Ah 2010, a beautiful time when the Bieber hair flip, Katy's Candyland, and the country version of Taylor Swift ruled the music world. You can’t get much better than that. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been six years since the summer of 2010, and now we're onto the start of a new summer full of new music! The songs below were the staples on my iPod Nano playlist during this great summer. Of course, there were many awesome songs that came out in this golden year of music, but here are 11 of my favorites:
1. "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris
"Break Your Heart" came out in early 2010 and became Taio Cruz's breakout hit with a little help from Ludacris. This was the perfect song to start off summertime, and I remember listening to it while swimming at the outdoor pool (basically, the only thing I could do during the summertime since 13-year-olds can't drive). We can all agree this song was great and it was only leading to the future success of Taio Cruz which came only a few short months later.
2. "California Gurls" by Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dog
Wouldn't life be cool if we could defeat an army of gummy bears with our new best friends that we met during a game of Candyland that was being ruled by Snoop Dog? "California Gurls" was the official song of the summer in 2010. Billboard ranked it number one on Billboard's "The 30 Summer Songs of All Time," and also debuted at number two on the Billboard Top 100 chart. To this day it's still one of the best Katy Perry songs!
3. "Airplanes" by B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams
"Airplanes" put B.o.B on the map, and also added to the popularity of Paramore, because let's face it - Hayley Williams is amazing. The best part about this song was listening to it on my way to Florida in June 2010 while on an actual airplane. My 13-year-old self was really amused by the irony.
4. "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz
If you didn't listen to this song, you're lying. "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz rose to the number two spot on the Billboard Music charts and stayed on that chart for 47 weeks! In my opinion, it was definitely the number one song of the summer, and every time you turned on the radio it would be playing non-stop.
5. "Club Can’t Handle Me" by Flo Rida ft. David Guetta
I don't know about you, but my favorite movie in the "Step Up" series is "Step Up 3D." Not because of the 3D effects or awesome choreography, but simply because this movie has the most awesome dance soundtrack. Whenever "Club Can't Handle Me" came on the radio my sister and I would have our own dance party in the car!
6. "In My Head" by Jason Derulo
"In My Head" was one of the first, most popular songs by Jason Derulo to make it to the radio. Just in time for summer, this song ended up at spot number six on Billboard's Pop Songs. By the end of summer 2010, this song had been certified double platinum and sold over three million copies!
7. "Mine" by Taylor Swift
If you've been a Swiftie for quite some time now, you'll remember that one day in July of 2010 when Taylor set up a live stream from her home in Nashville telling us that her new album "Speak Now" would drop that upcoming October, and that her new single "Mine" would come out in a few short weeks. This song debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart!
8. "I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias ft. Pitbull
"I Like It" was released in May of 2010, but didn't pick up speed until the end of summertime. This song was included on the official soundtrack to the reality show, "Jersey Shore" which also helped bring this song to radio stations everywhere! In the U.S., it has sold over four million copies, and worldwide it has sold over six million!
9. "O.M.G." by Usher ft. will.i.am
"O.M.G." was the song you heard almost every time you turned on the radio! I think that after helping with the discovery of Justin Bieber, Usher's fans, especially Beliebers, absolutely loved this song and made Usher even more popular! will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas is also featured in this song. This song became his ninth number one hit in the U.S. and worldwide, it sold over 6.9 million copies!
10. "Hey Soul Sister" by Train
"Hey Soul Sister" was ultimately my favorite song that year, and it still is today. While actually released in August of 2009, it didn't pick up it's popularity until April of 2010 when it reached number three on the Billboard Top 100 Chart. It stayed on that chart for 79 weeks -- one of the only songs in history to stick around on a Billboard chart for that long!
11. "Baby" by Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris
And finally, the best thing to happen to every Belieber in 2010: "Baby" was released. Back in the day I was a hardcore Belieber, so when this song was released my world felt like it was finally complete. This song is what made Justin Bieber become a household name (well at least in my house) and led me to attend his concert in 2012, as well as his upcoming show this year in June! *Screams shamelessly* Definitely not counting down the days or anything, but there's 19 more days -- just saying.
