Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2010

Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2010

Hot Take: 2010 was a good year for pop music. Yep, I said it. A year widely seen as one of the worst of its namesake decade (which itself is seen as a bad decade for pop music) happens to be wildly overhated in my opinion. I gave the 86 songs that debuted on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 for 2010 a cumulative score of 265/430, or 61.6%, higher than the 58.4% I gave 2019, a year that has established a far better reputation in the chart review community. 

However, I can most certainly understand why this year has such a bad reputation. The pop charts of 2010 were owned by the Club Boom, the period between 2008 and 2012 where upbeat, explosive Electropop songs about partying at nightclubs ruled the airwaves, and while I enjoy a  number of these songs (as you shall see on my best list), much of it... hasn’t aged particularly well. While I have a higher tolerance for the blaring synths that characterized most of these songs, I can’t deny that it would often times be quite grating on the ears. In total, there were thirteen songs that I would consider to be at least bad, almost twice as many as there were in 2019, and even among the songs that I didn’t hate, I could still get why one would hate it. So, let’s set our clocks back a decade and count down the Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2010, but first, here are some Dishonorable Mentions.

Dishonorable Mention: Imma Be by The Black Eyed Peas (Peak: #1, Year-End: #20)

Imma be imma be imma imma imma be. This would’ve been on the list proper had it not become a much more interesting and less repetitive song halfway through. This has been pretty much forgotten in the decade that has passed since 2010, and I think it’s best that we leave it in the past.

Also, let’s not forget that Will.I.Am compares himself to a sperm donor during his verse… awkward.

Dishonorable Mention: BedRock by Young Money ft. Lloyd (Peak: #2, Year-End: #13)

And I got her… G R O C E R Y  B A G . 

That line was enough to get this into the dishonorable mentions, but it might also have been enough to get into the honorable mentions too had 2010 had a boatload of awesome pop music. It’s corniness doesn’t end there, though, as there are also Talladega Nights references from Drake, Nicki Minaj using asbestos (a material heavily linked to cancer) as a punchline and Lloyd singing that “he can make your bed rock”, even though he sounds like Michael Jackson minus the charisma (although that resemblance to MJ is probably why I don’t mind his voice all that much). Too much fun to hate, though.

Dishonorable Mention: Hey Soul Sister by Train (Peak: #3, Year-End: #3)

The lyrics here either make no sense, or are lyrics that a dude as white as Pat Monahan should NOT be singing (I’m looking at you, “so gangster, I’m so thug”). However, I don’t hate this at all, and I’m even a bit nostalgic for it, but I can understand why one would hate this song (I’m looking at you, Spectrum Pulse).

Dishonorable Mention: Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner (Peak: #6, Year-End: #19)

Yeah, I think I AM cooler than you, Mike Posner circa 2010, what with your raspy, weak voice. Once again, I don’t even hate this song, but it’s too easy a target to pass up bashing it a bit. Now, I Took A Pill In Ibiza, on the other hand, I can give you credit for that, Mike (and SeeB).

Dishonorable Mentions: OMG by Usher ft. Will.I.Am (Peak: #1, Year-End: #5)

Usher, you can do so much better than this painfully dated and generic song about ogling at a girl in the club (although it was entirely written and produced by Will.I.Am, so he probably deserves more of the blame). I don’t really hate it (see a running theme here?), but man, has this not aged well.

Dishonorable Mention: Sexy B*tch by David Guetta ft. Akon (Peak: #5, Year-End: #26)

“I’m trying to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful”.

What does he come up with?

“Damn, you’se a sexy bitch”.

Yeah, that’s quite a slip up, not helped by the generic wub wub electronic beat courtesy of producer David Guetta. A thoroughly mediocre club song with one very embarrassing line that puts it in the DM’s, moving on.

