I have just finished looking up multiple lists for the "Top Songs of 2010". Various websites seem legitimate, and various ones don't. From all of the lists' combined overlaps, though (there were 12 total that I checked out, including MTV, the AOL downloader, "Top 40", Billboard, and more), I have derived the top 10 most popular, most played singers of the year.
These were not necessarily the 10 singers with the top ten (i.e. specifically 1-10) songs, but the singers who most consistently showed up in longer lists (of the top 100 or the top 50).
Because of their repeated and somewhat constant placement on "top" throughout the year, these are also, presumably, the singers we have seen the most of in the media.
And (in no particular order) they are...(drumroll, please!).....
1. Lady Gaga
2. Katy Perry
3. Rihanna
4. Justin Bieber
5. Taylor Swift
6. Beyonce
7. Ke$ha
8. Miley Cyrus
9. B.o.B
10. Usher
There might be some temptation to argue if your fave boy or girl is absent from the line-up. Try to believe me - these tallies took me about an hour to complete, in an effort towards accuracy.
Anyway, I looked back in time at our childhoods (I'm going with the 1990s, in general), and comprised the same list. Here it is:
1. Madonna
2. Mariah Carey
3. Whitney Houston
4. The Backstreet Boys
5. TLC
6. Janet Jackson
7. Alanis Morisette
8. Billy Joel (I swear, he was still gettin' it back then!)
9. R.E.M.
10. I really couldn't find only one to fairly put here. But other artists included Shaggy, LL Cool J, the Spice Girls, Ricky Martin, Michael Jackson (his last hit), Sugar Ray, Britney Spears, Blackstreet, Boyz II Men, and Hanson.
Alright. My original intention with this post was to show the difference in gendered types that are making it the biggest. Looking at these lists, though, I'm seeing that actually the pattern is the same.
And I round to my point: look at the women and the men that make it big. Music itself aside, as much as we who lurk underground may like to complain about the character qualities of those who makes it big, I think a few things need to be pointed out before we self-righteously condemn pop stars for their inability to role-model.
Look first at the women: they are outspoken, they are wild, they take risks (but not necessarily the dangerous risks that parents have night sweats about). They are firmly set in their sexuality, unafraid to proclaim it in style, dress, and words but unwilling to throw it around carelessly (I'm talking the kind of sex that ends in self-hatred - there's a word for it that we all know and love).
They manifest their boldness in different ways. Lady Gaga and Madonna need no explanation. Kesha, though, is often misinterpreted - if one more radio host calls her a "slut" I'm going to visit them with my piece of mind (seriously, none of you know me in person but I will, and you'll hear about it on the news. Or Cops).
Kesha (and Katy Perry, while I'm at it) are saying what a hell of a lot of us are thinking - and reprimanding ourselves for thinking. They are freeing us of a repression, and they are being RESPECTED by the masses for it. This is enlightening and wonderful.
These women have been open and unabashed with the media - and people have looked up to them, regardless of these blatant (and often quite severe) flaws. We won't soon forget Madonna's video or Whitney Houston's drug problem, and this goes for recent events like Lady Gaga's incident at the game as well.
Nonetheless, rather than copying the actions we realize have negative consequences, we respect their capacity to make mistakes and continue to follow them diligently on. We form a network of support for these women because, in so many ways, they do for us (boys I mean you too!).
By being so strong and powerful, they take so much pressure off of women to remain weak in a traditional sense, and they relieve men from their traditional responsibility of taking the reins.
Let's look at the men now. Sure, some of them sing/sang about things that the ulti-fem could attribute to misogynistic tendencies (like Shaggy, dude, you shouldn't have forgotten you had given her an extra key). But so do/did the women (Rihanna's really gonna call the boy RUDE for chrissake?). I know there are some exceptions to the list.
Overall, the men are really quite sensitive. Justin Bieber, well the only word is "adorable." He doesn't say anything too negative at all (and this says something too about his popular and sexy-as-shit producer as well). B.o.b. - well, I just looked up the lyrics to his most popular songs (Airplanes and Nothing On You), enough said.
