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The 50 Best Songs of 2021

The best songs of 2021 prove that old distinctions are continuing to evaporate at a rapid and liberating pace.

Japanese Breakfast
Photo: Tonje Thilesen

Twenty twenty-one was supposed to be the year we shook off, let’s say, the doldrums and began anew. Of course, things didn’t exactly go as planned, but in the world of pop music, there was at least some cause for optimism. Touring returned—or at least started to—and Adele swooped in at the 11th hour to single-handedly prop up the industry’s commercial prospects. Progress!

That momentum is evident enough if you compare our list of the year’s best songs to its 2020 counterpart. For one, there’s a lot less ennui and a lot more catharsis to be found on this list, like the big, radiant choruses of Snail Mail’s “Valentine” and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s “White Elephant.” Some of our picks find artists continuing to mope about (looking at you, Olivia Rodrigo—you’re too good for him anyway). But more often, they offer windows into their creators’ outlets for comfort in refuge, whether it be self-reflection (Courtney Barnett), sex (Doja Cat), or even the joy of making music itself (Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner).

Even more interestingly, these songs prove that old distinctions—between pop, rock, and hip-hop, between mainstream and indie—are continuing to evaporate at a rapid and liberating pace. Play Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu” and Snail Mail’s “Valentine” back to back and you’d be hard-pressed to distinguish which one was made by a best-selling pop starlet and which was made by a critical indie darling. It’s difficult not to be inspired by such effortless co-mingling of genres and expressions. As the world struggles to open up again, music has already laid the path forward. Jeremy Winograd

[Editor’s Note: Listen to the entire list on Spotify.]


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50. Suzanne Santo, “Mercy”

Suzanne Santo’s “Mercy” wrestles with the weight of personal history and how it shapes our perspective by revisiting a series of formative (and traumatic) childhood experiences, including the intentional poisoning of her family’s cat by a neighbor. “I learned about darkness,” Santo sings frankly, later portraying that darkness as a burden that doesn’t ease with time. And when she admits that her sisters feel like strangers, it’s a truth so sensitive that it seems taboo. Jim Malec

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49. The Rolling Stones, “Living in the Heart of Love”

The last song that the Rolling Stones released before the passing of drummer Charlie Watts, “Living in the Heart of Love” illustrates the immeasurable extent to which the Wembley Whammer held the band together for so many decades. Originally recorded in 1974 and finally released on the new deluxe edition of Tattoo You, this hopped-up rocker is unusually structurally complex for the Stones, and would assuredly fall apart without Watts effortlessly threading the various sections together with controlled yet propulsive fills. Mick Jagger at his growliest is fun too. But let’s finally let Charlie be the star for once. Winograd


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48. Cassandra Jenkins, “Hard Drive”

Over a propulsive yet calming groove of new age-y sax and arpeggiated guitars, “Hard Drive” finds Cassandra Jenkins offering spoken-word accounts of a few seemingly random encounters: a security guard pontificating on art and politics, a restaurant bookkeeper who’s into “chakras and karma,” a friend at a party who’s worried about her mental health. If “the mind is just a hard drive,” as she gently intones on the low-key chorus, and these are just meaningless memories only getting brought up to be coldly filed away, then why does “Hard Drive” feel so beautiful and cathartic? Probably because it all builds to a sorely needed system reboot. “We’re gonna put your heart back together,” the friend assures Jenkins. “So close your eyes/I’ll count to three/Take a deep breath/Count with me.” Winograd


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47. Low, “Hey”

Low’s glitchy and engrossing Hey What was recently nominated for a Grammy for its engineering, and its quasi-title track alone justifies the accolade. “Hey” begins as a pulsating ambient pop song about a relationship collapsing under its own weight—and then, about halfway through its nearly eight-minute runtime, it dissolves into a distorted drone with singer Mimi Parker’s mournful vocalizations soaring over its weathered surface. Eric Mason


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46. Kylie Minogue and Jessie Ware, “Kiss of Life”

It was perhaps inevitable—at least in our disco dreams—that two of last year’s foremost purveyors of the genre’s (ironically) lockdown-era revival would eventually link up on the dance floor. “Kiss of Life,” from the recent “Guest List Edition” of Kylie Minogue’s Disco, finds the Aussie pop star joined by U.K. singer Jessie Ware, whose What’s Your Pleasure? collaborators James Ford and Danny Parker helped the duo cook up this playful pastiche. References to various disco-era classics abound like Easter eggs, from the track’s swirling live strings to Minogue and Ware’s whispered come-ons and vocal hiccups, with Minogue’s breathy coos balanced out by Ware’s silky alto. Sal Cinquemani

