when you get sick mid-video production so you have to make it a fucking blog post

2018, 2018, 2018. What even was 2018? It's only February and I can only vaguely remember the points in my life where I was either at an absolute low or high.

And the music was a thing.

To condense what I said in my worst list, 2018 was a mostly mediocre year that wasn't as bad as many of my colleagues said. Sure, there was a plague of terrible people becoming massively successful, and yeah there was pop music defaulting to its most basic and uninteresting form this decade, but if you somehow managed to ignore that you'd find a crop of really solid songs! While it may not have had the highs of, say, 2017, which had some of the best music ever made becoming hits, 2018 still had a great crop of quality that I plan to reap here. We're counting down...

The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2018

#10

Pharrell Williams is a producer I have very mixed feelings on, especially in terms of his work in 2018.

On one hand, he made unbearable shit like "Sangria Wine" with Camila Cabello and "Man of the Woods" for Justin Timberlake. On the other hand, he produced "APESHIT" by The Carters (a song that would've made the top 5 had its momentum not dissipated prematurely), "Stir Fry" by Migos, and of course, this.

10. "Lemon" by N.E.R.D ft. Rihanna

This song makes absolutely no sense. It starts with a popping beat, accompanied Pharrell spitting a mix between political commentary, flexing, and just repeating the phrase "bouncin around".

And then shit gets weird.

A minute into the song, the beat breaks down into a messy collage of samples, before the popping beat from earlier reintroduces itself and HOLY SHIT RIHANNA IS RAPPING AND IT'S AWESOME.

Rihanna's dabbled in rapping before (her feature on Kendrick Lamar's "LOYALTY." and her 2015 hit "Bitch Better Have My Money" come to mind, although best we forget about the latter), but here she finds herself completely comfortable flexing effortlessly alongside Pharrell. Why both parts work so well is that amidst the bouncy production, the two are just having fun, with Rihanna in particular effortlessly contorting her flows to fit the almost sporadic rhythm of the beat perfectly. And yes, Pharrell does get oddly political in his contributions, but when it's this fun, who cares?

#9

Drake.

Drake thoroughly drilled his scorpion cock deep into the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018, and while you may be disturbed by that analogy, only that could describe his record breaking achievements throughout the year (listed by my good friend Andrew Prep in his Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2018). And the worst part is that despite Scorpion being a very bad album, a decent chunk of Drake's hits this year were actually really good. This is one of them.

9. "Look Alive" by BlocBoy JB ft. Drake

This might've been the most influential hit of the year. This song, from an absolute nobody like BlocBoy JB, debuting in the top 10 off of Drake's hype alone, set the stage for his chart domination throughout the year. This also put producer Tay Keith and his infamous producer tag on the map, eventually leading to collaborations with the likes of everyone from Travis Scott to Eminem. And when the song is this good, it definitely deserves to have this influence.

Tay Keith often gets criticized for basically rehashing the beat to this song with everything he does, whether it be the same bass pattern ("Nonstop") or a similar arpeggio ("Not Alike"). However, I get it because this beat is amazing. The piano loop sets up a great melodic foundation for the hard knock of the trap beat, with a timbre that fits both performers exceedingly well.

Drake delivers a performance loaded with both fun and bravado, and the bouncy, almost playful rhythm of his chorus goes perfectly with the instrumental. While his verse is mostly lifted from Project Pat's 1999 track "Out There", it's not much of a problem because, once again, it sounds really fun.

Despite that, BlocBoy JB runs with the track. I could list why, but I think that my colleague Justino (@chadcopenhagen on Twitter) put it best:

It's absolutely beautiful. I think I love everything about this, and we're only at #9.

This'll be fun.

#8

On a more serious note, Kendrick Lamar.

He's good.

