Join us as we celebrate the best music, film, and television of the decade. Today, we celebrate the 100 Best Songs of the 2010s.
Fuck it. It’s been a good decade.
I know, I know, we’re not supposed to be positive. Optimism is naivety. The world is run by fools, nothing is good, we’re all going to die before our time, etc. etc.
However, it recently dawned on me that often the most vocal doomsday preppers and preachers are those who’ve always had it good. Those who’ve had the privilege of being granted permission before they’ve even asked. The decades before this one have always been ruled by the palatable, the approachable, the keepers of the status quo.
But, in the 2010s, the outcasts and eccentrics reigned supreme. We talked about mental health and scheduled time with our therapist out loud during our daily commute. We coined the term self-care and redefined and realigned with it in a direct reaction to the #hustle culture of the early aughts. We walked in women’s marches, amplified the tenets of Black Lives Matter, and told those who misused their power that their time was up. We bolstered LGBTQ issues and legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country.
Yes. Much of this was in reaction to power structures that shouldn’t have been and are still in place. But that doesn’t mean we don’t get credit for squaring up and saying enough. We might not be where we need to be, but here’s to leveling the fuck up.
What you’re about to see is a soundtrack for those moments, songs that captured the essence of the past 10 years. Montage music for the misfits, if you will.
Through the filter of the 2010s, Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” isn’t just a dance song, but a primer on subdued defiance. Kanye’s “Power” becomes a prophetic warning. Father John Misty’s “Chateau Lobby #4” in all its dysfunction and irony can still call itself a relatable love song. Whether it’s the post-collegiate slump captured in Vampire Weekend’s “Diane Young” or the cathartic chorus detailing a triumph return to self in Florence and The Machine’s “Shake It Out”, the songs we chose not only speak to the ethos of those who wrote them, but to those who listened to them … and why.
In an attempt to collate the undeniable and entangled feelings of the last 3,650 days, we’ve pulled together the songs we leaned into during the heartbreak, political turmoil, celebration, and devastation that was the 2010s. From the hip-hop political to pop sensational, the sultry R&B to the new frontiers of rock, our favorite tracks broke down social norms, colored outside genre lines, and just did whatever the fuck they wanted, then called it art. I’d like to think that in some ways, we all spent the last decade doing that very same thing.
–Erica Campbell
Music Editor
