What Defined The Past Decade

By Olivia Birg

2010-2019 was a time when most of us went from being kids to teens and now adults. That’s a big jump! This past decade has been filled with ups, downs, and plenty of outrageous moments. As we move into the ’20s let’s recap the ’10s, for old time’s sake.

I organized the past decade into what most of us spent our time doing; listening to music, binge watching TV shows, enjoying movies, and keeping up with pop-culture.

As follows, each year is compiled into the most popular app launched , the top two pop culture moments, three of the most viewed TV shows, the four most popular movies, and five chart-topping songs.

2010:

• App: Pinterest
• Pop-culture: Bieber Fever & launch of the first iPad
• Top TV Shows: Glee & Vampire Diaries & Mad Men
• Biggest Blockbusters: Toy Story 3 & Black Swan & How to Train Your Dragon & Kick- Ass
• Hits of the Year: Love the Way You Lie (Rihanna) & California Gurls (Katy Perry) & Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars) & Forget You (Cee Lo Green) & Airplanes (B.o.B)

2011:

• App: Cut the Rope
• Pop-culture: Kim Kardashian’s 72-day marriage & end of the Harry Potter movie series
• Top TV Shows: Parks and Recreation & Game of Thrones & Homeland
• Biggest Blockbusters: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 & Moneyball & Hugo & The Descendants
• Hits of the Year: Rolling in the Deep (Adele) & Give Me Everything (Pitbull) & The Edge of Glory (Lady Gaga) & We Found Love (Rihanna) & Sexy and I Know It (LMFAO)

2012:

• App: Google Maps
• Pop-culture: Gangnam Style & the supposed end of the world
• Top TV Shows: Gossip Girl & The Office & 30 Rock
• Biggest Blockbusters: The Avengers & Life of Pi & Silver Linings Playbook & The Hunger Games
• Hits of the Year: Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen) & Boyfriend (Justin Bieber) & Never Getting Back Together (Taylor Swift) & Payphone (Maroon 5) & Somebody that I Used to Know (Gotye)

2013:

• App: Vine
• Pop-culture: Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke’s VMA’s performance & Taylor Swift’s interpretive dancing
• Top TV Shows: Orange is the New Black & Arrow & The Blacklist
• Biggest Blockbusters: Man of Steel & Gravity & American Hustle & 12 Years a Slave
• Hits of the Year: Blurred Lines (Robin Thicke) & Get Lucky (Daft Punk) & Royals (Lorde) & Wrecking Ball (Miley Cyrus) & Roar (Katy Perry)

2014:

• App: Musically
• Pop-culture: Disney Channel changes their logo & the iconic Ellen DeGeneres Oscars selfie
• Top TV Shows: The Walking Dead & The Big Bang Theory & Fargo
• Biggest Blockbusters: Guardians of the Galaxy & Gone Girl & The Lego Movie & Unbroken
• Hits of the Year: Stay with Me (Sam Smith) & Problem (Ariana Grande) & Rather Be (Clean Bandit) & Happy (Pharrell Williams) & All About that Bass (Meghan Trainor)

2015:

• App: Apple Music
• Pop-culture: Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour & popularity of Lin Manuel Miranda’s play “Hamilton”
• Top TV Shows: Empire & Mr. Robot & Jessica Jones
• Biggest Blockbusters: Mad Max: Fury Road & Inside Out & Star Wars: The Force Awakens & The Revenant
• Hits of the Year: Can’t Feel My Face (The Weeknd) & FourFiveSeconds (Rihanna) & See You Again (Wiz Khalifa) & Hello (Adele) & Lean On (Major Lazer and DJ Snake)

2016:

• App: Pokémon Go
• Pop-culture: Leonardo DiCaprio’s first Oscar win & Beyoncé’s album Lemonade
• Top TV Shows: Stranger Things & The Good Place & Westworld
• Biggest Blockbusters: La La Land & Arrival & Captain America: Civil War & Moonlight
• Hits of the Year: One Dance (Drake) & Closer (The Chainsmokers) & Can’t Stop the Feeling (Justin Timberlake) & Heathens (Twenty One Pilots) & Work From Home (Fifth Harmony)

2017:

• App: Fortnite
• Pop-culture: Beyoncé’s pregnancy announcement & Best Picture award mix up at the Oscars
• Top TV Shows: This is Us & Grey’s Anatomy & NCIS
• Biggest Blockbusters: Get Out & IT & Baby Driver & Lady Bird
• Hits of the Year: Shape of You (Ed Sheeran) & I’m the One (DJ Khalid and Justin Bieber) & Thunder (Imagine Dragons) & Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor Swift) & Slide (Calvin Harris)

2018:

• App: Google News
• Pop-culture: Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande’s relationship & the Tide Pod Challenge (don’t do this)
• Top TV Shows: The Masked Singer & The Bachelor & The Americans
• Biggest Blockbusters: Black Panther & Incredibles 2 & A Star is Born & Avengers: Infinity War
• Hits of the Year: God’s Plan (Drake) & thank you, next (Ariana Grande) & Psycho (Post Malone) & SICKO MODE (Travis Scott) & This is America (Daniel Glover)

2019:

• App: TikTok
• Pop-culture: Disney+ & Baby Shark
• Top TV Shows: Euphoria & Big Mouth & Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
• Biggest Blockbusters: Avengers: End Game & Toy Story 4 & The Lion King & Joker
• Hits of the Year: Señorita (Camilla Cabello) & Old Town Road (Lil Was X and Billy Rae Cyrus) & Sucker (Jonas Brothers) & Bad Guy (Billie Eilish) & Truth Hurts (Lizzo)

Well that’s a wrap, folks. What a decade it was! Let’s make this another great year and another incredible decade. If we missed your favorite moment from this past decade, let us know in the comments.

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Olivia Birg is a Student Writer for the Publicity Center. She is an English: Professional and Creative Writing major.