It’s difficult to write a “best of” list nowadays. It seems like every newspaper, magazine, website and blog has their own list of tunes of the year, all sagely repeating roughly the same list. This is quite an implausible feat given the sheer variety of music currently available, perhaps more than ever before at any point of history. So what’s a critic to do?
Well obviously, the answer is: give you the list of the best-selling singles of the year in the US, slag them off, then provide a list of amazing pop tunes from an alternate, far better 2010. Thankfully, Billboard has very kindly provided a list of the US’s best-selling songs of the year for the first part of the endeavor.
The Top 10 Selling Songs of the Year in the US
1. Ke$ha – Tik Tok
The undoubted song of the year in the US this year, “Tik Tok” was omnipresent, inescapable, on every radio station, movie trailer, etc. Tik Tok” is that rare bit of pop chemistry for the otherwise fairly irritating Ke$ha, with her autotuned drunken party schtick matching the electropop perfectly. It is an undeniable banger.
2. Lady Antebellum – Need You Now
A perfectly nice midtempo country-tinged ballad, if a bit forgetful.
3. Train – Hey Soul Sister
Remember Train? They had that one song in the 90s. Also this song, apparently, famous mostly because of its appearance on that Samsung ad. Good for them I suppose.
4. Katy Perry – California Gurls
“Tik Tok’s” musical doppleganger, “California “Gurls” is a deary repetition of one of pop’s oldest American Dreams—the mythical California Girl. Sadly, like California itself, this dream isn’t what it used to be, especially when sold by the strangely blank Katy Perry. Even when assisted by clingy rave synthesizer stabs and a liquid disco guitar lick, Perry manages to make hedonistic partying feel like a trip to the dentist. As such, this is the perfect song for a symbolically and literally bankrupt a hedonic America in 2010.
5. Usher feat Will. I. Am – OMG
Instantly forgettable Autotuned-pop-n-b. Usher and Will are both coasting here; both have done much better work elsewhere.
6. B.O.B feat Hayley Williams of Paramore – Airplanes
So it turns out that Paramore have the uncanny ability to make everything amazingly boring. Even over a clattery breakbeat and perfunctorily energetic rap from B.O.B, nothing can save this snoozefest from itself. The emo hip-hop crossover never works, did the Timberland/One Republic song teach you nothing?
7. Eminem feat. Rihanna – Love the Way You Lie
I’m not sure I even have much to say about this button-pushing song about an abusive relationship (the even more graphic video prompted considerable controversy online amongst feminist bloggers). It’s messy, confused, uncomfortable, ugly, compelling.
8. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
A hangover from the 2009 Gaga ruled, Bad Romance remains one of her finest moments, mostly for the way it transmogrified Eurocheese into pure pop gold. A modern pop standard, there are more covers of Bad Romance on Youtube now than there are videos of cats.
9. Taio Cruz – Dynamite
A generic electro-rnb-pop banger of the kind perfected by Gaga producer RedOne. Pretty dull in the verses, but the bridge and chorus sparkle. Less genre-busting than genre-intensifying, this song is as cheesy as a plate of nachos, and as delicious.
10. Taio Cruz feat. Ludicrus – Break Your Heart
An even more generic electro-rnb-pop from Monsieur Cruz, this time a bit more up-tempo and featuring trancey synthesis redolent of 1999 Gatecrasher and the rapping styling of Ludicrus. While it’s passably pleasant, it is no Dynamite let me tell you.
The 20 best songs of 2010 from an alternate dimension of pure amusingness
1. Robyn – Hang With Me
This year was Robyn’s year: she released three albums, all called Body Talk. “Hang With Me” first appeared on Body Talk Part 1 in a heartbreaking violin-led acoustic version, only to be decked out in sparkly disco clothes as the lead single for Part 3.
