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Random, but the first thing I thought of for "21st century song that sounds the most like ELO" is "Same Old Drag" by the Apples in Stereo. Remember them?

For the third time in four years, I tabulated everyone's Best Songs of 2021 lists from the comments of Stereogum's 70 Favorite Songs post and came up with a top 50. I used the same tabulation system that albumoftheyear.org uses, in case you're curious, along with my own detailed method of breaking ties, which I won't get into here. Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0cWZTvBezjqK7VsDiogVn7?si=8638351829b54b09 Results (including the total points for each song and the number of appearances that song made across all the lists): 01. Cassandra Jenkins: "Hard Drive" (87, 14) 02. Japanese Breakfast: "Be Sweet" (83, 14) 03. Low: "Days Like These" (63, 10) 04. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen: "Like I Used To" (53, 11) 05. Japanese Breakfast: "Paprika" (53, 8) 06. The War On Drugs: "I Don't Live Here Anymore" (49, 8) 07. Lucy Dacus: "Thumbs" (49, 6) 08. Wet Leg: "Chaise Longue" (43, 6) 09. Nation Of Language: "This Fractured Mind" (41, 8) 10. Home is Where: "Assisted Harakiri" (41, 6) 11. Big Red Machine: "Phoenix (ft. Fleet Foxes & Anaïs Mitchell)" (38, 6) 12. Olivia Rodrigo: "good 4 u" (35, 5) 13. The Armed: "ALL FUTURES" (35, 5) 14. Squid: "Narrator" (34, 7) 15. Beach House: "Superstar" (34, 6) 16. Yves Tumor: "Jackie" (33, 6) 17. Snail Mail: "Valentine" (27, 6) 18. Turnstile: "MYSTERY" (25, 5) 19. Remember Sports: "Out Loud" (25, 5) 20. Home is Where: "Long Distance Conjoined Twins" (25, 4) 21. Turnstile: "BLACKOUT" (24, 5) 22. Turnstile: "HOLIDAY" (24, 4) 23. Parquet Courts: "Walking at a Downtown Pace" (23, 5) 24. Japanese Breakfast: "Posing in Bondage" (23, 4) 25. Nation Of Language: "Across That Fine Line" (23, 3) 26. Julien Baker: "Hardline" (21, 4) 27. black midi: "John L" (20, 4) 28. Hovvdy: "True Love" (20, 4) 29. Iceage: "Vendetta" (20, 4) 30. Lucy Dacus: "Brando" (19, 4) 31. Jessie Ware: "Please" (19, 4) 32. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die: "Infinite Josh" (19, 4) 33. For Those I Love: "The Shape of You" (19, 3) 34. Fred again..: "Marea (We've Lost Dancing)" (18, 4) 35. Dry Cleaning: "Scratchcard Lanyard" (18, 4) 36. The War On Drugs: "Harmonia's Dream" (18, 3) 37. Lucy Dacus: "Triple Dog Dare" (18, 3) 38. Caroline Polachek: "Bunny is a Rider" (18, 3) 39. Angel Du$t: "Never Ending Game (Panda Bear Remix)" (18, 2) 40. Big Thief: "Little Things" (17, 4) 41. Beach House: "Once Twice Melody" (17, 3) 42. Charli XCX: "Good Ones" (16, 4) 43. Spoon: "The Hardest Cut" (16, 4) 44. Strand Of Oaks: "Galacticana" (16, 3) 45. Lana Del Rey: "White Dress" (16, 3) 46. Ada Lea: "Hurt" (16, 3) 47. Low: "White Horses" (16, 3) 48. Low: "More" (16, 3) 49. James Blake: "Life is Not the Same" (16, 3) 50. CHVRCHES: "How Not to Drown" (16, 3) Some other interesting things I noticed: - I added up all of the points for each artist across all of their songs, and here's how the top 10 shook out: 1. Japanese Breakfast, 2. Low, 3. Turnstile, 4. The War on Drugs, 5. Beach House, 6. Cassandra Jenkins, 7. Lucy Dacus, 8. Nation of Language, 9. Home is Where, 10. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen. - There were 7 artists who made the top 30 artists list but did not have any one song place in the top 50 (too many disparate song choices): Tyler the Creator, Magdalena Bay, Lightning Bug, Deafheaven, Indigo De Souza, Lil Nas X, and Origami Angel. - The artist with the most distinct song choices across everyone's lists: Turnstile, with 9 different songs making at least one appearance. They also, notably, were the third-highest ranking artist, but their highest ranking song was "MYSTERY" at #17, followed by "BLACKOUT" and "HOLIDAY" at #21 and 22, respectively. - 49 of the top 50 songs made at least three appearances across everyone's lists. The only song that only made two appearances is the 39th-ranked "Never Ending Game (Panda Bear Remix)" by Angel Du$t. - Personal note: I listened to Fred again..'s "Marea (We've Lost Dancing)" for the first time because of this list, and it is awesome!

Whoa beans, was not expecting that! The title track is my favorite from the album and landed in my top 10 of the year, but I will say that I'm not 100% in love with the chorus on that song. For me, it's all about the verses and the guitar interludes, which are so good that it makes up for the chorus. Btw, my favorite two-minute stretch on the whole album is the instrumental end of "Change." I get fully consumed by that groove.

dan and I talked about this song a bit already on the Top 40 Pop Songs post, but will also reiterate that I fully agree with these two points, and also restate that it took quite a few plays to go from "it's alright" to "I love this song." It's almost minimalist in its approach, which I came to appreciate. Polachek is such a master of pop.

