The Album of the Decade

What is the Album of the Decade?
The Album of the Decade is my attempt to capture the music of the 2010’s as accurately as possible. I’ll be considering what songs were most popular at the time, what songs were most important to the decade as a whole, what artists owned the decade, and what songs were both objectively and subjectively the best in order to determine which fifteen songs, in the future, will come to represent the 2010’s.
Was there a criteria or method for my selections?
Nothing that was carefully crafted or anything like that. I did want to make sure that there was some variety in genre, gender, message, etc. In fact, the only one concrete rule was that an artist could only be included one time. But aside from that, there really wasn’t much else. Catchy Summer Chart-Toppers that lack deep substance were given the same consideration as the songs that are masterfully crafted or have a clear-cut and important message. As you’ll soon see, all of the songs I chose were “popular” to some extent — 11 of the 15 reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and all of the songs that were eligible at the time of this writing have been nominated for or won a Grammy.
Why should you trust my judgment?
Because I probably put more time and consideration into figuring out this list than I did any other project on Bingeable. I researched not only this past decade of music, but also the 2000’s, 1990’s and 1980’s to see what kind of songs end up standing out for the long-run. I’m not guaranteeing you’ll agree with all fifteen choices. In fact, I would bet that most people will probably dispute at least half of my selections. That’s fine, I won’t take offense. Just give it a shot, consider my picks, and enjoy the auditory ride down memory lane.
NOTE: I’m aware that this is very long. I wrote it after-all. If you can’t read it in one sitting, just scroll through, find some of your favorite songs (or the choices you are most curious about) and check those out. Come back later and read the rest.
Presented in Order of Release
1. California Gurls (Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg)
Released May 7, 2010 … 6 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (June 19 — July 30, 2010) … Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals

Just like nobody will confuse Katy Perry with any number of female artists who have consistently delivered powerful ballads, no one will mistake California Gurls with many of the songs on this compilation that stand out due to the content of their message. But as we should know by now, sometimes it’s the prototypical summer smash that stays around for the longest, just like sometimes it’s the super sexy pop goddess who spends multiple years as the biggest and most bankable musician in the world.
Between 2010 and 2013 the Billboard Hot 100 chart was topped by eight different songs belonging to Katy Perry. The first of those eight songs was California Gurls, Perry’s unofficial answer to Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ 2009 ode to New York. With the help of West Coast rap legend Snoop Dogg, California Gurls is a delightful pop joy ride through a winding rode of California summertime clichés like sex on the beach, laying under palm trees, sun-kissed skin that is so hot that your popsicle will melt, and bikini’s, zucchini’s and martini’s. I didn’t understand why Snoop included “zucchini’s” in there until I did some research and found that zucchini was likely first cultivated in the United States in California. Then again, I have no idea if this is why Snoop made this reference. I’d love to ask him.
Snoop added the perfect amount of cool — not too much, not too little, but just right — to a song that needed it in order to avoid becoming another earwormy sensation that came and went by the time Summer had turned to Fall. Snoop’s presence, coupled with an infectious beat and an underrated vocal performance by Katy Perry, gave California Gurls legs that helped it to transcend traditional genre restrictions and become something just a little bit more than the biggest summer song of the 2010’s.
2. Rolling in the Deep (Adele)
Released November 29, 2010 … 7 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (May 21 — July 8, 2011) … Grammy Wins for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Short Form Music Video

