The 100 best songs of the 2010s - Far Out Magazine

Sometimes taking time to step back and reflect is the healthiest thing you can do. At the end of 2019, hordes of publications sprang to release their "Best of the 2010s" lists, giving the short end of the stick to the more recent chronological entries and looking to wrap up a decade before it was even done. Even now, it's probably too early to judge the previous decade accurately. As we get further away, the 2010s will become much clearer. The pop culture that really mattered will stick around while the rest will fall away.

But as a new decade starts off on the wrong foot, now's as good a time as any to look back. Maybe those nostalgic days of the early 2010s, with Barack Obama and the iPhone 4, were the glory days. Maybe they were just as much of a clusterfuck as our current times are (pandemics tend to pop up every once in a while). Hindsight might be 20/20, but it's easy to put on those rose-coloured Ray-Bans and just remember the good times. A simple way to do that is to reflect on the day's music.

The day in question formed a stark contrast with what came before. After a decade where laddish indie and sultry R&B were the mainstays, thanks to a booming party culture fuelled by drink so cheap you could even fill a swimming pool with it in a cost-of-living crisis, the economic disaster called time at the bar and a reassessment of sorts got underway. When the financial crash of 2007-2008 began to unfurl, we became cognizant that fat bastard banker figures had been figuratively fiddling while Rome was being built on false foundations. 

This crumbling collapse echoed in the music of the 2010s. This was signposted when even chart heroes like the Arctic Monkeys ditched commercial sanctity and fled for less furrowed territory in the desert with 2009's Humbug. That same year, people were moved to take note of avant-garde albums like Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest when previously it would have been condemned to the ash heap of history for being too arty. The next generation were taking note of this. 

Challenging was now a compliment again. Spiritualism was a necessity. And having been failed so badly by the bourgeoisie, the boon that rose from the rubble was a levelling of the playing field and the birth of a more egalitarian music scene. Thankfully, stars like Angel Olsen and Julia Jacklin grabbed this space by the lapels, and soulful women dominated the landscape of the new alternative era. 

As things moved on and the beast of the internet grew like a hungry caterpillar destined never to burst into a beautiful butterfly but to stay a fat, ugly lava, the world grew more bipartisan, and music followed suit. The modern divisive online battlefield is far from limited to politics. Cults are formed in culture too. In the 2010s, it was more difficult than ever to put your finger on the prevalent trend of the day. Rap certainly became the new rock 'n' roll, complete with all its pinnacles and pitfalls, but what does that say of the old rock 'n' roll, because it certainly didn't just go away?

Old, hardened scenes that once lingered in dingy bars shipped out from our gentrified highstreets and were dispersed into the ever-darkening macrocosm of the world wide web. This was both good and bad for era-defining youth culture: if offered them more choice, but less unified collectivism. The unravelling effects of this can be seen in the strange conformity to non-conformity that besets the tail-end of today's otherwise rosy music scene. 

This decade-long mishmash of divergent music trying to find its feet in a fractious world is reflected in the list we've cobbled together. Few things are timeless in the modern cyber age where everything is somehow forever and utterly ephemeral, but amid this forgettable uncertainty, a slew of songs have stood out as truly brilliant pieces of art with more depth than the immediacy of days gone by would allow.

This might mean that the 2010s were perhaps not the most anthemic times, and certain masterpieces were fated to be bound to our bedrooms rather than transcending society at large. However, with everything only a click away, you've got those old barnstorms to rave about too. Now, thanks to the matured 2010s, we've also got these mellower balms to brighten up this moody world with a more measured intent. 

Only a few years on, these tracks already let you revel in the nostalgia of the old halcyon days when we pieced things together. So that's what's going on here, by looking at 100 of the best, most important, and most influential songs of the past decade.

So break out your flower crowns and mourn Vine one more time as we look back on the best the music world had to offer in the 2010s.