8. "LOVE." by Kendrick Lamar ft. Zacari

Alright, the last two segments have been significantly more in-depth than my usual, tweet-style commentary – that's part of why these videos take so long to write. However, I can't do that for this track, as it's one of Kendrick's simplest songs, a love song to his fiancé Whitney Alford. Zacari's contributions are nice and, alongside the atmospheric production (you'll be hearing a lot more about atmospheric production later on) provide a tranquil vibe to the track that wins me over every time. And that's the appeal of the track – it's just a sweet love song that happens to be from one of the best artists currently working. It may not be on par with something like "DNA.", "ELEMENT." or even "HUMBLE.", but it's still a great song all the same.

#7

And on the complete other side of the spectrum, fucking this.

7. "King's Dead" by Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar & Future ft. James Blake

I have even less of an idea on what to talk about with this, mainly because this song is an absolute fucking mess. So let me try and summarize what exactly goes on throughout this song's four minute runtime:

• Over an ominous, popping snare, Kendrick Lamar straight up goofs around talking about freaking various things (what he means by freaking is one of many unanswerable questions this song gives you).
• Jay Rock barges in, sounding completely unhinged with no control over his voice and constantly reiterating that he "gotta go get it" before promptly skrting into the distance.
• Future interrupts Kendrick Lamar mid-hook, and while he initially doesn't sound that off, he then stretches his vocal cords to the next solar system and goes...

ˡᵃ ᵈᶦ ᵈᵃ ᵈᶦ ᵈᵃ

ˢʰˡᵒᵇ ᵒⁿ ᵐᵉ ᵏⁿᵒᵇ

ᵖᵃˢˢ ᵐᵉ ˢᵒᵐᵉ ˢᵘʳᵖ

ᶠᵘᶜᵏ ᵐᵉ ᶦⁿ ᵈᵉᵉ ᶜᵃʳ and breaks the entire universe.

• Kendrick reappears as if nothing happened, then the beat switches with James Blake showing up for like two seconds and dipping immediately.
• The second part of the song is Kendrick incoherently yelling "RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT" and then just rapping about basically nothing.
• He finishes the song going off about what he's not and declaring 'fuck everything' as car crash sounds fill the background, before it all wraps up as if what you heard in the past four minutes was normal.

It's absolute anarchy in song form and it's beautiful. The king is dead, who will stop us.

#6

If there were two cities that ran hip-hop in 2018, they would be New York and Atlanta.

Obviously, Atlanta is the home of many of trap's biggest stars, such as Future, Migos, Gucci Mane, Lil Baby, Gunna, Young Thug, etc. However, New York ran the conversation as well with acts such as 6ix9ine, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Sheck Wes, and of course, the A$AP Mob. And oddly enough, there were two hits this year that

1. were built around an interpolation of Three 6 Mafia's "Slob on My Knob" and
2. both featured a member of said Mob.

And while "No Limit" by G-Eazy ft. A$AP Rocky & Cardi B (plus French Montana, Juicy J & Belly if you count the remix) had a serious shot for the list, I ended up giving it to the other one.

6. "Plain Jane" by A$AP Ferg

At first, one might brush this off as just another trap song. However, there are many differences between this and a lot of the oversaturated trap on the charts, the most important being that this isn't even really a trap song. The r a t t l i n g h i - h a t s are barely there, with the main percussion being an almost tribal-sounding drum pattern. And this works extremely well with A$AP Ferg, whose gruff voice complements the rough and sandy timbre of the instrumentation perfectly.

Speaking of Ferg, he kills it here. For the most part, he sticks with the standard luxury porn (and of course "fuck[ing] yo bitch for the irony"), but he also tends to get surprisingly personal with his wordplay, including mentions of his rough upbringing, his grandma's arthritis, and a shout out to the late A$AP Yams.

But let's face it, who cares, this song just b u m p s i n t h e w h i p and that's primarily why it's here.

#5

What, you thought that two Kendrick Lamar songs was enough?

5. "Pray For Me" by The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar

While I do think The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar's previous collaboration "Sidewalks" from Starboy is the better song, "Pray For Me" is still an excellent showcase of both artists' talents. Being a soundtrack hit, the production is obviously much more polished than both artists' other work, but it actually works really well here thanks to the pulsating beat and an eerie groove that blossoms into colorful flute accents in the second half of the song.

