Top 10 best hit songs of 2016

2016 had a real drought of good music charting in the United States. Beyonce released a hugely-hyped and amazing album and only one song crawled onto the bottom half of the year-end list. Huge albums from Radiohead, the 1975 and Kanye West failed to have any hits that stuck around. Prince died and 'Purple Rain' re-entered the top 10 and was way better than anything in the top 100. That said, there was some decent music in the charts. The only criteria is a placing on the Billboard top 100 year-end list and to have not been on it last year, otherwise 2015 hits would be half this list - but anyway:

10. Flo Rida - My house




Yes, the piano line is ripped straight from 'Trampoline' by Kalin and Myles, and yes the song is shallow and yes, the pre-chorus is pretty awful, but I can't help but love 'My House'. The piano line is bouncy, the song is incredibly fun and in a year where music slogged along at a snails pace, this managed to speed things up without being a trashy EDM monstrosity.

9. Jeremih - oui




Why couldn't we get more of this kind of music in the chats in 2016? Music that just, ya know... sounded really good. 'oui' reminds me of one of my favourite 2013 hits, 'Suit & Tie' by Justin Timberlake and Jay Z, (The song references it in the chorus and the bright keyboards are obviously inspired by it.) and yet it doesn't feel like a copy, and so just ends up as a great song.

8. Adele - When we Were Young




One of the only slow songs to chart this year that wasn't boring, 'WWWY' is easily as good as 'Rolling in the Deep' or 'Someone Like You' and is also one of the few songs to try and tell a story in the lyrics, which was refreshing. It's also great to hear a song build up to a climactic final chorus, something which is so rare that only someone with the fame of Adele could make it into a top-20 hit.

7. Beyonce - Sorry




There were two massive songs this year titled 'Sorry' - an overplayed but otherwise bearable Justin Beiber song and an infinitely better Beyonce song. The only song that really stuck around from 'Lemonade', this isn't the best song off the album, but is still great. With angry lyrics backed by one of the best instrumentals of the year, it's as astoundingly real as everything else Beyonce has done in 2016.

6. Twenty-one pilots - Stressed Out



Obviously this was overplayed to the point where it was basically white noise, so it's hard to re-listen to this song with fresh ears. Nonetheless, it's far more interesting than so much of 2016's produce, with lyrics that are perhaps the most relatable of the year (Hence why it as so big.) and a chorus which is both unconventional and builds on itself every time. Plus, it was so refreshing simply to hear real drums on a massive hit.

5. Mike Posner - I Took A Pill In Ibiza (SeeB remix)



Nobody was expecting this. Not only did Mike Posner return from obscurity out of seemingly nowhere, he did purely out of the power of how good 'Ibiza' is. The most personal song to end up on Year-end list, it's so specific to Mike Posner that it's a wonder the public latched onto it - Hell, the original acoustic version didn't make any waves until the remix. But the remix is the superior version of 'Ibiza', with it's legitimately great drop that manages to give off fittingly creepy, chaotic vibes and yet also be danceable.

4. Bruno Mars - 24k Magic



YES, IT WASN'T ON THE YEAR END 100, but you can't deny that this was a massive hit. Plus there honestly aren't 10 great songs that landed on the list (I mean, I put Flo Rida on here...). Ultimately, 24k Magic is pretty much perfect. Bruno Mars has slowly morphed from one of the most unbearable artists of the early 2010s into someone making massive retro jams that give respect to the classics while creating banging modern classics in the process. It's almost the most fun song of the year.

3. The Weeknd - Starboy




Any song that stops Daft Punk from being known as one-hit wonders in the US already has my gratitude, but 'Starboy' is far more than an attempt to stay relevant - it's the Weeknd declaring that he has won the music industry. And with beats this sharp you believe him.

2. Flume ft. Kai - Never Be Like You




The weirdest, wonkiest hit of the year. Sure, Flume's glitch-pop masterpiece felt out of place next to the Rihannas and Drakes of the year, but that only added to it's charm. It's wailing, trippy and one of the catchiest songs of the year. Many hits of this year will be forgotten quickly - and trust me that's for the better - but 'Never be like you' will be one of the defining songs of 2016 for years to come.

1. D.R.A.M. ft. Lil Yachty - Broccoli




2016 was year where hip-hop struggled in comparison to recent year. Most big hits were terrible (Juju on that beat), Not rap at all (Drake) or memes (Panda). But there was one song, one unexpected breakthrough hit that outclassed every song released all year. And yes, I believe that song to be 'Broccoli'. It's the piano. It's the infection happiness in D.R.A.M's voice, it's every charmingly terrible line Lil Yachty spits. But most of all it's that flute! It sounds straight out of 'Earthbound' and I'm 100% sure it's not only why this song was a smash, but also the best hit song of 2016.

The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk - Starboy review

In case you haven't been paying attention to pop music in 2016 - something which I wouldn't blame you for - It hasn't been good. Bland, half-formed songs have been clogging up the radio and the charts pretty much all year. This is in contrast to the incredible year for pop that was 2015: There was a huge variety of genuinely great rap, pop, electronic dance music and R&B from newcomers and established artists alike. One of the most promising newcomers (at least to this level of success.) was an alternative R&B artist who became absolutely massive off the back of his 3 massive hits, 'Earned it', 'Can't feel my face' and 'The Hills', the latter two reaching number 1 in the US and number 3 over here in the UK - Abel Makkonen Tesfaye AKA The Weeknd.

Therefore, the pressure on Tesfaye for his next album is almost unimaginably big. His 2015 effort 'Beauty behind the madness' was met with good-but-not-amazing reception, but the combination of having hugely loved singles and the sales of over 2 million in the US alone meant that a lot was riding on how good this new song 'Starboy' was. Luckily for everybody, it's very good.




It begins with some sharp, chugging beats courtesy of Daft Punk that alone raise the the song above many mediocre, sleepy rhythms (Think pretty much anything from 'Views') from the top 10 this year. These combine with the throbbing bass and the sparse piano keys to set the edgy, dark atmosphere we've come to expect from The Weeknd. Tesfaye's voice is a great match for his lyrics, which are even then probably the weakest part of the song as a whole - Basically the Weeknd boasting about how much of everything he has since he hit it big - and even then they're still miles more interesting than most of this years crap, mainly because he's blaming the public for putting in this position and with aforementioned 2 million sales, he kinda has a point.

The chorus is especially great, with daft punk using their trademark robot voices for some 'Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha' backing vocals as Tesfaye's voice breaks into one of the best falsettos on the radio. Equally amazing is the video which shows the Weekend killing himself before revealing that he has *gasp* changed his notorious hairstyle into something sharper and more cohesive - just like his music - before he smashes up all of his awards and trophies from the 'old' Weeknd. If you haven't heard the song yet (You probably have, it's currently number 3 in the UK and number 2 in the US) I've linked the video above, so please check it out. It might just be your favourite hit of the year.
9/10