Top 20 Best & Greatest Songs in the World Right Now

Laelia Yang January 26, 2022 | 08:45

The top hits of 2021/2022 feature Silk Sonic, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Japanese Breakfast, Billie Ellish, Adele, and more.

Top 20 Best Songs of 2021/2022

Plenty of big and independent labels, distributors, and aggregators have been switching to the digital world during 2021 to deliver and promote their artists’ catalogs on streaming services to reach audiences from all over the world.

The global base of music subscribers continues to grow strongly with 523.9 million music subscribers at the end of Q2 2021, which was up by 109.5 million (26.4%) from one year earlier. Crucially, this was faster growth than the prior year. There is a difference between revenue and subscribers – with ARPU deflators, such as the rise of multi-user plans and the growth of lower-spending emerging markets – but growth in monetized users represents the foundation stone of the digital service provider (DSP) streaming market. So, accelerating growth at this relatively late stage of the streaming market’s evolution is clearly positive.

While physical formats like vinyl have experienced a revival during the past 12 months, 2022 is going to be the year where music distribution through digital channels will consolidate. This one is going to be a great year for those independent labels that want to expand their catalog reach by using digital distribution. The demand for white-label SaaS platforms like SonoSuite could increase as more and more music companies are managing their own online distribution independently and use this type of service to do so. They can easily deliver their artists’ music simultaneously to the best DSPs, including Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, or YouTube Music, and make it available to millions of streamers worldwide.

Our list of 2021/2022’s best songs includes a beautiful indie-pop celebration of queer love, a reggaeton star tucking into some sweet Eighties synths, a self-celebrating pop-rap smash that scandalized the American right, a Lorde track that sounds like it could’ve been a Nineties U.K. club hit, and unforgettable anthems that pushed the boundaries of K-pop, rock, and country.

What are the best and greatest songs in 2021/2022?

1. Wizkid feat. Tems, 'Essence'

2. Taylor Swift, 'All Too Well (10 Minute Version)'

3. Olivia Rodrigo, 'Drivers License'

4. Lil Nas X, 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)'

5. Lucy Dacus, 'VBS'

6. Silk Sonic, 'Leave the Door Open'

7. Billie Ellish, 'Happier Than Ever'

8. Rauw Alejandro, 'Todo de Ti'

9. Adele, 'I Drink Wine'

10. Noname, 'Rainforest'

11. Muna feat. Phoebe Bridgers, 'Silk Chiffon'

12. Wet Leg, 'Wet Dream'

13. Polo G, 'Rapstar'

14. Morgan Wade, 'Wilder Days'

15. Japanese Breakfast, 'Be Sweet'

16. BTS, 'Butter'

17. Megan Thee Stallion, 'Thot Shit'

18. Bo Burnham, 'All Eyes on Me'

19. Brothers Osborne, 'Younger Me'

20. Snail Mail, 'Ben Franklin'

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Top 20 Best and Greatest Songs In The World 2021/2022

1. Wizkid feat. Tems, 'Essence'

Photo: Youtube

Wizkid’s massive international hit offered the best vision possible of our eternally shrinking world: at once local and global, intimate and universal.On it, the Nigerian singer, one of the most popular pop artists in Africa, embraced one of his country’s newest talents. Their performances are distinct yet seamless, joining together over a melange of Nineties American R&B, U.K. Afroswing, and percussive Nigerian Afrobeats. “Essence” hit the top of several U.S. charts in 2021 after it got a Justin Bieber remix this summer, but its reach was wide well before. “I want everyone to understand [the song],” said P2J, one of its producers, “but still understand the essence of the music is from Africa.” The result was a sound of status and place coalescing without the loss of identity.

2. Taylor Swift, 'All Too Well (10 Minute Version)'

Only Taylor Swift could re-record a 10-minute version of a decade-old deep cut, and transform it into a Guinness World Record-breaking no.1 hit that had the whole internet Googling about a red scarf and sending Instagram abuse to Jake Gyllenhaal.

Taylor Swift isn’t afraid to portray herself as a victim of men depicted as caddish, even if it’s only as a preamble to emerging victorious. And it’s a dynamic she wields to devastating effect in All Too Well: The Short Film.

This 14-minute music-video-with-dramatic-bits depicts a young woman at the mercy of an older man’s emotional dishonesty. Though he’s unnamed in the song, which was originally released in 2012 and has now been re-recorded for her album Red (Taylor’s Version) – part of her campaign to regain control of her back catalogue – Swift’s fans believe it to be Jake Gyllenhaal.