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45. Trippie Redd featuring Playboi Carti, “Miss the Rage”

Released on Christmas Day last year, Playboi Carti’s formidable Whole Lotta Red engendered a whole subgenre of “rage rap.” Trippie Redd’s “Miss the Rage” is a rather fine summation of that aesthetic, even if it doesn’t match the intensity of the album’s most grueling and outré moments. Over a looped electric guitar wail and unfettered 808s, Trippie delivers associational verses (delightfully rhyming “‘Ghini” with “zucchini”) and gremlin-voiced tongue-twisters. When Carti himself enters the frame, equilibrium is restored, the King Vamp living up to his villain persona in how he relishes the lines “I put on a bust” and “she got me leakin’.” Charles Lyons-Burt


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44. Nas featuring Cordae and Freddie Gibbs, “Life Is Like a Dice Game”

Originally an unfinished Nas freestyle from 1993, “Life Is Like a Dice Game” reunites three generations of MCs in a rags-to-riches ode to the fickleness of fate accompanied by a euphoric beat. The refrain, “I wake up every morning thinking what we ‘bout to do today,” changes character depending on which artist is performing it: Cordae seems hopeful, Gibbs sounds tongue in cheek, and Nas is as hungry as he was back in the ’90s. Sophia Ordaz


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43. Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés, “Jaque”

Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés fuse the tradition of Catalan folk with the art pop of the future, and “Jaque,” their collaboration with Kronos Quartet, is fierce, ominous, and grand. The song’s production echoes the most tumultuous moments on Björk’s Vulnicura, underscoring lyrics that implore its listeners to listen closely. With a sound this original and intense, the song’s power is self-evident. Mason


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42. Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever”

Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever finds the 19-year-old singer-songwriter repeatedly rejecting the way that her personal and professional contentment is tethered to the men in her life. The title track, which reinforces the notion of happiness’s relativity, expands Eilish’s sonic palette, opening with a jazzy acoustic verse before building to a cathartic pop-punk climax, while retaining her sardonic sense of humor: “I could talk about every time that you showed up on time/But I’d have an empty line ‘cause you never did.” Cinquemani

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41. Mdou Moctar, “Chismeten”

If you still yearn for the bygone days when the giants of psych-rock let their guitars do their talking for them, then “Chismeten,” the raving opening salvo of Mdou Moctar’s towering Afrique Victim, will be like manna from heaven. The lyrics are in Tamasheq, so you probably won’t understand them anyway, but Moctar is the caliber of guitarist capable of creating his own six-string vocabulary. His crack backup band’s ability to not only keep up with but match Moctar’s incredible intensity as he sprays roiling, silvery volleys of notes around is what makes “Chismiten” the most purely explosive rock song of the year. Winograd


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40. Wolf Alice, “Delicious Things”

This woozy track from Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend is a prototypical Los Angeles gothic story of ambition and recklessness. Its awe-inspiring dream-pop chorus, in which lead singer Ellie Roswell declares her intent to pursue “the spot at the top,” and lyrics about seedy parties and unsavory men are darkly indulgent, and the song’s cavernous reverb makes “Delicious Things” feel as haunted as its Marilyn Monroe-inspired heroine. Mason


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39. Charli XCX, “Good Ones”

Produced by Max Martin cohort Oscar Holter, who manned the boards on the Weeknd’s record-smashing “Blinding Lights,” Charli XCX’s “Good Ones” marks a shift from hyperpop back to a more mainstream sound for the British pop auteur. Like “Blinding Lights,” “Good Ones” is driven by a deep, ’80s-indebted synth line and midtempo kick drum, and showcases Charli’s ear for indelible pop hooks. Clocking in at an economical two minutes and 16 seconds, the track largely eschews the lo-fi vocal effects of last year’s How I’m Feeling Now, replaced with sultry, full-throated verses juxtaposed by a buoyant hook. Cinquemani


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38. Halsey, “I Am Not a Woman, I’m a God”

