best dj-led edm megahit of the 2010s

the one that goes i'm living on a sexy oven

out of these it's very easily "rather be"

also fine: "turn down for what", "lean on"

worst: "closer", "titanium", "wake me up"

i probably would have included "i got u" though? that would have been a clear second place for me

"turn down for what" because it doesn't take itself too seriously

i always thought of "don't you worry child" as the nickelback edm song

Turn Down for What followed by Skrilly

I mentally group Martin Garrix "Animals" in this list of inescapable EDM too. And "Levels" too, but you already have the bigger Avicii song. "Levels" might be my favorite of this bunch, for some reason I didn't get as sick of it as I did the others

But of this list, "Lean On"

Clean Bandit is a DJ?

“Slide”!

Clean Bandit is a DJ?

they're a group of producers who rely on guest vocalists for their dance music, it's close enough

I looked in vain for Kygo ft. Imagine Dragons - Born To Be Yours, not that I would vote for it.

I'd almost consider voting for "Don't You Worry Child" in part because I like the idea that Ciara has a plan for me, and in part because of what a weird mini-trend it spawned (see Avicii's "The Nights" etc.).

"Waves" is way too laidback for this list, really.

Of the super-anthemic stadium-sized tunes of that period, my nominations would be:
Swedish House Mafia - One (the version without Pharrell)
Tim Berg (Aviici) - Bromance

Of the songs listed above, probably Turn Down For What

"Seek Bromance" and "Levels" are great songs, "Wake Me Up" is truly awful though.

Lean On

The Calvin Harris tune that should be on this list is We Found Love, christ that one was inescapable.

that was rihanna feat. calvin harris so i guess technically ineligible but it's his biggest hit yeah

his best hit is solidly "this is what you came for". worst is any of the ones he sings lead on

Lean On is the only one I have in my head and it's the predecessor to Particula, which swept over Africa and is one of the original moments where the three pop worlds briefly met, actually fused quite naturally and produced true fireworks. It's been five years and nobody has produced an equivalent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtEHrcA8dKc

Would have probably voted for We Found Love.

You could make an indie version of this with Gotye, Lykke Li, Tove Lo, LDR...

that was rihanna feat. calvin harris so i guess technically ineligible

As an aside, it's interesting to see that in the streaming age this distinction has basically disappeared - Spotify gives artist, featuring artist and remixer all equal billing. We Found Love is credited to "Rihanna, Calvin Harris", the Waves is "Mr. Probz, Robin Schulz", Lean On is "Major Lazer, Mø, DJ Snake", etc.

Zedd & Hayley Williams "Stay the Night" was one of these. Heard that a ton on the radio.

You took my heart/ and you held it in your mouth

wtf?

yes, i knew i’d leave out some massive songs when making this arbitrary list, based entirely on my own experiences lol

that’s why i left out duke dumont, who is very escapable if you live in the u.s.

Turn Down For What is the only actually good one.

and yes, i left off “we found love” because it’s technically a rihanna song from a rihanna album

also would’ve hoovered up too many votes

my personal pick is probably “clarity,” which is one of the few examples of stadium edm that works for me out of context. i love basically everything about it, the gang vocals, the Bam-bam before the chorus repeats, the google translated lyrics. the build-up at the end feels perfunctory, doesn’t add much but runtime, but still, it’s a good song.

"Levels"

"Waves" is way too laidback for this list, really.

The Mr. Probz jam that fits right in the EDM sonic template: Armin van Buuren feat. Mr. Probz - Another You

you are a piece of meat
i feel i couldn’t eeeeat

never heard waves or heroes before, and ive only ever heard the skrillex one online. wake me up, rather be, clarity are my top 3. i have quite a bit of fondness for this era

“clarity”!

clarity crew

Voted lean on but clarity was my number one the year it came out

I have to say, I don’t hate these songs but this EDM sound, like Eurodance (2 Unlimited etc), really only works as “pop”, it’s not like with house/trance/techno where there’s this massive wealth of amazing tunes to discover beyond the chart hits.

don't you worry child is the funniest, most idiotic, and most fun to yell along with in the car with friends. it's totally obnoxious but somehow i find it genuinely joyous in all its not-trying-to-be cool stupidity

ya I find it hard to hate that song, even though it’s idiotic

‘wake me up’ the funnest to dance to with your friends

years ago i was scouring the music folder on mk1s laptop and came across this.
playing this at a decent volume was the first time my floorstanders wobbled to levels i had no idea were even possible.
so, yeah, as uncool as it is, i am voting for skrillex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGEHijCq9U4

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

the double chorus in clarity hits so hard each time

great poll

1. clarity
2. wake me up
3. lean on
4. closer
5. rather be
6. scary monsters & nice sprites
7. turn down for what
8. waves

"wake me up" is such a good song damn, it's such a corny combo of ideas but i always loved it from the start

i may have voted for skrillex/diplo/beieber "where are u now" if it was included, might be the only thing i'd rank over clarity in terms of edm dj + vocalist combos

i think my favorite EDM song of all time is calvin harris - "thinking about you", for some reason it has always felt like the truest expression of what i want from EDM i.e. desperate proclamations of love w/ a sort of wistful production

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl3b7dDBLpo

"Where Are U Now" would walk this if it were included, I think. I've never mentally lumped it in with these songs, has a different vibe

yeah there’s a specific anthemic/inspirational vibe to most of these songs, while stuff like Where Are U Now (and Waves, La La La, One Day, I Follow Rivers, Happiness, etc) have a more melancholic and lower key vibe.