While this very easily could've made the list on sound alone, the lyrics are not to be overlooked either. Both artists portray heroes weighed down by loneliness – they thanklessly toil for the people, leading to isolation. Kendrick Lamar especially snaps on his verse, mentioning the dire state of the world today and how he feels destined to take the unforgiving role of a hero, even if it costs him his life.

But the main reason this song his here is the outro – a weird thing to focus on, but it shows vocal interplay between Kendrick and Abel that really is a thing of beauty. An all-around fantastic song, easily the best on the Black Panther soundtrack, and yet...

#4

I'm putting Drake over three Kendrick Lamar songs what the FUCK is happening

4. "Nice For What" by Drake

This feels wrong.

Drake, the man who's made countless songs about Being a Dick to Women for No Discernible Reason, made a genuinely uplifting female empowerment anthem. Murda Beatz & BlaqNmilD's production work is brilliant, chopping a Lauryn Hill sample and placing it amidst an insanely fun Louisiana bounce beat.

The writing is also fantastic. Drake actually decided to take himself out of the song's narrative, and what we got was, yes, an extreme case of pandering to independent working women, but one that actually felt sincere since Drake's performance is more energized than anything he's done in at least half a decade! And that's why this song works so well – it's fun, exploding into an incredible breakdown that brings in Big Freedia to chop up Drake's voice and throw in commands that set any party on fire. Absolutely incredible, an easy contender for song of the summer, and a song that deserves to go down as one of the best songs from the biggest artist of the decade.

#3

Straightforward pop music was in a weird space in 2018. With trap's foot on the general public's neck, radio stations had to find a new batch of heavy hitters to plug the gaps left behind by acts like Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, or P!nk. This new crop includes acts like Halsey (who fucking sucks), Camila Cabello (who I love, but poor single choices knocked her out of the running for this list), and of course, Dua Lipa.

3. "New Rules" by Dua Lipa

If there's one pop song that truly defined 2018, it was this. Sure, the production takes cues from the EDM that my colleagues in Europe are probably completely sick of at this point, but Stateside is the kind of pop that we need right now. And that continues into Dua herself – she reminds me of P!nk in a sense, this time using electronic influences as opposed to rock. And the P!nk comparison continues in the writing, and this might be one of the smartest pop songs to come out in recent memory, telling the story of how Dua tries to get herself to not love this dude who treats her like shit. And Dua's methods lead to one of the catchiest choruses of the decade, accompanied by a fantastic drop. It may be the hardest sell of the track, but it lets the great buildup flourish – especially when she performs it live. (Sidenote: the quick drum fragment right before the drop kicks in is the best moment in pop this year, no contest.)

And the production throughout the song is great as well. The synth tones are relatively mellow throughout the song, so even when the drop opens the floodgates of sound it doesn't sound like your house is crumbling on top of you, rather bouncing you into the wondrous world that this one part of the song alone encapsulates. It's an incredible, anthemic bop, easily the best pop track of the year, and we're only at #3. Great work.

#2

If there was one song this year that captured the zeitgeist of 2018 for the best, it would be this. A song that, even when it was brand new, had a feeling of being the iconic anthem that would define the year. And of course, it could only be...

2. "SICKO MODE" by Travis Scott ft. Drake, Swae Lee & Big Hawk

This song is truly something special, right from the intro: a crescendo that builds for a solid minute, with Drake delicately opening the gates to ASTROWORLD (an album where this song isn't even top 5 when you have tracks like "STOP TRYING TO BE GOD", "NO BYSTANDERS", "BUTTERFLY EFFECT", "COFFEE BEAN" and "WAKE UP") through an opening verse that leads to an out of nowhere beat switch. Travis Scott then seizes the reins, with a flow that bounces through the popping synths amidst interjections from various vocal samples, including Biggie's "Gimme the Loot", Luke's "I Wanna Rock", an unknown fragment from the late Big Hawk, and even Swae Lee chiming in a 'someone said'. The writing isn't top-tier poetry by any means, but it's still loaded with incredibly fun boasts such as

"Different colored chains, think my jeweler really selling fruits"

"Was off the Remy, had a Papoose"

and my personal favorite, "She thought it was the ocean, it's just a pool".

