1. Cee-Lo Green, "Fuck You"



An unlikely trend in recent years has birthed songs like OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” and Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.” These Grammy-winning, chart-topping tracks have roots in Motown-influenced rhythm and blues, but transcend that listening audience with sing-along choruses that create ultimate appeal. With a tambourine flick, Cee-Lo adds a bit of vulgarity to this canon, accompanied by a couple of organ chords, vitally contagious rhythm guitar and some snarky back-up singers. At its core, “Fuck You” is a statement song. Not only do the lyrics address the problem of shallow, gold-digging ex-girlfriends, but the song’s very existence as a Top-10 hit confronts its Auto-Tune-obsessed peers, who substitute the compelling instrument arrangements of yesteryear for the same stale beats that are cut and pasted from each fleeting and forgettable track. So no matter how your musical compass orients itself, don’t be ashamed to embrace this instant classic — it’s undeniably the year’s best song.

-DAVID RIVA

2. Kanye West, “Runaway”

How nice for Kanye West that after simply hearing the same lone piano note repeated three times over and then once more at a lower octave, millions of listeners instantly knew it was him. That’s all it takes; the repetition a half-step below just proves it. Toasting douchebags at the 2010 VMAs just a year after West’s (arguably) biggest douche move ever at the 2009 show, “Runaway” gave us all the Yeezy bravado we could hope for in 2010. It also gave us all the Yeezy not-quite-apologies we never thought we’d hear — plus that excellent line about the emailed penis pic — all over that same four-note motif. Piano is all about pushing the right keys at the right time, and Kanye West is so used to pushing buttons that hitting the same one three times is all it takes for him to make heads turn.

-SHARON JACOBS

3. Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream”

Tracks with heavy rotation on mainstream radio don’t often have a lot of longevity. Katy Perry’s seemingly cliché-laden hit “Teenage Dream” had a guileless charm that outlasted every oversexed party track that saturates the Top 40. Perry’s wistful refrain “we’ll be young forever” struck a few chords and dominated the charts. She took a few seemingly played-out clichés and turned them into a dreamy, nostalgic romp on the beach to which anyone who has ever had a crush can relate. The track is a simple love song with low expectations (“You think I’m pretty without any makeup on / You think I’m funny when I tell the punch line wrong") as it drifts along until Perry explodes with passion for her ideal lover. “Teenage Dream” appealed to the lowest common denominator in all of us. She made a quiet, universal dream a triumphant reality.

-CASSIE BALFOUR

4. Arcade Fire, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”

Despite all of its successes, The Suburbs has one obvious, glaring flaw. “Sprawl II” in particular brought to light just how underused and underappreciated Régine Chassagne truly is. The wife of frontman Win Butler and occasional vocalist delivered her most memorable performance to date on a song about being silenced in the face of an unbreakable yet non-tyrannical repression. The protagonist describes her mall-ridden, clock-in-clock-out surroundings as a source of creative stagnation, similar to the artistic restraints that have been unintentionally imposed on Chassagne over time. How’s that for art imitating real life? Thematic and lyrical content aside, the track is musically significant because it marks Arcade Fire’s first foray into disco. A thumping beat lays the groundwork for the seven-piece group to crescendo in its signature anthemic style, and a darkly colored breakdown makes way for a hopeful coda, encapsulating the grim and uplifting ping-ponging of the album.

-DAVID RIVA

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