Reading over the intro to last year’s SubModern Year End Report, I could basically have copied and pasted. Covid (check), political tension (check), social unrest (check), the economy (check). I really don’t want to get into all of that again, but at least I think we can probably all agree that 2021 was slightly better than 2020. We got live music back, and while the experience may have been very different, it was fantastic to see at least a handful of shows! And if the last couple years had any positive takeway, it was that artists had time to make a lot of great music, and that really came across in our world of the SubModern. So, without any further ado, let’s take a look back through the last twelve months at the most played singles and albums of the Biden administration.

2021 turned out to be the year of Japanese Breakfast (YAY Michelle!) and Wet Leg with the pair taking the two top spots on both the singles and albums charts… just not in the same order. “Be Sweet” from JBrekkie was not only my favorite song of the year, but also the most played single in all of specialty radioland, with the excellent Jubilee album being the second most played. Flip-flopping that scenario, Wet Leg’s not even fully released self-titled debut had more spins than any record that actually came out this year, while the infectious tune “Chaise Longue” was #2 single of the year.

Oddly, there was one band that managed to best both of those as the most played artist of the year. That was Beach Bunny, who had several non-album singles and an EP in 2021.

Some other artists who managed to snag spots in the top ten of both charts this year were The Joy Formidable with “Into The Blue” (the song) at #3 and Into The Blue (the album) at #8, St. Vincent with “Pay Your Way In Pain” at #8 and the record Daddy’s Home at #4, and the unexpected dark horse of the bunch, Sam Evian, with “Easy To Love” at #9 from the album Time To Melt at #5.

Other artists showing up in the top tens were Band of Horses, CHVRCHES, Courtney Barnett, Death From Aboves 1979, Jungle, Kiwi Jr., Middle Kids, TV Priest, The War on Drugs, and Yuno. An embarassment of riches if I do say so, but there’s even more, which you can see on the charts below.

Congratulations to all of those artists and of course the label and promo teams behind them. Speaking of labels, here’s where we acknowledge those that had the most impact on the SubModern charts this year. I feel like a broken record, but with music this year from artists like Aeon Station, Beach House, Cartel Madras, Chai, Flock of Dimes, Kiwi Jr., Low, TV Priest, Ya Tseen, Yuno, Sub Pop Records is the #1 SubModern label for the fifth consecutive year! Somebody get some jackets made for Scott Perlewitz and Michelle Feghali. I should also give credit where credit is due to a man who works so many Sub Pop artists to specialty radio – Hard Boiled‘s Chris Stowers. Kudos also to the folks at the rest of the top ten labels – PIAS (#2), Domino (#3), Polyvinyl (#4), Matador (#5), Atlantic (#6), Mom + Pop (#7), Dead Oceans (#8), Merge (#9), and Partisan (#10).

Finally, on to the most important part of this Year End Report, my own favorite songs and albums of 2021.

Thanks as always to everyone who is is part of our SubModern family – the promoters, the hosts / programmers, the artists, and the listeners! We need all of you to make it happen. I know there will be exciting things happening in 2022, not just musically, but with this very chart. You’ll be hearing more when we return on January 5th. Until then, I wish you all the most joyous of Holidays and the Happiest of New Years!

~ Josh T. Landow
Twitter: @JoshTLandow