2016 was a difficult year to get through for a variety of reasons, with the year ending on perhaps one of the most fearful and sour notes imaginable. Usually in a devastatingly unfortunate year, the music of the time is enough to get people through it. 2016 wasn’t overflowing with praise aside from the cultural events that were Beyoncé Lemonade and RIhanna’s ANTI, both represented on this list with only one song apiece. But the FearlessRiOT Top 20 was up to the task of providing enjoyable tunes from the start of the yea to the end, with perhaps the biggest story being the week’s long back-and-forth battle for #1 between American girl group Fifth Harmony and Japanese kawaii-metal act BABYMETAL. In the end, one of those acts took the #1 spot on the Year-End list and were undeniably the chart MVP’s of the year with a total of four songs present. Well, aside from maybe Maren Morris, who’s breakout year on the chart saw her land two massive #1 songs of her own. Meanwhile, veteran rock bands like Garbage, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, and Disturbed all nabbed #1 songs, and as did newer rockers Stitched Up Heart and Pop Evil. DC’s Suicide Squad soundtrack was also responsible for two #1 songs this year. All of this plus countdown favorites like Adele, Lauren Alaina, and Drake being mixed in with newcomers like Sofia Carson and twenty one pilots. 2016 may have been a slog to get through, but the songs on this chart – measured by an inverse point system from the weekly countdown that’s highly dependent on weeks and peak position through play from radio stations, video viewership, and my personal music collection – did the best that they could to make the year just a little bit better.
#1) “Work From Home”
Fifth Harmony (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
#2) “80s Mercedes”
Maren Morris
#3) “Road Less Traveled”
Lauren Alaina
#4) “Karate”
BABYMETAL
#5) “Sucker For Pain”
Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons
(with Logic, Ty Dolla Sign, & X Ambassadors)
#6) “Work”
Rihanna (feat. Drake)
#7) “My Church”
Maren Morris
#8) “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”
Adele
#9) “Finally Free”
Stitched Up Heart
#10) “Empty”
Garbage
#11) “Bang Bang”
Green Day
#12) “One Dance”
Drake (feat. WizKid & Kyla)
#13) “Stressed Out”
twenty one pilots
#14) “Love Is The Name”
Sofia Carson
#15) “Dark Necessities”
Red Hot Chili Peppers
#16) “The Sound of Silence”
Disturbed
#17) “Shut Up and Fish”
Maddie & Tae
#18) “Footsteps (Go Higher)”
Pop Evil
#19) “Write On Me”
Fifth Harmony
#20) “Wild Things”
Alessia Cara
#21) “Heathens”
twenty one pilots
#22) “Irresistible”
Fall Out Boy (feat. Demi Lovato)
#23) “Player”
Tinashe
#24) “Phenomenal (AJ Styles)”
CFO$ & WWE
#25) “Can’t Stop The Feeling!”
Justin Timberlake
#26) “Cheap Thrills”
Sia (feat. Sean Paul)
#27) “Scars To Your Beautiful”
Alessia Cara
#28) “New Romantics”
Taylor Swift
#29) “The Fighter”
In This Moment
#30) “Impossible”
Lacey Sturm
#31) “Starboy”
The Weeknd (feat. Daft Punk)
#32) “Into You”
Ariana Grande
#33) “Take Me Down”
The Pretty Reckless
#34) “Rotting In Vain”
Korn
#35) “Sorry”
Justin Bieber
#36) “I Am The Fire”
Halestorm
#37) “Written in the Stars”
The Girl and The Dreamcatcher
#38) “Hello”
Adele
#39) “Side to Side”
Ariana Grande (feat. Nicki Minaj)
#40) “Hotline Bling”
Drake
#41) “Smoke and Fire”
Sabrina Carpenter
#42) “All In My Head (Flex)”
Fifth Harmony (feat. Fetty Wap)
#43) “Here”
Alessia Cara
#44) “When We Were Young”
Adele
#45) “On Purpose”
Sabrina Carpenter
#46) “7 Years”
Lukas Graham
#47) “Fuck Apologies”
JoJo (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
#48) “Sugar”
Robin Schulz (feat. Francesco Yates)
#49) “The Rising Sun (Shinsuke Nakamura)”
CFO$ (feat. Lee England Jr.)
