Worst Songs of the 2020s (SO FAR)

Living in the year 2025 has been ROUGH. I mean, I think anyone living in America can feel that right now, unless you happen to be a billionaire. If you are a billionaire, what are you even doing reading this blog? Shouldn't you be doing rich people stuff, like taking advantage of the lower classes? Jokes aside, I've been really enjoying the music this year, especially outside of the pop charts. The reality is that the pop charts are actually pretty stale right now, and it's been so easy to just avoid all that music. I actually recently made a post of my favorite songs of the decade so far, so if you want some new music to check out, you can read that. This here will be all about hate. All the terrible music we've gotten over the last 5 years (almost 6 now). Here I will list my least favorite songs of the decade so far, songs that I just truly hate.. for fun. 

THE TOP 15 WORST SONGS OF THE 2020s... SO FAR

Here are a few songs that almost made the list before I start the actual list.

ALEX WARREN - ORDINARY

This could potentially be one of the most boring songs of the decade; it's certainly the most boring song of the year so far. Only time will tell how much I will hate this song in the future, but it might be too early to put it on this list, as it's only been around a few months. Feels like an eternity at this point. Such a forgettable song, the fact that this was the biggest song of the summer shows how bad this year has been for hit songs. 

WALKER HAYES - FANCY LIKE

Remember that Applebee's song from a few years ago? Yeah, I didn't either until I was making this list. It still sucks, but it's at least a so bad it's almost good kind of suck. That being said, it's still a dumb song that's basically just made for that one commercial, and listening to it outside of that is just pointless. 

LIL DICKY - MR.MCADAMS

God, I really hate Lil Dicky's music. His 2024 album "Penith" was one of the worst things I've ever heard, but the only reason I'm not putting this song on the list is that it wasn't even a hit song. It was sorta viral for the music video and the name-dropping of famous actor Rachel McAdams, but outside of that, not much else. Lil Dicky is so unfunny it's actually painful to listen to. Not even the worst track on the album, as he has an almost 9-minute joke song about him going to jail for accidentally exposing himself to minors.

15. EMINEM - HOUDINI (2024)

One last ride for Slim Shady, and it was pretty freakin bad. This song was everything that's wrong with recent Eminem albums, as it features outdated jokes and references that aren't nearly as funny as Eminem thinks they are. I was so excited to get one last album with the Slim Shady characters, and it really seemed like it was going to be a nice farewell to an iconic part of Eminem's career. Instead, it just highlighted all of Em's flaws from the last 10 years of his music career. So disappointing. 

14. SELENA GOMEZ - LOSE YOU TO LOVE ME (2020)

Remember when I said the song "Ordinary" could potentially be one of the most boring songs of the decade? Well, this is one of the songs that's going to be competing with for that title. Selena Gomez has always been someone who I feel wastes a lot of her talent by making the worst possible songs that she can't pull off. This song is meant to be an emotional story of a person who is going through a tough time in her love life, but it doesn't do a good job at actually BEING emotional. Instead, it feels like a lifeless slog going through the motions. 

13. Tekashi 69 / Nicki Minaj - TROLLZ (2020)

When this song first came out, I was so annoyed by Nicky Minaj's feature on this song. Why waste your talent working with Tekashi 69? The years have not been kind to Nicki, though, as she keeps taking loss after loss in the music industry and in real life. She recently decided to join the Trump bandwagon, so that's how desperate she is for any kind of relevance. The worst part about this song was that it was actually a number one hit, the only one for Tekashi 69. We were so close to just not having this guy have a big hit before he disappeared. The song is your typical trash with the terrible lyrics and annoying vocals by 69. Nicki joins with her own verse, and it's lackluster. Still the best part of the song, mind you, but that's not hard to accomplish on a Tekashi 69 song. Thankfully his last hurrah before going away. 

12. Oliver Tree - Miss You (2023)

Man, I just never understood all the love that this dude gets. I can't stand most of his music, and this song is one of his most annoying. The stupid chipmunk vocal effect makes this song impossible to listen to, not that everything else in the song is much better. A loud mess of a song that honestly gives me a headache the longer I listen to it. I cut it off after a minute, that's as long as I can take it. Well, unless the second half of the song somehow turns into a masterpiece, I'll never know. It's Oliver Tree, so that's not even possible. 

11. Jelly Roll / Dustin Lynch - Chevrolet (2024)

COUNTRY SONG ABOUT TRUCKS! COUNTRY SONG ABOUT TRUCKS! TRUUUUCKS!!!