Dishonorable Mention: Rude Boy by Rihanna (Peak: #1, Year-End: #15)

Sorry, I’m not a huge Rihanna fan. While she has made a few songs that I like (Umbrella, We Found Love etc.), this is not one of them, it’s just a song about Rihanna wanting to screw this dude, with a very annoying bit in the hook (“take it take it baby baby take it take it love me love me”). It’s not terrible, but I’m not gonna return to this anytime soon.

Dishonorable Mentions: Bottoms Up by Trey Songz ft. Nicki Minaj (Peak: #6, Year-End: #52)

A run of the mill club rap song about getting buzzed in the club… with a reference to Mary and Joseph, who I must assume wouldn’t have gotten drunk at nightclubs (or whatever they had in 1st Century Roman Palestine). Don’t get me wrong, I understand the appeal to Trey’s wonky flows and Nicki’s barbie schtick, but it’s just not for me. Now, onto the Top 10.

#10: How Low by Ludacris (Peak: #6, Year-End: #36)

As with songs like Mo Bamba and Thotiana in 2019, this is really in the “so bad it’s good” category.. The lyrics are your typical “shake your booty” stuff that Luda is known for, while it also has this weird, Halloween-ish beat and chipmunk vocals serving as the hook, repeating the phrase “how low can you go” ad infinitum. Ludacris brings his energetic, humorous flow to this song, comparing these girls’ butts to Reese’s Pieces and Tootsie Pops in his second verse. This is a stupid, stupid song and I love it, but only ironically. Hey, speaking of a guy who’s made quite a few “so bad it’s good” songs during his time in the spotlight.

#9: In My Head by Jason Derulo (Peak: #5, Year-End: #14)

The follow up to Derulo’s breakout hit Whatcha Say, In My Head is an Electropop song with hard rock elements and an explosive chorus. Sounds like something I’d like, right? Well, there are two problems with that.

First, we have Derulo’s voice. Something I figured out while making this list is that I’m not a big fan of Jason Derulo’s voice, especially when he’s jacked up on Autotune, which was often the case during the Club Boom. The vocals can sound quite whiny and pitchy at times, especially during the verses, which probably didn’t impress the girl that Derulo was trying to pick up, presumably from her current boyfriend that Derulo mentions was dancing with her (yep, the “steal your girl” trope has struck again).

The second problem is with the song itself. You see, there was a certain hit from the previous year that this song is clearly trying to emulate. Yep, this is a total and complete ripoff of Just Dance by Lady Gaga, one of the best hits of the entire Club Boom (spoilers if I ever get to 2009). While I’m no expert on music structure, even I can tell that the two songs sound nearly identical, but that Just Dance is the far superior song. While this does have some redeeming qualities, the downsides outweigh it significantly. Hey, speaking of Lady Gaga...

#8: Telephone by Lady Gaga ft. Beyoncé (Peak: #3, Year-End: #16)

Lady Gaga has made many awesome songs over the years, from Just Dance to Shallow to a certain song that may be making an appearance on my best list (spoiler alert). However, Telephone is not one of them. The into with the Asiatic-sounding guitar is actually pretty cool, but when the heavy, blaring synths begin at around 25 seconds in, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. 

Now, as mentioned previously, I don’t actually have much of a problem with blaring synths, as if I did, then I would’ve absolutely loathed 2010 as so many other chart reviewers do. What I do mind, though, are synths so loud and blaring that they drown out the rest of the song. I can barely hear Gaga’s voice over the synths in much of the songs, although there are brief breaks in the deluge that serve as a precious relief. The lyrics are fine, too, it’s just about Gaga’s (and Bey’s) frustration about a boyfriend who keeps calling while she’s (or they’re) out at a party, and Gaga has her characteristically fun performance, but it’s kinda hard to enjoy when much of it is swamped by the overwhelming production. This song definitely had potential, but one element managed to drag it down all the way onto my worst list, albeit at a low position. 

