Per Billboard, the album earned 193,000 equivalent album units - a staggering total for an album in its third week on the market. It is a great list, if I do say so myself.Īdele’s 30 rules the Billboard 200 for a third straight week. Think of this list as the best of this year’s most ubiquitous hits with a few of my personal favorites sprinkled in. Yeah, there’s some ostensibly “indie” stuff in there. Rap songs that made a big chart splash qualify so do album tracks by pop stars so do songs released before this year that enjoyed slow-build success or were included on an album in 2021. Considering how many of the biggest songs of the year were annoying or mediocre, some of 2021’s signature tracks were also left out. (There’s a reason I called it The Top 40 Pop Songs Of 2021.) Given how many different ways you can define pop and how many pop scenes are percolating online and around the world, there will surely be a few bangers omitted. Although the list is ultimately about quality, in keeping with the established parameters of this column, I erred on the side of chart success and cultural ubiquity. Without further ado, it’s time to count down the best pop songs of 2021. If you’ve read Rachel’s writing about pop - like, say, her universally acclaimed review of the new Adele album - you know The Week In Pop is in good hands.

Chronicling the twists and turns of the pop mainstream has been fun and challenging, but I’m excited to focus on different projects and spotlight a different perspective in this space. Starting in January, Rachel Brodsky will be Stereogum’s weekly pop columnist. Before we get to this week’s column, some housekeeping: After eight(!) years writing The Week In Pop, I am handing over the reins of this column in 2022.

Best pop complicated love songs