Did you guys know that trucks are a staple of country songs? Not like there's been like 10 hit songs in the last few years about trucks. In fact, this isn't even the last song about trucks on the list. There's a worse truck song coming up soon. As for this one, well, it's pretty much a lazy sample of the classic song "Drift Away" but with some of the lyrics changed to make it about a Chevi. It's gotta be American-made, dude, we ain't got time for no Japanese trucks. Jelly Roll is a talented singer, but man, does he love to make some of the worst songs to hit the charts in the last few years. Giving Morgan Wallen a run for his money. As for Dustin Lynch, well, he's here too, I guess? I mean, I wouldn't have been able to remember his name if you had a gun to my head and asked me. Which is also the only way I'd get into a Chevi truck. 

THE TOP 10. Gayle - abcdefu (2021)

An edgy teen girl swears a lot, and it becomes a TikTok sensation. The main appeal of this song is the lead-up to the chorus, where Gayle says the ABCs, but ends when it gets to F so she can say FU. U does not go after F, but how else would she tell her ex to "fuck off"? The transition from the verse to the alphabet is just awkward, and it feels forced. The song is just overall uninteresting, with the most basic music possible. The lyrics aren't as clever as they seem to think they are, as they are mostly generic breakup lyrics that aren't really about anything specific enough, but I guess that's the point when you want as many people to relate to it as possible. To be fair, this song was written by a teenager FOR teenagers, so that's why it's not too high on the list. Teenagers think that saying "fuck" a lot is the edgiest thing you could ever do, this coming from a person who also thought that back in the day. Hm, maybe I'm starting to understand this song a little more. It also just annoys me how she disses her ex for having a job and a crappy car. I'm sure there are better reasons to diss someone, not just the fact that they work hard for the little they have. 

9. AJR - Bang! (2021)

One of the most hated bands of the last 10 years, and rightfully so. AJR is just one of those bands that make tons of mediocre music and still somehow have found a lot of popularity. I don't think this is their worst song, but it was one of their biggest hits, and that's why it's on this list. Loud and annoying is the signature sound of AJR, complete with nonsense lyrics. It's just a sound I could never get behind, as it just feels like it's trying too hard to sound big and epic with all the different instruments being used. Just because your sound is big and bold doesn't automatically make it good; it still has to make sense together, and this doesn't. The song just feels like it's missing the energy it should have for a song called "Bang!". See Jessie J's "Bang Bang" to see how to make a song with an actual "Bang!". 

8. Maroon 5 - Memories (2021)

(Adam Levine staring at you like he's about to eat you)

What's worse than a loud and annoying song? A boring, lifeless song with zero originality. The melody is obviously taken straight from the classical song "Pachelbel's Canon in D", which is often used at weddings. I mean, that's lazy enough, but the rest of the song is so damn boring as the song stays at the same level the whole time with no interesting chorus or bridge. I mean, this is Maroon 5; they haven't done anything groundbreaking in about a decade now. Just going through the motions still gets them hits. That being said, they did release a new album this year, and it hasn't had any big hits yet, so maybe the world is finally moving on from this band. It's annoying because I recently went back to their second album, and it still had a lot of solid songs on it; clearly, the band is capable of making interesting or at least fun music. 

7. David Guetta - Baby Don't Hurt Me (2023)

 My least favorite song of the year 2023... or at least it was at the time I wrote my list at the end of 2023. David Guetta has recently started sampling popular songs from back in the day to get easy hits. This time, he used the popular club hit "What Is Love" from the 90s. The problem is that it really doesn't do anything that is different than the original, and the few things it changes, it does significantly worse. Anne-Marie completely butchers the iconic chorus and comes nowhere near Haddaway's levels of singing. I don't understand why Guetta didn't just get Haddaway to sing the chorus or even just use the original chorus as part of the sample. Turning a classic club hit into just a worse version of a modern-day pop song makes no sense at all. Just play the original from the 90s at that point, it's still an awesome song, and I'm sure most people would love to dance to it. Well, hopefully Haddaway made some money from this at least. 