#7: Teach Me How To Dougie by Cali Swag District (Peak: #28, Year-End: #98)

Now, for the complete opposite flavor of bad. From a world famous Popstar to a one-hit wonder Hip-Hop group whose sole hit was a novelty dance song in the lane of Crank That by Soulja Boy. Unlike the blaring bombast of much of 2010’s Pop Music, TMHTD is much more minimalist, but it also happens to be horrendously lame. It just drags on with a generic and amateur flow and slow, tired beat that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the dregs of the Soundcloud Rap era of 2017-18, as long as you added a Trap Hi-Hat. Apparently the Dougie was just a simple dance where you shake your hips and put your hands up and down by your head, which makes it baffling that it was such a huge thing in the Early 2010s. However, Cali Swag District wasn’t a huge thing, as this was their only hit, and a minor one at that, only scraping onto the 2010 Year-End List at #98. Unfortunately, two of the members of Cali Swag District have since passed away, one from a shooting in 2011 and another from a seizure and cardiac arrest in 2014. R.I.P., Montae Talbert and Cahron Childs, but your only hit wasn’t a good one, and I think it’s best that we leave this one back in the past.

#6: Say Something by Timbaland ft. Drake (Peak: #23, Year-End: #85)

As with the bottom half of this list in general, this had potential. The lyrics about fame causing separation and struggles between Drake and his girl is a premise that could’ve worked out to great affect, even if it does have some lines like “now I’m at the 40-40 gettin’ b*tches tipsy”. 

However, most of the blame for this song falls on producer Timbaland. Now, he has made good songs in the past (I saw Diamond Axe Studios’ Best of 2007 list where he put Timbaland as his #3), but this is not one of them. The beat is electronic and glitchy and it repeats throughout the entire song, with gang vocals added in during the hook. It may sound tolerable in short snippets, but it’s not something that is pleasant to listen to for four minutes, and it’s the reason that this lands a spot smack dab in the middle of this list.

#5: Tie Me Down by New Boyz (Peak: #22, Year-End: #65)

From one of the most successful rappers in history to a duo that flamed out just as fast as they came in, it’s time to talk about New Boyz. They were two teenagers from California who briefly became famous at the turn of the 2010s, only to disappear by 2012, and I’m glad that their success was so short lived. 

To start, the production is just your typical Late 2000s-Early 2010s Club Pop stuff, with gang vocals and snaps added in. Dated, yes, but not necessarily unpleasant to listen to. However, that leads us to the second big problem: those dang lyrics. 

Long story short, this is about the New Boyz cheating on their girlfriends and telling them to shut up about it. Yep, that’s the whole song, just one giant dickfest, featuring romantic and heartfelt lines like “Because I ain't gon' put up with you talkin' bout how she make you uncomfortable” and “'Cause my life is great and you ain't nothin' but a hoe”. Now, these lines would be douchey coming from just about anybody, but coming from these two twirps? Yeah, not impressed, no wonder your careers lasted about five seconds, moving on.

#4: Like A G6 by Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs and Dev (Peak: #1, Year-End: #37)

We’re getting to the real meat now, the songs that I absolutely can’t stand, starting with one of the worst #1 hits of the 2010s. Seriously, how did this lumbering slog lacking in any sort of unique personality and redeeming qualities hit #1? The lyrics are generic party cliches about drinking and putting yo’ hands up, the production is the club boom at it’s most boring and dated, and as previously mentioned, the performers have absolutely zero personality. The Far East Movement are basically the most bog-standard club rappers you can find, and Dev is basically Early Kesha (or Ke$ha) minus any sort of personality, but as we’ll learn in our top three, having a unique personality can in fact be a liability. This is a song that I can’t wait to finish as soon as it starts, and it’s best left as a relic of the Club Boom’s backwash.

#3: Deuces by Chris Brown ft. Tyga and Kevin McCall (Peak: #14, Year-End: #68)

For the first demonstration of the “personality can be a bad thing” principle, we have Chris Breezy putting out his big comeback single, Deuces. In contrast to most of 2010’s pop music, this is quite minimalistic, to where it would have fit in pretty much every year of the 2010s, but that is where my praise ends. Said instrumental is also boring as heck, but that’s not my problem. No, for that, we’re gonna have to cover the lyrics and the context behind the song.

