My only problem with the number one song it's not much of a love song. It feels like the kind of song that would belong on the list you made of mediocre love songs. I moved last year from my hometown in Oklahoma and I love my hometown and my home state profoundly! To such a degree that one of my former Sergeants remarked to me, "You know you are one of the only guys I know who truly loves where he's from." But we moved because the job market in the great state of Oklahoma is terrible. Just trying to find a job and family drama was putting a huge strain on our family. My point I guess is that if it really is love than it will always be enough. If you can live with leaving someone because something else in you're life is more important than that's not love. I left a place where my feet felt more solid on the ground and the air fills my lungs more deeply because my love for my family required it of me.
Yup. They remember him saying he originated from country music, so while I disagree with his no. 1s, I'm not surprised because he gets something out of it, I don't or probably won't understand
As someone from VA, my only radio stations were soft rock and like three country stations, so i relate...but unlike him i get a flight or fight response from hearing country
'Soft rock' was also country. I remember 'You Belong With Me' once playing at the same time on three stations and i almost threw my radio out my window
Even I'm impressed with how quickly and badly one of my predictions blew up in my face, but I'll be honest: I don't really find the situation with Morgan Wallen very funny at all. It's just very bad, not just for Wallen but for country music as a whole, especially any non-white person who attempts to be a part of it. So if you've got any comment on it, I'd ask you to think very hard about whether it's appropriate to share before posting.
I hope you don't mind me commenting but is it possible to heart your own comment? I think it would be better for more potential commenters to see it, as I was definitely drawn to this video shortly after hearing.
Came here thinking:"Wait a Minute,I heared that name before" Sorry man,I know how it is to like music from someone to find out their views are questinable.I first tried to keep listining and see the artist and their work as two different Things,but in my case the dude was just way to crazy(here in germany). In any case,you do you.
I must admit your prediction was the first thing that crossed my mind when i heard the news. Not so much as a funny gag but more of a disappointment to the music industry. After your end of year list, I listened to his entire If I Know Me Album and i could not stop listening to it. And this is coming from a person who does not necessarily like country music. I definitely agreed with you that Morgan Wallen was a country singer for the decades but I guess we were wrong, maybe for the best based on what i heard
As soon as I heard about it, the first thing I thought about, was in fact, you, and how bad I felt for you with the platform that you have, You're right, this situation isn't funny, and its very bad for country music which was seemingly finding its feet again. None of us have a crystal ball to see into the future, we make predictions as a way of criticism for how an artist or bands future career will go, without predicting something, the layers of how far a topic can go, only get get shorter and less compelling, and while you are known for predictions that go astray, I really hope its something you don't shy away from in the future because of what happened. Been here since the channel awesome days and you've inspired myself and so many others to do the same as you. Love your work
Can I say it’s so nice to see a music critic that doesn’t endlessly rag on pop music? I’ve always felt a lot of shame and received a lot of slack for my love of pop music so it’s nice to see it discussed positively.
Todd is generally an amazing and very poptimist critic - I recommend checking out his old Cinemadonna stuff if you haven't already. He does really great work analysing the careers of modern pop artists and celebrities in general without being condescending or dismissive about them
One of the things I like about Anthony Fantano is that he seems like the kind of hipster who would act like a total elitist, and yet he’s a total poptimist as well.
Pop music can unironically be brilliant. It depends on the artists who are willing to genuinely put passion into their craft instead of only being a dumb bop that stays on the charts for 3 weeks.
@@squashmallow2006 Yeah, sometimes I can’t decide if it takes an incredible amount of skill to create a pop song or just minimal effort and lots of luck. It highly depends on the song because some songs are ingenious with how they subtly use familiar elements in interesting ways and make it as catchy and likable as possible. It’s just that not everything lives up to that standard.
Same, I feel like the worst of the year lists might pull more people into the channel but I much prefer the best of lists now. It's nice hearing him talk about things he likes
@@jhoughjr1 Same here. I may be disconnected from the current music zeitgeist, but I think that Todd may just have a different taste in popular songs than I do. I only marginally enjoyed a few of the things on the list. All of them sounded really boring and homogenous IMO, I don't think he made too good of a case for them. Not that he had to, of course, this is a list of what HE liked, not of the best music that released
Also, let’s talk about how Savage had the great idea to do Mad Max not only because screw this year, but also because it’s the easiest way to make masks look like they belong
@@Pooky1991 Extend that to a lot of easily-offended men on the Internet. I bet most of the Todd fans who thought WAP was one of the worst songs of the year are feeling exceptionally butthurt about WAP being the second best song of the year.
It makes me want to like WAP but I just don't, I can't listen to a minute of it and english is not my first language so it's not the lyrics, it's just bad music
Five things about this video 1. I’m kind of disappointed that Todd didn’t mention the midnight sky remix edge of midnight with Stevie Nicks but oh well. 2. He was so energetic and excited to talk about a lot of these songs to the point where I thought I had clicked on the wrong channel. 3. I’m glad that he put a song that he liked because of personal reasons at #1 because there is no such thing as an objective “best” or “worst” song of any kind. (Except yummy I think we can all agree that that song is the worst song of last year) But it’s his list on his channel so he should be able to put whatever he wants wherever he wants. 4. Todd moved? I guess the advantage of doing videos in the dark is you can move anywhere and be in any room that has a wall and it’ll always look the same. 5. I think he has set a record for himself for the least amount of time taken to upload the best and worst lists.
@@MegCazalet he lived in New York and said that he moved across the country so I guess that means California cause the west coast doesn't have much outside of California and Seattle
If April Fools Day didn't exist, then December/January would be the most exciting time to have a RUclips channel because almost everybody does Year-End lists.
The first time I heard that song I was like "this is it. This is the song that's cements him as a generational talent. This is a song that'll live on pop stations for decades" even though it's not even close to being his best imo. Seeing him play it at the super bowl just made me even more confident that I'm going to be hearing this song on the radio and at random places and events for the rest of my life.
Yeah when he dropped Heartless and Blinding Lights I was waiting the day he mentioned he was dropping music, I heard Heartless and thought this shit good hard, but you can tell it's not for everybody. I heard blinding lights and was dancing all over my living room, like yooo this is it, this is 🔥. It's mix of old disco and pop, blinding lights is literally the PERFECT hit song or single.
You're not laughing at the tragedy, you're laughing at the celebrity trying to make profit from said tragedy. It's perfectly acceptable to ridicule privileged idiots
Todd always surprises me-I think of him as a sort of inverted Jenny Nicholson, replacing her bright, cheery, deadpan viciousness with darkly-lit, stationary, melancholic goofing around. You never quite expect his jokes and they tend to hit pretty well. But, um... well, I expected him to acknowledge the protests. I didn't expect that anger. And it reminded me how, with Todd, you never really see it coming. It hit hard. I think it's easy to take for granted how good Todd has gotten at getting his emotions across to us because it's come to feel so utterly natural.
Hit hard it did. That part brought all kinds of emotions back, like how I spent most of the summer crying and doomscrolling reddit. I'd been numb to the dread for a while.
@@Jon.A.Scholt this is in honor of George Floyd! Shoutout to his family! (Plays video) “Pingas! Pingas! Pingas! Pingas! Smoke weed everyday! (Air hornes) Damn son, where’d you find this! WEEGEE!” (Set goes on for forty more minutes of classic internet memes)
Does anyone else always massively prefer it when Todd talks about things he likes than dislike?? I always find myself rewatching the best list of the year more than the worst list
“Long term relationships are not just about love, they’re about building a life together, and if you can’t find a version of that that matches both of you then it’s not gonna work.” PREACH
tbh, hearing that song along with all the others in his album makes it seem like the sellout one, like all the rest are either more interesting lyrically or have way more a interesting sound, blinding lights sounds like him knowing he needs a pop hit
Morgan Wallen is doing just fine; he went on his little apology tour and right back into the Top 20. Also Todd himself made a comment asking people to not be a dick with this stupid overdone joke, so if you could cut it out, that'd be peachy 👍
my mom said one of her favorite songs right now is one of morgan’s and i was so close to snapping because why just why is he still around (i am aware of why but still)
He didn't get really big until the eighties, but Prince belongs in that category too. Michael Jackson was the opposite: normal-ish in the seventies, weirdo in the eighties, totally around the bend in the nineties.
After folklore and evermore, I wholeheartedly embrace Todd's joking suggestion from 2014 that Taylor should become a novelist. She's really good at telling stories about other people.
I saw a tweet awhile back that said that she's got a really good off-Broadway musical in her that she'll write when she's like 50. I'm really excited for that.
I'm glad Todd's lists, especially this one, are so unapologetically Todd. And I love me a good old-fashioned committee list that goes on about Blinding Lights and Don't Start Now and other broadly appealing songs that I enjoy - but man, hearing about the songs that held actual value and made an impact on individuals, especially at a time like this? Ngl I got kinda choked up by the end of the video. It's honestly a beautiful, special thing.
Media criticism as an artform is dying but Todd's criticism (even when I disagree with him example #1 being the song WAP) is still top quality and he isn't following the crowd out of insecurity.
I think it’s partly because media criticism for movies and shows has … more narrow limits? Film theory and criticism only has so much that can be said about it, and we’re also hitting a slump with the movies and shows being made. Too much of the material out there is just… what can you say about it that hasn’t been said before? That hasn’t been said about other movies? Music, however, does actually manage to keep changing - artists revolve in what feels like 5 year cycles, or at least that every 5 years, we get a whole new batch along with old favorites. And because we have been seeing some serious changes in the music scene because of things like TikTok and viral hits.
