My Top 10 Least Favorite Hit Songs of 2020

 

Hey everyone, it's Drake, known online as Urtar Reviews and today we are going over my least favorite hits of 2020. 2020 was obviously a horrible year for most of us in real life with the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd incident and more, but how was it for music. Well, while I enjoyed the pop music scene of this year back when it was going on, for the most part, going back to this year in 2023, while it is certainly a more interesting year than 2022 or 2023 so far, there is a lot of stuff I hated from this year and while the good stuff does make up for it and still leave it a decent year overall, man do I hate the worst songs from this year. Everything happening in 2020 carried over to the pop music scene, leaving the year with a lot of downbeat depressing music, and while some of that is good, a lot of it was not if you ask me. Now starting with this list, I am going to be changing my eligibility rules for these lists. I have been working the last few years on posting hot 100 charts on a site called Crownnote that lets you post charts and it has a inverse point leaderboard system. I have used that to calculate an alternate Jan-Dec Year End (https://www.crownnote.com/leaderboard?uid=38079&dates=2020) which I will be including in my eligibility as well. And that list is the precedent one for which year a song debuted on. Anyway, let's get started on the list!

10. Intentions - Justin Bieber, Quavo (Peak #5, Billboard Year End: #17, Pulse Jan-Dec: #15, Crownnote: #18)

Man, returning to this after some of the singles from Justice like Ghost and Anyone (even if the latter has cooled on me some) was just... interesting. And while I don't hate this song as much as I did in 2020, mainly cause the overplay wore off, I still think it's terrible, I mean it made this list after all. The incredibly annoying weak beat, Bieber's weak vocals and I think attempts to rap?, Quavo's extremely mediocre guest verse. Oh and the stupid lyrics where he calls his girl an asset, "the brand", and shouting out his parents for making her. Are you even talking about a human being here Justin? Or a screwdriver?  Yummy was at least funny, this is just a draining, dry, irritating song. 

9. More Than My Hometown - Morgan Wallen (Peak #15, Billboard Year End: #96, Pulse Jan-Dec: #54, Crownnote: #49)

Sigh, more of this guy. I think I've said this before, but I hated Morgan Wallen before it was cool. I always hated his voice, and I thought almost of his big hits were terrible before the incident happened in 2021. The one exception being 7 Summers, a song that I will still admit is good, even though I wouldn't say I love it. Now I have seen some praise on this one from this community, including Todd In The Shadows calling it his favorite hit song of 2020, and I kinda get it with this one at least. The song is emotional and I could see it being powerful for someone, and the lyrical idea of him being torn between leaving his hometown to stay with his girlfriend, or staying and leaving her. I could see that being powerful for someone, but also I just think it's stupid that he's leaving his girl who he says he loves more than a California sunset (Which as a Californian myself I can confirm is very beautiful) just because he wants to stay in his hometown. I mean I get loving your hometown, and like I'm not gonna call this MoRaLlY RePrEhEnSiBlE, I just think it's stupid. Oh and I also just hate his voice as usual, his drawling has just always annoyed me. And the guitar line annoys me. 

8. Sunday Best - Surfaces (Peak #19, Billboard Year End: #61, Pulse Jan-Dec: #60, Crownnote: #63) 

Okay, so I am working at Walgreens right now, and this is on the playlist there. Any time this comes on the speaker there (which happens a lot) my day is ruined. It's just so fucking annoying and awful sounding. I swear, as the song goes on, they  just keep adding new elements, each more annoying than the last. The fucking gang vocals that don't fit, the random I think piano? on the last chorus that feels so poorly blended with the rest of the song. In addition this song just feels like it's trying to be both an indie rock song and a trap song at the same time, and it fails at both. And I know I have defended trap fusions like Fancy Like before (and I still do like that song for the record) but that song sounded so much better than this song. And of course, the annoying frontman. This song is trying to be this cheerful song to make you happy, but at least to me, it's too fucking stiff, plastic in the worst way possible, and frankly doesn't even sound happy? It feels like a guy forcing himself to smile, while he's actually not happy at all. 

7. Go Crazy - Chris Brown, Young Thug (Peak #9, Billboard Year End: #39, Pulse Jan-Dec: #24, Crownnote: #23)

This would have been lower if not for Thugger, and he isn't even that good on here. Chris Brown is still one of my least favorite artists ever, and while his vocal performance here is above average for him admittedly, he still doesn't sound very good, and this song is him, a woman beater who has done many other horrible things (I don't want to go into it here), even recently, trying to get a girl who left him to come back with him by saying "I know you miss me" and offering to fly her anywhere she wants and give her good sex. Just, can we please stop giving him hits? 

6. Falling - Trevor Daniel (Peak #17, Billboard Year End: #22, Pulse Jan-Dec: #28, Crownnote: #31)

Bro, this song is just so draining, do I have to talk about it? Like, listening to this song feels like what it probably feels like to be kissed be a Dementor in Harry Potter. Trevor's voice is just, so fucking awful sounding, and the beat is so draining. TALLLLLLLKKKKK TOOOOO MMMEEEEE! I just don't have more to say and I don't want to think about or listen to this soul draining song anymore, so next song.

5. Chasin' You - Morgan Wallen (Peak #16, Billboard Year End: #34, Pulse Jan-Dec: #33, Crownnote: #33) 

Him again. And I will be talking about him in January too probably. And not positively. But anyway, this fucking song. This is a example of his drawling at it's most annoying (along with like, Sand In My Boots and You Proof), it's just so annoying. And the idea of him chasing his ex by his music playing on her radio is just a bit, I don't know, creepy? And also like, can't she just, I don't know, turn the radio off if his song plays? Not to mention if she doesn't even listen to the radio, or listens to the pop station or whatever. Like he's saying he's chasing her, but wouldn't go further than Nashville? When he thinks she went to Santa Fe? I mean I'm glad he didn't go all the way there to be an absolute creep, but still this song just feels really disjointed lyrically and stupid. 

