Side 11 of 11
2010
Top 40 turns into one giant club night
The top 10
- 01
TiK ToK
Ke$ha
electro-popclubFind similar tracks →On the charts
#1 on the Hot 100 for nine weeks. Best-selling digital song of 2010.
Why it mattered
The wake-up-feeling-like-P-Diddy era. Ke$ha and Dr. Luke made the official sound of the YouTube generation's house parties.
- 02
BedRock
Young Money · feat. Lloyd
pop-rapposse cutFind similar tracks →On the charts
Peaked at #2 on the Hot 100.
Why it mattered
Wayne, Drake, Nicki, Tyga, Gudda Gudda — Young Money's all-hands posse cut and a preview of how big each of those careers was about to get.
- 03
Like a G6
Far East Movement · feat. The Cataracs, Dev
electro-popclubFind similar tracks →On the charts
#1 on the Hot 100 for three weeks.
Why it mattered
Pure club-pop momentum — wobbly synth bass, a chant of 'sippin' sippin' sippin', and the year's most-imitated drop.
- 04
DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love
Usher · feat. Pitbull
dance-popclubFind similar tracks →On the charts
Peaked at #4 on the Hot 100.
Why it mattered
Usher fully crossed over into the EDM-pop era with a Max Martin co-write and a Pitbull guest verse. Top 40 radio was now indistinguishable from a Vegas pool party.
- 05
OMG
Usher · feat. will.i.am
dance-popclubFind similar tracks →On the charts
#1 on the Hot 100 for four weeks.
Why it mattered
The will.i.am production palette — synthetic, repetitive, club-built — became the dominant sound on Top 40 radio. 'Honey got a booty like POW POW POW.'
- 06
Dynamite
Taio Cruz
dance-popclubFind similar tracks →On the charts
Peaked at #2 on the Hot 100.
Why it mattered
An 'I throw my hands up in the air sometimes' chorus designed by laboratory experts to be sung by drunk crowds at last call. It worked.
- 07
Bottoms Up
Trey Songz · feat. Nicki Minaj
r&bclubFind similar tracks →On the charts
Peaked at #6 on the Hot 100.
Why it mattered
The bar-pour-it-up R&B template that ran late-night radio for the next two years, with a Nicki verse that was already starting to feel like a star turn.
- 08
Black and Yellow
Wiz Khalifa
pop-rapanthemFind similar tracks →On the charts
#1 on the Hot 100 for one week (in early 2011 after a Dec 2010 release).
Why it mattered
Stargate's icy hook + Wiz's Pittsburgh rep = the rap song that doubled as a sports anthem. Every team with the right colors adopted it.
- 09
Find Your Love
Drake
torontor&bFind similar tracks →On the charts
Peaked at #5 on the Hot 100.
Why it mattered
Drake leaned into singing on the Thank Me Later era and produced a moodier, more vulnerable hit than anyone expected from a 'rapper.' Half a decade of his career was foreshadowed here.
- 10
POWER
Kanye West
maximalistchicagoFind similar tracks →On the charts
Peaked at #22 on the Hot 100; lead single from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Why it mattered
King Crimson sample, choir, sirens, and 'no one man should have all that power' — Kanye returned from exile with the most ambitious rap record of the year. MBDTF would close the decade with a bang.
