You can fit 1,752,000 regular 3-minute songs in 10 years. And although that seems like a large amount, is likely that we’ve heard that much in the past decade, specially in Mexico. Of course, the length and nature of your favorite songs can vary greatly, and mine, as evidenced by the following list, does too. I’m sure that I didn’t heard that quantity of tracks (if you count all of them including repetitions, I’d say 367,893) but I did listen enough to make the activity of listing 77 of them more complicated than you can expect.

Before I continue I have to say: mathematically is kind of wrong to consider 2019 the end of the decade. A decade starts with a year ending with 1 and finishes in a year ending in 0. But everybody does it like this. Imagine the dicussion around whether Kid A or Ok Computer deserves the title of best album of the 90s. And, although we were wrong of celebrating the coming of the new millenium in 2000, well, 2020 can’t really be part of the 2010s right? It’s there in the name.  

So listing 77 songs was a difficult task for several reasons. First, listening individual tracks is not the usual way I enjoy music. Sometimes I listened to singles released before an album, specially in the last couple of years, but it wasn’t that frequently. Second, for me, it can be hard to highlight a song from a cohesive work in the form of an LP. Other reason is, a song can mean a lot in a particular time in your life and it can impact you with just one listen, or do the same with repetitive plays. How, then, would you consider whether you like one more than another?  

In this particular decade, the way the masses shared and consumed music radically changed, the song became a lot more fleeting. Some artists recorded albums with many songs, most of them fillers, just to get more streaming revenue and others relied on one massive and unescapable single to cement their career. Of all the music forms there are, for a moment, the song became the most superfluous. Nevertheless, I did find many of them to be relevant for me. Long or short, rock (most of them) or hip-hop, single or deep cut, these songs still found a way to leave a permanent mark in my life.  

Why 77? Well, I had a favorite number in the past and it was 7; when I realized that 100 were too much songs and 50 were too few, I settled for something almost centered that has a 7 two times. I hope you find something here to hold on to for the decades to come (you’ll find a playlist at the end), and remember, recommendations of your favorite songs are always welcome.  

Here are my favorite songs of the decade.    

77-71. The Honorable Mentions.

77. Foo Fighters – Walk  

76. Sleater-Kinney – A New Wave

75. Noname – Self

74. Alabama Shakes – Gimme All Your Love

73. Jeff Tweedy – Having Been Is No Way To Be

72. Foxygen – No Destruction

71. Protomartyr – Don’t Go To Anacita

70-61. 

“I washed your dishes, but I shit in your bathroom” – Sharon Van Etten

70. Fontaines DC – Too Real

69. Sharon Van Etten – Every Time The Sun Comes Up

68. Yo La Tengo – The Point Of It

67. Ought – Beautiful Blue Sky

66. Hot Chip – Let Me Be Him

65. Cloud Nothings – Stay Useless

64. Whitney – No Matter Where We Go

63. Wilco – Born Alone

62. Natalia Lafourcade – Hasta La Raíz

61. The Walkmen – Heaven

60-51. 

“Bodies, can’t you see what everybody wants from you? If you could want that, too, then you’ll be happy. – St. Vincent

60. Kanye West – Ultralight Beam

59. Janelle Monáe – Tightrope

58. Alvvays – In Undertow

57. St. Vincent – Cruel

56. The 1975 – Love It If We Made It

55. Kurt Vile – Wild Imagination

54. Steve Gunn – Milly’s Garden

53. Hop Along – Prior Things

52. Thom Yorke – Dawn Chorus

51. The National – The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness

50-41.

“Give me something I can see, something bigger and louder than the voices in me, something to believe” -Weyes Blood  

50. Weyes Blood – Something To Believe

49. Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built

48. Iceage – Pain Killer

47. The Radio Dept. – Heaven’s On Fire

46. U.S. Girls – Pearly Gates

45. St, Vincent – Digital Witness

44. Spoon – The Mystery Zone

43. Radiohead – Daydreaming

42. Yo La Tengo – You Are Here

41. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jubilee Street

40-31.

“In conclusion, leaving is easy when you’ve got some place you need to be”  -Bill Callahan

40. Spiritualized – Hey Jane

39. Snail Mail – Pristine

38. Deerhunter – Coronado

37. Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

36. Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill

35. Wild Beasts – Mecca

34. Bill Callahan – Riding For The Feeling

33. Chance The Rapper – Same Drugs

32. Frank Ocean – Solo

31. Amen Dunes – Miki Dora  

30-21.

“Men are scum, I won’t deny.” -Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks  

30. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Rings Of Saturn

A sparse and nuanced song with a compelling melody about a girl that’s finding a purpose. Cave’s narrative at its best.  

