Robb’s Recs: The Top 25 Songs of the 21st Century
By Robb Laffoon
So last week, Rolling Stone released their list of their top 250 songs of the 21st century, and while the list was offensive and atrocious, it did get me thinking… What ARE the greatest songs? So, I made a list. I even checked it twice like the big guy upstairs taught me!
Now without further ado, here ARE my top 25 songs of the 21st century, in no particular order:
Sean Kingston “Beautiful Girls”
Sampling Stand By Me feels like a cheat code but Kingston’s contributions make it worthy of the list. A timeless song about young love and the pain of heartbreak. Damn all you beautiful girls is right, you tell ‘em Sean.
The Killers “Mr. Brightside”
Arguably #1 on this list and arguably the most well known and (over)played song of the millennium. Mr. Brightside is the millennial Wonderwall, the Sweet Caroline of contemporary music. Say what you want, it belongs.
Nelly “Country Grammar”
A song so good it makes drive by shootings sound glamorous. People forget this, but during the early 2000s the world belonged to two rappers. Eminem and Nelly. This Is the song that put him on the map and to this day still stands as his greatest track.
*NSYNC “It’s Gonna Be Me”
Surprisingly enough, the only *NSYNC song to ever top the charts. “bye Bye Bye” was the first single off this album, but in my opinion this is their best song and the exact moment they surpassed BSB as THE boy band.
Blink-182 “I Miss You”
A song so influential it changed the English language. Don’t believe me? Say the words “where are you?” and TELL ME you didn’t do in Delonge voice. YEAD!? C’MON! The only blink-182 song recorded entirely acoustic, this song was their biggest risk and biggest reward.
The Strokes “Last Night”
Combining Tom Petty, The Velvet Undergound, and The Ramones, this song was like a nostalgic breath of fresh air in a world consumed by JNCO jeans, chain wallet and frosted tips. If Smells Like Teen Spirit killed hair metal, then Last Night killed nu metal.
OutKast “Hey Ya!”
If Mr. Brightside isn’t in the top spot of this list, it’s because Hey Ya! Took its place. This song felt like such a departure for Outkast when it dropped in 2003 but it went on to become bigger than the both of them. I dunno why I’m even typing all of this, you don’t wanna read this you just wanna dance…
Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe”
Does this need any explaining? Easily one of the biggest and greatest pop songs of the 2010s. A song so good that it relegated CRJ to a one hit wonder label despite releasing some of the best pop music of the decade after Call Me Maybe.
Nickelback “How You Remind Me”
The national anthem of Canada and the most played songs of the 2000s, you could not escape this song on rock radio. Never made it as a wise man, never made it more than 20 minutes without hearing this song between late 2001 and early 2003.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps”
One of the most beautiful songs of all time. The pounding floor toms, the droning guitar notes ringing out. The song is already perfect before Karen O even comes in, taking it from great track to all time classic.
Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
The greatest pop hit of all time, musically speaking. An absolutely perfect song that would be in the top 5 if this list was ranked. The youth only know Katy as the embarrassing wine-drunk auntie, but for a moment there in the early 2010s, she was doing numbers only matched by Michael.
Chief Keef “Love Sosa”
A song written and recorded by a teenager while he was at home serving a school suspension, this is maybe the greatest and most important hip hop song of the decade. At a time when rappers were becoming the new pop stars, Chief Keef stormed in like Sid Vicious, spitting and sneering at the establishment.
[REDACTED] “Ignition (Remix)”
I wish I could praise this song as much as I want to but I’d rather take this time to suggest you watch Surviving R Kelly. Losing this song bums me out, but it doesn’t hold a roman candle to the pain these women dealt with at the hands of R Kelly.
The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army”
The most iconic guitar riff of the century so far, you can not go to an arena or stadium anywhere in the world without hearing this. Between Jack White’s masterful yet simple guitar work and Meg White’s primal drumbeats, The White Stripes were so special they were able to tell the world they were brother and sister and people just kinda went with it.
50 Cent “In Da Club”
Much like Katy Perry, the youth will never understand the force that 50 Cent was in the early to mid 2000s. He eliminated Ja Rule and for a moment in time he was even bigger than his mentor Eminem. It would take a guy from Chicago in pink polos and a backpack to end G Unit’s reign of terror over the rap game.
LCD Soundsystem “Dance Yrself Clean”
If Last Night is the obvious choice for greatest song of the 2000s indie sleaze era, then this is the cool choice. The build up, the drop, the frantic yelps from frontman James Murphy. What a song, what an era.
