Best of 2010: The Top 31 Songs of 2010

I've been doing year-end lists since 2004, and no year has brought such a diversified collection of artists and sounds as the one which we are currently sending off.  To me, 2010 was the year of pop music, a year that brought us albums from Ellie Goulding, Robyn, Janelle Monae, of Montreal, and other amazing pop acts!  This list will reflect that.  But 2010 was also a year in which I opened my ears up to types of music that I had dismissed or ignored in the past: namely folk and hip hop.  You'll also see a little bit from those genres in here.  I don't intend for this list to be interesting in any way, but hopefully you'll see a song on here that you're unfamiliar with, download it, and fall in love.  These are the Top 31 Songs of 2010.

#31:  Crystal Castles - "Empathy" - from the album, Crystal Castles

"You must work in symmetry.  You must earn their empathy."

#30:  Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land" -  from the album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks
"Are you a man, or are you a bag of sand?"

#29:  Robyn - "Hang With Me" - from the album, Body Talk
"When you see me drift astray, out of touch and out of place, will you tell me to my face?"

#28:  Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Round and Round" - from the album, Before Today
"I'm afraid. You're afraid. And we die and we live and we're born again."

#27:  Field Music - "Them That Do Nothing" - from the album, Measure
"We used to all be happy while pretendithat we weren't.  Now the smiles upon our faces show how much it all must hurt."

#26: Deerhunter - "Revival" - from the album, Halcyon Digest

"Freedom, silence, always.  All this darkness, always."

#25:  LCD Soundsystem - "Pow Pow" - from the album, This Is Happening
"With you on the inside, and me on the outside, there's advantages to both."

#24:  of Montreal (Featuring Janelle Monae) - "Enemy Gene" - from the album, False Priest 
"How can we ever evolve when our gods are so primitive? They destroy our hope for peace, hope for love."

 

#23:  Sufjan Stevens - "I Want to be Well" - from the album, The Age of Adz
"I'm not fucking around!"

#22:  The New Pornographers - "Valkyrie in the Roller Disco" - from the album, Together
"Bounce off the walls, valentine, have your fun.  Come on, be the one...come on, be the one."

#21:  ceo - "Love and Do What You Will" - from the album, White Magic
"Take my hand and do whatever you will."

#20:  Kanye West (Featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver) - "Monster" - from the album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
"Pink wig, thick ass, give 'em whiplash.  I think big, get cash, make 'em blink fast."

#19: of Montreal - "Famine Affair" - from the album, False Priest
"She says, 'You're not boring, I'm just bored with you' - the psychology behind it is ruthless."

#18:  Vampire Weekend - "Horchata" - from the album, Contra
"Years go by and hearts start to harden.  Those palms and ferns that grew in your garden are falling down and nearing the rose bed.  The roots are shooting up through the tool shed.  Those lips and teeth that asked how my day went are shouting up through cracks in the pavement."

#17:  Das Racist - "All Tan Everything" - from the album, Sit Down, Man
"New dance, do the booty droop.  On to the next one, now do the booty scoop.  Do the booty up.  Do the booty-ooty alley oop."

#16:  Yeasayer - "Ambling Alp" - from the album, Odd Blood
"You must stick up for yourself, son.  Nevermind what anybody else done."

 
#15:  The Tallest Man On Earth - "The Wild Hunt" - from the album, The Wild Hunt
"I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone.  Yes, I'll be leavin' in the fall."

#14:  Band of Horses - "Dilly" - from the album, Infinite Arms

"Take the mask off when you speak to me."

#13:  MGMT - "Congratulations" - from the album, Congratulations

"As strange as it seems, I'd rather dissolve than have you ignore me."

#12:  Local Natives - "Sun Hands" - from the album, Gorilla Manor

"And when I can feel with my sun hands, I'll promise not to lose her again.  And even if the morning never comes, my hands are blessed to have touched the sun."

#11:  Ellie Goulding - "This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)" - from the album, Lights

"This love is not what you want.  This heart will never be yours.  This love is be and end all.  This love will be your downfall."

#10:  LCD Soundsystem - "One Touch" - from the album, This Is Happening

"People who need people to the back of the bus."

#9:  Sleigh Bells - "Kids" - from the album, Treats

"I sip my kool-aid.  I'm feeling better now"

#8: Wallpaper. - "#STUPiDFACEDD" - self-released

"I'm blacked out, sleepwalking, on a quest for god at my friend's apartment."

#7: Cee-Lo Green - "Fuck You!" - from the album, The Lady Killer

"If I was richer, I'd still be with ya.  Ain't that some shit?"

#6:  The New Pornographers - "Up in the Dark" - from the album, Together

"You can't see them in it.  It gets weaker, watch them go.  Wrap yourself around me in the shadow show."

#5:  The Tallest Man On Earth - "Burden of Tomorrow" - from the album, The Wild Hunt

"I wasn't born, I just walked in one frosty morn' into the vision of some vacant mind."

#4:  Vampire Weekend - "Cousins" - from the album, Contra

"You and this model sit outside on the side of a house on a street they wouldn't park on at night."

#3:  MGMT - "Flash Delirium" - from the album, Congratulations

"You can't get a grip if there's nothing to hold."

#2:  Janelle Monae (Featuring Big Boi) - "Tightrope" - from the album, The ArchAndroid

"See I'm not walkin' on it, or trying to run around it.  This ain't no acrobatics.  You either follow or you lead."

#1:  Beach House - "Zebra" - from the album, Teen Dream

"Any way you run, you run before us, black and white horse arching among us."