The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010
Hey everyone, Drake, known on the internet as Urtar Reviews here, and today we are going to be going over my picks for the top 10 best hit songs of 2010! As I said in my worst list, I think 2010 was an excellent year for pop music and doesn’t deserve all the shit it gets. While the year did have some pretty bad songs, and even some abysmal atrocities that I discussed there, the best of the year makes up for it in spades if you ask me. I could have easily done a top 20 best list and still had Honorable Mentions, and therefore I have a large amount of Honorable Mentions for this list. 2010 had a general feeling of optimism in the majority of it’s popular music that I find very endearing and that is part of why I love the best of this year so much. But yeah, every genre that was represented on the charts in 2010 had a lot of great songs on the year end list, and since I enjoy club music a lot more than most YouTube music critics I was bound to love 2010, and I do!
Now some rules and disclaimers. First of all, this is all my opinion and if you dislike a song I put on here, that is totally fine. Music is 100 percent subjective and I will respect your opinion as long as you do mine.
Second, the eligibility rules. Most YouTube music critics use the Billboard Year End Hot 100, a list of the 100 biggest songs of the year according to Billboard, as their eligibility rules for lists like this. However, I think that that list is pretty flawed for a few reasons but the main one that is important at the moment is the fact that the Billboard Year End lists use a stupid chart year that starts in December and ends in November. And heck, in recent years they’ve started ending the chart year halfway through November. So yeah this leaves the Billboard lists feeling kinda unrepresentative. So, I found reworked Year End Hot 100 lists that someone made online that use a Jan-Dec chart year instead and they are a lot more representative in my opinion. https://pulsemusic.proboards.com/thread/191238/january-december-year-ends-1997
So, my rules are that a song must debut on the 2010 Jan-Dec Year End Hot 100 in order to be eligible for this list. In addition songs that made the 2010 Billboard Year End Hot 100 and didn’t make any Jan-Dec lists are eligible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_2010
Because of these rules, here’s a list of songs on either the Billboard Year End Hot 100 or the Jan-Dec Year End Hot 100 that are ineligible for both this list and the best list:
Tik Tok by Kesha
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga
I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas
Sexy Bitch by David Guetta and Akon
Replay by Iyaz
Empire State Of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
Fireflies by Owl City
Down by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne
Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo
You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift
Meet Me Halfway by The Black Eyed Peas
Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus
Paparazzi by Lady Gaga
Forever by Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem
Use Somebody by Kings Of Leon
Sweet Dreams by Beyonce
Already Gone by Kelly Clarkson
3 by Britney Spears
So without further ado, let’s get into my picks for The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2010!
10.
Something I love about doing lists like this for retro years is re-discovering songs that were absolutely everywhere back then but have been pretty much forgotten in the day. Espicially when those songs are excellent. And 2010 had a fair few such songs, such as...
10. Whataya Want From Me - Adam Lambert
I remember hearing this song all the time back in 2010, when I was a kid, even though I didn’t pay much attention to music then. However, up until the first time I listened to the 2010 Billboard Year End list in mid 2020, I hadn’t thought about it in years or even knew what the song was called or who made it. And I was very happy to find out that this song I remembered hearing all the time as a kid held up very well and to know what it was called finally! This is a fantastic rock banger with a very passionate and powerful vocal performance from Adam, great instrumental, and fantastic hook. And the lyrics work well too. It’s about a guy who has been terrible at keeping relationships for whatever reason but he’s now in a relationship and he is going to keep that relationship no matter what, going to do whatever she wants to make it work this time. It’s kind of like Come And Go by Juice WRLD in that regard, although not as powerful as that song if you ask me. However, Come And Go is one of the best songs of the century if you ask me, so you know, not being as powerful as that song is not saying much. But yeah, the lyrics tell the story really well and you can just hear the determination in his vocals! Adam just sells this song incredibly well and this song is a forgotten gem from this year that is worth digging up! `
9. Club Can’t Handle Me - Flo Rida, David Guetta
Flo Rida is an artist that I’ve always had a soft spot for. I mean sure, his lyrics are very very shallow, but he has a knack for great hooks and infectious energetic flows. And Club Can’t Handle Me is a big example of this. The production from David Guetta is fantastic, the hook is incredibly iconic, catchy, fun, and wild in the best way, one of the best hooks of the year. And while the lyrics themselves aren’t great if you actually pay attention to what they mean, they sound awesome as fuck and that’s all that matters in a party banger like this. And Flo Rida’s flows just have this incredible braggadocious swagger to them that works perfectly for a song like this. Also the bridge is one of the best moments of pop music 2010. This song just makes me feel awesome and ready to party the heck out, an absolutely incredible club banger! Awesome song!
