This year might have not been great for a lot of people, but it was a year that was defined for many, musically at least, by one song — Dua Lipa’s “Levitating.” The song ended last year in the Top 10 and started this year at No. 8. By the end of the year, “Levitating” had spent 48 weeks in the Top 40, with 20 of those being in the Top 20 and 36 in the Top 10. Other songs may have spent more time at No. 1, but none of them stayed on the chart longer. As a result, Dua Lipa finishes the year with the No. 1 song, just outpacing “Stay” by The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber, who held the top spot for a whopping 11 weeks toward the end of 2021. Just behind them at No. 3 is Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u,” which owned the top of the chart for seven weeks in July and August. Rounding out the Top 10 are “Kiss Me More” (Doja Cat), “Save Your Tears” (The Weeknd), “drivers license” (Rodrigo), “Bad Habits” (Ed Sheeran), “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” (Lil Nas X), “Industry Baby” (Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow) and “Peaches” (Justin Bieber).
Below are the Top 100 songs for 2021. Each song is linked to its official video on YouTube, where possible. To listen to the full playlist of these songs, visit our page on Spotify.
| Pos | Song | Artist | Wks | Peak |
| 1 | Levitating | Dua Lipa | 48 | 1 |
| 2 | Stay | The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber | 24 | 1 |
| 3 | good 4 u | Olivia Rodrigo | 32 | 1 |
| 4 | Kiss Me More | Doja Cat | 34 | 1 |
| 5 | Save Your Tears | The Weeknd | 45 | 1 |
| 6 | drivers license | Olivia Rodrigo | 25 | 1 |
| 7 | Bad Habits | Ed Sheeran | 26 | 2 |
| 8 | Montero (Call Me By Your Name) | Lil Nas X | 32 | 3 |
| 9 | Industry Baby | Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow | 22 | 1 |
| 10 | Peaches | Justin Bieber | 22 | 1 |
| 11 | Mood | 24kGoldn & Iann Dior | 19 | 1 |
| 12 | Leave the Door Open | Silk Sonic | 25 | 1 |
| 13 | Easy On Me | Adele | 10 | 1 |
| 14 | déjà vu | Olivia Rodrigo | 28 | 2 |
| 15 | 34+35 | Ariana Grande | 20 | 2 |
| 16 | Heat Waves | Glass Animals | 37 | 3 |
| 17 | Shivers | Ed Sheeran | 15 | 4 |
| 18 | Up | Cardi B | 19 | 3 |
| 19 | Astronaut in the Ocean | Masked Wolf | 23 | 4 |
| 20 | Go Crazy | Chris Brown & Young Thug | 18 | 4 |
| 21 | Positions | Ariana Grande | 22 | 2 |
| 22 | Need to Know | Doja Cat | 25 | 6 |
| 23 | Blinding Lights | The Weeknd | 20 | 5 |
| 24 | Butter | BTS | 19 | 7 |
| 25 | Fancy Like | Walker Hayes | 22 | 6 |
| 26 | RAPSTAR | Polo G | 20 | 9 |
| 27 | You Right | Doja Cat & The Weeknd | 26 | 11 |
| 28 | Way 2 Sexy | Drake (feat. Future & Young Thug) | 14 | 6 |
| 29 | Therefore I Am | Billie Eilish | 19 | 9 |
| 30 | Holy | Justin Bieber & Chance The Rapper | 12 | 3 |
| 31 | Best Friend | Saweetie | 22 | 12 |
| 32 | What You Know Bout Love | Pop Smoke | 19 | 7 |
| 33 | Heartbreak Anniversary | Giveon | 25 | 15 |
| 34 | traitor | Olivia Rodrigo | 28 | 12 |
| 35 | Beautiful Mistakes | Maroon 5 & Meghan Thee Stallion | 19 | 9 |
| 36 | Beggin’ | Måneskin | 23 | 11 |
| 37 | Calling My Phone | Lil Tjay, 6LACK | 16 | 8 |
| 38 | Bang! | AJR | 13 | 7 |
| 39 | You Broke Me First | Tate McRae | 19 | 13 |
| 40 | Without You | The Kid Laroi | 21 | 11 |
| 41 | Happier Than Ever | Billie Eilish | 21 | 12 |
| 42 | Good Days | SZA | 16 | 9 |