3. Olivia Rodrigo, 'Drivers License'

Photo: thantuong

The debut single and love ballad by the Disney actress received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and critics alike, shattering a myriad of streaming and chart records in its arrival earlier this year. The singer marries two teenage milestones—navigating a breakup and getting a driver's license, which may be why the song is so relatable. Speculation over the song’s subject also caused a stir across TikTok, with many believing it was written about Rodrigo’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” co-star Joshua Bassett. “Drivers License” received recognition at next year’s Grammy Awards as well, earning nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

4. Lil Nas X, 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)'

After the furor that sluiced around Cardi B’s WAP eventually evaporated, conservative America was primed for something else to get performatively shocked by. Sliding down a stripper pole on to Satan’s lap in the music video came Lil Nas X, with a sadistically catchy bit of Latin-leaning pop. He is radically frank, open and available to his lover – “I want to sell what you’re buying” is a brilliant inversion – and his lascivious tone of voice lets you know how much he enjoys it. Power bottoms had their theme song. BBT

5. Lucy Dacus, 'VBS'

Photo: Youtube

Some songwriters are wary of tying the content of their work too closely to their real lives. Not Lucy Dacus, who makes a beeline for the most achingly vivid memories from an early-adolescent romance at a Christian summer camp on this low-key stunner from her third LP. She writes affectionately about her nutmeg-snorting, Slayer-blasting beau, hinting at a deeper sadness on the margins of the story without getting maudlin. “Your poetry was so bad, it took a lot to not laugh,” she observes wryly in the first half of the chorus, then shows her own poetic gift for summing up a world of emotional complexity in a few understated words: “You said that I showed you the light/But all it did, in the end, was make the dark feel darker than before.”

6. Silk Sonic, 'Leave the Door Open'

Singer Bruno Mars and rapper Anderson .Paak came together to form the R&B duo Silk Sonic, which has seen much success with its debut single, “Leave the Door Open.” The song is plucked from their debut album, “An Evening with Silk Sonic,” and serves as a nod to the slow, soulful bluesy jams of the 1970s. Funk-icon Bootsy Collins contributes a one-minute intro track for the album and also came up with the duo's cool band name. The fan-favorite track will compete at the 2022 Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

7. Billie Ellish, 'Happier Than Ever'

Billie Ellish, 'Happier Than Ever'

A Marilyn-esque makeover prompted fears Eilish had perhaps matured too much beyond the bedroom-goth vibes that defined 2019’s angsty When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? - but when the song takes a sudden turn into grunge guitars and Eilish’s guttural “Just f—ing leave me alone!” scream, you know the kid’s alright.

8. Rauw Alejandro, 'Todo de Ti'

Reggaeton loops served as the jet fuel that helped launch Spanish-language pop into global prominence during the 2010s. But the drums in “Todo de Ti” are flat and square, ignoring the lurching syncopation that makes reggaeton lethal on dance floors; Alejandro’s single also opens with a sprightly synthesizer that wouldn’t be out of place at a local bar’s Eighties night. This is nu-new-wave, an unusual sound in the current Latin mainstream, but it unexpectedly became a massive global hit. “For English speakers, it’s just a pop record,” Álvaro Díaz, one of Alejandro’s collaborators, told Rolling Stone. “But for Spanish speakers, nobody in his genre is doing that and having the success he’s having.”

9. Adele, 'I Drink Wine'

Photo: Twitter

Adele goes to church in this showstopper from 30, taking sweet inspiration from vintage gospel like so many great soul belters before her. “I Drink Wine” is her six-minute testimony as she worries over her love pains, confessing, “We’re in love with the world/But the world just wants to bring us down.” She wonders why she keeps trying so hard to be somebody else — even though the rest of us just wish we could be as cool as Adele. And she’s revealed that she’s sitting on a 15-minute outtake, so brace yourself for the inevitable gallon-size “I Drink Wine (Adele’s Version).”

10. Noname, 'Rainforest'

Noname’s reputation for community activism and radical politics has often stood in stark contrast to acclaimed recordings on which she analyzes her own foibles with quietly poetic intensity. On her only release of 2021, she begins to bridge the divide. Over a light, soulful bossa nova groove, she harmonizes “Rainforest cries/Everybody dies a little/And I just wanna dance tonight.” But she can’t disguise her rage, rapping “How you making excuses for billionaires?” and “Took the wretched of the earth and called it baby Fanon.” “Rainforest” is a short glimpse at a young musician’s radical awakening. She demands further listening, even if a two-and-a-half-minute song is all she has to offer right now.

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11. Muna feat. Phoebe Bridgers, 'Silk Chiffon'

Photo: them

Earlier this year, pop trio Muna signed to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records, a meeting of minds between two of LA’s most anxious and emotionally annihilating acts. It was a delightful surprise, then, that their first collaboration reveled in nothing but the purest good feeling of a fully reciprocated crush. Delving into the crisp, crunchy textures of early 00s pop, maybe their depiction of this perfect girl queerly subverts millennial boy rockers’ simplistic fantasies – or maybe it’s not that deep. The piercing, the oxygenated chorus hits like cannonballing into the cool water from a high ledge.

