best of witness1.3 best of 2021 | SINGLES #5-1 | FINISHED!!

[witness1.3]

Hello everyone, welcome to witness1.3's 2021 year-end countdown. Although I am not very active on ATRL, I love making my own music charts every week. I love sharing them at the end of the year and looking at everyone's too!

I will be listing my Top 100 singles, Top 50 albums, and Top 50 artists of 2021. Here is how they are calculated and their respective countdowns:

Spoiler

 

The Top 100 Singles includes songs that were released as official singles, promo singles, or had a music video from 2020-2021. This is to exclude entire albums from cluttering the chart, and to give songs released towards the end of 2020, or mega smashes, the chance to be on a year-end chart.

Using crownnote and last.fm, a weekly chart is made of my Top 50 songs, assigning a point value to each position. The Top 100 Singles are in order of total point value. This means that a song doesn’t necessarily need more plays than another song in order to chart above it on the year-end.

 

 

100. Silk Chiffon MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers

99. I Love You But I Love Me More MARINA feat. Beach Bunny

98. Easy On Me Adele

97. Smile Katy Perry

96. What’s Your Pleasure? Jessie Ware

95. Message In A Bottle Taylor Swift

94. Stronger Sam Feldt feat. Kesha

93. Piece of My Mind BROODS

92. CAN THEY HEAR US Dua Lipa

91. Dancing With The Devil Demi Lovato

90. Met Him Last Night Demi Lovato feat. Ariana Grande

89. Kathleen Foxes

88. Talk About Love Zara Larsson feat. Young Thug

87. Future Starts Now Kim Petras

86. Daisies Katy Perry

85. You All Over Me Taylor Swift feat. Marren Morris

84. déjà vu Olivia Rodrigo

83. GLAM! Allie X

82. Start Walking Tove Styrke

81. Stoned at the Nail Salon Lorde

80. Am I Alright Aly & AJ

79. Kiss of Life Kylie Minogue & Jessie Ware

78. Seasons Bloom Kacy Hill

77. OUT OUT Joel Corry & Jax Jones feat. Charli XCX & Saweetie

76. Bouncin Tinashe

75. traitor Olivia Rodrigo

74. Dance Magic Foxes

73. A Second to Midnight Kylie Minogue & Years & Years

72. brutal Olivia Rodrigo

71. Magic Kylie Minogue

70. Get Over Here Aly & AJ

69. Please Jessie Ware

68. Undo (Back To My Heart) Tinashe & Wax Motif

67. Dancer LEON

66. I am not a woman, I’m a god Halsey

65. You Regard, Troye Sivan & Tate McRae

64. Don’t Shut Me Down ABBA

63. Need To Know Doja Cat

62. Power Ellie Goulding

61. Renegade Big Red Machine feat. Taylor Swift

60. Kiss Me More Doja Cat feat. SZA

59. Ungodly Hour Chloe x Halle

58. Save Your Tears The Weeknd & Ariana Grande

57. Right Here Zara Larsson

56. Love I’m Given Ellie Goulding

55. Hallucinate Dua Lipa

54. Break My Heart Dua Lipa

53. no body, no crime Taylor Swift feat. HAIM

52. Dance Floor Darling Kylie Minogue

51. Good Days SZA

50. coney island Taylor Swift feat. The National

49. Burning Bridges Sigrid

48. Pressure Martin Garrix feat. Tove Lo

47. Solar Power Lorde

46. Mirror Sigrid

45. CHARGER ELIO & Charli XCX

44. Prisoner Miley Cyrus feat. Dua Lipa

43. Cry About It Later Katy Perry

42. Mood Ring Lorde

41. Cold Heart Elton John, Dua Lipa & PNAU

40. Purge The Poison MARINA

39. Private Life Allie X

38. Physical Dua Lipa

37. Sister Ray Foxes

36. Hot N Heavy Jessie Ware

35. Real Groove Kylie Minogue & Dua Lipa

34. Good Ones Charli XCX

33. Everytime I Cry Ava Max

32. Look What You’ve Done Zara Larsson