This is a breakup song where Chris, Tyga and Kevin McCall dump this girl, but what for? The lyrics don’t clearly state anything she’s done wrong, but just throws some insults at her like “vulture” and “liar”, as well as some generally awful lines like “Thought it was true love, but you know women lie”, “So I flip that middle finger and the index finger follow”, and the worst one of them all, “I'm a dick, so it shouldn't be that hard to swallow”. 

Now, the context behind the song. Rumor has it that this was written about Rihanna, Chris Brown’s ex-girlfriend. Long story short, Rihanna finds a text from another woman on Chris’s phone, they get into an argument which escalates into physical violence, with Rihanna ending up in the hospital and Chris Brown charged with felony assault. Others have gone into far more detail about it that I want to, but it does cast a dark shadow over Chris Brown’s career, and especially this song, which is why it lands all the way up here on the podium.

#2: My First Kiss by 3OH!3 ft. Ke$ha (Peak: #9, Year-End: #73)

But wait, there’s more!

#1: Blah Blah Blah by Ke$ha ft. 3OH!3 (Peak: #7, Year-End: #51)

Yep, Ke$ha and 3OH!3 take the top two spots on this list. I know, I could’ve done both entries separately, but if I either love or hate multiple songs by the same artist(s), chances are that I’m gonna put them in a tie, which I decided not to do here, because it’s right at the top of the list, and there can only be one winner (or loser in this case). 

To start, let’s talk about My First Kiss, the second worst hit song of 2010. From the very beginning, it immediately ticks me off. One of the guys from 3OH!3 come in shouting “MY FIRST KISS WENT A LITTLE LIKE THIS (SMOOCH) AND TWIST (SMOOCH SMOOCH) AND TWIST” in their douchey frat bro voices, with Ke$ha following up in her obnoxious party girl voice. The guy from 3OH!3 soon thereafter goes from his first kiss to asking if she can get out of her panties. Dude, you’re going too fast, I’m just sayin’. The other guy comes in and is significantly more tolerable, and I’ll be the first to admit that the hook is decent. After one more meatheaded verse and another chorus, we then get to Ke$ha, who’s party girl thing may have been tolerable on Tik Tok and Your Love Is My Drug, but sure isn’t here. One more hook, and then the song is over, but the low points are so low that it gets the #2 spot on this list (although I am admittedly questioning it a bit).

Now, on to my #1, Blah Blah Blah. As with My First Kiss, it comes in swinging right out the gate with it’s awfulness. Now, something I should clarify is that 3OH!3 and Ke$ha both approached their images satirically. The dudes from 3OH!3 knew that they were playing douchebags, and did that act flawlessly, same with Ke$ha with the party girl schtick. Blah Blah Blah is also meant to be taken satirically, as it’s parodying the way that male performers often approach women in their songs with a “shut up and just f**k me” attitude, but even with that in mind, I just can't get over how unpleasant this is to listen to. Ke$ha’s performance is annoying (100% by design, it’s satire, but definitely not good satire), the production is dated and overwhelming and the lyrics are the aforementioned parody of stereotypical alpha male sexaholics. 

After two verses and hooks of Ke$ha, we get 3OH!3 doing their thing, and then one final chorus from Ke$ha to wrap it up. However, the transition between 3OH!3’s bridge and Ke$ha’s final hook is what sealed this song’s doom, as there is this ear-piercing, dental drill sound that, as soon as I heard it, sent it straight past the point of no return and guaranteed this the #1 spot. 3OH!3 would soon flame out, never having anymore hits, while Ke$ha would become Kesha without the dollar sign and go on to make far better music in the future, but here, in 2010, they concocted a disaster of audio that is, without question, The Worst Hit Song of 2010. Take care folks, I’ll see you next time!