After two verses of that, the beat suddenly switches again to a sparse yet entrancing beat from Tay Keith, and Drake drops the most iconic lyric of the whole year:

"I did half a Xan, 13 hours til I land"

This line alone shows the power Drake had this year. He was in control of the cultural zeitgeist, and he could make whatever line he wanted iconic. This line, encapsulating the anxiety the general public felt throughout the year, to how we were all waiting for 2018 to fucking e n d, is everything the year was and more. After that, Drake has a verse filled with subliminals and shoutouts (the "everyone is here!" of Drake verses), and then he and Travis trade "like a light"s, really showing how much chemistry they have. Travis finishes the song with 12 bars, and then you're tired. You just experienced prog-trap. And it was beautiful.

Anyways here are some uhhhhh

HONORABLE MENTIONS

HM1. "Sky Walker" by Miguel ft. Travis Scott

~splish!~

HM2. "Call Out My Name" by The Weeknd

It may be edgy bullshit but it's good edgy bullshit!

HM3. "no tears left to cry" by Ariana Grande

If this hook wasn't disturbingly similar to Usher's "More" from back in 2011, this would've had a VERY serious shot for #1.

HM4. "God is a woman" by Ariana Grande

We had a top ten hit this year where the central concept was "I fuck so hard I'll convert you to feminist theology". If that alone doesn't make this song awesome, I don't know what does.

HM5. "No Limit" by G-Eazy ft. A$AP Rocky & Cardi B

Cardi B is the best part of everything she touches, part 1.

HM6. "Bartier Cardi" by Cardi B ft. 21 Savage

Cardi B is the best part of everything she touches, part 2.

HM7. "Finesse" by Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B

Cardi B is the best part of everything she touches, part 3.

HM8. "Stir Fry" by Migos

WHIP IT

HM9. "Powerglide" by Rae Sremmurd ft. Juicy J

Juicy J is a legend.

HM10. "This Is America" by Childish Gambino

political hip hop for parties? not as bad as it sounds

HM11. "Marry Me" by Thomas Rhett

Objectively, this would be #1 for its compelling narrative, Rhett's subtle delivery, and solid pop country production. However, I'm not objective – this may have been the best hit of the year on paper, but it is a bit plastic-sounding in the percussion and it didn't entirely stick with me throughout 2018.

If you want a song that did...

#1

Let's cut the bullshit, 2018 was a depressing year. And in pop music, that showed – nigh everyone seemed to be down in the dumps. For me personally, I would best describe the feeling as cold, with low spirits and a general feeling of loneliness ever since around mid-June. And during that time, there was this one song near the top of the charts that just seemed to emanate happiness, love, and most importantly warmth. I was rooting for it to become massive since – I'm stalling you already know what it is.

1. "Boo'd Up" by Ella Mai

There's honestly not as much to this song as its placement over...everything else would imply, so let's get through every last bit of what makes this song so special. The production, coming from DJ Mustard of all people (how do you go from this to "Freaky Friday" in a matter of months?!), is simply wondrous. The pianos, cowbell and hi-hats give this a clear throwback aesthetic, but one that still fits with the modern pop landscape. But the real highlight of the production is the synth in the background – one thing I'm a total bitch for is a nighttime aesthetic (more on that next year), and that synth gives this song the vibe of a warm summer night when you have nothing on your mind except raw happiness. And what makes that work is Ella Mai herself. She's not the most emotive vocalist if her mediocre self-titled album is any indicator, but her performance here is absolutely blissful. The lyrics are the kind of lovestruck happiness that I eat up, and the mentions of anxiety just make the track feel more human and relatable – there were a decent chunk of happy songs this year (take "no tears left to cry" for example), but there was no song that felt this raw and real in its happiness. This is the kind of song that you don't even want to talk about, just enjoy. And that's exactly what I think we all needed. So yeah, "Boo'd Up" by Ella Mai: the best hit song of 2018.