The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2021 REDUX

 

The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2021 REDUX

Hi, it’s Fire, and I’m back with the top 10 BEST hit songs of 2021 redux!!

So as I implied in my worst list redux, despite at the time feeling like 2021’s pop music was a bit of a step back in comparison to that of 2020’s, 3 years later, I’d argue that 2021 has actually aged even better overall!

The year-end list for 2021 showcased a banner year for R&B, a brief pop punk revival that fizzled out after this year, and, on a more negative note, the Hot 100 essentially becoming a meaningless hit parade that stans and artists put way too much stock into and resorting to exploiting loopholes just to chase statistical feats that only further undermined those statistics the more the chart got exploited. You don’t need to look further than “Butter” by BTS for a more flagrant example of this. Where thanks to a loophole in Billboard’s formula regarding sales, the BTS ARMY mass-bought multiple copies of “Butter” to artificially place it atop the Hot 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks, blocking “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo from spending more than a singular week at #1. And the irony of it all? “Good 4 u” was the 5th biggest song of 2021 while “Butter” only placed at #11 on the year-end list for 2021 (I’m not lying, I was slightly tempted to put “Butter” on the worst list redux for making chart-watching thoroughly exhausting that summer, but in the end I do like the song and I can’t really justify putting a song I actually like on my worst list). But there were enough great songs here to where I could make a top 25 of this list with honorable mentions and still have to cut some songs!!

And as I said in the worst list redux, the main reason I wanted to redo this list was because I wanted to paint my personal life as more positive than I did back when I made my original lists. Because 2021 is a year that I’ve honestly found myself feeling super nostalgic for as of late. And this is likely gonna be my final list redux, since I don’t have the motivation or time to redo 2015 or 2019 like I had planned and I don’t think there’s enough substantial changes in my opinion or any deeper motivation to redo my other year-end lists. But if you wanna see what my 2022 best list would look like with my new criteria and new opinions...

HMs:

Cole Swindell - She Had Me At Heads Carolina

Lil Nas X - THAT’S WHAT I WANT

Beyonce - BREAK MY SOUL

Morgan Wallen - Sand In My Boots

Tate McRae - she’s all i wanna be

Chris Stapleton - You Should Probably Leave

Zach Bryan - Something In The Orange

The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber - STAY

NEIKED, Mae Muller, & Polo G - Better Days

Em Beihold - Numb Little Bug

10. Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow - INDUSTRY BABY

9. Nicky Youre f/Dazy - Sunroof

8. Lil Durk f/Gunna - What Happened To Virgil

7. Joji - Glimpse Of Us

6. Harry Styles - As It Was

5. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)

4. Taylor Swift - All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)

3. THE ANXIETY - Meet Me At Our Spot

2. Cody Johnson - ‘Til You Can’t

1. Justin Bieber - Ghost

You’ll see the changes to my 2023 lists when I reflect on them in my 2024 lists at the end of the year. So, now for the songs that are eligible for this list. The songs had to land on the year-end Hot 100 list for 2021 with any and all Christmas songs being swapped out of the eligibility pool by the songs that finished just below the year-end list and if the songs were on 2020’s year-end, they had to finish higher than they did in 2020 unless the repeat is in the top 20, where it’s eligible regardless of year-end position compared to last year. With all that being said, let’s start things off by previewing my original best list...

HMs:

Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow - INDUSTRY BABY

Ariana Grande - pov

Lil Tjay f/6LACK - Calling My Phone

The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber - STAY

Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Leave Before You Love Me

Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)

Doja Cat f/SZA - Kiss Me More

10. Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open

9. The Weeknd & Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears

8. Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license

7. Thomas Rhett - What’s Your Country Song

6. Olivia Rodrigo - traitor

5. Tate McRae - you broke me first

4. Masked Wolf - Astronaut In The Ocean

3. Justin Bieber - Anyone

2. Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u

1. Dua Lipa - Levitating

Well, there are some changes I can already see here. And if you think you know how my list will turn out based on my criteria, well, you haven’t seen anything yet. So let’s finally kick things off with our honorable mentions!!