Adele is a pretty gloomy gal, isn’t she? I’m sure that sounds like an insult, but it’s not meant to be. That’s not to say that she isn’t incredibly talented; even if you’re not a fan of her work, it’s likely that you can at least appreciate what she brings to the table as an artist. I just think sometimes she must be followed around by rainclouds.
Rolling in the Deep isn’t your run-of-the-mill midday shower though … it’s a serious as hell storm with Adele’s booming voice acting as the periodic crashes of thunder and bolts of lightning. Of course, this was by design. Co-Writer/Producer of the song Paul Epworth implored Adele that Rolling in the Deep, a song inspired by a bad break-up that Adele went through, shouldn’t be a break-up ballad. He wanted to co-write a “fierce tune” with Adele, and he regularly encouraged her to “be a bitch about it.”
And my goodness, a bitch she was. Again, that’s not an insult. What Adele managed to pull off in Rolling in the Deep is nothing short of a triumph, building and building like the thunder rumbling in the distance, before it all comes crashing down with the now trademark “We could have had it all!” yell that will send chills up your spine.
As the piano keys continue to pound and the background singers chant “You’re gonna wish you, never had met me, tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep” over and over again, we begin to see that this isn’t your ordinary Cry Me a River style break-up anthem. This was Adele’s lightning striking the ground and burning down everything in sight, most notably her ex, who had to sit there all charred up, waiting over a year for Rolling in the Deep to fall out of the Billboard Top 40.
3. Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera)
Released June 21, 2011 … 1 Week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (September 10 — September 17, 2011) … Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Of the fifteen songs that I selected for the Album of the Decade, Moves Like Jagger was the last song to make the cut. Now there were songs that were bigger chart hits than Moves Like Jagger, which surprisingly sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 for only one week. There have certainly been artists who have had a reputation of producing higher quality work than that of Maroon 5. But I would argue that it’s a virtual certainty that the music of Maroon 5 will live on for multiple decades.
Maroon 5 probably doesn’t get the credit they deserve for consistently churning out radio singles for nearly the entire 21st century, and since that’s the case it felt like it was a necessity to include them in this compilation album. So the question was, which song should it be?
Moves Like Jagger was the one I landed on pretty early on for multiple reasons — a perfect song title, the legendary subject matter (Mick Jagger called the song “very flattering,” and the ultra-catchy chorus — but the most important reason for me was a personal one. I still remember where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard Moves Like Jagger. I was very intoxicated and bowling in Canada with my friend Collin, but I can remember hearing that opening whistle melody and thinking to myself, “Well this is something different, and I absolutely love it!”
That ultimately is why Moves Like Jagger is the pick … it was altogether unique, even borderline risky, so much so that I’m confident I’ll always remember where I was when I heard it because it didn’t sound quite like anything else on the radio at that time — It was a blend of pop, disco and rock sounds that’s rare. Maybe it’s just because I was out of the country, drinking legally for the first time in my life with my best friend, and those are the kind of memories that stick with us, or maybe it’s because Moves Like Jagger was able to resonate in a way that many other Maroon 5 songs just never quite could. Payphone, Sugar, and Girls Like You have all been massive hits this decade, and maybe they’ll stay around for just as long, but none of them represented as big of a swing Jagger did.
4. Somebody That I Used to Know (Gotye ft. Kimbra)
Released July 5, 2011 … 8 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (April 28 — June 22, 2012) … Grammy Win for Record the Year, Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

It feels unfair to call Somebody That I Used to Know a one-hit wonder. Before Somebody That I Used to Know, Gotye had only charted one other song in the Billboard Hot 100. He didn’t have one charting single after it. So by definition, sure, this is probably a one-hit wonder, but it lacks the inherent flukiness or rareness that we usually associate with hits of this kind.
That’s not to say that Somebody That I Used to Know was like everything else on the radio of Spring 2012, because it wasn’t. We Are Young by fun. had climbed to the top of the charts in mid-March and stayed there for six weeks, kicking off a nice run of Alternative Indy Rock in 2012–13 led by fun., The Lumineers, Mumford and Sons, and Of Monsters and Men. But nothing was as bold or as notable as the haunting electronic folk sound that Gotye and Kimbra combined to deliver to us.
Somebody That I Used to Know is a fairly simple concept, yet it’s brilliantly constructed, exquisitely performed and altogether perfectly executed. Gotye and Kimbra tell the story of the most relatable break-up of all-time, and it’s not just in the lyrics that they convey their message. You can actually hear the pain and sadness in both of their voices throughout.
What I love most — and I’ll go ahead and admit this may be my favorite song that has been released over past decade — is that the performance is understated for the majority of the time we’re listening. Both performers remain reserved, civil and mostly calm until Kimbra’s verse is nears its conclusion. The tension has been building, not just for the two and half minutes we’ve been listening, but likely for months between these two former lovers. Finally it reaches the point where, only for a brief moment, Gotye and Kimbra are screaming over one another, as if it were an actual fight that the two were having while recording.
In all of the big and little details, Somebody That I Used to Know is a masterpiece.
5. Ni**as in Paris (Jay-Z and Kanye West)
Released September 13, 2011 … Peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 … Grammy Wins for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song