“Sometimes things have to end because something better’s on the horizon.” I really appreciate this sentiment, personally. It was a nice thing to end the video on, thank you for that.
It's odd and depressing seeing such genuine frustration and anger from this guy who hasn't even bothered putting up an act of getting overly angry in so long. Even worse is how justified it is.
@@JonJonGTA 🤷🏾♀️ Just like this year was hard on us, it was hard on Todd. That frustration is warranted, personally it was refreshing to see him feel so strongly about something that I also feel strongly about
Miley Cyrus finally found her damn voice, it only took her listening to Stevie Nicks to do it. I'm very happy she did cause when I first heard Midnight Sky, I had to look up the song cause it sounded a lot like Edge of Seventeen.
I actually think Midnight Sky sounds like Little Lies, a Christine vocal from Fleetwood Mac. I’ve heard the Edge mash up, but I can’t help but here the opening bars of Little Lies in Midnight Sky.
It’s important to note that the girl in “more than my hometown” is moving to a city. For many people, living in a city is incredibly stifling, and depressing. “The night sky just isn’t the same black in the city.” For many of us, light pollution is a good example of how citys are fundamental toxic to live in. Most the things he says he loves her more than (catching fish, hanging out on the front porch, watching the sunset) are things that he would have to give up to move into the city with her. And he would, he would live in the city to be with her, but that would require giving up his lifestyle and everything that makes him who he is.
I can definitely related to that, even as desperate as I am, because as someone who lives in the city, I wouldn't move to Stinkwater Alabama for anyone in the world.
I lived in cities most of my life, but then I got away from them for a couple of years and now I can't understand why people don't leave them. Not just toxic from the pollution but the people there too.
I'm from a town of about 7k but moved to the city for tertiary study. Literally, the light pollution is something I think about regularly. When I go some to work in the break I sometimes just look at the stars and trees because I miss them so much. Seems ridiculous to someone who didn't grow up in the country, but it's all the little things you miss when you move to the city. Like if someone is struggling with some bags or something, no one gives a shit and keeps walking past. Also proximity. Holyshit! Why are city people so close all the time? Like I don't want to smell your breakfast when we're having a conversation, damn. I'm not a big fan of modern country but really appreciate the sentiment of this because on some level I can relate.
Also if she's not willing to stay with him either, it's a relationship that will clearly not work long term. Both want different things and more often than not, relationships based on too many comprises don't do well. They just breed resentment on both sides.
I live in a smaller town in Florida and my bf lives in Miami, ill come and stay with him sometimes and when I do I can't stop thinking about how much I miss being away from the city. I can't stand the traffic and the overdevelopment and the crowds of people that I mostly can't stand, it feels like 8/10 people are assholes. I always remember how much I miss the live oak trees and mangroves and the wide open spaces and trails and the whistling ducks that fly over my house every evening. its just something that people who live in a city can't really understand, I would never live in one but some people love it.
Todd in the Shadows' best list is essentially the unofficial end of the year for me. When it comes, and I watch it, I finally see the previous year as completely in the past. So it definitely generally means a lot to me each year. This year it ended up having a bit more in terms of emotions, though. A friend of mine recently passed away suddenly. He was 22, and he was way too young. And honestly, a lot of my best memories of being with him were of talking about pop music, and talking about Todd in the Shadows videos. We had even talked about the 2020 worst list when it came out. I hope that he's somewhere where he's able to watch this and enjoy it. I miss him every day, and I think that all of Todd's videos from here on out are gonna give me this sort of emotion. They'll all have a part of my friend in them for me, and that's something I'll never forget. Thanks, Todd.
I'm actually crying. So much of the protests seems like years ago to me now, something I watched in a movie. Todd brought me right back into the moment, the realization that this actually happened, and is far from over...
Was really surprised by your number 1 pick! Admittedly I've listened to a ton of Morgan Wallen in the past year too. Even though I can't personally relate to his many "yearning for the one that got away" songs and the "i love my small hometown" songs, country music definitely hit different for me during a year when all I COULD do was romanticize the idea of being outside and simply enjoying someone's company. EDIT: NVM
Contrary to how you may feel about making the list a bit more personal, I'm all the way here for it. If all music critics ever did was talk about things in the most general way possible and trying to match the consensus, there'd be no reason to listen to them besides confirmation bias. It's why I like watching multiple best lists and hearing each person give their personal thoughts for what they like amidst all the stuff everybody else already liked. Relating to music is something almost anyone can do and having a personal connection to give just makes the relation stronger. Your best lists get better and better every year, man.
Yeah- though "Slide Away" is still my favorite song from hers. It's just such a soft break up song. I also have a soft spot for Mother's Daughter even though the video is cringe
One of the critics said Miley stopped having big hits the second she started releasing better material. Im still baffled Nothing Breaks Like A Heart wasnt bigger.
Media implanted anger. Notwithstanding the pandemic. The past four years had no more major events than the four years before that, including terrorist attacks, racist episodes, etc.
@@mrb152 And people shouldn’t be angry about that? Todd did say you’d already have known this was going on if you weren’t living under a rock. Glad more people couldn’t take it anymore.
I really don’t like country music, but Todd’s line of “sometimes things just need to end cause there’s something better on the horizon” really hit home and the song made sense to me
Ever since the Kanye incident, Taylor Swift has been less a singer/songwriter and more a personality. A symbol of things outside of her music. Over the 2010s she stopped being a musician and became a cultural image who just happened to work in the medium of pop music. The pandemic turned out to be just what she needed. With no celebrity bullshit to deal with, she can be just an artist.
I completely disagree with the ‘medium of pop music’, if you look closely into it, she always chooses the symbolic songs to be singles and more of heart-wrenching, amazing songs as sidetracks. She switched to pop but it wasn’t like any generic pop at all, they’re all really unique and shows every obstacles that happened in her life, which is what songwriters do
hard disagree, Red and Reputation is pure, unfiltered albums, the only problem with these two is that they brought out the weakest songs, the songs that she released as singles are okay but not single worthy, they're more like stitches that build up those albums and make it cohesive, they can't standalone unlike the unreleased ones
@@misspotatohead1959 My point is: for a whole decade, Taylor was obsessed with haters. Now her haters have something bigger to hate: the state of the world. And she can relax and just make music.
@@tristianybanez5972 When Reputation came out, Todd said "Taylor needs to get out of her own ass." I thought, what would it take for Taylor to get out of her own ass? Now we know. A combination of global pandemic, cultural chaos, racial strife and, political upheaval.
NJGuy1973 if you are referring to the post-Kanye music then I agree with you, (the songs that came out would always address the incident and I just got so bored) but if you are referring to the entirety of 2010 then I disagree strongly. The songs in Red and 1989 were looked at individually, and appreciated as such, not just because they were written by Taylor. She’s also one of the few singers that legitimately cares about the message she puts out in her music (however misguided that is) so to me she is always a musician first.
As much as he admits in the #1 spot how he dislikes how his choice is so reflective of him, it's really nice to understand a little bit of the personality behind the persona.
Okay, so I never saw that moment where Billie Eillish was pleading not to win; I immediately felt immense sympathy for her and so guilty and slightly ashamed that I was getting so pissed during that show because she was sweeping the awards! I got so pissed I stopped watching and I must have missed that. Jeez, that was dumb of me, so she made a good song. It's not like she rigged the show. They chose what they chose. I may have thought there were better songs, but again, that's not her fault. And, this year, "Everything I Wanted" was one of my absolute favorite songs! Just shows how things can change within a year. Also liked "Therefore I Am". 8D Other than that, and "Rain on Me"(which was...okay, I guess), I actually haven't heard most of the songs on this list. WAP, sure, but who hasn't?
I also am not a fan of WAP. I’m not a huge fan of listening to people talk about graphic sex but it was really funny how outraged people. It’s not my cup of tea but I can sit through it lol
I have literally somehow never heard WAP a single time. Ever. Idk how, I'm not even trying to avoid it, but I still haven't ever heard it a single time 🤷♂️
Sometimes I forget just how good of a writer Todd is. I was surprised by his #1, but he makes such an eloquent and profound case for it that he won me over on that song. It's hilarious when he rips a bad song to pieces, but he's amazing at arguing in favor of the songs he likes, which imo is even more impressive.
I genuinely cannot think of the word “savage” now without thinking of “classy, bougie, ratchet”. Such is the power of Megan thee Stallion Edits: 1. I haven’t heard Supalonely uncensored until now because of Tik Tok and the radio blasting it. 2. Exile was one of my favourite off Folklore too and I cheered when you put it on the list. August was my favourite though, it reminds me of going into hard lockdown in my town and the winter weather (I’m Australian) 3. YASSSSS MIDNIGHT SKY!!!! 4. I’m glad to see you give Adore You some love, I think Watermelon Sugar kinda overshadowed it
Miley's rock album was the first thing that I've ever purchased of hers. I enjoyed all of the songs on it. Some more than others but they're all good. I hope she keeps on this road. It suits her.
