My Top 100 Songs of 2021 (100-50)

We have had quite a big year for music with plenty of big name artists dropping albums such as Kanye West, Drake, J.Cole, Don Toliver, Young Thug, Dave and many more. Each year I will compose my top 100 favourite tracks of the year.

The first 80 songs will be presented with just the name and artist while the top 20 will have a more in depth view.

Note: This is not my Spotify Top 100 as that playlist contains many songs not released this year

Honourable Mentions

• Kanye West ft KayCyy, Conway The Machine & Westside Gunn-Keep My Spirit Alive Pt.2
• (YSL) Young Thug ft Bslime & Don Toliver-No Surprise
• Bas ft J.Cole & Lil Tjay-The Jackie
• Kevin Abstract ft $NOT & Slowthai-SLUGGER
• YSL & Strick ft Skepta-WokStar

100. Isaiah Rashad ft Young Nudy & Kal Banx-Deep Blue

99.Joel Corry & Jax Jones ft Charli XCX & Saweetie-OUT OUT

The Kanye West remix of the orginal is still superior :).

98.Shouse & David Guetta-Love Tonight

97.Kanye West ft Roddy Richh & Shenseea-Pure Souls

96.Ben Reilly ft Abstract Media & Miseye-Finsta

95.KSI ft Future & 21 Savage-Number 2

Say what you want about him but KSI has produced some decent bangers the past couple of the years.

94.Riton ft Mufasa & Hypeman-Friday

93.Sam Silver ft A$AP Twelvyy & pineappleCITI-Little After Sunset

92.Fredo ft Dave-Money Talks

91.DJ Khaled ft Lil Baby & Lil Durk-EVERY CHANCE I GET

90.KSI ft Lil Durk-No time

89.(YSL) Young Thug ft Strick & Kid Cudi-Moon Man

88.Isaiah Rashad ft Jay Rock & Jay Worthy-True Story

87.Son Diezal ft Raury & Protoje-Saviour

This was recently removed from Spotify because Son Diezal samples artists in his own songs without permission but credits them as a featured artist so it may be a little difficult to find this one. Nevertheless what he created was a banger.

86.WILLOW ft Kid Cudi & Travis Barker- T R A N S P A R E N T S O U L Remix

85.Spinabenz, Yungeen Ace & FastMoney Goon- Who I Smoke

Probably the craziest use of a sample I have ever heard.

84.Kanye West ft Vory-God Breathed

83.Last Night In Paris-Crash

I really recommend listening to LNIP, there a RNB/Hip-Hop group with lots of members. Check out Soiree, one of the best songs of 2018. They don’t release much so its always a treat when they do.

82.Don Toliver ft Baby Keem-OUTERSPACE

81.Ed Sheeran-Bad Habits

80.Doja Cat ft The Weeknd-You Right

79.Tory Lanez-Enchanted Waterfall

78.Last Night In Paris-Drip Down

77.IDK ft SiR-Temporary Love (Extended Version)

Its great when an already good song is made even better with an extended version. IDK & SiR are so underrated.

76.Jason Derulo & Adam Levine-Lifestyle (David Guetta Remix)

75.Brent Faiyaz ft Tyler The Creator-Gravity

We need more Brent & Tyler they work so well on this track.

74.Nicki Minaj ft Drake & Lil Wayne-Seeing Green

73.(YSL) Young Thug & Gunna-Ski

72.Don Toliver-2AM

71.FKA twigs ft The Weeknd-Tears In The Club

70.Trippie Redd ft Juice WRLD-Matt Hardy 999

69.Baby Keem ft Kendrick Lamar-Range Brothers

As stated in my Melodic Blue album review, the ending to this song really holds it back in terms of replayability.

68.Abstract Media-War

Similar to Last Night In Paris, Abstract media remind of an early Brockhampton, a group with versatile members that produce banger and banger. Abstract Media are really talented at creating infectious hooks to their tracks with War not being an exception. Their best work was released last year with Brolic.