Trent Reznor’s industrial angst has always been filtered through a distinctly masculine rock lens. On the pointedly titled “I Am Not a Woman, I’m a God,” the lead single from Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power—which was co-written and produced by Reznor and Atticus Ross—the singer, who uses she/they pronouns, obliterates whatever barriers remain between gender and corporal identity. Cinquemani

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37. Let’s Eat Grandma, “Hall of Mirrors”

British duo Let’s Eat Grandma’s first song since 2018 is a propulsive synth-pop journey of self-discovery. Rosa Walton’s and Jenny Hollingworth’s youthful voices render the song tender and fresh, with synths spiraling around them like lights reflecting off glass. “Hall of Mirrors” is a mature and magical refinement of Let’s Eat Grandma’s outsider pop, and it’s as remarkable as it is relatable. Mason


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36. Big Red Machine featuring Anaïs Mitchell, “Latter Days”

It should come as no surprise to those familiar with Aaron Dessner’s music that Big Red Machine’s How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? features a number of ballads built on sad, simple piano melodies. Featuring lead vocals by Anaïs Mitchell and stunning background vocals by Justin Vernon, “Latter Days” works as both a paean to the end of childhood and a reflection of our apocalyptic times: “I recall it all forever/How we sheltered in our place/And we called each other lovers/In the latter days.” Winograd


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35. Sophie, “UNISIL”

Released just two days before her tragic death last January, Sophie’s “UNISIL” epitomizes the late producer’s uncanny talent for crafting electronic music that sounds like the meeting of human and machine. From 808 claps that sound like a whip being cracked to the yelps and exhales Sophie weaves into the beat, the bubblegum bass auteur packs so much impressive noise and feeling into just two minutes that the track has to pause every several seconds just to recalibrate itself. Lyons-Burt


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34. Noname, “Rainforest”

Rumors that Chi-town poet, rapper, and community organizer Noname will retire from music have been circulating for years. “Rainforest” is a testament to the massive loss hip-hop would experience if that were to come to pass. Noname delivers intertextual bars that deserve their own footnotes, referencing environmental degradation in the Amazons, Frantz Fanon, and the 1969 moon landing in an indictment of anti-blackness, capitalism, and neoliberalism. Through the grief, Noname stokes a small flame of optimism: “Everybody dies a little/And I just wanna dance tonight.” Ordaz

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33. Jay-Jay Johanson, “I Don’t Like You”

A standout track from Swedish trip-hop veteran Jay-Jay Johanson’s 13th studio album, Rorschach Test, “I Don’t Like You” underlines the genre’s most quintessential traits: a lumbering beat; sparse, wistful keyboards; soulful female vocals (in this case courtesy of singer Sadie Percell); and an almost crushingly downcast atmosphere. Like Portishead’s classic “Sour Times,” though, the song’s deceptively bleak title and ominous vibe cleverly mask a lovelorn irony: “I don’t like you…I adore you.” Cinquemani


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32. Courtney Barnett, “Oh the Night”

At first, the stark piano that drives “Oh the Night,” the closing track from Courtney Barnett’s Things Take Time, Take Time, seems like an unnecessary signifier of intimacy and authenticity. But once Barnett gets to the meat of the song, its emotional potency becomes undeniable: “Sorry that I’ve been slow, you know it takes a little/Time for me to show how I really feel/Won’t you meet me somewhere in the middle/On our own time zone.” Wherever that time zone is, you’ll feel as if you want to meet her there. Winograd


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31. A.G. Cook featuring Charli XCX, “Xcxoplex”

“Xcxoplex,” a highlight from A.G. Cook’s immense remix album Apple vs. 7G, reaffirms the vitality of hyperpop by boiling the subgenre down to its most essential musical and thematic elements. The song’s alternately harsh and kinetic electronic production and lyrics about psychedelic bliss—much like the transcendence promised by the EDM that inspired Cook—are even more impactful when delivered by two of hyperpop’s architects. Mason


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30. Valerie June featuring Carla Thomas, “Call Me a Fool”

Valerie June’s “Call Me a Fool” is immediate, focused, and raw, featuring a powerhouse performance whose classic soul lineage is underscored by the presence of legendary Memphis singer Carla Thomas on backing vocals. “Thought I had it under control/But it shook me, gripped me, grabbed my soul,” June sings. It’s a line that, once the chorus hits and June unleashes a gritty, back-of-the-throat growl, rings absolutely true. Winograd

