The Top 10 Artists of the 2010s (so far)

So I'm gonna ride the mid-decade lists a little more and give you who I believe to be the top artists of the 2010s (so far!!!). Obviously there were many options to choose from, but the ten I've listed here and made significant achievements in their music, hit a peak in their respective careers, or have garnered mass acclaim both commercially and critically. These aren't necessarily listed by rank of quality, but rather a mix of popularity and artistic abilities. Since I could only choose ten, I've excluded artists that either hit their career peak in the 2000s (Beyoncé, Kanye, Kelly Clarkson and P!nk), or are popular only because of how much they're hated (Justin Bieber, One Direction, and Lil Wayne). Alrightyyyy, here goes:

10. Luke Bryan

Yeah he's become a bit of a tool, and for all the whiners that point out how Taylor Swift was more pop than country, Luke has also taken some liberties in his music that don't necessarily fit in with the genre (auto-tune, really?). But the results don't lie, since he has become popular not only in country but now the popular realm as well. His last album "Crash My Party" was one of only 7 albums to go platinum in 2013, and he's assembled not only a crap-load of number one hits on the Country charts, but he's also placed several songs in the Top 20 of the all-genre Hot 100 as well. Not to mention he's performed in sold-out tours for a few years now, and his "Tailgates and Tanlines" album was the sixth best-seller of 2012, regardless of genre. Hopefully he'll return to his neo-traditionalist roots one day, but for now, the countless number of screaming women at his concerts (and men as well...hey, Luke Bryan is NOT an ugly guy!) are probably enough to keep him satisfied.

9. David Guetta

In the EDM scene, no other artist has front-lined the genre quite like David Guetta. Sure we also had giants such as Skrillex, Zedd, and Calvin Harris, but none of them scored as many top ten hits as Guetta has, and while Zedd and Calvin have been making their rounds across the pop scene, Guetta has already conquered that territory. In 2012 he delivered one of the best EDM songs ever (the powerful self-help song "Titanium"), while he's also showcased his skills as a producer with his albums "Nothing but the Beat" (no.5, 2011) and "Listen" (no.22, 2014). He's one of the artists in EDM that proves he's not a one-trick pony; he does have a few tricks up his sleeve and can go neo-classical, reggae, dancehall, or hip-hop whenever he so chooses.

8. Sia

"Breathe Me" got buzz going in the 2000s, but 2010's "I'm in Here" is really what really pushed her to the fringes of pop culture. Then when "Wild Ones" and "Titanium" appeared in 2012, there's absolutely no denying it: Sia was all over the place. She's written songs for an innumerable amount of pop performers (even executive producing Kylie Minogue's "Kiss Me Once" album) and then in 2014, she became a star in her own right with her first no. 1 album ("1000 Forms of Fear") and her first top-ten hit as a lead artist ("Chandelier", no. 8). Besides the fact that everything she touches turns to gold (quite literally, as the RIAA would say), you've got to admit she's got BOSS skills as a songwriter. Her vocal style may not suit everyone, but she's passionate about what she does and is really in it for the music, not the fame that comes with it (as she said so herself in her "I Don't Want to be Famous" manifesto").

7. Adele

Before you get mad, I'll let you know that I REALLY wanted to place Adele higher on the list, but I had to face facts: ALL of her success in the 2010s has come from only ONE album, "21". Now obviously it was an unprecedented smash, spending 79 weeks in the US top ten, selling 30 million copies worldwide and sweeping up 7 Grammy awards in 2012-2013. Three of its singles reached the top of the Hot 100 ("Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You", "Set Fire to the Rain") and the amount of airplay and publicity she's gotten by simply breathing is truly extraordinary. I will admit she's probably the best, highest quality artist on the this list, but once again, aside from 2011-2012, she hasn't been AS ubiquitous as the next artists coming up. But her voice though...WOW.

 

6. Bruno Mars

Two successful albums ("Doo-Whops and Hooligans" and "Unorthodox Jukebox"), six number-one singles ("Just The Way You Are", "Grenade", "Nothin on You", "Locked Out of Heaven", "When I Was Your Man", "Uptown Funk!") among many top ten hits, a super-bowl performer, AND a successful touring artist? Mr. Mars has definitely been getting his fill of success this decade. Not to mention he's also been writing songs for other pop acts as well (the majority of which before he became a solo artist, of course). Among male artists this decade, Bruno Mars is definitely my pick for the best so far, so the top five of this list are all inhabited my female artists.

