Billboard tends to misrepresent the rock community with their pop recommendations for top rock songs. Their Top Rock Songs of the Decade chart is no exception. While I personally enjoy every single one of these songs from this list, I don’t even categorize most of these as pop-rock songs, let alone actual rock songs.
- “Believer” – Imagine Dragons
- “Thunder” – Imagine Dragons
- “Radioactive” – Imagine Dragons
- “High Hopes” – Panic! At The Disco
- “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers
- “Heathens” – twenty one pilots
- “Shut Up and Dance” – Walk the Moon
- “Feel It Still” -Portugal the Man
- “Ride” -twenty one pilots
- “Stressed Out” -twenty one pilots
I can accept the argument for Imagine Dragons. Their songs are the most rock-like songs played on Top 40s stations. Panic! At The Disco has had a long history of punk and alternative songs, so I can let the pop-rock “High Hopes” slide.
I cannot, however, accept any argument for twenty one pilots. “Heathens” has no guitar parts—just piano, beats, and sound effects. There are very few (if any) guitar moments in “Ride” and “Stressed Out.” While Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” has more guitar than most of the songs on this list, it is still the most pop pop-rock song I have ever heard.
“Feel It Still” is a very pop-alternative song, so I can give credit to it making the list. “Ho-Hey” actually features a guitar, so I can give credit to this one as well. Again, none of these songs really feel like rock songs, since they lack any epic guitar solos or drum sounds.
Not a single Grammy-nominated rock album or artist from the past ten years made the cut.
Throughout this decade, many alternative and rock artists were nominated for or received a Grammy Award for Rock Album of the Year. Artists like Muse, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Led Zeppelin, Beck, Cage the Elephant, The War on Drugs, Greta Van Fleet, I Prevail, and Bring Me the Horizon have been nominated or awarded Grammy’s in the rock category over the last decade. So why is it that not a single one of any of these bands’ songs made the cut?
Where did Billboard’s standard of rock go?
I understand that Billboard caters to mainstream pop-culture, but some of these songs do not even have guitars in them, let alone sound remotely pop-rock or rock.
From the early 2000s on, many prominent, authentic rock artists made Billboard’s Year-End Mainstream Rock Songs chart, including Papa Roach, Three Days Grace, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, and Linkin Park. The genre is accurately represented from 2006 up to today’s rock on the Year-End Mainstream Rock Songs chart. So why is it that not a single one of the top ten songs from 2010-2019’s mainstream rock charts are listed as a top rock song of the decade?
It seems the Year-End Hot Rock Songs chart dominated Billboard’s perception of rock music. Over the years, these charts include songs heard on Top 40s stations. In 2010, the number one song was “Savior” by Rise Against—a fair claim, in my opinion. But in 2014, the number one Hot Rock song was “Pompeii” by Bastille. From 2015 on, the Hot Rock chart lists mainly pop-rock songs, including “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors and “Let It Go” by James Bay.
Not only does Billboard pull from their pop-rock charts rather than their mainstream rock charts, but a majority of the songs listed charted in the last five years, not really the last ten, with the exception of “Radioactive” and “Ho Hey.”
Billboard seems to misunderstand genres of music and continues to misrepresent the rock community with their publicized rankings and awards.
Do you think the Billboard’s Top Rock Songs of the Decade list is accurate? What were your top songs of the decade? Let us know on Instagram and Twitter!
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