Most Underrated Justin Bieber Songs

Artist

Apr 20

Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty @ Coachella 2026

Justin Bieber has seven studio albums, hundreds of songs, and a streaming catalog dominated by a handful of massive hits. "Love Yourself" has 3.1 billion Spotify streams. "Sorry" has 2.8 billion. But buried underneath those numbers is an entire catalog of tracks that critics rank higher, fans obsess over, and most listeners have never pressed play on. The gap between quality and popularity means some of Bieber's most underrated songs are also his best.

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This is a guide to the most underrated Justin Bieber songs across every era of his career. These are tracks co-signed by Billboard's editorial team, Pitchfork's critics, Complex, and dedicated fan communities. If you think you know Bieber's music because you know the singles, you're missing the best parts.

Journals is the best place to start

Journals is the single richest source of overlooked material in Bieber's catalog.

The numbers tell part of the story. Journals has a 72 critic score on Album of the Year, based on only one critic review on record at the aggregator. Purpose has 28. The structural reason is simple: Journals was released as a weekly digital series called Music Mondays with no traditional press rollout, giving critics no clear moment to assess it. The music arrived without a larger conversation attached to it.

Fans in a Reddit post describe it as a "cult gem of an album." Their argument is blunt: these tracks would be recognized differently if they were attached to a different artist's name.

Here are the Journals deep cuts that deserve your time:

Heartbreaker

“Heartbreaker” opens the album and the discovery. The production credits that are publicly available identify Maejor Ali as one of the song's producers, and some sources also credit him with background vocals.

Confident feat. Chance the Rapper

“Confident” is the slow-burn success story. It only peaked at No. 29 on the Canadian Hot 100 at release. Years later, it crossed 1 billion Spotify streams in early 2026. The track carries a writing credit from Chance the Rapper himself.

All Bad, Change Me, and Recovery

"All Bad" features what Complex describes as "underwater percussion and reverb-heavy piano," calling it "quintessential R&B Bieber."

"Change Me" is a piano ballad that Bieber himself described as "very personal," per Complex.

"Recovery" carries one of the best production backstories in the catalog. Poo Bear described how Bieber himself suggested they "flip those Craig David chords and create something," directing the production versus accepting a finished beat.

The Purpose bonus tracks are still underrated

Purpose produced three consecutive #1 singles. It also produced two bonus tracks that Pitchfork argues are better than all of them.

In their Purpose album review, Pitchfork states that "Been You" and "Get Used to It" are "pneumatic, funky disco pop tracks that are better than nearly anything on the album proper." A Billboard anniversary ranking independently confirms, ranking "Been You" at #4 among all Purpose tracks and calling it "one of the bigger odes to the poppy goodness of his My World era with a bouncy near-80s-style beat."

Then there is “Company”, which has one of the strongest fan-community cases in the article. On the r/popheads poll, Company ranked #7 overall in a community Top Ten poll of Bieber songs.

“The Feeling” featuring Halsey also fits this section of hidden standouts. It was produced by Ian Kirkpatrick and Skrillex and features background vocals from Julia Michaels, who would later become one of pop's most in-demand songwriters.

Early Bieber albums and a Frank Ocean Co-Write

Bieber's early albums already contained overlooked gems before Journals and Purpose.

Bigger

"Bigger" from My World (2009) was co-written by Frank Ocean before either artist achieved mainstream prominence. A Billboard deep cuts list ranks it as their #2 deep cut across Bieber's entire catalog, describing its appeal as "unstoppable optimism" carried by "the start-stop cadence of the chorus" and "pinpoint ad-libs."

Die in Your Arms

Die in Your Arms from Believe (2012) stands out as one of the most well-supported underrated tracks in the article.

Out of Town Girl

Out of Town Girl from the Believe deluxe edition is another buried gem. It has roughly Spotify streams at about 24 million, which is 126 times fewer than Love Yourself.

Underrated Collaborations That Rewrite the Narrative

Some of Bieber's most underrated songs sit in collaborations that barely register in the broader story of his catalog.

Runaway Love (Remix) feat. Kanye West & Raekwon

"Runaway Love (Remix)" feat. Kanye West & Raekwon is Billboard's #1 deep cut across Bieber's entire catalog. They also placed it at #24 on their list of the 100 Best Deep Cuts of the 21st Century. The Kanye and Raekwon pairing is a striking lineup mismatch, and it is structurally invisible because it lives on a remix album rather than a studio record.

Dadz Love feat. Lil B

On the newer end, "Dadz Love" feat. Lil B from SWAG (2025) is one of the most surprising collaborations in Bieber's career. Pitchfork's SWAG review describes it as "an enigma and, improbably, a rousing one — a breakbeat praise break punctuated with affirmations from Lil B." It marked Lil B's first Hot 100 entry, debuting at No. 84.

Devotion feat. Dijon

"Devotion" feat. Dijon from SWAG offers the album's furthest sonic departure. Dazed Digital ranked it #3 among SWAG's top tracks, describing "muted, plodding percussion, harmonica flourishes, and washed-out country guitar twangs." Dijon is an indie R&B/folk artist who has toured with boygenius and Clairo, making this one of the most wildly unexpected left turns in Bieber's recent catalog.

Why these songs got buried

These songs got buried for three main reasons: format, competition, and timing.

Format invisibility: Tracks on remix albums, deluxe editions, and digital-only releases disappear because the container is easy to miss. Journals rolled out weekly. Been You and Get Used to It were bonus tracks. Runaway Love (Remix) appears on Justin Bieber's tie-in remix release, though it was also released earlier through Kanye West's GOOD Fridays series.
Same-album competition: When an album produces three consecutive #1 singles, everything else loses oxygen. I'll Show You from Purpose has Spotify streams at 383 million, which still looks small next to Love Yourself at 3.1 billion from the same album.
Critical-period timing: Journals dropped during Bieber's most turbulent public period in 2013–2014.

Where to start your deep dive

The best way into Bieber's most underrated songs is to start with the Purpose deluxe tracks, then move to Journals, then the newer left turns.

Start with Been You and Get Used to It. From there, Journals is the full deep dive, with Confident, Heartbreaker, and Recovery as the anchors. The project rewards a front-to-back listen because its R&B textures, live instrumentation, and confessional songwriting build a cohesive mood that no individual track fully captures on its own. For the newest material, "Walking Away" from SWAG landed on Vulture's Best Songs list for 2025 and is already being overlooked relative to "Daisies".

These are the underrated Justin Bieber songs that fans keep finding after the singles fade. The streaming algorithms will not reliably surface them for you.