Top ten best hit songs of 2010

So like I said in the worst hits of 2010, it was not a good year for the ARIA chart mostly because of the club boom and the songs within that but then those outside of the club boom ignoring it and pretending it wasn’t happening however I have managed to find ten songs that I think are worthy of this list so let’s get stuck into the top ten best songs of 2010.

We begin with an Aussie band that had a little song that did surprisingly well on the charts in 2010…

10. “Plans” by Birds of Tokyo

Originally when I made this list as a draft, I placed it at number two mainly because I was in the middle of an infatuation with this particular song but as time went on, it kind of faded on me a little but this song still does an incredible amount right, the slow build through the verses and into that chorus with that guitar and drums that are missing a fair bit in the modern pop scene and front man Ian Kenny’s vocals are just superb on this song. Birds of Tokyo continue to rack up minor to moderate hits on the ARIA chart to this day with “Good Lord” being their most recent hit.

So still on the pop rock vein of things…Scouting for Girls!

9. “This ain’t a Love Song” by Scouting for Girls

This only barely scraped onto the 2010 year end list and I for one am glad it did as Scouting for Girls sing about a relationship that soured to point of them throwing the whole thing away and how he’ll recover from the end of the relationship and that she won’t be keeping him down and the instrumentation hints at there being more drama to come between the pair with the guitars and orchestral swell. Good job!.

This song was one of the biggest hits of 2010 and for good reason…

8. “Fireflies” by Owl City

Look, this song might have made it higher on the list if it didn’t start coming across as completely twee and its unfortunate that Owl City has in recent times released less than impressive music but “Fireflies” has also been that one Owl City song to come back to where he describes being kept awake by bugs and dealing with insomnia over an oddball synthline, yeah, I don’t think time has been kind to this song but it still deserves to be here regardless.

She might have made my worst list but that doesn’t prevent her from landing a song on my best list…

7. “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry

This is the Katy Perry I love, the one way she’s just going the silly pop songs, having fun and we all should be too because “Teenage Dream” is that song about being in head over heels in love and going all the way with no regrets and being the girl that this guy fantasised about as a teenager, its just the perfect beach pop song. Nice job, Katy.

As I mentioned earlier 2010 was the year of the club boom and right at the centre of the boom was Ke$ha with her brand loud, brash and kind of bratty music but if you want a song from her where the party curdled for a turn to the dark.

6. “Take It Off” by Ke$ha

Okay so this sound might sound very similar to the GWS Giants song and given one of those behind the writing of “Take It Off” would be the cause of so much heartache for Kesha but regardless of all that, “Take It off” is awesome as Kesha proceeds to describe a visit to a bar where everyone filthy, drunk, or wasted (possibly all three) with its electro infused beat plus the auto tune but Kesha just owns the relentless hedonism this track and indeed the club boom as a whole seemed to gravitate towards. Great song!

I won’t have many chances to talk about Florence and the Machine on year end lists so I am taking the opportunity here and now.

5. “You’ve Got the Love” by Florence and the Machine

When I did this list originally I had this song at number one, a decision I wrestled with because it didn’t quite feel like the right one and one that I couldn’t possibly justify because while it’s a cover of Candi Station’s 1986 hit, Florence and the Machine turned this song into a epic despite it being shorter than Station’s original. This cover brings forth a sense of euphoria with its instrumentation and Florence Welch’s belting. While I couldn’t justify it being number one, it deserves a place on this list.

Never dreamed of seeing this guy on an ARIA chart end of year hit list either but hey it was 2010…

4. “Just Haven’t Met You Yet” by Michael Buble

Michael Buble is just about the last person I’d expect to see in amongst the sea of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, B.O.B (We’ll get to him). Kesha and a whole slew of club boom songs but none the less this jaunty and somewhat fun song from Canadian crooner ended up being a hit for him possibly because radio was looking in weird places to find songs that didn’t tilt straight into the club boom so much so it peaked at number nine on the ARIA singles chart, I can see why though with Buble oozing easy charisma as he sings about just not having met the right woman for him. Lovely song.