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29. Suzanne Santo, “Over and Over Again”

The gospel-infused opening track to Suzanne Santo’s exquisite sophomore solo effort, Yard Sale, boasts a spacious, mesmeric arrangement of skittering drums, pensive piano, and bare finger snaps that puts the focus squarely where it belongs: on Santo’s gritty, lived-in performance and inspirational lyrics, and the accompanying soulful background vocals. Cinquemani


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28. Sofia Kourtesis, “By Your Side”

Sofia Kourtesis’s “By Your Side” is a six-minute marvel in 4/4 that’s never the same from one moment to the next. Its pace is one of gradual but constant escalation, as she introduces a plethora of warm, tingling sounds that flit in and out of focus. The track eventually yields controlled eruptions of horns that resonate with a curious poignance, as if Kourtesis is sharing a personal truth. Lyons-Burt


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27. Courtney Barnett, “Rae Street”

The visceral opening track from Courtney Barnett’s Things Take Time, Take Time finds the singer-songwriter waking up with nothing to look forward to. She rattles off some ostensibly mundane observations, her laidback, jangly guitar strumming mirroring the unhurried pace of the day that unfolds in front of her: a garbage truck rolling by; painters working on a house across the street; a harried mom next door yelling as her “kids run amok.” But from these small moments, deep human insights emerge: “Lay it all on the table/You seem so stable/But you’re just hanging on.” She’s probably singing as much about herself as anyone else, but it sounds more like a direct appeal to the listener. She sees us as clearly as the people on the street below. Winograd


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26. Skrillex, Noisia, Josh Pan, & Dylan Brady, “Supersonic”

Skrillex’s “Supersonic (My Existence)” melds the chaotic bass music of Dutch trio Noisia, the smooth emo stylings of Taiwanese singer/producer Josh Pan, and the anything-goes approach of 100 gecs’s Dylan Brady, whose unique imprint is found in the clacking trap drums scattered throughout. The track’s wormhole of a beat drop interrupts Pan’s waxing about alienation, boring its way into your head and setting the rhythm to its moodily gliding forward motion. It’s abrasive in a stimulating, galvanizing sort of way. Lyons-Burt

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25. James McMurtry, “Canola Fields”

It’s sometimes hard to take James McMurtry at his word that none of his songs are autobiographical when the details are so vivid—likening the color of a crop field to “the same chartreuse as that ‘69 bug you used to drive around San Jose,” for instance—that it seems like there’s no way he could have written them down without having lived them first. Fiction or not, “Canola Fields” is one of McMurtry’s very best songs, taking 10 efficient verses to paint a true-feeling portrait of a decades-long affair that goes unconsummated until it finally doesn’t. “You can’t be young and do that,” he crows, and he’s got a point: The older and wiser he gets, the better his songs get too. Winograd


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24. Kanye West featuring the Weeknd and Lil Baby, “Hurricane”

A microcosm of Ye’s recording strategy of late, “Hurricane” went through countless iterations before the one that landed on streaming services. He somehow settled on the Weeknd, poster boy for cocaine and Las Vegas, to do the assuring that God won’t let us down. Ye’s verse finds him refusing to be anything short of honest and soul-bearing about his shortcomings and failures: “Made the best tracks and still went off the rail…genius gone clueless.” Lil Baby admitting that “sometimes I just wanna restart it” and the Weeknd’s call to “bring down the rain” seem to demand a grand reckoning or purge, and the magisterial organ and booming trap drums, in communion with the Weeknd’s crystal falsetto, don’t fail to deliver. Lyons-Burt


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23. Caroline Polachek, “Bunny Is a Rider”

Whether she’s singing about desire, the torture of long-distance relationships, or the liberation of rejecting attachment altogether, Caroline Polachek imbues her songs with a distinctive exhilaration. Co-produced by Danny L Harle, “Bunny Is a Rider” is the former Chairlift frontwoman’s abstract and slinky ode to independence. The song sounds dramatically different from much of 2019’s Pang, incorporating record scratches and the sound of a giggling baby, and it thrives on Polachek’s wit (“Dirty like it’s Earth Day”) and irreplicable vocals. Mason


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22. Halsey, “Bells in Santa Fe”

