Welcome to the most fashionably late Top 100 list of the year! I’m actually just avoiding the overload everyone experiences during actual list season: this way, we can concentrate on the one list that matters. While the delay this year ended up being much longer for reasons unfathomable, I’m glad to make sure it doesn’t become a myth (like the next Rihanna album, or the existence of Beyoncé’s visuals for Renaissance). In revisiting the music from last year, I realise it was a great year. We ran the gamut for representation across genres and languages and perhaps more rogue entries than ever, showcasing some songs that broke out of their usual audience pigeonholes to wider (Popheads) acclaim. It’s interesting to see what’s aged, and what’s not. Some songs feel contextually very different even a mere six months after when we would be reassessing these songs: some out of their album cycles, some part of albums that have emerged in the time in-between. I hope you enjoy revisiting these tracks as much as I have.
As always, I’d like to offer my hugest thanks to all the writing contributors this year —I’m glad to showcase your work properly this year, it would be amiss to let your effort go to waste! In addition, thanks to all of the people on the subreddit who submitted for the list, and for being such a wonderful community.
Honorable Mentions
Kendrick Lamar — N95
Let’s Eat Grandma — Levitation
Magdalena Bay — All You Do
RAYE — Escapism. (feat. 070 Shake)
Sabrina Carpenter — Nonsense
Shygirl — Shlut
Angel Olsen — All the Good Times
Camila Cabello — Bam Bam (feat. Ed Sheeran)
Kilo Kish — NO APOLOGY!
Mitski — Stay Soft
my chemical romance — the foundations of decay
Phoenix — Tonight (feat. Ezra Koenig)
SZA — Shirt
Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Wolf
Zach Bryan — Something in the Orange
Intro & Honorable Mentions | 100–76 | 75–51 | 50–26 | 25–1 | Full List
