Top 25 Songs of the 2010s: Billboard Hits, Streaming-Era Anthems, Viral Songs, Pop Crossovers, and Decade-Defining Music

The 2010s changed how hit songs became hits. Radio still mattered, but streaming, YouTube, viral videos, playlist culture, social media, soundtrack placements, meme culture, and global pop all helped reshape the charts. Billboard’s decade-end Hot 100 Songs list gives one useful view of the biggest chart performers of 2010–2019, but the cultural memory of the decade is even wider.

This list uses Billboard’s decade-end ranking as the base. PCM also looks at what people still remember, request, dance to, quote, meme, stream, sing at weddings, and associate with the 2010s. In other words, chart success matters, but staying power gets a seat at the table too.

How the 2010s Changed Popular Music

The 2010s were the first full decade in which streaming became central to pop success. A song could become massive through radio, but it could also explode through YouTube views, Spotify playlists, viral clips, dance challenges, memes, soundtrack placements, and social sharing. That helped songs like Old Town Road, Despacito, Somebody That I Used to Know, Gangnam Style, and Sunflower become cultural events, not just chart hits.

The decade also blurred genre lines. Pop, hip-hop, EDM, country, Latin pop, R&B, trap, indie, and dance music constantly crossed into one another. A country-rap song could break chart records. A Spanish-language pop song could dominate American radio. A superhero movie soundtrack single could become one of the decade’s biggest hits. The 2010s were not tidy, but they were very clickable.

Billboard-Based Top 25 Songs of 2010–2019

This Top 25 is based on Billboard’s decade-end Hot 100 Songs ranking for the 2010s. It reflects chart performance over the decade, not just PCM’s cultural memory ranking.

1. Uptown Funk! – Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
2. Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
3. Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
4. Closer – The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
5. Girls Like You – Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B
6. We Found Love – Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris
7. Old Town Road – Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
8. Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye featuring Kimbra
9. Despacito – Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
10. Rolling in the Deep – Adele
11. Sunflower – Post Malone & Swae Lee
12. Without Me – Halsey
13. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
14. Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell
15. Perfect – Ed Sheeran
16. Sicko Mode – Travis Scott
17. All About That Bass – Meghan Trainor
18. Royals – Lorde
19. God’s Plan – Drake
20. Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera
21. Happy – Pharrell Williams
22. Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars
23. Rockstar – Post Malone featuring 21 Savage
24. TiK ToK – Kesha, originally credited as Ke$ha
25. See You Again – Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

Why These 2010s Songs Ruled the Decade

Uptown Funk! sits at the top for good reason. It combined Bruno Mars’ showmanship, Mark Ronson’s retro-funk production, huge radio appeal, wedding-floor usefulness, and a hook that practically came with its own dance shoes. It sounded old-school and brand-new at the same time.

Party Rock Anthem captured the early-2010s party-pop moment, when EDM, club beats, neon fashion, and goofy dance culture collided. It was not subtle. It did not need to be. Some songs politely ask you to dance; this one arrived with a fog machine and a questionable pair of glasses.

Shape of You, Closer, and Girls Like You show how streaming-era pop rewarded smooth hooks, repetition, and playlist-friendly production. They were easy to hear casually, easy to replay, and easy to place almost anywhere: radio, retail stores, gyms, weddings, and rideshares with drivers who were not taking requests.

Old Town Road became one of the decade’s biggest cultural stories because it blurred country, rap, meme culture, TikTok virality, and Billboard chart history into one song. Despacito helped prove that global pop could dominate the U.S. mainstream without sounding watered down. Sunflower showed how streaming, hip-hop, pop, and movie soundtracks could work together in the late 2010s.

Billboard Rank vs. Pop-Culture Memory

Billboard’s list tells us which songs performed best across the decade. PCM’s view also asks which songs people still remember, request, quote, dance to, and connect with the era. That is why songs like Gangnam Style, Bad Romance, Shake It Off, Let It Go, Harlem Shake, Shallow, and Friday still matter to a 2010s music guide, even when they are not all Top 25 decade-end chart songs.

