All US Number 1s From 2021 Ranked Worst To Best

From the average person's perspective, Coldplay x BTS is a collaboration that doesn't make much sense. Now, a cynical person who knows something about the music game would peg this as a desperate attempt from the older act to stay relevant, and the newer act to win over radio. But a less cynical person can see that this uncanny joint effort epitomises so much of what makes a good pop song work.

The lyrics are simple enough to stay with you, yet imbued with just the right amount of poetic oomph to keep from being mundane ('There's a paradise they couldn't capture/That bright infinity inside your eyes'). The chorus is an explosive call-and-response machine that pits the two acts against one another; the Dave Meyers-directed video is larger than life; and something must be said for any song that encourages its fans to learn more than one language.

With My Universe, Coldplay got their second ever number one in America (after Viva La Vida), and BTS got themselves a song that is bound to have a longer shelf life on radio. But its impact is still barely felt, and should only peter out as time goes by. Making this a number one hit that sounds like a number one hit, yet doesn't feel like one.