Congratulations, we made it, everyone! The year of 2021 was like no other in regards to new music. It was a year in which we listened to more songs than ever before — we're talking thousands and thousands of new tracks (and that's only from rock and metal artists) and came to a conclusion that what you will see below are the 35 Best Metal Songs of 2021.

As the Loudwire staff huddled around our computer screens for a video conference and debated a long, long... long list of metal songs that were released this year, it came to our surprise just how much the couple dozen tracks we ultimately selected kept resurfacing in conversation. Even in a year where there were literally 50-plus new albums a week to listen to, we kept coming back to the same songs, reliably, in our own listening habits, proving just how strong each individual one is, despite the high-volume competition.

We know what you're thinking — just 35 songs? Below, you will see Loudwire's picks for the 35 Best Metal Songs of 2021, but follow our Spotify playlist for more than 150 of this year's standout metal tracks, too.

Contributors: Rabab Al-Sharif, Joe DiVita, Graham Hartmann, Jake Richardson, Philip Trapp and Yasmine Summan

The 35 Best Metal Songs of 2021

We count down the 35 Best Metal Songs of 2021.

For over 150 of this year's best songs, follow our Spotify playlist.

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