Biggest Songs of 2009

Ok, so since the year is coming to a close, this is usually the time of year when radio stations, websites and music television stations countdown the biggest songs and moments of the year... wait, scratch that... there aren't any more music TV stations. But you get the point. The one wrinkle this year is that since it's the last year of the decade, people have even begun to have countdowns for the past 10 years. The most impressive I've seen thus far is this litany of lists that Complex.com has posted of their best "everything" of the 2000s.

However, I'm not going to do that here. Not because I'm better than that, but simply because there's no way I could even attempt to remember all of the best songs for the past 10 years. I can't even remember what I ate two days ago. But what I will do is try to name what I think were the biggest songs of this year.

Now let me first preface this by saying I'm sticking to hip-hop and R&B. The only real reason for this is because I don't listen to pop, and other than this song, I have no idea what was popular. Sorry Taylor Swift, you won't be featured here. Also, I'm basing what was a "big" song on some pretty basic criteria. What were the songs that were ALWAYS on every time I turned on my car radio? What were the songs that the DJ had to play at the club? What were the songs everyone was downloading?? And lastly, keep in mind that this list is being compiled strictly off the top of my head, so no actual research was done on my part to include songs I may have forgotten. Now, given the rules, here's my list, starting with number 5...

5. Keri Hilson feat. Lil' Wayne - Turnin' Me On
I've since gotten over her, but I remember that when I first saw Keri Hilson, I thought she was so fine. But you know when you see a girl enough times, and she's just not as hot as you thought she was the first time you saw her? That's kind of what happened here. Plus, I realized she can't sing, so I was really over it after that. Nonetheless, I remember this song being on the radio constantly. I couldn't escape it. The thing that stood out most to me was how she took Wayne's "Young Moolah Baby" and flipped it to "Miss Keri Baby", which was kinda cute until she started saying it on songs that Wayne wasn't even on. Dub tee eff? Who does that? Regardless, this was a huge record.

4. GS Boyz - Stanky Legg
OK, I lied. I actually did have to do some research for this one, because I had no idea what the name of this group was. If everyone knows your song but no one knows you, I'm sorry, but you're probably a one-hit wonder. They shoulda took the Soulja Boy approach and just put their name in the song and dance title. This was a very big club record, and it reminds me of when I went to Miami for Spring Break '09 and everybody was doing this dance on South Beach. Good times...

3. Gucci Mane feat. Plies - Wasted
As a recovering alcoholic (AKA recent college graduate), I was all for the irresponsible drunkenness that this song promoted. This really is a great drinking/partying song, regardless of the fact that it comes from Gucci Mane, who may be the worst rapper of the past decade. I didn't even realize this until I read the lyrics, but in the third verse, he ends 6 of his 12 bars with the word "wasted". Now that's lyricism. But alas, I guess you don't have to be that lyrical when all your diamonds are "Carcasian"...

2. Drake - Best I Ever Had
We all know the story: Former child actor from Canada puts out critically-acclaimed mixtape, gains radio play without an official album release, signs with Lil' Wayne's Young Money label, gets Grammy nomination. Really an amazing story. Truth be told, I wasn't crazy about So Far Gone, but this was one of my favorite songs on the mixtape. Of course, that was until it became too popular for its own good, and all songs start to suck when you hear them too much. This would have been my pick for biggest song this year, but it wasn't bigger than...

1. F.L.Y. - Swag Surfin'
Another one-hit wonder group whose name I had to look up... but isn't that half of what music is nowadays? I first heard "Swag Surfin'" in Atlanta in like early January. At this point, it was still just a local hit, but everybody in the clubs was going crazy when it played. I thought it was an extra catchy tune, and I'll admit that I even downloaded it. I didn't think much of it, but then I started hearing it on the radio. In about two or three months, it was a nationwide hit, and the song even had a music video. And you knew the song really got big when other rappers started recording freestyles over the beat. Unequivocally, I don't think anyone would argue that this was the biggest song of 2009.


Honorable Mention:
Jeremih - Birthday Sex
Drake feat. Trey Songz - Successful
Fabolous feat. The-Dream - Throw It In The Bag
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind
Drake, Kanye West, Lil' Wayne & Eminem - Forever
Maxwell - Pretty Wings
Beyonce feat. Kanye West - Ego (Remix)

So, what do you think?? Disagree with the order? Did I leave anything out that should have been mentioned? Leave a comment...