Same. I don’t know why she didn’t start from this since the beginning but I guess I should be asking Harry Styles why he didn’t start solo from the begging, Taylor Swift on why she didn’t start making indie music from the beginning and Carly Rae Jepsen and Bruno Mars on why they didn’t make 80s throw from the very start lol
Don't worry. I read your comment first, I prepared myself... no I didn't. Even bad jokes get laughs, just not the reason the joke was made. And that stupid face. Might as well have been "shout out to people brutalized by cops... **boom boom boom**" Excuse me David... but go to hell clown.
even if i'm sad dua lipa didn't make the official cut, todd's number one song being a sappy heartbreak unapologetically country song makes up for it. that's character growth babey
@@gracecarpinter8623 Ahh, memories...I remember him also being incredibly emotional about Take Care in 2012. Love when Todd gets earnest, its my favorite part of this channel.
@@NJGuy1973 that’s super true, and I feel like a lot of our current pop stars that have been around long enough are at that point. Like, Bieber is going to be incredibly famous for the entire rest of his life, as will Swift and Grande I’m sure.
@@FragmentedR_YT I feel like Ariana Grande is either going to hit a peak - she'll be too old for that "sexy youthful diva" attitude to still play and her voice won't really be like "omg she's amazing" to people anymore, and she'll just disappear into obscurity - OR she's gonna wise up and change her schtick as she gets older and amaze us all.
@@torstenatterberg5788 Well yeah. Fantano is perfectly fine and I enjoy his content. It's just that he's basically a joke because of how his fanbase treats him.
Woah he wasn’t kidding about RUclips burying the WAP review I literally searched “Todd in the Shadows wap” because I missed it myself and NOTHING. That’s fucked up. I had to go to the channel and get there myself.
Harry Styles started off in One Direction and had little to no control of the type of music and style he puts out. For anyone who criticize him and say he "tries too hard"; keep that in mind. Its gonna take him YEARS to fully be rid of the 1D image people associate him with, i think its rather impressive that he manages to experiment with music that is so vastly different, and yet still has a strong fanbase. I'll be rooting for him.
I don't think it'll take that long for his association with 1D to fade away. Hell, from what I've seen pretty much everyone moved on from from them the second they broke up. People said the same thing about Justin Timberlake, and it didn't take that long for him to shake off the boy band stigma. We'll see how that third album goes, but he's definitely had the best and most interesting solo career of everyone in 1D.
I’ve enjoyed all of his post-1D music, especially Sign of the Times (which is depressing, to be sure, but FEELS like a great rock ballad, with its over the top grandiose bombast)
So many dudes in the comments triggered because Todd had the temerity to enjoy WAP as a joke song during a dreary year. 💀 Talk about taking yourself too seriously.
I've been watching Todd ever since I was a teen and it's been so cool to see his growth and introspection over the years. One of the things that always stands out to me about his lists is that yes he looks at the hits and yes he looks at what is ideally the best but he follows his own take. He looks at the mood and the meaning and growth the songs have for each artist. Watching Todd for years gives me a chance to not just see his growth but others as well. Their big leaps, their experiments, their pitfalls and in a way reflect on my own. Todd thank you for everything you do despite everything going on. Your work has meant so much to me over the years and I can't thank you enough for it.
I stop following popular English music for a year or two, and now Harry Styles is at #3 on Todd's best list with a legit banger. That's certainly One Direction I didn't expect...
@@Amascut That's a bit unfair to Niall Horan, who's also been making good music. (I heard good things about his second album, Heartbreak Weather, for the record).
Harry Styles is way better than one direction and the rest of the members solo stuff it’s not even funny. Both Adore You and Watermelon Sugar are cheerful songs that puts me in a good mood whenever I hear them. And Only Angel makes me forget that he was a one direction member in the first place. The only 1D songs that I feel like is as good as his solo stuff is “Night Changes” and “Perfect”. (Then again I haven’t heard all of their songs.)
I loved that song until I found out dr luke worked on it, and all the controversial racism based activity Doja Cat got into online before becoming a big star left a bad taste in my mouth and I couldn’t enjoy the song anymore. Which is a shame because I loved it.
@@saraclark7451 on the bright side, the song us so bare bones that that you cod listen to a mashup to help drown out the bad. I particularly like Say so x Good Nite n Go.
Todd showing his country roots with the no. 1. I disagree, but love hearing what he gets out of songs I don't really get anything from. Watching top 10 list would be boring if everyone had the same songs on them. I think the last time a country song made his top 10 list was his best of 2010 list if I remember correctly.
Yeah, out of the songs in this video specifically (didn’t listen to much hot 100 this year), the Harry or Billie one would’ve taken my number 1, but it makes perfect sense for that one to be Todd’s number 1.
I take it as a sign that 2020s music was pretty shit. I don't disagree, also Gus Dapperton sounds nothing like Rex Orange County wtf is he talking about?
I love how, every year, this video is like a time capsule for everything that happened. This is the kind of shit that history majors in 100 years will watch when writing their thesis on the year 2020.
His #1s are usually songs that I, at least, like even if they're not amongst my favorites. The only exceptions I can think of off hand (although there are probably others) are Get Lucky which I despise because I find that song so boring, and this one because I've never heard it. Usually agree with about half of his lists though not the order. This year...I don't know most of these songs.
Favorite surprises: Hearing Exile make the list. It was one of my personal favorites this year from Taylor Swift but I'm glad to see Todd recognized it as being good too. Taylor sung it so well it's kind of hard to ignore. I hope she does do more fictional songs not in her perspective because she writes such good lyrics that it's kind of a waste when she has to limit to only talking about herself.
Agreed. I think this trend might have started with Lover and the song "Death By A Thousand Cuts", which is sung from the perspective of a character in a straight-to-Netflix romcom. It's one of the most underrated and heart wrenching songs on that album imo. I'm glad she doubled down with Folklore. (As an aside - just in my personal opinion, Lover was underrated because the singles were awful. "Cruel Summer" and "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" should have climbed the charts, not the atrocity that is "Me!" Taylor Swift (or Taylor's label, not sure which) somehow always chooses the worst songs off each album to be the singles. By that metric, "Exile" was also a very welcome surprise.)
@@lucyw4195 “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” is also my favorite from that album!! her story songs I think just capture the feelings of being young and being able to imagine the characters to your liking to it that I love the visuals as you hear it
@@lucyw4195 Lover was seriously underrated. All the songs in it were the greatest. Death By A Thousand Cuts, Cruel Summer, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, False God, every single song. The album is really unique and deserves so much more attention.
@@lucyw4195 honestly ME! was not for adults, it was a song for kids, that's why it had so much cgi, colourful things and everything related to kids point of veiw
@@lucyw4195 The trend didn't start with Lover, because she's been writing fictional songs/not in her perspective ever since debut! Mary's Song (an old couple), Love Story (fictional cause she was Juliet who got married), Speak Now (A wedding crash daydream), Stay Stay Stay (fiction, she said it was a daydream of real love), Starlight (bout an old couple again), You are in love (about friend's relationship). There's maybe more and also a lot of her unreleased stuff. She's been doing this throughout her career, it's always been in her.
Carly didn't really have any singles this year though. Dedicated Side B came out and she did a Christmas single, so it's not nothing but it's nothing that would be a massive hit to be considered in the first place
@@phastinemoon No, but in his honourable mentions he likes to include a few non-hits that he thinks should've been hits, and traditionally every year has had a Carly Rae song
Todd got angrier talking about The Bigger Picture than with most of his worst list. But it’s with good reason. These last few years have been hellish in a lot of different ways.
@@TheJollyMisanthrope and more and more people are still buying in to it. Straight up paranoia, everything that happens has to be attack against them ig
I don't care what anyone says, WAP is a song i needed this year. Its just hilarious and the damn outrage made it even more hilarious. Also I genuinely find the flow and structure of the song entertaining to listen to.
At least he's not touring radio stations doing glorified karaoke versions of songs he likes, while wearing terrible knitwear and spouting the most dull platitudes possible about said songs.
![BRASIL vs. URUGUAY [1-1] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-hWBAuxF1eY/mqdefault.jpg)
Special thanks to DylanGLC for use of his mashup, check it out here! ruclips.net/video/Y5n49VHkMg8/видео.html
An actual BOP! Come thru Dylan!
Todd, how are you so poggers?
Jesus, dude. My husband died unexpectedly a couple of months ago, and I still feel like I had a better year than you. :/
My only problem with the number one song it's not much of a love song. It feels like the kind of song that would belong on the list you made of mediocre love songs. I moved last year from my hometown in Oklahoma and I love my hometown and my home state profoundly! To such a degree that one of my former Sergeants remarked to me, "You know you are one of the only guys I know who truly loves where he's from." But we moved because the job market in the great state of Oklahoma is terrible. Just trying to find a job and family drama was putting a huge strain on our family. My point I guess is that if it really is love than it will always be enough. If you can live with leaving someone because something else in you're life is more important than that's not love. I left a place where my feet felt more solid on the ground and the air fills my lungs more deeply because my love for my family required it of me.
Sorry for the wall o'text. Been a semi regular viewer of yours for years now. I always enjoy these year end lists. Thank you.
Everyone watching Todd long enough knows he doesn't have a hidden indie rock snob side. He has a hidden country lover side.
Yup. They remember him saying he originated from country music, so while I disagree with his no. 1s, I'm not surprised because he gets something out of it, I don't or probably won't understand
Big Mood
Only he's not hiding it in the slightest
As someone from VA, my only radio stations were soft rock and like three country stations, so i relate...but unlike him i get a flight or fight response from hearing country
'Soft rock' was also country. I remember 'You Belong With Me' once playing at the same time on three stations and i almost threw my radio out my window
David Guetta sampling MLK and saying "shout out to (George Floyd's) family" was the most ridiculous thing to happen this year.
