These are the top twenty songs of the decade. Whether “top” means subjectively the best songs or my favorite songs or the most important songs is above my pay grade. Here's the Spotify playlist.
“Seasons (Waiting On You)” by Future Islands (2014) The song that knocked David Letterman’s argyle socks off. The only song that might be better than this song is BADBADNOTGOOD’s reinterpretation of this song.
“Dancing On My Own” by Robyn (2010) A stone cold classic that set the tone for the Skies Ferreira and Carlies Rae Jepsen to come.
“Nothing To Find” by The War On Drugs (2017) Can’t get away from this one. I think it’s because of the eighties cheese they smeared all over the organ on the back end.
“Swing Lo Magellan” by Dirty Projectors (2012) To hear all three versions of this song, put on a pair of earbuds and listen to it. Then take out the left earbud and listen to the solo acoustic version. Then put the left one back in and take out the right earbud to hear the drums and bass version.
“Pulaski At Night” by Andrew Bird (2013) One of those transcendental songs you can listen to three thousand times in a row and not get sick of.
“The Waiting” by Angel Olsen (2012) The entirely of her career as a recording artist to this point has occurred within this decade and, of that work, this is just my personal favorite.
“Stuck on the puzzle” by Alex Turner (2011) A crafty little charmer that is, for some reason, significantly more memorable than the film it was composed for.
“Real Love Baby” by Father John Misty (2016) An unpretentious, unintellectual, and unimportant one-off pop/love song from a guy who wrote all the most pretentious, intellectual, and important songs of the decade.
“New York” by St. Vincent (2017) A very worthy new entry into the Great New York Song Book.
“Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” by Arcade Fire (2010) A great Arcade Fire song that for a long time didn’t sound like an Arcade Fire song.
“Avant Gardener” by Courtney Barnett (2014) So much nutritional content here.
“Shake It Out” by Florence + The Machine (2011) A cup of very good, very strong coffee. That cold brewed stuff that makes you jitter and hum.
“Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen (2012) The since-transcended calling card of the strongest pop vocalist performing today.
“Get Lucky” by Daft Punk ft. Pharrell (2013) In 2013, there was an audio explosion of all-time jams, but this may be the all-timiest.
“Word Crimes” by “Weird Al” Yankovic (2014) An extremely clever grammar parody of an extremely unclever song (“What rhymes with hug me?”) that was, itself, plagiarized.
“Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)” by Run The Jewels ft. Zack De La Rocha (2014) These guys make music that makes you feel like you could run through a series of brick walls.
“Harmony Hall” by Vampire Weekend (2019) Newly released, but so gorgeously produced and arresting that it will stand the test of time.
“One Sunday Morning (A Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)” by Wilco (2011) The shortest 12-minute song ever recorded. Someone once said of Wilco’s “Impossible Germany” that it was like growing a beard in six minutes; this song is like living an entire quiet life in 12 minutes.
“Hand Covers Bruise” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (2010) These buzzy, digital tones set the tone for a decade of film and television scores.
“Monster” by Kanye West ft. JAY-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver (2010) This one has everything: a groundbreaking artist at his creative peak, a critically acclaimed indie singer/songwriter, a hip hop legend, a magnetic new rap superstar… and also Rick Ross. It opens with one of the worst rap verses of the decade and ends with one of the best.
Honorable Mentions:
“Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye ft. Kimbra (2011) The Best Song of the Decade Not Featured On Any Best Song of the Decade Lists.
“Half-Remembered Dream” by Hans Zimmer (2010) For better or worse, this is now the soundtrack to every movie trailer.