| 43 | Take My Breath | The Weeknd | 15 | 9 |
| 44 | Cold Heart | Elton John & Dua Lipa | 11 | 8 |
| 45 | I Hope | Gabby Barrett & Charlie Puth | 10 | 9 |
| 46 | Knife Talk | Drake | 13 | 8 |
| 47 | Laugh Now Cry Later | Drake & Lil Durk | 9 | 7 |
| 48 | My Ex’s Best Friend | Machine Gun Kelly & Blackbeard | 20 | 17 |
| 49 | Leave Before You Love Me | Marshmello & Jonas Brothers | 16 | 13 |
| 50 | Whoopty | CJ | 6 | 5 |
| 51 | Lonely | Justin Bieber & Benny Blano | 14 | 11 |
| 52 | Essence | Wizkid | 12 | 13 |
| 53 | That’s What I Want | Lil Nas X | 17 | 15 |
| 54 | Smokin Out the Window | Silk Sonic | 13 | 11 |
| 55 | What’s Next | Drake | 6 | 7 |
| 56 | Lil Bit | Nelly & Florida-Georgia Line | 7 | 4 |
| 57 | Anyone | Justin Bieber | 13 | 17 |
| 58 | Every Chance I Get | DJ Khaled | 14 | 13 |
| 59 | Back in Blood | Pooh Shiesty & Lil Durk | 5 | 6 |
| 60 | Dakiti | Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez | 17 | 17 |
| 61 | My Universe | Coldplay | 15 | 13 |
| 62 | pov | Ariana Grande | 17 | 18 |
| 63 | Thot Sh*t | Megan Thee Stallion | 11 | 12 |
| 64 | Your Mines Still | Yung Blue & Drake | 15 | 17 |
| 65 | Streets | Doja Cat | 11 | 13 |
| 66 | Wants and Needs | Drake | 11 | 19 |
| 67 | Kings & Queens | Ava Max | 5 | 8 |
| 68 | Dynamite | BTS | 12 | 19 |
| 69 | Put Your Records On | Ritt Momney | 9 | 8 |
| 70 | For the Night | Pop Smoke, Lil Baby & Da Baby | 7 | 10 |
| 71 | Girls Want Girls | Drake (feat. Lil Baby) | 6 | 4 |
| 72 | Ain’t Sh*t | Doja Cat | 5 | 7 |
| 73 | On Me | Lil Baby | 13 | 15 |
| 74 | Arcade | Duncan Laurence | 11 | 17 |
| 75 | Body | Megan Thee Stallion | 10 | 7 |
| 76 | Meet Me At Our Spot | The Anxiety, Willow & Tyler Cole | 9 | 16 |
| 77 | Lemonade | Internet Money, Gunna & Toliver | 15 | 25 |
| 78 | Telepatia | Kali Uchis | 13 | 18 |
| 79 | Better Days | Neiked, Mae Muller & Polo G | 9 | 16 |
| 80 | Wasted on You | Morgan Wallen | 9 | 17 |
| 81 | Willow | Taylor Swift | 7 | 15 |
| 82 | Love Again | Dua Lipa | 14 | 23 |
| 83 | You | Regard x Troye Sivan x Tate McRae | 8 | 18 |
| 84 | Forever After All | Luke Combs | 6 | 15 |
| 85 | Ghost | Justin Bieber | 13 | 21 |
| 86 | Fair Trade | Drake (feat. Travis Scott) | 13 | 28 |
| 87 | One Right Now | Post Malone & The Weeknd | 13 | 31 |
| 88 | Yonaguni | Bad Bunny | 11 | 19 |
| 89 | Rumors | Lizzo & Cardi B | 11 | 20 |
| 90 | All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) | Taylor Swift | 8 | 9 |
| 91 | Your Power | Billie Eilish | 7 | 11 |
| 92 | Motley Crew | Post Malone | 7 | 12 |
| 93 | We’re Good | Dua Lipa | 6 | 8 |
| 94 | happier | Olivia Rodrigo | 4 | 10 |
| 95 | Hurricane | Kanye West | 8 | 14 |
| 96 | Late At Night | Roddy Ricch | 6 | 11 |
| 97 | Pepas | Farruko | 3 | 10 |
| 98 | Better Together | Luke Combs | 11 | 21 |
| 99 | If I Didn’t Love You | Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood | 7 | 18 |
| 100 | Skate | Silk Sonic | 6 | 9 |
Note: We suffered a catastrophic crash after our last post on September 18, but were able to recover all data and rebuild the chart before the end of the year. Lesson learned? Back up everything more in more than one location!
The American charts all have their whims. We look across the pop music landscape to put together a reliable snapshot of what is truly trending today. We tracked 277 songs that trended in various ways during 2021.
Copyright © 2022 Doug DeBolt.
