ILM's Top 100 Tracks of the 2010s

I knew it

"Doin' Time" got regular play on alternative/modern rock radio iirc.

I don't know what constitutes 'in the wild' by my local rock station (in Atlanta) used to play "Mariners Apartment Complex" with some regularity.

"young & beautiful" was pretty prominent in the wild

I once heard Chinatown by Destroyer playing at a Winners (which is the Canadian equivalent of Marshalls).

Thought experiment: imagine it's "Feel You" that's 9:41 minutes long and "Venice Bitch" that's 4:11. Holter inevitably brings some actual ideas for filling an extra 5+ minutes and the world is a marginally better place. *ducks*

I like Feel You. Was only introduced to Venice Bitch through this poll, but that LDR song and that video are all-time great

whoops, just remembered I might prefer Black Hearted Brother's "UFO" to "Sugar for the Pill"

I voted for Have You in My Wilderness and NFR! rather than those individual songs, but I like them both at their current lengths. "Feel You" is a delicate expression that shouldn't go on for too long, while "Venice Bitch" is lost in rumination.

surprised j hus - dem boy paigon did not place

there are no surprises on ILM, only cold, hard truths

i voted for "did you see" which i was also disappointed (but not surprised) to see not place

So, I kind of did something crazy. I went through our decade lists and put together our top tens from each year showing how they look now and how they looked then. In the now lists the numbers in the brackets are where they were in their years. In the Then lists, it shows where they placed in the end of decade list last week.

Hopefully that all makes sense and is interesting to at least someone else that isn't just me.

2010 Now

1. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (6)
2. Javiera Mena - Luz de Piedra de Luna (73 in 2012)
3. Diddy-Dirty Money ft. Swizz Beatz - Ass on the Floor (77)
4. The-Dream - Yamaha (4)
5. Janelle Monáe ft. Big Boi - Tightrope (8)
6. School of Seven Bells - I L U (14)
7. Nicki Minaj - Super Bass (3 in 2011)
8. Games - Strawberry Skies (61)
9. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream (16)
10. Girl Unit - Wut (1)

2010 Then

1. Girl Unit - Wut (108)
2. Waka Flocka Flame - Hard in Da Paint (127)
3. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round and Round (371)
4. The-Dream - Yamaha (39)
5. Arcade Fire - Spiral II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) (Did not place LOL)
6. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (5)
7. Big Boi ft. Cutty - Shutterbugg (141)
8. Janelle Monáe ft. Big Boi - Tightrope (47)
9. Rihanna - Rude Boy (Did not place probably as it was originally released in 2009)
10. Kanye West - Monster (936)

2011 Now

1. Azealia Banks ft. Lazy Jay - 212 (1)
2. Destroyer - Kaputt (29)
3. Beyoncé - Countdown (4)
4. Beyoncé - Love On Top (83)
5. Pachanga Boys - Time (12 In 2012)
6. Lana Del Rey - Video Games (2)
7. Destroyer - Suicide Demo for Kara Walker (159)
8. M83 - Midnight City (9)
9. 2NE1 - I AM THE BEST (38)
10. Gang Gang Dance - Glass Jar (76)

2011 Then

1. Azealia Banks ft. Lazy Jay - 212 (6)
2. Lana Del Rey - Video Games (55)
3. Nicki Minaj - Super Bass (75)
4. Beyoncé - Countdown (12)
5. Todd Terje - Snooze 4 Love (588)
6. Miguel - Sure (Did not place)
7. Britney Spears - Till the World Ends (237)
8. Desloc Piccalo ft. Adiah - Drumz (313)
9. M83 - Midnight City (65)
10. Kreayshawn - Gucci Gucci (217)

2012 Now

1. Todd Terje - Inspector Norse (1)
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe (2)
3. Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarrassing (7)
4. Grimes - Oblivion (9)
5. Lorde - Royals (28 in 2013)
6. Kendrick Lamar ft. Jay Rock - Money Trees (Did not place)
7. Miguel - Adorn (3)
8. Frank Ocean - Thinkin Bout You (23)
9. Jessie Ware - Wildest Moments (55)
10. Taylor Swift - All Too Well (278)