29. Spoon – Do You

You have to give it to that goddamn riff. And, well, the addictive chorus is also awesome. Have I said that Spoon are succesful perfectionists? No? Okay.  

28. Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting On You)

Shoutout to Future Islands for their outstanding ability to combine old aesthetics with a fresh sounding production, all in a tight and perfect indie-pop track. Sam Herring’s unmistakable voice helps a lot too.  

27. Big Thief – Not

A penetrating, dazzling, outright marveolus rock jam with powerful vocals and on-point instrumentation. We should bow before Big Thief.  

26. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Middle America

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks conjure a great guitar melody with the frontman’s usual witty lyrics, and they come out fresh and relevant. Can we have ten years more?  

25. Mitski – Your Best American Girl

If that absolutely magnificent chorus isn’t enough, how about Mitski’s excellent lyrics about being involved in a relationship with a totally different person? She’s at the vanguard of rock today.  

24.  Parquet Courts – Stoned & Starving

I will not say that you have to feel like the song’s title to enjoy it. One of the most important punk bands of the decade started here. With a blend of fast post-punk and fun indie rock. Great introduction.  

23. The National – Sea of Love

In one of the best intrumentals the quintet has recorded, Matt Berninger sings about giving into love without hesitation while the rhythm never yields. The National at the top of their game.  

22. Arcade Fire – Suburban War

My favorite moment of the band’s third album, The Suburbs. A song with beautiful arrangements, an interesting rhythm and lyrics about music dividing us. How ironic.

21. Sharon Van Etten  – Seventeen

A mid-tempo, piano driven and engaging…ballad? Ode? Anthem? Excellently written and affecting song by an artist in their prime as a singer-songwriter? A life changing experience? Your call.  

20-11.

“Do I care if I survive this? Bury the dead where they’re found. In a veil of great suprsies; I wonder did you love me at all?” -Sufjan Stevens

20. Radiohead – The Daily Mail

We’ve reached a time in music history when speaking about Radiohead in flattering adjectives can make many people roll their eyes. However, I still can’t figure out how the band managed to arrange the definitive version of a years-old never released song days before recording it in a live session that wasn’t gonna exist in the first place. The result is marvelous. I didn’t listen to any song they released in the past ten years more than this one.

19. Destroyer – Times Square

Few people could write a song this entertaining about the world-famous crossroads in NYC.  In this track, Dan Bejar and company combine saxophone, guitars and an excellent rhythm section to create an effect of nostalgic and dazzling soft-rock. Bejar, an ever-shifting lyricist, does an astounding job by pouring his voice and poetry all over this track dedicated to a place of eternal hustle.

18. Kevin Morby – Dorothy

There’s a traceable history of musicians that have dedicated songs to their instruments. Morby does his thing on Dorothy, an amazingly engaging song. Lyrically it’s pretty straightforward but musically it is a folk-rock tune in constant movement. With pristine guitar and pianos, and propellng drums and a brass-filled bridge, Morby managed to craft a perfect road song about his guitar.

17. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round

This quote by Pitchfork’s Stuart Berman best describes this song: “‘Round and Round’ remains the gold-standard exemplar of Pink’s peculiar genius: his best songs beat the instant familiarity of something you swear you’ve heard before, but also the dislocating confusion of never being able to place the source.”

16. Courtney Barnett – Depreston

Barnett really is very good at describing house-hunting in a suburb of his home city, Melbourne. But also, she’s very good at making this particular situation an opportunity for questioning her own decisions. All over a sweet and unforgettable melody. This song is unique by many measures.

15. Frank Ocean – Pyramids

A centerpiece in all the extension of the word, not only because of its weight in the thematic context of its album, but also because it is a nearly 10 minute track of what can only be described as progressive R&B. More importantly Ocean’s imagery while questioning the role that has been enforced to women in our current society is something to behold.

14. Sufjan Stevens – The Only Thing

Christian imagery, a perfect guitar melody, the voice as a gentle whisper. These elements form a song that grows on you like a flower, but the blooming is filled with pain and sorrow. You can’t help but wonder how were you allowed to feel this intimacy with an artist, and you’re left with only but admiration for Sufjan.

13. Angel Olsen – Sister

A gentle rock song that grows into a force of nature, with a guitar solo for a climax. The catch? The vocalist is a woman that doesn’t hesitate while questioning what she has always believed as loving someone else. Her voice and delivery are equally reality defying.

