35 Best Songs of the 2010s

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“Love on Top” by Beyoncé

Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” is maybe nothing more than one of the greatest vocal showings of modern time. Beyoncé effortlessly flirts her way through key changes unknown to any singer before her, making the impossible feat seem as breezy and tangible as the love-soaked song itself.

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“Pyramids” by Frank Ocean

It was the summer of 2012 and almost exactly three years—to the month—before gay marriage would be legalized in the United States. Frank Ocean had just come out via a note to fans on his Tumblr, and “Pyramids” seemed to ooze out of every speaker. A nine-minute odyssey, it nestled gently into nighttime introspection sessions, but seemed just as commonplace blaring out of a club speaker at 3 a.m. (if only its second half). Ocean rang in the new era with a song celebrating the unseen fluidity of its moment.

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“Myth” by Beach House

Right before the dawn of the new decade, chillwave, the micro-genre that was obsessed with simplicity and lo-fidelity, reigned supreme. Beach House took the general aesthetic of the genre and fine-tuned it—their greatest contribution being “Myth,” a slow burn of mythical motifs and dazzling softness.

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“Cranes in the Sky” by Solange

Solange’s 2016 A Seat at the Table is a restless indictment of oppression and oppressors, and a celebration of the beauty and uniqueness of being a black woman. “Cranes in the Sky” is a gorgeous highlight of vulnerability, as Solange details a litany of her escapism tactics. The song offers no panacea at its close; Solange instead lets the emotions sit still.

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“Monster” by Kanye West feat. Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver

In 2019, collaborations were commonplace. They’re expected commercial commodities that often don’t live past their initial announcement hype. “Monster” is the 10-year-old antithesis to all of that. A nearly perfect collaboration between the year’s best emcees—and a beautifully unlikely contribution from hip-hop’s friendly indie cousin, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon—it’s a six-minute-long masterpiece of rap heaven and hell.

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“Ni**as in Paris” by Jay-Z and Kanye West

It wasn’t until 2018 that rap became the most popular genre in the country. Despite its increasing popularity, rap spent most of the decade still being treated as a dangerous subculture, a noncommercial entity not made for the masses. “N**gas in Paris” was Jay-Z and Kanye West’s defiant answer, a decadent celebration of taking up space where rappers aren’t necessarily supposed to.

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“Ready to Start” by Arcade Fire

Growing up in the suburbs is confusing. On their sprawling 2010 record, Arcade Fire pulls back the curtains of America’s wastelands of privilege and boredom, revealing the existential dread of navigating life’s formative years in spaces that seem incredibly small and are recognizably fleeting. “Ready to Start” is Arcade’s Fire approachable take on the art school kid, anti-capitalist anthem.

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"Video Games" by Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey is vaguely evocative—an artist whose work seems to render an emotional nostalgia specific to each listener’s given experience. “Video Games” doesn’t get too into the details; it instead offers inklings and romantic buzzwords: backyards, fast cars, and wild darts. It’s a song meant for whatever moment of love or longing is left to its listeners.

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“Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X busted the antiquated conformities of race and genre wide open via a swift one-minute-and-53-second song drop. Described as “country-trap” by Nas, the track was controversially taken off Billboard’s Country Music chart after they had deemed it not country enough—a showcase of who gatekeepers allow to partake in certain genres, especially ones that have been historically white. The track and the surrounding narrative sparked a million conversations on the topic, and the song (with a feature from Billy Ray Cyrus) set a record for the longest consecutive run at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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“New Person, Same Old Mistakes” by Tame Impala

“New Person, Same Old Mistakes” is the closing track on Tame Impala’s Currents album, a whirring, psychedelic tale of giving in to what feels good, despite everything the band swore they learned from the record’s previous 12 tracks.