HM #1: Megan Thee Stallion - Thot Shit (YE: #71, PEAK: #16)

No, this isn’t as great as “WAP”. It’s not as quotable or funny and there’s no one for Megan to have chemistry with, with a weaker hook on top of all that. But at the same time, “Thot Shit” kinda works for a song just designed to piss off conservatives. Megan’s flow here is tight as hell and the production is incredibly menacing to let you know to not mess with Megan Thee Stallion. So yeah, it’s a weaker version of “WAP”, but it’s still a great song nonetheless.

HM #2: Kali Uchis - Telepatia (YE: #49, PEAK: #25)

I can’t believe this song is this low on this list!! In other years, this would’ve definitely been in the top 10 proper somewhere (and I’m probably gonna get slaughtered for some of the songs that made the actual top 10 over this). But why is “Telepatia” a great song? Well, the production is enchanting, with the dreamy synths and percussion and that matches Kali Uchis’s seductive cooing really well. Kali seamlessly switches between Spanish and English and it only makes it seem more seductive. Great little song!!

HM #3: Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open (YE: #7, PEAK: #1)

Well yes, An Evening With Silk Sonic is very much boomer bait and there are cuts on that album I prefer to this (“Fly As Me” in particular is underrated as hell). But “Leave The Door Open” is still a great song, it’s incredibly inviting and lush in the arrangement and the vocal delivery. I really like Bruno Mars’ voice here, he sings his ass off here. And the song has a lot of memorable lines, like “if you’re hungry, girl I got filets” and both Bruno and Anderson are really playful in their deliveries to make this feel all the more warm and inviting. Great song!!

HM #4: Rauw Alejandro - Todo De Ti (YE: #100, PEAK: #32)

I really didn’t give this song enough attention back in 2021. It’s a bona fide summer smash that never came to be because *gasp* it’s a Spanish song!! But “Todo De Ti” works really well for me thanks to the great nu disco production. The synth that opens up the track sounds great and the percussion gives this a really solid groove. And that breakdown after the chorus with what sounds like a whistle weirdly works for me as well haha. Great song, definitely an underrated little gem worth hearing!!

HM #5: Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Leave Before You Love Me (YE: #63, PEAK: #19)

Yeah, I still don’t like the Jonas Brothers at all, almost everything I’ve heard from them, pre and post-reunion has been just good at best and one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard at worst. Key word here, though, is “almost”, because this is by far the best song I’ve heard from them and easily their best hit. Marshmello’s production work here is probably the standout element for me; the groove is pretty tight and the guitar sounds quite likeable. Yeah, this is a great song and one that weirdly makes me feel nostalgic despite the fact that I don’t have any concrete memories associated with this song. Welp, I’ll leave before I love this song more.

HM #6: Eric Church - Hell Of A View (YE: #91, PEAK: #28)

I told you, as awful as the worst country hits in 2021 were, the best country hits were truly something special. And “Hell Of A View” is a great song. It’s one where Eric Church sings about he and his partner chasing a dream or hoal, and while the journey to that goal isn’t always gonna be easy, it’ll all be worth it to see that hell of a view. But the production is really the star of the show here for me, the guitar and piano sound quite nice and give this a weirdly americana/mountain man vibe in the best way possible. And Eric Church’s rougher vocals complement the production perfectly. The backing vocals from Joanna Cotten also are great touches and only add to that mountain man vibe I get from this. Not the last country song on this list that has to do with rolling the dice, but still, this is a great song!!

HM #7: The Weeknd - Take My Breath (YE: #89, PEAK: #6)

Yes, part of me is still really annoyed that Dawn FM wasn’t bigger - “Sacrifice” really should’ve been one of the biggest songs of 2022 you cowards - but in the meantime, “Take My Breath” is still a great track. The groove is insanely tight and the synths are dark and enticing. And Abel’s falsetto is actually quite great here. Yeah, not much to this, just a very strong little song.

HM #8: Doja Cat f/SZA - Kiss Me More (YE: #6, PEAK: #3)

In my original best list, I made a slight prediction that this song would turn into a personal time machine for me. And...it came true in some way? This isn’t on the same level as “It Ain’t Me” by Kygo and Selena Gomez, but hearing this still transports me back to those beautiful Kauai and Big Island sunsets. Speaking of which, here’s one sunset I saw on my Hawaii trip that year:

But “Kiss Me More” is still a great song on its own merits. The production sounds really summery and sexy. And that complements Doja and SZA really well, they sound like they’re having a ton of fun and they let you know that they love kissing you (okay that sounded way better in my head but fuck it idk how else to say it). Great track, and it’s hot as hell.

