With the way Flo Rida, Taio Cruz, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Jason Derulo were running the charts with their faceless music  Thank God for the 20s. There was a cultural reset when the pandemic came and music in general got so much better. 

 

note: specifically speaking about top 40 music....the hits. The alt, underground and other genres music scene wasnt bad per say.

Edited September 2, 2025Sep 2 by IBeMe

Maybe it was if you only listen to main pop girls and those five men...

 

The 2010s was pretty good for indie/alternative, rap, and R&B. Could probably even throw in country too.

Those artists you name are mostly from the early 2010s. Late 2010s was even worse

There were some unfortunate music trends in the 2010s for sure. Particularly indie-pop and the indie voice super prevalent on songs like Passenger's Let Her Go, Of Mice & Men's Little Talk, & The Lumineers Ho Hey.

1 minute ago, Just a Gay on ATRL said:

There were some unfortunate music trends in the 2010s for sure. Particularly indie-pop and the indie voice super prevalent on songs like Passenger's Let Her Go, Of Mice & Men's People Talk, & The Lumineers Ho Hey.

Omg these trends were annoying af

I do have some soft spot for this trashy electropop. Give Me Everything, Like a G6 are bangers

1 minute ago, bestfiction said:

I do have some soft spot for this trashy electropop. Give Me Everything, Like a G6 are bangers

Like a G6 still goes hard.  That chorus and beat are so catchy even today.

Edited September 2, 2025Sep 2 by Lethal

6 minutes ago, conatus said:

Maybe it was if you only listen to main pop girls and those five men...

 

The 2010s was pretty good for indie/alternative, rap, and R&B. Could probably even throw in country too.

specifically meant top 40! yes alt and indie music was excellent at the time as well as other genres. Mostly talking about mainstream pop and radio music. If you compare it even to today's landscape (as dire as things can seem in today's radio playlists and charts) the difference is IMMENSE. pop music was grating AF!

Just now, IBeMe said:

specifically meant top 40! yes alt and indie music was excellent at the time as well as other genres. Mostly talking about mainstream pop and radio music. If you compare it even to today's landscape (as dire as things can seem in today's radio playlists and charts) the difference is IMMENSE. pop music was grating AF!

In that case, yeah, you're not wrong. It was a pretty good decade outside of the stuff that... you know, was actually charting most of the time gsjkgkjsd.

 

I've honestly blocked out a lot of the top 40 stuff of that decade, especially the early 2010s. Some of the trends had already kind of aged like milk within minutes. 

11 minutes ago, conatus said:

Maybe it was if you only listen to main pop girls and those five men...

 

The 2010s was pretty good for indie/alternative, rap, and R&B. Could probably even throw in country too.

I listen mostly to Indie/alt, r&b and country and #00s and #10s we're amazing decades.

1 minute ago, conatus said:

In that case, yeah, you're not wrong. It was a pretty good decade outside of the stuff that... you know, was actually charting most of the time gsjkgkjsd.

 

I've honestly blocked out a lot of the top 40 stuff of that decade, especially the early 2010s. Some of the trends had already kind of aged like milk within minutes. 

Not expired upon release I-  

but yes I remember that period! the worst part is that decade was such a formative decade of my life and I feel ROBBED of it because the music I associate with it is HORRIBLE  Like in the background of every childhood memory I hear "Like a g6...like a g6!" *unst unst pots and pans sounds unst unst* ugh  

I remember a period in 2016-2017 where it was basically impossible for female artists to chart well so I kinda get what you're saying…

 

Although personally I'd rather have more hits even if some of them aren't that great. The charts are so stagnant now and just not interesting to watch. 2024 was kind of an exception but other than that the 2020s have been pretty bad in that respect.

Edited September 2, 2025Sep 2 by potent

14 minutes ago, Just a Gay on ATRL said:

There were some unfortunate music trends in the 2010s for sure. Particularly indie-pop and the indie voice super prevalent on songs like Passenger's Let Her Go, Of Mice & Men's People Talk, & The Lumineers Ho Hey.

The way this is a mix of 2 or 3 different song titles 

 

Also Little Talks is a great song and I won't hear otherwise

i'm confused tho...

 

enrique gave us classics like 'i like it', 'tonight i'm lovin you' and 'bailando'

 

jason derulo gave us 'want to want me' and 'swalla'

 

pitbull gave us 'give me everything' and 'international love' 

 

taio gave us 'dynamite' and 'break your heart'

 

all classics

 

Edited September 2, 2025Sep 2 by folk

I don't think it was horrible but I high-key prefer 2020s music to it so far

3 minutes ago, folk said:

i'm confused tho...

 

enrique gave us classics like 'i like it', 'tonight i'm lovin you' and 'bailando'

 

jason derulo gave us 'want to want me' and 'swalla'

 

pitbull gave us 'give me everything' and 'international love' 

 

taio gave us 'dynamite' and 'break your heart'

 

all classics

 

Normally it's annoying when people say this but I honestly think if a pop girl sang WTWM this forum would be all over it 

 

Like if you just don't like male vocals then fair I guess but…

2013/14 were the most female centric years and they were by far the most awful music years of the decade 

Give me Enrique over Bad Bunny any day.

But I think we can all agree the worst part about the 2010s was the super noisy music trends of the time... Now there are still shitty trends but everything feels... more lowkey and chill? Probably because we live in the era of background music.

Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) is underrated.

Edited September 2, 2025Sep 2 by OnlyRealMusic.

They just age bad cuz most top 40 hits were the same EDM producers. 

1 minute ago, OnlyRealMusic. said:

Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) is underrated.

Everything Enrique touches is gold.

Those five men had bops and classics tho. Pitbulls GH album is out peaking some of y'all's favs on the bb 200

 

 

why are pop Stans acting pretentious over pop music

 

Edited September 2, 2025Sep 2 by Katamari

Taio Cruz's Dynamite is better than some girlies' whole discographies so let's please not

you with another bad take as usual

We can literally do this with any decade and make an argument that it wasn't great musically. 
 

To me, Pitbull, Taio, Jason and even Flo Rida's hits aren't any worse than what BTS and Travis Scott have had hits with this decade.