Rolling in the Deep
2010 · From 21
Written with Paul Epworth in one afternoon after a breakup, and the credits list stiletto heels as percussion.
★ 7.5
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2010
Showing 47 songs from 2010
All of the Lights
Kanye West and Rihanna
2010 · From My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Rihanna sings the hook, Elton John plays piano, and West spent two years stacking fourteen singers behind the horns.
★ 7.3
Bloodbuzz Ohio
2010 · From High Violet
Cut in Aaron Dessner's Brooklyn garage, a horn part stripped out late, leaving that rolling drum pattern and Berninger's baritone.
★ 6.4
Tightrope
2010
Cut at Wondaland with Big Boi guesting, a horn-driven groove Monae wrote about staying level under praise and criticism.
★ 6.3
Teenage Dream
2010
Bonnie McKee rewrote it repeatedly until Benny Blanco suggested studying a Teenagers single, and one word cracked the chorus open.
★ 6.3
Pursuit of Happiness
2010
Ratatat cut the beat before Cudi arrived, MGMT added vocals, and Steve Aoki's remix made a song about intoxication ubiquitous.
★ 6.2
Fuck You
2010
Twinkling piano, bumping bass, the Smeezingtons doing sixties Motown, and a typography video that went viral on release day.
★ 6.1
Love The Way You Lie
2010 · From Recovery
Alex da Kid's beat, Skylar Grey's demo hook, Rihanna's vocal cut in Dublin, seven weeks at No. 1.
★ 6.0
The Suburbs
2010 · From The Suburbs
A rolling piano, Butler's boyhood in The Woodlands outside Houston, and an album he called a letter from the suburbs.
★ 5.8
6 Foot 7 Foot
2010 · From Tha Carter IV
Bangladesh built the beat around Harry Belafonte's Day-O, and Wayne released it six weeks after leaving jail.
★ 5.7
Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars)
2010
Every instrument played by Mars and Ari Levine at Levcon Studios, and a Grammy for male pop vocal followed.
★ 5.7
Only Girl (In The World)
2010
Cut in New York, finished by Sandy Vee in Paris, and Rihanna's ninth Hot 100 number one; euphoria on demand.
★ 5.3
Not Afraid
2010 · From Recovery
Boi-1da's beat, Resto's keyboards, and Eminem setting the Slim Shady mask aside; it debuted at number one.
★ 5.3
What's My Name
2010
Stargate's synth organ, Drake's first number one, and Rihanna turning a chorus of nonsense syllables into flirtation.
★ 5.2
Rill Rill
2010
Funkadelic's Can You Get to That, looped and sweetened, under the one Sleigh Bells song that whispers.
★ 5.0
California Gurls
Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg
2010
Perry's West Coast answer to Empire State of Mind, the misspelling saluting Big Star, six weeks at number one.
★ 4.9
Grenade
2010
Rebuilt two days before the album was due, its surf-pop guitars gone, and Mars sings it like a wound.
★ 4.7
All I Do Is Win
2010
Three rappers, one T-Pain hook, and a brass fanfare Obama walked out to at the 2013 correspondents' dinner.
★ 4.6
Black and Yellow
2010
Stargate's beat, a yellow Challenger with black stripes, and a Pittsburgh hometown chant that reached number one.
★ 4.6
Mine
2010 · From Speak Now
A leak forced its release nearly two weeks early, and Swift's lead Speak Now single still debuted at number three.
★ 4.5
The High Road
2010
Mercer and Burton met at Roskilde in 2004, then recorded in secret; the result shuffles beautifully toward resignation.
★ 4.4
Revival
2010 · From Halcyon Digest
Two minutes long, given away to fans who posted flyers, and jangling its way toward something like salvation.
★ 4.4
If I Die Young
2010
Kimberly Perry wrote it alone, and banjo, fiddle and mandolin carry her meditation on mortality across fifty-three Hot 100 weeks.
★ 4.2
Nothin' On You
B.o.B and Bruno Mars
2010
A Joe Tex drum break under a Smeezingtons hook, and Bruno Mars stepping out from behind the songwriting desk.
★ 4.2
Aston Martin Music
2010
Filmed among Aston Martins in Miami, with J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League's beat and Drake turning Ross's luxury boast wistful.
★ 4.1
Just a Dream
2010
Jim Jonsin and Rico Love built the beat, and Nelly took the heartbreak to number three.
★ 3.9
Your Love (Nicki Minaj)
2010
A leaked demo forced its own release, and an Annie Lennox sample gave Minaj eight weeks atop the rap chart.
★ 3.7
Deuces
Chris Brown and Tyga
2010
Three voices, one mixtape: McCall produced and guested, Tyga rapped, and Brown took a breakup to number one R&B.
★ 3.5
The Show Goes On
2010
Kane Beatz interpolated Modest Mouse's Float On, Atlantic made it the price of releasing Lasers, and Fiasco got his biggest hit.
★ 3.5
Airplanes
2010
Alex da Kid's beat, Hayley Williams on the hook, and a wish on a passing plane that went diamond.
★ 3.2
Cooler than Me
2010
Recorded on cheap gear in a college dorm room, co-written with Big Sean, and a number six hit.
★ 3.1
The Ghost Inside
2010
Mercer sang falsetto for the first time here at Burton's urging; Christina Hendricks plays the android in the video.
★ 3.1
Pretty Girl Rock
2010
Ne-Yo and Chuck Harmony built it on a Just the Two of Us sample; Kahn's video parades a century of divas.
★ 2.7
Raise Your Glass
2010
Shellback and Max Martin built a toast to outsiders, and it gave Pink her third Billboard number one.
★ 2.7
DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love
2010
Rihanna's team turned it down for Loud, and Usher took it to number four with Pitbull along for the ride.
★ 2.7
Yeah 3x
2010
DJ Frank E's video-game synths cut at the Record Plant, and Brown's return to pure pop after the mixtape years.
★ 2.2
Generator (First Floor)
2010
Queens kids who met on Craigslist and busked subway platforms, then made banjo and glockenspiel sound euphoric.
★ 2.0
Teach Me How to DougieCali Swag District
Teach Me How to Dougie
2010
A Dallas dance named after Doug E. Fresh, a cowbell-driven beat from Runway Star, and Inglewood teaching everyone else.
★ 2.0
Down On Me
2010
Twenty-three weeks of climbing before it peaked at number four, riding a Mick Schultz beat built for last call.
★ 1.9
I Like It
2010
RedOne's beat, Pitbull's verse, and Lionel Richie back at the mic re-cutting his own 'All Night Long' hook.
★ 1.7
Break Your Heart
2010
Fraser T Smith produced a UK number one; Mercury then added Ludacris and it leapt to the American top spot.
★ 1.5
Vanilla Twilight
2010
Written in 2007 about a girl who moved away for college, and every synth in it aches accordingly.
★ 1.2
Say Aah
Trey Songz and Fabolous
2010
Troy Taylor cut it at D2 in Atlanta, and Songz's birthday toast climbed to number nine, then double platinum.
★ 1.1