Your favorite songs of 2021

[LithoJazzoSphere]

It's interesting to see how these differ from our album lists, and also it can give a chance to standout tracks from albums that might not have otherwise been notable enough. 

1 - Emma Ruth Rundle - "Blooms of Oblivion"
2 - KANGA - "Untie"
3 - Ad Infinitum - "Unstoppable"
4 - CHVRCHES/Robert Smith - "How Not To Drown"
5 - Chelsea Wolfe/Emma Ruth Rundle - "Anhedonia"
6 - White Moth Black Butterfly - "Ether"
7 - Spiritbox - "Hurt You"
8 - Chelsea Wolfe - "Diana"
9 - Shedfromthebody - "Fascia"
10 - Marissa Nadler/Mary Lattimore - "If I Could Breathe Underwater"
11 - Vetrar Draugurinn - "As I Drift On an Ocean Towards a Distant Shore"
12 - Hanging Garden - "Skeleton Lake"
13 - Blackbriar - "Deadly Diminuendo"
14 - VOLA - "Future Bird"
15 - King Woman - "Golgotha"
16 - Lethian Dreams - "You Remain"
17 - The Answer Lies in the Black Void - "Curse"
18 - Lana Del Rey - "Nectar of the Gods"
19 - Phantom Elite - "Diamonds and Dark"
20 - Joel Hoekstra's 13 - "I'm Gonna Lose It"
21 - Swallow The Sun/Cammie Gilbert - "All Hallows' Grieve"
22 - Silver Talon - "Touch the Void"
23 - Converge/Chelsea Wolfe - "Crimson Stone"
24 - Perturbator - "The Other Place"
25 - Abstract Void - "Beyond the Horizon"
26 - We Are The Catalyst - "Better"
27 - ILLENIUM/Dabin/Lights - "Hearts On Fire" (Timmy Trumpet Remix)
28 - Rogue VHS - "Souls Depart"
29 - DEADLIFE - "Neo Anima"
30 - Brandi Carlile - "When You're Wrong"
31 - Crypts of Despair - "Choked By the Void"
32 - Aeon - "God Ends Here"
33 - REMINA - "Dying Sun"
34 - Night Crowned/Christian Alvestam - "Rex Tenebrae"
35 - LukHash - "Impact Event"
36 - Trivium - "Like a Sword Over Damocles"
37 - Doja Cat/The Weeknd - "You Right"
38 - Todd La Torre - "Apology"
39 - Turboslash/Polina Mikhailina - "Insomnia"
40 - Dark The Suns - "Spirit in the Dark"
41 - Lucifer - "Bring Me His Head"
42 - Kings of Convenience/Feist - "Catholic Country"
43 - Swedish House Mafia/The Weeknd - "Moth to a Flame"
44 - HAERTS - "No Shame"
45 - Black Sites - "The Worst of Us"
46 - Gold Spire - "Gloria"
47 - Epica - "Rivers"
48 - Atlas Gray - "Pick Me Up"
49 - Esa Holopainen/Anneke Van Giersbergen - "Fading Moon"
50 - Mega Drive - "Silencer"
51 - Orden Ogan - "In the Dawn of the AI"
52 - Alison Krauss/Robert Plant - "Last Kind Words Blues"
53 - Fergus McCreadle - "North"
54 - Julia Michaels - "Lie Like This"
55 - Vivid Illusion - "The Sentinel"
56 - Enshine - "Ascend"
57 - Adele - "Oh My God"
58 - Street Cleaner - "Sewer Shark"
59 - Skrika - "Seventh Extinction"
60 - Khemmis - "House of Cadmus"
61 - Wheel - "Ascend"
62 - Mercury Circle/Cammie Gilbert - "Like Matches"
63 - Strange Boutique - "Jet Stream"
64 - Teramaze - "Jackie Seth"
65 - Videoclub - "Euphories"
66 - Tori Amos - "29 Years"
67 - Ex Deo/Brittney Slayes - "Boudicca (Queen of the Iceni)"
68 - Azmari - "Kamilari"
69 - Mesa - "A Final Snowfall as the Dawn of Man Flickers"
70 - Gretchen Parlato - "E Preciso Perdoar"
71 - Miguel Miga/Samantha James - "Chasing Time"
72 - Thy Catafalque/Martina Horvath - "Zuzmara"
73 - Clouds - "See the Sky With Blind Eyes"
74 - Tremonti - "Bleak"
75 - Shanu - "Selime"
76 - Ed Sheeran - "Bad Habits"
77 - Murcof - "Systemic Amnesia"
78 - Anette Olzon - "I Need To Stay"
79 - Galvanizer - "Of Flesh Unknown"
80 - Inferi - "Mesmeric Horror"
81 - Harakiri for the Sky - "And Oceans Between Us"
82 - Mare Cognitum - "Antaresian"
83 - In Mourning - "Lights on the Mire"
84 - Kingfisher Sky - "Fool's Anthem"
85 - Panopticon - "The Embers at Dawn"
86 - Subterranean Masquerade - "Ascend"
87 - John Carpenter - "Alive After Death"
88 - Magnus Karlsson/Noora Louhimo - "Into the Unknown"
89 - SZA - "The Anonymous Ones"
90 - Thalarion - "Dead But Still in My Heart"
91 - Jess and the Ancient Ones - "What's On Your Mind"
92 - First Fragment - "Solus"
93 - IOTUNN - "Laihem's Golden Pits"
94 - Obscura - "A Valediction"
95 - Deathswarm - "The Eating Blood"
96 - Abscession - "When the Guillotine Falls"
97 - Lamentum - "River's Silence"
98 - BlutEngel - "I Am the Darkness"
99 - Worm - "Subaqueous Funeral"
100 - Hollywood Burns/Volkor X - "Silent Fortress"
101 - The Dead Daisies - "Like No Other (Bassline")
102 - Ghostheart Nebula/Gogo Melone - "Ascension, Pt. I Cosmic River"
103 - Gojira - "The Chant"
104 - Dead Astronauts - "Chauffeur and the Flame"
105 - Shadecrown - "The Loss"
106 - Veil of Conspiracy/Gogo Melone - "Where Suns Turns To Grey"
107 - Skarlett Riot - "Black Cloud"
108 - The Night Flight Orchestra - "I Will Try"
109 - Dream Unending - "In Cipher I Weep"
110 - Charlotte Wessels - "Afkicken"
111 - Far Caspian - "House"
112 - The Fretless/Ruth Moody - "Retrograde"
113 - Hypocrisy - "Chemical Whore"
114 - Sarah Jarosz - "Mama"
115 - Evergrey - "You From You"
116 - Deafheaven - "Shellstar"
117 - Bela Fleck/Chris Thile/Billy Strings - "Slippery Eel"
118 - Dark Horse White Horse - "Get Out"
119 - Tinashe - "I Can See the Future"
120 - Sleep Token - "Distraction"
121 - Garbage - "Godhead"
122 - Grand Cadaver - "World Mausoleum"
123 - Mon Laferte - "Aunque Te Mueras Por Volver"
124 - White Ward - "Embers"
125 - Rivers of Nihil - "Episode"