The 100 best songs of the 2010s: 

100. 'Entombed' – Deftones (2012)

Alternative metal heroes Deftones are one of the most consistent groups out there, and if you look back at the list of their nine studio albums, you'll see that none are duds. From their debut, 1995's Adrenaline, to their last outing, 2020's Ohms, they produce multifaceted bodies of work that have increasingly toed the line between punishing and melodic. For this reason, they are so revered, even by those who wouldn't necessarily be fans of metal.

One of their greatest moments is 2012's Koi No Yokan, which means "premonition of love" in Japanese, and that's what it is. Whether it be 'Swerve City' or 'Rosemary', the project is bursting with an array of brilliant cuts that energise and subdue at different points. Although the question of what the highlight is is a tough one, it has to be 'Entombed'. The real sound of a premonition of love, Moreno depicts unrequited passion with earnest and poetic zest, which is augmented by a blend of hypnotic melodies and electronic textures. It's a strange thought, but when you listen to songs such as this Koi No Yokan masterpiece, you can't help from viewing them as the refined counterparts to those found on the wholly underrated Saturday Night Wrist.

99. 'Child' – The Maccabees (2012)

Emerging amid the indie slew of the mid-2000s, The Maccabees were an outfit that pushed onto ever-progressive realms beyond many of their old peers. Given To The Wild was an album that marked the zenith of their rise to new artistic heights. With swirling sounds and experiential wonder in the songwriting, they remain a gleaming gem in both decades. The unspoken depth of the musicology and philosophy on display gave the songs a truly encompassing scope.

The swell of 'Child', building towards some gorgeous guitar work, is the pinnacle of how they constructed and composed a beautiful anthemic sound. Topped off with Orlando Weeks' always unique but utterly sincere vocals, there simply aren't many songs that sound like this. And vitally, it soars on a march of spiritualism rather than a grasp for faux originality. Rarely does such complexity seem to flow with such ease. That's a feat that takes a lot of creative cohesion.

98. 'In My View' – Young Fathers (2017) 

Good music evokes a feeling of some sort. Young Fathers are impossible to ignore. The feeling they induce is often one akin to a perturbing fear. There is so much energy in their music that the beat proves infectious. The sky gets a little darker when you play 'In My View', and life becomes more cinematic. This moodiness helps to deliver a sagacious message with a force that you can't help but take notice of.

When they emerged in 2008, long before their first studio album, they had a look cooler than Top Cat's and enough unflinching intent to convince you that there isn't even a hint of 'performance' about them. Then, as the act became more polished over the years, they began blasting songs like this one live and slapped everyone's face as they made a raucous mess. The world is less colourful without young Fathers around.

97. 'Far From Born Again' – Alex Cameron (2019)

A gloriously blunt take on sex work, Alex Cameron brings all the autonomy and pride, minus the shame and judgment, to an adult entertainment industry figure in 'Far From Born Again'. Cameron paints a protagonist who is in control and in demand, taking full advantage of her own assets while those who can't understand are stuck at home practising self-service. 

Funny, hooky, and smooth as hell, 'Far From Born Again' is an anti-slut shaming anthem that could only be made in the 2010s. It's a sentiment that set the course for many of Cameron's better works and underpins this venture too. 

96. 'Get Lucky' – Daft Punk (2013)

Disco never really died. Its reverberations were felt in the pop and dance music that came out in the decades to come, even if nobody dared say the dreaded D word. Daft Punk knew that some of music's true geniuses lived in that world (they'd been stealing from Giorgio Moroder for years at that point) and they tapped a real icon to bring it back en vogue. Nile Rogers, through his work with Chic, made the best disco music ever, and he got to reinvigorate his own legacy with the help of two robots and Pharrell on 'Get Lucky', at once one of the catchiest and most anachronistic pop songs of the decade.

'Lucky' ditched the forward-thinking aspects of Daft Punk's robot rock in favour of recreationist homage, but it was so well done that it still felt fresh. Convincing modern music fans to embrace the 1970s most antiseptic genre was like pulling off a magic trick, but like Rogers before them, Daft Punk found the humanity that could elevate and excite.

