During the last decade, young voices broke musical records and hip-hop spilled over from its own genre to others, including pop, R&B, and even country music. The tone of mainstream music changed: Pop music became more honest, and artists from Taylor Swift to Kanye West changed their tunes. The decade produced some songs we ought to forget (looking at you, LMFAO), but it also offered some great hits. Here are the best of the 2010s.
2010
The decade started off strong with Ed Sheeran’s breakout hit, “The A Team,” Cee Lo Green’s breakup anthem “Forget You,” and The Band Perry’s haunting “If I Die Young.” But the year’s biggest winner was Adele, whose single “Rolling in the Deep” made her an international sensation. Adele co-wrote the song with producer Paul Epworth, who said Adele could not have faked the emotion she expresses in the Grammy-winning hit.
“She had had her heart broken, and she was in pieces, and you can really hear that, her anger and her sadness,” he said. “My hunch is that we captured something in her vocal performance that was going to be very hard to recreate.”
Winner: Adele, “Rolling in the Deep”
Honorable mention: The Band Perry, “If I Die Young”
2011
While Beyonce was singing her girl-power anthem “Run the World (Girls),” The Black Keys were busy climbing the rock charts again with “Lonely Boy.” Florence + The Machine released the indie hit “Shake It Out,” and Bon Iver quietly developed their name as an innovative folk band with “Holocene.” Lana Del Rey, now known as the queen of sad-girl music, created a homemade music video for her debut single “Video Games,” which she uploaded to YouTube, proving that the internet could be a powerful platform for little-known artists hoping for their big break.
“I just put that song online a few months ago because it was my favorite,” Del Ray explained. “To be honest, it wasn’t going to be the single but people have really responded to it. I get very sad when I play that song. I still cry sometimes when I sing it.”
Winner: Lana Del Rey, “Video Games”
Honorable mention: Florence + The Machine, “Shake It Out”
2012
This was a year of winners (The Lumineers’s “Ho Hey”), one-hit wonders (Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”), and losers (PSY’s “Gangam Style”). It also saw artists moving in new directions: Taylor Swift released her fourth studio album, Red, marking her transition from country to pop. Rapper and singer-songwriter Frank Ocean released the R&B hit “Thinkin Bout You,” which Pitchfork described as “a beguiling sketch of a relationship just out of his reach.”
Passion Pit came out with “Take a Walk,” its biggest song to date, and an exploration of the way money and family affect our lives. Though the electronic band’s song includes references to an immigrant selling flowers outside Penn Station and a businessman losing pension funds, the frontman insists it’s not political.
“I was more or less interested in analyzing my own family, and that was my way of talking about myself, because I’m a product of these men; I’m their blood,” singer Michael Angelakos said. “And that was a new way for me to express something.”
Winner: Passion Pit, “Take a Walk”
Honorable mention: Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”
2013
Some of the year’s best songs spanned genres from country music (Kacey Musgraves’s “Follow Your Arrow”) to pop (Echosmith’s “Cool Kids”) to rock (Arctic Monkeys’s “Do I Wanna Know?”). Then, it had Vampire Weekend’s “Step” and Paramore’s comeback with “Ain’t It Fun.”
John Legend’s “All of Me” became his first No. 1 single in the United States, rivaling (but not beating) Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” for the decade’s best piano ballad. But it couldn’t triumph over the ukulele in Vance Joy’s “Riptide.”
The music scene was ready for fresh talent when 16-year-old Lorde burst onto the charts with “Royals,” a strong and sassy critique of the pop star lifestyle.
Winner: Lorde, “Royals”
Honorable mention: Vance Joy, “Riptide”
2014
This was the worst year for music in the 2010s. Besides Ed Sheeran’s “Don’t” and Sia’s “Chandelier,” the year’s biggest hits were entirely humdrum. For folk and blues fans, there was George Ezra’s “Barcelona,” and fans of electro-pop were grateful to see Børns enter the scene with “10,000 Emerald Pools.”