Urtar: Oh fuck I put Rihanna at #1 on my worst list above a Bhris Crown song! Even though I think that was the right decision, I still feel kinda bad about that even though Rihanna is easily the best part of Love The Way You Lie, considering that Chris physically abused Rihanna in 2009. So is there any way I can make up for that?
Kalameet Gascoigne: I believe that's my cue to enter.
Urtar: Oh, hey Kalameet, what are you doing here?
Kalameet Gascoigne: As the biggest Rihanna fan I personally know, it falls to me to inform you of the best way to make up for the #1 on your worst list - which for the record, I 100% agree with. Now, Rihanna had 4 hits as the lead artist in 2010 with your rules right?
Urtar: Why yes she did.
Kalameet Gascoigne: And you love all of them, correct?
Urtar: To varying degrees, but yes.
Kalameet Gascoigne: So does a tie not seem appropriate?
Urtar: Wait... that's an amazing idea! Thanks Kalameet!
Kalameet Gascoigne: Of course, always happy to help. Now do your thing, I'm out.
8a. Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna
Even though this is my least favorite Rihanna hit of 2010 aside from the one that topped my worst list, I still love this. The production is fantastic and bubbly and has a great buildup during the pre-chorus and a fantastic payoff in the chorus. And Rihanna’s vocals are beautiful during the entire song. She switches between calm and collected during the verses to bombastic during the chorus very well and again, sounds amazing. The hook is incredibly catchy and fun and this is just an extremely fun pop banger!
8b. Rude Boy - Rihanna
This is a more reggae inspired song than the last one or heck most songs Rihanna I’ve heard. And it works very well, with a fantastic groove that has a ton of punch and swagger that fits it perfectly. And Rihanna absolutely owns this song with a ton of charisma and also sounds amazing! An incredibly fun and hot sex jam that I absolutely love!
8c. Hard - Rihanna, Jeezy
Fun fact: I used to hate this song. A lot. On my old 2010 worst list I made on Rate Your Music in January 2021, this song was on the list and pretty high on it too. That aged like shit because I now love this song a lot! The beat has a ton of bounce and swagger to it that fits the lyrics perfectly. And Rihanna does a great job rapping over it having so much swagger and charisma and just absolutely owns this track! Also Jeezy’s guest verse is incredible. Also hearing a brag song from Rihanna released in the same year as her getting sexually abused by Bhris Crown is just powerful to me, although not as powerful as...
8d. What’s My Name? - Rihanna, Drake
This is my favorite Rihanna hit of 2010, easily. So of course it didn’t make the Billboard Year End until 2011, but since it debuted in 2010 in Jan-Dec it’s eligible here for me. But anyway, What’s My Name by Rihanna and Drake is a phenomenal piece of music and would have been top 3 on this list probably if I had not done a Rihanna artist tie. If you want, you can imagine this song at #3 and everything from my actual #3 down is moved down a spot. That also works very well. But anyway, on to the song itself. First the production is absolutely incredible and gorgeous with a heavenly atmosphere, and Rihanna’s angelic vocals are absolutely amazing. Drake also does a great job here too. But the lyrics are the star of the show and very powerful to me. It’s a song about her falling in love with this guy who seems perfect for her, but she wants to make sure he’s not too good to be true before she totally falls for him because she’s kinda uneasy about love after what happened to her with Chris Brown. But she realizes that he isn’t too good to be true and she falls in love hard with him and appreciates that he takes the time to figure her out. This is very powerful coming from Rihanna after what she has gone through and combined with the angelic atmosphere and vocals, this is absolutely magical and deserves more praise than it gets in my opinion!