95. 'Hope to Die' – Orville Peck (2019)

The world wasn't exactly clamouring for grand indie-country from a pseudonymous gay cowboy in a bondage mask, but most people don't know what's good for them anyway. Pony is full of dramatic turns, but 'Hope to Die' is the most ambitious, from the hushed intro to the gradual ramping up of intensity and instrumentation to the ridiculous final key change that drives the song into the territory of campy masterpieces. 

It's only logical that Peck would go on to duet with Shania Twain: with bravado and mystique to spare, the world finally has a country crooner that can embrace the drama and grandeur that embodies the best of the genre.

94. 'San Francisco' – Foxygen (2013)

California duo Foxygen have been delivering the heady sounds of the sunshine state since 2005. They've released six albums to date and a slew of EPs, and their fusion of baroque pop and psychedelia is enough to quench even the bluest of days. Their most significant body of work came in the form of 2013's We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, which boasted singles such as 'Shuggie' and 'No Destruction'. 

However, the best cut from the album and the pair's best piece has to be 'San Francisco'. A catchy tune that takes as much from the countercultural rock of the 1960s as it does the French pop of the same era, it is the aural embodiment of floating on a cloud of smoke, and it is utterly exquisite, confirming that Johnathan Rado and Sam France are an artistic force to be reckoned with. Luckily for us, they're still going strong, with their style of music one of the most summery in existence.

93. 'Palaces of Montezuma' – Grinderman (2010)

Taken from the deep trenches of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' hard rock outfit Grinderman and their 2010 LP Grinderman 2, 'Palaces of Montezuma' is a standout moment from the beginning of the decade. It's far removed from the debonair connoisseur of creativity that Cave would become later in the decade. Here we have the uncaged animal often prowling through Nick Cave's work. 

Part of Cave's transformation into the aforementioned suited agony uncle came through his Red Hand Files, a place where fans can directly speak with the rock icon. During one such exchange, Cave answered a question about the song's origins: "It's not the sort of question I feel I have the authority to answer," Cave said. "These songs, you know, just present themselves."

92. 'Graceless' – The National (2013)

Pairing spacey rock instrumentations with brooding baritone vocals, it became commonplace to call The National a modern Joy Division in the 2010s. With Trouble Will Find Me, Matt Berringer and the band effectively broke the mould and created their own identity through sheer force of will and great songwriting. The one link from past to present was 'Graceless'. 

Even their most dour imagery could lift you up when you needed it, and 'Graceless' sparkled even as it sank into its own darkness, creating a strangely dichotomous light that could only come from one band.

91. 'Wide at Midnight' – The Wytches (2014)

Brighton-based alt-rock group, The Wytches, brought their dark, gritty sound to our ears in full force with their 2014 debut album, Annabel Dream Reader. Drawing on grunge, punk and garage rock influences, the band established a unique sound characterised by reverberated, shrieking guitar runs and Kristian Bell's entrancing vocals. 

The LP was packed with highlights, but a cut above the rest was the 'Wide at Midnight', a strange nocturnal excursion deep into the dark recesses of an illusive nightmare that flirts with death, yearning and wide, piercing "feline eyes". The track marks one of the highlights of the decade thanks to its absorbing poetry and impressive swelling instrumentals that reach a climax of emotion towards the song's closing seconds. 

90. 'Shelter Song' – Temples (2012)

Kettering, Northamptonshire, and psychedelic rock are not things that anybody, even great surrealists like Bob Mortimer, would consider conflating. Led by Marc Bolan MK.II, James Bagshaw and the band broke through in 2012, a year that saw many a great psychedelic band rise up. Out of this set, the finest are Temples, with there a reason that they were by far the most successful of their peers.