2. Janelle Monae feat. Big Boi – Tightrope
As has been established previously here on Global Comment, I think Janelle Monae is one of the best artists currently working. Her music is really best suited to the album long-form, unfolding over time, but “Tightrope” was an amazing stomping burst of soul, a breath of fresh air. In a virtuoso performance, Monae moves from staccato verses to wailing like the best of them over the horn-led chorus. Eventually, Big Boi from Outkast chimes with his approval but Monae’s already run off with your heart.
3. Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith – Not In Love
So Crystal Castles recorded a forgetful vocoded version of an old New Wave song for their second self-titled album. And then they decided to release it as a single, only with Robert Smith. Et voila! A gloriously emotive, melodramatic but convincing Gothlectro (tm Mary-Beth Snow) song.
4. Magnetic Man – I Need Air
Dubstep’s cross-over moment. Truth be told, the Three Tenors style supergroup Magnetic Man (Benga, Skream, and the other guy) was mostly a bit rubbish but for this single. Also running with a 90s trance riff, “I Need Air” shines from the interplay between the frantic synthesizer stabs and the half-time dubstep beats, while Angela Hunte’s heavily Autotuned vocal simply lifts off.
5. Kylie – All the Lovers
The Australian pop princess’s comeback mostly didn’t go this year, sadly, despite the sleek Stuart Price helmed production of Aphrodite. But “All the Lovers” is simply lovely, a floating ode to love on the dancefloor. All she wants to do is dance, and you want to do is join her.
6. Robyn – Dancing on My Own
Another Robyn song. Unlike Kylie, Robyn’s specialty is less dancefloor bliss and more crying at the discotheque (think Womack and Womack’s “Teardrops” or everything the Pet Shop Boys ever did). In this song, Robyn’s watching the object of her affections kiss another girl. And yet despite this heartbreak, she’s determined to dance by herself, determined to soldier on.
7. Mini Viva – I Wish
Another dance-oriented outfit dedicated to the pleasures of the dancefloor sook, Mini Viva’s “I Wish” is drawn straight from the Girls Aloud playbook. This is not surprising given Girls Alouds’ producers Xenomania were on production duties, trying valiantly to squeeze another girl group into the crowded market. Sadly it was not to be, with Mini Viva departing before they even managed a full album. Still, this is a lovely, wistful piece of pop music
8. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round
Ariel Pink has long won fans for his particular brand of lo-fi retropop, an odd melange of 80s FM pop, noise and surreal lyrics. This year’s Before Today was an attempt at grabbing a larger audience. Of this, “Round and Round” was the clear standout, a perfect unison of form and content with its repeating riff mirroring the lyrics. The chorus doesn’t appear for a full two minutes, but it’s worth the wait – anthemia, instantly classic rock chorus.
9. How to Dress Well – Ready For the World
Another nostalgist, How to Dress Well takes the soul of late 80s and early 90s rnb and marries it to lo-fi bedroom production. “Ready For the World” samples the evergreen “Love You Down” by 80s group Ready For the World, grabbing a little slice of vocal and muffled synthesizer and looping them to infinity underneath How to Dress Well’s own reverb-drenched vocals.
10. Jens Lekman – The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love
Jens Lekman has long made quality indiepop, but it was on this song he really shined. Less a break-up song than an ode to the joy of living “The End of the World” is the anti-emo, an expansive string-led affirmation of the interconnectedness of the world (it sounds less hokey on record, I promise). Also, there are “Be My Baby” drums and those are always amazing.
If I were to add a further 10 tracks, I’d add two of the year’s most compelling personalities in hip-hop—Kanye West and Nicki Minaj—who both released albums that blew everyone else out of the water and were deservedly hyped and lauded for it. But unless you’re sleeping, you’ve probably already heard of them. And there’s certainly more to explore from the various permutations of dubstep/funky/wotucallit that bubbled under in the UK, flourishing online in dj mixes as much as in the clubs. But sadly, space and time being limited, you shall have to explore for yourselves what wonders lie out there.