7.
In my Love The Way You Lie segment on my worst list, I said that the kind of songs about abusive relationships that tend to work for me are songs from the perspective of the victim for most or all of the song not songs from the perspective of the abuser like Love The Way You Lie. This is because songs from the perspective of the abuser often have them gaslighting the victim into coming back, which Love The Way You Lie does or pretending like their victim was the abuser the whole time like with Famous Girl by Chris Brown. With songs from the perspective of the abused you get to see their perspective and struggle and you can get fantastic songs out of it. And 2010 gave us not just one such song as a hit, but three!
7a. Undo It - Carrie Underwood
7b. King Of Anything - Sara Bareilles
7c. According To You - Orianthi
All of these are songs about a woman who has been abused and is finally getting out of it and putting the abuser in their place. All have different takes on the narrative though so I am going to give each of these songs their own mini review in order from my least favorite to my favorite. So first, Undo It by Carrie Underwood: First of all, the song sounds amazing. Carrie Underwood is a phenomenal singer as usual, and while this isn’t one of her absolute best ever vocal performances, I will talk about some of those in the future for sure, but she still sounds great on this song with a ton of charisma and pipes! The production has a fantastic country rock groove with the fantastic guitar and drums, it’s very well mixed. And the hook is catchy as sin. The lyrics are also incredible. This song is about her falling in love with a man who ended up abusing her, and about her escaping his abuse and trying to erase him from her past and forget it ever happened. And she sells this story very well making it feel real. Great song!
Now on to King Of Anything by Sara Bareilles. Just like with Undo It, this song sounds amazing. The beautiful indie pop instrumental, Sara sounding amazing as usual, and the incredible hook. But this song takes a different approach lyrically. This song is about a woman being being abused and not being able to say anything because of him. But one day she is able to and she starts absolutely tearing him apart but in the way that will hopefully make him realize what he has done and what he needs to do to redeem himself and be a better person. And you can feel the pain in her voice, all the time that she couldn’t say anything about being abused, which is just incredibly cathartic!
Finally we have my favorite of these songs, According To You by Orinathi. First, Orinathi has a great voice and has a ton of charisma and anger in her voice that fits the lyrics and instrumental perfectly. And of course there’s the amazing killer guitar solo that elevates this song a lot musically. This song has a bit of an unusual and in my opinion genius song construction. The entire song switches between different people’s opinions on her relationship. First how the guy who abused her is insulting her and saying that he’s the only one who can tolerate her and so she has to stay with him. Then how the guy who she’s leaving him for gives her many compliments to describe how much he loves her. And finally, after the guitar solo and her pleading him to see her through his eyes where she sounds absolutely pissed the fuck off at this asshole, we get one of the absolute best moments of pop music 2010, her using his same insults back at him and sounding incredibly pissed while she is doing it which is just cathartic as shit to me and just so fucking badass and uplifiting!
All three of these are absolutely fantastic songs that are all examples of how to do songs about abusive relationships well in my opinion. And in the same year that had Love The Way You Lie as one of the biggest hits of the entire year, they were sorely needed.
6. Bruno Mars
2010 was the year that Bruno Mars, who would go on to dominate the rest of the 2010s, started his career, had his first three hits, and released his debut album. And I love all three of his hits this year, so I’m gonna give them all mini reviews in order from my least favorite to my favorite.
6a. Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars
So apparently a lot of people in this community dislike or even hate this song which I do not understand. I mean I will respect that of course but I don’t understand why someone would hate this song. It’s so adorable and earnest. Bruno is just telling this girl how much he loves her and how lovestruck he is and he does it very well. And the production is fantastic and Bruno’s vocals are great as usual. This song feels very genuine to me and it’s so charming that I can’t resist smiling whenever I hear it.
