Hello there! And welcome back to Listmas 2021, RAM’s end of year coverage. Today’s entry is pretty straight forward, it’s my 50 favorite songs of last year. All a song had to do to make the list was be released in 2021. Could be a pop song, could be something in the far reaches of bandcamp. Because of how we’re doing the Best and Worst pop song blog (coming sometime next week), songs that made the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 are eligible for this list, that’s a first.
The Fifty Favorite Songs portion of Listmas is always lowkey my favorite part, because it feels like the best attempt at encompassing everything that stuck with me for the year. Whereas there are plenty of albums that I listened to but weren’t truly in the running for one reason or another, virtually everything had a song or two I could pluck out and spin. Plus, truth be told, I’m exactly the kind of person who’ll listen to a song for 15 minutes in a row because I didn’t appreciate it enough (idk either, man) on that listen through. So, without further ado, here’s the alphabetical list with some light commentary, with a Spotify playlist at the end.
Action/Adventure – “Poser” The A/A EP this year was a great no-frills pop-punker, really gratifying.
The Armed – “All Futures”
Beach House – “Superstar”
Bigger Better Sun – “Some Important Things”
CHVRCHES – “How Not to Drown”
Clairo – “Amoeba”
Death From Above 1979 – “One + One” I didn’t touch last year’s DFA1979 album or the one before it, but this is a killer single.
Doja Cat – “Need To Know”
Drake – “What’s Next”
Fiddlehead – “Heart to Heart”
For Those I Love – “Birthday / The Pain”
Foxing – “If I Believed In Love” If you ever have the chance, just go into this one blind, it’ll stun you.
glass beach and Skylar Spence – “Rat Castle (Skyler Spence Remix)”
Half Waif – “Orange Blossoms”
Halsey – “You Asked For This”
Harmony Woods – “Rittenhouse” Graceful Rage is a super potent album that I’m surprised wasn’t more talked about.
Hey, Ily – “DigitalLung.EXE”
Home Is Where – “Long Distance Conjoined Twins”
In the Heights – “Champagne” I went back and forth between this and the title track and “$96,000” and “Paciencia Y Fe” and “When the Sun Goes Down” and “No Me Diga” and
Japanese Breakfast – “Kokomo, IN”
Kacey Musgraves – “cherry blossom”
Lana Del Rey – “White Dress”
Laura Stevenson – “Don’t Think About Me”
Lightning Bug – “I Lie Awake” This ranks high on my list of favorite songs of the year.
Lil Nas X – “LOST IN THE CITADEL”
Lil Uzi Vert – “Pump Up the Jam”
Mo Troper – “Quarter Beare” Shoutout Indiecast for putting me onto Mo Troper.
Nick Lutsko – “Spirit Halloween Planet”
Olivia Rodrigo – “deja vu” It’s hard to not feel at least a little like a fraud putting Olivia Rodrigo on your music list when you’re over age like, 23, but I really like this song.
Origami Angel – “Noah Fence” Gami gang.
Parannoul – “White Ceiling”
Park Hye Jin – “i jus wanna be happy” Almost went with “Let’s Sing, Let’s Dance” here, too.
Pinkshift – “Mars”
Polo G. – “RAPSTAR” I didn’t stay on it all year, but I dug the hell out of Hall of Fame
Porter Robinson – “Musician” Cannot recommend Robinson enough if you crave extroverted, pre-“Closer” EDM pop.
Red Velvet – “Hello, Sunset”
Silk Sonic feat. Bootsy Collins and Thundercat – “After Last Night”
Smol Data – “Bitch Store” I love this song and most of Inconvenience Store for how unapologetically snippy it is.
Snail Mail – “Valentine”
St. Vincent – “My Baby Wants a Baby” A quintessentially St. Vincent track, cool because I can hear it on any of her albums.
Sweet Soul – “No Control”
Taylor Swift – “Babe (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” It’s a shame that “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault) (Jake Gyllenhaal is a War Criminal)” took up all the oxygen around the Red vault tracks, because it’s probably the like fifth best one.
Turnstile – “DON’T PLAY”
Tyler, the Creator feat. Teezo Touchdown – “RUNITUP”
The War on Drugs – “Victim”
The Weeknd – “Take My Breath” New Weeknd this Friday, that’ll be exciting.
Willow – “naive” Niche, but: did you have Willow making the year’s best Title Fight song? I didn’t.
Wolf Alice – “Smile”
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – “Infinite Josh” The first half of this is just the most gorgeous thing.
Yves Tumor – “Jackie”
And we’re done! See you for the final part of Listmas next week!
–Favorite Albums of 2021
-The Gibby Fifty–Fifty Favorite Songs of the Year
-Billboard Blitz: Finding the Best and Worst of 2021’s Hits