 

5. Nicki Minaj

No matter what quality of music you think she does, there's once again no arguing with the results. She's appeared on the Hot 100 a total of 57 times so far in the 2010s (that's more than Madonna's career-spanning 56 entries), with at least 20 of those songs with her as a lead artist (the other 37 are from every rapper and pop artist and their mothers featuring her on virtually all of their songs). She's also released three successful albums, two of which hit no. 1 and went platinum ("Pink Friday" and "Roman Reloaded") as well as a no. 2 set (her latest masterwork "The Pinkprint"). Whether you like it or not, her enormous popularity has bolstered her career to heights unseen in those of female rappers. Even when her latest competitor Iggy Azalea threatened to take the throne, Miss Minaj showed her whose boss by overshadowing her success with singles like "Bang Bang" and "Anaconda".

 

4. Taylor Swift

Her album sales alone would warrant her place on this list (12 million so far this decade from her albums "Speak Now", "Red", and "1989"), but she's not THE most successful because her singles career really didn't consistently perform well until 2012, when "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" hit nos. 1 and 2, respectively. She didn't see another top-ten album single until "Shake it Off" reached the summit in August 2014...more than a year and a half later. But her mass appeal amongst US citizens is undeniable (once again mostly due to those screaming fan girls who populate her many sold-out tours). Not the best vocal abilities, but her songwriting skills continue to impress and eclipse those of her peers, both country and pop.

 

3. Lady Gaga

Little monsters, PAWS UP!!! Admit it, Lady Gaga OWNED 2010, and has been gradually slipping in popularity since. But still, that has absolutely no bearing on the sheer amount of success she's acquired since this decade began. She writes all of her own music, produces most of it with her expert choice of collaborators, and her legions of fans spread not only nationwide like Taylor Swift, but worldwide as well. Her blockbuster "Monster Ball Tour" ran TWO years from 2009-2011, and when "The Fame" and "The Fame Monster" started losing their sales in mid-2011, "Born This Way" was quick to save the day, and sold 1,108,000 copies in its first week. It spawned the hits "Born This Way", "The Edge of Glory", "You and I" and "Judas", and all of their music videos were just as creative as Gaga's outings earlier in the decade. "ARTPOP", released in 2013, topped the Billboard 200 and contained comeback single "Applause", while 2014's duet album with Tony Bennett "Cheek to Cheek" also reached no. 1 on the charts.

 

2. Katy Perry

Her 2010 smash album "Teenage Dream" spewed five number one singles (six if you include the deluxe-edition cut "Part of Me"), the only other artist to achieve that feat? Michael Jackson! And the album itself sold a lot of copies too. Also, Katy Perry spent 69 consecutive weeks in the Hot 100 top ten from 2010-2012, and her latest album "Prism" spawned two more number one singles: "Roar" and "Dark Horse". She simply could not be stopped, adding two wildly successful tours and a moderate box-office hit "Part of Me", released in 2012. Now she's slated to perform at the 2015 Super Bowl, how much more successful can you get? Well, obviously someone tells us how, as there's still one artist left.

 

1. Rihanna

Her career was already red-hot in the 2000s, but no one could have predicted the unparalleled amount of success she's had in the 2010s. Three albums that reached the top three of the Billboard 200 (including the chart-topper "Unapologetic"), all of which spawned numerous top ten hits. However, among all artist to top the Hot 100 in the years 2010-2014, Rihanna has spent the most amount of weeks at the apex, with a total of 32 (across eight chart toppers: "Rude Boy", "Love the Way You Lie", "(Only Girl) in the World", "What's My Name?", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds", and "The Monster"). She's done numerous tours this decade, and in 2012 she became the first female artist to receive the VMA for Video of the Year twice (Eminem first achieved the feat in 2000 and 2002). Rihanna once stated she'd like to become the "Black Madonna"; I'd say she's well on her way to getting there.