31. Gasoline HAIM feat. Taylor Swift

30. Wildest Dreams Taylor Swift

29. Venus Fly Trap MARINA feat. Tove Lo & Kito

28. Electric Katy Perry

27. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) Taylor Swift

26. Don’t Need Nothing Aly & AJ

25. Sacrifice Bebe Rexha

24. Mr. Perfectly Fine Taylor Swift

23. Not the End of the World Katy Perry

22. Bunny is a Rider Caroline Polachek

21. New Love Silk City feat. Ellie Goulding

20. Listen!!! Aly & AJ

19. star-crossed Kacey Musgraves

18. Love Story Taylor Swift

17. good 4 u Olivia Rodrigo

16. We’re Good Dua Lipa

15. Easy Troye Sivan & Kacey Musgraves feat. Mark Ronson

14. Fever Dua Lipa & Angele

13. Starstruck Years & Years & Kylie Minogue

12. cardigan Taylor Swift

11. simple times Kacey Musgraves

10. My Head & My Heart Ava Max

9. Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA

8. breadwinner Kacey Musgraves

7. Symptom of Your Touch Aly & AJ

6. justified Kacey Musgraves

5. camera roll Kacey Musgraves

4. Pretty Places Aly & AJ

3. willow Taylor Swift

2. Love Again Dua Lipa

1. Levitating Dua Lipa

Spoiler

The Top 50 Albums is in order of play count. Only albums released in 2021 are eligible. This includes deluxe versions or reissues of projects released before 2020. Ex) Positions (Deluxe) or Red (Taylor's Version). Play counts start once the new version is released and all play counts prior to then are not included.

 

 

50. Not In Chronological Order Julia Michaels

49. Flowers for Vases / Descansos Hayley Williams

48. Charlotte – EP Charlotte Lawrence

47. Something for Thee Hotties Megan Thee Stallion

46. An Evening with Silk Sonic Silk Sonic

45. Mecury – Act 1 Imagine Dragons

44. Spaceman Nick Jonas

43. = Ed Sheeran

42. Jubilee Japanese Breakfast

41. Screen Violence CHVRCHES

40. Sling Clairo

39. Music of the Spheres Coldplau

38. The End of an Era Iggy Azalea

37. 30 Adele

36. Bang – EP Rita Ora

35. trying not to think about it JoJo

34. Voyage ABBA

33. Blue Banisters Lana Del Rey

32. Times SG Lewis

31. Simple, Sweet, & Smiling Kacy Hill

30. Revelacion – EP Selena Gomez

29. Daddy’s Home St. Vincent

28. Can You Hear Me Now? ELIO

27. Cape God (Deluxe) Allie X

26. Ungodly Hour (Chrome Edition) Chloe X Halle

25. In The Meantime Alessia Cara

24. If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power Halsey

23. Life Support Madison Beer

22. Chemtrails Over The Country Club Lana Del Rey

21. DISCO: Guest List Edition Kylie Minogue

20. Under My Influence (Deluxe) The Aces

19. Happier Than Ever Billie Eilish

18. Friends In The Corner – EP Foxes

17. Women In Music pt III (Expanded Edition) HAIM

16. Positions (Deluxe) Ariana Grande

15. 333 Tinashe

14. Better Mistakes Bebe Rexha

13. Solar Power Lorde

12. Planet Her Doja Cat

11. SOUR Olivia Rodrigo

10. Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA

9. Red (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift

8. What’s Your Pleasure? (Platinum Pleasure Edition) Jessie Ware

7. Dancing With The Devil… The Art of Starting Over Demi Lovato

6. a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun Aly & AJ

5. evermore (deluxe version) Taylor Swift

4. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift

3. Poster Girl Zara Larsson

2. Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) Dua Lipa

1. star-crossed Kacey Musgraves

Spoiler

The Top 50 Artists are simply based on play counts

 