12. Wet Leg, 'Wet Dream'

“Baby, do you want to come home with me? I’ve got Buffalo 66 on DVD.” Welcome to the wonderful world of Wet Leg, where the Isle of Wight duo excel in quips as sharp as their guitar riffs — and everything is about sex, all the time. “What makes you think you’re good enough/To think about me when you’re touching yourself?” Rhian Teasdale asks. The band is slated to drop its debut next spring, but until then, we’ll keep this one on repeat.

13. Polo G, 'Rapstar'

Photo: tsl.news

The Chicago rap kingpin turned “Rapstar” into his world-conquering anthem, putting the streets first and counting his money over a ukelele hook. Polo G rides the road to the riches, asking, “Do it sound like I’m kidding?/I been making like two thousand a minute.” He’s got jokes, too: “Only bitch I give a conversation to is Siri.” But under the whips-and-jewels floss, every day is a battle, and he dreams about leaving Earth behind. “Rapstar” became Polo G’s first Number One hit, flexing all his contradictions and making them boom.

14. Morgan Wade, 'Wilder Days'

Anyone’s who’s heard this debut single from Blue Ridge Mountain-bred singer-songwriter Morgan Wade more than once has likely spent the better part of the past year shouting “You said you hate the smell of cigarette smoke!” to themselves. But apart from delivering the year’s most irresistible country-rock chorus, Wade’s debut single, complete with a gentle nod to Guy Clark’s “Desperadoes Waiting on a Train,” established Wade as a moving storyteller: The narrator is falling for someone so hard they begin to feel misplaced nostalgia for the past versions of their love interest they never knew. As Wade sings: “Why don’t you show me?”

15. Japanese Breakfast, 'Be Sweet'

Photo: them

By hooking a classically brooding New Order bass line to a piercing demand for faithfulness that you could easily imagine at home on Madonna’s debut album, Michelle Zauner contrives the perfect mid-80s dancefloor moment. But the enigmatic lyrics are distinctively Japanese Breakfast: “Fantasise you’ve left me behind and I’m turned back running for you,” Zauner sings – an unorthodox way of shocking a relationship back to life. LS

16. BTS, 'Butter'

“Butter” is the second English-language single from Korean pop group BTS, and is the follow-up to their Grammy-nominated track “Dynamite.” Writing for NME, critic Rhian Daly called the track “a clean and crisp piece of dance pop that’s undeniably cool without sacrificing immediacy or memorable hooks.” What’s more, “Butter” bagged the group its second Grammy nomination of their career, earning a bid for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2022 Grammy Awards.

17. Megan Thee Stallion, 'Thot Shit'

Photo: lamhoangmedia

“Thot Shit” is another winner from Megan that blends sexual pleasure with personal politics. Beneath the surface, it’s a chance for the Houston rapper to fight back against criticisms she’s faced since her Tina Snow breakthrough in 2019. “Hoes taking shots but they ain’t in my caliber,” she raps in double-time over a beat from LilJuMadeDaBeat. By aiming at media commentators who railed against her and Cardi B’s lascivious “WAP” performances and dismissing rap fans who underrate her skills, Megan makes the point that she’s going to continue to do “thot shit,” “pussy-ass” haters be damned.

18. Bo Burnham, 'All Eyes on Me'

“All Eyes On Me” is the eighteenth track on Bo Burnham’s fourth album, Inside (The Songs), compiled from his May 2021 Netflix special. This song is a sort of “encore” for the overall project, as it follows the climax of “Welcome to the Internet,” “Bezos II,” and “That Funny Feeling.” It also features Bo simulating a faux performance with pre-recorded audio of an audience cheering.

Throughout the piece, Burnham speaks directly to the viewer, addressing the pros and cons of being an entertainer, his desires to perform on stage again, receiving attention from his fans, and general feelings of futility.

On July 2, 2021, the track was re-released without the spoken word segment about his plans for 2020, which were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

19. Brothers Osborne, 'Younger Me'

Photo: rollingstone

Brothers Osborne have released the uplifting anthem “Younger Me,” a song of encouragement for anyone pushing through a difficult time. It’s the first new music the duo has released outside their 2020 album Skeletons.

Inspired by singer TJ Osborne’s decision to publicly come out in February, “Younger Me” was conceived as a message to his younger self and struggling with being different, not knowing where he was going. “I’ve always wished I could speak to my younger self, give him a hug and show him who he’d become and what he’d achieve. Once I came out, that feeling was overwhelmingly strong that this song was born,” TJ tweeted from the duo’s account on Friday.

20. Snail Mail, 'Ben Franklin'

This banger arrives on Valentine right after the title track, marking it the second song in a row on the LP in which Lindsey Jordan uses the word “honey” with an expert execution that oozes coolness and heartbreak all at once. The award for the best lyric is shared between two: “Got money, I don’t care about sex” and “Since rehab I’ve been feeling so small/I miss your attention, I wish I could call.” And after you watch the video — where the indie-rock singer-songwriter casually sings on a couch with a snake around her neck and a bowl of cereal in her hand — you’ll never think of the Founding Father the same way again.