The Top 50 Songs of the 2010s (so far)

It's time for the wonderful mid-decade lists! Since I'm impatient and need instant gratification, I just simply couldn't wait until the end of 2019 to do a "Best of the 2010s" songs list, so I'll compromise and do it five years into the decade (covering 2010-2014). I've combed through all of my "Top Songs" lists from the start of the decade, and I've now put them in order from 1-50. As you might've guessed, since this is a mid-decade list, only half the volume of songs are required for this comprehensive list of hits. Well, here they are:

50. PitBull and Ke$ha-Timber (2014)
49. P!nk-Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (2012)
48. Taylor Swift-I Knew You Were Trouble (2013)
47. Rihanna and Mikky Ekko-Stay (2013)
46. Meghan Trainor-All About That Bass (2014)
45. Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea-Problem (2014)
44. Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa-Payphone (2012)
43. Jennifer Lopez and PitBull-On The Floor (2011)
42. Nelly-Just a Dream (2010)
41. Taio Cruz-Dynamite (2010)
40. Nicki Minaj-Starships (2012)
39. P!nk-Raise Your Glass (2010)
38. Kelly Clarkson-What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) (2012)
37. OneRepublic-Counting Stars (2014)
36. Ellie Goulding-Lights (2012)
35. Magic!-Rude (2014)
34. P!nk and Nate Ruess-Just Give Me a Reason (2013)
33. Katy Perry-Firework (2011)
32. Bruno Mars-Just The Way You Are (2010)
31. Cee Lo Green-Fuck You (2011)
30. Bruno Mars-Grenade (2011)
29. Sam Smith-Stay With Me (2014)
28. Nicki Minaj-Super Bass (2011)
27. Jason Derulo and 2 Chainz-Talk Dirty (2014)
26. Adele-Set Fire to the Rain (2012)
25. Imagine Dragons-Radioactive (2013)
24. Lady Antebellum-Need You Now (2010)
23. Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX-Fancy (2014)
22. Daft Punk and Pharrell-Get Lucky (2013)
21. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys-Empire State of Mind (2010)
20. Katy Perry and Kanye West-ET (2011)
19. fun and Janelle Monae-We Are Young (2012)
18. Justin Timberlake-Mirrors (2013)
17. Ke$ha-Tik Tok (2010)
16. John Legend-All of Me (2014)
15. BOB and Hayley Williams-Airplanes (2010)
14. Katy Perry and Juicy J-Dark Horse (2014)
13. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Ray Dalton-Can't Hold Us (2013)
12. Lady Gaga-Bad Romance (2010)
11. Adele-Someone Like You (2011)
10. Robin Thicke, Pharrell, and TI-Blurred Lines (2013)
9. Pharrell-Happy (2014)
8. Gotye and Kimbra-Somebody That I Used to Know (2012)
7. Carly Rae Jepsen-Call Me Maybe (2012)
6. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Wanz-Thrift Shop (2013)
5. Rihanna and Calvin Harris-We Found Love (2011)
4. LMFAO, Goonrock and Lauren Bennett-Party Rock Anthem (2011)
3. Eminem and Rihanna-Love The Way You Lie (2010)
2. Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg-California Gurls (2010)
1. Adele-Rolling in the Deep (2011)

Is Lady Gaga's "Art" Really a "Flop"?

Although it was released over a year ago, I thought I'd quickly discuss Lady Gaga's latest album "ARTPOP", or as many people have called it: "Artflop" (or "Fartplop" if you're that immature). 

Obviously, as a Lady Gaga little monster forever, I take some offense to that re-titling, not because I prefer to kiss Gaga's ass instead of facing the truth, but because calling "ARTPOP" a 'flop' doesn't quite seem accurate.

Let me explain. So a "flop" is classically considered to be a project that overwhelmingly
under-performs in the commercial marketplace, like a movie grossing $1 million or less at the box office when its budget was $50 million (this would actually be considered a "bomb", or the movie version of a 'flop'). Using an album as an example, take Mariah Carey's "Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse", released this year after five years of no new music from the diva of whistle tones. All of her albums have sold millions of copies around the world (200 million to be exact!), so you would expect that "Elusive Chanteuse" would sell just the same right? Wrong: it debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 copies sold, a FAR cry from her last album, "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" which debuted at the same position but with sales of 168,000 copies. Before that, her prior two smash albums "E=MC2" and "The Emancipation of MiMi" each debuted at number 1 with sales exceeding 400,000 copies ("Emancipation" was even the top selling album in the US in 2005), and those albums came 15-18 years into the songstress' career, so giving the Madonna excuse of "she's no longer relevant to a younger audience" is invalid. To date, "The Elusive Chanteuse" has sold about 117,000 copies in the US; given that it took over three years to record and numerous producers, singers, and rappers contributed to the project, I would definitely say that album was a flop in every sense of the word.

