2010 started with the reign of Ke$ha's "Tik Tok," started the summer with Taio Cruz's "Dynamite," and in my opinion, peaked with Flo Rida's "Club can't handle me." Such a good year for music, and without further ado:
1. Flo Rida - Club Can't Handle me (Ft. David Guetta) - Wasn't exactly love at first sight, as I was finding my sea legs, but after hearing this on the radio a few times, I ended up performing it at a lip synch contest sponsored by the Student Government Association. Perhaps because of my needing to learn the lyrics in order to lip synch to it properly, I listened to it more than I probably would have, and I fell in love with Flo Rida's verses, the chorus, and David Guetta's unbeatable production. I would request it almost every time I would be out in the club. Unfortunately, it only peaked at #9 on the Hot 100 for a couple of weeks, so it wasn't the absolute behemoth-sized smash that my second pick is, but that doesn't matter, because it is #1 in my heart.
2. Taio Cruz - Dynamite - Billboard magazine's "Hot 100 of the year" song was Dynamite, and for good reason: the song moved continents. The song perfectly encapsulates everything I like about the pop/club/dance genre: it's simply pleasure, and glorious at that. The lyrics weren't going to win any awards. "I came to dance, dance, dance, dance," etc. But the simplicity and clearness of the lyrics made it one that anyone who listened to it once or twice on the radio could sing along to it, and I wouldn't be surprised if a billion people have fist-pumped to Dynamite.
3. Diddy Dirty Money - I'm Coming Home (Ft. Skylar Grey) - This isn't exactly a dance/club song, but there is another genre of music that I take a liking too: "anthem-type" rap. Add in 3 sexy verses by Diddy, a super sexy chorus sung by Skylar Grey and Diddy's two better halves, and amazing backing music. That's "I'm Coming Home."
4. Enrique Iglesias - I like it (Ft. Pitbull) - This song is just a delight. Enrique and Pitbull are unstoppable.
5. Usher - DJ Got us fallin' in love (Ft. Pitbull) - Usher in club style + Pitbull doing his thing is another unstoppable hit.
6. Lupe Fiasco - The show goes on - Another epic "anthem" rap, this time with the controversial Lupe Fiasco sampling Modest Mouse's biggest hit. I came to like this song later on when it was hitting its stride on radio, and I also hear a clubbed up version in bars.
7. Chris Brown - Yeah 3x - This song was Chris Brown's redemption in my eyes. As one of my college friend's remarked: it's a happy song about alcohol. Yes it is, David James, yes it is, and it is one of my "back-up" songs to request when my top ones have already been played.
8. Ke$ha - Your love is my drug - How I loved this song for a few months in 2010. If I had written this near the beginning of 2011 it may have rated higher, but the songs that followed were so much better.
9. Jerimeh - Down on me (Ft. 50 Cent) - The song is dirty, the music video is dirtier, but the beat + the chorus + 50 cent was too much for me to resist.
10. Enrique Iglesias - Tonight I'm 'Loving' You (Ft. Ludacris) - Enrique followed "I like it" with this song, and the uncensored version is a beast. Even got to use the song in a tango in my dance group in college. Sexy.
Honorable mention:
Wacka Flacka Flame, "No Hands" (Ft. Wale & Roscoe Dash) - I didn't really start listening to this song until about a year after it came out on youtube, but what makes it a winner in my eyes was the epic backing anthem tracks with the brass/drums/strings and Roscoe Dash's addicting voice and chorus. "Girl the way you moving, got me in a trance." Another dirty song, probably the worst of the 2010 list, but I can't not like it.
