Top 5 Songs of 2021
Remember in school when a paper was due on a Monday, and you’d submit it three days later for an automatic minus 15 point deduction? Well this is kinda like that. Better late than never, right? We are well into 2022 (shouts to Jason Derulo’s hands), but join us as we take one last trip around 2021 with GeniusTalk’s top songs of the year.
KENNY
Wants and Needs — Drake ft. Lil Baby
It’s only right to start off my list with the undisputed King of Rap and Drake. This became my go-to hype song in the gym (second to only my next entry) early in the year and it should have seriously been Lil Baby ft. Drake with how much Baby shined on this record.
Back In Blood — Pooh Shiesty ft. Lil Durk
Back In Blood was definitely my most-played song in the gym and still is. The combination of the hard piano melody along with Pooh Shiesty’s catchy hook and Durk’s memorable verse, everything about this song makes you want to violently throw heavy weights around a room.
Leave The Door Open — Silk Sonic
Never was a big Anderson .Paak fan but as a Bruno stan, I was very invested in this collab and it did not disappoint. This song is so damn smooth. This is the type of song that makes you want to wear a plush robe or more appropriately, something silky. This is the ultimate simp anthem for the year 2021.
Save Your Tears — The Weeknd
Was there a bigger song last year than Save Your Tears? The Weeknd was everywhere this year with the drop of After Hours and this song played EVERYWHERE. This definitely is the type of commercial song that you hear at first and it’s just ok but then you hear it more and you then get annoyed but then after hearing it so much, you learn the words/melody and next thing you know it becomes one of your most played songs on Spotify. The Weeknd and Bruno Mars have really mastered the nostalgia of the ‘80’s and ‘70’s respectively and it’s paying off big.
DAKITI — Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez
You know it’s not a Top Songs list without one of the biggest artists in the world and it’s only right to pick a song that has over 1.2B streams on Spotify. Also, this song counts for 2021 even though this album came out in November 2020 because we didn’t really get to fully appreciate it until this year. This song is very important to me because my girl and I already loved hearing this song whenever it came on but this was also one of the first songs we heard in the club when we finally went outside and the energy just hit different. It’s an indescribable feeling of being back in public while fully vaccinated, singing this song word for word at the top of your lungs after a couple shots of tequila while looking the love of your life directly in their eyeballs. Nothing tops that.
Honorable Mention: Telepatia — Kali Uchis
I’m proud to say this honorable mention goes out to my fiance who put me onto this banger. I was familiar with Kali Uchi but mostly as the girl with that song on 2K who used to date Yung Gleesh. This whole album is really epic but this song especially had the charts on smash. Again, even though it technically came out in 2020, it was the end of the year and I literally hadn’t even heard about it until a couple months later. The vibes are immaculate when this song comes on and bonus points of course for being a bi-lingual song. Shoutout all my Latinxes!
MAEGAN
Zone — Marc E. Bassy
This is a Marc E. Bassy stan account. And Zone is my most played song of the year. I can’t even count how many nights I spent partying with myself at 4am with this on blast. Most notably, this was the soundtrack to a beautiful week spent in Maexico City con mis chicas. The production is A1 and for the life of me, I can’t find who produced the track so please lmk in the comments. If you’re new to Bassy, start here.
Fair Trade — Drake ft. Travis Scott
The IG caption source of the year! Despite (lame) public opinion, I absolutely love CLB and I still remember listening in tandem with the Geniuses the day it dropped. I have played this song approximately 347 times on repeat and for the first few weeks, I didn’t even listen to the entire album because I was stuck on this. And the Charlotte Day Wilson sample?! Who thinks of this shit? How did this song turn into Fair Trade? Not to say I’m jaded, but I let go of a lot of friendships in 2020 so Drizzy had me at “I’ve been losing friends and finding peace”. If you can’t relate, I’m happy for you, but for the rest of us: this shit hit home. Controversy or no controversy, Drake x Travis Scott is forever my favorite combo.
Wants and Needs — Drake ft. Lil Baby
I almost didn’t include this one, but it’d be disrespectful to not. Another Drake track that had a HOLD on me. TBH with you, I don’t ever really know what Lil’ Baby be talking about, but I know that right now, his flow is unmatched. And the Drake that goes hard on a beat drop (see the 0:43 mark)? UGH! I’m still salty that he ruined Knife Talk with such a corny ass video so praise Yeezus that this track wasn’t ruined with a subpar video. No one rides harder for their friends like I do so “YEA I KEEP MY FRIENDS ON MY MIND!” is a motto. I’m not sure that Drake and I have that much in common at the end of the day, but I too got a lotta M’s on my mind.
Good & Plenty (Remix) — Alex Isley, Lucky Daye & Masego
In 2020 I was hooked on the OG Good & Plenty, so a remix in 2021 was a true blessing that I deserved. Alex Isley, staying true to her name, holds it down for R&B and Lucky Daye is the R&B heartthrob that we need right now. What happened to R&B? Masego kinda bores me to be honest, but I’ll take him as part of the trio. These 3 would actually be 🔥 for a TWENTY88-esque mashup. I wish I could tell you that this song was the soundtrack for mucho sexy time in 2021, but I got no play. Lettuce all pray that 2022 will be kind to me.