What...?! Okay, and I thought 2020 couldn’t surprise me any more
that genuinely made me mad
Wtf?!?!
He obviously had good intentions but DAMMMMN was the execution bad.
I wish that genuinely good progressive house music existed in any other context but alas it doesn’t and he used it for that 🤷🏻♂️
"people usually agree on my number 1" didn't realize there were that many chainsmokers fans in the audience
oh hi there
Hi! Just wanted to pop in and say it makes me happy when I see a comment from a RUclipsr I like on a video from another RUclipsr I like. :)
Yeah, still an unapologetic Chainsmokers fan here 👋🏻
I agree that the Chainsmokers suck.
It really is surprising how strong their fan base is, they’ve bullied Todd into putting closer at #1 for the past 4 god damn years
Even I'm impressed with how quickly and badly one of my predictions blew up in my face, but I'll be honest: I don't really find the situation with Morgan Wallen very funny at all. It's just very bad, not just for Wallen but for country music as a whole, especially any non-white person who attempts to be a part of it. So if you've got any comment on it, I'd ask you to think very hard about whether it's appropriate to share before posting.
I hope you don't mind me commenting but is it possible to heart your own comment? I think it would be better for more potential commenters to see it, as I was definitely drawn to this video shortly after hearing.
Came here thinking:"Wait a Minute,I heared that name before"
Sorry man,I know how it is to like music from someone to find out their views are questinable.I first tried to keep listining and see the artist and their work as two different Things,but in my case the dude was just way to crazy(here in germany).
In any case,you do you.
I must admit your prediction was the first thing that crossed my mind when i heard the news. Not so much as a funny gag but more of a disappointment to the music industry. After your end of year list, I listened to his entire If I Know Me Album and i could not stop listening to it. And this is coming from a person who does not necessarily like country music. I definitely agreed with you that Morgan Wallen was a country singer for the decades but I guess we were wrong, maybe for the best based on what i heard
I think you should pin this comment so more people can see it 👍
As soon as I heard about it, the first thing I thought about, was in fact, you, and how bad I felt for you with the platform that you have, You're right, this situation isn't funny, and its very bad for country music which was seemingly finding its feet again.
None of us have a crystal ball to see into the future, we make predictions as a way of criticism for how an artist or bands future career will go, without predicting something, the layers of how far a topic can go, only get get shorter and less compelling, and while you are known for predictions that go astray, I really hope its something you don't shy away from in the future because of what happened.
Been here since the channel awesome days and you've inspired myself and so many others to do the same as you. Love your work
I was literally just thinking “hey we haven’t gotten the top ten best songs list yet” thought we wouldn’t get it until February 😭😭😭
Same tho
neither did i honestly, but im glad its out now!!
-_-' tbh, I was waiting for this since Top 2020's Worst List. But whatever, it was worth it. 😁😁😁
Same lmao
Based on the open schedule throughout the year, I'm getting the vibe Todd had an easier time making it.
Can I say it’s so nice to see a music critic that doesn’t endlessly rag on pop music? I’ve always felt a lot of shame and received a lot of slack for my love of pop music so it’s nice to see it discussed positively.
Todd got me to finally abandon my whole "I hate pop music because its lame >:(" attitude via his best lists, and I'm a lot happier as a result
Todd is generally an amazing and very poptimist critic - I recommend checking out his old Cinemadonna stuff if you haven't already. He does really great work analysing the careers of modern pop artists and celebrities in general without being condescending or dismissive about them
One of the things I like about Anthony Fantano is that he seems like the kind of hipster who would act like a total elitist, and yet he’s a total poptimist as well.
Pop music can unironically be brilliant. It depends on the artists who are willing to genuinely put passion into their craft instead of only being a dumb bop that stays on the charts for 3 weeks.
@@squashmallow2006 Yeah, sometimes I can’t decide if it takes an incredible amount of skill to create a pop song or just minimal effort and lots of luck. It highly depends on the song because some songs are ingenious with how they subtly use familiar elements in interesting ways and make it as catchy and likable as possible. It’s just that not everything lives up to that standard.
Seeing Todd so excited about this list is wholesome
agreed, but so far his list is unimpressive to me. Im less excited.
Same, I feel like the worst of the year lists might pull more people into the channel but I much prefer the best of lists now. It's nice hearing him talk about things he likes
@@jhoughjr1 Same here. I may be disconnected from the current music zeitgeist, but I think that Todd may just have a different taste in popular songs than I do. I only marginally enjoyed a few of the things on the list. All of them sounded really boring and homogenous IMO, I don't think he made too good of a case for them. Not that he had to, of course, this is a list of what HE liked, not of the best music that released
I’m glad he’s actually getting back into music 💀
People don't know what wholesome means anymore do they?
Also, let’s talk about how Savage had the great idea to do Mad Max not only because screw this year, but also because it’s the easiest way to make masks look like they belong
Oh yeah, that makes total sense and badass. I can't believe I didn't connect the Mad Max thing.
Using art to make adversity work FOR you.
Such an awful song. i don't even hate megan to be fair but that's just too annoying.
@@Ghost-fl7ej then shut up.
Not only did the Mad Max guy have a mask, he had the Spy Kids 3 goggles!
Snoop Dogg being offended by WAP is hilarious to me.
I found the outrage of a lot of rappers at WAP hilarious.
@@Pooky1991 Extend that to a lot of easily-offended men on the Internet. I bet most of the Todd fans who thought WAP was one of the worst songs of the year are feeling exceptionally butthurt about WAP being the second best song of the year.
@@gracecarpinter8623 It just sucks, nothing more to say
It makes me want to like WAP but I just don't, I can't listen to a minute of it and english is not my first language so it's not the lyrics, it's just bad music
With HIS personal and musical history? The irony is palpable
Five things about this video
1. I’m kind of disappointed that Todd didn’t mention the midnight sky remix edge of midnight with Stevie Nicks but oh well.
2. He was so energetic and excited to talk about a lot of these songs to the point where I thought I had clicked on the wrong channel.
3. I’m glad that he put a song that he liked because of personal reasons at #1 because there is no such thing as an objective “best” or “worst” song of any kind. (Except yummy I think we can all agree that that song is the worst song of last year) But it’s his list on his channel so he should be able to put whatever he wants wherever he wants.
4. Todd moved? I guess the advantage of doing videos in the dark is you can move anywhere and be in any room that has a wall and it’ll always look the same.
5. I think he has set a record for himself for the least amount of time taken to upload the best and worst lists.
I didn’t know he moved, either. Do we know where to? LA?
@@MegCazalet he lived in New York and said that he moved across the country so I guess that means California cause the west coast doesn't have much outside of California and Seattle
@@ForestGreenSharpie That was my deduction. I think LA specifically makes the most sense for his career.
@@MegCazalet he did recently show up on a lindsay ellis video and she lives in LA though not together so its kind of a stretch for evidence
cool story
I'm not exaggerating when I say there are literally no media events I look forward to more each year than Todd dropping his year-end lists
And yours too, Sean!
Yours as well Sean! 👍
same lmao
If April Fools Day didn't exist, then December/January would be the most exciting time to have a RUclips channel because almost everybody does Year-End lists.
Yours and Double Agents Lists are right up there
Blinding Lights is one of those songs where I actually understand why it's popular. I heard it and was like "WAIT THIS IS GOOD????"
EXACTLY
My dad hates pop music but I played it and he liked it. It’s just one of those songs that everyone likes for one reason or another.
I hate pop and I loved this song it feels so euphoric and hyped and the videos doubles down for me it feels like a drug
The first time I heard that song I was like "this is it. This is the song that's cements him as a generational talent. This is a song that'll live on pop stations for decades" even though it's not even close to being his best imo. Seeing him play it at the super bowl just made me even more confident that I'm going to be hearing this song on the radio and at random places and events for the rest of my life.
Yeah when he dropped Heartless and Blinding Lights I was waiting the day he mentioned he was dropping music, I heard Heartless and thought this shit good hard, but you can tell it's not for everybody. I heard blinding lights and was dancing all over my living room, like yooo this is it, this is 🔥. It's mix of old disco and pop, blinding lights is literally the PERFECT hit song or single.
I know I probably shouldn't, but that David Guetta shout-out made me laugh so hard. It was just the most tone deaf thing I've seen in a while.
You're not laughing at the tragedy, you're laughing at the celebrity trying to make profit from said tragedy. It's perfectly acceptable to ridicule privileged idiots
Between that and the Imagine video, yeah. I wouldn’t want to live in a world where neither of those happened though. We needed some comedy in 2020
It's made so much worse (and funnier) by the fact that in stark contrast to the calculated Imagine video he was probably being a 100% sincere
@@walterxbenjamin true
Yeah, worse than the artists singing cause at least that was over the quarantine, George Floyd was something else
0:00 Intro
1:56 #10
4:24 #9
6:57 #8
9:35 #7
11:58 #6
15:22 #5
19:26 #4
21:53 #3
24:48 #2
27:56 Honorable Mentions
30:15 #1
Thanks man
You're a hero, bro.
And you don't spoil!! You are a true hero
this
I can say easily...i love you 😂
Todd always surprises me-I think of him as a sort of inverted Jenny Nicholson, replacing her bright, cheery, deadpan viciousness with darkly-lit, stationary, melancholic goofing around. You never quite expect his jokes and they tend to hit pretty well. But, um... well, I expected him to acknowledge the protests. I didn't expect that anger. And it reminded me how, with Todd, you never really see it coming. It hit hard. I think it's easy to take for granted how good Todd has gotten at getting his emotions across to us because it's come to feel so utterly natural.