2010s Pop and Dance-Pop Anthems

The 2010s loved big pop choruses, danceable production, and songs that worked equally well on radio, streaming playlists, award shows, and wedding receptions. Artists like Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Kesha, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Justin Timberlake helped define the decade’s pop sound.

• Uptown Funk! – Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
• We Found Love – Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris
• Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
• Happy – Pharrell Williams
• TiK ToK – Kesha
• Firework – Katy Perry
• Roar – Katy Perry
• Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
• Can’t Stop the Feeling! – Justin Timberlake
• Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

2010s Hip-Hop, Trap, and Rap Crossovers

Hip-hop became the decade’s central pop language. Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Post Malone, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Migos, Future, Lil Nas X, and others shaped radio, streaming, slang, fashion, memes, and social media. By the end of the decade, rap was not crossing over into pop. Pop was crossing into rap.

• Old Town Road – Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
• Sicko Mode – Travis Scott
• God’s Plan – Drake
• Rockstar – Post Malone featuring 21 Savage
• Sunflower – Post Malone & Swae Lee
• HUMBLE. – Kendrick Lamar
• Bad and Boujee – Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert
• Bodak Yellow – Cardi B
• Hotline Bling – Drake
• Super Bass – Nicki Minaj

EDM, Festival Pop, and Club Hits of the 2010s

EDM helped define the early and middle 2010s. Festival drops, big choruses, DJ-producer stars, and pop collaborations moved dance music into the mainstream. Calvin Harris, Avicii, David Guetta, Zedd, The Chainsmokers, Swedish House Mafia, Major Lazer, Skrillex, and Diplo helped make electronic production part of everyday pop radio.

• We Found Love – Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris
• Closer – The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
• Wake Me Up – Avicii
• Levels – Avicii
• Clarity – Zedd featuring Foxes
• Titanium – David Guetta featuring Sia
• Don’t You Worry Child – Swedish House Mafia featuring John Martin
• Lean On – Major Lazer & DJ Snake featuring MØ
• Turn Down for What – DJ Snake & Lil Jon
• Where Are Ü Now – Skrillex & Diplo featuring Justin Bieber

Latin Pop, Global Hits, and Crossover Songs

The 2010s made global pop more visible in the U.S. mainstream. Despacito became one of the decade’s defining crossover records, while Mi Gente, Bailando, Danza Kuduro, and Taki Taki helped push Latin pop, reggaeton, and global club sounds into wider American playlists.

• Despacito – Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
• Mi Gente – J Balvin & Willy William
• Bailando – Enrique Iglesias featuring Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona
• Danza Kuduro – Don Omar featuring Lucenzo
• Taki Taki – DJ Snake featuring Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B
• Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) – Shakira
• Con Calma – Daddy Yankee featuring Snow
• I Like It – Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin

2010s Songs That Owned Weddings, Parties, and Stadiums

Some songs become bigger than their original chart run because they keep working in public. These 2010s songs became wedding-floor staples, stadium songs, party records, workout tracks, and group-singalong favorites.

• Uptown Funk! – Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
• Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
• Happy – Pharrell Williams
• Can’t Stop the Feeling! – Justin Timberlake
• Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
• Turn Down for What – DJ Snake & Lil Jon
• Timber – Pitbull featuring Kesha
• Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon
• Feel It Still – Portugal. The Man
• Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton

2010s Songs That Became Meme Culture

The 2010s were a golden age for meme music. Some songs became hits because they were already viral. Others became memes after they were famous. Either way, the internet helped give these songs a second life, a third life, and occasionally a dance nobody asked to learn.

