2021. The year that we were all supposed to be back to normal. It’s also the year that just sort of became Diet 2020. But, as we all slowly came out of hiding, the creative types unveiled what they had been up to during quarantine. Music continued to push forward and shift despite minimal touring and virtual album promotion. Ways to reach the audience continued to evolve while that same audience spent more time than ever discovering new artists and music.
The word “breakthrough” can mean a lot of things. We hear that word now more than ever before with breakthrough vaccines, breakthrough variants and breakthrough cases. We’ve always heard of breakthrough artists who shot into fame with a singular project or song. It can also mean to advance or take a step forward which is exactly what these ten songs did for the pop format in 2021.
Glass Animals – Heat Waves
“Heat Waves” is the ultimate sleeper hit. When it was originally released 18 months ago, it wasn’t wildly successful. It’s been a wild (and slow) ride ever since. The British band beat out Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” for the slowest climb to a top 10 Billboard Hot 100 track at 42 weeks just last month.
Giveon – “For Tonight”
Giveon has been a featured artist on tracks with Drake and Justin Bieber. He was nominated for Best R&B Album last year at the Grammys. This year, he’s setting the bar higher. “For Tonight” isn’t even close to reaching its peak and is already getting a ton of love from pop radio around the country that will continue well into 2022. A sold out fall tour doesn’t hurt either.
Walker Hayes – “Fancy Like”
It seems like about once a year or two, the pop format gets that massive country crossover record that flies up the chart at warp speed. With the help of TikTok, a dance that Walker’s own daughter made up for the song and a super relatable and catchy hook, this is the 2021 country crossover representative. What a year to be an Applebee’s advertising exec and have this fall in your lap.
Silk Sonic – “Leave The Door Open”
This project was about four years in the making. Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak toured in Europe together in 2017. Fast forward to spring of 2021, Silk Sonic was introduced to the world. “Leave The Door Open” is somehow both unique and is also a song that you’ve felt like you’ve heard a million times before. The Guardian said the track was “on the right side of pastiche”. No idea what “pastiche” means, but it sounds like it’s an amazing compliment for one 2021’s most distinctive pop records.
Adele – “Easy On Me”
Adele breaks records. Period. Only two albums in the past 15 years have sold 17 million. They are both by Adele. And even though the term “album sales” has evolved into “number of streams”, she’s still breaking records. Almost 20 million people streamed “Easy On Me” the VERY FIRST DAY it was released on Spotify. It beat the single day Spotify streaming record held by a bunch of Christmas and Olivia Rodrigo songs.
Olivia Rodrigo -- “Drivers License”
Speaking of Olivia Rodrigo, one year ago today pop music radio had played exactly zero of her songs. She had just signed to Interscope and they were preparing to release “Drivers License” which became one of the most successful debut releases in history. It became a pop culture phenomenon and the only song of 2021 that SNL did an entire skit about.
Olivia Rodrigo -- “Good 4 U”
Olivia just said “yeah, my first two singles were one thing, now let me do something completely different and set some more records”. Bold strategy. Worked perfectly. “Good 4 U” has a wildly different vibe from what we had previously heard from her and instantly became a huge streaming and radio hit. It helped solidify Olivia as a long- term pop artist with an arena tour and 7 Grammy nominations. She’s a gift to radio programmers who are able to take the “just play a bunch of Olivia and watch the ratings climb” approach.
Tate McRae -- “You Broke Me First”
Another sleeper hit that just kept giving and giving. “You Broke Me First” was released during the height of the pandemic last spring. It took 28 weeks, but it finally hit number one on the Mediabase pop chart. So, why is it a breakthrough for 2021? Despite being released 20 months ago, its still the 18th most played song of 2021 on the pop radio chart. Not bad for someone that just graduated high school this year.
Lil Nas X – Montero
How does someone who has the biggest song of the past ten years have a breakthrough hit in 2021? It’s hard to bounce back from the amazing success he had with “Old Town Road”, a song that quickly went from novelty track to global sensation. Lil Nas X’s brilliant use of digital promotion and marketing mixed with catchy and what some consider line-pushing lyrical content have everyone glued to his every move, even his detractors. Lil Nas X is here to stay.
Dua Lipa ft. DaBaby – “Levitating”
Another year, another constant stream of catchy pop hits from Dua Lipa. “Levitating” is different though. It is the Number One Billboard Hot 100 Song Of The Year as it spent 40 weeks on the chart. What makes this song so unique however, is that it’s only the third song in the chart’s history (since 1958) to finish number one for the year without ever hitting number one on the weekly chart. Faith Hill “Breathe” and Lifehouse “Hanging By A Moment” are the only other two to achieve that distinction.
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