By: Rayna Easley

These songs lived in my head rent-free all year!

Bored in the house and in the house bored. This saying was so popular because it’s so accurate to what our lives were like this summer. Nonstop Netflix binging and spending hours on TikTok soon became redundant, so I turned to music to keep myself entertained. These songs were on my go-to playlists for when stay-at-home orders were driving me crazy!

After Party – Don Toliver 

This song was super popular this summer, and as much as I resisted it, it got stuck in my head and became one of my favorites. I can only describe Don Toliver’s music as a mix between Travis Scott and Post Malone, and it kinda works!

Vibe – Cookiee Kawaii

The endless tiktoks made to this song quickly shot it to the top of my workout and party playlists! Cookiee Kawaii recently addressed the lack of recognition she was getting for this song, and the internet quickly thanked her for delivering this top tier Jersey Club mix.

Adore You – Harry Styles

As a former Directioner (sorry not sorry) I am automatically a huge fan of Harry Styles. This song was a staple for car rides – I would roll the windows down and pretend like I was the main character in a teenage rom-com.

Ballin’ – DJ Mustard & Roddy Ricch

Though this song came out last year, you really can’t go wrong with it! Listening to it on repeat this year reminded me of campus parties and nights spent with friends. 

Weak – Flo Milli

2020 was the year of female rappers, and Flo Milli reigns supreme in my Spotify library. Her debut mixtape had no skips, and I will gladly listen to it for years to come. This was my anthem this summer, and it graced almost every playlist I had!!

Bandit – Juice WRLD & Youngboy NBA

RIP Juice WRLD, especially because I’m going to miss bangers like this. These two make an excellent combination on a track, and I’m sad we won’t get anymore iconic songs from Juice WRLD.

Window – Still Woozy

If you know me at all, you know how much I LOVE Still Woozy. He’s slowly getting more popular with the alt/indie crowd, but he’s been in my top 5 artists for the past 2 years. Window is so lighthearted and is the perfect mood-booster for lonely quarantine days!

Like That – Doja Cat & Gucci Mane

Y’all don’t know how glad I am that the Doja Cat chat room scandal was cleared up and forgotten! There’s no way I would’ve been able to fully cancel her while she puts out songs like this one. Doja Cat has proven herself to be a rapper, singer, and an INCREDIBLE live performer. Her MTV EMA performance of Say So and BBMAs medley were both astounding and I can’t wait for Covid to go away so I can go to a Doja concert!

Bad Habits – Usher

My sister got tired of riding in the car with me this fall, because she knew as soon as we got in, this song would come on. She was right though! I used to be a big Usher fan in the early 2010s, so this track brought back tons of nostalgia.

Captain Hook – Megan Thee Stallion

Megan. Thee. Stallion. We all saw her perform at Commodore Quake last year, and she still is one of the best female rappers in the game! Captain Hook was another TikTok favorite, and I can’t blame people for making thousands of dance videos to this one. Her #bodyody challenge took over the internet when the video came out, and I don’t see her falling off anytime soon.

Ringtone (Remix) – 100gecs, Charli XCX, Rico Nasty, Kero Kero Bonito

100gecs sparked increasingly mixed feelings in the music world when their song “money machine” went viral. I saw them perform live last year and was truly perplexed, but it got stuck in my head and now I’m a fan! Adding Charli XCX and Rico Nasty to the remix of Ringtone was a bonus I was not expecting, but am so glad it happened!

Baby Girl – Chloe x Halle

Chloe x Halle recently performed this song for the first time in their NPR Tiny Desk concert (which I highly recommend watching) and I fell in love with it all over again! I can’t think of a bad song on their recent album, Ungodly Hour, and this one is definitely in the top 3.

If you are a Spotify user, I’m sure you’ve already checked your top songs of 2020. However, I know there’s probably some songs that didn’t make it on there but you still love them! Save those songs in a playlist – you’re going to want to find them later. And yes, I am speaking from experience because I still have playlists from 2013 that I still listen to regularly!