67.(YSL) Young Thug & Gunna ft Travis Scott-Diamonds Dancing

66.Kanye West ft Vory-No Child Left Behind

A now iconic track that started the hype around the release of the excellent ‘Donda’ album

65.The Kid LAROI ft Justin Bieber-Stay

64.Young Thug-Faces

63.The Weeknd-Take My Breath

62.Drake ft Kid Cudi-IMY2

61.Lisa-Money

One of the catchiest songs of the year that is let down by the beat switch towards the end of the song.

60.Juice WRLD-Already Dead

59.Young Thug-Contagious

I think Punk disappointed me the most this year especially with the star studded list of features. However the stand out moments had to be faces and contagious both with eloquent instrumentals

58.Elton John & Dua Lipa-Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)

57.Isaiah Rashad ft Project Pat & Juicy J-RIP Young

56.The Weeknd ft Ariana Grande-Save Your Tears (Remix)

55.Joyce Wrice ft Freddie Gibbs-On One

54.BROCKHAMPTON ft A$AP Rocky & SoGone SoFlexy-COUNT ON ME

53.Juice WRLD ft Justin Bieber-Wandered to LA

52.Baby Keem ft Travis Scott-Durag Activity

51.Olivia Rodrigo-Good 4 U

A guilty pleasure it has be said.

50.Drake ft Travis Scott-Fair Trade

That concludes the first 50 onto the next 29 tracks.

49-21

My Top 100 Songs of 2021 (49-21)

The first 50 songs have been blitzed through now onto the next 29 songs. Be warned for early Kanye West domination.

49.Kanye West-Donda

A song not spoke about enough, a beautiful song for his deceased mother

48.Kanye West-Believe What I Say

47.Kanye West ft Vory & Lil Durk-Jonah

46.Juice WRLD ft Clever & Post Malone- Life’s A Mess II

45.Trippie Redd ft Drake-Betrayal

44.Post Malone-Motley Crew

43.Kanye West ft Don Toliver & Kid Cudi-Moon

An angelic hook by Don and a heavenly verse from Cudi, I can see why many people float to this song

42.Kanye West ft Jay-Z-Jail

This may be the return of the throne…chilling

41.DJ Khaled ft H.E.R & Migos-WE GOING CRAZY

40-Arizona Zervas-SNOWMAN

39.Kanye West ft Fivio Foreign & Playboi Carti-Off The Grid

Everyone understood the assignment and hearing Kanye on a drill beat emphasises how he is the most versatile in the game.

38.Belly ft The Weeknd & Young Thug-Better Believe

37.Lil Nax X-Montero (Call Me By Your Name)

36.Kanye West ft Jay Electronica-Jesus Lord

35.Travis Scott ft J.Cole-Mafia

One of the most unexpected collaborations of the year.

34.Don Toliver ft Kali Uchis-Drugs N Hella Melodies

33.BROCKHAMPTON ft A$AP Rocky & A$AP Ferg-BANKROLL

I had been waiting for this song since it was teased in 2018. Its strange seeing BROCKHAMTPON collaborate with artists outisde their own group but they worked well with both members of A$AP Mob.

32.Kanye West ft Playboi Carti & Ty Dolla $ign-Junya Pt 2

31.Kanye West ft Andre 3000-Life of the party

I’m so happy we got this collaboration in the end, two of the greatest artists of all time combining and we finally got the Andre verse on a Ye track we deserved since only getting ad-libs on 30 hours back in 2016.

30.(YSL)Young Thug ft Rowdy Rebel-Came & Saw

29.Tinashe ft Buddy-Pasadena

28.Baby Keem ft Kendrick Lamar-Vent

27.Kanye West-Heaven and Hell

26.Amine-Charmander

25.Don Toliver-BOGUS

I was really disappointed with ‘Life Of A Don’ i found a lot of songs were repetitive and didn’t really stand out apart from a few and BOGUS to me was the biggest hit of the album.

24.Aitch ft Avelino & Toddla T-Party Round My Place

23.Post Malone ft The Weeknd-One Right Now

After initially feeling disappointed with these two huge stars collaborating, this song grew on me very quickly with a very catchy hook. I expect this song to get more recognition in 2022.