2012 Then

1. Todd Terje - Inspector Norse (1)
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe (3)
3. Miguel - Adorn (37)
4. Katy B ft. Jessie Ware - Aaliyah (238)
5. Usher - Climax (105)
6. PSY - Gangnam Style (114)
7. Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarrassing (22)
8. Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms (78)
9. Grimes - Oblivion (25)
10. Future - Turn on the Lights (410)

2013 Now

1. The Knife - Full of Fire (4)
2. Paramore - Ain't It Fun (12)
3. Burial - Come Down To Us (135)
4. Paramore - Still Into You (3)
5. Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers - Get Lucky (1)
6. Classixx ft. Nancy Whang - All You're Waiting For (31)
7. Charli XCX - SuperLove (44)
8. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share (18)
9. Amel Larrieux - I Do Take (8)
10. HAIM - If I Could Change Your Mind (90 in 2013/56 in 2014)

2013 Then

1. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (59)
2. Mariah Carey ft. Miguel - #Beautiful (349)
3. Paramore - Still Into You (53)
4. The Knife - Full of Fire (14)
5. Ciara - Body Party (1342)
6. Jessie Ware - Imagine It Was Us (180)
7. Duke Dumont - Need U (100%) (473)
8. Amel Larrieux - I Do Take (74)
9. Bunji Garlin - Differentology (170)
10. Haim - Falling (91)

2014 Now

1.Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q - 2 On (1)
2. Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting on You) (4)
3. Skepta ft. JME - That's Not Me (15)
4. FKA twigs - Two Weeks (2)
5. Richard Dawson - The Vile Stuff (14)
6. Taylor Swift - Style (6)
7. Alvvays - Archie, Marry Me (54)
8. Aphex Twin - XMAS_EVET10 [120​]​[​thanaton3 mix] (210)
9. Taylor Swift - Blank Space (8)
10. Tove Lo - Habits (Stay High) (16)

2014 Then

1. Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q - 2 On (10)
2. FKA twigs - Two Weeks (43)
3. Rae Sremmurd - No Flex Zone (541)
4. Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting on You) (16)
5. Rich Gang ft. Young Thug & Rich Homie Quan - Lifestyle (999)
6. Taylor Swift - Style (58)
7. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne - Rather Be (1070)
8. Taylor Swift - Blank Space (72)
9. Sofi de la Torre - Vermillion (129)
10. Vic Mensa - Down On My Luck (724)

2015 Now

1. Grimes - REALiTi (Demo) (1)
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me (5)
3. Susanne Sundfør - Delirious (16)
4. Susanne Sundfør - Fade Away (14)
5. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta (3)
6. Carly Rae Jepsen - Boy Problems (23)
7. Kendrick Lamar - Alright (7)
8. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment - Sunday Candy (9)
9. Fetty Wap - Trap Queen (2)
10. Demi Lovato - Cool for the Summer (6)

2015 Then

1. Grimes - REALiTi (Demo) (2)
2. Fetty Wap - Trap Queen (47)
3. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta (18)
4. Miguel - Coffee (223)
5. Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me (4)
6. Demi Lovato - Cool for the Summer (56)
7. Kendrick Lamar - Alright (24)
8. Missy Elliott ft. Pharrell Williams - WTF (Where They From) (323)
9. Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment - Sunday Candy (26)
10. David Bowie - Blackstar (102)

2016 Now

1. Solange - Cranes in the Sky (3)
2. Ariana Grande - Into You (5)
3. KING - Native Land (63)
4. Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane - Black Beatles (1)
5. Grouper - Headache (58)
6. Rihanna ft. Drake - Work (6)
7. KING - The Greatest (49 in 2015)
8. KING - Hey (Extended Mix) (62)
9. Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert - Bad and Boujee (25)
10. Mitski - Your Best American Girl (2)

