this track, as his wordplay is far from perfect, but the sonics more than make up for it. The song starts out as this mechanic, slow-hip hop beat before these heazy, fuzzed out guitar chords help guide the track into its completely different second half. This second half is more emotional and has a more traditional verse from Kenny, but his hook here is also drenched in autotune while the fuzzy, almost industrial-like guitar comes back. The fact that this actually ends up being a rap song is kind of crazy, especially with how much instrumental changes there are. It’s not the cleanest song he’s ever made, but “Pup” shows what makes Kenny unique.
34. Noname - "Rainforest"
I remember back in early 2020 when Noname said her upcoming album Factory Baby was coming out later that year. Here we are at the end of 2021 and the album is still nowhere in sight. She’s doing many really cool things with her book club, but thankfully, we got at least one single this year. “Rainforest” works perfectly like most of Noname’s music has recently, which is that it’s easily enjoyable in the background with a groovy, lowkey beat and her poetic flow, but the lyrics are extremely political and to the point. Although the lyrics are the point of the song, so is the upbeat production because she even mentions in the chorus that even though all these terrible things are happening, she still wants to just dance. It seems like she’s done with music, as she put on her Instagram story that she hasn’t consistently made music since 2018 and likely won’t for a while, so I’ll just be grateful we got one last great song.
33. Iglooghost - "Sylph Fossil"
Iglooghost’s music has always been the musical equivalent to chugging three Red Bulls and putting them in front of a computer, but his album this year took a step back. “Sylph Fossil” is his best track that combines both the frantic energy, with the calming strings and being minimalist with what goes into the track. This track starts out with the frantic energy and these heavy trap drums before the violin enters during the empty verse. They start off separate, but the track really becomes amazing when these two elements come together. The drums come back in around 70 seconds into the song, but they’re all warped in manic ways and the violin just keeps going on it’s own with this chopped vocal chanting to add more layers. It seems like it would be chaotic, but Iglooghost manages to pull it all together.
32. Tkay Maidza - "Kim" (Feat. Yung Baby Tate)
This song was one of my early favorites this year, and I wasn’t sure if Tkay was going to top this with her EP still not out at the midpoint this year. As great as that EP was, nothing still touched this song. It’s not even like anything done on this song is unique, it’s just a normal hip hop banger filled with loads of personality. Tkay’s allusions to all different famous Kims, but the main one being Kim Possible, are all hilarious, and even Yung Baby Tate shows up really well for her feature verse. Even the beat progresses way more than it has any right to in the under 3-minute runtime, with each little beat addition being better than the one before it. Nothing special about this one, but a catchy banger can still be a favorite track of the year.
31. Olivia Rodrigo - "good 4 u"
It’s a banger, what can I say? “Drivers License” didn’t blow me away or anything, but it showed that she had potential, especially for being 17 at the time. “Good 4 u” is really where Olivia shined through this year in my opinion. The pop punk sound has been making a comeback in recent years, but Olivia’s feels more authentic than most, even if it is almost just Paramore’s “Misery Business”. I think it comes down to the personal, borderline cringy, clearly written by a high-schooler, lyrics. Since this was the sound popular when I was young, I always associated this sound with youth and experiencing things for the first time, not a 30-year old who’s been famous for a decade and dating Megan Fox. I hope her next album is more upbeat and keeps this pop punk sound, because she could really dominate this lane in the next few years.
30. De’Wayne - "Super 8"
De’Wayne perfected the indie/punk rock anthem with this track. The melody he uses for the chorus is nothing but amazing and his voice actually fits the track perfectly. He’s got this slightly raspy and deeper voice that doesn’t sound like every other singer you’d hear on the radio, and the way he layers it throughout the track is really great. There’s also a little guitar solo during the bridge that adds onto an already great track. I will say, this is one of those songs that you can play in the background and most people will think that it’s fine, but the lyrics are actually really straightforward and sexual. But when you have a melody this catchy, the actual lyrics are the least important part of the track.
29. J. Cole - "m y . l i f e" (Feat. 21 Savage & Morray)
It’s been close to a decade since Cole sounded this hungry on an actual project he released, and “m y . l i f e” is the most well put together song on the entire tape by far! A big part is due to the features, which includes Morray delivering a heartfelt chorus about losing people close to him, and 21 Savage delivering one of his best verses. Honestly, 21 probably outraps J. Cole on this song, which is something I never would’ve thought possible in 2016, but that’s a testament to his growth. Even the production, which features an interpretation from an old Styles P song, has this timeless feeling while still being able to fit into today’s sound. “M y . l i f e” probably won’t go down as any one of their greatest songs, but it ended up being one heartfelt, well put together hip hop great.
28. Jahmed - USAY
Sometimes, all that’s needed is that the song is a banger. Jahmed has yet to show that he’s something special, but he can’t stop from making straightforward, catchy bangers that sound perfect in a car. Lyrically, he’s not going to blow you away with his double entendres or subject matter, but he’s no slouch on the mic either. The same goes for his flow, he’s not on the same caliber of a JID or Kendrick, but he’s not just doing a simple triplet flow either. He pulls out a new voice for this chorus that almost sounds close to a loud whisper, but it works perfectly and is insanely catchy. The beat is fairly simple as well, but it provides an upbeat, driving background for him to do his thing over. Hopefully he continues to make songs of this quality for a long time.
27. 21 Savage - "Spiral"
21 Savage didn’t even release an album this year, and he still made it on my list three times. “Spiral” is a song made for the new Saw movie that came out this year with Chris Rock. Even someone like me who has never seen a Saw movie can recognize the horror samples they put into this beat. Whether it’s the traditional high-pitched screech noise of the subtle piano, I guarantee that you’ll recognize some of these background sounds from movies. Of course, there’s no rapper better fit for a horror movie than 21 Savage, and he fits the track perfectly. His emotionless delivery works beautifully with this demented track, and the chorus isn’t a slouch either. It’s not his best song ever, but writing this off as just a horror soundtrack song is wrong as well.
26. Young Thug - "Love You More" (Feat. Nate Ruess, Gunna & Jeff Bhasker)
There’s no way I ever thought Young Thug would bring on Gunna and Nate Ruess on the same track, let alone having it end up as a beautiful love song, but here we are. For those that don’t remember the name, Nate Ruess was the lead singer of Fun from the early 2010s, and he ends up fitting this track nicely. These beautiful piano chords drive the track along with just some muted trap drums over top of them. I’m not sure who did what, but having Jeff Bhasker and Metro Boomin handling the production on this song is a big reason why it ended up as fantastic as it did. Every vocalist on the track has layers of processing and Autotune on their voices, but it doesn’t take anything away from the track itself. Even for a traditional singer like Nate, it still adds to the track. "Love You More" is a surprisingly endearing listen from one of hip hop's most unique names.
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