Bonus tracks for those who complain about the lack of DT.  :-P  "Answering the Call" and "Liquid Evolution". 

Oops, forgot a couple that Spotify doesn't have (probably even more).  ISON/Sylvaine's "Meridian" and Autumn's Grey Solace's "The Lonely". 

I was going to do a top 50, which turned into a top 75, which turned into a top 100, and well, it's taken 125 (ok, 129) for me to not really be annoyed with leaving things off (though the full list is 248), lol, so there it is.  As strong as the year was for albums, I think it was even better for songs, a quite deep year.  Lots of songs about ascension for some reason, and I guess Chelsea Wolfe wins the year.  Adding in last year, Cammie Gilbert might be winning the decade so far though. 

[DTA]

Didn't listen to too many 2021 albums, but from what I did listen to:

Iron Maiden - Hell On Earth
Dream Theater - Transcending Time
Weezer - All The Good Ones
Steven Wilson - Personal Shopper
Neal Morse - The Way It Had To Be
Mammoth WVH - Distance
LTE - Key To The Imagination
Billie Eilish - I Didn't Change My Number
Big Big Train - Atlantic Cable

[HOF]

Off the top of my head:

Anthonie Tonnon - Leave Love Out of This
Big Big Train - Endnotes, Apallo, Black With Ink
Randy McStine - Guide

[TAC]

Off the top of my head...

Tribulation-Hour Of The Wolf
Helloween-Skyfall
Iron Maiden-The Parchment

[WardySI]

For fun will restrict it to just 1 of each 2021 artist whose album I dug and in no particular order...

JASON BIELER Bring Out Your Dead
VOLBEAT Temple Of Ekur
MASTODON Teardrinker
RIVERSIDE Story Of My Dream
JERRY CANTRELL Brighten
CANDLEBOX Criminals
EVERGREY Where August Mourns
DREAM THEATER Answering The Call
IMPAVID COLOSSUS Claim Your Existence
GREEN LUNG Old Gods
KHEMMIS The Astral Road
HELLOWEEN Golden Times
RESIST & BITE Crazy
SOEN Antagonist
LORD OF THE LOST Gospel Of Judas
ROBIN MCAULEY Standing On The Edge
THE END MACHINE Plastic Heroes
WICKED SENSATION Face Reality
DEE SNIDER Before I Go
BLAZE BAYLEY 18 Flights
UNTO OTHERS When God's Work Is Done
WAYWARD SONS This Party's Over
IRON MAIDEN Lost In A Lost World / Hell On Earth (2 songs)

[ThatOneGuy2112]

.

[lonestar]

Gacharic Spin- MindSet, I Wish I
Lalu- The Chosen Ones
Nemophila- Game Over

Pretty thin year for new music for me.

