Laura's Top Songs of Pop 2010

Let’s face it, the world of music can be quite intimidating. Outside of a good review website with similar tastes, which I’ve never been able to find, most of my exploration is limited to Music Togetherness, what David is into these days, and what’s rumored at Bonnaroo. Mostly, I like someone to tell me what to listen to – so I turn to pop radio. It’s easy. It’s catchy. It’s fun.

Whether these songs came out near the end of 2009 or in 2010, they’ve enjoyed much of their rotation within the past year. And since not every song has the staying power to endure pop radio rotation without causing listeners to want to tear their ears off, these are the best of the best.

10. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has often turned me off with her meat suits and her “performance art." If you've ever seen her perform on YouTube as Stefani Germanotta (a Vanessa Carlton-esque performer), you can see where this whole thing might come off a little fake. Judging by the name of her upcoming album, "Born Like This," my guess would be that she would fight this accusation to the death, but whichever side of the argument you end up on, the fact is that this woman can put out some damn catchy music and is no doubt one of the biggest things to hit pop culture in the past decade. After smashing onto the scene with the upbeat “Just Dance” she went a little wayward with “Love Game” and “Pokerface,” but really came back on my radar with“Paparazzi" and especially "Bad Romance,” which is her best song to date. It's great club music.

9. OMG – Usher featuring Will-i-am

While I chalked up "Bad Romance" to great club music, it really just doesn't get better than this in 2010. I love how Usher has progressed over the years from a crooner I couldn’t help but fall in love with as a young teen, to a dance club staple I could get boozed up and dance to in college ("Yeah!"). He’s continuing this tradition with "OMG" by wrangling in the help of the enormously successful Black Eyed Peas' Will-i-am (although for the life of me I cannot figure that one out, I don't mind him on this track - maybe it's the lack of Fergie...). It’s never been about the lyrics on this one ("Honey got some boobies like wow, oh, wow?" Ouch, Usher), but the beat grabbed me in the beginning and has never let go. The chorus is the best part, with it's tempo buildup and release. Omy gosh, indeed.

8. Secrets – OneRepublic

Although it’s not my favorite track on the band’s sophomore album, it is one of the band’s best singles to date. What I love about the band it its blatant use of violin (and clapping) and its need to sound big for every chorus. I mentioned it before, but frontman Ryan Tedder just knows pop music, and I think it shows.

7. Hey Soul Sister – Train

With “Hey Soul Sister,” a lighthearted little ditty with rotation power like you wouldn’t believe, the band formerly only really known for “Drops of Jupiter” (2001), made a major comeback. Out of all the songs on my list this year, I have no doubt heard this one the most over the past year, and it has never once started to get old. I’m a sucker for the ukulele, and even know the lyrics can get really ridiculous at times ("left-side brain?"), it’s the organ that really gets me and sends shivers up my spine. And it’s totally fun to sing, even with bad voice.

6. King of Anything – Sara Bareilles

Ever since she came on the scene with "Love Song" I have loved Bareilles’ voice – it's shades of Adele, which I've always meant to try and get into... The chorus “who cares if you disagree, you are not me, who made you king of anything?," is incredibly empowering. The whole song is feel-good, so beautiful and liberating at the same time, and I love that - "oh, oh, oh oh, oh" thing she does with her voice following the chorus. I'm a sucker for a voice used as an instrument and not just a method of delivering lyrics.

5. Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars

It’s rare that a song catches my attention the first time I hear it, then commands that attention every time I hear it for months and months on end, but this is one such tune. I think it’s got a great message – it’s classic stuff chicks love to hear (from classics like “Wonderful Tonight” to cheesier bits like “Your Body is a Wonderland”), but it’s sweet in a world where female (especially teen female) self esteem has gone wayyyy down. You also can't deny this guy's voice. Bruno Mars is probably my favorite male vocalist on the radio today.

4. Firework – Katy Perry

It took me a little while to warm up to a slutty pop star who went from singing Christian songs to “I Kissed a Girl” and who looks exactly like Zooey Deschanel with a boob job, but I’ve warmed up to Perry as one of the best pop stars of this decade. “Teenage Dream” is a solid album, as is the title track, but Katy really hits her energy and stride on “Firework.” I think it shows off her voice in a way that makes her sound more unique than I could have imagined of her.

3. Fuck You – CeeLo Green

When I first heard this I was sure it was some sort of joke. I mean, it was fun, but it seemed kind of absurd. Months later, “Glee” featured it in the episode in which Gwenyth Paltrow guest starred and I watched David’s jaw drop when he heard Glee was doing a CeeLo song. Once he explained who CeeLo was, and that I might like him if I gave him more of a chance, I really fell in love with the song (obviously). It’s incredibly groovy and the lyrics are actually kind of endearing despite the cursing. (I even think the radio edit “forget you” version is pretty good.) “I guess he’s an Xbox, and I’m more an Atari...” - classic. Please God, bring CeeLo to Bonnaroo.

2. We R Who We R – Ke$ha

Like it or not, Ke$ha isn’t going anywhere - she's in it for the long haul, and I'm not mad at it. In fact, I'd consider her one of the big 3 in female pop these days (Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha). Aside from the fun factor in this song, the beat has incredible high energy, and the song’s message is really great too. Like a lot of other uplifting songs on this list, Ke$ha's point is that it's cool to be unique and quirky, so be yourself. "We are who we are" says it all. She wrote it after all the bullying resulting in suicide that kept hitting the news. And she's a good one to send the message too, because she is so unique. I think it's cool that in a pop world where plenty before her have used their ghetto pasts to become famous, she's using her trashy past for the same end (and it's working out). Plus for some reason, I've always been interested in that culture (i.e. Rob Zombie movies).

1. The Only Exception – Paramore

Probably my favorite of the year, this song is a sweet Coldplay-esque ballad about a girl who learns to believe in love. Aside from being a better role model than most singers in pop, Hayley Williams’ voice is beautiful, and the video is nice too. Mostly, though, I think the song speaks for itself better than anything I could say about it.