Also missing: Deadmau5 and Kaskade, "I'll Remember."

to be honest, i totally forgot that "where are u now" was not technically credited to bieber as the lead artist when i made the poll.

agree that it's not quite of a piece with most of the songs listed.

Skrillex and Diplo are both represented in the poll anyway!

I have to say, I don’t hate these songs but this EDM sound, like Eurodance (2 Unlimited etc), really only works as “pop”, it’s not like with house/trance/techno where there’s this massive wealth of amazing tunes to discover beyond the chart hits.

― Siegbran, Saturday, September 18, 2021 12:02 PM (two days ago)

totally agreed with this. given how frequently annoying edm was, i was expecting to like fewer of the songs on this list than i actually do, but quite a few of the big hits were legitimately good and occasionally great. it's just that so much of the lower-tier stuff was abominable noise with zero subtlety whatsoever

for me, among the more consistent hitmakers...

calvin harris: "thinking about you", "promises" w/ sam smith

david guetta: "without you" w/ usher was the best one from the latter part of his peak period with "titanium" and "turn me on" and such. also enjoyed "gettin' over you" w/ chris willis/fergie/lmfao even tho because it's v ridiculous

zedd: "clarity" without a doubt. even non-hit "spectrum" was better than his hits that followed, each of which sounded more radio-calibrated than the last ("stay", "the middle"). i did come to enjoy "break free" by ariana tho, and actually the hailee steinfeld song "starving" was good too. what is he up to these days? did announcing his distaste for "mo bamba" and implying it was unmusical actually end his career?

chainsmokers: i've already sung praises for "closer" elsewhere but beyond that i also enjoy "roses". i'm still amazed that enough people actually liked "don't let me down" for it to become a hit

dj snake: aside from the obviously immortal "turn down for what" i enjoyed his minor hit "middle". "let me love you" w/ bieber was also a nice tune to hear on the radio or in public

clean bandit: yeah i rly loved "rather be" and was astonished that "rockabye" which was so much worse was somehow an even more effortless hit

marshmello: very much took the zedd route of veering toward sleek radio-readiness not long after the hits started coming. "alone" was one of those songs that wasn't huge at the time but has ended up streaming a ton over the years since. i don't remember it myself. i actually really liked "silence" w/ khalid but he just got worse from there. now he has an actually pretty good song on the radio w/ jonas brothers but nobody's pretending it's 'edm' in the slightest

kygo: "it ain't me" was actually pretty good in retrospect huh. don't shoot me but the whitney houston exhumation wasn't bad either

as for avicii, i can kinda respect that "wake me up" was clever in its way but i never really came to enjoy it as a song. for me "levels" is without a doubt his classic, and frankly it is unquestionably one of *the* classics of this entire style/era. it's actually hard to believe now that it didn't start breaking in the us until after the now fairly forgotten flo rida hit "good feeling", which sampled it, was already well established. beyond those i will agree with others who've said they love "seek bromance" (or the original non-vocal one)

other ones from that decade that i would say were noteworthy for better or worse + which i don't think were posted yet:

edward maya/vika jigulina "stereo love"
yolanda be cool/dcup "we no speak americano"
afrojack "take over control" ft. eva simons
duck sauce "barbra streisand"
martin solveig/dragonette "hello"
lana del rey "summertime sadness" (cedric gervais)
lilywood/robin schulz "prayer in c"
omi "cheerleader" (felix jaehn)
mike posner "i took a pill in ibiza" (seeb)
jonas blue "fast car" ft. dakota
flume "never be like you" ft. kai (also i adore "say it" ft. tove lo)
galantis "no money"
kungs vs. cookin' on 3 burners "this girl"
loud luxury "body" ft. brando
regard "ride it"

"waves" is prob my favorite of the ones that became a hit as a remix. overall i think i'm voting "rather be". if "latch" had been in this poll i don't think i would have voted for it but if "where are ü now" were here i'd probably vote for that

since his last hit in "the middle" zedd did produce katy perry's very good "never really over" though didn't get an artist credit on it. i think he's just out of step with chart trends now, he didn't make the same effort to pivot away from edm like marshmello and has been left behind as a result.

last i heard of him he was at the centre of a controversy in japan a few weeks ago for getting a quarantine exemption to play a festival there or something

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"the nights" by avicii. that was a good one.