I’m thrilled to place the lively but poignant song “Good Friend” by Canadian artist dwi at #1 on this week’s Top 30. The music project of insanely creative and talented Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Dwight Abell, dwi was one of my favorite new music discoveries of 2021, and his brilliant debut album Mild Fantasy Violence is among my favorite releases of the year (read my review here). “Good Friend” is about discovering after the fact that a friend had been going through some hard times, and wishing you’d known more at the time so you could have helped them through it. I love the song’s infectious hard-driving melody, colorful guitar work and dwi’s expressive vocals lamenting about his shortcomings as a friend: “Had I known you were broken inside. Had I known you were empty inside. If I was a good friend, I’d a known better. If I was a good friend, I’d have done better./ I’m done with the drugs, but there’s still some left inside.”

In other chart developments, “Crutch” by Band of Horses jumps four spots to #3, Tears for Fears’ “The Tipping Point” enters the top 10, and Mitski debuts with “The Only Heartbreaker”, her first-ever appearance on my Weekly Top 30 chart.

1. GOOD FRIEND – dwi (2)
2. I DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE – The War on Drugs featuring Lucius (1)
3. CRUTCH – Band of Horses (7)
4. LOVE LOVE LOVE – My Morning Jacket (4)
5. BEGGIN’ – Måneskin (3)
6. I DON’T WANNA TALK (I JUST WANNA DANCE) – Glass Animals (6)
7. LOVE IN OCTOBER – Ships Have Sailed (8)
8. TIME IN DISGUISE – Kings of Leon (9)
9. STARTS WITH YOU – Shimmer Johnson (10)
10. THE TIPPING POINT – Tears for Fears (12)
11. DON’T BRING ME DOWN – Two Feet (5)
12. I SEE THE SUN – Solar Eyes (13)
13. TWO CAR FAMILY – Apollo Junction (14)
14. LEFT BEHIND – a million rich daughters (15)
15. SMILE – Wolf Alice (16)
16. JUSTIFIED – Kacey Musgraves (11)
17. JOURNEYMAN’S BALLET – Sam Rappaport (19)
18. U&ME – alt-J (20)
19. ONE AND THE SAME – Future Theory (21)
20. WAKE ME UP – Foals (22)
21. KALEIDOSCOPE – Soda Cracker Jesus (18)
22. THE HARDEST CUT – Spoon (25)
23. UNTIL I COME HOME – Two Feet & grandson (27)
24. CHAPSTICK – COIN (28)
25. HEAD IN THE CLOUDS – Thunder Fox (29)
26. THE OUTSIDE – twenty øne piløts (30)
27. ALL TOO WELL (10 Minute Version) – Taylor Swift (17)
28. SURVIVOR – Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats (23)
29. EASY ON ME – Adele (24)
30. THE ONLY HEARTBREAKER – Mitski (N)