Now, back to Lady Gaga. Where does "ARTPOP" exactly stand on the 'flop' to 'smash' spectrum? Well, as I just did with Mariah, we gotta examine the statistics first, because they do show some interesting results. First off, "ARTPOP" became Lady Gaga's second number 1 album in the US, as it debuted at the position with sales of 258,000 copies. Right off the bat, any die-hard little monster would notice that sales figure is a considerable drop from the debut sales haul of "Born This Way": 1,108,000 copies. True: 440,000 of those copies were sold through Amazon, who discounted the album for two days for 99 cents, but 668,000 copies were still bought at iTunes or physical retailers at full price. Regardless of such, there's one fact that can't be disputed: "ARTPOP" sold considerably less than "Born This Way" as far as overall sales-to-date go. "Born This Way" has sold approximately 8 million copies worldwide since its 2011 release (6 million units sold in the first year); within one year of the release date for "ARTPOP", worldwide sales figures stand at 2.5 million copies. "Born This Way" came in as the 3rd best selling album of 2011 in the US, while "ARTPOP" was ranked 103 in the end of 2013 report, but was later declared the 34th best seller of 2014 by Billboard. So that must be somewhat disappointing to Gaga's team, who spent countless hours promoting the project, as well as Gaga herself with an abundance of TV performances, interviews, promo clips etc. 

But that's comparing Gaga against herself, when compared to other female artists of the past couple years: "ARTPOP" has sold more copies than Miley Cyrus' "Bangerz" (2 million sold), Mariah Carey's "The Elusive Chanteuse" (less than 500,000 copies so far), Jennifer Lopez's "AKA" (less than 500,000 so far), Shakira's "Shakira" (less than 500,000 copies), and even Madonna's last album "MDNA" (2 million sold), but does fall short of recent albums released by Beyonce ("Beyonce", 5 million), Lorde ("Pure Heroine", 2.7 million), Katy Perry ("Prism", 3 million) and Taylor Swift ("1989", 4 million...so far). Gaga has big competition for sure, but she's actually outsold more prominent acts with careers spanning far beyond hers and the number of albums "ARTPOP" outsold are greater than the number of albums it has sold less than. When put in that perspective, it looks like Mother Monster hasn't been doing so bad after all, but there are still other stats that beef up the 'flop' talk. "ARTPOP" quickly descended on the Billboard 200 and didn't chart long into 2014. Also, when it fell from 1-8 in its second week, its sales declined by 84%, making Gaga the only artist to have two albums decrease in sales by at least that amount from their debut week to their second ("Born This Way" originally held the all-time title when it declined 85% in sales in its second week; Madonna would later take that title from her when sales for "MDNA" declined by 86% in its second week). "ARTPOP" definitely did not have as much staying power as I personally would have predicted, and it surely didn't become a juggernaut for hits like "The Fame" and "Born This Way". 

However, there is still a bright side to this that takes credibility away from the 'flop' arguments. Yeah, "ARTPOP" didn't spew out multiple number one (or even top ten) hits like Taylor Swift did with "1989" this year, but still, TWO of its songs reached the top ten ("Applause", no.4, and "Dope", no.8"), one single reached the top twenty ("Do What U Want", no.13), and third single "G.U.Y" did chart, albeit very low (no.72). "ARTPOP" has sold a total of 725,000 copies in the US as of December 2014, that's a higher figure than Kanye's "Yeezus" (620,000), Pharrell's "GIRL" (519,000), and Iggy Azalea's "The New Classic" (423,000). Come to think of it, the only album to contain multiple top ten hits this year of any genre, besides Taylor Swift's "1989" (let it be noted that Swift is the exception to the state of the music industry in 2014, not the rule) was Ariana Grande's "My Everything" ("Problem", no.2, "Bang Bang", no.3, "Break Free", no.4, and "Love Me Harder", no.7), and do you know how many copies that album has sold? Around 400,000 in the US so far, not that robust of a figure for an artist of Grande's popularity. True, "ARTPOP" was no match for giants like Justin Timberlake, Luke Bryan, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, so on and so forth, but once again, those artists have actually done exceptionally well in the 2010s. 

