Right, never done one of these before but after reading a few just now (especially Gezza's awesome Number 2s of the 1990s) I'm inspired!

 

This month means we've passed one quarter - 25% - of the way through the 2010s, so I thought I'd look back at my favourite 25 songs since the decade began. All singles that first entered the UK chart from w/e 16/01/2010 are eligible, the first week to feature sales entirely from this decade...this includes songs released in other countries beforehand, I'm only counting their first UK appearance! Gonna try and post a couple of songs a day, so in two weeks we should be at my personal #1. Have fun guessing and, if you so wish, commenting until then!

 

I'm a massive fan of the 1990s and thought most of the 2000s were pretty dire in comparison, but then 2009 appeared and ended up being - for me - the best year for music since 2000. When New Year 2010 dawned I was twenty-one years old, out with my friends in Central London and wondering what on earth the decade had ahead - especially music wise! Would the likes of Lady Gaga and Dizzee Rascal remain huge by 2019?

 

We've yet to find out, but for now let's begin, with a song almost but not quite making the list...

Missing out by a matter of timing, but by such a whisker I felt it deserved at least a mention:

 

WILEY & CHEW FU - TAKE THAT

 

Peak: #20 (January 2010, but...)

 

 

As I said, I've only included songs that were released in 2010 or later. This one entered in the chart week-ending 09/01/2010, so should be included surely? Well, not really, because that chart includes sales from the last four days of 2009...and indeed my iTunes tells me I bought this one on the 30th December that year. It means that it's technically a 2009 song, even one released right at the very end, and including it would somewhat defeat the purpose of the poll.

 

Shame because otherwise it would have easily made this top 25. I was really excited when I first heard this, especially as some on Buzzjack were predicting it as a potential first number 1 of the decade. It's all about the intro, mad grime synths zooming everywhere and overpowering your ears...and then that epic, over the top buildup means I was in love with it less than a minute into the song. And yet it works fantastically well as a commercial dance track too, it's hard and heavy but still with lots of wide appeal.

 

So I was somewhat disappointed when actually I bought it, as the 'radio edit' cuts out about 30 seconds from this video mix...and guess what 30 seconds they cut out? The opening buildup, the best bit of the song!! Luckily the CD single (which I would still buy occasionally back then) includes the extended mix, which has it intact plus an extra couple of minutes either side. It didn't get to number 1, indeed it apologetically sneaked in at #20 and promptly left the chart, unfortunate as this would have been one of the most monumental number 1s of all time otherwise.

 

So bad luck Wiley, you don't quite make the top 25 of the 2010s...but let's now begin with the proper list!

25: MARTIN SOLVEIG & DRAGONETTE - HELLO

 

Peak: #13 (February 2011)

 

 

Hello indeed! A fitting start to the countdown with a song that I have no idea how it missed top 10. It was looking to be yet another example of the famed 'January dance hit' - a club smash to brighten up the wintry start to the year. It climbed slowly and then to make a humble #13 was somewhat of a disappointment, but the chart-run tells another story - it hovered around the top 50 for MONTHS, finally leaving in June that year, probably outselling several top 10 hits that year.

 

It's a simple song with an incessant two-note synth rhythm that continues throughout, and therefore probably makes it one of the easiest songs ever to cover :P But boy does it stick in your head, and there's enough tricks going on to sustain your attention for the three minutes of radio edit.

24: LLOYD FEAT ANDRE 3000 & LIL WAYNE - DEDICATION TO MY EX (MISS THAT)

 

Peak: #3 (December 2011)

 

 

One of the more recent songs in this countdown, first charting just before Christmas and hanging around in the top 10 well into January 2012. And you can see why I like this one given why I liked 'Hello' - another incessant couple of chords repeating through the song, except this one has more of a Motown feel. I love the mix of synthesizers overlaid with the real piano, and Lloyd's singing is wonderfully engaging. It's supplemented by raps and various other remarks from Andre & Wayne, which brilliantly are represented in the video by, erm, a talking cat. The uncensored version might give some clues as to why that animal of all creatures...

23: JESSIE J FEAT B.O.B - PRICE TAG

 

Peak: #1 (February 2011)

 

 

If you were alive at the beginning of 2011, you could not have escaped the Jessie J hype. The sound of 2011! The new star! Everyone buy her songs cus she's amazing! And I checked her debut out - Do It Like A Dude - and thought it was utterly dire. A mess of autotune and musical effects, *this* was the amazing new talent everyone's talking about? I was extremely underwhelmed and dismissed her instantly.