#50) “Hold Up”
Beyoncé
#51) “Dangerous Woman”
Ariana Grande
#52) “Mess Around”
Cage The Elephant
#53) “Why So Lonely”
Wonder Girls
#54) “H.O.L.Y.”
Florida Georgia Line
#55) “24K Magic”
Bruno Mars
#56) “Starving”
Hailee Steinfeld & Grey (feat. Zedd)
#57) “Next Boyfriend”
Lauren Alaina
#58) “Body Say”
Demi Lovato
#59) “Blow Your Mind (Mwah)”
Dua Lipa
#60) “On My Mind”
Ellie Goulding
#61) “Out Of The Woods”
Taylor Swift
#62) “Cirice”
Ghost
#63) “That’s My Girl”
Fifth Harmony
#64) “Could Have Been Me”
The Struts
#65) “Same Old Love”
Selena Gomez
#66) “Superlove”
Tinashe
#67) “Black Beatles”
Rae Sremmurd (feat. Gucci Mane)
#68) “This Girl”
Kungs vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners
#69) “Glowing In The Dark”
The Girls and The Dreamcatcher
#70) “Lost Boy”
Ruth B
#71) “Still Breathing”
Green Day
#72) “Stone Cold”
Demi Lovato
#73) “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart”
Chris Cornell
#74) “When Love Hurts”
JoJo
#75) “I Know What You Did Last Summer”
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
#76) “No Problem”
Chance The Rapper (feat. 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne)
#77) “Gold”
Kiiara
#78) “Don’t Mind”
Kent Jones
#79) “I’m America”
Cilver
#80) “S.O.B.”
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
#81) “Take It All”
Pop Evil
#82) “Mayhem”
Halestorm
#83) “Army”
Ellie Goulding
#84) “Atlas, Rise!”
Metallica
#85) “I Took A Pill in Ibiza (SeeB Remix)”
Mike Posner
#86) “Hymn For The Weeknd”
Coldplay
#87) “Vice”
Miranda Lambert
#88) “Love On The Brain”
Rihanna
#89) “Surfin'”
Kid Cudi (feat. Pharrell Williams)
#90) “1,000 X’s & O’s”
Prince
#91) “Slumber Party”
Britney Spears (feat. Tinashe)
#92) “Wildest Dreams”
Taylor Swift
#93) “Redbone”
Childish Gambino
#94) “Burning House”
Cam
#95) “Monster”
Starset
#96) “Parachute”
Chris Stapleton
#97) “Mr. Misunderstood”
Eric Church
#98) “Just Like Fire”
P!nk
#99) “No Role Modelz”
J. Cole
#100) “Rise”
SIXX:A.M.
YEAR-END AWARDS:
Top Solo Artist Song Of The Year: “80s Mercedes” by Maren Morris
Top Group Song Of The Year: “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
Top Collaboration Of The Year: “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
Top Pop Song Of The Year: “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
Top Hip-Hop Song Of The Year: “Sucker For Pain” by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons (with Logic, Ty Dolla Sign, & X Ambassadors)
Top Alternative Song Of The Year: “Stressed Out” by twenty one pilots
Top Hard Rock Song Of The Year: “KARATE” by BABYMETAL
Top R&B Song Of The Year: “Work” by Rihanna (feat. Drake)
Top Country Song Of The Year: “Road Less Traveled” by Lauren Alaina
Top First-Timer Song Of The Year: “80s Mercedes” by Maren Morris
Top Returning Year-End Song: “Finally Free” by Stitched Up Heart [#83 for 2015, #9 for 2016]
Year-End Top 100 MVP: Fifth Harmony (4 Appearances On The Year-End List)
FearlessRiOT Top 40 Music Countdown 