Heat Wave: The Top 10 Songs of The Summer

With Labor Day right around the corner, we're getting ready to call Summer 2010 a wrap. A few weeks from now, we'll just have memories of late nights at the club, barbecues, and chilling at the beach. But we'll also remember the songs that played in the background while we did all that. Songs that were bouncy, up-tempo, and sounded great blasting out of the whip. That's why we put together The Top 10 Songs of The Summer. So try and enjoy the nice weather while you can—and ride out with us one last time, because this summer was ours.

Yes, it's a novelty song and more of a joke than anything else, but it's surprisingly catchy and we can't stop singing it (we hear it even gets spins at some clubs!). Since its release, it's garnered 15 million YouTube views, helped Antoine move his family out the projects, and sparked debates about whether or not it's racist. Oh and by the way, the song landed at #89 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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This song (which was penned by Bruno Mars) has been out less than two weeks, but 50 Cent has already released a pretty dope remix to it and it's made a major impact. Cee-Lo spent the past few years running with Danger Mouse as Gnarls Barkley, but now he returns to the spotlight in grand fashion. When your girl breaks up with you, this is exactly the kind of song you bump while flying down the highway doing 60 mph, AC off, windows down, screaming, "Fuck youuuuu!" Then again, if she breaks up with you at the beginning of the summer, she's done you a favor, 'cause now you have three months to go straight scumbag.

Whether it's "Chicken Noodle Soup," "Laffy Taffy," or the infamous "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," a new dance craze pops off every few years, and the story is always the same: As soon as the song becomes a sensation, everyone hates on it and acts like it's the death of hip-hop ("2pac is turning over in his mansion in Cuba hearing this song!"), but then it plays at every club and everyone has a good time. So if you've hatin', don't worry. Next time you're at the club, we're sure there'll be a grenade willing to teach you how to Dougie.

Well past the "one-hit wonder" label that dogged him early on, Soulja Boy heats up the clubs once again with "Pretty Boy Swag," yet more evidence that his music isn't just for the kids. So make all the cocaine jokes you want, but we're gonna stay riding with the young boss. That's Aldous Snow Swag for you haters.

With his CEO locked up, Drake had to hold his Young Money crew down. He did just that with his stellar debut, Thank Me Later. Following the success of "Over" and "Find Your Love," Drake came with a lyrically-dense (peep the 32-bar verses) single, "Miss Me," that backpackers and hustlers could enjoy. The banger of a third single was yet another hit for Drizzy and Weezy.

Although it was originally a mixtape track from months ago, this song really popped off in the summer. Produced by Waka's good friend and up-and-coming producer Lex Luger, "Hard In The Paint" is straight dumb-out, concrete jungle music. That's probably why they shot the video for it in "The Jungle" of Los Angeles. Whatever it lacks in substance and lyrics, it more than makes up for with obnoxious, bass-slapping, head-knocking energy.

Ever since the opening chants to "Power" blasted through our speakers, we haven't been able to stop playing it. The song is so epic there was really no way the "Power (Remix)" or other songs like "Monster" could compare. Lyrically, Kanye offers everything we've come to expect from him: Those silly but memorable Kanyesque-lines ("With some light-skinned girls and some Kelly Rowlands"), sly references to the VMA incident ("Fuck SNL and they whole cast"), and genuine soul searching ("I just needed time alone, with my own thoughts"). The result was a brazen anthem that shows what happens when one of hip-hop's greatest forces harnesses all of his power.

While it's true we consider Ye's "Power" a better song, "B.M.F." is simply the anthem of the summer. Blame it on Lex Luger (who produced two of the top three songs of the summer) whose epic beat only fuels Ross' delusional grandeur. People may want to keep harping on his correction officer past, but when he's made arguably the best rap album of the year so far and the song we couldn't stop bumpin' the last three months, does it really matter?