Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

It seems fitting that on the day that U2 were announced as Glastonbury headliners they'd make their début appearance on the top 1000. Of course Elevation is three minutes of non stop jiberish and posturing, each line is more simplistic and eye rolling than the last, yet it's hard to deny just how catchy this track is. This was U2 entering the decade of auto-pilot, it would take them seven years to even attempt a meaningful departure but after the Pop disaster Elevation seemed like a welcome return to form. Hear It Here

In 2003 I'm not quite sure the good folk of Great Britain knew quite what to make of Girls Aloud, their first three singles had been remarkably good tracks, almost too good compared to the rest of the pop market, but they'd seen the rise and fall of Hearsay and the other horrid Pop Stars cast offs and wouldn't be fooled again, but there was something special about this band and their wily producers Xenomania. Jump saw the Girls Aloud taking the Pointer Sisters classic and with the help of some mind blowing electro-squelch courtesy of Xenomania this remake blew the original out of the water and launched this track straight to the top of the charts. You do have to wonder though, if they got Jump so right, how did they get I Think We're Alone Now so wrong? Hear It Here

Best Of You was hardly shakespeare, it didn't do anything particularly interesting in it's arrangement, yet it is one of this decades all time great anthems. It's the combination of a simple heartfelt sentiment and a powerful blokey roar that guaranteed this tracks success. It never really could fail, it was designed and masterfully crafted to conqueror festival fields worldwide creating those euphoric sing along moments that only a true headline act can conjure. Hear It Here

No one inspires hate quite like Mr. James Blunt, of course it doesn't help when your name rhymes with cunt, your just asking for it aren't you? Of course with said name you then write one of the most inescapably sappy love songs of the decade, inspiring over a hundred thousand people to sign an online petition attempting to ban you from writing or recording music. If a song inspires that much hate, you can just image how much love it's inspired in return, and while it maybe tragically uncool, it is one of this decades great heartbreaking ballads. Hear It Here

It was around 2005 when the Neptunes began to come of the boil as producers, and coincidentally this creative slide happened to coincide with Pharrell's solo LP. Pharrell alone couldn't reach the same standards as his N.E.R.D work. He did at least muster a few hits, and while Can I Have It Like That was luke warm lyrically Pharrell managed to create one of his most dominant beats to decade, and the track became a club monster on the back of it's healthy groove. Hear It Here

In 2005 Garbage returned for one last run on top, the world wasn't really sure what to expect of a band so fundamentally 90s, did they really belong in the 21st Century? Well they didn't really update their core sound, but they proved that great infectious song writing really never goes out of fashion. Garbage brought a big James Bond sized riff, and Shirley brought all her quiet loud rage and together they forged a surprise hit and they rode this baby all the way to a headline slot at Download Festival. Hear It Here

Yes, here we have the absolute most annoying track title of the decade, yes more grating than Hot in Herre, and I will be refering to this track as Thanks For The Memories. Now that that out the way we can concentrate on a brilliant singalong anthem, Fall Out Boy were beginning to move away from any pretension of being a punk band in 2007 and were fully embracing their pop superstar status. The result of this transition were staggering, as they continued to supply irresistible track after irresistible track. Hear It Here

So What confirmed Pink's status as one of pop's biggest superstars and completed a decade long journey from R'n'B outsider to one of the decades biggest selling artist. While in 2000 Pink seemed too quirky and daffy to be anything other than a novelty, by 2008 we'd discovered that Pink held all the trump cards. The 21st century would see the decline of the plastic diva and the rise of the fiesty personality driven pop star. Pink was truly ahead of the curve and next to the ever so bland and calculated Alexandra Burke it's not hard to see why Pink is such a phenomenon. So What was infectious, morose and illogical all at the same time, it had a gorgeous riff, and was a total self parody from the word go, on paper it sounded like a horrible idea, a total clusterfuck, in actuality, it was still a clusterfuck but an undeniably brilliant one. Hear It Here

By 2001 Marilyn Manson had become part of the furniture a pop culture icon, and he could pretty much do whatever the hell he wanted. So rather than continue the façade he revealed that beneath his gothic industiral posing lied an eighties pop fan dying to be set free. It didn't take a genius to figure out Mr. Manson had more than a passing interest in Depeche Mode but not many expected him to be a lover of Soft Cell, let alone to resurrect their classic and ride it all the way to the number one spot and renewed commercial relevance. Hear It Here

Boy oh boy does 2001 seem a long long time ago, the Strokes were just hopping off a plane and introducing themselves to the UK's underground, and the charts were dominated by cheese and soft rock; but while the world waited for a rock and roll revolution the 20 plus strong So Solid Crew were leading the UK's biggest emerging scene: garage. It would crash and burn quickly enough but 21 Seconds improbably took So Solid Crew to the number one spot. While garage today seems like a mere gimmick, it was actually was the first moment when the UK showed signs of developing a truly unique sound, breaking from and American hip hop culture, most importantly this track would lay the foundation for the dark aggressive and angular sound that would define Britain's grime scene, and eventually change the face of popular music. Hear It Here.