It’s impossible to overstate how colossal a Jay-Z/Kanye West collaboration album was in 2011. If Watch The Throne wasn’t the best rap album of the decade, then it’s on the short-list of albums worth considering. Two of the greatest rappers of all-time, both damn near the peak of their powers, ushering in the era of Luxury Rap while mixing in elements of arena rock and traditional orchestra sound with top-tier hip-hop prowess … good lord it was a powerhouse.
The standout single on Watch The Throne was Paris, but you didn’t need me to tell you this. Typically, when artists are compelled to play a specific song more than once on multiple stops along a concert tour, you know it’s one they’re feeling pretty good about. Jay and Ye played Paris a combined 19 times at two Los Angeles shows in December 2011. A few nights later they played it ten times in a row in front of a crowd in Vancouver. And of course, when they were in Paris in June 2012, they performed Paris a dozen times in one show.
If it seems excessive, that’s because it is … and that’s the point. Paris is all about excess and fame and materialistic boasts that are delivered over a menacing beat, but there’s a more to this braggadocious banger than what might meet the eye. When Jay-Z raps, “I’m shocked too, I’m supposed to be locked up too, You escaped what I’ve escaped, You’d be in Paris getting fucked up too,” it’s a reflection of genuine surprise because people who came from where he and Kanye come from aren’t supposed to be recording decade-defining jams in a Paris hotel suite that costs $3,200 a night.
Paris is an overpowering fuck you anthem, only Jay-Z and Kanye never need to explicitly say, “fuck you.” All they needed to do is rap about moving the Nets from New Jersey to Brooklyn, staying at Le Meurice and owning cold whips, and the message was crystal clear and well-received.
6. We Found Love (Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris)
Released September 22, 2011 … 10 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (November 12, 2011 — January 6, 2012) … Grammy Win for Best Short Form Music Video

Before I began researching this project, I made a few assumptions about what I expected this list would eventually come to look like. I knew that one spot had to be reserved for Rihanna, who is arguably the most successful singles artist of the 21st Century — she’s delivered an amazing thirteen #1 hits as either the lead or featured artist, and an additional seventeen songs that entered the top ten.
Another assumption I made was that there would probably be an EDM song included. Now it’s entirely possible that someday in the future we’ll look back on EDM the same way that middle-aged folks today look back on Disco. It was a little silly, fun to dance along to, probably went hand in hand with casual drug usage, and inspired some ridiculous trends in film/television — like Saturday Night Fever/Staying Alive in the late 70’s/early 80’s and Jersey Shore in the 2010’s. But once you got past all of that stuff, you realize that more than anything else it was an era of music that made such a lasting impression that it’s still being talked about multiple decades later.
That brings us to We Found Love, a song that wouldn’t rank among my ten favorite Rihanna songs, but one that stands out in a very distinct way thanks to RiRi’s partnership with prominent EDM DJ Calvin Harris, who has had seven top 20 hits as a lead artist in addition to We Found Love.
We Found Love was the first EDM club banger that made a significant splash on the charts. That could have something to do with the frenzied electro beat that can nearly make you see strobe lighting as you’re listening, or perhaps it’s Rihanna’s dreamy vocals that top the Harris-manufactured beat. Regardless of what the hook was, it got every believing, if only briefly, that love could be found anywhere.
7. Same Love (Macklemore/Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert)
Released July 18, 2012 … Peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 … Grammy Nomination for Song of the Year