6. Morgan Wallen - I'm The Problem (2024)

YAWN. What the hell happened to this guy? In the late 2010's Wallen was a fast-rising star in the country scene, but he really broke out in 2021 with his double album "Dangerout". He went from a pretty popular country artist to a megastar in the country scene and even outside of it. That is, until he was caught saying racist slurs, and it felt like his career was in danger of exploding. What actually happened was that he somehow became an even bigger star after that. I should mention he did apologize for the slurs. But this led to his music going into a more modern pop country sound with a lot more hip-hop elements. His music was trending in that direction in some of his songs, but after 2021, he went full in on that sound. His mega hit "Last Night" was about as boring as a country song can be in modern day. Somehow it kept getting worse as he released an album last year called "I'm The Problem" that was almost two hours long. Wallen really doesn't have enough good ideas to make a full album these days, but a double album from him is just insane. The title track, "I'm the Problem," is a whiny song where Morgan just blames his partner for sticking around, even though he's such an awful person. It's such a dumb, gross song, where Morgan just sounds like a piece of shit who doesn't understand how emotions work. Trash.

5. HARDY - TRUCK BED (2023)

Another douchy country song from another whiny dude bro. This time, Hardy sings about being drunk and coming home late, even though his girl told him to come home instead of going to the bar. Fed up with his bullshit, she tells him to sleep outside, and he uses his truck bed as a... bed. Later, he decides to shoot her because he woke up feeling bad after sleeping outside on his truck. Or so the lyrics imply anyway. Seems like a lovely guy, really. He and Morgan Wallen should write a relationship advice book together. Anyway, this song isn't good even if you can somehow ignore the dumbass lyrics. Music is pretty generic rock that would have been popular like 25 years ago, maybe. 

4. Justin Bieber - Yummy (2020)

This song literally came out in the first week of 2020. Starting the decade off in the worst possible not here. Seeing as how the rest of that year turned out, maybe it was a sign all along. Justin Bieber's first album in 5 years ended up being a huge letdown, especially since it was following probably his best album at that point (2015's Purpose). I don't know how anyone who worked with Bieber let this happen. Did no one in the studio tell him how bad this song was, or was everyone just too afraid to be honest with him? The song was still a hit, but it didn't reach number one, and it slipped off the charts a lot faster than his other big songs. The funniest part of this song was Bieber posting on his socials, telling fans to leave the song playing on repeat while they sleep to boost its numbers. It didn't work, as the song was not a number one hit, rightfully so. It seemed like the whole point of this song was for it to go viral with the music video and the "hilarious" use of the word yummy. It wasn't funny, and the song wasn't good enough to become a viral hit outside of the first few weeks, where people made fun of it for how bad it was. 

3. Tones and I - Dance Monkey (2019/2020)

I almost feel bad putting this song on this list because of how much hate it already gets. The thing is, this song is so frustratingly bad, I have to put it here. The vocals are so incredibly annoying and really make it hard to get through this song. I honestly can't get through it. Every time I try to listen, I cannot finish the song. That's pretty much the reason I have to put it on the list and why it's so high. Not that the song is that great outside of the vocals anyway. I do think the lyrics are pretty good at least, and the message of the song is actually good, but it's just impossible to listen to it. Honestly, I thought there wouldn't be another song that could annoy me as much as this one did with its vocals. But then a new contender arrived...

2. Jessie Murph - Wild Ones ft. Jelly Roll (2024)

Congratulations, Jessie Murph, you have the worst vocals of the 2020s! For now. I don't know why, but Jessie Murphs' twangy country vocals just annoy me to death. It doesn't help that the song itself is so generic and uninteresting that it could literally be made by any pop country artist in the 2020s. The only thing that could make this worse is a Morgan Wallen feature, but instead, we get Jelly Roll. Honestly, the only decent part of this song IS Jellly Roll, and it's not even that good. Probably only good because it means Jessie Murph isn't singing anymore. I don't know at this point. I'm just getting so tired of these boring ass country songs that have no energy to them. 

1. Jason Aldean - Try That In A Small Town (2023)

(Not posting the video to this garbage song)

Jason Aldean's face looks like he's always on the verge of crying. Look, I talked a lot about this song on my worst of 2023 list, and I really don't want to go over everything wrong with this song again. It's a stupid song that was clearly trying to pander heavily to the MAGA crowd (AKA racists) at a time when that message was really selling. Unfortunately, it worked like a charm for Jason, as the song made its way to number one on the charts for a week or two. The funny thing is, this song isn't even one of his most listened to songs anymore. It's not even top 10 on his Spotify page. That's because it's a trash song. Anyway, I don't want to talk about this song anymore, but it deserves to be on this list. Congrats, Jason Aldean, you made my least favorite song of the decade. It's going to be hard to beat this one.