50. HAIM

49. cupcake

48. Alessia Cara

47. Troye Sivan

46. Kim Petras

45. Caroline Polachek

44. Bastille

43. Tinashe

42. Bebe Rexha

41. Ava Max

40. JoJo

39. Nicki Minaj

38. Billie Eilish

37. Beyonce

36. Foxes

35. Olivia Rodrigo

34. Kesha

33. The Aces

32. Kelly Clarkson

31. Allie X

30. Coldplay

29. Carly Rae Jepsen

28. Doja Cat

27. Little Mix

26. Halsey

25. Lorde

24. Rihanna

23. Selena Gomez

22. Christina Aguilera

21. Tove Lo

20. Lady Gaga

19. P!nk

18. Jessie Ware

17. Charli XCX

16. Zara Larsson

15. Ariana Grande

14. Lana Del Rey

13. Miley Cyrus

12. Mariah Carey

11. Madonna

10. Demi Lovato

9. MARINA

8. Aly & AJ

7. Ellie Goulding

6. Kylie Minogue

5. Dua Lipa

4. Kacey Musgraves

3. Britney Spears

2. Katy Perry

1. Taylor Swift

 

Lastly, here is the tentative schedule I plan to release the charts. I hope to actually finish this (or they extend Best Of for a couple weeks) because I will be traveling to go to the opening night of PLAY 

Spoiler

12/17: Weekly #1 Singles of 2021

12/18: Weekly #1 Albums of 2021

12/19: Singles #100-81

12/20: Albums #50-35

12/21: Artists #50-35

12/22: Singles #80-61

12/23: Albums #34-21

12/24: Artists #34-21

12/25: Singles #60-41

12/26: Albums #20-11

12/27-29: PLAY!!!!

12/30 Artists #20-11

12/31: Singles #40-21

1/1: Albums #10-6

1/2: Artists #10-6

1/3: Singles #20-11

1/4: Albums #5-1

1/5: Artists #5-1

1/6: Singles #10-6

1/7: Singles #5-1

1/8-10: Extra days in case I miss a day

 

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by witness1.3

[witness1.3]

Spoiler

 

Easy Troye Sivan & Kacey Musgraves feat. Mark Ronson (1 week)

willow Taylor Swift (1 week)

Not the End of the World Katy Perry (1 week)

Real Groove Kylie Minogue & Dua Lipa (1 week)

Fever Dua Lipa & Angele (1 week)

New Love Silk City feat. Ellie Goulding (3 weeks)

Love Story Taylor Swift (3 weeks)

My Head & My Heart Ava Max (2 weeks)

Levitating Dua Lipa (3 weeks)

Mr. Perfectly Fine Taylor Swift (2 weeks)

Symptom of Your Touch Aly & AJ (2 weeks)

Pretty Places Aly & AJ (2 weeks)

Starstruck Years & Years & Kylie Minogue (2 weeks)

Love Again Dua Lipa (4 weeks)

good 4 u Olivia Rodrigo (1 week)

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA (4 weeks)

Bunny is a Rider Caroline Polachek (2 weeks)

justified Kacey Musgraves (5 weeks)

simple times Kacey Musgraves (1 week)

Wildest Dreams Taylor Swift (1 week)

breadwinner Kacey Musgraves (1 week)

camera roll Kacey Musgraves (3 weeks)

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) Taylor Swift (5 weeks)

Spoiler

 

evermore Taylor Swift (4 weeks)

folklore Taylor Swift (1 week) [6 weeks total]

evermore Taylor Swift (1 week) [6 weeks total]

Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) Dua Lipa (5 weeks)

Poster Girl Zara Larsson (2 weeks)

Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) Dua Lipa (1 week) [18 weeks total]

Dancing With The Devil... The Art of Starting Over Demi Lovato (1 week)