Same Love is probably the most unconventional choice for the Album of the Decade. Sure, it received a well-deserved Song of the Year nomination at the Grammy’s, but it has been largely overshadowed by Thrift Shop and Can’t Hold Us, two wildly popular singles off of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s critically acclaimed and Grammy winning studio debut album, The Heist.
We could talk about Mary Lambert’s vocal performance, Ryan Lewis’s simple yet standout instrumental work or even Macklemore’s skills as a rapper, but really what stands out with Same Love is the motive — its composition is beautiful, but the message is even moreso. Together, this trio delivered the first high-profile hip-hop single that supported equal gay and lesbian rights.
Same Love gained mainstream notoriety after it was picked up as the unofficial anthem by supporters of legalizing same-sex marriage. Specifically, it was in reference Washington Referendum 74, a state referendum that would approve or reject a February 2012 bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. All three members of the Same Love trio are from Washington, so this was a deeply personal issue for them, particularly Mary Lambert, a lesbian woman and LGBTQ activist.
Even though Macklemore is a straight white male, this was very much a passion project for him too. In his own words:
“This song is a humble submission to help bring this conversation to the surface, so that we can reflect on the language we use, and how powerful it can be. Rethinking, and understanding the gravity of how we communicate with each other. Change happens when dialogue happens. When we confront our prejudice and are honest with ourselves, there is room for growth, and there is room for justice.”
It’s crucial to acknowledge that Macklemore isn’t approaching this song attempting to understand the struggle of members of the LGBT community. Instead, he’s presenting himself as an ally who has a firm understanding that people who have the platform that he has should be using it to advance the causes of the members of society who have been discriminated against since our country’s inception.
8. Get Lucky (Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams)
Released April 19, 2013 … Peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 … Grammy Wins for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

If any song is worthy of challenging California Gurls as the undisputed marquee Summer Song of the decade, it should be Get Lucky, but there’s one issue: Get Lucky isn’t an ordinary song. It’s an illusion.
In the most technical sense, Get Lucky is a song. But it’s unjust to pigeonhole at as a Summer Song. Get Lucky is as much a Summer Song as it is an Earth, Wind & Fire song. Get Lucky is a Summer Song as much as it is a Song that could’ve been released in the year 2047. Even though there are songs on the compilation that were significantly more popular and thus could very well maintain that popularity and remain ”timeless” longer than Get Lucky will, Get Lucky is the clearest example of a song that literally feels timeless. In 2013, Thomas Bangalter — one half of Daft Punk — revealed in an interview with BBC that the intention of Get Lucky “was not to go back to the past; rather, it was to try and bring the timeless quality of the past into the present.”
Mission accomplished. Together, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, and Nile Rodgers (making musical magic on guitar) co-wrote, co-produced and co-performed a song that managed to effortlessly blend old-school funk and futuristic techno goodness. The end result is a track that sounds like it could belong on a soundtrack to a party that our grandparents or future grandchildren could’ve enjoyed. Fortunately, we were the lucky ones who got to experience it firsthand.
9. Royals (Lorde)
Released June 3, 2013 … 9 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (October 12 — December 20, 2013) … Grammy Wins for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, Grammy Nomination for Record of the Year

If we’re looking for the Most Millennial song of the last decade, while there are certainly no shortage of options to choose from, Royals would have to be considered one of the favorites. There are very few things Millennials enjoy more than calling people out on there bullshit, and New Zealand teen Lorde wasn’t afraid to criticize the lavish celebrity lifestyle that many modern-day performers gush about in their work; a level of wealth and notoriety that many listeners will never be able to reach.