Luckily, Sam Smith saved the state of pop music with “Stay With Me,” a heartbreaking ballad that addressed an unspoken side of hook-up culture: “I’m not good at a one night stand,” Smith sings, asking in the chorus, “Oh, won’t you stay with me?”
Winner: Sam Smith, “Stay With Me”
Honorable mention: Børns, “10,000 Emerald Pools”
2015
Hello, 2015, Adele would like a word. The instantly overplayed “Hello” helped lead another sleepy year, with highlights including “Renegades” by X Ambassadors and “Uma Thurman” by Fall Out Boy. The Oh Hellos, a folk-rock duo from Texas, released the paradoxical “Bitter Water,” which conveys “the pain of a lover swimming through toxic memories, though it’s couched in a big, bright choral arrangement,” according to NPR.
Twenty One Pilots released “Stressed Out,” an ode to “the good old days” of childhood. While headlines day after day were declaring which new industry millennials had destroyed, Twenty One Pilots maintained that the young people didn’t have it so good either. The Atlantic called the song “an anthem of millennial anxiety.”
Winner: Twenty One Pilots, “Stressed Out”
Honorable mention: The Oh Hellos, “Bitter Water”
2016
In a politically contentious year, the greatest musical hits had nothing to do with politics. Regina Spektor’s anxiety-ridden “Older and Taller,” Chance the Rapper’s triumphant “No Problem,” and Lady Gaga’s change of tone with “Joanne” marked some of the year’s best songs. Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski beautifully addressed identity and romance on “Your Best American Girl.”
With “Location,” newcomer Khalid gave voice to the tech-fueled anxiety of Generation Z, the generation following millennials that was just beginning to find its voice. “I don’t wanna fall in love off of subtweets, so let’s get personal,” he sings. The lyrics may not resonate with the older crowd, but the teenager who wrote them understood the uncertainty of his peers.
Winner: Khalid, “Location”
Honorable mention: Regina Spektor, “Older and Taller”
2017
From rap hits such as Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.” to NF’s “Let You Down,” hip-hop had a big year. In rock, The National staged a comeback with the dreary “Nobody Else Will Be There,” and John Mayer took a long look at his family with “In the Blood.” Kesha opened up about forgiveness and her sexual assault allegations against her producer in “Praying.” Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” didn’t break chart records for two years, but it was a hit in the making when it came out in 2017. Two years later, there are few people who can’t fill in the sentence: “I just took a DNA test, turns out …”
Winner: Lizzo, “Truth Hurts”
Honorable mention: Kesha, “Praying”
2018
Genre winners from 2018 include hip-hop (Childish Gambino’s “This is America” and GAWVI’s “Fight for Me”), alternative (Florence + The Machine’s “Sky Full of Song”), and folk (Beta Radio’s “Realistic City Living”). Lauren Daigle’s Christian/gospel hit “You Say” found crossover appeal, and Beyonce and Jay-Z made the internet go wild after filming “APES**T” in the Louvre. In Leon Bridges’s soulful, retro “Beyond,” the R&B artist beautifully revived the romantic ballad: “She might just be my everything and beyond.”
Winner: Leon Bridges, “Beyond”
Honorable mention: Lauren Daigle, “You Say”
2019
The year’s “Most Influential” award goes to 20-year-old rapper Lil Nas X for “Old Town Road.” The song might be good for TikTok, but the year’s most enduring hits came from a 17-year-old and a longtime rapper. “My soul? So cynical,” Billie Eilish sings in the modern feminist anthem “Bad Guy,” revealing at the end of the chorus, “I’m the bad guy.” Full of synth and finger snaps, the song is all about Eilish’s deadpan, yet haunting, delivery.
Kanye West ended the decade with one of music’s most radical turnarounds after announcing he’ll no longer perform much of his old music and releasing a gospel album. According to Vulture, “Follow God” is “a word about how hard it is to ditch your ego and heed the wisdom of your elders, to retrain your brain to be in service to others.” The entire album is like a digital version of one of West’s Sunday Services: electric and exuberant.
Winner: Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy”
Honorable mention: Kanye West, “Follow God”