Fearless (Taylor's Version) Taylor Swift (4 weeks)

a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun Aly & AJ (5 weeks)

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA (4 weeks)

What's Your Pleasure? (Platinum Pleasure Edition) Jessie Ware (1 week)

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA (4 weeks) [8 weeks total]

Pang Caroline Polachek (1 week)

Solar Power Lorde (2 weeks)

star-crossed Kacey Musgraves (10 weeks)

Red (Taylor's Version) Taylor Swift (5 weeks)

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by witness1.3

[witness1.3]

Was going to post all the single covers here as well, but ATRL is being a pain. Check out the 2nd post for all the songs that hit #1 in 2021! 

 

Easy Troye Sivan & Kacey Musgraves feat. Mark Ronson (1 week)

willow Taylor Swift (1 week)

Not the End of the World Katy Perry (1 week)

Real Groove Kylie Minogue & Dua Lipa (1 week)

Fever Dua Lipa & Angele (1 week)

New Love Silk City feat. Ellie Goulding (3 weeks)

Love Story Taylor Swift (3 weeks)

My Head & My Heart Ava Max (2 weeks)

Levitating Dua Lipa (3 weeks)

Mr. Perfectly Fine Taylor Swift (2 weeks)

Symptom of Your Touch Aly & AJ (2 weeks)

Pretty Places Aly & AJ (2 weeks)

Starstruck Years & Years & Kylie Minogue (2 weeks)

Love Again Dua Lipa (4 weeks)

good 4 u Olivia Rodrigo (1 week)

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA (4 weeks)

Bunny is a Rider Caroline Polachek (2 weeks)

justified Kacey Musgraves (5 weeks)

simple times Kacey Musgraves (1 week)

Wildest Dreams Taylor Swift (1 week)

breadwinner Kacey Musgraves (1 week)

camera roll Kacey Musgraves (3 weeks)

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) Taylor Swift (5 weeks)

 

Kacey Musgraves and Taylor Swift were the biggest hit makers of the year, with five #1 singles each. Although Taylor ultimately comes out on top with 13 weeks spent at the summit compared to Kacey's 11 weeks. Dua Lipa comes in second with four #1s. Due to two of my faves, Katy and Ellie, having a quiet year, several artists were able to rise to the very top. Angele, Aly & AJ, Olivia Rodrigo, and Caroline Polachek each earned their first #1 singles in 2021. As well, 2021 had the most #1 singles of any year I have tracked so far, with 23 total. 2017 and 2018 both had 16, 2019 had 20, and 2020 had 18. 2021 also had the longest song to hit #1 ever, with All Too Well (10 Minute Version) reaching the summit for an impressive 5 weeks.

 

What's your favorites from this year's #1 singles?

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by witness1.3

[TheWayWeWere]

ATW smashing  it's truly a masterpiece, I don't even rememer liking the song so much when original came out

Bunny  

Aly&AJ  we love some talent

[witness1.3]

3 hours ago, TheWayWeWere said:

ATW smashing  it's truly a masterpiece, I don't even rememer liking the song so much when original came out

Bunny  

Aly&AJ  we love some talent

me too… I am predicting it will stay #1 for a 6th week which would be my longest running #1 of the year which is just hard to believe considering it’s a 10 minute song 

[Sunderland 4ever]

16 hours ago, witness1.3 said:

Real Groove Kylie Minogue & Dua Lipa (1 week)

Fever Dua Lipa & Angele (1 week)

Levitating Dua Lipa (3 weeks)

Mr. Perfectly Fine Taylor Swift (2 weeks)

Love Again Dua Lipa (4 weeks)

good 4 u Olivia Rodrigo (1 week)

justified Kacey Musgraves (5 weeks)

simple times Kacey Musgraves (1 week)

breadwinner Kacey Musgraves (1 week)

camera roll Kacey Musgraves (3 weeks)

The Kacey appreciation

[Remmy]

Whew, Kacey and Taylor dominated the year  Aly & AJ getting some love as well ahhh

 

Ready to see these lists

[witness1.3]

22 minutes ago, Remmy said:

Whew, Kacey and Taylor dominated the year  Aly & AJ getting some love as well ahhh

 

Ready to see these lists

Aly & AJ were definitely my favorite musical discovery this year, flawless discography 

[witness1.3]

Check out the 2nd post for all the albums that hit #1 in 2021!

