Way back in 2009, VV Brown burst on the pop scene with an excellent, summery album of songs that should've been hits. As it was: only one broke the Top 40 (the magnificent 'Shark in the Water', which hurt me to leave out of this list since it's the song from this century I've played the most, according to Last.FM) Pop charts are a cruel, and often injust mistress. Not to be deterred, Brown came back four years later with a darker aesthetic and a more artistic approach. The highlight was "The Apple", this incredible house-infused track that's full of scorn and power.
I've already touched upon the incredible work done by production duo Freemasons over the 2000s so I'll instead turn my attention to Rowland. Forever pinned by the media as "in Beyonce's shadow", she still carved out a solid solo career full of many highlights ("Dilemma" with Nelly was a #1 for eons back in... 2002 I think? Plus other hits like "Stole", "Can't Nobody" and "Daylight"). The original release of 'Work' was somewhat understated, but this new lease of life in the remix made it a top ten hit and secured it as one of pop's finest moments - later going on to be a stand-out on the GTA V soundtrack. There've been a plethora of popstars releasing songs called "Work", but I'm sorry Rihanna, Britney, Ciara, Fifth Harmony, The Saturdays and Iggy Azalea... this one takes the cake. And it's not even close.
There are a few songs from this century where everyone seems to know all of the lyrics in spite of them making very little sense. Up there with Mr. Brightside was this, a #5 single from their second album (and my favourite album of theirs) Favourite Worst Nightmare. The music video makes Joaquin Phoenix's oscar-winning performance look perfectly amateur. "Oh the boy's a slag... the best you ever had"
#87 - "Monster" by Kanye West, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver
Picking just the one song from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was an impossible task... because I've got two other hits of his from other records to come and I rate them as my two best Kanye songs. There really could've been any of them... the album is flawless from start to finish. But the song that seemed to make the biggest cultural impact was Monster... and it's an epic of biblical proportions. Rick Ross gets the ball rolling, Jay-Z is sneering and venomous, Bon Iver lends a soulful outro to the whole project... but the star turns are by Ye himself and Nicki Minaj. Whilst Kanye's is still quotable today, it was Minaj who really made a name for herself and dropped one of the most-respected and lauded verses of all time. The whole song can feel like a preamble to her scene-stealing performance, but it's genuinely exhilarating from the second it starts.
#86 - "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Eve and Gwen Stefani
Eve was one of the coolest artists when I was in my early teenage years; someone who the UK never really fully embraced but was huge across the pond. Out of her many hits ("Who's That Girl?", "Tambourine", "4 My People" with Missy Elliott) her most successful was this ridiculously good earworm featuring Gwen Stefani just as she was about to go solo from No Doubt. So good the Grammy's literally invented the "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" category for it.
Vampire Weekend are one of my all-time favourite bands thanks to their numerous excellent albums, but it took me until their second - Contra in 2010 - to fully hop aboard the bandwagon. This song and its infectious xylophone hook was pretty much on every night I went to indie bars, and I loved it. The video is odd... an indoor tennis tournament featuring Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal, RZA and Lil Jon. Okay.
#84 - "Blockbuster Night Part 1" by Run the Jewels
All of Run the Jewels' albums are perfect, but it was their second that really fired me up and inspired me. It kicks into gear for me with this nightmarish rumination on abuse of power, sexual predators at the top of every industry (a couple of years before the exposure of Harvey Weinstein), and the usual wordplay that just embarrasses the majority of current rap artists.
#83 - "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" by Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor
I kicked this countdown off with a dance anthem helmed by Ellis-Bextor and here we tackle the song that launched her career. One of the biggest dance records in the UK of all time, it was the subject of a media frenzy because it managed to fend off the #1 spot from a much-anticipating Victoria Beckham. Was the right decision made? Do you hear anyone listening to Out Of Your Mind? (No it was a perfectly fine song but, come on... there was no contest). 'Groovejet' is just effortlessly catchy and groovy and that it's now a part of pop history is... fitting, really.
The sax intro that launched a thousand memes. I don't think much needs to be said on TiBB of RAWM... it won the Song of 2015 competition on here and deservedly so. The second that chorus kicks off I still get chills... it's just absolute perfection.
#81 - "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" by U2
The Irish legends had a string of hits well into the latter end of the 2000s before finally buggering off and leaving us (and our iTunes libraries) alone. But before they became irritating... actually no that's a lie, Bono was hated well by 2005 when this song was released... they were dropping wonderful singles left right and centre. This hit #1 and whilst, on the surface, it isn't any more remarkable than other 2000s hits of theirs like Vertigo, City of Blinding Lights or Elevation, it was something that I had on heavy rotation around the time that my dad and brother died and I guess I felt some sort of catharsis in the track. "And it's you when I look in the mirror," indeed. The song was written for Bono's father, who died of cancer in 2001.
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You're giving me a million reasons about a million reasons
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