Hit hard it did. That part brought all kinds of emotions back, like how I spent most of the summer crying and doomscrolling reddit. I'd been numb to the dread for a while.
Todd as the anti-Jenny Nicholson is a take I never expected to see while also being completely correct.
@@Shadowplay4Cats freddit freebuild
Hadn’t seen that George Floyd edm moment on that rooftop before, big oof
They be honest, what was David thinking?
He also sampled MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech
That moment was more tonedeaf than the church guy who sang "Looking for a City".
@@MaynardCrow ....?
@@MaDKrEvEdKo @Maynard Crow @Jolly Misanthrope You guys might want to call some doctors. You might have Anti-Social Personality Disorder
i still forget that the david guetta moment isn’t from a fever dream of mine
This is for Breonna Taylor!! (Plays Super Mario Bros theme) Ha ha!
I had never seen this and I laughed so hard, rewound it like 10 times and was still dying. It is parody come to life
@@Jon.A.Scholt this is in honor of George Floyd! Shoutout to his family! (Plays video) “Pingas! Pingas! Pingas! Pingas! Smoke weed everyday! (Air hornes) Damn son, where’d you find this! WEEGEE!” (Set goes on for forty more minutes of classic internet memes)
@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 it’s what she would have wanted
@@KnivingDispodia clearly, Breonna Taylor is smiling up from heaven at that amazing tribute.
I know Rina Sawayama didn't chart or anything but Sawayama was def the highlight of music for me this year
Same! I was scrolling through the video to find any mention of Rina...
same here, i discovered her this year and was lowkey hoping he would mention her lmao i just love her sm
I've been extremely annoying in his twitter mentions asking if he's listened to sawayama. I'd get the feeling he's really enjoy it
She got me through this year with Ashnikko as well
YES
Does anyone else always massively prefer it when Todd talks about things he likes than dislike?? I always find myself rewatching the best list of the year more than the worst list
mostly because his worst lists are filled with obscure country songs.
Todd shitting on things is my favourite thing on RUclips.
He is VERY salty and condesending in his reviews of bad songs
I actually avoid those videos
I rewatch the worst lists often but usually the older ones. The best lists are way too emotionally charged to watch that often
honestly, I regularly binge through all of his top 10s, it's so interesting to see these time capsules back to back
“Long term relationships are not just about love, they’re about building a life together, and if you can’t find a version of that that matches both of you then it’s not gonna work.” PREACH
“Blinding Lights is not on this list”
Pain...
Best song of the year on pretty much every level. Glaring omission...🤬
No levitating :/
i was upset but heartless is on there so idgaf
LegMan Heartless is a good song, Blinding Lights is a GREAT song...
tbh, hearing that song along with all the others in his album makes it seem like the sellout one, like all the rest are either more interesting lyrically or have way more a interesting sound, blinding lights sounds like him knowing he needs a pop hit
This is the happiest I’ve ever seen Todd on any video. And I’m 100% here for it.
Amen
But what about his rant on the state of the world
@@evapalma9899 still the most positive he's been in a best list
"Music to crash your car into a ditch to" is a big mood.
Eminem's next album title lmao
Icona Pop has entered the chat
thats like half of the music I listen to
@@realspacewabbit bruh 😂
Track list:
Pot hole
Drunk driving
Mgk got haily pregnant
“I would put everything I have on Morgan Wallen’s career”
Toddstradamus strikes again!
Morgan Wallen is doing just fine; he went on his little apology tour and right back into the Top 20.
Also Todd himself made a comment asking people to not be a dick with this stupid overdone joke, so if you could cut it out, that'd be peachy 👍
His version of "Cover Me Up" charting while Jason's didn't is still a fucking crime.
Unfortunately he still has a big career, even though Very Wise People in these comments will guilt you for criticizing him
my mom said one of her favorite songs right now is one of morgan’s and i was so close to snapping because why just why is he still around (i am aware of why but still)
@@riley2243 The guy apologized and lost a lot of momentum. What more do you want from him? Once stupid mistake to strip him of a future?
"The weirdos of the 70s becoming the great pop stars of the 80s was the best thing about that decade."
TOO TRUE
He didn't get really big until the eighties, but Prince belongs in that category too.
Michael Jackson was the opposite: normal-ish in the seventies, weirdo in the eighties, totally around the bend in the nineties.
You could argue that's what The Weeknd's been doing now - experimental artsy R&B in 2011, world-conquering hitmaker 5 years later.
@@lydiavalentino The Weeknd is also a victim of plagiarism in 2011 (cough cough Drake's Take Care Album).
After folklore and evermore, I wholeheartedly embrace Todd's joking suggestion from 2014 that Taylor should become a novelist. She's really good at telling stories about other people.
I saw a tweet awhile back that said that she's got a really good off-Broadway musical in her that she'll write when she's like 50. I'm really excited for that.
@@therealVioletParr as long as CATS wasn't the inspiration
According to an interview she did with GQ a few years ago, when Taylor was 14 she wrote a novel about a girl whose mother wanted a son.
Okay, but Long Story Short is definitely 75% about her career, though.
the rare good Todd prediction
I'm glad Todd's lists, especially this one, are so unapologetically Todd. And I love me a good old-fashioned committee list that goes on about Blinding Lights and Don't Start Now and other broadly appealing songs that I enjoy - but man, hearing about the songs that held actual value and made an impact on individuals, especially at a time like this? Ngl I got kinda choked up by the end of the video. It's honestly a beautiful, special thing.
I constantly worry that media criticism as an art form is dying, and then I return to this video and I feel okay. This is your masterpiece, Todd.
Media criticism as an artform is dying but Todd's criticism (even when I disagree with him example #1 being the song WAP) is still top quality and he isn't following the crowd out of insecurity.
I love Todd. When he made WAP #2 . I knew he was different. He doesnt act like he is better than anyone.
I think it’s partly because media criticism for movies and shows has … more narrow limits? Film theory and criticism only has so much that can be said about it, and we’re also hitting a slump with the movies and shows being made. Too much of the material out there is just… what can you say about it that hasn’t been said before? That hasn’t been said about other movies?
Music, however, does actually manage to keep changing - artists revolve in what feels like 5 year cycles, or at least that every 5 years, we get a whole new batch along with old favorites. And because we have been seeing some serious changes in the music scene because of things like TikTok and viral hits.
Snoop was offended by WAP? Hasn't Snoop *literally directed porn*?
And also (according to wikipedia) claimed to be an actual pimp in the early 2000s??
The men were in control there
@@sambeard5208 Oooh that's a hot take! I like the spice and what to use it as hot sauce on my taco :-D
Goes to show it’s more about the female taking the mic.
@@katieowlpower I'm not sure you have to go quite that far. I think "Snoop Dog is a moron" is a sufficient explanation.
“Sometimes things have to end because something better’s on the horizon.” I really appreciate this sentiment, personally. It was a nice thing to end the video on, thank you for that.
Todd losing it about the state of the world while he was talking about Lil Baby hits way too hard.
It's odd and depressing seeing such genuine frustration and anger from this guy who hasn't even bothered putting up an act of getting overly angry in so long. Even worse is how justified it is.
He did it intentionally. Its perfectly themed.
Very confused by this comment before I got through that part of the video
@@royalninja2823 lol i usually enjoy his top 10s. But idk i found him kind of irritating to me in this video. And i enjoy angry rants/meltdowns
@@JonJonGTA 🤷🏾♀️ Just like this year was hard on us, it was hard on Todd. That frustration is warranted, personally it was refreshing to see him feel so strongly about something that I also feel strongly about
“Exile” wrapped me in a warm blanket and told me it was gonna be okay.
that was pretty much the entirety of the evermore album for me
@@dilmanbains8420 Both Folklore and Evermore carried me through 2020
Naveera Rizwan ikr
Miley Cyrus finally found her damn voice, it only took her listening to Stevie Nicks to do it. I'm very happy she did cause when I first heard Midnight Sky, I had to look up the song cause it sounded a lot like Edge of Seventeen.
I actually think Midnight Sky sounds like Little Lies, a Christine vocal from Fleetwood Mac. I’ve heard the Edge mash up, but I can’t help but here the opening bars of Little Lies in Midnight Sky.
She's basically Stevie Nicks meets Joan Jett meets Pat Benatar now and I am freaking here for it. Her basically pulling a Cher would be incredible.
Miley did some covers of Bob Dylan back in the day and they're INCREDIBLE. The woman has a great voice, just not for pop lol.
she sampled edge of seventeen for midnight sky
I don't remember the saying, but it goes "musicians/artists wear their influences on their sleeves."
Todd sounds actually passionate about all of this. I'm pleasantly shocked
It’s important to note that the girl in “more than my hometown” is moving to a city. For many people, living in a city is incredibly stifling, and depressing. “The night sky just isn’t the same black in the city.” For many of us, light pollution is a good example of how citys are fundamental toxic to live in.
Most the things he says he loves her more than (catching fish, hanging out on the front porch, watching the sunset) are things that he would have to give up to move into the city with her. And he would, he would live in the city to be with her, but that would require giving up his lifestyle and everything that makes him who he is.
I can definitely related to that, even as desperate as I am, because as someone who lives in the city, I wouldn't move to Stinkwater Alabama for anyone in the world.