 

Then I gave 'Price Tag' a listen, and would you believe it she won me over. Everything about it screams "HIT SINGLE" and it was always clearly meant to be the stand-out of her first album, yet who cares when it's so brilliant? It's chorus hook of "It's not about the money, money, money..." was in my head instantly and I spent the next few weeks unable to get it out, the first classic song of 2011. One of the only million-sellers of the decade so far that I think is completely deserved and a song I still enjoy today, listening to it as I'm typing this out now

 

And she was born the same year as me - 1988 - the year amazing people like Rihanna, Adele, La Roux, Tinie Tempah and indeed the featuring credit on this B.o.B! Truly legends were born that year :D

22: EXAMPLE - KICKSTARTS

 

Peak: #3 (June 2010)

 

 

Another act who everyone was raving about as a new star in late 2009/early 2010, but his first few singles didn't impress me. It wasn't until this extremely 80s-influenced track hit the top 3 in Summer 2010 I really started to pay attention.

 

It's your classic Example example (ha!) of heartfelt singing and rapping, and the melody matches this, a pounding dance beat with a unusually melancholic sound behind it, similar to the kind of thing The Human League, Soft Cell, Pet Shop Boys and all the other 80s greats were doing. The following year he scored two incredible #1s with 'Changed The Way You Kissed Me' and 'Stay Awake', but even more than those two, this one's continued to retain its initial magic. The last fifteen seconds or so are especially great, a wall of sound enveloping the listener with Example giving the chorus one final rendition. In terms of current dance/pop, this is your perfect...erm...representation.

21: CHRISTINA PERRI - JAR OF HEARTS

 

Peak: #4 (August/October 2011)

 

 

Yep, two peaks at #4 and a remarkably long-running hit, a 2010 hit in the States but a performance on 'Glee' was the first time many Brits had heard the track. It was a regular staple to the top ten throughout the late summer and early Autumn last year.

 

This really is normally not my style of music. Instead I somewhat despaired around this time when the charts seemed to become a never-ending sea of ballads, either people attempting to be the new Adele or re-entry because someone sang the song on The X Factor. I was ready to equally dislike this - 25 year old singers from Philadelphia generally don't occupy much iPod space of mine.

 

And then I heard it. And I was captivated. Heartbreaking in its sheer simplicity, the first verse almost spoken rather than sung, and then a gradual build as the song progresses. It's one of the few songs released in the last couple of years to genuinely move me to tears, and the final few repetitions of "Who do you think you are" tug painfully at your heartstrings. Her follow-up sadly bombed at #32, but if this becomes her only major UK hit, she's given us a heck of a good one.

20: MAJOR LAZER - PON DE FLOOR

 

Peak: #125 (April 2010)

 

 

No, really. That's not a mistake, I'm actually including a song that got to number *one hundred and twenty five*. I'm that hardcore. :P

 

If there are any songs that I absolutely go crazy while clubbing to, this is one of the biggest and best. And would you believe that for a year I didn't even know what it was called? I spent all of 2010 asking everyone I know "What's that song that goes 'ba-da-da-da-da-da-dahhh, dahhh-da-da-da-da-da-daaaAAH'?" And they'd look at me strangely. That blasted synth lead WOULD NOT GET OUT OF MY HEAD. Eventually I found out its title, and right into early 2011 I saw it as one of the underrated greats, a song that may never get a major chart appearance but will remain a well-remembered club anthem.

 

And then Beyonce heard it.

 

On one hand I'm happy she sampled it for 'Run The World (Girls)' as it meant, in one way, it finally became the huge top 40 hit it deserved. But it came at a price with said woman singing all over the top, destroying the simplicity and power that the instrumental had. Last summer I was out with friends when to my delight they played this original, and someone said "Where's Beyonce?" I slightly wanted to kill them.

 

It still remains a club favourite today - about half and half in either instrumental or Beyonce version. And listening to again now it's back in my head again. Major Lazer you devil!

19: TIMBALAND FEAT KATY PERRY - IF WE EVER MEET AGAIN

 

Peak: #3 (February 2010)

 

 

Controversial maybe, but here goes - Katy Perry's only good when she's featuring on other people's tracks, rarely on her own. She's responsible for one of my least favourite songs of the noughties - 'I Kissed A Girl' - and while she's improved a little since, I much prefer when she's a featured artist. I liked 3OH!3's 'Starstruck' and 'E.T.' with Kanye West...but this awesome collaboration with Timbaland wins it for me.