 

 

evermore Taylor Swift (4 weeks)

folklore Taylor Swift (1 week) [6 weeks total]

evermore Taylor Swift (1 week) [6 weeks total]

Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) Dua Lipa (5 weeks)

Poster Girl Zara Larsson (2 weeks)

Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition) Dua Lipa (1 week) [18 weeks total]

Dancing With The Devil... The Art of Starting Over Demi Lovato (1 week)

Fearless (Taylor's Version) Taylor Swift (4 weeks)

a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun Aly & AJ (5 weeks)

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA (4 weeks)

What's Your Pleasure? (Platinum Pleasure Edition) Jessie Ware (1 week)

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land MARINA (4 weeks) [8 weeks total]

Pang Caroline Polachek (1 week)

Solar Power Lorde (2 weeks)

star-crossed Kacey Musgraves (10 weeks)

Red (Taylor's Version) Taylor Swift (5 weeks)

 

Taylor was the biggest album hitmaker for 2021 with the help of sister albums folklore and evermore, and the first two of her rerecordings, Fearless and Red. With the help of these 4 releases, Taylor surpassed Katy Perry (5 albums) to become the artist with the most #1 albums (7 albums). Note: Taylor's Versions are being counted towards the chart points and weeks of the original albums. I started keeping track of my charts around 1989's release, so Fearless and Red hit #1 for the first time with the rerecordings. Her only albums to not hit #1 are her debut and Speak Now, which certainly will with their rerecordings.

Kacey scored the longest running #1 album of the year, with star-crossed reaching the summit for 10 weeks so far, and it definitely has potential to snatch up a few more weeks with it's tour. It is her second #1 album and second longest reign at #1, with Golden Hour spending 14 weeks at the top.

Dua racked up the most total weeks with Future Nostalgia with the help of it's Moonlight Edition. Future Nostalgia was able to snatch 6 more weeks at the top this year, making it the 3rd longest reign for an album ever (only behind Witness and Delirium)

Demi Lovato, Aly & AJ, Jessie Ware, Caroline Polachek, and Lorde all earned their first #1 album this year. I was able to see Caroline's show at the Greek Theatre, so that's why her 2019 album just now hit #1. Yes, I know Melodrama is way better, but maybe Lorde shouldn't have released it right after Witness and it wouldn't have been blocked!

Edited December 19, 2021 by witness1.3

[Yvess]

Future Nostalgia will always be iconic

[Alldeezy]

Taylor slaying

[TheWayWeWere]

evermore/folklore slaying back to back  

Jessie, Caroline, Dua  TASTE

[Sunderland 4ever]

17 hours ago, witness1.3 said:

star-crossed Kacey Musgraves (10 weeks)

10 weeks. The domination.

[witness1.3]

It's time for my first installment of the The Top 100 singles!

Quick recap: The Top 100 Singles includes songs that were released as official singles, promo singles, sent to radio, or had a music video from 2020-2021. This is to exclude entire albums from cluttering the chart, and to give songs released towards the end of 2020, or mega smashes, the chance to be on a year-end chart. Using crownnote and last.fm, a weekly chart is made of my Top 50 songs, assigning a point value to each position. The Top 100 Singles are in order of total point value. This means that a song doesn’t necessarily need more plays than another song in order to chart above it on the year-end. As you'll see in this installment and throughout the rest of my countdown, some songs from 2020 appear. Typically, all these 2020 songs had higher peaks and more weeks last year. The data on their image is strictly from their 2021 chart runs.

 

With that being said, here are singles #100-81!