So I mentioned B.O.B before, a rapper who showed in the early 2010s that he had plenty of talent and it was never more evident when he teamed up with a future popular music superstar for this…

3. “Nothin’ On You” by B.O.B feat. Bruno Mars

Man, if you wanted to talk about wasted potential…B.O.B was that…he has three songs on the ARIA year end list with “Airplanes” feat. Hayley Williams and “Magic” feat. Rivers Cuomo but its “Nothin’ On You” that makes the list because its just a charming song where B.O.B doesn’t want any other girl In his life other than his girlfriend and yes there are a few cheesy lines like “You’re my wonder woman call me Mr Fantastic” that triggered some raised eyebrows but its that hook sold by Bruno Mars that really threw the song this high on the list, it’s just perfect with that piano and Mars crooning his way over the hook.

So I’ve never really cared for this band all that much, sure they have songs I like…like this one…

2. “The Only Exception” by Paramore.

In a year where it felt like music wasn’t going to let the party slow down and take a breath, this guitar lead ballad from US pop punk band Paramore was the perfect breather where Paramore’s lead vocalist Hayley Williams is the star of the show with her delivery just perfect for a song about the protagonist believing that love doesn’t exist and is trying to live without it but then realizing that love does exist with this one person in her life, it’s just such a sweet song and am glad this reached the year end list.

As I said earlier, Florence and the Machine’s “You Got the Love” would have been my number one pick when I drafted this list and while that song is great, I couldn’t ignore this song from an artist who really was grabbing the headlines in 2010…

1.   Alejandro” by Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga was going to make this list in one way or the other with one of either “Bad Romance” or this song making the list and while “Bad Romance” is decent, “Alejandro” is just even better, it’s a song that sees Lady Gaga saying goodbye to her former lovers realizing that the relationship just isn’t working out. In fact by the end of the song, she’s bidded farewell to three former lovers, it shows Lady Gaga at her least weird and most vulnerable but I think the reason why I like this song comes more in the production where “Alejandro” sounds like an Abba combined with Ace of Base song especially in terms of the vocals and melody, it’s a fantastic song and more than deserves to top this list.

Top ten worst hit songs of 2010

In the lead up to making my end of the decade top ten best and worst hit songs of the 2010s and unfortunately we begin with what I consider to be one of the worst years for the ARIA charts this decade with the mainstream caught between music that blared loudly and obnoxiously from the club scene and those desperately trying to plug their ears and pretending that what was going on was not happening while making good to mediocre music so let’s begin with getting the trash out of the way first and begin with the worst hits of 2010…

Let’s begin this worst list with what was a predictable and unfortunate presence on the 2010-year end singles chart…The Black Eyed Peas.

10. “The Time (Dirty Bit)” by The Black Eyed Peas.

This may not be the only appearance the Peas make the worst list but this song is absolutely AWFUL beginning with the slaughtering of the chorus of Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes 1987 hit “I’ve Had the time of my life” before launching into this Skrillex inspired dubstep rap mess with vaguely party words from Will.i.am and Fergie  that it’s almost a relief when Will.i.am sings the chorus before it goes back into the dubstep style mess and oh interpolating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This isn’t the worst Black Eyed Peas song to make this list and we’ll get to it, but this can rot in hell.

Speaking of bad club music…thank god this stopped being a thing beyond 2010…

9. “Like A G6” by Far East Movement

There’s not much to be said for this. This is lazy filler made on a computer with a beat that sounds constipated and lyrics that make no sense whatsoever, seriously. “When sober girls around me they be actin like they drunk” doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I won’t be putting my hands up for this song any time soon.

This next song would be kind of decent if I could ignore the one dumb line in the song…

8. “Firework” by Katy Perry

It’s mostly here for that one stupid line that kind of just blows my mind, the line that goes “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?” for a song about somebody being akin to a firework? The line is ridiculous no matter which way you try to put it although given what else Katy released in 2010, its hardly surprising and no, I don’t feel like plastic bag.