22.Baby Keem-16

21.Lil Nas X ft Jack Harlow-Industry Baby

This song is partially ruined by that Tiktok trend with the dad and his son but nonetheless I still love the song especially Harlow’s verse.

Now onto the top 2o, how exciting…

The Top 20

Top 100 Songs of 2021 (The Top 20)

20.BROCKHAMPTON-DON’T SHOOT UP THE PARTY

BROCKHAMPTON used to be one of my favourite musical acts up until iridescence. Since that album, i’ve been let down with each release wth only a few songs standing out. Their latest album is an improvement and ‘Don’t shoot up the party’ is a song I would put on the same quality level as the saturation trilogy. There’s a lot of great energy throughout this song which reminded me of the likes of BOOGIE and JUNKY. Matt Champion verse is a personal favourite of mine as he raps using clever wordplay over the addictive instrumental.

19.Drake ft Future- N 2 Deep

A song split into two with the latter part featuring Future. In the first part, Drake is wanting a girl while the second part is more about getting with the girl but not getting “in too deep” with his feelings. The second half of the song is the highlight for me with addictive chorus and a Travis Scott esque sound that drives the song into a more braggadocios vibe. Future really is excellent in this and I don’t really know why, his part is short and sweet.

18.Slowthai ft A$AP Rocky-MAZZA

I’ve never really liked Slowthai’s music or generally his sound, however the introduction of A$AP Rocky changed everything as the two blended well together with Slowthai delivering a solid verse and great chorus while Rocky delivers one of the features of the year as he rides the synthetic vibrating beat.

17-Charli XCX-Good Ones

A pop song about self sabotage as Charli always picks the bad ones instead of the good ones. I get quite the 80s/ early 90s vibe from this song that is quite short in length which is more to its credit as it does not drag on like a lot of songs can be accused of these days.

16.Skepta-Bellator

Skepta brings the usual energy you expect from a Skepta track on Bellator which has exceptional flows and overall catchy song. A perfect song to get you pumped before a workout.

15.Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd-Moth To A Flame

The weeknd and Swedish House mafia deliver a banger with low key vocals from the Weeknd over a

14.Trippie Redd ft Playboi Carti-Miss The Rage

I see a lot of people saying they prefer the original version to the now released version but I disagree, one of the best insturmentels of the year with a well delivered verse and chorus by Trippie and Carti did what he had to do too, creating a raging hit.

13.Travis Scott-Escape Plan

I have always been a big fan of Travis Scott’s music, there is rarely anything he releases that I don’t like and Escape Plan is your typical post Astroworld track that delivers because its a banger. It its not broken why fix it?

12.Big Sean & Hit-Boy ft Lil Durk & Bryson Tiller-Loyal To A Fault

Big Sean & Hit-Boy latest EP ‘What You Expect’ seems to have been swept under the carper as soon as it was released. Loyal to a fault is a really excellent track with every verse sounding unique with each voice blending well. Bryson Tiller is the highlight delivering the background vocals on the chrous as well as the closing verse. The music video is also great.

11.Khalid ft 6LACK & Lucky Daye-Retrograde

Khalid realy brings the guitars and strings to create a chilled vibe with some help from some friends. A soulful track that will have the chorus stuck in your head for days.

10.Cochise ft $NOT-Tell Em

Production. Chorus. $NOT feature. These 3 things have made this absolute banger of a song. The slow opening building up the hype to the hard hitting instrumental is something that gets you going. Cochise delivers a repetitive chorus that sticks in your head in a good way. However $NOT steals the show with probably my favourite featured verse of the year which is a dark verse that fits so well with the chaotic drums. Although its short, the verse is still the clear highlight.

9.FLETCHER ft Trevor Daniel-Bitter Remix

A guilty pleasure song of mine i have to admit. A song about two people thinking about their ex partner when their with other people. Its quite an emotional song about breakups especially with FLETCHER hard hitting emotional chorus. I prefer the remix as Trevor Daniel for me adds more to the song as we see the male’s perspective from the situation. The song is a bit of a banger I can’t lie.