The band have released three albums to date, and although all have been well received, it takes a lot of work to top their debut, 2014's Sun Structures. The album's opener, 'Shelter Song', is the best and is one of the ultimate psychedelic classics. Featuring one hell of a riff on the twelve-string guitar – evoking the sounds of The Byrds – and a hypnotic beat, this was the 2010s getting truly groovy. There's no coincidence that sales of paisley shirts and Chelsea boots skyrocketed after this piece dropped. 

89. 'Catamaran' – Allah-Las (2012)

There is something effortlessly breezy about the cool tones of Allah-Las and their standout hit 'Catamaran'. It might be that the band was built out of the garage rock scene from Los Angeles and is blessed with the kind of seamless chicness that few can match up to. But, in truth, the smoky guitars and laconic rhythm give this track more potency than most. 

Their debut self-titled album is positively brimming with this kind of comfy summer jam. Like the titular boat, the track asks you to slack off work a few hours earlier, fill a cooler with some beers, roll a joint, and float into the watery horizon. 

88. 'Isle Of Arran' – Loyle Carner (2017)

Making his waves in the latter part of the decade, south London rapper Loyle Carner differentiated himself from the hip-hop set with a blend of melodic beats and carefully curated lyrics. It was on his 2016 album Yesterday's Gone that he truly took things up a notch with 'The Isle of Arran', a song that explored the side of his family from Scotland. 

Carner explained to BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac: "I spent a lot of time there. It's where my granddad grew up, it's a little island off the top of Scotland, and there's not much to do there. It's a very long journey (from London), but it's beautiful; it's secluded." While Carner does a good job of explaining here, his descriptive process within the song really shines.

87. 'Two To Birkenhead' – Bill Ryder Jones (2015)

Bill Ryder-Jones may have initially been best known for his brilliant work as the youngest member of The Coral. However, since leaving the band in 2008, he has crafted a remarkable solo career that has illuminated the fact that he is one of the best songwriters of his generation. One particular crowning moment came with the release of 'Two To Birkenhead', taken from his nostalgically-titled album West Kirkby County Primary.

The track exonerates Ryder-Jones' enviable ability as both a guitarist and a songwriter, opening with a brilliantly crafted intro guitar piece before settling into a calm and patient verse. Ryder-Jones takes us down memory lane through his Merseyside youth (as he is wont to do across much of his oeuvre). In many ways, 'Two To Birkenhead' exemplifies the sound of the 2010s, which would be perfectly stated throughout the decade by bands such as Big Thief.

86. 'Nerve Endings' – Eagulls (2013)

Leeds post-punks Eagulls were one of the decade's highlights, and it's a crying shame they opted to call it a day in 2018, as you can't help but think that the best was yet to come. Despite this, over their nine years of existence, the band delivered two stellar albums, 2014's Eagulls and 2016's Ullages, both of which have aged like fine wines and are now ranked amongst the most cultish records by British groups.

Fusing blistering post-punk with a more expansive sound that drew on genres such as shoegaze, psychedelia and industrial, it was topped by frontman George Mitchell delivering visceral vocal performances carried by a naturally melodic undercurrent. 2013's 'Nerve Endings' was their breakout track, and it was a way to announce their arrival. Anthemic, punishing and mesmerising, with the reverb-drenched guitars stirring, this track inspired a generation of bands who are currently playing their trade under the post-punk moniker but with much less power. 

85. 'Dancing on My Own' – Robyn (2010)

You know that feeling you get when you see your ex with someone else? That anxious churn in your gut as the floor drops from under you? Well, it kind of feels like the propulsive synth bass that kicks off 'Dancing on My Own', the brilliantly heartbreaking ode to losing love at the club from Sweden's best export since ABBA, Robyn.

Despite her immense popularity, it still feels like Robyn flies under the radar at times, even as she's put out some of the most dependably danceable music for 20-plus years. Few, though, can challenge the bubblegum power of 'Dancing on My Own', at once one of the saddest and most triumphant productions of the 2010s.