Royals is an “Art-Pop” triumph; an ambitious blend of various genres that coalesces into a track that is as catchy as simple summer pop hits, yet so much more sophisticated than those. Lorde has said that “pop doesn’t have to be stupid,” and that “alternative music doesn’t have to be boring. You can mesh the two together and make something cool.” Well, if that was her intention for Royals, then it was a sweeping success.
The song’s arrangement is pretty straight-forward … frequent use of finger snaps, a bass-heavy hip-hop beat, and deep, confident vocals that shouldn’t be coming from a tiny sixteen-year-old like Lorde. As a performer she’s well beyond her years, and the fact that she came up with a concept for a song as calculated and brilliant as this one while on her lunch break at school says a lot about her as a person.
10. Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars)
Released November 10, 2014 … 14 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (January 17 — April 24, 2015) … Grammy Wins for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Both subjectively and objectively, Uptown Funk is the single funkiest, catchiest and most fun song of the decade, and perhaps ever. That’s a point that somehow seems indisputable, an amazing accomplishment considering the sheer volume of great American music. With no disrespect to Old Town Road (Spoiler Alert: It’s coming up shortly), it’s both surprising and disappointing that Uptown Funk wasn’t the song that was released in the 2010’s that overtook the top spot for longest-reigning #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bruno Mars attacks Uptown Funk with a level of intensity and swagger that no other current artist could match. It’s a Prince-esque powerhouse performance; one that will likely end up being the defining accomplishment of his career. Mark Ronson’s instrumental contributions and back-end production is what puts Uptown Funk over the top though. Every single sound you hear in the background — the “doh” vocal baseline, the drums, the guitars, and most importantly the A+++ work on the horns — is vital and so damn well-executed.
The final product is one that sounds like it should’ve been a vintage funk-pop hit straight out of the year 1984. Ronson and Mars could’ve easily performed Uptown Funk on the same night Prince and The Revolution and Morris Day and The Time both took the stage at the First Avenue nightclub in Purple Rain. Both acts were obvious influences on Uptown Funk, as were R&B legends Kool & the Gang, The Gap Band, and James Brown.
Just a warning for those who aim to critique Uptown Funk: your critical assessment will come off like you’re grasping for straws, because any perceived issues with the track won’t have anything to do with why it was able to transcend music and become a cultural touchstone. Nobody cares that the lyrics include a non-sense phrase like “I’m too hot (hot damn), make a dragon want to retire man.” If anything, the goofiness makes Uptown Funk even more lovable because for four minutes and twenty-nine seconds we can forget about the inherent negativity of real life and escape into this Mark Ronson-created auditory euphoria that sounds like the best time of your life.
11. Hotline Bling (Drake)
Released July 31, 2015 … Peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 … Grammy Wins for Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance

Just like I knew ahead of time that a spot on the Album of the Decade needed to be reserved for Rihanna, it was a foregone conclusion that it would be a lead-pipe cinch that a Drake single would be included as well. I asked three of my closest friends who would classify themselves as Drake fans what three songs they thought Drake would be defined by, and the one song they all had in common happened to be the one that I was leaning towards.
Hotline Bling was released on SoundCloud as an afterthought alongside Back to Back, a relentless and critically acclaimed diss track that took aim at Meek Mill. It was nice to momentarily have rap beefs again, but it wasn’t too long until the B-side throwaway to Back to Back was emerging as one of Drake’s most notable tracks to date.
Hotline Bling would go on to win two Grammy’s for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance even though it’s hard to classify it as “Rap.” I’m not quite sure how Grammy voters mistook one of Drake’s softest R&B slow jams as a rap song, especially when it was sitting right next to Back to Back, but it deserved recognition nonetheless. In Hotline Bling, Drake plays the hurt, confused former lover who is very concerned with the fact that his ex is wearing less, going out more, and hanging with a new crowd of girls that he has not seen before. It’s reflective, intimate, slightly cheesy and oh-so groovy.
And I’d be remiss if I simply ignored the fact that the Hotline Bling music video was one of the most memorable and memeable of all-time. In theory, the quality of the music video shouldn’t be a deciding factor for the songs included in this compilation — I’d like to believe you’re listening to this mix on Vinyl, but realistically since it’s the year 2019 it’s probably more accurate to assume it would be on iTunes or Spotify … either way, music videos aren’t included — but the relevancy of certain songs can be given a major boost if its music video does find a way to stand out in the 21st Century. And boy oh boy, the Hotline Bling video made its mark.
12. HUMBLE. (Kendrick Lamar)
Released March 30, 2017 … 1 Week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (May 6 — May 12, 2017) … Grammy Wins for Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video, Grammy Nomination for Record of the Year