4. Got What I Got - Jason Aldean (Peak #16, Billboard Year End: #60, Pulse Music Board: #50, Crownnote: #47) 

Jason Aldean might be my least favorite country artist of all time. I mean at least Morgan has 7 Summers. I have not heard a single song from Aldean that I consider even passable. And he has made some truly abysmal music including a song I don't know if I am going to talk about in list season this year and, what would now top my 2012 worst list likely, Fly Over States, one of the worst country hits of the 2010s. And while this song isn't quite as bad as either of those, it's still godawful. Jason Aldean has one of the most grating voices of any singer currently working, his voice is just painful to listen to. Also the instrumentation sounds very choked. Oh and of course the lyrics are incredibly asshole-ish. Espicially if you know the shit he's done the last few years (which I really don't want to go over). 

3. Stuck With U - Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber (Peak #1, Billboard Year End: #80, Pulse Jan-Dec: #77, Crownnote: #59)

This is both artist's worst song ever. Although frankly, I blame no one but Scooter Braun for this. Neither artist cared enough about this song to even have included it on their albums they released around the same time. Not even on a deluxe edition. This screams of something Scooter forced them to make to capitalize on the pandemic. And it does so in such a fucking condescending way. "Kinda hope we're here forever" Ah yes you hope that thousands of people will die so you can have a bit more time together WHICH YOU COULD DO ANYWAY EVEN IF THERE WASN'T A PANDEMIC. I swear to god that is one of the most baffling lyrics I think I've ever heard. I get that in addition to making money, they tried to cheer people up during the pandemic but man is this a horrible way of doing that in my opinion. Combine that with career worst performances from both artist and the most generic beat of all time and you have something truly awful. 

2. I Hope - Gabby Barrett (and Charlie Puth) (Peak #3, Billboard Year End: #12, Pulse Jan-Dec: #8, Crownnote: #7)

I have been holding in my hatred for this song for so long now. This would have topped this list if I had made it a year ago, as it brings back painful memories from late 2020- early 2021 when I was, let's just say, pretty depressed. Fed up with the world and also personal shit I don't want to go into. And hearing this song on the radio and in public places was the last thing I needed. A song this angry in a way that doesn't feel cathartic unlike say Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood a song this was clearly inspired by. Every time I hear this fucking song I am reminded of that time in my life. Also I just think it sounds horrible. The guitars that are earache-inducingly mixed, Gabby's horrible vocals that sound like Carrie Underwood from hell. Oh and then the Charlie Puth remix exists for some reason, and completely ruins the narrative the original was going for, even if the remix doesn't trigger me as much and so I prefer it to the original, even if the remix is also dogshit. And this isn't mentioning how much I hate Gabby Barrett as a person, for her politics, although that doesn't affect my opinion of the song. So what topped it? Well before we find out, some dishonorable mentions:

DM. ily (I Love You Baby) - Surf Mesa, Emilee

This might not be here if not for overplay but where I live in California this song plays on the radio all the fucking time still and it does not hold up to overplay well. And I never liked it to begin with.

DM. Suicidal - YNW Melly, Juice WRLD

Can we just please stop with the Juice Wrld posthumous music already please?

DM. Godzilla - Eminem, Juice WRLD

Please? Although his hook is the only reason this didn't make the list proper.

Popstar - DJ Khaled, Drake

Man if this is ever "da best music" than music is in a bad place. 

DM. Yummy - Justin Bieber

Some of the funny lines and the title being Yummy is far more interesting than the song itself. I remember back in early 2020 before the pandemic, my high school did a marathon thing for charity and they played top 40 radio in one area of the campus, and when I passed by there after running for a while and being really tired, this song was playing. Let's just say it did not motivate me to keep going at all. 

DM. For The Night - Pop Smoke, Lil Baby, DaBaby

Lil Baby and DaBaby just do not fit in this song and were obviously added by the label to ensure the posthumous album did well. Their verses feel so horribly stitched into the rest of the song. If this was a solo Pop Smoke song like he most likely recorded it originally maybe I would have liked it. Sadly, labels gotta label.

DM. Bang - AJR

We could have had much worse from this band become popular like something from Neotheater (or probably the Click but I haven't heard that album) but we could have had Way Less Sad instead of this. Still an annoying and very poorly mixed song.

1. If The World Was Ending - JP Saxe, Julia Michaels (Peak #27, Billboard Year End: #56, Pulse Jan-Dec: #52, Crownnote: #51)

This is one of the most depressing songs I have ever heard and in a bad way. What do you mean it didn't scare you when the earthquake happened or that you didn't notice. I mean I guess if it was far away, from you, and I mean as someone who lives near San Francisco I have slept through earthquakes a few hours away before, but the framing makes it feel like the earthquake happened very close to them. This is a song about them accepting the end of the world and just living the rest of their days together, and ignoring anything going on and not trying to do anything to stay alive or stop the end of the world. That's just not the kind of thing I want to hear, and especially with things going on in the world in the last few years. There's music that's depressing that I can find comforting like Spanish Love Songs (who released an incredible album in 2020 called Brave Faces Everyone venting about the state of the world) But not this song about only treating signs of the end of the world as a sign that you should go stay with your lover. This is exactly what I don't want to hear. And of course both our singers sound awful. And the instrumental only adds to the depressing atmosphere. This is one of the worst songs I've ever heard. And easily my least favorite hit song of 2020!