Did Lady Gaga reach a career low with her album sales? Yes, she did. But guess what? So did alot of people! And I mean A LOT. Let's run down the list: Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, Mary J Blige, Shakira, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow. The list does go on, believe me, but those are just the bigger names that have sold millions of records before, with multiple albums, but now might be struggling to get a fancy centerpiece on the table (let's be real here, with all the money these people have made already, all of them could retire for life this very moment while I'd most likely be working until I'm 72). I don't know if Gaga's career will continue to descend, but she's already claimed another number one album with her Tony Bennett-collab "Cheek to Cheek" (131,000 sold in its first week), so I think she'll be just fine regardless of the outcome.

Meghan Trainor-"Title" Review

In equal measures, Meghan Trainor's debut smash "All About That Bass" became a perennial anthem for the big-sized belles of the world, but also a lightning rod for controversy that ranged from shaming smaller body types, as well as reverse-feminism, and cultural appropriation issues regarding her oddly black singing voice. The song was never-the-less the biggest booty-centric hit of 2014, but it didn't come without repercussions. Besides the dividing opinions about the single itself, Meghan Trainor now had to prove that her Shangri Las-meets-Nicki Minaj approach could sustain a career beyond that single and one or two more clones of it. The follow-up "Lips Are Movin" was another top five hit, but in all honesty, the similarities between that song and "Bass" are innumerable. Hell, the simple fact that "Lips" mentions "Bass" in its lyrics begs the question if Trainor may be a one-hit wonder in essence, always retreating back to the sound and look of the hit that brought her super-stardom. Since "Bass" and "Lips" are placed on opposite ends of Trainor's debut full-length "Title", the only way to know if she is capable of success in the long-term is by examining the body of the record in between them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the critics against Trainor will be pleased to know that yes, "Title" really is a collection of "All About That Bass" plus ten sequels of it. Every song here, while not exact replicas of that first single, are all painted off the same palette: doo-whops a plenty, girl-group harmonies dictate the chord progressions, white-girl raps between the catchy choruses, all augmented by bari sax riffs and jazzy percussion. The Anti-Trainor camp was also correct in pointing out the glaring hypocrisy in her thematic material, because while one moment she's telling her "Future Husband" to give her independence like a modern day woman, she doesn't hesitate to give him a laundry list of duties that would force her dependence on him the moment after. Big-skinned women can take comfort in self-image songs like "All About That Bass" and "Close Your Eyes", but those thinner individuals may not be able to feel quite as right knowing that Trainor called them 'skinny bitches' in the same breath. Whatever the debate (individual-vs-society, retro-vs-modern, dependence-vs-independence) Trainor has something quick-witted to say about both sides. Too bad no one told her that she can't play for both teams on the same record, let alone the same song (or, as already mentioned, the same damn line). Because the music is so cheerful and the hooks are rather intoxicating, there's definitely an urge to want to like "Title", and on a purely superficial level it does its job exquisitely. But that's not what Meghan Trainor built really intended: she wants to be seen as cream of the crop; top of the pack of contemporary pop pack that aims to expand the ideal of beauty and the modern-day singer/songwriter. Had she picked one side of the fence and stuck with it, "Title" would be a successful piece of pop craft. Since she didn't, however, the internal tug-of-war when listening to the bulk of this album will become unbearable to some, and others will simply find a way to ignore their better judgment and just enjoy the music. Long story short, whatever pre-conceived notions you have about "Title" based upon Trainor's first two singles: you're right.

Recommended Tracks in Bold:

1. The Best Part          2. All About That Bass    3. Dear Future Husband

4. Close Your Eyes     5. 3am                                     6. Like I’m Gonna Lose You

7. Bang Dem Sticks   8. Walkashame                      9. Title

10. What If I             11. Lips Are Movin’