Top 3 Albums of 2021

Written By: Sahbaj and Shaurya. Edited by: Aryahi and Aizack. Pictures by: Aizack

The year is almost over and 2022 is only a few weeks away! This year, so many artists released record-breaking singles and EPs (extended plays) that were loved and played on repeat by many. However, there were also numerous fantastic albums that left millions of people around the world raving about them. Lil Nas X released his first album this year which broke the charts, while Ed Sheeran made an extraordinary comeback from his break from recording. With top albums by artists like Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, and many others, the list can be extremely tough to narrow down. All of the albums that we have mentioned here left a huge impact on the music industry, so we decided to add a couple of honorable mentions towards the end.

Ever since Justin Bieber announced the upcoming release of “Justice” in February, fans were anxiously waiting for him to drop the new album. As expected, this album didn’t disappoint fans and quickly racked up tons of hype. People absolutely adored this album because within 41 days, “Justice” was streamed over 1 billion times. Justin Bieber’s album features tons of talented artists like Khalid, Chance the Rapper, The Kid LAROI, Dominic Fike, Giveon, and benny blanco. In total, there were sixteen sensational hits featured on this album. Some of the more popular songs on this album include “Holy” (ft. Chance the Rapper), “Peaches”, “Hold On”, “Unstable” (ft. The Kid LAROI), and “Lonely” (ft. benny blanco). A few of the more underrated gems on this album that we like are “Ghost”, “2 Much”, “Anyone” and “Love You Different” (feat. BEAM). The majority of the songs on this album are slower, more emotional songs that are inspired by Justin Bieber’s past few years. Recently, Justice (Deluxe) was also released and showcased nine new songs that weren’t a part of the original album. These include “There She Go” (ft. Lil Uzi Vert), “I Can’t Be Myself” (ft. Jaden), “Lifetime”, “Wish You Would” (ft. Quavo), “Know No Better” (ft. Dababy), “Name” (ft. Tori Kelly), “Red Eye” (ft. Troyboi), “Angels Speak”, and “Hailey”. We would probably call this one of Justin Bieber’s best albums recorded to date.

“MONTERO” was released on September 17, 2021, by none other than Lil Nas X himself. “MONTERO” was Lil Nas X’s first studio album, and, as we all expected, it immediately rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. “MONTERO” featured record-breaking rap songs like “INDUSTRY BABY” (feat. Jack Harlow), “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”, and “SUN GOES DOWN”. Aside from the more popular songs, “MONTERO” also had a few hidden gems that we believe were absolutely fantastic songs. Some of these songs were “DON'T WANT IT”, “VOID”, and “AM I DREAMING” (feat. Miley Cyrus). Lil Nas X’s single “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” also broke quite a few records. Back in March 2021 when this song was first released, it had stayed at the top of the Billboard charts for over five weeks. Lil Nas X had officially become the first solo artist to have the longest streak in the number one spot. All of these spectacular songs, with the addition of all of the records it broke, makes “MONTERO” one of the best albums of 2021.

Earlier this year, on June 25, Ed Sheeran released a single called “Bad Habits”. Within the span of a couple of days, “Bad Habits” ended up being Ed Sheeran’s biggest Number 1 to date. Ed Sheeran has already had eleven Number 1 songs, which is significantly more than any artist out there. On October 29 Ed Sheeran officially released his fifth studio album called “=” (pronounced equals). This album included the song "Bad Habits" and still remains the most popular song on this album. Ed Sheeran decided to take a break from recording songs in 2019, but came back strong with his latest album. As with pretty much all of his other albums, Ed Sheeran’s album doesn’t feature any collaborations with artists. However, we believe that this only makes his album stronger and much more unique to him. Some of the best songs on Ed Sheeran’s new album would be “Sandman”, “Shivers”, “Overpass Graffiti”, and “The Joker And The Queen”. “Sandman” was written and dedicated to Ed Sheeran’s daughter, and we can’t deny that it’s an absolutely beautiful song. “=” would definitely be one of his top-tier albums, as well as one of the best of 2021.

Honorable Mentions

We’ve already mentioned three incredible albums, but we believe that there were so many more albums in 2021 that were just as good. Now, here are our thoughts on a couple of more albums that we believe are worth mentioning in this article.

“Planet Her”, Doja Cat’s third studio album, was released on June 25, 2021. This album is very sci-fi inspired which is totally something that is up her alley. Doja Cat is extremely famous for her rap skills, and as expected, there are plenty of energetic rap songs featured within this album. “Planet Her” features numerous artists like The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, SZA, JID, and Young Thug. Doja Cat’s most recent album wasn’t as successful as her previous album “Hot Pink”, but it still managed to break a very significant record. “Planet Her” broke the Spotify record for the fastest female rapper to reach 1 Billion streams for a single album. “Planet Her” showcases fourteen different tracks, and “Planet Her (Deluxe)” featured five extra songs. Popular songs that a lot of people loved from this album include “Woman”, “Need To Know”, and “You Right”. Although “Planet Her” wasn’t as popular as “Hot Pink”, it doesn’t mean that it was a bad album at all. A decent amount of the songs on this album are upbeat party songs, and that doesn’t stop them from being great tracks.

Of course, we wouldn’t be able to finish this article without mentioning Olivia Rodrigo. She took over the music world this year, starting off with her first single “drivers license” which was released in January 2021. Within the span of a few days, “drivers license” was all over the internet with people gushing over it. Afterward, in April, Olivia revealed that her debut album “SOUR” would be coming out in May. As we all know, the moment “SOUR” was released, it blew up all around the world. Within the first week of its release, “SOUR” gained over 300 million streams and topped Spotify charts in over 47 countries. Olivia also had her whole album featured in the Top 30, with three of them in the Top 10. This ended up making her the first artist to have three concurrent songs in the Top 10 from a debut album. “SOUR” features eleven amazing tracks. A large amount of the songs on “SOUR” are more slow-paced break-up songs which makes the album name make a bit sense. Some of the more known songs include “good 4 u”, “drivers license”, “deja vu”, and “traitor”. A couple of our personal favorites and the less popular tracks include “happier”, “1 step forward, 3 steps back”, and “favorite crime”. Overall, Olivia Rodrigo created an amazing debut with “SOUR”

Although this wasn’t the best year for a variety of reasons, we believe that all of us can agree that music-wise, this year was absolutely phenomenal. Albums like “Justice”, “=”, and “MONTERO”, soared to the top of the Billboard charts, breaking many records. Many songs on “SOUR” and “Planet Her” also conquered the Billboard charts this year. Each of the five albums we mentioned, has something different in it and that’s why we believe that all of these albums are a part of the Top 5 albums of 2021.