84. 'If You Need To, Keep Time On Me' – Fleet Foxes (2017)

Delicate and beautifully performed, 'If You Need To, Keep Time On Me' is Fleet Foxes at their most elegantly stripped back. Mostly just Robin Pecknold and his acoustic guitar, the song is intimate in its presentation and lush in its simplicity.

After years away, Pecknold needed comfort and reassurance, personifying the intense feelings that come with leaning on someone else in your own time of need. It turned out to be the decade's quietest and most heartfelt love song.

83. 'Composure' – Warpaint (2011)

Appearing on Warpaint's 2010 debut album The Fool, 'Composure' was a long source of mystery for fans of the band, desperate to decipher the elusive chant that opens the track. Eventually, the band revealed that they are repeatedly singing, "The clit-cut, the clit-cut, the clit-cut, the cut what?", a reference to the gruesome events of Lars von Trier's 2009 film Antichrist starring Charlotte Gainsbourg. The song deals with the crushing weight of wanting someone you find astoundingly beautiful. Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman sing in harmony, "How can I keep my composure? I turn my back, and you've got my shoulder," before the words "you are beyond" are repeated with unnerving desperation. 

The song moves through gorgeous shimmering guitars and intricate drumbeats, creating a slightly unnerving yet beautiful sound – the perfect sonic encapsulation of the lyrics. The track feels darkly feminine and unashamedly so – hypnotising listeners with experimental vocal delivery and mesmeric instrumentation. Jenny Lee Lindberg's moody bassline brings the track together perfectly, holding together the volatile and capricious track. 

82. 'Revival' – Deerhunter (2010)

Although they'd been around since the early 2000s, Atlanta-based alt-rockers Deerhunter reached their full stride in 2010 with their most commercially and critically revered fifth album, Halcyon Digest. Commenting on the album's theme, frontman Bradford Cox told Q Magazine: "It's supposed to be like a collection of short dispatches," adding that it "has a lot to do with how people romanticise the past, even if it was horrific".

The album explores a satisfying array of ethereal and experimental sounds and emotions with the use of synthesisers and effect-warped guitar patterns. A shoutout to the rapturous beauty of 'Desire Lines' will come later, just swiping the gold medal from 'Revival', which sits proudly in second place; who would have thought a group could fit something so powerfully stimulating into just two minutes? 

81. 'Miami' – Baxter Dury (2017)

If this list were based upon the best lyrics, then Baxter Dury's 'Miami' would be placed much higher thanks to the poetic line, "I don't think you know who I am, I'm the sausage man". It's the opening track to Dury's 2017 album, Prince Of Tears, written from the perspective of an arrogant mischief maker he invented as the protagonist for the record.

For an album opener, 'Miami' has all the ingredients you'd desire and makes you, as a listener, want to go on a wild journey with this madcap character, even if you suspect it's destined for disaster. On the one hand, the track makes no sense, but then again, that's precisely Dury's point. Songfacts quotes him as saying: "The man singing and speaking it all is unreliable; he can't see the world properly. It's massively delusional, but because of that, it's also emotionally true."

80. 'Hold On' – Alabama Shakes (2012) 

It must be something in the water. Some of the greatest artists, and some of the greatest sounds, have come from the land once and forever known as Dixie. A healthy mix of soul, country, rock, gospel and fried foods led to a mouth-watering combination, and the greatest representation the south got in the 2010s was the band that bore the name of its most notorious state. The Alabama Shakes played southern rock for the modern man, and it was never more potent than it was on 'Hold On'. 

A good old-fashioned ode to staying strong when the odds are stacked against you, Brittany Howard alternately explodes in righteous fury and consoles herself for making it this far, bringing a dynamic rush of funky soul to the rock-solid music provided by her fellow Shakes. The band was a torchbearer for what rock music could be in the modern musical landscape, and it was with simplicity and God-given talent that they produced a song that brought them out of the south and onto the world stage.

