Genius Presents: The Month In Lyrics (July 2021)

Every day, millions of music fans come to Genius to find the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of their favorite artists, from rappers to pop singers to country stars. Our Top Songs Chart reflects what the world is listening to all day, every day. In 2021, we’re continuing to crunch numbers and compile the Month in Lyrics to show what music is catching fans' eyes and ears the most.

The data is broken down into the following categories each month: Top Artists, Top Songs, Top Lyrics, and Top Albums.

After sweeping the Grammys in 2019, anticipation for Billie Eilish sophomore album ran high this year, and its release in late July immediately catapulted her to the top of Genius' monthly Top Artists chart. Thanks in part to several popular pre-release singles, Happier Than Ever has earned over eight million pageviews on Genius, and helped Eilish claim the No. 1 spot on this month’s chart with ease. Her closest competition was BTS, the K-pop septet that also posted impressive numbers thanks to their new single, “Permission to Dance,” as well as long-running No. 1 hit, “Butter.”

2021 albums from Tyler, The Creator, Doja Cat, and Pop Smoke landed each artist in the Top 10, with Pop’s second posthumous album, Faith, arriving most recently. That project has fared well commercially, although faced criticism for treatment of his catalog in the wake of his murder. Kanye West, a perennially popular artist on Genius, saw his numbers rise, even though he missed yet another release date for his long-awaited album, DONDA.

Musical comedian Bo Burnham made his return to standup for the first time in five years with Netflix’s Inside, and saw major interest in its accompanying soundtrack. Rappers The Kid LAROI and Dave also entered this month’s chart with new albums. Dave won a prestigious Mercury Prize for his last project, Psychodrama, and the UK was eagerly awaiting his next album.

At No. 19, Lorde commanded some attention with her latest single, “Stoned at the Nail Salon,” as she prepares for her third project, Solar Power, to drop in late August.

Once again proving himself to be a master marketer, Lil Nas X was this month’s champion with his Jack Harlow collaboration, “INDUSTRY BABY.” The song’s racy music video became an instant viral hit, and the song debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. BTS gave him some close competition, as they looked to follow the success of “Butter” with their new single, “Permission to Dance.” The group earned 927,000 pageviews for the song last month, coming within 100,000 pageviews of Lil Nas X.

Billie Eilish landed six total tracks on the Top Songs chart this month, despite dropping her album just days before the end of July. Fans were eager to read her lyrics about trauma, secret relationships, and more. She’s likely to be a major force on next month’s chart, too.

The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber posted an impressive showing with their latest collaboration, “STAY,” which quickly became LAROI’s highest-charting single to date on the Hot 100. Bad Bunny, Mora, and Sech scored another hit with “Volando (Remix),” while Lorde continued building anticipation for Solar Power with “Stoned at the Nail Salon.”

$ilkMoney scored a viral TikTok hit with “My Potna Dem,” landing him one spot above Taylor Swift’s lates song, “Renegade,” alongside Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon’s collaborative project Big Red Machine. Nicki Minaj hopped on the remix of BIA’s “Whole Lotta Money,” helping that track reach the Top 20, and Post Malone made his return with the Tommy Lee-assisted “Motley Crew.”

Billie Eilish easily bested the competition this month thanks to her hotly anticipated sophomore album, Happier Than Ever. She outpaced Olivia Rodrigo’s popular SOUR, with nearly double the average pageviews. UK rapper Dave landed in third place with his lyrical We’re All Alone In This Together, the follow-up to his Mercury prize-winning Psychodrama. Meanwhile, the late-June release of Doja Cat’s Planet Her helped the rapper and pop star reach No. 4.

Hip-hop was well represented with new releases this month thanks to Pop Smoke (Faith), The Kid LAROI (F-CK LOVE 3: OVER YOU), Vince Staples (Vince Staples), and Isaiah Rashad (The House is Burning). The latter album represented Rashad’s first album in five years, after dealing with drug and alcohol issues that stalled his career.

Indie starlet Clairo became the latest female singer-songwriter to team up with Jack Antonoff, landing at No. 9 this month with her sophomore album, Sling. It’s her first entry on the Top Albums chart and landed her one ahead of John Mayer’s latest release, Sob Rock.

Billie Eilish ruled the Top Lyrics chart this month, too, after spending much of her sophomore album opening up about dealing with trauma, stalkers, and the unrelenting gaze of the media. Her album’s title track landed at No. 1, as Eilish got personal about the darker side of fame.

Fans also sought to decode lyrics from new songs by Lil Nas X (“INDUSTRY BABY”), Lorde (“Stoned at the Nail Salon), and viral TikTok hit "My Potna Dem” by $ilkmoney. Pusha T rounded out the Top 10 with a confident declaration on Pop Smoke’s posthumous track “Tell the Vision,” where he praised Tyler, the Creator for having album of the year and promised his own project would be dropping soon.