So this young lady was the focal point of the club boom in 2010 and she might well appear on the top ten best list but we need to address this nonsense first…

7. “Blah Blah Blah” by Ke$ha feat. 3OH!3

Now in 2010, I wasn’t a fan of Ke$ha and for me this song was one the reasons why, it’s a lazy obnoxious song that kind of sounds like everything else around it and Ke$ha sounds like a little girl, it really is very irritating and 3OH!3 phone it in. All set to an instrumental that doesn’t change or evolve from sounding like somebody dialling on their phone with messy instrumentation all over the top of it…NEXT…

When I said there’d be more Black Eyed Peas…I meant it…

6. “Imma Be” by The Black Eyed Peas

Ugh. This song fails on the production alone with the watery sounding snaps and Will.I.Am repeating ‘Imma Be’ to incoherence and Fergie jumping into her laziest flow in a while bragging about how she’s going to sipping drinks because she’s shaking her hips then we get to the weak rhymes and oh god…gang vocals in the background before stepping up into this weird techno sounding thing with somebody playing random piano keys…because they can.

If you ever wanted to know why and how the Peas fell apart…this may well have been the start.

Speaking of Will.i.am though, his production messes weren’t just for his own band…

5. “OMG” by Usher

This song is just incoherent noise complete with the headache inducing gang vocals only stopping for Usher to say, “Oh My God”. Its really just a flat flimsy song that really should have just stayed in Usher and Will.i.Am’s private club as it’s not even fun to dance to or allow anyone to have a good time with its migraine inducing beat and given Will.i.am managed to turn this into a Black Eyed Peas sounding mess…I am not surprised.

Justin Bieber turned up in 2010 for better or worse but what I think has been forgotten is he appeared on this juvenile train wreck.

4. “Eenie Meanie” by Sean Kingston feat. Justin Bieber.

“Baby” by Justin Bieber won’t be making this list largely because he has to live with the embarrassment that song is but also because “Eenie Meanie’ represents so much worse because it comes across as abusive, maybe the girl is indecisive because she isn’t sure how to escape both Kingston and Bieber, who can blame her when the opening lyrics of the song “Eenie meenie miney mo. Catch a bad chick by her toe. If she holla (if, if, if, she hollas) let her go”

The word “Shawty” needed to stay in the 2000s. Just saying.

So yeah from juvenile to a song that tries to be sexy but manages to be the furthrest thing from it.

3. “Rude Boy” by Rihanna.

This song has been a staple of Australian radio especially in terms of the throwback hit and unfortunately this is Rihanna trying so hard to be sexy when the production is this limp synth and Rihanna barking over the top of it, if you want an example of how unsexy this song is and then Rihanna says she likes it when he pulls her hair which takes me completely out of the song. Just no.

I think this song has been castigated from pillar to post from everyone raking it over the coals so I am not sure how on earth I can add to it but it deserves to be here.

2. “Hey Soul Sister” by Train

So Pat Monahan’s song writing just doesn’t make sense whatsoever, lipstick on the front lobe of my left side brains and then referencing this girl being a game show love connection and being a virgin like Madonna and oh…Monahan is so obsessed with this girl that his heart is beating right out of his untrimmed chest which makes the song faintly icky all set to this weird washed melody from a ukulele of all things. Train would go on to some more forgettable garbage but you’ll have to wait for another worst list for that one.

So we’ve reached the peak of this list and when I scoured the list for this year, I came across a song that represented the most obnoxious of 2010 and when I said I’d mention 3OH!3 again…well here we are…

1. "My First Kiss" by 3OH!3 feat. Ke$ha 

1.  The fact that Ke$ha of all people is on this load of garbage is actively infuriating because the attitude of the members of 3OH!3 toward women in this song is disgusting and even worse they aren’t even attempting to play it comedically over a beat that wouldn’t be out of place in a primary school playground except without the vulgar lyrical content. Speaking of the lyrical content, its gross with male entitlement eg: “If I had it my way, you know that I’d make you say oooh” which just reeks of egotism, dudes, you aren’t all that, get over yourselves.