100 Best Songs of 2015

You don’t miss the music. You miss who you were when it played.
These are the 100 best songs that made 2015 feel like the last year pop music belonged to everyone.

Jump to:

• The Mixtape of Memory: Why 2015 Was the Last Year Music Actually Felt Like Something
• Spotify Playlist – 100 Best Songs of 2015
• The Full List: The 100 Best Songs of 2015
• Our Pick: FourFiveSeconds

The Mixtape of Memory: Why 2015 Was the Last Year Music Actually Felt Like Something

We like to pretend that our taste in music is the result of some sophisticated, objective internal compass. It’s not. Most of the time, the songs you love are just emotional anchors for the person you were trying to become at a specific, likely embarrassing, moment in time.

In 2015, we were all trying to become something a little louder, a little more honest, and probably a little more self-destructive. It was the year the old world of “buying music” finally collapsed into the black hole of streaming, and for a brief, beautiful moment, the entire world was listening to the exact same things for the very last time. Before the algorithms put us all into private, sterile bubbles, we had “Event Pop.”

Looking back, these songs don’t just sound like hits. They sound like 2:00 AM drives on empty highways. They sound like the person you were before life got complicated and you started caring about things like “interest rates” and “fiber intake.”

The Top 10: The Soundtrack to a Year of Being “Too Much”

10. “The Hills” – The Weeknd

Before Abel Tesfaye was the guy playing the Super Bowl, he was the guy making us feel incredibly comfortable with our worst impulses. “The Hills” is a dark, distorted confession. It’s a song about the things we do when nobody is looking, wrapped in a production style that feels like a slow-motion car crash. It turned a shadowy R&B singer into a global titan because, deep down, we all recognized that feeling of “only calling when it’s half-past five.” It was the anthem for anyone who has ever prioritized a bad idea over a good night’s sleep.

“I only call you when it’s half-past five, the only time that I’ll be by your side.”

9. “Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)” – The Weeknd

If “The Hills” was the comedown, “Earned It” was the seductive build-up. It’s a lush, orchestral waltz released in an era of digital perfection. It worked because it felt earned, pun intended. It was the moment the world realized that grit and soul could still sell a movie ticket. It’s the kind of song that makes you feel like the protagonist of a movie you definitely wouldn’t want your parents to see.

“You make it look like it’s magic, ’cause I see nobody, nobody but you, you, you.”

8. “Watch Me” – Silento

Every year has a song that makes “serious” music critics want to set their headphones on fire. This was 2015’s contribution. But music isn’t always about high art; sometimes it’s just about moving your body in a way that makes you look slightly ridiculous with other people. It was a viral infection in 4/4 time. You can hate it, but you can’t deny that for three minutes, it made everyone forget they were supposed to be “cool.”

“Now watch me whip, now watch me nae nae.”

7. “Blank Space” – Taylor Swift

This is arguably the most brilliant pop song of the decade. Taylor Swift took every criticism the media threw at her, that she’s “insane,” a “man-eater,” a serial dater, and turned it into a costume she could wear. It was the moment she stopped being the victim of the narrative and started being the narrator. It’s catchy, it’s cruel, and it’s brilliant. It proved that the best way to deal with a bad reputation is to own it so hard that the critics have nothing left to say.

“Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane.”

6. “Shut Up and Dance” – WALK THE MOON

This song is a concentrated dose of 1980s serotonin injected directly into a cynical decade. It shouldn’t have worked, but in a year of dark R&B and heavy trap, we needed someone to tell us to stop overthinking and follow the floor-tom beat. It’s a reminder that sometimes the best thing you can do for your mental health is to stop trying to be deep and just be present.

“Oh, don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me.”

5. “Sugar” – Maroon 5

Adam Levine has a way of writing melodies that get stuck in your head like a piece of gum on a shoe. “Sugar” was the peak of that power. It’s light, airy, and aggressively pleasant. It became part of the atmosphere that year, playing in every grocery store and waiting room in the developed world. It wasn’t revolutionary, but it was perfect for what it was: a reminder that sometimes, simple is better.

“I just wanna be there where you are, and I gotta get one little taste.”

4. “Trap Queen” – Fetty Wap

This was the most wholesome song ever written about a kitchen used for things other than baking cookies. Fetty Wap came out of nowhere with a voice that sounded like a joyful yelp and a melody that made “trap” music feel like a romantic comedy. It was a unifying moment. It was raw, it was messy, and it was undeniably authentic in a way that polished pop rarely is.

“And I swear she my everything, I swear she my trap queen.”

3. “See You Again” – Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth

Some songs are bigger than the charts. This wasn’t just a track for a movie; it was a global wake. It tapped into a universal sense of loss that went far beyond a Hollywood franchise. It stayed at #1 for twelve weeks because it gave us permission to be sad together. In a world that usually demands we keep moving, this song forced us to stop and remember.

“It’s been a long day without you, my friend, and I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.”

2. “Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran wrote a song that will be played at every anniversary party until the sun burns out. It’s a simple, soulful ballad that felt like a warm blanket in a year that was moving way too fast. It proved that despite our technology and our growing cynicism, we still want to be loved “until we’re 70.” It’s an old-school soul song disguised as a modern hit.

“And darling, I will be loving you ’til we’re 70.”

1. “Uptown Funk!” – Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars

There was no contest. “Uptown Funk!” didn’t just top the charts; it occupied the culture. It was a massive, brassy, five-alarm fire of a song that refused to go away. It’s the rare track that feels both perfectly vintage and completely current. Bruno Mars isn’t just a singer here; he’s a force of nature. It’s the defining sound of 2015: loud, confident, and impossible to ignore.

“Don’t believe me, just watch!”

The Reality Check: What 2015 Really Taught Us

Beyond the top ten, the year was a wild, disjointed mess. You had Drake inventing the “meme-as-a-music-video” with “Hotline Bling,” and Adele coming out of hibernation to prove that people still actually like singing.

But more importantly, 2015 was the year we realized our attention spans were dying. We started consuming music in snippets, in Vines, and in 15-second clips. The “Billboard Hot 100” started to reflect our digital chaos. It was the last year when a song could truly feel like a shared national experience.

We weren’t just listening to music in 2015; we were using it to survive a world that was growing louder and more divided. It was the last gasp of a unified culture before we all retreated into our own personalized feeds.

Spotify Playlist – 100 Best Songs of 2015

The Full List: The 100 Best Songs of 2015

Our Pick: FourFiveSeconds

Peak Position: 4 | Weeks on Chart: 20

If 2015 was a year of over-produced digital perfection, “FourFiveSeconds” was the acoustic middle finger nobody saw coming. You had the biggest pop star on the planet, the most ego-driven rapper in history, and a living Beatle. On paper, it should have been a bloated mess. Instead, they gave us three chords and a raw, unpolished scream.

The song captures that fragile moment right before the mask slips, the “four-five seconds” between keeping it together and totally wilding out. It doesn’t hide behind a bass drop; it just stands there in its feelings, blunt and aggressive.

It’s a reminder of a hard truth: it’s not always your fault that the world is stressing you out, but it is your responsibility to handle your own reaction. In a chart full of polished pop, this was a rare, messy moment of honesty. It turns out that being a functional adult is mostly just a series of seconds spent deciding not to blow your life up.

What was the moment in 2015 where you almost ‘wilded out,’ and which song on this list was the soundtrack to your internal meltdown? Drop a comment below.