Kanye West “Runaway”
It’s hard to say this now given his recent, uhhhh, transgressions, but for a good stretch Kanye was making a strong argument for greatest artist of his time. Recorded In Hawaii following the loss of his mom and the VMA fiasco, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is his greatest album and “Runaway” is the song that ties it all together. The emotional climax. Let’s have a toast for the douchebags.
Fountains of Wayne “Stacy’s Mom”
Already well established in the indie rock world as one of the greatest power pop bands of their time, “Stacy’s Mom” took them into a whole different stratosphere. Arguably one of the most well known songs of this time and an absolute masterclass in pop perfection. The best part? This isn’t even in the top 5-10 Fountains of Wayne songs.
All American Rejects “Gives You Hell”
I really wasn’t sure about putting this on here, but only because Swing Swing and Dirty Little Secret also exist. Although their albums are very good, AAR were definitely more of a “singles” band and “Gives You Hell” is their greatest one. A song so big that Tyson Ritter was scared to release it, this song was inescapable when it was unleashed on the world in the summer of 2008.
Fall Out Boy “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down”
The absolute best song to come out of the 2000s hot topic emo boom, “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down” is truly evergreen. From the drum intro to the soaring guitars to the way Patrick’s vocals dance around in ways no vocalist in the genre ever had before. Rolling Stone put this on their list somewhere in the 60’s but this RL would put the song in his personal top 3.
Adele “Someone Like You”
Is this the greatest ballad on this list? Of all time? Originally written by Adele and Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, she took this song to Rick Rubin with the intent of making a massive pop production, only to end up stripping it down to the original demo. The raw simplicity combined with Adele’s out of this world vocals make “Someone Like You” a song that will outlive us all.
Lil Wayne “A Milli”
With all due respect to Eminem, Nelly, Kanye or any other rapper on this list, Lil Wayne is the greatest of this century. The best rapper alive until he wasn’t, but man he really was for a while. If Weezy retired from the game after going to Rikers Island, this man is in a conversation with Pac and Biggie. A Milli is a 3 minute and 40 second barrage of bars from a guy so on top of his game he didn’t even write shit down because he didn’t have time. Weezy F Baby, and the F was for phenomenal.
Sum 41 “Fat Lip”
I don’t think any song encapsulates early 2000s suburbia the way “Fat Lip” does. A charming blend of pop punk, hip hop and metal, this song showed us that Sum 41 wasn’t your typical pop punk band of the 2000s, sloppily slamming out power chords. Also, the greatest use of the word “abortion” in a song ever, unless I’m forgetting one.
MGMT “Kids”
In America in the year 2008, the only thing more beloved than Obama was the song “Kids” by MGMT. Coming out at the tail end of the hot topic mall emo era and just barely before the decade of DJ’s and stomp clap, this song is the whiteboy equivalent of Custards Last Stand. Caucasities last taste at cultural relevance before they cringed it all away. It’s truly impossible to not feel good when this song comes on, no matter how far removed we are from the Great Recession years.
But wait, there’s more! Why stop at 25? Here is part 2! In no order, here are the 26th through 50th greatest songs of the millennium:
Lady Gaga “Poker Face”
Miley Cyrus “Party in the USA”
Kendrick Lamar “Not Like Us”
Kid Cudi “Pursuit of Happiness”
Ke$ha “Tik Tok”
Jay Z “99 Problems”
Eminem “The Real Slim Shady”
Jimmy Eat World “The Middle”
Green Day “Holiday”
Phoebe Bridgers “Kyoto”
Vanessa Carlton “A Thousand Miles”
Dashboard Confessional “Hands Down”
Migos “Bad and Boujee”
My Chemical Romance “Helena”
Fetty Wap “Trap Queen”
Robyn “Dancing on my Own”
Kanye West “Gold Digger”
Lorde “Royals”
Coldplay “Yellow”
Justin Timberlake “SexyBack”
Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling”
Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone”
Post Malone ft Swae Lee “Sunflower”
Olivia Rodrigo “Deja Vu”
Flo Rida ft. T Pain “Low”
To hear what went into this list, as well as more of my thoughts on Rolling Stone’s ranking, tune into the upcoming episode of Emo Kids Anonymous. Amanda and I do a full deep dive on the RS list, our own lists, as well as Taylor Swift (and why none of her songs made my top 50).
And as always, remember that music is objective not subjective, so do not take these rankings with any salt they are to be taken as fact and any disagreement will be seen as personal harassment and possibly doxxing.