2016 Then

1. Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane - Black Beatles (34)
2. Mitski - Your Best American Girl (92)
3. Solange - Cranes in the Sky (9)
4. Beyonce - Formation (362)
5. Ariana Grande - Into You (27)
6. Rihanna ft. Drake - Work (42)
7. Shura - What's It Gonna Be? (322)
8. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People (Did not place)
9. Lindstrøm - Closing Shot (1286)
10. David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away (115)

2017 Now

1. Sun-El Musician ft. Samthing Soweto - Akanamali (6)
2. Slowdive - Sugar for the Pill (13)
3. Paramore - Hard Times (8)
4. Wolf Alice - Don't Delete The Kisses (41)
5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - If We Were Vampires (57)
6. Bicep - Glue (12)
7. Selena Gomez - Bad Liar (4)
8. Dua Lipa - New Rules (2)
9. Lorde - Green Light (21)
10. MONDO GROSSO ft. Hikari Mitsushima - Labyrinth (35)

20. Charli XCX - Boys (1)

2017 Then

1. Charli XCX - Boys (263)
2. Dua Lipa - New Rules (97)
3. Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut to the Feeling (202)
4. Selena Gomez - Bad Liar (96)
5. Kendrick Lamar - DNA (299)
6. Sun-El Musician ft. Samthing Soweto - Akanamali (7)
7. Kendrick Lamar - Humble (271)
8. Paramore - Hard Times (67)
9. Migos - T-Shirt (609)
10. Future - Mask Off (438)

2018 Now

1. The 1975 - Love It If We Made It (2)
2. Lana Del Rey - Venice Bitch (4)
3. Ariana Grande - no tears left to cry (5)
4. Peggy Gou - It Makes You Forget (Itgehane) (1)
5. Kacey Musgraves - Slow Burn (21)
6. Simmy - Umahlalela (39)
7. Ariana Grande - thank u, next (6)
8. Koffee - Toast (199 in 2018 / 36 in 2019)
9. StarBoy ft. WizKid, Terri, Spotless & Ceeza Milli - Soco (156)
10. MGMT - Me and Michael (45)

2018 Then

1. Peggy Gou - It Makes You Forget (Itgehane) (40)
2. The 1975 - Love It If We Made It (13)
3. Ella Mai - Boo'd Up (275)
4. Lana Del Rey - Venice Bitch (19)
5. Ariana Grande - no tears left to cry (21)
6. Ariana Grande - thank u, next (112)
7. Jessie Ware - Overtime (Did not place)
8. Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel (509)
9. Mitski - Nobody (393)
10. Kero Kero Bonito - Only Acting (198)

2019 Now

1. Big Thief - Not (2)
2. Charlotte Adigéry - High Lights (59)
3. 100 gecs - money machine (6)
4. Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now (15)
5. Hatchie - Stay With Me (36)
6. Róisín Murphy - Incapable (11)
7. Weyes Blood - Andromeda (18)
8. Purple Mountains - Snow Is Falling In Manhattan (4)
9. Caroline Polachek - So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings (34)
10. Billie Eilish - Bad Guy (31)

15. Busy Signal - Balloon (1)

2019 Then

1. Busy Signal - Balloon (173)
2. Big Thief - Not (28)
3. Richard Dawson - Jogging (151)
4. Purple Mountains - Snow Is Falling In Manhattan (86)
5. Lil Nas X - Old Town Road (Did not place)
6. 100 gecs - money machine (43)
7. Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend (659)
8. Tresor feat. Msaki - Sondela (276)
9. Burna Boy - Anybody (521)
10. Jessie Ware - Adore You (Did not place)

"sprawl ii" placed 147

"old town road" placed 1088 but i suspect it would have gotten more than one vote if anyone had remembered to nominate it

Ah sorry, I knew some of my numbers would be off. I did all this in the last few evenings when I was tired and also trying to pay attention to The Americans. Serves me right for LOLing at thinking Arcade Fire hadn't placed at all.

My biggest surprise is just how much things have changed in our 2019 lists.

Appreciate you putting that together, kitchen person. Interesting to me, anyway

Thanks Vinnie. I'm a huge nerd when it comes to things like this.

the 2010-2014 lists at the time were/are amazing

"get lucky" at #1 though

Thanks so much KP. Somewhere above I requested for someone to do this very comparison as I was very curious to compare results for eoy vs eod.

