My Top 5 Favorite Songs of the Decade (So Far)
If you can believe it, we’re over halfway through the decade. I know, I can feel myself turning into dust as well. Between plagues and presidencies, we at least had a good soundtrack to a tumultuous five-and-a-half years. I can safely say that this period of time was instrumental in developing my own personal taste in music. Defining acts have emerged this past half decade, shaping the look, sound, and identity of contemporary pop and beyond. So many songs have made an impact on me, so narrowing it down to five was agony. Nevertheless, my most favorite five of the decade are what you’ll find below.
Honorable Mention: “Juna” by Clairo (2024)
This Clairo jam is my honorable mention because a list of songs I love would be incomplete without it. So tender and breezy, “Juna” is the epitome of springtime ease. Clairo’s soft, airy voice effortlessly glides off the brassy, snappy, jazzy instrumentation and exudes a quiet confidence that lends power to the song’s intimate, deliberate lyrics. It’s become a staple of my independent reading time playlist due to its ability to put me at ease. “Juna” has soundtracked enough my life that’s has become as much of a friend as a song truly can be, though there are songs I love even more—somehow.
5. “Touching Yourself” by The Japanese House (2023)
“Touching Yourself” is an intimate snapshot of a long-distance relationship. Despite the warmth coming from the upbeat instrumentation, there’s an emptiness at the heart of the lyrics, which describe the strain of lovers apart. “I want to touch you but you’re too far away” is a simple refrain that never fails to break my heart. Okay, I’ll address it—the title might seem like it chafes against the tenderness at the heart of the track, but I actually find it a sorrowful image. With how much the song is about absence, the singer can’t even imagine herself with her lover, only the lover finding pleasure without her.
I make it sound like “Touching Yourself” is a bad time, but there’s a reason this ended up as my most played song of 2023: it’s a jam. It’s got a rhythm that makes it impossible not to move, and for me, embedded in it are memories of summers gone by. Shiny green grass and warm, thick air pouring through rolled down car windows. Give it a listen and I guarantee you it won’t be the last.
4. “Blades” by Arlo Parks (2023)
What a song.
The shrieking, frigid synths combined with Parks’ soft vocals create an atmosphere that I’ve been addicted to since I first heard it. Another track I associate with the hot months, I can’t get over how an inner heat—the track’s beating romantic heart—contrasts with the cool instrumentation. The opposite of “Touching Yourself,” though similar in their ability to make me feel two things at once.
The lyrics sketch out a pair who once had a romantically tense friendship and are now reconnecting after time apart. Packed with intimate, writerly details, “Blades” doesn’t just drip with longing, but conjures a real, lived-in bond for the listener to get invested in. Parks is directly addressing this other person in a way that’s not just conversational or confessional, but poetic and dramatic. “Watching like Claire Daines through the water” is a reference to the 1996 cult classic Romeo + Juliet and the doomed romance of its lovers. Its images like this, and the way the song always envelops me in its own world, that keeps me coming back.
3. “Sideways” by Balu Brigada (2025)
At the risk of repeating myself, here’s another guitar-led song that has a very full, warm sound to it. “Sideways” is my favorite track off Portal by Balu Brigada, two brothers from New Zealand who made my favorite album of last year. Something of an overthinker’s anthem, the lyrics see the singer pondering why someone is looking at them “sideways,” and if “civil is a lost art.” Beneath this immensely bright track is a smoldering animosity born from miscommunication and anxiety. “You know we’d save a lot of time if you said it right to my face” is as confrontational as the song gets, but even if it’s all an intrusive thought, it speaks to a relationship in strife, whether it’s platonic, familial, or romantic.
My love for this track lies in its dynamite production. The chirping notes that begin the song, the snappy percussion, the soaring guitar over the post-chorus, and so many other little details reward repeated, deep listening. I assume this is what a sunset is supposed to sound like if it took its sunglasses off and started singing. Melancholic but still so full of light, it reminds me of the last days of summer. Of leaves falling off branches in the orange rays of twilight, and it’s one of the few songs I know that captures it.
2. Dracula by Tame Impala (2025)
Finally, a real banger. Tame Impala is one of the most beloved acts on the internet, and as someone who’s been following him (did you know he’s just one guy?) for a few years now, “Dracula” might be my favorite track of his. Combining his trademark psychedelic synth sound with a gothic groove, “Dracula” sounds like a nasty night out that you don’t want to end, or it might just end you. The piano on the second verse has sunk its teeth into me, the opening chant from Kevin Parker emulates an appropriately gothic organ, and the lyrics bring to the song a tongue-in-cheek tone that keeps it light.
The theme of darkness hiding and soothing you is the opposite appeal of the previous tracks I’ve listed, but there are two wolves inside me: one that loves a bright, warm serenade, and another that loves a nocturnal freak anthem, and “Dracula” is the latter. In fact, the song is about running from the light, as the chorus repeats, and the tragedy of feeling like a monster. “Daylight makes me feel like Dracula” versus “Now I’m Mr. Charisma, fuckin’ Pablo Escobar” is the emotional paradox that makes the song compelling. And like any good gothic literature, there’s a longing at the heart of it. “In the end, I hope it’s you and me.”
1. Stateside by PinkPantheress (+ Zara Larrson) (2025)
PinkPantheress is, by far, my favorite act to debut this decade. Effortlessly stylish, her Y2K fashion extends to the sound of her music, which is just the right blend of classic and forward-thinking. When I listen to PinkPantheress, I hear the enduring influence of Imogen Heap, and just like Heap’s music from the 2000’s, I hear the future. “Stateside,” off of the 2025 Fancy That mixtape, bonded to my DNA the moment I heard it. I’m sure it needs no introduction, as it enjoyed much deserved success on 2026 charts, and most recently, an appearance in the Winter Olympics. Full stop, “Stateside” has everything I want in a song: it’s sexy, has crazy momentum, and the samples! The pre- and post-chorus sharing a melody with Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” is a deep cut that I respect the hell out of.
And then there’s the remix! Zara Larsson joins Pink on the Fancy Some More? version, which makes “Stateside” feel it was made in a lab for me specifically. Not only are these two of my favorite pop girls of last year, but their team-up somehow improved on a perfect song. Once more, the samples are insane. The Metal Gear Solid (1998) codec ringtone? The Kingdom Hearts (2001) level-up noise? Made in a lab. For me!
Both versions of the song occupy the top spot because I love them equally. The original retains this hard-hitting, metallic-sounding percussion that I miss in the remix, but Zara Larsson’s verse alone is worth the price of admission. I adore the story being told here, too, as there’s an energizing urgency to Pink tracking her would-be lover’s plane ride to meet him in America. It sells the liberating fantasy of doing something crazy for love, and it works everytime. This is tempered by Larrson’s verse, which is less impulsive and more assertive, but still a perfect fit for the track, as she, too, is a jet-setting, lovesick popstar bound for America.
There were so many acts I wanted to include on this list—Carly Rae Jepsen, Soccer Mommy, The Beaches, Caroline Polachek, Holiday Sidewinder, Teezo Touchdown, etc.—but no song or artist was closer to my heart, or my ears, than PinkPantheress and “Stateside,” which is deservedly getting recognized as not just one of 2025’s best, but one of the decade’s best.
