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.
