You remember where you were when you first heard that "God's Plan" beat drop? Honestly, it felt like Drake owned the entire atmosphere that January. 2018 wasn't just another year for the charts; it was the moment streaming finally, officially, killed the old-school radio star. We weren't just listening to music anymore; we were living inside a 24/7 loop of viral dance challenges and "thank u, next" tweets.
It was a weird, heavy, and yet somehow incredibly catchy time to be alive.
The Year Drake Basically Lived at Number One
If we're talking about popular songs from 2018, we have to start with the 6ix God. Drake didn't just have hits; he had a literal monopoly on our eardrums. "God's Plan" debuted at number one and just... stayed there. For eleven weeks. It was the first song to ever hit 100 million streams in a single week twice. Think about that for a second. That is a staggering amount of data being moved just so people could hear him say he only loves his bed and his mom.
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But he didn't stop. He replaced himself at number one with "Nice For What," which is a flex most artists only dream of. Then came "In My Feelings." Suddenly, everyone was jumping out of moving cars to dance in the street because of a Shiggy challenge. It was chaotic. It was dangerous. It was peak 2018.
By the time the year-end Billboard charts rolled around, Drake had spent 29 weeks at the summit. That is more than half the year. If you went to a grocery store, a gym, or a wedding in 2018, you were hearing Drake.
When Music Videos Actually Meant Something Again
Usually, pop videos are just flashy clothes and expensive cars. Not this year. Childish Gambino changed the entire conversation in May when he dropped "This Is America" during a Saturday Night Live performance.
It was jarring.
The song itself is this strange, beautiful, and terrifying hybrid of upbeat choral melodies and dark, industrial trap. But the video? That was the real gut punch. Donald Glover's shirtless, erratic dancing against a backdrop of literal chaos—horsemen of the apocalypse, police brutality, and school choirs being gunned down—forced the world to stop and look. It wasn't just a popular song; it was a mirror. People spent weeks dissecting every frame, from the Jim Crow-style poses to the specific cars in the background. It was a rare moment where a "hit" was also a high-level academic critique of American culture.
Ariana Grande and the Art of the Quick Turnaround
Most pop stars follow a strict schedule: release album, tour for two years, disappear, repeat. Ariana Grande looked at that rulebook and threw it in the trash.
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After Sweetener dropped in August, featuring "no tears left to cry" and the ethereal "God is a woman," most people figured she was done for a while. Then, a few months later, she dropped "thank u, next."
It was a masterclass in turning personal trauma—the death of Mac Miller and her very public breakup with Pete Davidson—into a cultural anthem. The title track was everywhere. It wasn't just a song; it was a lifestyle. It turned "moving on" into a brand. She ended up being the first artist since the Beatles in 1964 to hold the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.
The New Guard: Cardi B and Post Malone
While the established titans were fighting for space, two "newcomers" (relatively speaking) blew the doors off the hinges.
Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy proved she wasn't just a "Bodak Yellow" one-hit wonder. "I Like It" with Bad Bunny and J Balvin was the summer's heartbeat. It was loud, it was Latin-infused, and it was unavoidable. Cardi became the first female rapper to have two number-one hits from a debut album. She brought a raw, Bronx energy that the charts desperately needed.
Then there’s Post Malone.
Beerbongs & Bentleys broke Spotify. On its first day, it racked up 78.7 million streams globally. "Rockstar" and "Psycho" were massive, but "Better Now" was the one that really stuck in everyone’s head like glue. Posty's whole "sad-boy-with-face-tattoos" aesthetic became the blueprint for the next five years of pop music. He blended rock, rap, and folk in a way that felt messy but worked perfectly for a generation that didn't care about genres anymore.
Why These Songs Still Matter Today
Looking back, popular songs from 2018 represent the final bridge between the old world and the new. This was the year "The Middle" by Zedd and Maren Morris proved that a catchy hook and a Target commercial could still create a global juggernaut. It was the year Juice WRLD’s "Lucid Dreams" brought emo-rap into the mainstream, changing the sound of the suburbs forever.
We also saw the rise of Dua Lipa's "New Rules," which basically taught an entire generation how to handle a toxic ex via a checklist.
What you should do next:
- Audit your playlist: If your "Top Songs" list is still stuck in 2018, check out how these artists have evolved. Ariana's later work is much more experimental, and Drake’s recent projects have moved far away from the "God's Plan" optimism.
- Watch the visuals: Go back and watch "This Is America" or the "thank u, next" video (the Mean Girls tribute is still gold). They remind you that music is a visual medium now.
- Explore the "B-Sides": 2018 was deep. Beyond the hits, albums like Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour or Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer offer a different, more nuanced perspective of what that year sounded like outside the Top 40.
The music of 2018 wasn't just background noise. It was the sound of the internet finally taking over the radio, and we haven't looked back since.