6b. Billionaire - Travie McCoy, Bruno Mars
This song is such a banger. The fantastic groove and production, Travie’s infectious and fun verses, Bruno’s incredible hook. It’s just so much fun. And the lyrics are great too. Them dreaming about being billionaires and all the things they would do, including not just for themselves, as they would give money to anyone who needed it. This song is so much fun and just makes me feel so happy whenever I hear it, although not as happy as whenever I hear…
6c. Nothin’ On You - B.o.B., Bruno Mars
This song is similar to Just The Way You Are but better in every way. The production is even better, it sounds absolutely gorgeous, Bruno’s vocals are even better, B.o.B. sounds amazing, and the lyrics are even better, even more charming and adorable. The sentiment of this song is that B.o.B. and Bruno have been around the world and seen many beautiful girls around the world but none of them compare to the one, and they sell it out the roof! And both artists sound incredibly lovestruck which makes this feel incredibly genuine and earnest and just so adorable that I can’t help but have a large smile whenever I hear it.
Overall, Bruno Mars’s songs this year leave me feeling so happy and I am thankful for his impact on 2010’s pop music. All three of his hits this year are all fantastic and deserving of this spot. Great stuff! Now before part 1 ends, let’s look at the first half of the Honorable Mentions!
HM1. Today Was A Fairytale - Taylor Swift
Is this a worse version of Love Story? Yes. But it’s still very good because it’s adorable and Taylor sells it well.
HM2. I Made It - Kevin Rudolf, Jay Sean, Birdman, Lil Wayne
Not in the mood for this one often, but when I am it hits hard!
HM3. Katy Perry
Firework, California Gurls, and Teenage Dream are all great pop songs that I enjoy a lot.
HM4. Unthinkable (I’m Ready) - Alicia Keys
If Empire State Of Mind Part II from the same album had been a hit it would have made the list proper, and pretty damn high too, but this is still a very good replacement.
HM5. Naturally - Selena Gomez And The Scene
This song has cooled on me since my original best list on Rate Your Music, mainly because the production in the verses is pretty bad and brings this down, but everything else is so good that this song is still really good.
HM6. Fuck You - Ceelo Green
This song is just so much fun that I can’t help but love it.
HM7. If I Die Young - The Band Perry
Already went over this in the worst list Dishonorable Mentions so see that if you haven’t.
HM8. Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland
I get why people hate this, but it’s too fun, cheesy and charming for me not to love it. One of the final cuts from the list.
HM9. Magic - B.o.B, Rivers Cuomo/ Airplanes - B.o.B., Hayley Williams
Why did you have to release Flatline and say that you think the Earth is flat and lose your mainstream career B.o. B? You were so good!
HM10. Raise Your Glass - P!nk
Pink absolutely owns this song with so much personality and charisma and despite the lyrics being stupid, they work really well with how she’s selling it and this song is also very fun. Really good song.
HM11. Animal - Neon Trees
An incredibly fun indie rock smash that would have had a shot at the list if not for some dated production. Oh also listen to Used To Like from their 2020 album or heck that full album. It’s an incredible song and album.
HM13. Secrets - One Republic
Awesome cello sample fits perfectly with the pop rock production and I like the lyrics about making a song that you want to make, not what will be mainstream accessible. Really good stuff.
5. Kesha
Kesha had an absolutely massive year in 2010 with six songs making the Year End lists. And I love every single one of them with the exception of My First Kiss. So I am going to give each of her hits this year its own mini review except My First Kiss since it already made my worst list, and Tik Tok since it debuted in 2009 by my rules.
5a. Blah Blah Blah - Kesha, 3OH!3
I know that most people hate this song, and I used to, so I totally get why people do, but I really grew to like this song. I really like the production these days with the fast and aggressive synths, Kesha owns this song with a ton of charisma and honestly I don’t hate the lyrics at all. I get her being annoyed with dudes pestering her at the bar and her being sick of it. As someone who has autism and is socially awkward I can definitely understand her irritation and this song feels genuine to me. Heck, I even like 3OH!3 here, their bridge is actually solid, even if it is the worst part.