HM #9: Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow - INDUSTRY BABY (YE: #24, PEAK: #1)

This is a triumphant victory lap for Lil Nas X that admittedly took some time to fully click for me, but eventually just clicked all into place. I previously had expressed that I didn’t really think Lil Nas X’s lower register in the chorus worked very well after the first time, but with repeated listens, I now think that that register is still very effective in conveying Lil Nas X’s sense of triumph. Then we get Jack Harlow’s verse, and yeah, the references to baby boomers and social networks and computers aren’t really that clever (more forced than anything, really), but Harlow still has enough effortless charm and cool to somehow make it work, even if he’s clearly trying his hardest to come off as a straight guy since he’s on a Lil Nas X song. Yeah, this is an incredible song. Lil Nas X don’t run from nothing dawg, get your soldiers. Tell ‘em that the break is over.

HM #10: Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u (YE: #5, PEAK: #1)

Okay yeah, I was wrong in saying that this song didn’t age that well. I will say that “good 4 u” did fall back a bit for me because it’s a song that doesn’t really stand up to overplay. That said, relistening to “good 4 u” with fresh ears just made the fun anthemic nature of the song flood back to me. Olivia proves she can really carry a goddamn pop punk banger like this. She is also a great actress, you can hear the anger seething with every line Olivia sings. It’s an immature song, yes, and Olivia has made better rock-leaning cuts since this, but “good 4 u” leans into its immaturity and makes the song anthemic enough to shout the song out loud. Yeah, this isn’t Olivia’s best, even from this year - stay tuned - but I’ve come back around to finding “good 4 u” an incredible song. Kickass track!!

Now let’s get our ineligible honorable mentions out of the way...

IHM #1: Regard f/Troye Sivan & Tate McRae - You (YE: #212, PEAK: #58)

Yeah, I mentioned with “Kiss Me More” how that song didn't quite feel like a personal time machine for me, and “You” is definitely the reason why. Troye Sivan and Tate McRae have way better chemistry than you’d expect and Regard’s production is just simply immaculate. Now picture this: you’re in Hawaii, on your dream vacation, in the car with your family. The rain is pouring or maybe even drizzling and you’re in a very green forestry area. You look out the window as the rain patters on the window and the bleeping drop to this song plays on the radio. That’s the main memory I have with this song and that, more than anything, is why I associate this song with one of the best vacations of my life thus far.

IHM #2: Hot Chelle Rae - Tonight Tonight (YE: N/A, PEAK: #7)

I almost feel like I’m cheating by putting a 2011 hit on a 2021 list, but I can’t deny it, this song was THE defining song of my 2021. I’ll let my review of this song from my 2011 best list redux do the rest of the talking now: “Back in 2021 I considered this a huge guilty pleasure for me, in fact, my guiltiest pleasure. I knew exactly why people hated this song and why it appeared on like 5975960607607860785975705076706060607505606770567654564321234565434567656789878987890987898765 worst of 2011 lists, but I was just instantly drawn in by its ridiculously catchy, if pretty basic, melody line and Nash Overstreet’s insanely fun delivery to the point where even the ‘EVEN THE WHITE KIDS’ line didn’t bother me at all and it has never really bothered me. But then, I showed this song one day to my best friend and she became absolutely OBSESSED. Like, to a level I don’t think words can properly comprehend. The song might as well have been our coke. It became the song that we would literally blast on random occasions. And now I always think of the undying bond that me and my best friend have due to that song. I guess if I wanted to really reach to make a pretentious argument, I’d call it the exemplification of how music can connect us with other people. But more than anything, the memories of me and my friend blasting that song every chance we could are why I no longer and will never again consider this song a ‘guilty pleasure’. Guilty pleasures are meant for you to be ashamed of liking or loving, like you don’t really like the song but there is something about it that you find catchy enough to bop to when the ‘homies’ aren’t around. There was something real when my best friend and I blasted this song back in 2021. Nothing guilty about this anymore. And by the way, if you hate this, you’re not invited to the party on the rooftop of the world tonight (which I’m pretty sure is the stratosphere which would mean you’d probably die if you were at that party lol).” Yeah, I think that about sums it up.