Of course results would vary since the userbase has changed so much. Makes more sense to see different results for 2010-2017 than on recent years, though.

I think I actually like way better the top 2010-2015 now than then. That said, If you cherrypick winners you can come up with a pretty good top 10 every year.

I'm geeky for this type of data, thanks kitchen person

Haha it hadn't occurred to me that "Nobody" and "Boo'd Up" up had been solid gold 2018 top 10 material when sifting through the spectacularly unpopular tracks on my ballot last week.

thanks for that kp, interesting stuff! 2012 was great

i think i prefer the “then” list in basically every year

temps pergoon

The "now" lists look more polite, polished, considered, canonical. ILM self-congratulation annoys me, but most of the legitimately unique outliers are gone now (otoh, the 2016 "now" list looks totally absurd, as much as I love King). As easy as it is to find missing stuff to complain about, part of that is because what is there is fairly unobjectionable. I quickly skimmed pitchfork's list the other day, and while it suffers from being done mid-2019, it's spikier than these results

Were you all, like, doing the Gangnam Style dance in public in 2012 or something?

Well, this poll is an aggregation of aggregations - the more time you reduce to a single rundown, the more that the popularity cream rises to the surface. It isn't entirely the fault of the voters; I'm sure many ballots had some unusual choices on them, but the less-unusual choices are the ones that will appear, because to get into this poll, a song needed to have accumulated consensus. Of course, some consensuses are stronger than others.

Taken to an extreme, if we were to poll the last 60 years of popular music, in the exact same way, it would only be the absolute most obvious stuff that made it into the top 100 from last decade. There might not even be any Taytay! Sike there would still be like 3 of hers

Brilliant work, kp. Was hoping someone would do something similar.

If we remove the repeated artists the Top 10 for 2016 would be:

2016 Now
1. Solange - Cranes in the Sky (3)

2. Ariana Grande - Into You (5) 

3. KING - Native Land (63)

4. Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane - Black Beatles (1) 

5. Grouper - Headache (58) 

6. Rihanna ft. Drake - Work (6)
7. Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert - Bad and Boujee
8. 
Mitski - Your Best American Girl
9. David Bowie - Blackstar
10. Melanie De Biasio - Blackened Cities

Which is honestly a great top 10 imho and almost as good, if not better than the eoy one, although I miss Shura and ATCQ from that one.

Xxxpost to rob

In terms of the then/now comparison, I'll say that obviously cross-decade votesplitting plays a role. If you're KING and you only release one album in a decade, that's going to have outsize representation compared to artists that released numerous albums

And I can't speak for how everyone constructed their ballots, but ballot decisions for a decade poll won't necessarily be the same as decisions for a year poll. Balloon might have been 2019 personified, but clearly a lot of voters didn't feel it represented the decade. I mean, I voted for it then but not now, due to the sheer profusion of things I had to fit in. Still sad at how low it placed mind

I don't get Chris's Gangnam Style comment?

It isn't entirely the fault of the voters; I'm sure many ballots had some unusual choices on them, but the less-unusual choices are the ones that will appear, because to get into this poll, a song needed to have accumulated consensus. Of course, some consensuses are stronger than others.

I agree it's not the voters' fault! I think my first post in this thread is saying basically that. At any rate, I think my main "problem" with these polls is that because I joined ILM around 2009/10 and the EOY polls loom large in my ILM memories, everything just feels really familiar. Maybe next year we should do an alternative poll where nothing that placed in any EOY top 77 is eligible...or something? Idk I'm also just not a big ballot poll lover so don't listen to me

If I had to make a combination with what’s available and there was a “only one track per artist” rule I’d use the 2016 NOW with Bowie and De Biasio and drop Black Beatles and the Grouper song - as much as I like her and love seeing her on a top 10 - and exchange for ATCQ and either Shura or Lindstrøm.

I think Beyonce’s Formation on the 2016 then list is more self-congratulatory than anything on the 2016 now list.l, btw.