12. Kendrick Lamar – How Much A Dollar Cost

A piercing rap piece with a pulsating beat and a piano driven melody. In it, Kendrick details with a narration, how the perception of money gives it a very different value than what it actually is worth. The case of study of course is the US Dollar, but how Lamar mixes this with a discussion of self-knowledge, growth and humility (with his impeccable flow)is marvelous.

11. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

The title track from  Fleet Foxes’ second album is as bombastic and energetic as folk-rock can get. The arrangement of the insturmentation and the vocal harmonies push forward like few songs did this decade. Robin Pecknold’s lyrics about realizing how little special he is in the world is plenty to reflect upon in this context. It always works.

10-1.

“We should try a little harder, in the tedious march of the few. Every day’s a different warning.  There’s a part of me hoping it’s true.”  – LCD Soundsystem

10. Grizzly Bear – Yet Again (2012 – Warp)

On ‘Yet Again’, Ed Droste co-frontman and co-writer of the indie rock maximalists Grizzly Bear is talking about a relationship, any relationship. There’s specific dynamics of actually interacting with someone else: some shortcomings (‘Speak, don’t confide’), the competitiveness (‘I know, when all’s said we’re the same’) and its inevitable end (‘No chance to move backwards and see’). What strikes the most about the song is how simple the lyrical content can seem compared to what’s happening around it. A powerful drum backbone, that goddamn huge-sounding guitar chords, the graceful vocal harmonies and all those sounds in the background that make the song a collection of textures, even if you’re not paying attention to them. I really can’t come up with new adjectives to describe it, it’s just so amazingly done that it’s addictive.  

9. Jamie xx – Sleep Sound (2014 – Young Turks)

I had the thought that house music (or electronic music for that matter) needed to be loud. Plenty of records have proved that idea wrong. ‘Sleep Sound’ is one of the best examples and it even became one of my staples for 2010s music. Jamie Smith, compsing as Jamie xx, is a UK based electronic musician best known for being the heartbeat behind the heart-wrenching songs of The xx. On this single, that would later appear in reduced form on the 2015 album, In Colour, carries itself in a repetitive and modest beat; with gliding tuneful synths composing a melody of minimalist beauty. Throughout the song Jamie explores new ways of combining the intertwining beats and synths, putting a snippet of The Four Freshmen’s ‘It’s a Blue World’ every now and then. The result is a house song that is not loud at the point you could actually use it to sleep, and, as evidenced by this video, you could crank it up and just dance. I’ll enter a club if this is on, for sure.  

8. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy (2017 – Bella Union/Sub-Pop)

I present to you the one song in this list that I’m sure I know completely. Joshua Tillman’s delivery is perfectly clear and his voice stands out over the very lush and polished instruments. But it’s what he’s talking about what helped it get printed on my memory. On ‘Pure Comedy’, Tillman, with no hesitation, depicts his views on the current state of society. From our failing institutions and questionable leaderships to our out-dated faiths and frailing personal identity. Of course, capitalism recieves a slash or two. Every verse and chorus is carefully crafted and the orchestral arrangements and Tillman’s breaking voice at the climax underline the dramatism of the message. The singer closes the song with a resigned tone: ‘I hate to say it, but each other’s all we’ve got’. And although this song is only the opener of an album that submerges itself more in this themes, I can’t help but feel there’s a little hope for redemption in his voice, whether he intended it or not.  

7. LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean (2010 – DFA)

Gentle synths and drum machines accompany James Murphy’s hushed voice while he sings about the complexity of human relationships, or another thing completely. After a few minutes have passed, you’re wondering what suprise could this song have. And then a snare drum fill disrupts the whole atmosphere. It’s like something kicked-open a door to a room fill with lush synths and propulsive drumming. Then, Murphy’s voice turns into a full-force wail, dissecting many aspects of night life. And, yeah, by this point the song can heavily give you the need for dancing. The production is pristine and the arrangement of the instrumentation is amazing. Dance-punk for the soul, and nobody else did it better this decade. ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ is a song made for the 2010s.  

6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Higgs Boson Blues (2013 – Bad Seed Ltd)

The Higgs Boson, nicknamed ‘The Particle of God’, is a sub-atomic particle that its discovery helped answering many questions about our universe and the machinings of it in a microscopic level. It is not quite the center of ‘Higgs Boson Blues’, a beating blues song that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds take to astronomical levels. Cave mentions Geneva (the city where CERN is located, the place of  the discovery of the entitled particle) Robert Johnson and its mythic pact with the devil, and both Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana. How all these things relate to each other, your guess is as good as mine, but they give a mysticism to the whole affair. Cave’s delivery is that of a storyteller (not surprsing) and The Bad Seeds thunderous drums and melodic guitars, pull you to admire the musicality of it, even if you keep wondering what is it about. ‘Can’t remember anything at all’ Cave sings at the end; believe me, you will remember every part of it.

