JaME's Staff Picks 2021 Playlist

While 2021 felt like it brought much of the same challenges to the music world as 2020, including constant cancellations, postponements and restrictions for live performances - especially for those looking to travel overseas - that didn't prevent artists from getting new work out to their fans. In fact, with many artists embracing digital platforms more than ever due to coronavirus-related restrictions, the amount of new releases available for streaming can feel a bit overwhelming. If you're still catching up on some of the music you missed in 2021, we're here to help!

At the end of 2021, members from across the language versions of JaME pitched in some of their favourite tracks of the year to create a diverse J-music Spotify playlist. We hope it will help you find lots of cool tracks for your libraries and some new artists to fall in love with. The mix includes a wide range of genres, including rock, pop, hip-hop, enka, visual kei, metal and R&B. You'll find everything from hits that racked up millions of views and countless cover attempts on YouTube to some more obscure tunes that may have slipped past your radar. Whether you like bright and cheerful idol tunes, invigorating anime themes, dramatic visual kei, airy shoegaze or hard-hitting heavy metal, we're confident there's something in this list for everyone.

You can give the first 100 tracks a spin right below, and the full playlist is available on Spotify here.


What were your favourite tracks of 2021? Did you discover any new artists last year? Let us know with a comment on social media!

If you're hunting for even more new music to add to your library, check out some of our team's other playlists (including Staff Picks from 2020 and 2019) further down the page and feel free to follow JaME on Spotify to stay tuned for new additions.