8.Iann Dior ft Trippie Redd-Shots In The Dark

This love driven track has both artists in their feelings over a beat created by 2021’s MVP Mike Dean. Especially Iann’s chorus, the song is incredibly catchy. Iann Dior continues to show his potential that he could be the next big thing and shots in the dark is a collaboration that is a step in the right direction in my eyes.

7.Kanye West-New Again

Either version could be on this spot as I feel Chris Brown’s vocals did add a lot but Kanye still does a great job replacing him. I really love the start of the song and then it goes up another level when the beat kicks in as Kanye flows across another excellent Mike Dean produced instrumental. The song will get you screaming “Make Me New Again”.

6.Kanye West ft Travis Scott & Baby Keem- Praise God

A dark nightmarish instrumental with 3 of the biggest names in hip-hop in it? Yes please. Travis and Kanye deliver as usual but the standout is Baby Keem who is slow, repetitive, almost mumbling at the start of his verse which builds for his ultimate explosion into an excellent verse.

5.Skrillex, Justin Bieber & Don Toliver-Don’t Go

A song that kinda went under the radar for me. Hearing Skrillex produce non dubstep songs is something I will probably never get over. Justin Bieber and Don Toliver really shine and the highlight is most definitely when their trading bars on the third verse after both delivering wavy verses of their own.

4.Kanye West-Hurricane

Ahhh one of my most anticipated verses of all time, was finally released. I remember watching the first listening party and hearing Lil Baby’s verse for the first time and nearly losing my s**t. He really does float on this song and I have no idea why people wanted him removed. However obviously The Weeknd steals the show with his angelic vocals and really hits those high notes with a big impact. I do prefer the released version over the original Ant Clemons version, but it was a close call.

3.IDK ft Offset-Shoot My Shot

Now into the Top 3. I need more IDK & Offset music immediately. These two worked so well together both delivering exceptionally smooth verses. I particularly love when it sounds like Offset’s verse is about to end and then he just changes gears and carries on, brilliant stuff. Strong bars and production=Absolute banger this that needs more recognition.

2.A$AP Rocky-Sandman

This song was originally previewed on Yams Day in January and its been a long wait until its full official release. I fell in love with this song as soon as I heard it. The production from Clams Casino was perfect, throwing back to the old Rocky days, it especially reminded me of ‘LVL’ one of my favourite Rocky songs. I love Rocky’s lyrics over the ‘cloud rap beat’ which shows that the chemistry between himself and Clams Casino is still strong. I hope for more Clams Casino production on the upcoming A$AP Rocky album ‘All $miles’.

1.Isaiah Rashad-Headshots (4r Da Locals)

And here it is my number one song of the year. Isaiah was right at the start of this song when he says he’s got a jam because this is the biggest of the year. I have been bumping this song nearly every day since its release. The verses delivered by Rashad are solid but the chorus is so damn smooth with its catchy lyrics and beautiful backing vocals, I just find myself singing it throughout the day. Isiah’s vocals make it so soothing to listen too, this song is perfect to just chill to whether it be in your room, with your friends or just driving around. This is a real classic and takes the number 1 spot as my favourite song of the year.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and feel free to tell me your favourite songs of the year.

DONDA Album Review 30/08/2021

Donda is the 10th Studio Album by one of if not the greatest musical artists of all time. I’ve followed Kanye throughout his career and was overjoyed to see him finally drop one of his most anticipated albums on the 29th August after numerous delays. After multiple listening parties, last minute changes and fired shots at Drake, the album finally arrived at 1pm on Sunday the 29th August.

The album is dedicated to Kanye’s late mother Donda West who was a prominent and influential figure for Kanye throughout his life. Off the back of this album its safe to say Kanye made his mother proud.

Kanye delivers one of his most catchy albums to date with tracks like Moon, Jesus lord, Jonah, Off the grid delivering infectious hooks that will replay in your head for days. Donda is really good at showing ye’s versatility whether it be riding on a drill beat on “off the grid” or pouring his heart out on “come to life”there really is something for every Kanye fan.