79. 'Bad Girls' – M.I.A. (2012)

M.I.A. is not an artist for a Monday morning. However, if you catch 'Bad Girls' in the right setting and lighting, the atmosphere of the anthem alone will put you in a very singular place. Mixing influences from all over the world, the eclectic sound of the song is unplaceable, and that's the epoch of its achievement–it almost seems otherworldly, both foreign and familiar.

The lyrics might be nothing new, but when accompanied by eastern instrumentation, they are sharpened and repurposed into a daring culture clash. All of this comes together to create a truly bold barnstorm. In short, 'Bad Girls' is one of the very few songs you'll find that genuinely don't seem to give much of a damn, and that is a liberating thing to listen to. It's a swagger beast to meet in below strobing lights of some sort.

78. 'Jubilee Street' – Nick Cave  (2013)

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delivered one of the best songs of the decade in the form of 'Jubilee Street', the fourth track on their magnificent fifteenth album, Push the Sky Away. The single was accompanied by an excellent music video directed by John Hillcoat and starred none other than the inimitable Ray Winstone. The lyrics tell of a prostitute who lived on the formerly sleazy Jubilee Street in Cave's hometown of Brighton, England.

Sonically, the track opens with a simple rimshot drumbeat and a guitar that just about threatens to break into distortion. Nick Cave's unique vocal style cuts us to the core before several delicious instruments join the fray, including a truly gorgeous string section. The whole band drifts away momentarily, allowing us to reflect on Cave's lyrics before coming back in full force, resulting in a glorious crescendo that only the Bad Seeds could genuinely muster.

77. 'The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala' – Arctic Monkeys (2011)

Arctic Monkey's 2011 record Suck It and See might not be their best, but 'The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala' ranks as one of their best songs. Largely for its beautiful harmonies, touching tone, and off-beat lyrics. 

It's naturally a confounding set of lyrics by design, as Turner refuses to paint any picture too clearly. "There's always a load of words in our tunes, isn't there," remembered Turner, speaking the NME. "And I was trying to think of a way of being a bit more economical, so we thought the one way of doing that is having really simple choruses but quite complicated verses lyrically — and that were one of them. I mean, it's based on a place that I've been, but I don't necessarily want that to be what the listener associates it with. 'Cause maybe they can relate it to a place they've been. I don't want to ruin that by giving them a map."

The song will go down as one of the band's finest moments.

76. 'Ready to Start' – Arcade Fire (2010)

What once was can never be again. You either keep moving or die, but you have to take that first step. By the time a new decade rolled around, Arcade Fire began to tire of their twee indie folk sound. The Suburbs was their last stand before transitioning into a dance band, complete with more ironic visuals and less earnest lyrics. 

'Ready to Start' is an embrace of the future, even at the expense of those who might be left behind. Arcade Fire had exhausted their original sound, but it brought them to a level of success that allowed them to transition elsewhere. That conflict is present in The Suburbs, but their intentions were clear with 'Ready to Start': damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

75. 'Under the Cover of Darkness' – The Strokes (2011)

Never count The Strokes out. Just when you think they've been gone too long, they come back and surprise you. Created among increased tensions and decreased morale, Angles was an experimental turn that still yielded some of the best material of the band's career, the top of which was 'Darkness'. Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. add fantastic harmonies to beef up their once raw and paired back sound, while Julian Casablancas lets his full-throated yelp go full-on pop for the first, and possibly last, time. 

Only Casablancas could get away with a line like "everybody's singing the same song for ten years" and then put his own band on hiatus for almost that long, shit-eating grin, presumably still intact. The 2010s were not kind to The Strokes, but 'Under the Cover of Darkness' was the one moment that seemed like the New Yorkers were back on track. It would take them another decade to get their shit together.

74. 'Baby' – Ariel Pink (2012)

In 1979, Donnie and Joe Emerson released a beautifully sexy track entitled 'Baby', which they had recorded on their family's farm in Washington. Over three decades later, Ariel Pink listened to the tu...