The 25 Best Songs of 2010

doComplexThe 25 Best Songs of 2010

2010's best albums

We loved Dan Snaith's 2008 effort, Andorra, and couldn't have been more excited to know that he was finally following it up with this year's Swim. Given the shift in sound between his previous albums, we should have known the new material would sound nothing like what we've heard from Caribou before, and the first single "Odessa" made that strikingly clear. No complaints, though. We got a danceable disco/house-influenced record that wasn't corny. With acts like Hot Chip and Junior Boys struggling to impress us like they did five years ago, Caribou came in, lifted their style, and did it better than any of the genre's figureheads have in quite a while.

After the teenybopper TRL era, everyone was weary of pop music, and that hangover lingered throughout the 2000s until the genre fully got its swagger back this year. Ke$ha and Rihanna bodied the charts, but Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" is 2010's de facto statement for pop's return to glory. The dream team of producers and writers consisting of Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and Benny Blanco laced Katy with another No. 1 hit, and we couldn't help but bump it on the reg like a pack of 16-year-old girls. There's no substitute for well-crafted melodies and spot-on production and that's why your boys would rather sing along to "Teenage Dream" then crack jokes on you for listening to it. After ubiquitous radio (and Complex office) play, we got sick of it, and there's not one classic pop record that we can't say the same for. That's a good sign for Mrs. Brand.

“I Need a Dollar” is so soul food good you might mistake it for something out of a Bill Withers compilation. It serves as the theme song for the young entrepreneurs of How To Make It In America, but it’s really the theme song for the cash-strapped, unemployed (or recently laid off) Americans just trying to make it through the recession. In other words, it’s the theme song for just about everyone.

Every time the eerie, hypnotic strums of Curren$y’s “Michael Knight” come through our speakers, we find ourselves transported to the hazy, weed-addled mind of Spitta. The song isn’t so much about its content as it is about its groove. We know it’s hard to appreciate the genius of a hook that’s as simple as repeating, “Michael Knight, Michael Knight, Michael Knight, Michael Knight, Michael Knight [crazy whistle]” but there’s something mystifying about this song. Enough so that it can win over even the most ardent Curren$y critic.

G.O.O.D. Fridays

Tha Carter 4

It'd be easier to dismiss Lil B as a novelty act if he didn't make songs this great. "Wonton Soup" feels like an invitation to a party celebrating the fact that music like this is even being made. For almost six minutes, the Based God brags about little more than the variety of reasons why girls suck his dick: he took them to the opera, he laughs while they shop, he looks like J.K. Rowlings. It's hilarious, brilliantly low-brow, and just plain catchy. We'll gladly discuss Illmatic lines with rap nerds later, but rap needs diversity. Lil B is brash, exciting, and honestly, redefining the boundaries of hip-hop a little bit. We'll cook to that.

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Sun Bronzed Greek Gods

Like every amazing song Soulja Boy has ever released, "Pretty Boy Swag" endured every insult from the critics and rap purists this year ("It's barely even a real song" was a popular one). A slow thumping arrangement of sinister piano tinkling, electro blips and tight 808s, DeAndre pushes his minimal mastery to the extreme by playfully whispering and stretching the infectious hook ("This...righthere...ismy...swag"). Granted, S. Beezy raps like his idol Gucci Mane and channels a good deal of his own artist Lil B's distinctive #swag, but this was a perfectly distilled moment of audacious arrogance in a year when most of his fellow Atlanta rappers couldn't catch a break. Soldier!

Admit it, after the success of "Best I Ever Had," you expected Drake to go the lovey-dovey route for the first single from Thank Me Later. Luckily he took a risk and dropped one of the most unexpectedly original introductions in years, an epic swirl of orchestral strings and stuttering military drums produced by Boi-1da and Al Khaaliq. Fresh off skyrocketing to celebrity status in ’09, young Aubrey used the platform to reflect on fame in his characteristically conflicted manor, anchored by the brilliant opening question, "I know way too many people here right now that I didn't know last year—who the fuck are y'all?" With plenty of R&B ballads in the chamber, "Over" served as an important reminder—it's bigger than hip-hop, but Drizzy's still a rapper first.

With all the great music Kanye released this year, you might have forgotten just how absolutely amazing “Power” was. With two obscure samples running concurrently as he spit three of his hardest verses ever, the song was a lion’s growl reminding everyone exactly what Kanye was capable of. Touching on everything from social ills to Obama’s “jackass” comment to his own inner struggles, “Power” was Kanye’s triumphant return to the top. Every superhero needs his theme music—this was Kanye’s.

Elitists didn't want to believe that Crystal Castles could make a song this good, this year. In a world where critics frame their opinions around anything but how the music sounds, Alice Glass' habit of chugging whiskey onstage at shows packed with teenagers wasn't doing her any favors. People really hate when a buzz band gets rich and starts living that life, but don't get caught up in the snob cycle; "Celestica" is fire and we'd stand by that without knowing any backstory. The band moved from barely audible, abrasive vocals to thoughtfully constructed pop melodies. The result is still "digital fantasy world" status, but not in a way that requires us to give our friends who only listen to rap a disclaimer before playing it. Crystal Castles made the most accessible record of their short career without abandoning their signature style, and it worked like a charm.

Waka Flocka was 2010's most unlikely success story. Initially viewed as Gucci Mane's weed carrier, Waka more than proved his worth by dropping three legitimate hits in the past 12 months (including Pusha T's favorite song of 2010!) and a dope ass album. Although "No Hands" was a bigger chart hit and the "O Let's Do It (Remix)" had an epic Diddy verse, we consider "Hard In Da Paint" his best song. For one, it helped cement Lex Luger (who Waka actually discovered through Myspace, LOL) as hottest young producer in the game. But more importantly, "Hard In Da Paint" is the perfect anthem for when we feel like punching someone in the face, robbing a bank, and then proceeding to do hoodrat stuff with our friends (in that exact order). We’re not saying that’s not recklessly ignorant, we’re just saying sometimes we feel like being recklessly ignorant. So thank you, Waka Flocka, for making it OK to feel that way.

2010 was good to Pittsburgh. A city that’s never had a homegrown rap superstar got one, as well as a hometown anthem. Seriously, they’re gonna be playing "Black & Yellow" at Steelers games 20 years from now. After Wiz popped off this year with an organic laid-back sound developed with hometown producers, there was a bit of apprehension when word leaked out that he had been in the studio with mega pop producers Stargate (Rihanna's “What’s My Name,” Beyonce's “Irreplaceable”). However, no one could be mad at the result: an understated, bass heavy banger that Wiz coated with a super simple, catchy hook, and lyrics about stacking millions, bitches showing love ’cause you fucked their friends, and keyless ignitions.

Most artists might have avoided making a song like this after something like Swiftgate. But that’s why we love ’Ye: He doesn’t give a fuck. The stabbing “Look At You” vocal samples and dark rumbling synths may have made “Runaway” feel chaotic, but Kanye’s honest and vulnerable thoughts on his shortcomings were lucid and revealing. Oh, and did we mention the amazing Pusha T verse that he had to re-write four times because Kanye needed "more douchebag." So let’s have a toast, ‘cause nice guys do finish last and scumbags get to have all the fun.

It wasn’t the biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (it peaked at No. 60), but if you hit the clubs or the streets you’d know “B.M.F.” was the anthem of 2010. An ode to the legendary gangstas Larry Hoover and Big Meech, “B.M.F.” helped us all live vicariously through the grandiose words of Rick Ross.