Game of Thrones reportedly inspired the imagery for Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power and its accompanying film, and that influence, fittingly underscored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s icy synth stabs and staccato piano, is most evident on the bewitching “Bells in Santa Fe.” “Don’t call me by my name/All of this is temporary,” Halsey sings, evoking Arya Stark, Jesus, Judas, and many of the themes—self-doubt, self-sabotage, self-empowerment—that are central to the artist’s work. Cinquemani

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21. Indigo De Souza, “Late Night Crawler”

On her sophomore album, Any Shape You Take, breakout indie rock star Indigo de Souza shines a light on boldfaced insecurities and anxieties but still manages to arrive at life-affirming conclusion. She makes use of the broad range of her voice on the soaring anthem “Late Night Crawler,” starting with soft birdsong-like crooning before belting the redemptive chorus: “Maybe we’re bigger than staying on the very same island/Maybe we’re bigger than standing in the very same place.” When she suddenly gasps for air in the second verse, it’s as if she’s fully felt the weight of her epiphany. Ordaz


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20. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, “White Elephant”

Let’s imagine someone who, like most non-fans, only knows one Nick Cave song (“Red Right Hand”), maybe two if you count Johnny Cash’s cover of “The Mercy Seat.” Say that you wanted to ease such a person into Cave’s intimidating discography, what song would you go with next? There’s no right answer, but the emotionally jam-packed “White Elephant” would be as good a pick as any. The first half gives us the carnal, apocalyptic, death-obsessed Cave who growls that he’ll “shoot you in the fucking face” while the second finds him in full religious euphoria, bellowing ecstatically about “a kingdom in the sky.” In other words, it accomplishes in six minutes what Cave has often taken multiple albums to do. Winograd


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19. Logic1000, “Like My Way”

With “Like My Way,” London-based DJ Logic1000 programs a quivering, low-impact bass pattern that nudges you onto the dance floor without over-announcing itself, alongside crisp hi-hats and claps that form the backbone of the beat. Eventually, you hear the faintest trace of a guitar tone and wisps of a vocal you can’t quite make out. The friction between these elements lulls you into a trance, but “Like My Way” is nonetheless primed for the most tasteful club experience you’ve ever had. Lyons-Burt


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18. GRiZ, “Vibe Check”

Sure, “Vibe Check” has the drumroll buildup and beat drop that are endemic to EDM, but that structure is irrelevant given that it’s all one giddy adrenaline rush. Denver dubstep producer GRiZ, a.k.a. Grant Kwiecinski, knows how to sustain a surge of excitement without it becoming cloying or gaudy. Here, his buoyant saxophone-playing lures the listener in, and then he inundates us with not one but two dazzling synth noises—one a squelching squiggle and the other blissed-out and fried. Lyons-Burt

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17. Isaiah Rashad, “Headshots (4r Da Locals)”

Top Dawg second-stringer Isaiah Rashad returns after five years away from the game with this easygoing bop that belies unsettling undertones. “Headshots (4r Da Locals)” finds Rashad firmly in his bag musically: sitting back on his heels in his delivery, his voice rough and gravelly but agreeable over production with minimal bells and whistles. Yet the track’s lyrical content tells a different story, hinting at the self-destructive tendencies that were the cause of Rashad’s half-decade hiatus: “Who want a shot, who wanna die?” the rapper asks, referencing his alcoholism. Moaning vocals evoke his ongoing struggle, and when Rashad sings, “Peep me in the scope, if I’m gone, don’t trip,” his blinkered relationship to mortality is made painfully clear. Lyons-Burt


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16. Torres, “Thirstier”

Much of Torres’s 2020 album Silver Tongue was devoted to her worry that her love was too good to be true and that her affection would not be reciprocated. On Thirstier, however, she finds herself diving headlong into this love, and the album’s stadium-sized title track depicts her walking the line between devotion and obsession, only slowing briefly on the bridge when her fear of abandonment creeps back in. “Thirstier” is a volatile monument of love, and one of Torres’s finest and most rousing songs to date. Mason


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15. Flo Milli, “Roaring 20s”