 

To me, this was one of the first great songs of the 2010s. It's completely deriative and Timbaland himself admits that - I remember reading that this was his attempt to write a song like 'I Gotta Feeling' which eventually led to half the chart sounding like it, but this got there nice and early. Again, you can dance to it but there's a somewhat sad, nostalgic feel about it too, giving it an extra layer and better than a lot of other hits of this 'PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND GO WOAH-OH-OH-OH-YEAH' genre. It's also got wonderful memories of me of early 2010...as said earlier, I was 21 then and now I'm 23 going on 24, doesn't sound like a long time but it's been a busy two and a half years!

 

The full version rather loses points for its bizarre ending, which has nothing to do with the rest of the song and sounds like a badly-edited mix album where someone's forgotten to edit out the beginning of the next track, but thank goodness the 'International Radio Edit' (which appeared on the CD single and 'Now That's What I Call Music 75') cuts it all out, making that version for me the definitive. It was that reason that I bought this on CD single instead of download, one of my last ever CD purchases!

18: THE VACCINES - IF YOU WANNA

 

Peak: #35 (April 2012)

 

 

'Rock' music. Remember that? Last widely seen circa late 2008 under the name 'Kings of Leon'. Has made sporadical sightings since.

 

The 2010s have notoriously seen a huge fall in popularity of this genre, a big change from the mid-2000s which saw 'indie' dominate the charts. But once the market got oversaturated the charts needed a change, and starting around 2006 and exploding by 2009, the current urban/dance sound replaced it totally. Other than a random #1 for Scouting for Girls at the dawn of 2010, it's been mostly absent from the charts, although a couple of big rock-influenced hits this year (which we may or may not come to later ;) ) may indicate that the tide is slowly turning.

 

Huge credit then to The Vaccines, who have braved it anyway and released an album featuring one particular song that, five years ago, would have been a massive top 10 hit. Instead it's only ever spent one week top 40, and that was a YEAR after initial release, a 59p iTunes boost finally making it top 40 but still well below what is a fantastic track of theirs. Maybe it's a good thing it's out now and not during indie's 'peak', as then it may have got lost in the crowd and I certainly wouldn't have put it in a top 25 of the noughties - instead it stands out massively from the crowd here in the 2010s.

 

It's uplifting, it's sing-alongable, it leaves you with a massive smile on your face and in no way overstays its welcome at a fairly criminally short 2:54. Even had they added another minute to it I still wouldn't have been bored, especially at that punch-the-air keychange near the end. Most of all it shows that, despite a musical scene completely against it, rock music *can* survive in this decade - you just have to make something especially brilliant.

17: LAIDBACK LUKE & STEVE AOKI FEAT LIL JON - TURBULENCE

 

Peak: #66 (July 2011)

 

 

Another one that completely missed the top reaches of the chart and probably the most obscure song in this chart. How this completely bombed is nothing short of a travesty.

 

It is one of the maddest, most over-the-top, most completely *ridiculous* dance tracks of the decade, right when Lil Jon SCREAMS "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME!! TO FLIGHT!!! 909!!!" in your ear, battling a insanely heavy beat. And this is just the build up. "READY FOR TAKE OFF!" he similarly screams...and that heavy-as-hell, one-note pounding synth riff comes in. And gets bigger. And bigger. And bigger and bigger and OH YEAH it becomes the aural equivalent of heaven. And if you're exhausted by the middle, you've got an even more epic second half with a dementedly huge buildup.

 

It's perhaps a bit *too* extreme for the mainstream charts. A bit too much, although that didn't stop the KLF in 1991-2 with similarly mad numbers. And sadly the 'radio edit' available to download cuts a full minute off the video mix seen here, losing a lot of the initial buildup but thankfully keeping the whole second half build/chorus intact. Maybe Beyonce will sing over it next year. I dunno. For now, 'Turbulence' is a hidden treasure. Many will listen and hate it, calling it stupid noise, but to me it's energy-filled awesomeness.

16: SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA - ONE

 

Peak: #7 (August 2010)

 

 

No, not 'feat. Pharrell' and not 'One (Your Name)'. The original of this was instrumental and included on initial release, and it's the one I bought and the one I listen to on my iTunes. It doesn't need some guy over the top, it's sheer beauty already.

 

The now sadly defunct SHM are perhaps my favourite band of the 2010s. They weren't around for long but everything they did was magical, and there is possibly no greater feeling in a club when *that* opening build-up begins to rumble...and then drops into that classic melody.