Like B.o.b. and other currently popular, sensual singers of today, boy bands were once popular for the loud & clear voicing of their heart - usually in relation to women. They were appealing, like Justin Bieber, to use a new example, because they employed a naked emotional openness that men often feel socially prohibited from actually employing in their relationships.
Bands like R.E.M. likewise open their heart, but their focus is not on romantic relationships alone - they refer to topics of great depth, topics that talking about in person would require honesty and effort. Both men and women like this, because we live in such a PC society that a fearless expression of thought - and especially of fear, which they do - (regardless of topic itself) is refreshing, and appreciated.
This could also be why we've appreciated music artists like Elton John, Michael Jackson, and Billy Joel.
So what's my point? Well, I think pop stars throughout at least the course of my life have been every bit the role models I and others look to them to be. Although I don't necessarily subscribe to their music at large, both the men and women of the big bad pop world have bridged a very important gap between what men and women are told to be and what they'd like to be.
It's not just their beauty, fame, and money that makes these music artists appealing - it's their statement on gender. It's the fact that THE most popular female music artists have been strong, powerful, fearless leaders and THE most popular male singers have been sensitive, eloquent, and compassionate gentlemen.
It's the fact that these people reflect back to us a part of ourselves that, like the stars themselves, society will never quite allow us to know. That's what makes them great.
What do you think about that?
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Comments (18)
i like this post =]
your picture of "rihanna" is beyonce.
@dude_this_world_sux@xanga - exactly what I was gonna say
why is rihanna beyonce?
I'm all for women being empowered, but Kesha had a short interview in Rolling Stone a couple months ago where she said she would give a guy a blowjob and then call her mother the next day to talk about it. Um, yeah.
People speaking out about this "oppression" are demented psychopaths. People should be careful how they judge the mentally ill, it can be oppressive. But the mental illness is always oppressive when experienced, only it's caused by chemicals that your own body produces. Awareness of pheromones and hormones is no excuse to act like a hormone enhanced rodent; even when we are subject to their effects. Instead it should be taken advantage of to make intelligent choices that we all know a mildly competent human should be capable of.
"rude boy" is island slang for a street guy.
I will never understand the sensation behind Justin Bieber.
you put a picture of Beyonce under Rihanna lol
I don't like most of the top 10.
I love Katy Perry. Like, if I were a lesbian, and it were legal, I'd marry her. Well, and if that whole thing with Russell Brand wasn't going on, or maybe even then, we could work out some sort of three-way deal, because he's hot too.
@BlehhItsTu@xanga - I'm in agreement with that here.
actually I don't like the first top 2010; I don't listen to american music..I'm more into the asian scene or international scene..
at least Gaga looks normal in that picture..FINALLY! she actually looks pretty..for once..
That picture with Katy Perry is all sorts of hot.
hm. good points- it pays to be strong. Although I don't see taylor swift as being a very strong woman... at all... so I don't really like her being on the list...
idk about Ke$ha... (who spells her name with a dollar sign, not an S, I don't think your post reflected that) i agree that she is unfairly called things for speaking her mind about what isn't really that crazy, sort of everyday life for many. But people(women, specifically) who address sexuality and anything other than prince charming in a castle love are usually chastised for it, unfortunately.
On the other hand, while I wouldn't call her names, she does seem to really be a class example of how you can get top songs without even really singing. I didn't realize how much her singing was talking until I saw a spoof video of it. I wouldn't even care if I knew she was doing something in this whole mix that requires talent, but i doubt she really had anything to do with composing the song, or deciding on the tune for it, or anything instrumental. And when she performs onstage- i think i saw her on snl?- it's just like a bunch of cheap gimmicky things- sparkly dress, american flag, what?
*edit: never mind about the $. i only noticed it wasn't there when i was reading your bottom paragraphs, but it's above her pic...
that rihanna pic is actually beyonce as everyone has said... and i swear the music is the same i hated most of the music from the nineties.... and i hate most of the music today, but there are still gems here and there. I like hoe BOB is on here, good to see he might have staying power
@dude_this_world_sux@xanga - hahaha WOOPS youre absolutely right
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