Alabama MC Flo Milli turns an inspired sample into an ingenious bit of self-expression and assertion with “Roaring 20s.” Producer Kenny Beats repurposes Fiddler on the Roof’s “If I Were a Rich Man” as a thundering rap track, and Flo spends her first verse mockingly elaborating on the habits of rich men, from their vantage (“Four days in the same clothes…all of my bitches got white toes”). Then she doubles down on her speed of delivery and brashness in the second verse, spitting with force about her self-worth. In both verses she says, “Stupid shit, it’s just a double standard,” in different contexts, to disrupt gendered assumptions about men and women. Lyons-Burt


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14. The War on Drugs featuring Lucius, “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”

The glittering title track from the War on Drugs’s immersive I Don’t Live Here Anymore immediately leaps out of the speakers, sounding like the greatest hit of 1987 that never was. The emotive guitar soloing, period synth tones, backing choir, and Bob Dylan references certainly evoke the second Regan term. But that’s selling it short. Looking back at even the most enduring rock ‘n’ roll hits of ’87—“With or Without You,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Sweet Child ‘O Mine,” “The One I Love”—this one is just as good. Winograd

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13. PinkPantheress, “Just for Me”

TikTok’s breakout track of the summer and a stellar example of PinkPantheress’s sugary-sweet hooks, “Just for Me” excels in making stalking seem as cute and harmless as a puppy. A heady daze of 2-step garage and PinkPantheress’s crystalline android-like vocals, the song contrasts its angelic atmosphere with creepily obsessive lyrics (“I found the street of the house in which you stay/And my diary’s full of your name on every page”), which became the backing audio for more than 2.1 million TikToks. Ordaz


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12. Olivia Rodrigo, “Deja Vu”

After her grandiose ode to heartbreak, “Drivers License,” Olivia Rodrigo pivoted to throwing a well-aimed dart at her ex with “Deja Vu.” The song first enraptures us with a chiming synth and indelible images of teenage bliss: a shared bowl of ice cream, a piece of clothing, and the joyous mundanity of “bein’ annoying/singin’ in harmony.” In a Swiftian shift in perspective, Rodrigo then zooms out to reveal that she’s describing her former lover repeating all of the things they did together with his new flame. A whirring, distorted guitar buzzes in to emphasize the singer’s frustrations, flaming out when she sings, “I hate to think I was just your type.” Pointed and funny but still sweetly earnest, “Deja Vu” embodies both the sting of Rodrigo’s jilted rejection and the utopia of first love, even as it curdles in her memory. Lyons-Burt


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11. Japanese Breakfast, “Paprika”

On “Paprika,” Michelle Zauner addresses how indie success has left her feeling half-empty: “How’s it feel to be at the height of your powers?…I opened the floodgates and found no water, no current, no river, no rush.” Her lyrics are invitingly human for their willingness to describe unsatisfied desire. After declaring that she finds “no rush,” she proclaims, “It’s a rush!” Is she being sarcastic, or just making space for multiple truths? The ambiguity gives the music a tantalizing quality, insistently throwing us off her trail. Lyons-Burt


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10. Lorde, “Mood Ring”

Lorde’s luminous and wry “Mood Ring” aims to be a biting satire, a lushly layered sonic experience, and an early-aughts acoustic-pop throwback all at once—and it succeeds. With each hook comes multiplying harmonies and empathetic emotional observations that not only critique but explain the relationships between femininity, wellness culture, and imperialism. The song’s tight structure and myriad Jack Antonoff-supplied instrumental details are intoxicating and invite repeat listens, presumably as Lorde intended. Mason

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9. Olivia Rodrigo, “Drivers License”

Though indebted to Taylor Swift’s brand of naked confessionals, Olivia Rodrigo’s breakout hit, “Drivers License,” soars to heights that Swift’s Folklore and Evermore intentionally sidestepped. The song’s laser-focused narrative expertly distills how the littlest of things can be the most crushing, especially when it comes to teenage love: “I got my driver’s license last week/Just like we always talked about…But today I drove through the suburbs/Crying ‘cause you weren’t around.” Cinquemani


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8. Jessie Ware, “Hot N Heavy”

Deluxe re-issues are often dumping grounds for leftovers that appeal mostly to die-hard fans of the original album. But this year’s “Platinum Pleasure Edition” of Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? is an after party that was well worth waiting for and is every bit as dazzling. “Hot N Heavy” is a clear standout, a sultry disco throwback produced by SG Lewis that lives up to its title as well as its myriad influences. Ware flaunts her vocal range and timbre throughout, alternating between breathy, seductive verses and full-throated choruses, eventually resorting to intelligible gibberish—“You make me feel like ooo-ha-ha-ha-ha”—to express her rapture. Cinquemani