 

Like a few songs we've seen before it's another simple song at its basis - write a basic melody, add a load of stuff over the top, repeat for three minutes. But this one accomplishes it better than what we've heard before. What sounds like it's going to be a fairly minimal, 80s-sounding kind of track soon explodes into something most definitely up-to-date and 2010s. The build-up in the middle of the synth stabs steadily rising in pitch is heart-racingly exciting, and when it all explodes I DEFY you not to dance your socks off. Just two minutes in to the radio edit it has accomplished everything it needs to, and then it's just a case of letting everything play at once and transport you to dancefloor paradise. A deserved top 10 hit but the title of the song would have been a much better position!

15: RIZZLE KICKS - MAMA DO THE HUMP

 

Peak: #2 (January 2012)

 

 

My first experience of Rizzle Kicks was on Olly Murs's 'Heart Skips A Beat' last summer and having no idea who these randomers were. But I was soon to know when 'Down With The Trumpets' went top 10, a very enjoyable and catchy listen. I was surprised when they then achieved it again with 'When I Was A Youngster', another great track that did just as well. And then, just in time for New Year 2012 came their masterpiece.

 

The famed 'Bo Diddley beat' has been used to great effect at times - Craig McLaughlin in 1990 with 'Mona' and Will Young's supremely underrated 'Switch It On' in 2005. But a Bo Diddley beat in an rap track? It works! And drills in your head the moment they shout "Yo!" and start the track off. There's something so ridiculously likeable about it it's hard to explain...it never fails to put a massive, gleeful smile on my face every time I hear it, maybe it's just the huge cheese factor of it, especially the "Mama do the hump mama do the hump hump!" chorus hook. Love the video as well, which features an appearance by Mr EveryShow James Corden for NO REASON WHATSOEVER, which is equally hilarious. I wonder if they'll ever create something this good ever again as they'll have to pull off a bit of genius to to even match it. Yeah, I love that sound!

14: LABRINTH - LET THE SUN SHINE

 

Peak: #3 (October 2010)

 

 

Paris. April 2011. It's 25 degrees and the beginning of yet another unseasonable heatwave. I'm lying back on a deckchair by the Louvre, right in the direction of the sun and my eyes closed so I don't go blind. In my iPod, I play this.

 

Why on earth Labrinth chose October to release this is bizarre, and he was in huge danger of completely ruining the track's chance of becoming a hit. But unbelievably, despite gradually darkening nights and with the coldest winter in 100 years on the horizon, he got a top 3 hit with one of the most summery tracks ever made. A track that succeeds in its purpose so effortlessly that your surroundings melt away and you float through the sky, letting the sun's rays, well, shine on you. Yeah it was a big hit either way, but just imagine if he'd have released this in July. It could have been even bigger. Oh well.

 

Of course, he's known for 'Earthquake' now, which is about as different to this as you can get. But although that one's good in a different way, this is just heart-melting chillout brilliance.

13: KYLIE MINOGUE - ALL THE LOVERS

 

Peak: #3 (July 2010)

 

 

In July 2008, I saw Kylie live for the first time. I was 19 and it was one of my first ever live shows, having seen the likes of Alphabeat and (er) Cascada in the preceding few months. She played everything from 'I Should Be So Lucky' to her then-recent 'X' album, which was a great album but you could never say it compared to the likes of 'Fever' and 'Light Years'. But come on, she's in her 40s now, she's hardly ever going to match those glory days again, is she?

 

And she only goes and does. Easily the best Kylie release in *years*...probably since 2002's Love At First Sight, and unlike Labrinth she released it at the right time. It somehow encapsulates her 25 years of performing in one song, with some basic 80s-sounding drums, Alice Deejay-style 90s synth, but primarily a fresh, up-to-date sound. I was thrilled when it made top 3, showing that when she releases perfection she can still chart above all those new young whippersnappers out there. The breakdown in the middle, leaving just her whispered voice, piano and the faint sound of strings, and then opening up into that glorious instrumental middle 8...Kylie you will forever remain the undisputed princess of pop.

12: LEONA LEWIS / AVICII - COLLIDE

 

Peak: #4 (September 2011)

 

 

...and there goes any credibility I may have possibly had until now. :P

 

It's one of the biggest mysteries of the decade. How on EARTH did this flop? "But it didn't" you may cry. "it got to number 4!". Yeah, but then it spectacularly crashed out of the top 40 within weeks, completely gone by the end of October.