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“Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD Soundsystem

In the first two minutes of “Dance Yrself Clean,” LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy lets onto the rumbling under the surface: “Talking like a jerk / Except you are an actual jerk / And living proof / That sometimes friends are mean,” he offers reservedly, as a synth-ridden beat quietly progresses beneath him. “Don’t you want for me to wake up,” he yells nearly two minutes later, entering a deep and sweaty void that unfurls itself into a nine-minute alt-kid-friendly dance party.

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“Oblivion” by Grimes

“Oblivion” was the first time that ultimate e-girl Grimes crept onto our computer screens. Someone as seemingly fantastical and delicate as her music, Grimes’s vocals gently glide over “Oblivion"'s vaguely electro beat like a fairy apparition.

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“Yonkers” by Tyler the Creator

Early in the decade, Tyler the Creator worked off of shock value: He fronted Odd Future, a group whose entire name included the phrase “Kill Them All,” and whose lyrics included “kill people, burn shit, and fuck school.” And while a lot of the chaos has faded, “Yonkers” seems to be the one lasting relic of that era. It was Tyler’s cryptic entrance into music, an explosively dark manifesto that came with an equally dark music video. Tyler was, and is, exciting because his next move is always a question mark. “I’m a fucking walking paradox” resonated then, and it’s equally true now.

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“R U Mine?” by Arctic Monkeys

By 2013, Arctic Monkeys weren’t who they always were. Alex Turner had pivoted from messy, shaggy, punk-adjacent frontman to a new sound in the aesthetic of a sultry, 1950s greaser. “R U Mine” is what got caught in the crossroads; it’s a loud, pumping track led by drummer Matt Helders’s otherworldly precision, paired with a new, stadium-filling production quality.

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“Rill Rill” by Sleigh Bells

“Rill Rill” is cheerfully defiant and nonchalantly powerful: a mesh of teen insecurity and personal inner peace, sung in satisfyingly overtly feminine vocals. “Wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces?” an imaginative mean girl asks. “What about them? / I’m all about them,” Sleigh Bells offers back.

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“Nights” by Frank Ocean

The 3:29-minute mark of “Nights” is the closest we’ll ever be to a universally induced out-of-body experience. The record skips before hitting a shrill, nearly medical flat line, and then it seems to rewind and scoop itself back up. Frank Ocean re-enters, and the track ends up working like a quick therapy session for its first half: “Every night fucks every day up / Every day patches the night up,” Frank offers prophetically.

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“Bodak Yellow” by Cardi B

While Cardi feels like a torchbearer—and in some ways, she really is—she’s actually the face of a myriad of female rappers who have been quietly pushing the genre forward. “Bodak Yellow” was the infectious and firm reminder that women in the game rap just as hard, if not harder, than the boys.

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“Rolling in the Deep” by Adele

Ballads aren’t necessarily made for the radio. But that has never stopped Adele. “Rolling in the Deep” was the absolute ubiquitous song of 2012. A vengeful, soulful, and resentful cut, it came at the height of the public’s obsession with London’s greatest export.

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“Alright” by Kendrick Lamar

"The beat sounds fun," he said. "But it's something else inside the chords that Pharrell put down,” Kendrick Lamar told Rick Rubin in an interview for GQ. “Alright” is a historical retelling of slavery then, and the way new slavery works now, but it doesn’t wallow. It uplifts and answers.

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“Hold Up” by Beyoncé

Part of Beyoncé’s public persona is marked by her intense commitment to privacy. As one of the world’s most famous women, she has navigated the large majority of her career with little to no public intel on any of her personal matters. And when she finally did enter the fray, she made sure it was on her own terms. “Hold Up” is the incredibly human, slightly deranged response to the very public rumors of husband Jay-Z’s love affairs.

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Natalie Maher is a contributor to BAZAAR.com's music section. She's also covered similar topics for sites like COMPLEX and Billboard. Aside from writing, Natalie enjoys reading Sixers’ conspiracy theories on Twitter, adding exorbitantly expensive sneakers to make-believe online shopping carts, and watching slime videos on Instagram.

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