49. Elizabeth Cook, "El Camino"
48. Das Racist, "hahahaha jk?"
47. Kid Rock, "Born Free"
46. MGMT, "Congratulations"
45. The Rolling Stones, "Plundered My Soul"
44. Neil Young, "Love and War"
43. B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars, "Nothing on You"
42. Surfer Blood, "Floating Vibes"
41. Junip, "In Every Direction"
40. Kanye West, "Power"
39. The Gaslight Anthem, "The Diamond Church Street Choir"
38. Spoon, "The Mystery Zone"
37. Lloyd Banks feat. Juelz Santana, "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley"
36. Drake feat. Nicki Minaj, "Up All Night"
35. Massive Attack feat. Hope Sandoval, "Paradise Circus"
34. Gorillaz feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack, "Stylo"
33. Wavves, "Post Acid"
32. Die Antwoord, "Enter the Ninja"
31. Gil Scott-Heron, "I'm New Here"
30. Jakob Dylan, "Nothing but the Whole Wide World"
29. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "The Trip to Pirate's Cove"
28. Band of Horses, "Laredo"
27. The National, "Bloodbuzz Ohio"
26. Robyn, "Dancing on My Own"
25. Nicki Minaj
"Did It On'em"
A hazy, synapse-butchering throwdown. Nicki: "If I had a dick, I would pull it out and piss on 'em."
24. Eminem
"Not Afraid"
Em opens up about sobriety, disses his last album and pledges to be a better dad. His most inspiring song ever.
23. Jamey Johnson
"Macon"
Johnson rolls slow and steady on this rough diamond of Seventies Southern rock.
22. Rick Ross feat. Styles P
"B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)"
Ross flows like the Barry White of white powder on this lush drug-lord fantasia.
21. Sleigh Bells
"Infinity Guitars"
A classic girl-group tune set against skull-rattling guitar fuzz that hurts so good.
20. Best Coast
"Boyfriend"
A heartbreaker about a lonely summer — imagine Brian Wilson as a sensitive stoner girl.
19. The New Pornographers
"Your Hands (Together)"
The indie-rock collective harmonizes about silver bullets and piles on the classic-rock guitars. Result: bizarro pop that's hard to shake.
18. Jenny and Johnny
"Scissor Runner"
Power pop finds its own George Burns and Gracie Allen. Her best borscht-belt joke? "I'll forgive you/If I outlive you."
17. LCD Soundsystem
"I Can Change"
The year's best Depeche Mode song is also its best Smiths song. James Murphy shows off a great falsetto while expressing pain with wild humor.
16. Cold War Kids
"Coffee Spoon"
SoCal kids hallucinate about the high life, turning "ascetics wring their hands" into a killer chorus..
15. Drake
"Over"
Drake rhymes about how stardom is both terrifying and awesome. With a huge, clattering beat, it's also irresistible.
14. Big Boi feat. Cutty
"Shutterbugg"
OutKast's brawnier half throws an electro party, coaxing players to the dance floor with a nasty ghetto-tech bass line.
13. The Dead Weather
"Hustle and Cuss"
Jack White and Alison Mosshart howl over the dirtiest riff of the year, generating ungodly amounts of sexual electricity.
12. Mark Ronson and the Business International feat. Q-Tip and MNDR
"Bang Bang Bang"
Ronson turns a French kiddie tune into a Technicolor hook on this synth-pop fire starter.
11. The Black Keys
"Everlasting Light"
A steady-grooving blues-rock ballad, with Dan Auerbach's falsetto floating over craggy funk like some beautiful ghost.
10. Kanye West feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver
"Monster"
On this rumbling id-fest, Minaj delivers the cameo of the year, switching personae and voices like she's rap's Meryl Streep. Kanye has the good sense to let her go on for 31 thrilling bars.
9. Broken Bells
"The Ghost Inside"
This noirish jam mixes Danger Mouse's steely funk with a creepily addictive chorus from the Shins' James Mercer. Bet you loosen your collar.
8. Janelle Monáe feat. Big Boi
"Tightrope"
Sister-from-another-planet Monáe delivers a ferocious, horn-splashed burner that mashes up Cab Calloway, hip-hop, James Brown and art-pop wackiness.
7. Vampire Weekend
"White Sky"
Synth foam, perky digital rhythms, joyful whoops and African-flavored guitars. The sound of a young band discovering how much is possible.
6. Mavis Staples
"You Are Not Alone"
A modern hymn, written by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and sung with maternal assurance by the voice that once told you to "Respect Yourself."
5. Arcade Fire
"We Used to Wait"
"Now our lives are changing fast," sings Win Butler, spooked and sleepless. But his empathetic croon — and his band's orchestral- rock wallop — make high anxiety sound almost sublime.
4. Katy Perry
"Teenage Dream"
Co-written by Max Martin and Dr. Luke, this buoyant electro-pop singalong is 2010's catchiest tune. As for that "teenage dream," Perry doesn't mince words: "Let's go all the way tonight."
3. Sade
"Soldier of Love"
Nobody knows where Sade disappears to for years at a time between hits, but "Soldier of Love" proves she knows how to make a hell of a re-entrance. She sings about emotional devastation over a beat that mixes quiet-storm synths with acid-damaged riffs straight out of TV on the Radio's playbook. It's as close as she's ever come to blowing her cool.
2. Cee Lo Green
"Fuck You"
The title alone would have guaranteed hundreds of thousands of Web clicks. But Cee Lo didn't just say "Fuck you" – he said it with humor and serious panache. Despite the bummed-out lyrics, the Motown-style beat is DayGlo-bright, and Cee Lo's lovelorn lament doubles as an anthem for lean times: "If I was richer/I'd still be with ya/Ha, now ain't that some shit?"
1. Kanye West feat. Pusha T
"Runaway"
It takes a special kind of dark, twisted genius to raise the white flag of surrender while raising a middle finger. Kanye West is that genius. "Runaway" is Kanye's musical response to the Taylor Swift affair, but it's much more than that: a nine-minute meditation on romantic failure and public infamy. Kanye creates a huge, eerie beat out of thunderous drums and plinking piano, and he turns the phrase "Let's have a toast for the douchebags" into a refrain nearly as catchy as "She loves you — yeah, yeah, yeah." In 2010, no other song was so crazily epic or jaw-droppingly gorgeous — not on the radio, not anywhere. Now, everyone raise your glasses.