• Old Town Road – Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
• Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye featuring Kimbra
• Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
• Harlem Shake – Baauer
• Hotline Bling – Drake
• What Does the Fox Say? – Ylvis
• Gangnam Style – PSY
• Friday – Rebecca Black
• Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) – Silentó
• Baby Shark – Pinkfong

2010s Soundtrack Songs That Stuck

Movie soundtracks still mattered in the 2010s, especially when songs crossed over into radio, streaming, awards shows, and viral culture. Superhero films, animated movies, franchise farewells, and music-driven dramas all gave the decade memorable soundtrack hits.

• Sunflower – Post Malone & Swae Lee
• See You Again – Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth
• Let It Go – Idina Menzel
• Shallow – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• Skyfall – Adele
• Earned It – The Weeknd
• Can’t Stop the Feeling! – Justin Timberlake
• Happy – Pharrell Williams
• Young and Beautiful – Lana Del Rey
• Everything Is Awesome – Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island

PCM Cultural Memory Picks Billboard Missed or Undervalued

Billboard’s decade-end chart measures chart performance, but some songs became more culturally useful than their decade ranking suggests. These are the songs people still search, quote, dance to, meme, request, or associate strongly with the 2010s.

• Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
• Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
• Blank Space – Taylor Swift
• Hello – Adele
• HUMBLE. – Kendrick Lamar
• All of Me – John Legend
• Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
• Can’t Stop the Feeling! – Justin Timberlake
• Shallow – Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
• Truth Hurts – Lizzo
• bad guy – Billie Eilish
• thank u, next – Ariana Grande
• Get Lucky – Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
• Take Me to Church – Hozier
• Royals – Lorde

Complicated 2010s Hits

Some of the decade’s biggest songs came with baggage. Blurred Lines was a massive hit, but it also drew criticism for its lyrics and later became central to a high-profile copyright case involving Marvin Gaye’s estate. It belongs in the decade’s story, but it is not a simple celebration.

Old Town Road became a cultural milestone partly because it challenged genre boundaries between country, rap, pop, and viral music. Despacito showed the power of global pop crossover, especially after Justin Bieber joined the remix. See You Again became more than a soundtrack hit because of its emotional connection to Paul Walker and the Fast & Furious franchise.

More Must-Have 2010s Songs

Several other 2010s songs belong close to the front of any decade guide because they shaped pop, hip-hop, R&B, EDM, Latin pop, indie, country crossover, soundtracks, or internet culture.

• Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
• Rolling in the Deep – Adele
• Hello – Adele
• Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
• Blank Space – Taylor Swift
• We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift
• Can’t Feel My Face – The Weeknd
• Starboy – The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
• Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
• All of Me – John Legend
• Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
• Counting Stars – OneRepublic
• Royals – Lorde
• Team – Lorde
• Get Lucky – Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
• Take Me to Church – Hozier
• Rude – MAGIC!
• Thrift Shop – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz
• Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton
• bad guy – Billie Eilish

Why 2010s Music Still Matters

2010s music matters because the decade rewired popular music. Streaming changed discovery. YouTube changed visibility. Social media changed promotion. Viral culture changed how songs traveled. Hip-hop became the dominant pop language. EDM reshaped production. Latin pop became more globally visible. Country, rap, pop, and dance crossed lines more freely than ever.

The decade also created songs that keep returning through memes, sports, weddings, TikTok, movie scenes, streaming playlists, karaoke, and nostalgia cycles. Uptown Funk!, Old Town Road, Despacito, Call Me Maybe, Rolling in the Deep, Shake It Off, Sunflower, Happy, Party Rock Anthem, and Somebody That I Used to Know all outgrew their original chart runs.

Overlap note: many 2010s songs naturally fit more than one category. Old Town Road is country-rap, viral pop, TikTok history, and genre-boundary chaos. Despacito is Latin pop, reggaeton crossover, global streaming culture, and one of the decade’s biggest language-barrier breakers. Sunflower is hip-hop, pop, soundtrack culture, and superhero-animation memory. Uptown Funk! is retro funk, pop showmanship, party music, and wedding-floor survival equipment. The 2010s were streamed, shared, remixed, memed, and replayed until the decade sounded like one giant playlist.