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The 1A Record Club on the best music of 2021

US singer Olivia Rodrigo accepts the Best New Artist award on stage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
US singer Olivia Rodrigo accepts the Best New Artist award on stage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

If you can believe it, we’ve reached the end of 2021. Some may be excited to see it go, but one thing we are happy to reminisce about is all the music it brought us.

Adele released her long-awaited album after six years. Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” had us all feeling like teenagers again. Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” set a record for most streams on Spotify in a single day… and made us realize that yes, anything can be album art.   

For this edition of the 1A Record Club, we round up the year in music.

2021’s Best Songs, according to our guests

Kia Turner

Jazmine Sullivan, “Pick Up Your Feelings” 

WizKid and TEMS, “Essence” 

Doja Cat, “Need to Know” 

Megan Thee Stallion, “Thot Sh*t” 

Adele, “My Little Love”  

Jason Lipshutz

Olivia Rodrigo, “Drivers License”

Geese, “Disco”

Young Dolph & Key Glock, “Penguins”

Griff, “Black Hole”

Turnstile, “Blackout”

Stephen Thompson

Cassandra Jenkins, “Hard Drive”

Jazmine Sullivan, “The Other Side”

Emily Scott Robinson, “Let ‘Em Burn”

Big Thief, “Little Things”

Muna, “Silk Chiffon (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)”

Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5

Michelle Harven