While I won’t sit here and pretend that I am the go-to authority on rap music in the 21st Century, I do think that it’s worth mentioning that in the last five years I’ve bought exactly two CD’s that are exclusively for listening to in my car. One of those two CD’s was Kendrick Lamar’s Damn., a purchase that I made after only hearing two songs on the album, one of which was HUMBLE.
I knew that HUMBLE. was something special the first time I heard it. Stripped down instrumentally in comparison to a lot of what we had heard from Kendrick on To Pimp a Butterfly and good kid, m.A.A.d. city, HUMBLE. succeeds on the strength of pulse-pounding electric guitar intro, an ominous piano riff throughout, a mesmerizing hook, and some of the most captivating lyricism you could imagine being treated to, though that’s not a huge surprise given we’re talking about the man who wears the Best Rapper Alive Championship Belt around his waist.
Kendrick’s message in HUMBLE. could be interpreted as a double-entendre, but regardless, he’s out to make a bold statement. On one hand, Kendrick is rapping about his own rise to fame and success — nothing says “I made it” quite like being paged by President Obama — and how he’s aiming to stay grounded, achieve personal growth, and remember his humble upbringing, where syrup sandwiches were a regular part of the morning meal rotation.
On the other hand, Kendrick comes in with guns blazing, leaving little to the imagination and all subtlety at the door preaching to his rap-game contemporaries that they better step up their game, or to sit down and be humble if they are going to continue to be content with living in Kendrick’s ever-growing shadow over the rest of the field.
13. This Is America (Childish Gambino)
Released May 5, 2018 … 2 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (May 19 — June 1, 2018) … Grammy Wins for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance, and Best Music Video

So what I said before about music videos not being a deciding factor for the songs included in this compilation … well that doesn’t apply to This Is America. That’s why I’m embedding the music video:
Even more so than Drake’s meme-worthy Hotline Bling performance or Kendrick’s powerhouse HUMBLE. video, This Is America is the one song included on this compilation that exists in direct partnership with its music video, a tour de force that is directed by Hiro Murai, a frequent Director of Atlanta, Donald Glover’s (aka Childish Gambino) FX program. In truth, it’s actually something more than just a music video; it may be the best and clearest example of meaningful art in the 21st Century. It’s been deconstructed and dissected from all angles, various messages being found and deciphered like a modern-day Da Vinci Code, all leading us to better understand what life was like in America in 2018.
This Is America had its fifteen days of fame — the two weeks it was at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, and then again on Grammy night when Donald Glover became the first hip-hop artist to win both Record of the Year and Song of the Year — but it’s reign may have last even longer if the content didn’t make people so uncomfortable. But then again, the discomfort was the point. Both the song and the video were designed specifically to make you squirm. This Is America addresses the issues of gun violence and mass shootings in America, racism and discrimination directed towards African Americans, and the startling lack of attention that is paid to combatting these issues, but you’re lulled into a sense of celebration and excitement early on, only to bashed over the head with a darker, more threatening beat, chilling lyrics and brutally violent images in the video.
There are two images from the video that really stand out. First, the two instances when Gambino guns down a guitar-playing black man and later an all-black choir before gently placing his weapon down on a red cloth, revealing the completely fucked-up ideologies of people who are more concerned with their 2nd Amendment rights than the lives of people of color. And second, the final shot of the video where Gambino is sprinting away from the horrors that are behind him, running with his eyes widened towards the horrors he’ll eventually see.
We have a long way to go until the America that Glover exposed is a thing of the past, and even if you’re optimistic enough to believe we can get to a place where these issues are resolved, This Is America will always remain a frightening and influential reminder of where we came from.
14. Shallow (Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper)
Released September 27, 2018 … 1 Week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (March 9 — March 15, 2019) … Grammy Win for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Grammy Nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, Academy Award for Best Original Song, Academy Award for Best Original Song