5. Vampire Weekend – Hannah Hunt (2013 – XL)

Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij and company were indie darlings since before 2010. And, although there is general praise for their third album, I always cherished a song that came at the middle of it. ‘Hannah Hunt’ is a song about a relationship that starts strong but sees itself weakens through time, a time each person in it sense differently. Musically is a pretty ballad with slow and quiet bass and percussion at first, centering in Koenig’s voice. Throughout the song the narrator describes the relationship as if it happened long ago, and yet in the explosive chorus: ‘If I can’t trust you then dammit Hannah! There’s no future, there’s no answer!’ you know he’s regretting the state of it, taking it to the present. I really can’t get enough of that chorus and its pristine pianos. I really can’t get enough of ‘Hannah Hunt’.

4. Car Seat Headrest – Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales (2016 – Matador)

Every person in its mid-twenties should be familiar to this feeling. Returning drunk home from a party, being aware of your poor state, knowing that it’s ill-advised to drive, and regretting all of it. There’s food for thought throughout ‘Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales’: ‘There’s no confort in responsibility’ and ‘You share the same fate as the people you hate’ are piercing truths for young adulthood. But in every phrase and verse singer-songwriter Will Toledo gives a hint that it will probably be alright in the end, most notably in its coda: ‘It doesn’t have to be like this!’ he shouts in the cathartic finale. The song is a rollicking indie-rock tune, with simple guitars and perfectly arranged drumming; and these, in combination with its themes, result in a subdued and lo-fi anthem for millenial frustration. And it’s brilliant.

3. Bon Iver – Holocene (2011 – Jagjaguwar)

Conjuring beauty out of thin air is something Justin Vernon can do without much effort. He still does it to this day. But in ‘Holocene’, with its arpeggiated guitar, the vocal harmonies and marching band drums, Bon Iver present something out of this world. By placing this song here I’m also paying homage to the fact that it’s in the top 5 most listened in my iPod. Of course, that only matters to me, but throughout the last 9 years since it came out I kept coming back to ‘Holocene’ (and its album) despite already hearing it many times. But it’s not short, it’s not immediate, it creates a background of sound that it’s rooted in no particular time or place. ‘And at once I knew, I was not magnificent’ sings Vernon. That’s exactly what this song does: widens your view by making you feel little but at the same time, grounding you to the beautiuful place you live in. Why wouldn’t you return to it?  

2. The War on Drugs – Red Eyes (2013 – Secretly Canadian)

While seeing The War on Drugs live in Mexico City (the only reason I paid the full ticket price for a day of the Corona Capital festival) my best friend Sara asked me: Which is your favorite song? And although that was a hard question, my mind went to one immediately:  ‘Red Eyes’. They closed with it. As a gift to me, Sara recorded the whole song and shared it with me on my birthday. The reason why my mind went to this song so fast, is because it is embedded in it since the first time I listened to it. I still remember that, an effect of how a song like this, simply, makes you remember stuff, by sheer musicality. Adam Granduciel’s voice calls for simpler times, the rhythm is propulsive, the echoic guitars and pianos maintain a beautiful atmosphere. The song talks about that feeling after having a hard time in your life, but not the pain, the moment after you stop crying and with red eyes tell yourself that you can move forward. It’s all in Granduciel’s ‘Woahs!’ and solos, they make me happy everytime I listen to them.

1. The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio (2010 – 4AD)

It’s hard to say, by any measure, that I can identify myself with the feelings expressed by this song. It speaks specifically of The National’s home state. Almost all the band had moved out of Ohio by the time ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ was released. And yet in Matt Berninger’s voice, and the whole aesthetic of the song, there’s a feeling of longing. However, Matt sings that there was a reason why he was no longer there. ‘I never married, but Ohio don’t remember me’ he sings, reflecting in the weak ties he has with its home state. But why is it my favorite song of the decade?  

Hard to explain. Maybe it’s the combination of the sense of longing a place you actually don’t miss, Berninger’s drunken-like delivery, the propulsing, and freaking amazing, drums, the piano background and the guitars that never take the spotlight, but nevertheless are always present. ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’ is a song that never took me into a spiraling trip, or made me cry, or forced me to think hardly about something, and yet I became addicted to it. It’s probable that it alone became the base for my love for The National and it’s my favorite song from them. I’m sure I’ll keep coming back to it forever, even if I continue to move on.