In my top 10, baby. Been my obsession for the last month.

Talking about Tyler and boats makes me think about his verse on Freddie Gibbs's "Something To Rap About." I adore that song.

"Price of Blue" = very underrated. Nice to see it here. I also really liked "Walking" from that album.

Haha, I'm all about the colons and quotation marks.

I do like "Worry With You" enough that it might make my top 50. But yeahhh.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/npAz2MMLCr8/mqdefault.jpg

Too bad that SAULT album didn't stay on streamers. "Bitter Streets" was a highlight for me too, but I keep forgetting about it.

Felt like Soccer Mommy had a ton of underrated non-album songs this year.

"Disco," Geese. Surprised I haven't seen that appear on these lists as much (just missed the cut on mine).

"Phoenix" is really solid. Also, I like seeing that Rostam track -- that one has slowly crept up my list lately.

"Living Proof" is so good. A bold choice for their first single and album opener, but it's really amazing in its restraint.

Not sure how you feel about Brockhampton, but throw them in for some choice all caps tracks this year.

Amber Mark is the best. I love "Competition," but "Worth It" was my track of hers this year. Love that outro.

Great chunes this year, great chunes. 01. Japanese Breakfast: "Be Sweet" 02. Lucy Dacus: "Brando" 03. Low: "More" 04. Caroline Polachek: "Bunny is a Rider" 05. Olivia Rodrigo: "good 4 u" 06. Hovvdy: "True Love" 07. The War on Drugs: "I Don't Live Here Anymore" 08. José González: "El Invento" 09. Modest Mouse: "We Are Between" 10. Brockhampton ft. Jpegmafia: "CHAIN ON" And here's five more: 11. 박혜진 Park Hye Jin: "Whatchu Doin Later" 12. Wavves: "Sinking Feeling" 13. Spoon "The Hardest Cut" 14. Silk Sonic: "Skate" 15. Natalie Bergman: "Shine Your Light on Me"

I wouldn't necessarily call it a "slow burn" for me, but it did take quite a few times to come up on shuffle and realize how much I liked it. It seemed like a bit of a trifle at first, but I came to appreciate that it's not trying to do too much. It just really works for me.

"Bunny is a Rider" is still up there for me, but I agree that it shouldn't be thought of as her peak. When I ranked the best songs of the last decade, "Crying in Public" came in at #9. That's the peak, to me.

Love your work on this column, Chris. Looking forward to seeing what Rachel does with it. Biggest disagreements: - I don't usually get worked up about things being "too high" or "too low" on lists like this, especially when the song I'm referring to is actually there, but "Bunny is a Rider" is way too low. - All respect to "All Too Well," but "Mr. Perfectly Fine" is the best "From the Vault" track of the year. Biggest agreements: - Calling “Save Your Tears” "extremely mid." "Blinding Lights" was an A+, "Take My Breath" is an A-, "Save Your Tears" is a C-. - "Easy On Me" is, indeed, good. - "Skate" is the right Silk Sonic pick. - "good 4 u" is the correct #1 choice (well, either that, or "Bunny is a Rider." Other notes: Thanks for reminding me about "telepatía." Didn't spend a lot of time with the most recent Kali Uchis album because it came out at the end of last year, so I didn't really know the song until hearing it on the radio a few times. It's really good. Also, Jorja Smith's "Addicted" is really good, but I like "Gone" even more.

Yes! “Shine Your Light On Me” is going to be in my top 20 songs of the year. Natalie Bergman is awesome.

I didn't have it my list either, but crazy that there's no St. Vincent in the top 50 at all.

The main tip I learned is make sure the gif link you post actually ends in .gif

Wow, you did this quickly this year! Nice work.

Did we talk about Get Back since it came out? This is pretty much how I felt about it: https://twitter.com/GraceSpelman/status/1464690196423667712 Seeing them come up with and practice songs together in a studio = bliss.

I'm still somewhat on the fence about AOTY, but the SOTY is definitely Japanese Breakfast's "Be Sweet."

"More" makes me happy to be alive. Also had some very impactful nighttime walking experiences to that song.

"Road of the Lonely Ones" will be up there on my songs list, for sure. Really dig the album too.

That's my 3rd favorite song and my 3rd favorite album. So I approve.

That's also how I felt until last night when I actually watched the video, and then it really clicked for me.

Oops, meant to finish including the EP names. You know them.

My 5 favorite songs from EPs this year: Benny the Butcher: "Overall" (The Plugs I Met 2 Yves Tumor: "Jackie" Mannequin Pussy: "Control" The Alchemist ft. Earl Sweatshirt: "Loose Change" Yves Tumor: "Crushed Velvet"

Yes!!

I loved Eyes on the Lines, but haven't given as much time to Gunn's other albums. I should really listen to Other You again.

I know this was a 2020 track, but I discovered "Disco Man" this year and had a two-week period where that was literally all I listened to.

Same ranking for me, but Lost in the Dream firmly at #2 and IDLHA at #3.

Very much so. Was in heavy rotation a while ago, but kind of forgot about it. "True Love" will definitely be in my top 20 songs though.

I do like "Flood the Block" a lot. The Benny track I couldn't get enough of this year though was "Overall" off The Plugs I Met 2.

I have it at #2 on my list, but I still acknowledge its weaknesses. A Deeper Understanding is eons better, and IDLHA is really going for that '80s cheese in a way I maybe wouldn't have chosen. But despite that, it still delivers those unbelievably cathartic moments that I look for with their music. The highs are really high for me.