5b. Your Love Is My Drug - Kesha
This one is just a fantastic pop song with a great hook, Kesha having a ton of charisma and a great voice as usual, good lyrics if shallow, and she sells it well. Oh and the bridge is just flat out awesome with a total switch up in tone before yet another tone switch executed perfectly. A damn great pop song!
5c. We R Who We R - Kesha
This is a pride anthem that also does a great job of being a club banger. The production is incredible has a fantastic groove, Kesha does great as usual, and the lyrics are very well written. A damn great club song, but not her best club song this year because...
5d. Take It Off - Kesha
This is Kesha’s best hit of this year, and the 2nd best song on her album Animal. I guess I see why some dislike it because I can see someone considering the production dated even though I love it. The autotune on Kesha’s voice is absolutely top notch, the hook is awesome, verses are wild and crazy in the best way. Kesha absolutely owns this song from start to finish, just putting everything she’s got into this performance with a ton of charisma and personality, and just makes this an incredible club banger that is wild and crazy in the best way!
Overall Kesha’s presence in 2010 brought a lot of great music onto the charts and I love her for that.
As I said in the intro, songs that debuted on the 2009 Year End lists are not eligible for this list and will instead be eligible for my 2009 lists. One such song was Down by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne, a massive hit that hit #1 on the Hot 100 in late 2009 and made both the 2009 and 2010 Year End lists, and also ended up influential because a song using a similar melody became a top 10 hit in 2019. And it’s a song that I love and would have probably made this list and pretty high too if it had been eligible. It’s a club classic if you ask me and I will give it the praise it deserves when I cover 2009 eventually. Now most people believe Jay Sean, the artist who made Down, is a one hit wonder. However, he actually had a second hit as the lead artist (in addition to featuring on I Made It by Kevin Rudolf), a song that despite being a top 10 hit in 2010, has been lost to time. And if you ask me, it should not have been, because it is a classic, forgotten gem, and in my opinion, even better than Down.
4. Do You Remember - Jay Sean, Sean Paul, Lil Jon
Look I love Down a lot, but I have always preferred this song. It reminds me of Yeah by Usher, one of the best hits of the 2000s. The fantastic production, Jay Sean filling the role of Usher and doing it very well, Lil Jon playing the hype man as well as he did on Yeah, and a fantastic verse from Sean Paul filling the role of Ludacris from Yeah delivering a fantastic verse with lots of iconic lines, even if his verse is not as legendary as Luda’s verse on Yeah, which is my favorite part of that song. This song is just an absolute club banger. But I also like the lyrics. It’s about these guys meeting their ex at the club and going up to her and telling her how good it is to see her again and offering to get back together even if it’s just for one night, and just have a great night where everything will be okay. I mean I get why someone could see these lyrics and find them douchy, but they come across as earnest and genuine to me and this song just makes me feel very happy and optimistic and as someone who is somewhat of a pessimist, songs that make me feel optimistic are very welcome to me. That’s the main reason I love this song so much, it makes me feel optimistic. Best club boom hit of the year, and an absolutely incredible forgotten gem from this year that is worth digging up!
In 2013, the band Paramore released the single Still Into You, which is very highly regarded as one of the best hits of that year by this community and their best song to make a Billboard Year End list. And it’s never been a song I have loved. I like it, but it’s nowhere near my best list for 2013. What is my pick for their best Year End hit then? Of course it’s the one that I've seen some people who don’t really care for or even dislike it.
3. The Only Exception - Paramore
I legit don’t get why people overlook or flat out don’t care for this song. I mean I obviously respect that, but I absolutely adore this masterpiece. The instrumentation is absolutely incredible, sounds absolutely gorgeous with the delicate strings, the great drums and piano that come in at the exact right times, and of course the fantastic buildup throughout the song that results in the explosive climax at the end of the song that is absolutely transcendent! And Hayley Williams of course sounds absolutely fantastic and sells this perfectly! The lyrics are the star of the show here though. This song is the story of a women whose parents divorced when she was a kid and because of this she is afraid of love and never takes the risk. Then one day, she meets this guy who she can’t resist and gets in a relationship with them, but she’s still worried that it isn’t gonna last and her heart is gonna be broken. And then one night she gets worried he’s gonna leave in the morning and he needs to leave her with something to prove to her it’s not a dream. But he doesn’t, and then after one final chorus, the song ends with her saying she’s on her way to believing. The story is told absolutely perfectly, and as I said, Hayley Williams sells the lyrics incredibly well. Absolutely fantastic song!