I lived in cities most of my life, but then I got away from them for a couple of years and now I can't understand why people don't leave them. Not just toxic from the pollution but the people there too.
I'm from a town of about 7k but moved to the city for tertiary study. Literally, the light pollution is something I think about regularly. When I go some to work in the break I sometimes just look at the stars and trees because I miss them so much. Seems ridiculous to someone who didn't grow up in the country, but it's all the little things you miss when you move to the city. Like if someone is struggling with some bags or something, no one gives a shit and keeps walking past. Also proximity. Holyshit! Why are city people so close all the time? Like I don't want to smell your breakfast when we're having a conversation, damn.
I'm not a big fan of modern country but really appreciate the sentiment of this because on some level I can relate.
Also if she's not willing to stay with him either, it's a relationship that will clearly not work long term. Both want different things and more often than not, relationships based on too many comprises don't do well. They just breed resentment on both sides.
I live in a smaller town in Florida and my bf lives in Miami, ill come and stay with him sometimes and when I do I can't stop thinking about how much I miss being away from the city. I can't stand the traffic and the overdevelopment and the crowds of people that I mostly can't stand, it feels like 8/10 people are assholes. I always remember how much I miss the live oak trees and mangroves and the wide open spaces and trails and the whistling ducks that fly over my house every evening. its just something that people who live in a city can't really understand, I would never live in one but some people love it.
LMAO Gus Dapperton was one of my good friend's roommates in college, seeing him on this list is beyond a trip even if you clowned on him lol
Todd you had me worried when the Worst video came out on time. This is much more like it.
Still to early if you ask me.
Its supposed to be like in march
Nah don't rag on him. I think he's actually the most envigorated he'd been in several years now. This is my favorite best list since 2015
So it’s actually a list of the really bad pop songs of the year? If so, Great... let em burn
@@jackthorton10 damn man did you iron your brain out
@@jackthorton10 smoothed out the wrinkles
Gus Dapperton sounds like the name of a Bojack Horseman character
YASSSS KING, time to end the DoubleFlopGent
@@jstyxx4110 ...
Vincent Adultman meet Gus Dapperton
Wait it does
WAP reminds me of "Brrap Brrap Pew Pew" from BoJack Horseman.
Todd in the Shadows' best list is essentially the unofficial end of the year for me. When it comes, and I watch it, I finally see the previous year as completely in the past. So it definitely generally means a lot to me each year.
This year it ended up having a bit more in terms of emotions, though. A friend of mine recently passed away suddenly. He was 22, and he was way too young. And honestly, a lot of my best memories of being with him were of talking about pop music, and talking about Todd in the Shadows videos. We had even talked about the 2020 worst list when it came out.
I hope that he's somewhere where he's able to watch this and enjoy it. I miss him every day, and I think that all of Todd's videos from here on out are gonna give me this sort of emotion. They'll all have a part of my friend in them for me, and that's something I'll never forget.
Thanks, Todd.
I'm sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing such a heartfelt comment. I am sorry for your loss.
Thank you so much for sharing.
"shout-out to his family"
*plays shitty techno*
if I was his family id be insulted
How come I feel like Todd suddenly screaming about 2020 during his recap of Lil Baby's song was not scripted and he actually did lose it?
It felt so real so I'm gonna assume he played it back and said "yeah nah, that's staying in"
I can't blame him, I feel the same way about this shit that will. Not. END!
Because it probably wasn't
I'm actually crying. So much of the protests seems like years ago to me now, something I watched in a movie. Todd brought me right back into the moment, the realization that this actually happened, and is far from over...
That’s chronic TDS for you. :b
I'm actually quite glad that Miley Cyrus is pulling it together and finding her way back into the spotlight.
She seems like she's found the genre that suits her best and I look forward to hearing more from her
She definitely has an underdog vibe after seeing her be universally cringed at and hated-- I'm REALLY rooting for her!!
Oh yea after that whole mess that was the past couple years
She seems like a good person, but for a long time it seemed like everything she did was dictated by her label wanting her to be discount Lady Gaga.
She had also made songs in 2017 and 2019
Was really surprised by your number 1 pick! Admittedly I've listened to a ton of Morgan Wallen in the past year too. Even though I can't personally relate to his many "yearning for the one that got away" songs and the "i love my small hometown" songs, country music definitely hit different for me during a year when all I COULD do was romanticize the idea of being outside and simply enjoying someone's company.
EDIT: NVM
Holy shit, your here too, to watch his stuff? Nice Nice.
Defo wasn't expecting yu here. My two worlds of animation and music reviews have briefly collided
EMIRICHU!? HII
Wow didnt know you watched Todd too! Thats so cool
whoa didnt expect to see you here
Blinding Lights is the perfect driving song. Especially if you enjoy getting speeding tickets.
It's great for writing a science fiction novel as well.
"like Chaka Khan, Megan Thee Stallion is every woman."
todd pls keep these solid references going
Ain't nobody. Does them better.
David Guetta should've made the worst list out of principle.
He's fucking irrelevant.
Contrary to how you may feel about making the list a bit more personal, I'm all the way here for it. If all music critics ever did was talk about things in the most general way possible and trying to match the consensus, there'd be no reason to listen to them besides confirmation bias. It's why I like watching multiple best lists and hearing each person give their personal thoughts for what they like amidst all the stuff everybody else already liked. Relating to music is something almost anyone can do and having a personal connection to give just makes the relation stronger. Your best lists get better and better every year, man.
"everything i wanted" is literally "lonely" done right. Figures it be a Justin fan who did his song better.
I’m glad people are giving Midnight Sky some love.
If you had told me a year ago that Miley Cyrus would take a page from Bonnie Tyler, I wouldn't have believed it. But she did, and it's somehow great?
Yeah- though "Slide Away" is still my favorite song from hers. It's just such a soft break up song. I also have a soft spot for Mother's Daughter even though the video is cringe
One of the critics said Miley stopped having big hits the second she started releasing better material. Im still baffled Nothing Breaks Like A Heart wasnt bigger.
Really agreed with his take. I’ve never been into Miley, her voice never worked for me. And this just did it for me, oh god do I get it now.
Should be no 1
"Music to crash your car into a ditch to."
Fuck, that's hilarious. I missed a step going into my kitchen because of that.
Hearing Todd shout in genuine anger was like seeing my Dad angry.
right? he has huge Dad energy
Media implanted anger. Notwithstanding the pandemic. The past four years had no more major events than the four years before that, including terrorist attacks, racist episodes, etc.
@@mrb152 Yeah, but at least then there was a president who listened and made changes. This one praised and was often the direct cause of a lot of it.
@@mrb152 yeah, that sounds like media implanted nonsense you’re spouting there
@@mrb152 And people shouldn’t be angry about that? Todd did say you’d already have known this was going on if you weren’t living under a rock. Glad more people couldn’t take it anymore.
Every other year
Todd: This year for music was trash.
2020, the year of grief:
Todd: This year for music was great!
Its almost like artists had a lot of time to be creative and a lot of inspiration this year for some reason.
I wonder why.
He said 2019 was a great year too
2019… 2015… 2011?
For a second there, I thought it was march, and almost had a heart attack.
I really don’t like country music, but Todd’s line of “sometimes things just need to end cause there’s something better on the horizon” really hit home and the song made sense to me
Ever since the Kanye incident, Taylor Swift has been less a singer/songwriter and more a personality. A symbol of things outside of her music. Over the 2010s she stopped being a musician and became a cultural image who just happened to work in the medium of pop music.
The pandemic turned out to be just what she needed. With no celebrity bullshit to deal with, she can be just an artist.
I completely disagree with the ‘medium of pop music’, if you look closely into it, she always chooses the symbolic songs to be singles and more of heart-wrenching, amazing songs as sidetracks. She switched to pop but it wasn’t like any generic pop at all, they’re all really unique and shows every obstacles that happened in her life, which is what songwriters do
hard disagree, Red and Reputation is pure, unfiltered albums, the only problem with these two is that they brought out the weakest songs, the songs that she released as singles are okay but not single worthy, they're more like stitches that build up those albums and make it cohesive, they can't standalone unlike the unreleased ones
@@misspotatohead1959 My point is: for a whole decade, Taylor was obsessed with haters. Now her haters have something bigger to hate: the state of the world. And she can relax and just make music.
@@tristianybanez5972 When Reputation came out, Todd said "Taylor needs to get out of her own ass." I thought, what would it take for Taylor to get out of her own ass?
Now we know. A combination of global pandemic, cultural chaos, racial strife and, political upheaval.
NJGuy1973 if you are referring to the post-Kanye music then I agree with you, (the songs that came out would always address the incident and I just got so bored) but if you are referring to the entirety of 2010 then I disagree strongly. The songs in Red and 1989 were looked at individually, and appreciated as such, not just because they were written by Taylor.
She’s also one of the few singers that legitimately cares about the message she puts out in her music (however misguided that is) so to me she is always a musician first.
this is ironic to come back to after the new 2023 worst songs list lol
Toddstradamus strikes again.
Lol I did find this after watching that. And yeah, you're not kidding 😄
As much as he admits in the #1 spot how he dislikes how his choice is so reflective of him, it's really nice to understand a little bit of the personality behind the persona.
"I'm Ari Shapiro, and I bring buckets for this WAP."
I died.
Brooklyn
Let's say, hypothetically, for the sake of argument, would you bring a bucket and a mop for this wet-as-heck p-word?
@@hermionestranger4964 thank you for the haha. Haha’d indeed.
