Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010 (#1)

1. Cee-Lo Green -- Fuck You

There's no way it could have been anything else. No other song in 2010 -- or really any year in recent memory -- was this audacious, this clever, this hysterically brilliant and instantly iconic as Cee-Lo's funky and fun verbal thrashing of a villainous, gold-digging ex and her new man. The best part about the song? Sure it aims for a go-for-the-jugular kind of catharsis, but Cee-Lo brings such a sense of playful giddiness to the notion of not holding back that it almost seems to sanitize the song's potential offensiveness; despite its title and lyrics -- which self-proclaimed cultural watchdog and insufferable dingbat Brent Bozell decried as obscene almost immediately -- there's something oddly sweet about this musical rant. It's both exhilarating and liberating. And it's far and away the best song of the year.



Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 2. Foster the People -- Pumped Up Kicks, 3. A Silent Film -- You Will Leave a Mark, 4. Mumford & Sons -- Little Lion Man

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 5. The Black Keys -- Tighten Up, 6. Vampire Weekend -- Giving Up the Gun, 7. Gorillaz -- Stylo

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 8. Arcade Fire -- Ready To Start, 9. The Heavy -- How You Like Me Now, 10. Tame Impala -- Lucidity

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 11. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby -- From Above, 12. Kanye West (Featuring Bon Iver and Gil Scott-Heron) -- Lost in the World, 13. M.I.A. -- Born Free

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 14. Sia -- My Love, 15. Middle Class Rut -- New Low, 16. The xx -- Islands

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 17. John Legend and the Roots -- I Can't Write Left-Handed, 18. Blonde Redhead -- Not Getting There, 19. The National -- Bloodbuzz Ohio

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 20. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti -- Round and Round, 21. P!nk -- Raise Your Glass, 22. Drive-By Truckers -- This Fucking Job

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 23. Best Coast -- Boyfriend, 24. Anberlin -- Impossible, 25. Fences -- Girls with Accents