As I mentioned in the Two Is Better Than One segment of my worst list, I am a big Taylor Swift fan. And in 2010, she released what I consider to be her best album and probably my current favorite album of all time, Speak Now. Now, the album only had one Year End hit in 2010, and that hit happened to be one of her best!
2. Mine - Taylor Swift
Yeah I’m sure most of you expected this after I mentioned and praised this song in my Two Is Better Than One worst list entry. But I’m not the kind of person to lie about my opinions for the sake of surprise, and Mine is my 2nd favorite hit of this year and yet only my 3rd favorite song on the album. Anyway, this song is a song I feel gets overlooked a lot by many in this community because of her 2011 hit from Speak Now that is a better song, Back To December, and while I agree there, this song is very damn close. The instrumentation and production on this song is absolutely gorgeous with beautiful strings, guitar, and other instruments providing an incredible groove! And Taylor’s vocals are absolutely incredible as usual, and this song has so many hooks to it that just hook me in, from the ah ah ah ah ah’s that hook you in right away, to the very catchy verses, to the incredible hook, this song is incredibly catchy, just a perfect country pop song. Not to mention the bridge which is one of the best musical moments of Pop Music 2010. This song sounds genuinely incredible and absolutely gorgeous! The greatest asset of this song though is the songwriting. This song has a very similar story to The Only Exception, about a girl whose parents divorced when she was a kid, and because of that she is afraid of love. However, she finally meets a guy who she falls in love with, he figures out about her being afraid of love, and promises her that they won’t make her parent’s mistakes, but they face challenges such as paying bills, and while facing those challenges she is thinking about how the relationship isn’t gonna work. Then the bridge happens, where they have an argument early in the morning and it looked like the relationship was gonna end. Taylor’s character runs out into the street crying and he follows. Taylor braces herself for him to say goodbye, because that is all she had ever known, but that doesn’t happen. He tells her that he’ll never leave her alone which completely surprises her, tells her how much he loves her, and then after one more chorus, the song ends with her saying that she can see it, she can see it now. And Taylor sells this story absolutely perfectly making the story seem realistic to her. The lyrical narrative in this song is just so well done and perfect and combined with the gorgeous instrumentation you have a highlight of Taylor’s discography, the 3rd best song on Speak Now, a fantastic opener to that album too by the way, and close to my favorite hit song of 2010, even if one song did win out in the end. Before we find out what that is, the rest of our Honorable Mentions!
HM13. Haven’t Met You Yet - Michael Buble
A bit mom-music-y for my taste but aside from that everything else is fantastic. The great instrumentation, Michael’s vocal performance, and the great lyrics about optimism in the search for true love.
HM14. How Low - Ludacris
Yeah another hot take. I really like this song. Luda’s verses are awesome, and I love the chipmunk vocals. I understand why someone would find this annoying, but I love it.
HM15. Bulletproof - La Roux
A really fun club banger with great production and good vocals. The lyrics are good too.
HM16. Bottoms Up - Trey Songz, Nicki Minaj
A darker club song and that’s why it works so well for me. The song sets the darker club atmosphere very well and I love it for that. The hook and Trey’s verses are good. And Nicki just runs away with the song in her guest verse, absolutely owning it!
HM17. Find Your Love - Drake
One of Drake’s best hits. Great beat, great performance and very good lyrics. I miss this era of Drake.
HM18. Like A G6 - Far East Movement, DEV, The Cataracts
I understand why people hate this song, heck I used to, but it really clicked for me and I now love it. It’s fun and chaotic in the best way and DEV’s hook is both very iconic and very good.