Alright, now time for the list proper!

10...Oh boy, how to explain this one being here again...

10. Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open Masked Wolf - Astronaut In The Ocean (YE: #20, PEAK: #6)

I swear, I’m not doing this blindly just to have a hot take. I genuinely still love “Astronaut In The Ocean”. It’s obviously incredibly poorly written and it’s easy to see this as just another lyrical-miracle rap song, because it is, but I don’t come to “Astronaut In The Ocean” for its masterful lyricism or anything. “I believe in G-O-D don’t believe in T-H-O-T” is a possible contender for the worst two seconds in pop music of 2021 but the way I see this song, the song is nothing more than a flex of Masked Wolf’s flow, not his lyricism or his rise from the bottom to the top. And if you’re gonna make a song like this, you have to at least sound like you’re confident and be in control of your flow. That’s the main reason I still genuinely love “Astronaut In The Ocean” to this day. He clearly knows that this song has no meaning, I get the impression he only said this song was about depression to satisfy the people at Genius.com. Masked Wolf’s flow is very attention-grabbing and the nasty guitar on the beat sounds great. If you treat this song as one in a foreign language that you just listen to for the consonance of the syllables, it’s a ton of fun. Add on top of that, a really sticky hook and you get a song that I still find incredibly fun to rap along to this day. And now that all my nonexistent credibility has been flushed down the toilet…

9...When relistening to this year-end list, I was a bit shocked by how much this song really worked for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked this, but for a while, I guess I felt it was too interchangeable to really be anything beyond good. Then, I listened to the lyrics...

9. The Weeknd & Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears Polo G - RAPSTAR (YE: #30, PEAK: #1)

This song is kinda heartbreaking when you listen to the lyrics. Polo G details the struggles that fame and success have brought him and it’s written almost too perfectly for words. When someone asks him if everything’s okay it makes him feel worse because he feels like it’s rehearsed if he tries to explain his anxieties and negative feelings: “When they ask if I'm okay, it just make everything seem worse”. Some of the most striking lines for me here are these:

“I hear planes flyin', crowds screamin', money counters, chains clangin'

Shit, I guess that's how it sound when you winnin'”

The way he says that second line with the most lonely, depressed, and exhausted delivery, it gives you the impression that all his success isn’t giving him any relief from his problems and he’s just numb to everything. Another particularly striking set of lyrics are these:

“Shut the fuck—, I mean, please don't talk

I done been through too much and I don't need another loss

Put that on every war scar for every battle I fought”

The way he cuts himself off before he can say “shut the fuck up” just shows he’s so exhausted and he doesn’t have any more energy to fight or be properly angry. There are so many different lyrics here I can point to that show how exhausted and depressed Polo G is, but quite frankly that’d be enough to write a whole article of its own. But yeah, couple such a heartbreaking set of lyrics with a melancholic ukulele-backed production, and “RAPSTAR” is absolutely incredible. It may have taken some time to fully click for me, but it eventually got there for me.

8...This was my original #1 on this list and while I do still consider this song a highlight in the artist’s discography, it has admittedly faded on me slightly over the years. In my original review of the song, I expressed that I put it at #1 because I was too nostalgic for my own good in 2021 (not the only parallel between 2021 and 2024 for my personal life actually lol) and it reminded me of the club boom of the early 2010s. Which, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch in hindsight, but that doesn’t mean the song isn’t still incredible...

8. Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license Dua Lipa - Levitating (YE: #1, PEAK: #2)

“Levitating” is no longer my favorite Dua Lipa song (that honor would go to “Falling Forever” from Radical Optimism now), but it’s still such a fun song and still one of the best on Future Nostalgia. The song is just immersed in nu disco fluff that Dua’s personality helps to elevate into a real standout. I’ll briefly touch on the DaBaby remix - since it was the reason the song became big in the first place after all - DaBaby’s formula doesn’t feel stale, he actually sounds like he’s having fun and his verse is analogous to some of the guest verses Ludacris dropped back in the early 2010s (yes, I did just crib this point from Spectrum Pulse lol) - disposable but still fun. Yeah, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa: the biggest song of 2021, but only the 8th best hit song of 2021. So what 7 songs beat it this time?