 

Well, let's see...why it was released in the middle of September is anyone's guess. This should have been a July release and a huge summer hit, charting right through August. By September it just seemed a bit too late...and though we then got a spectacular heatwave to start October, it was too late, everyone who cared had already bought it. There was also some bad feeling between Leona and Avicii, the DJ claiming they'd stolen his original instrumental (even though he'd taken the melody from someone else too) and almost blocking its release, eventually being settled just before a potential court case.

 

Despite all of this, this song to me was one of the greatest things Leona has ever done. Her undeniably-awesome voice over a sun-drenched dance anthem made for a captivating listen, and during September I couldn't go a day without playing it. Then the heatwave happened, and in bizarre 28-degree October sunshine this would boom out of my iPod headphones, the perfect song for such hot weather. It seems destined to be the summer anthem that never was, and part of me wonders if it would have done better had a newer act sing it...perhaps it alienated too many of Leona's fans who were used to her balladry. Even so I unashameably love this and dare I say it...it just nudges above 'Levels', as brill as that Avicii track is too.

11: B.O.B FEAT BRUNO MARS - NOTHIN' ON YOU

 

Peak: #1 (May 2010)

 

 

Just missing out on the top 10 but a second appearance for 1988er B.o.B, this time with the lead credit. I had no idea who either of them were at the time, especially that 'Bruno Mars' guy, but wow did they create a thing of beauty here.

 

It's all about that piano in the background, simple, tender and almost childlike, like the song's been with you all your life. As great as B.o.B's rap is, this song could have so easily be put under a generic urban-synth backing...but instead its unique sound makes it so much better. I love the way their voices sound, their cheesy grins in the video, and three-million extra points for mentioning the Nintendo 64 in the lyrics!

 

You know what, I'm just going to say it - Bruno, like the SHM is another of my fave acts of the decade so far. I really shouldn't like him, he should just appeal to teenage girls only, but *man* everything he touches turns to sheer gold. Saw him at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park last year and it was a joy. "And I'm gonna let this ride" says B.o.B on the fade out, and you only wish it lasted longer.

 

Here we go then with the top 10!

10: DAVID GUETTA FEAT SIA - TITANIUM

 

Peak: #1 (February 2012)

 

 

I get the feeling that David Guetta, despite basically producing the entire top 40, has his favourites. The occasional track he puts a bit more time and effort into, a song he knows he could make a hit anyway, but let's try and make it a *massive* hit. 'Titanium' is surely one of those.

 

For one, it's got a stunning vocal from the very Adele-sounding Sia. It's got a mysterious-sounding intro, alerting you to the fact that this might be a bit special. The build-up to the chorus is obviously brilliant - "I AM TITAAAAAANIIIIUMMMMM!" your perfect punch-the-air-and-sing-along kind of lyric. And then WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM, one of the hardest and most pounding choruses we've ever heard from Guetta.

 

Except only briefly, as this song teases you. Only a brief snatch of the chorus now as we get another verse, and again, that buildup. Again, "I AM TITAAAAANIIIUMMMMM!"...and there it is again.

 

The "Stone heart, machine gun" middle 8 is glorious, and then one more time comes the build-up, one more time the thump of that chorus...and then it's over. So what do you do? Play it again. And again, and again, and again. Deservedly it's sold almost a million, and hopefully by next year will have made it to six figures. This may come back to haunt me but I see it remaining a classic anthem for many, many years to come.

9: DJ FRESH - LOUDER

 

Peak: #1 (July 2011)

 

 

The sound of Summer 2011. No more words needed? Oh go on then.

 

We're barely a couple of seconds into the track when I'm awash with dozens of memories from this time last year. Hailed as the first dubstep number 1, I saw it at the time as the equivalent to what ATB's '9pm (Til I Come)' did for trance in 1999 - a very commercial-sounding track but sounding great both listening to it on the radio and at 2am in a club. It's just got everything, the summery synths, Sian Evans' epic vocals and all fused together by that buzzing half-time beat. Like an icecream on a summer's day, it's irresistable...and just when you think you've heard the whole thing, "FASTER!" shouts Miss Evans and you're lost in a double-speed drum & bass whirlwind, a brilliant twist to end the track. Just a shame I'm typing this on a grey August morning :P

This is a really good countdown! :D Don't worry if no one comments, because I'm enjoying it - I can't wait to see your #1! :lol:

 

My favourite song so far is Titanium. It's just so euphoric and it completely stops you in your tracks. One of my favourite songs ever. :wub:

 

Collide is a guilty pleasure as well. :P

Edited August 4, 201212 yr by Griff