Found — Tems ft. Brent Faiyaz
Speaking of R&B, these two?! Toxic ass and all, I love Brent so much and I’m so proud of him. Remember Sonder days? I’m so proud of both of them forreal. I will absolutely not be putting Essence on my list, but I’m so hype to see two Nigerians dominate globally for an entire year. I’m pretty dense so I’m not even sure that I know what this song is about, but when I listen to it, I like to pretend that I’m in the midst of an existential crisis. And not the bad kind. The Eat, Pray, Love kind. I’m frolicking through rice fields in Bali; I’m smizing in the corner of a cafe while I gaze out of the window and lock eyes with a beautiful man; I’m twirling around my sun-filled penthouse apartment…you get the vibes. “Before this gets out of handdd…” I don’t believe a damn word you’re saying, Brent.
Honorable Mention: B. D’OR — Burna Boy ft. Wizkid
K after Drake & Travis, these two together is my fave. I know that putting top artists against each other is a trend that we’ll probably never break free of as a society, but I love that they continue to shut that down by dropping flaaames! My biggest wish is that this track doesn’t turn into another Essence and not get credit next year if it blows up. It was released so late in the year and I don’t understand how it could NOT blow up. I don’t party often, but when I do, I don’t hear this nearly enough. Imagine this comes on in a sweaty basement and you get to whine pon a ting in a dark corner? I’m sweaty just thinking about it. And the fade out?! WHO was the producer?! And to my Naija fam, when you get a chance, could you tell me what this song is about? TYIA.
DAYO
Sweet / I Thought You Wanted to Dance — Tyler, The Creator ft. Brent Faiyaz & Fana Hues
The best song on my favorite album of 2021. At almost ten minutes in length, it’s almost cheating to consider this one song. If you split this song in half, each five minute interval would have made my top five. I have had [redacted*] that has lasted less. You ever hear a song for the first time and feel like you’re heard it a million times before? In a good way? That’s how the first half of the song sounds. Future’s toxic twin Brent Faiyaz did what he had to do on the hook. On the second half of the song, Tyler opens with “what makes you think I’m not in love?” — a lyric I feel like I may have unknowingly ghostwritten. Tyler and Fana Hues sing/rap about her choosing another man over him. Thank God this didn’t come out for 17 year old Dayo, but I would have gone on a permanent feel trip.
*Naps. Get your mind out of the gutter.*
Up — Cardi B
2021 was such a long ass year that I didn’t realize this song came out this year. I love the intro of this track so much. “Once upon a time, man, I heard that I was ugly / Came from a bitch who nigga wanna fuck on me.” They be so quick to talk crazy about you when you get a little love. Also, this beat goes fucking hard. I have no illusions of me being a hood nigga, but I really relate to and root for people who are unapologetically themselves, even if deemed unsightly or inappropriate or extra. Any song that makes the old guard upset is the song for me. Bardi Gang > Barbz. (Barbz — if you see this, I was just playin’. Doxxing me isn’t necessary.)
When You Were Mine — Joy Crookes
Let’s be clear. Joy Crookes does not in any way sound like Amy Winehouse. However, the production on this record is like an Amy one. An energy I’d coined as the “modern throwback”. I feel like I’m in the 1960s, wearing a pressed suit, smoking one of them skinny ass cigarettes in a Midtown hotel bar. (Editor’s Note: Dayo wouldn’t have actually been able to do any of the aforementioned because #racism.) What I really love about this song is the rare duality in reminiscing about a former flame. Both not missing her former lover per se, but missing what it was like to be wanted, loved and chased. That’s real fucking shit. In the era of people wishing death on their exes, it’s nice to see a healthier view for once.
Point & Kill — Little Simz & Obongjayar
Another Brit. Surprise surprise. One time for Little Simz — fine girl, no pimple. This song is a love letter to the go-getter. “Family no go suffer, oh, inna my lifetime.” I know that’s fucking right! There’s a lot of the [dumb] conversation around “pulling yourself up my the bootstraps”. For reasons more complex than I’ll write in the song review, it ain’t that simple. With that said, all we can all do is try our best, no matter the shit hand we were dealt. It can be exhausting, but I hope people feel that same jolt of “fuck it, we ball” when they hear this as I do. And I’m basic, so all the subtle breadcrumbs thrown in about being a Nigerian child — I eat them shits right up. Down to the accent on the hook — Obongjayar was deep in his Ghana Must Go bag.
24 — Kanye West
Look who’s back. My favorite artist. Antics aside, Donda is a masterclass and closer to the Kanye who shaped my music tastes at an early age. As much as I try, like Khloe with Tristan Thompson, I cannot quit this dude. 24 is about nothing and everything. With support from the Sunday Service Choir, this is an ode to Jesus Christ, an ode to the struggle, an ode to my late birthday twin Kobe Bryant and an ode to the church organ. I don’t know how anyone could hear this shit and not levitate. This song is the audio version of Ciara and Russell Wilson praying. You heard the man. “We gonna be OK. God’s not finished.”
Honorable Mention: Drivers License — Olivia Rodrigo
Kenny and Maegan are 100% rolling their eyes as they read this, but idc. I feel like it would be a miss if we didn’t give the biggest song of the year some love. Whether you loved it or loved to hate it, this is a song that will live well beyond 2021. SOUR, my favorite pop record since Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, had a bunch of standout tracks, but only one comforted the nation when Trumpito’s goons were trying to storm The Capital. I respect how much angst Olivia has. She’s an 18 year old, former child star from Los Angeles, but she does a hell of a job convincing me she knows life’s worst pain. “I know we weren’t perfect, but I’ve never felt this way for no one.” Like c’mon people! Don’t fight the feeling! This shit slaps! A direct shot in the heart. Man down!