I love the ballot polls as a place where all the tastes of ILM can come together and show each other what they've learnt (with a bit of light-hearted jostling for supremacy thrown in). It's a delicate balance though, and a shift in power can cause a lot of damage in terms of diversity. We basically need more posters again, and not necessarily ones who like [redacted] or [ahem], or indeed [hmm]

Thanks KP! 2017 in particular seems to have had some considerable revision -- the "Now" list looks much better to me. Interesting that "Money Trees" is the only track in a "Now" list not to have placed "Then."

Moka, your revised 2016 is def more interesting!

RE: Formation: December 2016 was a dark fucking time is how I break it down to some extent. But by "self-congratulatory" I meant how the EOY polls often feature posters praising ILM for being so different from bad and horrible music pubs. I don't think liking Beyonce fits into that mythos :)

not necessarily ones who like [redacted] or [ahem], or indeed [hmm]

otm

And I can't speak for how everyone constructed their ballots, but ballot decisions for a decade poll won't necessarily be the same as decisions for a year poll. Balloon might have been 2019 personified, but clearly a lot of voters didn't feel it represented the decade. I mean, I voted for it then but not now, due to the sheer profusion of things I had to fit in. Still sad at how low it placed mind

― imago, Friday, August 26, 2022 8:30 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd be surprised if a lot of voters are thinking about how a song "represents the decade," but clearly a decade poll is going to reward songs that voters continue to enjoy and return to, whereas a year-end poll may feature more temporary enthusiasms. ("Gangnam Style" was a genuinely fun pop moment in 2012, even if I have no desire to hear it again.)

Well yes, that's a better way to put it

Lol ok I get you. I thought you meant “self congratulatory” as in consciously choosing “important songs”, which “Formation” definitely felt like back then.

Lol that does remind me of a very earnest 22-year old white (Canadian) girl telling me "no white person needs to say anything about Formation" the day after the video dropped. Tbf it's quite possible I voted for it back then!

Really all you can ask of ILM is either broad musical curiosity, or deep special foci. Posters who do the listening.

I will say despite not really vibing with these particular polls, I've been finding ILM super fun & useful lately. People cherry-picking that pitchfork overlooked albums list was a goldmine (plus Evan telling me to check out Gwenno's whole discography: amazing), I have a bunch of Moon Glyph albums to check out based on responses to that thread, rolling afropop has been delivering, etc.

It helps that I've stopped caring about ILM's disengagement with dancehall. This place does tend to "work" better if you let it pull you in its own direction to a degree

I don't get Chris's Gangnam Style comment?

To me, it's kinda like if "I'm Too Sexy" had been in the top 10 songs of 1992. But, I'm getting old and am always skeptical of the pop zeitgeist, so ignore me.

Gangnam Style was huge. I heard it the other day at a water aerobics class. Not my water aerobics class. I just took my daughter to swim lessons and there was an aerobics class at the other end of the pool. Anyway, it's a mega banger. I'm Too Sexy was a dashed-off piece of novelty piss.

I have not yet been medically advised to do water aerobics.

So glad others have enjoyed the comparison lists I put together. As I posted them I had this sudden realisation other people might not care as much.

I think overall I prefer the now lists just because a few personal favourites have benefited (Susanne Sundfør, Paramore, KING, tracks by Hatchie Wolf Alice and my favourite Charli XCX).

Looking at the changes, the two artists that suffered are Miguel who made our top ten four times and Jessie Ware who had two songs in our 2018 and 2019 lists that didn't get a single vote (Aaliyah and Imagine It Was Us didn't make our top 100 either). With Miguel, the biggest shock was the duet with Mariah. At some point somebody had put a list together of our most popular songs from the decade due to votes and it was in there. 37 people voted for it in 2013 and it went down to three for this decade list. I spent all last week thinking it would be at least top 20. With Jessie Ware, obviously she dominated our 2020 lists and it was more down to vote splitting.

Missed this poll completely, but I’m gona check out the Spotify playlist. Most surprising thing as I skim the results is no Cardi B. I thought “Bodak Yellow” would be a lock for top ten.