The Top 10 Artists of 2021

2022 was a year defined by several artists coming into their own, and some legends returning into this industry. Indeed, while composers and lyricists craft the music, the performers themselves often end up crafting a discography with their voice, with many building consistent worlds with their music. That is what this list ranks, the ten best musical artists this year.

Before we get into the list, some rules:

• All work by the artist between January 1st, 2021, and December 31st, 2021, counts for this list.

• This accounts for the quality, success, consistency, and prolificness of the artists.

• Any artist's releases count.

• Solo work does not count fully for a group but is accounted for.

• This list is my personal opinion.

With that, let the list begin!

Honorable Mentions

ABBA

Tomorrow X Together

SixTONES

Lucy

aespa

Susan Darvishi

Hikaru Utada

BDC

IU

Robin Packalen

Seventeen

Oneus

10. Dewa Budjana

Image Source: Changed Particles

Highlight of the Year: Naurora

The Indonesian rock legend had a fantastic year. Naurora remains one of the year's most eclectic records, bouncing with sonic ambition throughout. With many tracks of the album receiving promotion, it is hard to look past Naurora and his team of fantastic musicians.

9. Snow Man

Image Source: Arama Japan

Highlight of the Year: Grandeur

Admittedly, Snow Man don't seem that involved with their discography other than singing, but their A&R team has a great idea on how to build a compelling group. Each and every one of their releases this year led to a fantastic September album, with the perfect building to the major event. One can trust the boy band for fun, poppy, releases.

8. Altin Gün

Image Source: Party Flock

Highlight of the Year: Ordunun Dereleri

Altin Gün released not one, but two full-length LPs this year. If you wanted funk-pop with elements of Anatolian rock, you could hop on over to Yol. If you wanted sci-fi-based-pop-rock, listen to Alem. Admittedly, they were not perfectly aligned with their roots this year, but the fantastic barrage of releases more than made of that for this Turkish-Norwegian band.

7. Official Hige Dandism

Image Source: YouTube

Highlight of the Year: Cry Baby

Higedan didn't exactly release a new Laughter this year, but their fantastic Editorial album made up for this. Fujihara's voice remains fantastic, and their releases built with a sense of trendiness meeting classic rock-ballad melodies.

6. Brave Girls

Image Source: DBK Kpop

Highlight of the Year: After We Ride

At the start of 2021, Brave Girls was a group of nobodies, on the verge of disbandment, with no chance of success. Then, the unthinkable happened. Their 2017 single Rollin went viral, and Brave Girls (along with their entire team), rushed to provide them a rush of releases. Their singles surged in the charts, with their musical quality reaching peak years. This was a dream year for the group, and it will be fantastic to see where they go next.

5. Olivia Rodrigo

Image Source: US Magazine

Highlight of the Year: Good 4 U

The breakout star of the year, Olivia Rodrigo, the teenage sensation, broke out in America and the world this year. Heralded as a 'Post Y2K-Taylor Swift', Olivia Rodrigo channeled the heartbreak of a break-up (rumored to be a fellow Disney channel co-star) with her fantastic album Sour. Easily one of the most fantastic artists this year, both commercially and musically.

4. Miyavi

Image Source: Kyodo News

Highlight of the Year: Warrior

The top artist of 2020 had a fantastic second half of 2021. He was completely quiet in the first half of the year, but from August to the end of October, Miyavi was highly active. Imaginary remains a fantastic album, bringing in several tracks for the end-of-year list. His global tour was also fantastic, with him finally providing us the performances we sought.

3. Exile Tribe

Image Source: The Bias List

Highlight of the Year: Play Back (Fantastics)

Counting the entire Exile Tribe is slightly cheating, but NCT as a whole has been counted in countdowns before, so the Exile Tribe make it in. Fantastics was the Exile Tribe unit to beat this year, with a fantastic album leading the pack. However, EXILE themselves got in on the action, with fun singles such as Paradox. This was a great year for the dance-pop warriors, and I hope they keep it up.

2. ONF

Image Source: Soompi

Highlight of the Year: Beautiful Beautiful

A tour de force year for the rising K-Pop group, boy band ONF went from strength to strength with several incredible releases. Ending the year with a hiatus, ONF went out with a bang, releasing two EPs, a full-length album, and a repackage of said full-length. Since they were working exclusively with one team, however, they were able to build a satisfying music video-verse and quality discography, with each release building on the previous. ONF's 2021 will stand as a gold standard for rising boy bands for decades to come.

1. SHINee

Image Source: Rolling Stone India

Highlight of the Year: I Really Want You/Bad Love (Key Solo)

If one artist or group was likely to fail in 2021, it was SHINee. Expectations were crushing for the group as they returned from military hiatus, and Jonghyun's untimely passing still left an enormous hole in the heart of fans. However, the four surviving members provided a near-perfect return, melding both classic SHINee electro-funk with trendy elements seamlessly.

In the first half of the year, SHINee promoted their album Don't Call Me (later repackaged as Atlantis) immaculately, with multiple music show appearances and wins to impress. The quality of each of these songs remained memorable. They also provided a Japanese mini-album before Taemin's military hiatus put the group onto another temporary hiatus.

However, all four members released solo tracks, making sure the word 'SHINee' stayed in the mind of K-Pop fans around the world. Each release was better than the last, peaking with Key's fantastic EP. SHINee are always fantastic, and I doubt this is their best year yet. Even so, I expect them to top this when they return.