"Put him on his knees, give him sum'in to Bill-ieve in. I'm Bill Kurtis."
@@typacsk Didn't know I could die twice.
“Just so tired, but too angry to sleep” I could NOT have said it better
Okay, so I never saw that moment where Billie Eillish was pleading not to win; I immediately felt immense sympathy for her and so guilty and slightly ashamed that I was getting so pissed during that show because she was sweeping the awards! I got so pissed I stopped watching and I must have missed that. Jeez, that was dumb of me, so she made a good song. It's not like she rigged the show. They chose what they chose. I may have thought there were better songs, but again, that's not her fault.
And, this year, "Everything I Wanted" was one of my absolute favorite songs! Just shows how things can change within a year. Also liked "Therefore I Am". 8D
Other than that, and "Rain on Me"(which was...okay, I guess), I actually haven't heard most of the songs on this list. WAP, sure, but who hasn't?
Billie didn't do nothing wrong. It's the whole show that's rigged, honestly.
I’m also a member of the minority that disapproves of WAP, hopefully we can survive together
i like how iconic WAP is for outraging society but i'm way too asexual to actually listen to it, let alone like it lmao
I also am not a fan of WAP. I’m not a huge fan of listening to people talk about graphic sex but it was really funny how outraged people. It’s not my cup of tea but I can sit through it lol
I have literally somehow never heard WAP a single time. Ever. Idk how, I'm not even trying to avoid it, but I still haven't ever heard it a single time 🤷♂️
"So tired but too angry to sleep"
I'm quoting you on that, when they ask me how I felt this year.
Sometimes I forget just how good of a writer Todd is. I was surprised by his #1, but he makes such an eloquent and profound case for it that he won me over on that song. It's hilarious when he rips a bad song to pieces, but he's amazing at arguing in favor of the songs he likes, which imo is even more impressive.
It's two weeks later and I still can't stop laughing at how fucking tone-deaf that David Guetta moment is
That whole "ending of the Gaga experiment" part made me feel really old, thanks
I’m like mildly offended by that sentence lol
It makes me so sad and a little angry too hear people talk about gaga like that. Something that was good one day but its already over
Wait No!!! I’m not ready for it to be over
The gays will never let it end lol. Drag bars will be doing Gaga numbers till the day we die. I moonlight as a drag queen lol
@@hopekeeley2122 I don't think I'll ever be ready , I'm still waiting for her heavy metal album.
I genuinely cannot think of the word “savage” now without thinking of “classy, bougie, ratchet”. Such is the power of Megan thee Stallion
Edits:
1. I haven’t heard Supalonely uncensored until now because of Tik Tok and the radio blasting it.
2. Exile was one of my favourite off Folklore too and I cheered when you put it on the list. August was my favourite though, it reminds me of going into hard lockdown in my town and the winter weather (I’m Australian)
3. YASSSSS MIDNIGHT SKY!!!!
4. I’m glad to see you give Adore You some love, I think Watermelon Sugar kinda overshadowed it
Folklore was freakin' great, and I also liked August. (In my case, I liked it because the chorus melody reminded me of Back For Good by Take That).
@@gracecarpinter8623 omg I didn’t even notice, you’re so right 😂😂
Adore you is SO MUCH BETTER than ws
@@axelam388 I agree but that’s just my personal taste. I do like Watermelon Sugar tho.
Rain On Me is a perfect song for a year in which we were all getting pissed on.
It combines the best traits of Ari and Lady Gaga
Yeah, because rain is just the sky pissing on us.
@@just-trying-my-best-everyday i hate you, take my like.
@@just-trying-my-best-everyday god I'd hate to know what Chocolate Rain means then
@@vinnyfromvenus8188 blegh
Miley's rock album was the first thing that I've ever purchased of hers. I enjoyed all of the songs on it. Some more than others but they're all good. I hope she keeps on this road. It suits her.
Same. I don’t know why she didn’t start from this since the beginning but I guess I should be asking Harry Styles why he didn’t start solo from the begging, Taylor Swift on why she didn’t start making indie music from the beginning and Carly Rae Jepsen and Bruno Mars on why they didn’t make 80s throw from the very start lol
@@captainaya2843 Two words...the label...Hopefully that answers your question.
I fucking hate the fact that i bursted out laughing when David Guetta shouted out George Floyd's family and then the beat dropped.
Goddammit.
To the hamster song mixed with the I have a dream speech
I wonder what made his think it was a good idea
Don't worry. I read your comment first, I prepared myself... no I didn't. Even bad jokes get laughs, just not the reason the joke was made.
And that stupid face. Might as well have been "shout out to people brutalized by cops... **boom boom boom**"
Excuse me David... but go to hell clown.
It world be funny if we weren't living in this timeline.
Just a reminder that Epstein didn't kill himself and fenty floyd died of an overdose
@@CretinHweirdo
“Blinding Lights isn’t on this list”
so you have chosen death
ooOoOooOoOooOooOooOoOooOo I’m BlInDeD bY tOd.!..!
That was a bloody good song, as was Caution by The Killers
When he said that I expected in your eyes to be the Weeknd song on the list.
I was absolutely shocked to see Heartless.
it's a little exhausting to hear after 3 listens honestly
Well it was dropped in 2019 so. . .
even if i'm sad dua lipa didn't make the official cut, todd's number one song being a sappy heartbreak unapologetically country song makes up for it. that's character growth babey
also, supalonely was on my top 5 most most listened to songs and everything todd said about it is why.
Not really? He had Need You Now by Lady Antebellum at the top of his Best of 2010 list.
@@gracecarpinter8623 Ahh, memories...I remember him also being incredibly emotional about Take Care in 2012. Love when Todd gets earnest, its my favorite part of this channel.
Hopefully he makes up for it by giving Levitating love on the 2021 Best Of list. One of the best pop songs I've ever heard
I knew wap was gonna be high on the list when it wasn’t on your worst list. People either love it or hate it.
"i'm already way behind" he says and releases the video in JANUARY??? who are you and what have you done with Todd Shadows?
Will the real Todd Shadow please stand up!
@@adrianazashen it is me
Not only was it released in January, it's also a one parter
@@fernfern0 The 2020’s have truly destroyed everything...
Toddstradamus calling Lady Gaga’s career almost over? GET READY FOR 20 MORE YEARS!
He's using his powers for good
Once a celebrity reaches a certain level of fame, they don't go away. Lady Gaga hit that point in 2011.
@@NJGuy1973 that’s super true, and I feel like a lot of our current pop stars that have been around long enough are at that point. Like, Bieber is going to be incredibly famous for the entire rest of his life, as will Swift and Grande I’m sure.
@@FragmentedR_YT I feel like Ariana Grande is either going to hit a peak - she'll be too old for that "sexy youthful diva" attitude to still play and her voice won't really be like "omg she's amazing" to people anymore, and she'll just disappear into obscurity - OR she's gonna wise up and change her schtick as she gets older and amaze us all.
@@FragmentedR_YT One writer coined a term for it: Permafame.
Todd, Closer by the Chainsmokers came out in 2016
And he put it at number one
Don't turn Todd into Fantano.
@@benlassen2115 more like "don't turn Todd's comment section into fantano's comment section"
Either one is a fate worse than death
@@torstenatterberg5788 Well yeah. Fantano is perfectly fine and I enjoy his content. It's just that he's basically a joke because of how his fanbase treats him.
Woah he wasn’t kidding about RUclips burying the WAP review I literally searched “Todd in the Shadows wap” because I missed it myself and NOTHING. That’s fucked up. I had to go to the channel and get there myself.
Hearing a whole crowd of people yell "Bitch don't wear no shoes in my house!" has to be one of my new favorite moments of 2020
wait what song is this from ?
@@uglyaniimals 'The Box" by Roddy Ricch.
Heartless is great but Blinding Lights fucking rules.
It sounds like a car commercial, coincidentally, it became one
@@maxgrozema1093 car commercials got some bangers in them sometimes dude
@@johnathom-v3y it's my crippling autism that prevents me from liking car commercial songs, I'm sorry man
I second this statement.
that song hits like a god damn freight train and i love it every single ride it takes.
Harry Styles started off in One Direction and had little to no control of the type of music and style he puts out. For anyone who criticize him and say he "tries too hard"; keep that in mind. Its gonna take him YEARS to fully be rid of the 1D image people associate him with, i think its rather impressive that he manages to experiment with music that is so vastly different, and yet still has a strong fanbase. I'll be rooting for him.
I don't think it'll take that long for his association with 1D to fade away. Hell, from what I've seen pretty much everyone moved on from from them the second they broke up. People said the same thing about Justin Timberlake, and it didn't take that long for him to shake off the boy band stigma. We'll see how that third album goes, but he's definitely had the best and most interesting solo career of everyone in 1D.
Dude everyone get over 1D thing, nobody is associating with that, and don't worry a lot Harry music it isnt that deep, its just pop music
He's basically the music equivalent of Robert Pattinson
I’ve enjoyed all of his post-1D music, especially Sign of the Times (which is depressing, to be sure, but FEELS like a great rock ballad, with its over the top grandiose bombast)
@@ferencssalvoski3721 you don't seem like a person who actually ever listened to Harry Styles
So many dudes in the comments triggered because Todd had the temerity to enjoy WAP as a joke song during a dreary year. 💀 Talk about taking yourself too seriously.
Nah it’s just the fact that I feel physical pain listening to it, I get the appeal but god it hurts
It’s really great how every song he talks about here sounds like he’s talking about his number one from other years.
