We Look Back At The #1 Songs On The ARIA Charts This Decade To See What Holds Up

Every year has its mega-hits, tracks so pervasive that for a hot minute they become cultural touchstones, and the 2010s were no different. But now that enough time has passed since most of these entries peaked to forget and forgive just how inescapable they were, it’s time to go back and see how well they’ve aged. Here’s how we think the biggest song from each year of the decade, going by the ARIA End Of Year charts, holds up in hindsight.

2010: Eminem ft Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie

Nearly ten years on from Rihanna and Eminem’s #lit collaboration you’ll find them both in any decent rundown of the most successful artists of this decade. Marshall continued to do what he’s done since the mid-'90s, taking swings at anything and everything and selling a shedload of albums along the way. Meanwhile, Rihanna destroyed streaming records, starred in bonafide blockbusters and built a beauty and fashion empire. Outside all of that, has Love The Way You Lie dated? A little bit, yes. Is it still an earworm? Also yes.

2011: LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and GoonRock - Party Rock Anthem

As the 2010s progressed it became apparent that there is a distinct line between artists that know how to manipulate memes and those that just are one. After an explosive rise with Party Rock Anthem and Sexy And I Know It, the duo followed a familiar descent through fizzling solo releases, reality television appearances, infighting and the odd bit of litigation. Party Rock Anthem went multi-Platinum pretty much everywhere, but the party rock brand had fully crashed well before 2020.

2012: Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe

Call Me Maybe will never not be a jam. Long after phones have become obsolete and humanity communicates exclusively through an organically evolved cloud interface, people will still scream/transmit "Here’s my number!" in each others’ faces any time this song comes on. The meaning will have been lost to history but the emotion will be eternal.

2013: Katy Perry - Roar

Public opinion’s been a bit up and down for Katy Perry this decade. She’s one of the most successful artists of all time, but she’s never been able to shake being just a little bit naff. That said, Roar absolutely still slaps. It’s edging up on three billion views just on YouTube. You can’t argue with those numbers.

2014: Pharrell Williams - Happy

Pharrell Williams did too good a job on his Despicable Me 2 track. Nothing against Williams, who wrote, produced and performed this little slice of sunshine. He set out to capture the sound of being "happy and relentless" and he did. It is happy and relentless. Which is fine. We just hope that whenever somebody starts clapping, Williams flinches just like the rest of us.

2015: Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk

A couple of years back it was revealed that, broken down by hours, the human race has spent more time watching Adam Sandler films on Netflix than civilisation has existed. It looks like the same can be said for Uptown Funk. At 3.7 billion hits the track has been played – in four-minute, 30-second increments – for almost 32,000 years. Just on YouTube. "Up. Town. Funk you up. Uptown-funk-you-up. Say what!?"

2016: The Chainsmokers ft Halsey - Closer

It’s almost like after the irresistible strut and boogie of Uptown Funk people needed a nice, sexless palate cleanser in 2016. Yes, the lyrics are about heartbreak and making out in the backseat of cars, but it’s the kind of clean, toothless sexuality H&M uses to sell rompers to teens. Nobody in Closer has ever had to dab a stain out of that car seat with a loose gym sock.

2017: Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You

We were genuinely shocked to discover Ed Sheeran only took out the top spot once in ten years. Then we were shocked to not recognise this song. At all. If these other songs affect the brain like pop crack, an immediate and intense response you just can’t leave alone, then Sheeran is oxycontin. His music is plenty addictive, but in a fuzzy, edgeless way where you still struggle to remember the chorus after 50 listens.

2018: 5 Seconds Of Summer - Youngblood

5SOS aren’t the first outfit to go from pop-punk teen dreams to full-tilt boy band, but goodness didn’t they make the transition look easy. The initial fever is still cooling on Youngblood, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s headed for long-term classic status. It feels pretty inevitable that the band themselves will comfortably continue to dominate charts until one of them splinters off for a solo career. 

2019: ???? - ????

For a while there it looked like Lil Nas X would be riding into 2020 with 2019 hogtied to his horse’s arse, but our very own Tones & I has well and truly left all competition in the dust. She's setting chart records with Dance Monkey that no one is going to touch for a very long time. Will the song hold up for as long as those records? Ask us in ten years.