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7. Billie Eilish, “Oxytocin”

While “Bad Guy” saw Billie Eilish aspiring to be dangerous and edgy, a tall order against the gaudy carnivalesque synth of its chorus, “Oxytocin” masterfully orchestrates dynamic shading and opens up a dark, slick electronic playground that’s well-suited to her paper-thin vocals. The verses’ incessant clacking ramps up the tension ever so slowly, before Eilish sings the chorus in breathy whispers, then yelps: “You should really run away.” Its dynamic range and slick production make “Oxytocin” one of the most inventive songs from Eilish’s catalog and her most convincingly menacing. Ordaz


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6. Lucy Dacus, “Thumbs”

Over nothing more than a low synth drone and a few whooshing sound effects, Lucy Dacus’s “Thumbs” recounts an experience she had accompanying a friend to a bar to meet up with the latter’s deadbeat dad for the first time in years. “Honey, you sure look great/Do you get the checks I send on your birthday?” the dad asks flippantly as Dacus silently stews for her abandoned friend. “I would kill him if you let me,” she seethes with chilling stoicism. It’s not easy to remain a sympathetic character once you’ve given a clinical explanation of how you plan to commit murder, but Dacus’s skills as a singer and songwriter explains why, in this instance, she does. Winograd

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5. Spellling, “Boys at School”

Chrystia “Tia” Cabral, the Oakland artist known as Spellling, conjures the heightened emotions of unrequited teenage love and the frustrations of a gender-dictated world with “Boys at School.” Over the course of seven-and-a-half minutes, this haunting power ballad follows a narrator, on the cusp of turning 16, under great duress when her affections are met with indifference from a male classmate. The character’s agony is channeled through Cabral’s theatrical mode of singing, an expressive flair matched by scene-setting minor-key piano and, eventually, hair-metal guitar. It’s performed with a self-awareness that these emotions are as valid as they are perhaps overblown. Lyons-Burt


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4. Doja Cat featuring SZA, “Kiss Me More”

One of Doja Cat’s more wholesome songs, this disco-tinged bubblegum-pop confection is both a celebration of youth and an ode to kissing, which felt like a small pleasure of the past before this year’s vaccine rollout. Ordaz


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3. Snail Mail, “Valentine”

While Lindsey Jordan’s debut, Lush, erred on the side of sonic minimalism, the singer-songwriter’s Valentine inches toward a rock-oriented busy-ness. On the title track, Jordan makes expert use of soft-loud dynamics, segueing from relatively spacious verses replete with self-reproach to brasher, more confident choruses, literally and figuratively speaking to the virtues of letting go and moving on. John Amen


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2. Japanese Breakfast, “Posing in Bondage”

The juggling of conflicting perspectives is on fine display throughout Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee, as Michelle Zauner insightfully explores the dangers of buying into agreed-upon fantasies with a romantic partner. “Posing in Bondage” is the album’s centerpiece, not just because it comes at the halfway point, but because its walloping, unanswered pleas for “closeness” and “proximity” are as massive as the track’s percussion. For this singular artist, music is the chance to conceive of the exuberant possibilities of life and love while teasing out their more bracing realities. Lyons-Burt

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1. Lana Del Rey, “Chemtrails Over the Country Club”

On the title track to Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Lana Del Rey settles down near Brentwood, an affluent Los Angeles suburb, where she begins to feel torn between pedestrian normalcy and the pop-star stratosphere. In her restlessness, she seeks thrills in street racing and finds meaning in astrology; likewise, the song’s production gradually grows more ethereal and mesmerizing. Often in pop songs, unconventional turns of phrase represent awkward efforts to fit lyrics to a rhyme scheme; here, though, Del Rey’s experiments with syntax deepen the song’s themes. (What does it mean, exactly to live “under…country clubs”?) She applies the writerly instincts she honed in her poetry collection, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, to bridge pop aphorisms (“It’s never too late, baby/So don’t give up”) with diaristic specificity. Like “Text Book,” the opening track of Blue Banisters, the other album she released this year, “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” clarifies how Del Rey wants to be seen: as both a grounded person and an otherworldly talent. Mason

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