The first time I heard Shallow in its entirety I was in the car by myself. I had yet to see A Star Is Born, and I had only seen the trailer that featured Ally (Lady Gaga) singing a bit of what would become Shallow to Jackson (Bradley Cooper). I listened to Shallow on the radio that day, and by the time it ended I felt like I needed to pull the car over. Since that day, I’ve never once been able to avoid getting the chills when listening, even after dozens and dozens of listens when working on this project.
I imagine I’m not alone in being completely overwhelmed by the beauty of Shallow. I mean, the music alone can grab a hold of your heartstrings and tug on them like nobody’s business. The acoustic opening perfectly accommodates what Bradley Cooper was able to handle vocally — and hey, what a fucking flex for Bradley Cooper — and with each passing second the instrumental accompaniment grows larger, introducing drums, bass and piano until eventually it feels like you’re on an emotional roller coaster, leaned back in your seat and slowly riding higher and higher until your at the peak of the ride and ready to drop. And when you finally do drop, it’s Lady Gaga who comes roaring in and obliterating everything in her path with what may be her finest moment as a performer.
Even if Shallow was a standalone single it could’ve very well ended up making this compilation, but it was helped by the fact that it was the featured song in one of the most critically acclaimed films of the decade. It’s my theory at least one marquee original song written specifically for a film will make the list each year. Lose Yourself in the 2000’s, My Heart Will Go On in the 1990’s, etc. Shallow was the runaway winner for the 2010’s.
15. Old Town Road (Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus)
Released December 3, 2018 … 19 Weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (April 3 — August 17, 2019)

“I think Lil Nas is a hero who came along when the world needed a hero. At a time when we’re so divided, he’s a light in the universe.”
That quote came from a Billy Ray Cyrus interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, and while it may seem just a wee bit hyperbolic, it’s hard to argue that if there were a universal light shining down during the Summer of 2019, it was probably the one coming off of TikTok phenom Lil Nas X and his inescapable genre-blending hit, Old Town Road.
Old Town Road could very well end up being nothing more than the quintessential decade-defining one-hit wonder, and if that’s the case then it’s astounding popularity still qualifies it for inclusion on this compilation. But my theory is it will come to represent something more than that. No, I don’t think we’ll all eventually see Lil Nas X as the hero we needed in 2019, but I do think Old Town Road’s rise out of thin air as one of the moments that exemplifies the power of the internet in the second decade of the 21st century.
A teenage producer from the Netherlands named YoungKio comes across a cut of the Nine Inch Nails song Ghost IV — 34, samples it, and puts it on a website called BeatStars, “a digital production marketplace that allows music producers to license and sell beats.” Lil Nas X eventually leases this beat for $30, and without ever meeting or talking on the phone, Nas and Kio have suddenly created the biggest Billboard hit ever and the fastest-selling Diamond Record of all-time.
The fingerprints of social media obsessed Gen Z listeners are all over Old Town Road’s ascension, but make no mistake, this was a song that managed to appeal to almost everyone, except for those pesky racist country music fans who hated that a young black artist dare sing about wearing Wranglers and riding horses. Years down the line when self-driving cars have been replaced by robot-operated vehicles, we’ll still all be singing about taking our horse to the Old Town Road.