7...On my worst list redux, I put “Holy” by Justin Bieber for “trying to establish Justin Bieber as a respectable Christian man after the shambling disasters that were ‘Yummy’ and ‘Intentions’”. And part of the reason I found that song so mystifyingly bad was that we would later get a song that brought back Justin Bieber’s dignity and sense of quality after his terrible 2020...

7. Thomas Rhett - What’s Your Country Song Justin Bieber - Anyone (YE: #74, PEAK: #6)

No, this isn't better than “Ghost” - absurd amounts of personal significance will do that to you - but “Anyone” is still one of Justin Bieber’s best songs since the Purpose era. I love the production here. Even if the reverbed percussion admittedly makes this feel more hollow than it really should be, I love the keyboard and the closing crescendo on this is legitimately fantastic. And Bieber sounds better here than...possibly any other song of his outside of “Ghost”. That said, I have to admit, if almost anyone else sung this, probably Jon Bellion or Niall Horan or even Ed Sheeran, this’d probably have a solid shot of topping this list. And that’s when you discover that this was originally intended for Camila Cabello, and a version of her singing it did leak a few years ago...I’ll briefly touch on it here but if you’re curious, you can listen to that rendition here. Camila’s rendition is probably just as good as Bieber’s - not better, sadly, the vocals feel sloppier than they should be on it - and I don’t think I would’ve minded a universe where Camila got the song instead, the change in the music key does a lot more than you’d think to change the overall tone of the song. But yeah, regardless of whoever got it in the end, “Anyone” is underrated as fuck, what an incredible little song. Also here’s your daily reminder that if it weren’t for Justin Bieber we never would’ve gotten the 10-minute version of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well”.

6...Songs like these make me happy that my new rules allowed this song to make the best list...

6. Olivia Rodrigo - traitor 24kgoldn f/iann dior - Mood (YE: #4, PEAK: #1)

I’ll say it again, “Mood” is just a fun, sunny, happy, and carefree song that knows it’s disposable and leans into that disposability and winds up always brightening up my day. I love the chirpy guitars and iann dior’s monster of a prechorus. Yeah, still an incredible song.

5...A part of me, even at the time, was really bummed that this song missed my original best list and was really questioning whether I was making the right decision. Because while I wouldn’t exactly put this as my absolute favorite song from her, Billie Eilish cutting loose with a song like this was and still is a sharp heel turn that I’m still a bit shocked by (in a great way of course)...

5. Tate McRae - you broke me first Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever (YE: #94, PEAK: #11)

I remember when I first heard this song back in 2021, I was initially underwhelmed by the first half until that second half just blew my mind. I didn’t know back then Billie was capable of making a song like this. Let me get some criticisms I have of this out of the way first, though. The noisier guitars in the second half aren’t mixed very well - they still have a ton of catharsis but it can be a bit of a rough listen sometimes - and the first half goes on a bit too long for my taste. Then the lyrics, which are about Billie falling for a guy but the guy she fell for disappoints her one too many times. Billie starts by trying to let the guy off gently, but eventually she reaches a boiling point where she lets loose on the guy with a ton of catharsis, symbolized by the second half. That “JUST FUCKING LEAVE ME ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE” hits like an actual gut punch. But yeah, “Happier Than Ever” is an incredible song and one of Billie’s best songs, without a doubt.

4...So “good 4 u” is no longer my favorite Olivia Rodrigo song, mainly because Rodrigo has made better rock-leaning songs since that song, namely “bad idea right?”, which quite honestly might be my favorite song from her period. If you want a VERY close second to that, though...

