MEGAN THEE STALLION
Their Year in Pop: While appearing on the Grammy stage with Cardi B, Megan had her own hit single to play: “Body,” taken from the previous November’s Good News, whose yo-yo-ing vocal hook was still unmissable in pop culture for much of early 2021. “Cry Baby,” with DaBaby, followed “Body” to the Hot 100’s top 40, and drew extra attention for its dollhouse-set music video — though a public falling out with her combustible co-star may have clipped the song’s run a little short. The standalone single “Thot S–t” followed in June, riding a wave of instant quotables and a conservative-baiting video to a top 20 Hot 100 debut, and she found her way back to the top 20 with her impressive guest verse on Maroon 5’s “Beautiful Mistakes.” (Shortly after, BTS recruited her for a remix to help give their chart-topping “Butter” a little extra stickiness.) Megan’s pop success didn’t result in her forsaking her roots, however, as she released the Something For Thee Hotties collection of freestyles and bonus cuts in October, reassuring fans that bars remained her top priority.
Why Not Top 10? She’s close, for sure, but after a 2020 of “Savage,” “WAP” and Good News, she’s missing that KO single or album to really put her at pop culture’s center for an extended portion of the year.