Spoiler

 

What are your favorites from #100-81?

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by witness1.3

[witness1.3]

On 12/18/2021 at 4:35 PM, Sunderland 4ever said:

The Kacey appreciation

someone had to appreciate her this year because most people found star-crossed underwhelming (still love it but anything is a let down from golden hour) 

20 hours ago, Yvess said:

Future Nostalgia will always be iconic

Up there with Teenage Dream as one of the pop bibles Yep!!!!!!

17 hours ago, Sempiternal said:

Taylor slaying

She really did slay so hard this year  She's swfitly coming for Katy as my most played artist ever

13 hours ago, TheWayWeWere said:

evermore/folklore slaying back to back  

Jessie, Caroline, Dua  TASTE

I still find it funny that folklore managed to sneak another week at #1 right after evermore's release, like give her a moment to shine too 

 

4 hours ago, Sunderland 4ever said:

10 weeks. The domination.

She stomped 

 

 

Thank you guys for commenting, please check out my top #100-85 singles!

[JGibson]

Silk Chiffon + deja vu  + You All Over Me (Taylor's Version) + Daisies + Met Him Last Night + Smile + Dancing With The Devil + Easy On Me + Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) 

[Yvess]

EOM, DAISIES, DWTD  

[BlackoutZone]

Wait the #1s lists  Taste jumped out

The Top 100 starts great too, forgot about GLAM! it was such a bop from Allie. Piece Of My Mind AMAZING! What's Your Pleasure mega classic. Can They Hear Us and start walking also pretty cute

 

[Mr. Loco]

Deja vu & Easy on me 

Dancing with the devil is cute as well 

[Sunderland 4ever]

Easy On Me and What's Your Pleasure? The records from where they come from overall were very enjoyable.

[D/X]

Omg Broods  a nice surprise!

Also Adele

 

 

[witness1.3]

Time for the first installment of The Top 50 albums! The top albums are calculated simply by play count. For 2021 releases, any previous singles are totaled into the album count. For deluxe, rerelease, or Taylor's Versions released in 2021, the play count starts when the album was released.

 

Here are albums #50-35!

Spoiler

 

What are your favorite albums?

 

[witness1.3]

Spoiler

19 hours ago, JGibson said:

Silk Chiffon + deja vu  + You All Over Me (Taylor's Version) + Daisies + Met Him Last Night + Smile + Dancing With The Devil + Easy On Me + Message In A Bottle (Taylor's Version) 

Yess to the Taylor's Versions 

13 hours ago, Yvess said:

EOM, DAISIES, DWTD  

Daisies power sneaking another year in the top 100... can't wait to see it at Play

9 hours ago, BlackoutZone said:

Wait the #1s lists  Taste jumped out

The Top 100 starts great too, forgot about GLAM! it was such a bop from Allie. Piece Of My Mind AMAZING! What's Your Pleasure mega classic. Can They Hear Us and start walking also pretty cute

 

Thank you! I kinda thought my #1s list was kinda chaotic and weird this year but at least you like it haha. I didn't get into What's Your Pleasure until this time last year, I was sleeping on it way too long.

8 hours ago, Mr. Loco said:

Deja vu & Easy on me 

Dancing with the devil is cute as well 

DTWD is cute but honestly grew old for me very fast, hence the high peak but dropping off after 5 weeks 

5 hours ago, Sunderland 4ever said:

Easy On Me and What's Your Pleasure? The records from where they come from overall were very enjoyable.

What's Your Pleasure is fantastic I am mad at myself for sleeping on it until this year.

23 minutes ago, D/X said:

Omg Broods  a nice surprise!

Also Adele

 

 

I believe this is the first time broods has landed on my top 100! 

 

 

[Legend E]

Spaceman, Jubilee, Screen Violence, 30 wheww the taste

[TheWayWeWere]

NICO opening top 50  

BANG EP would've loved it to be longer  

TNTTAI one of her best projects to date