[wolfking]

1. Iron Maiden - The Parchment
2. Iron Maiden - Lost in A Lost World
3. Mastodon - More Than I Could Chew
4. Mastodon - Had it All
5. Flotsam and Jetsam - The Walls
6. Iron Maiden - Hell on Earth
7. Mastodon - Teardrinker
8. Mastodon - Gigantium
9. Iron Maiden - Darkest Hour
10. Tribulation - Funeral Pyre
11. Netherbird - Mystes
12. Omnium Gatherum - Reckoning
13. Flotsam and Jetsam - A Place to Die
14. Helloween - Golden Times
15. Between the Buried and Me - Human is Hell
16. Esa Holopainen - Storm
17. Evergrey - Where August Mourns
18. Blaze Bayley - The Unstoppable Stephan Hawking
19. Tribulation - Hour of the Wolf
20. Rhapsody of Fire - Chains of Destiny

[nick_z]

It's interesting to see how these differ from our album lists, and also it can give a chance to standout tracks from albums that might not have otherwise been notable enough.

 This is a pretty cool and varied list! I have to sit down and think about mine...

3 - Ad Infinitum - "Unstoppable"

Not necessarily my go-to genre, but I have to say this album is very good and super-catchy (in the best possible way). Another one in a similar vein I enjoyed this year is Edge of Paradise - The Unknown. A little more "synthetic"-sounding (if that makes any sense) and with stronger pop leanings, but pretty cool (and with some nifty guitar solos sprinkled here and there too!). It was recommended here on DTF (maybe it was you?  )

Bonus tracks for those who complain about the lack of DT.  :-P  "Answering the Call" and "Liquid Evolution". 

Answering the Call might be my favorite from A View...

[Zantera]

These aren't necessarily in order

Bruit < - Renaissance
Sel Balamir - Jacques Costeau
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Lavender Fields
The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die - Infinite Josh
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra - Movement 6
Kayo Dot - Void in Virgo
Turnstile - Lonely Dezires
Between the Buried and Me - Bad Habits
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Crimson Stone
Bvdub - Over Invisible Walls
Aesop Rock & Blockhead - Jazz Hands
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - A Military Alphabet
Squid - Pamphlets
Black Midi - Ascending Forth
Nala Sinephro - Space 8
Alora Crucible - Livanomancy in Jasper
Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses
Tomahawk - Valentine Shine
Magdalena Bay - Secrets (Your Fire)
Delta Sleep - Planet Fantastic
Xiu Xiu - One Hundred Years
Dreamwell - Painting Myself a Darker Day
Sweet Trip - At Last a Truth That is Real
Parannoul - White Ceiling
Origami Angel - Bossa Nova Corps
Bruno Pernadas - Family Vows
Dvne - Towers
Japanese Breakfast - Posing for Cars
Cult of Luna - Three Bridges
Iron Maiden - Death of the Celts
Helloween - Cyanide
Deafheaven - Great Mass of Color
Mono - And Eternity in an Hour
Mogwai - Midnight Flit
Lucy Dacus - Triple Dog Dare
Julien Baker - Crying Wolf
Thrice - Still Life
Tori Amos - Swim to New York State
Low - All Night
Trivium - The Phalanx

[Zydar]

My Top 10:

Weezer - Here Comes The Rain
Foo Fighters - Love Dies Young
Frost* - Day And Age
Big Big Train - The Strangest Times
Iron Maiden - Hell On Earth
Steven Wilson - 12 Things I Forgot
Dream Theater - Transcending Time
Mastodon - Teardrinker
ABBA - Keep An Eye On Dan
Ross Jennings - Phoenix

[DTA]

My Top 10:

Weezer - Here Comes The Rain
Foo Fighters - Love Dies Young
Frost* - Day And Age
Big Big Train - The Strangest Times
Iron Maiden - Hell On Earth
Steven Wilson - 12 Things I Forgot
Dream Theater - Transcending Time
Mastodon - Teardrinker
ABBA - Keep An Eye On Dan
Ross Jennings - Phoenix

Great choice. OK Human was a really cool album. I liked Numbers quite a bit

[LithoJazzoSphere]

3 - Ad Infinitum - "Unstoppable"

Not necessarily my go-to genre, but I have to say this album is very good and super-catchy (in the best possible way). Another one in a similar vein I enjoyed this year is Edge of Paradise - The Unknown. A little more "synthetic"-sounding (if that makes any sense) and with stronger pop leanings, but pretty cool (and with some nifty guitar solos sprinkled here and there too!). It was recommended here on DTF (maybe it was you?  )

Nope, but if it's like them I may have to check it out.  I'm always on the lookout for newer great symphonic metal bands, since it's a tricky subgenre to get right.  Ad Infinitum, Eleine, Blackbriar, Phantom Elite, and Dark Horse White Horse have been some of the most promising ones in the last few years. 

Bruit < - Renaissance

Ooh, that was another favorite that I overlooked that isn't on Spotify.  The rest of your list is interesting, it has a lot of releases that did well on the Rate Your Music charts, but I didn't get to.  Listening to those individual tracks might be an easier way to sample those albums.  ThatOneGuy2112's is similar.