This feels like a list where you could put 1 song here into each 2010s list and all of them would be at #1.
I've been watching Todd ever since I was a teen and it's been so cool to see his growth and introspection over the years. One of the things that always stands out to me about his lists is that yes he looks at the hits and yes he looks at what is ideally the best but he follows his own take. He looks at the mood and the meaning and growth the songs have for each artist. Watching Todd for years gives me a chance to not just see his growth but others as well. Their big leaps, their experiments, their pitfalls and in a way reflect on my own. Todd thank you for everything you do despite everything going on. Your work has meant so much to me over the years and I can't thank you enough for it.
I'm shocked "Everything I Wanted" was 2020. That year was a decade, I swear. Legit thought that song was from 2019.
It came out November 2019. But it was undoubtedly much bigger in 2020.
I'd say if it ended up in the Billboard 2020, it's a 2020 song with technicalities.
it peaked in 2019
Almost half of this list was absolutely getting airplay in November/December of 2019, they just never went away
It came out late 2019 but it got popular 2020
"so tired, but too angry to sleep" really hits the nail on the head.
I stop following popular English music for a year or two, and now Harry Styles is at #3 on Todd's best list with a legit banger. That's certainly One Direction I didn't expect...
Turns out Harry going his Own Direction allowed him to make some pretty killer pop tunes, without the baggage of the other members.
The most surprising thing to me is how good-natured Styles is in interviews about the one direction years. Very unusual for old boy bands
@@Amascut That's a bit unfair to Niall Horan, who's also been making good music. (I heard good things about his second album, Heartbreak Weather, for the record).
@@gracecarpinter8623 He's been perfectly fine. Mostly just bland though, imo.
Harry Styles is way better than one direction and the rest of the members solo stuff it’s not even funny. Both Adore You and Watermelon Sugar are cheerful songs that puts me in a good mood whenever I hear them. And Only Angel makes me forget that he was a one direction member in the first place. The only 1D songs that I feel like is as good as his solo stuff is “Night Changes” and “Perfect”. (Then again I haven’t heard all of their songs.)
Really surprised "Say So" wasn't on the list. That's a song I thought he would have ate right up.
It's such a simple song yet I didn't even mind when it took over the internet. I think it's cuz Doja Cat is such a fun character.
I loved that song until I found out dr luke worked on it, and all the controversial racism based activity Doja Cat got into online before becoming a big star left a bad taste in my mouth and I couldn’t enjoy the song anymore. Which is a shame because I loved it.
@@saraclark7451 on the bright side, the song us so bare bones that that you cod listen to a mashup to help drown out the bad. I particularly like Say so x Good Nite n Go.
@@kelvinnguyen7883 that sounds cool
Was that in 2020? That's easily in my top 10 list
Todd showing his country roots with the no. 1. I disagree, but love hearing what he gets out of songs I don't really get anything from. Watching top 10 list would be boring if everyone had the same songs on them. I think the last time a country song made his top 10 list was his best of 2010 list if I remember correctly.
Yeah, out of the songs in this video specifically (didn’t listen to much hot 100 this year), the Harry or Billie one would’ve taken my number 1, but it makes perfect sense for that one to be Todd’s number 1.
I take it as a sign that 2020s music was pretty shit. I don't disagree, also Gus Dapperton sounds nothing like Rex Orange County wtf is he talking about?
"I'm Ari Shapiro and bring a bucket and a mop..."
Effin' killed me
I love how, every year, this video is like a time capsule for everything that happened. This is the kind of shit that history majors in 100 years will watch when writing their thesis on the year 2020.
"Usually my no 1 pick is something everyone can agree on"
Thinking back to most of your best of lists, I've disagreed with almost every no 1 pick lol
I lowkey always disagree with everything Todd says
Yeah, I disagreed with most of his 2019 list. I really thought at least one Lizzo song should have made the list.
Honestly I find myself disagreeing with Todd more and more every year
His #1s are usually songs that I, at least, like even if they're not amongst my favorites. The only exceptions I can think of off hand (although there are probably others) are Get Lucky which I despise because I find that song so boring, and this one because I've never heard it. Usually agree with about half of his lists though not the order. This year...I don't know most of these songs.
Yeah, I'm always like "You put X above Y!!!??" but ehh, it's his personal list, at least he explains why
Favorite surprises: Hearing Exile make the list. It was one of my personal favorites this year from Taylor Swift but I'm glad to see Todd recognized it as being good too. Taylor sung it so well it's kind of hard to ignore. I hope she does do more fictional songs not in her perspective because she writes such good lyrics that it's kind of a waste when she has to limit to only talking about herself.
Agreed. I think this trend might have started with Lover and the song "Death By A Thousand Cuts", which is sung from the perspective of a character in a straight-to-Netflix romcom. It's one of the most underrated and heart wrenching songs on that album imo. I'm glad she doubled down with Folklore.
(As an aside - just in my personal opinion, Lover was underrated because the singles were awful. "Cruel Summer" and "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" should have climbed the charts, not the atrocity that is "Me!" Taylor Swift (or Taylor's label, not sure which) somehow always chooses the worst songs off each album to be the singles. By that metric, "Exile" was also a very welcome surprise.)
@@lucyw4195 “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” is also my favorite from that album!! her story songs I think just capture the feelings of being young and being able to imagine the characters to your liking to it that I love the visuals as you hear it
@@lucyw4195 Lover was seriously underrated. All the songs in it were the greatest. Death By A Thousand Cuts, Cruel Summer, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, False God, every single song. The album is really unique and deserves so much more attention.
@@lucyw4195 honestly ME! was not for adults, it was a song for kids, that's why it had so much cgi, colourful things and everything related to kids point of veiw
@@lucyw4195 The trend didn't start with Lover, because she's been writing fictional songs/not in her perspective ever since debut! Mary's Song (an old couple), Love Story (fictional cause she was Juliet who got married), Speak Now (A wedding crash daydream), Stay Stay Stay (fiction, she said it was a daydream of real love), Starlight (bout an old couple again), You are in love (about friend's relationship). There's maybe more and also a lot of her unreleased stuff. She's been doing this throughout her career, it's always been in her.
Dudes saw Todd put WAP on the list and acted like he personally killed their family or some shit
Everyone talking about Dua Lipa and I’m over here sad that we didn’t get the Carly Rae Jepsen honorable mention
or HAIM considering he endorsed them last time they had an album out
Did she have any songs that got big enough, this year? I only heard songs from Carly Rae that she released in previous years.
Carly didn't really have any singles this year though. Dedicated Side B came out and she did a Christmas single, so it's not nothing but it's nothing that would be a massive hit to be considered in the first place
I mean, the video is called Top 10 Best *HITS* of 2020.
@@phastinemoon No, but in his honourable mentions he likes to include a few non-hits that he thinks should've been hits, and traditionally every year has had a Carly Rae song
Todd got angrier talking about The Bigger Picture than with most of his worst list. But it’s with good reason. These last few years have been hellish in a lot of different ways.
Cicabeaot1 in Todd's comment section? What is this? A crossover episode! 😂
Lover was actually good
@@TheJollyMisanthrope and more and more people are still buying in to it. Straight up paranoia, everything that happens has to be attack against them ig
I really thought the lyrics were "I'd rather be drunk, but at least I'm alive" and that was still really uplifting
I thought the same thing until about a month ago tbh
Ditto. Knowing it's actually about sobriety will make it awkward but I'll probably still reflexively sing the "drunk" version.
I understand what you were saying in the honorable mentions but Dua lipa NEEDED to be on this list. Dont start now, Levitating, Physical. Cmoooon
Future Nostalgia literally a perfect album. It’s been WAY too long since there’s been a perfect pop album from start to finish.
i know i know right...but at the end of the day, its just about personal taste.
@@televisedpork7993 future nostalgia is a derivative of Carly Rae Jepsen’s E•MO•TION.
@@stylerxo3654 Ok. You’re point is? I’ve listened to that one too but I like FN better.
@@televisedpork7993 yikes 🤢
I don't care what anyone says, WAP is a song i needed this year. Its just hilarious and the damn outrage made it even more hilarious. Also I genuinely find the flow and structure of the song entertaining to listen to.
the mashup with rihanna's S&M makes it go so hard... like it became less funny and more straight up kinky bitch
If you like WAP, good for you. But I can't stand it.
Pooky1991 same
I don't get how people find WAP funny.
To me, WAP fails to be funny the same way most of Lil Dicky's stuff fails to be funny.
@@knightwing5169 Same.
That NPR WAP parody was too funny, I immediately hit the like button
I'm legit considering downloading this whole video just to make that my ringtone
Harry Styles isn't turning into Peter Gabriel. He's turning into Robert Palmer. And that's A-Okay.
Robert Palmer is very underrated.
I need Harry Styles singing 'Bad Case of Loving you' now. Thanks for that haha.
Please don’t disrespect Robert Palmer like that.
At least he's not touring radio stations doing glorified karaoke versions of songs he likes, while wearing terrible knitwear and spouting the most dull platitudes possible about said songs.
"fuck robert palmer and fuck rock n roll" - the cure
Ok so who exactly is robert palmer
exile is such an objectively correct choice, good list!! :)
haedox didn't expect you also love exile in folklore (ง ̇∇ ̇)ว
So true.
@@taylorswiftisgirlboss5062 the entire folklore album is amazing tbh
Wait, you're a Swiftie?
haedox you watch todd in the shadows? my 2 worlds a colliding :0