What makes Kanye stand out from his the rest is he clear impact on the artists he works with. Every feature feels like they want to be on the album by putting their heart and souls into it. Most tracks these days feature verses just sound like there doing it to cash a pay check but you don’t get that sense from Donda instead you feel the artists have a sense of pride and privilege to be apart of this album that will be remembered for years. Even looking at the reactions of artists who didn’t make the cut (Soulja Boy, Chris Brown) shows how much people wanted to be apart of the album as they knew how big this album would have been.

A song I wanted to focus on was “Jesus Lord” featuring Jay Electronica. The song is heart breaking as we hear Ye’s sorrows over his mother’s loss and how much he still misses her to this day. Lines such as “if I talk to Christ, can I bring my mother back to life?” and ” if I die tonight, will I see her in the afterlife”? epitomises how much Kanye wants to reunite with her and questions whether he has lived a good enough life to join her in the afterlife. This song hits home for those who fear one day losing loved ones.

The Album is not perfect by any means especially towards the end of the album where the pt2 tracks are introduced which feel unnecessary and do not really add much to the album. Other tracks especially towards the middle of the album don’t live up to the high standards of the first portion of the album.

Its evident your usual music review websites are not focusing on the music but rather the people involved or events leading up to the album, notably including DaBaby & Marilyn Manson and the beef between ye and Drake. Therefore giving Kanye latest album a low score without real explanation musically. This sums up modern day music review websites. Music should be judged by the music not by the person no matter how controversial the artists is. With the album set to debut with 300K+sales its clear us “regular people” have a clear different opinion on this album to these so called music “experts”.

Rank	Track Title	/10
1	Hurricane ft The Weeknd & Lil Baby	10
2	New Again	9.5
3	Jail ft Jay-Z	9
4	Praise God ft Travis Scott & Baby Keem	9
5	Jonah ft Lil Durk & Vory	9
6	Moon ft Kid Cudi & Don Toliver	9
7	Off the Grid ft Fivio Foreign & Playboi Carti	8.5
8	Heaven & Hell	8.5
9	No Child left behind ft Vory	8.5
10	Jesus Lord ft Jay Electronica	8.5
11	Junya pt 2 ft Playboi Carti & Ty Dolla $ign	8.5
12	God Breathed ft Vory	8
13	Keep my Spirit Alive ft Conway the Machine , KaCyy & Westside Gunn	7.5
14	Donda	7
15	Ok Ok ft Lil Yachty & Rooga	7
16	Believe What I Say	7
17	Remote Control ft Young Thug	6.5
18	Pure Souls ft Roddy Rich	6
19	Jesus Lord pt 2 ft Jay Electronica & The LOX	6
20	24 ft Vory	5
21	Junya ft Playboi Carti	5
22	Jail pt 2 ft DaBaby	5
23	Come to Life	5
24	Lord I Need you	3
25	Tell the Vision ft Pop Smoke	2
26	Ok Ok pt 2 ft Rooga & Shenseea	1
27	Donda Chant	0

Overall Album Rating 8.5/10

+	–
Kanye really gathered the avengers for this project. Its obvious Kanye wanted to take a backseat from rapping and focus on the production which was so crisp and smooth	Tell the vision has a hard beat wasted. If Kanye did his own verse with Pop smoke ad libs then this track could have been so much more.
Mike Dean	Towards the end of the album the quality drops and the part 2 tracks were pretty pointless except Junya
The Weeknd & Lil Baby Floated on Hurricane making it one of Kanye’s best ever tracks	Never abandon your family would have been better than Donda Chant
I had never heard of Vory prior to Donda and he shone on every track he was on. An artist to look out for in the future	Wish we got that Andre 3000 record
Incredible features from The Weeknd, LilBaby, Jay Electronica, Travis, Don Toliver, Keem, Vory, Fivio, Carti, Hov and more…
Ty Dolla singing “Karate” on Junya part 2 just listen to it.