This year marks the 10th year that I’ve compiled a list of my favourite songs of the year, in what is quite possibly the longest I’ve managed to stick at anything. It’s part of the tradition for me of winding down the year and taking stock of where my life has journeyed to, and doing that through the songs that have soundtracked that journey.
What makes this year rather special is that we come to the end of a decade, one that has taken me through from my mid-teenage years to being a (somewhat) adult. I guess in a human lifespan that any ten-year period is going to be pretty important, but the transformation in that time does seem pretty significant to me.
Like anyone else, I’ve gone through my share of good times and bad times in the ten years. And through it all (without bursting into Robbie Williams here) has been the music. For me, it’s quite a constant that no matter how I’m feeling or how the world is treating me I can always go back to listening to music to make things a bit better.
So to cap off what’s been an extraordinary decade I’ve decided to go a step further than just a top 40 songs of the year, and compile a top 100 songs of the 2010s. Unlike my usual top 40s, which count songs that I’ve discovered in that year, this list will show only songs that have been released since 2010.
Unlike my usual lists, mainly because of the sheer number of tunes, I’ve decided to go without the usual explanations as to why they’re so good – but to suffice to say each of these 100 songs are among my absolute favourites.
To give a bit of summary, of course there are some artists that dominate, but there’s also a good spread from across different genres and artists as well. 13 artists feature more than one song, with them being:
| CHVRCHES | 13 |
| Kacey Musgraves | 6 |
| LCD Soundsystem | 5 |
| Lorde | 5 |
| The Naked and Famous | 4 |
| The Hoosiers | 3 |
| Steve Aoki | 3 |
| Azealia Banks | 2 |
| Clean Bandit | 2 |
| Porter Robinson | 2 |
| Cardi B | 2 |
| Disclosure | 2 |
| Katy B | 2 |
| Zara Larsson | 2 |
| Tobu | 2 |
| AlunaGeorge | 2 |
| Rihanna | 2 |
There’s also songs featured from all years of the decade, although there is a skew towards older years (62 of the tracks coming from before 2015) and where some of my favourite albums came out:
So with that I’ll leave you with the start of the journey through the music that made the decade for me:
100. Passion Pit – “Carried Away” (2012)
99. Marina & the Diamonds – “Hollywood” (2010)
98. Kacey Musgraves – “Follow Your Arrow” (2013)
97. Kacey Musgraves – “Biscuits” (2015)
96. The Hoosiers – “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” (2010)
95. KDA (feat. Tinie Tempah & Katy B) – “Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)” (2015)
94. Two Door Cinema Club – “What You Know” (2010)
93. Matrix & Futurebound ft. Max Marshall – “Control” (2013)
92. Pendulum – “The Island, Part 1 (Dawn)” (2010)
91. Cardi B (feat. Bad Bunny & J Balvin) – “I Like It” (2018)
90. The Killers – “Shot at the Night” (2013)
89. Lost Kings feat. Katelyn Tarver – “You” (2015)
88. CHVRCHES – “Strong Hand” (2013)
87. Banx & Ranx & Ella Eyre feat. Yxng Bane – “Answerphone” (2018)
86. Tobu – “Hope (Original Mix)” (2014)
85. Sigala & Paloma Faith – “Lullaby” (2018)
84. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Tonight I’m Getting Over You” (2012)
83. Disclosure ft. Lorde – “Magnets (A-Trak Remix)” (2015)
82. Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand” (2010)
81. AWOLNATION – “Sail” (2011)
80. Drake feat. Rihanna – “Too Good” (2016)
79. CHVRCHES – “Up In Arms” (2015)
78. Lorde – “Supercut” (2017)
77. Kanye West feat. Rihanna – “All of the Lights” (2010)