HM19. Telephone - Lady Gaga, Beyonce
I gave this an Honorable Mention over Alejandro because while that song is also good, it has aged a bit poorly for me, and I’ve always preferred this song. The manic energy of this song is just so much fun for me and our two singers both deliver great performances and have a lot of chemistry. Great song. Oh also if Speechless from the Fame Monster had been a hit it would have made this list easily, probably in the top 5.
HM20. Cooler Than Me - Mike Posner
I still don’t get why so many people hate this song. I see nothing wrong with the lyrics, and I love the production and vocals. Also the synth solo at the end is absolutely incredible.
HM21. BedRock - Young Money, Lloyd
Yet another hot take but yeah, I really like this song. Yes it has one issue, namely Tyga being Tyga, but other than that everyone does good verses and there’s so many great lines from the grocery bag line to Drake saying “oh that was yo girl, I thought I recognized her” that I just can’t help but love this.
HM22. In My Head - Jason Derulo
I’m not a Jason Derulo fan even if I will defend him more than a lot of critics. But this is probably my favorite hit of his. The fantastic instrumentation, the great hook, Jason Derulo delivering the best vocal performance I’ve heard from him, and the lyrics about dreaming about stealing this girl from another guy. Sure it’s a stealing your girl song, but it does it well and framed well if you ask me so I can get behind it. Plus it is just so much fun.
HM23. DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love - Usher, Pitbull
Hot take: Pitbull is the best part of this song. I mean yeah Usher does a good job, easily his best performance on a single this year, but without Pitbull the song would feel a bit one note to me. Thankfully Pitbull comes in and delivers an incredible verse to shake us out of the one note Usher parts and leaves this being a very good and fun club song.
HM24. Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz, Ludacris
Still feels weird that this hit #1 and not Dynamite but I’m not complaining because I prefer this to that song. Dynamite is also good for the record but not good enough to get a mention here. But yeah, this song has aged like fine wine. Taio Cruz sounds great, Luda is awesome as usual and this song is just very fun.
For a long time, Mine was my #1 of the year. However, very recently a song that I had previously thought was good but not incredible snuck up on me and grew on me so much and I started realizing that I can relate to it a lot and it hits me so incredibly hard emotionally that I couldn’t put it anywhere else but #1.
All The Right Moves - One Republic
Look, I like Counting Stars as much as the next guy, but this will always be One Republic’s magnum opus if you ask me, and this song is way too underrated in this community in my opinion! First off, this song sounds absolutely incredible to me! The absolutely perfectly balanced percussion, the absolutely gorgeous strings, guitar, and piano, the awesome piano solo, Ryan Tedder’s heavenly vocals, this song is just absolutely perfect on a musical level, at least to me. This is easily the best sounding hit song of the entire year and one of the best sounding hits of the entire decade! The lyrics, separating them from my personal relation to them, which I will get to, are absolutely fantastic and don’t get enough credit if you ask me. Basically, this song is from the perspective of an indie band who have just had success but are worried that it isn’t gonna last because they don’t have the same friends in the industry and the same flashiness and popularity of other artists in the mainstream. And so they are asking the public if they think the band is good enough to make it in the industry. Now one could argue that this song is unnecessarily pessimistic, but as someone who is somewhat of a pessimist myself, this feels normal and realistic. If you were in their situation you would probably be worried about your career ending too. And Ryan Tedder sells this song absolutely perfectly, and the sound and atmosphere of the song fits these lyrics incredibly well. Now, all of this would have gotten this song a high spot on this list, but what got this song to the top was the fact that I have recently built a personal relationship to this song. I am almost 18 at the time of writing this, I'm gonna be an adult very soon, and while there are some things I am excited about being an adult I am also very worried about failing in life. Or that if I do have success, that success will be short lived and I will never live up to that success again. And so a song about being worried about your career ending after having success really speaks to me and I can relate to it a lot. This song has quickly become one of my favorites ever! All The Right Moves by One Republic. The best hit song of 2010!
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