The 113 best songs of the past decade, ranked

There's an endless number of ways to judge a great song.

Is it something you can listen to over and over without getting tired of it? Is it something you can only listen to sparingly because it makes you feel all the feelings? Did it pioneer a totally unique sound, or does it perfectly harness a musical trend that you already enjoy?

There are many beautiful songs that are best heard within the context of an album, when an artist has weaved their tracklist together seamlessly and gracefully. (Fiona Apple and Mitski come to mind, for example, as well as two of this year's best albums: "Norman F---ing Rockwell!" by Lana Del Rey and "Igor" by Tyler, the Creator.) But which songs can be pulled out from an album or discography and still be just as good, if not better?

This process becomes even more complicated when you're asking how a song fits into its own era (in this case, its decade). How do we measure musical legacy?

Here at Insider, we don't have definitive answers — only educated suggestions. Our list attempts to consider both cultural impact (ubiquitous bangers, meme-able anthems, social commentaries, record breakers) as well as innovation and quality.

Our 113 best songs of the 2010s are ranked below, in descending order. You can listen to the songs on Spotify here.