By now we’ve all read the “Top 10 of 2021” lists that leave us wondering, “Where did they come up with this?!” or “Yeah, I agree with that!” So, we are going to dive into our version of the top 10 punk rock songs of 2021, OCMN-style!
It can be said that “punk rock” is fast, usually aggressive and political, while also showing heart and artistic ability. There are many different kinds of punk rock including pop, hard core, riot grrrl, neo, post, gutter, Christian, skate, ska, and synth. Every good punker knows you are not limited to one genre to keep you happy, and we all have our favorites and lean more one way than the others most of the time.
As Kurt Cobain once said, “Punk is musical freedom,” so this top ten list is a two-parter. The first list is what the world-wide web told us is the top ten punk songs of 2021 in no particular order.
1. “Good 4 U” Olivia Rodrigo (with over a BILLION hits on Spotify alone!)
2. “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” Willow Smith featuring Travis Barker
3. “Flames” Mod Sun featuring Avril Lavigne
4. “Renegades” One OK Rock
5. “Bite Me” Avril Lavigne
6. “Papercuts” Machine Gun Kelly
7. “Hollywood Sucks” KennyHoopla and Travis Barker
8. “DTA” jxdn
9. “Feel a Thing” Meet at the Altar
10. “Honey” Halsey
This list proves that pop-punk is making a comeback in a way we haven’t seen before with its diversity and subject matters. Expect the 2022 airwaves to be filled with this pop-punk sound because it’s only picking up steam. However, some people who actually go to punk shows are rolling their eyes and saying to themselves WTF!
Give kennyhoopla a pass, but the rest, some people may disagree that the listed songs aren’t necessarily “punk.” Fear not, we’ve included a second list of our personal top-10 punk songs released in 2021 in no particular order, but we did number, but don’t read into that.
1. “Anti-Complicity Anthem” Ignite
2. “Lay Me to Rest” Zebrahead
3. “White Shadow” The Bronx
4. “Mile High” Left Alone
5. “Guided by Angels” & “Security” (tie) Amyl and the Sniffers
6. “Nowhere Generation” Rise Against
7. “Post-Boredom” Every Time I Die
8. “Oh!” The Linda Lindas
9. “Coming For You” The Offspring
10. “I Love You More Than You Hate Me” NOFX
Because music taste is a matter of opinion, for us to say they are “the best” of 2021 wouldn’t be accurate, but we are saying you should check these songs out. There were a ton of great, new singles and albums put out last year that made 2021 a great year for music!
This year promises to bring some awesome tunes and we can’t wait to hear all of it!
