On the “For You” page of my Apple Music feed, I see a playlist titled “Party Like It’s 2009.” This custom playlist was probably determined by inputing my age, my pop obsession and a sample of my DNA Apple acquired in one of those “Terms & Agreements” documents I always accept.
As I walked home from work and lip synced to Jay Sean’s “Down” ft. Lil Wayne, I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic. 2009 is a strange period of time to feel nostalgic about, especially since it was only six years ago. But it seems like decades have passed since my middle school days.
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The following songs were the top tracks in America this week in 2009. In the ever changing music industry, six years might as well be decades. So I encourage you, kick back, listen to the tracks, and go back to a time when The Black Eyed Peas had a feeling and Taylor Swift had a southern twang.
5. "Knock You Down" - Keri Hilson ft. Kanye West, Ne-Yo
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow. Right out of the gate, we see a song and an artist that have fallen into oblivion. Find that one hit wonder that pulled you through the tough times six years ago and scroll through YouTube comments. “We miss you Keri” and “Thumbs up if watching in 2015” fill the page. Coincidently, her third album was rumored to come out this week, but rumors are quickly proving to be false.
4. “You Belong With Me” - Taylor Swift
Princess of Nashville to Queen of Pop. The song that started it all. Sure, Swift’s classic “Dear-Diary-I-love-the-boy-next-door” angle was a bit sappy, but when you’re 13, you eat that stuff up. Taylor Swift would hit the pop charts and begin to see Nashville wasn’t her town after all. It would take another five years, two albums and six Grammys before Swift would make the genre leap and pop sensation known as 1989.
3. “Lovegame” - Lady Gaga
Classically Sensual to Sensually Classic. This Lady Gaga song is a sexually explicit song with a driving beat, a catchy chorus and a music video that our children will definitely use to poke fun at millennial pop culture. Lady Gaga seemed to come out of nowhere with her meat dresses. Fast forward to 2015 and we see her belting “The Sound of Music” at the Oscars and touring with Tony Bennett, proving herself as a fearless genre-leaping artist.
2. “I Gotta Feeling” - Black Eyed Peas
Party Anthem to Overplayed on the Local Variety Station. The song of choice for every awkward middle school dance and Bar-mitzvah. With its contagious beat and a chorus that consists of 11 words repeated over and over again, the song may as well be a parody of how simple it is to write a pop song. But that didn’t keep the marching band from playing it at every game.
1. "Waking Up In Vegas” - Katy Perry
Sexy Chart Toppers to Inspirational Work-Out Songs. Katy Perry has a Superbowl performance under her belt and the Guinness World Record for most Twitter followers in 2015. Her move from bubblegum pop to inspirational everyday anthems such as “Firework” and “Roar” may outshine her songs of 2009, but “Vegas” is a testament of how far she’s come.
http://www.at40.com/top-40/chart/4591
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