4. Masked Wolf - Astronaut In The Ocean Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license (YE: #8, PEAK: #1)

I remember back in early 2021 when this song out of nowhere debuted straight at #1, immediately cementing Olivia Rodrigo as an A-lister. While “bad idea right?” is my favorite song from Olivia for its sassy attitude and quotability, “drivers license” is still up there for its authenticity and showcasing Rodrigo’s talent as a genuine songwriter and singer. Rodrigo sounds devastated by the breakup here, she puts all of her heartache into this as she walks through everything she and her ex had promised to do together that they now won’t be able to. Even something as simple as getting a driver's license and driving through the suburbs, she makes out to be such a big deal because at that age, even the smallest and most mundane things seem like your entire world. And maybe I should talk a little about the “blonde girl” lyric considering I kinda went off on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Skin” for being a response to that lyric. The “blonde girl” lyric is used in the context of Rodrigo hurting from seeing her ex move on so quickly to a girl that Rodrigo thinks is perfect in every way. It’s why I still loathe “Skin”; it really came across like Sabrina was pouring salt in the wound for Olivia even though Olivia literally implied she thought Sabrina was perfect in every way. It’s a very high school song, but that’s why it works so well, it’s intentionally the inner monologue of the feelings a teenage girl might be feeling after a breakup. This song is incredible and it was a pop culture moment. Also shoutout to this song being #1 on my 16th birthday and me still not getting my drivers license that week T-T

3...So there’s a solid chance that if any of you viewers read my 2020 best list redux and have seen my current criteria, you might expect this song to be my #1. Well, one thing I realized that I might have to start incorporating as “criteria” in evaluating a song in the context of my lists with the chance that I’ll be putting songs on my lists for multiple years is that I’m probably gonna have to take into account how much the song defines either my personal year or the year in general. So, while this song is easily my favorite song on the year-end list for 2021, it mainly defined my 2020, more than my 2021. So I think I’ll leave it here. Doesn’t stop this from being a transcendent song though!!...

3. Justin Bieber - Anyone The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (YE: #3, PEAK: #1)

I already said all of why I adore this song with all my heart in my 2020 best list redux and I don’t think this song was really a defining part of my 2021 nor anyone else’s 2021, so I’m elbowing this song down to #3 here. But in the meantime, “Blinding Lights” is really one of the rare pop songs that is known as an instant classic by nearly everyone the second it dropped, and for a reason too, it’s impeccably crafted. The synth riff is exhilarating and riding the “Take On Me” interpolation helps this simultaneously feel both retro and modern, thereby making it feel timeless. And Abel’s voice here is simply perfection,  But yeah, “Blinding Lights” is a modern classic and one of the best pop songs of all time, without question. So what two songs kept it from topping this list twice?

2...So I mentioned back in the intro and back with “Hell Of A View” that for as awful as the worst country hits this year were, the best country hits were truly something special. So ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to introduce the best country hit of the year...

2. Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u Chris Stapleton - Starting Over (YE: #53, PEAK: #25)

I feel like “Starting Over” is an accurate picture of what I feel were most people’s attitudes coming off of a rough year in 2020, an optimistic outlook on life where we can take chances and roll the dice without having to worry about what might happen now that most of the bad shit is behind us. And Chris Stapleton’s voice is so warm and comforting to match the equally warm acoustic guitar. But yeah, this is an exhale of a song, one where you can let your anxieties go and...start over. Not unlike...

1...This was a song that I’ve always really liked but struggled to really love. But when relistening to the YE list for 2021, it just clicked into place, so I’m proud to present one of the best R&B songs I’ve ever heard as the best hit song of 2021...

1. Dua Lipa - Levitating SZA - Good Days (YE: #52, PEAK: #9)

Like “Starting Over”, “Good Days” is a bit of an exhale, where you’re able to let go of all your anxieties and melt into the song. I adore the lush production, it’s meditative yet jittery, symbolizing the need to let go of your baggage and relax. I mean, if Kacey Musgraves sung this and the song was given a country palette, it could’ve fit really well on Golden Hour!! Every time those lush synths come in, that’s your cue to just breathe out and let yourself relax. I know people on Pulse that resonate with this song on a much deeper level than I do but you know what, it took way too long for it to finally fully click for me, but “Good Days” by SZA: the best hit song of 2021!!

So that’s that, this is, again, likely to be my final list redux, but my next lists will be lists for 1996 most likely. I don’t know when or even if they’ll come out, but until then, Spotify playlist is linked right here and remember to keep it Fire!!