76. Icona Pop – “All Night” (2013)
75. Light Asylum – “A Certain Person” (2011)
74. Major Lazer (feat. Amber Coffman) – “Get Free” (2013)
73. CHVRCHES – “Bow Down” (2015)
72. Laidback Luke, Lil Jon & Steve Aoki – “Turbulence” (2011)
71. LCD Soundsystem – “I Can Change” (2010)
70. Les Savy Fav – “High and Unhinged” (2010)
69. Elena Siegman – “Abracadavre” (2011)
68. Lorde – “Green Light” (2017)
67. Neon Trees – “Animal” (2011)
66. Azealia Banks – “1991” (2012)
65. Afrojack & Steve Aoki feat. Miss Palmer – “No Beef” (2011)
64. Zara Larsson & MNEK – “Never Forget You” (2015)
63. Diplo & Sleepy Tom – “Be Right There” (2016)
62. Clean Bandit feat. Rae Morris – “Up Again” (2014)
61. CHVRCHES – “Lies” (2013)
60. Tegan and Sara – “Closer” (2012)
59. QT – “Hey QT” (2015)
58. Galantis – “Runaway (U & I)” (2015)
57. LCD Soundsystem – “All I Want” (2010)
56. CHVRCHES – “Night Sky” (2013)
55. Little Mix – “Black Magic” (2015)
54. Wolf Alice – “Bros” (2013)
53. Lizzo – “Juice” (2019)
52. LCD Soundsystem – “how do you sleep?” (2017)
51. Avicii feat. AlunaGeorge – “What Would I Change It To?” (2017)
50. Porter Robinson – “Divinity” (2014)
49. Kacey Musgraves – “Cup of Tea” (2015)
48. Say Lou Lou – “Julian (The Chainsmokers Remix)” (2013)
47. Chairlift – “I Belong In Your Arms” (2012)
46. Tobu & Itro – “Magic (Original Mix)” (2013)
45. Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge – “White Noise” (2013)
44. Billie Eilish – “bad guy” (2019)
43. Zara Larsson – “All the Time” (2019)
42. CHVRCHES – “Empty Threat” (2015)
41. The Hoosiers – “Bumpy Ride” (2010)
40. CHVRCHES – “Lungs” (2014)
39. 2NE1 – “I Am the Best (내가 제일 잘 나가)” (2014)
38. Kacey Musgraves – “Dime Store Cowgirl” (2015)
37. CHVRCHES – “Now Is Not the Time” (2013)
36. The Naked and Famous – “Punching in a Dream” (2010)
35. CHVRCHES – “We Sink” (2013)
34. Bakermat – “Leven” (2012)
33. Katy B – “Katy on a Mission” (2011)
32. The Naked and Famous – “Higher” (2016)
31. Sigma feat. Ella Henderson – “Glitterball” (2015)
30. Nero – “Promises” (2011)
29. Kid Cudi – “Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)” (2010)
28. Lorde – “Liability” (2017)
27. Christine & the Queens – “Tilted” (2017)
26. Kacey Musgraves – “Pageant Material” (2015)
https://open.spotify.com/track/0tVtxY5EotWzEafJhyCAhf?si=w4BJiP4URU2S4iHkZJMwHA
25. CHVRCHES – “Gun” (2013)
24. Kacey Musgraves – “High Time” (2015)
23. Robyn – “Dancing On My Own” (2010)
22. Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé – “Telephone” (2010)
21. Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow” (2017)
20. CHVRCHES – “Clearest Blue” (2015)
19. Wankelmut & Emma Louise – “My Head is a Jungle (MK Remix)” (2013)
18. Sigrid – “Strangers” (2017)
17. Porter Robinson – “Language” (2012)
16. Lorde – “Perfect Places” (2017)
15. The Hoosiers – “Choices” (2010)
14. LCD Soundsystem – “Home” (2010)
13. Paramore – “Hard Times” (2017)
12. The Naked and Famous – “Young Blood” (2010)
11. Alesso feat. Tove Lo – “Heroes (We Could Be)” (2014)
10. The Naked and Famous – “All Of This” (2010)
9. Shakira feat. Freshlyground – “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” (2010)
8. Snakehips feat. Tinashe & Chance the Rapper – “All My Friends” (2015)
7. Sub Focus feat. Alpines – “Tidal Wave” (2013)
6. CHVRCHES – “Tether” (2013)
5. Klingande – “Jubel” (2014)
4. Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne – “Rather Be” (2014)
3. LCD Soundsystem – “Dance Yrself Clean” (2010)
2. Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay – “212” (2012)
1. CHVRCHES – “The Mother We Share” (2013)
You can find a playlist with all of the songs (omitting a couple that are sadly unavailable on Spotify) here, happy listening!