The 2010s: NPR Listeners Pick Their Top Songs Of The Decade
Clockwise from upper left: Kendrick Lamar, Mitski, Beyoncé from the Lemonade cover, Janelle Monáe, Sufjan Stevens, Robyn, Bon Iver Courtesy of the artists except Kendrick Lamar, Rich Fury/Getty Images hide caption
For our final podcast looking back at the past decade in music, we turn to you, our listeners, to find out what songs you loved most from the 2010s. We didn't ask for the best songs or the most important songs in our online poll. Instead, we asked for your favorites — the songs you found yourself coming back to again and again.
As we sorted through thousands of your nominees, we noticed a number of recurring trends. Love for all and a degree of humility were common themes; from Sufjan Stevens' "Fourth of July" and Kanye's "Runaway" to Bon Iver's "Holocene" or Janelle Monae's "Make Me Feel," a lot of these songs recognized that we're all somehow part of something larger and that love will ultimately win the day. Another common theme was defiant joy or hope in the face of adversity, like Kendrick Lamar's anthemic "Alright" or even Robyn's "Dancing on My Own," a sad banger about dancing your way to happiness.
We couldn't begin to list every song you nominated. But below you'll find the 25 tracks you mentioned most. You can hear the songs in Spotify and Apple playlists and hear us talk about the list with the blue "listen" button at the top of the page.
The Top 25 Songs:
1. Bon Iver: "Holocene" from Bon Iver
2. Robyn: "Dancing On My Own" from Body Talk Pt. 1
3. Sufjan Stevens: "Fourth of July" from Carrie & Lowell
4. Lorde: "Royals" from Pure Heroine
5. Kanye West: "Runaway" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
6. Beyoncé: "Formation" from Lemonade
7. M83: "Midnight City" from Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
8. LCD Soundsystem: "Dance Yrself Clean" from This is Happening
9. Kendrick Lamar: "Alright" from To Pimp a Butterfly
10. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars: "Uptown Funk" from Uptown Special
11. Childish Gambino: "This is America" (Single)
12. Adele: "Rolling in the Deep" from 21
13. Taylor Swift: "All Too Well" from Red
14. Lucy Dacus: "Night Shift" from Historian
15. Carly Rae Jepsen: "Run Away with Me" from E.MO.TION
16. Mitski: "Your Best American Girl" from Puberty 2
17. Frank Ocean: "Self Control" from Blonde
18. Hozier: "Take Me to Church" from Hozier
19. Alabama Shakes: "Hold On" from Boys & Girls
20. Janelle Monáe: "Make Me Feel" from Dirty Computer
21. Lana Del Rey: "Video Games" from Born to Die
22. Brandi Carlile: "The Joke" from By the Way, I Forgive You
23. Radiohead: "Daydreaming" from A Moon Shaped Pool
24. Courtney Barnett: "Depreston" from Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
25. Fleet Foxes: "Helplessness Blues" from Helplessness Blues