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Jeremy Urquhart
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Jeremy has more than 2100 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
His favorite directors include Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, John Woo, Bob Fosse, Fritz Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Yoji Yamada. He's also very proud of the fact that he's seen every single Nicolas Cage movie released before 2022, even though doing so often felt like a tremendous waste of time. He's plagued by the question of whether or not The Room is genuinely terrible or some kind of accidental masterpiece, and has been for more than 12 years (and a similar number of viewings).
When he's not writing lists - and the occasional feature article - for Collider, he also likes to upload film reviews to his Letterboxd profile (username: Jeremy Urquhart) and Instagram account.
He is also currently in the process of trying to become a Stephen King expert by reading all 2397 novels written by the author.
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2000 came around about a quarter of a century ago now, and while it didn’t grant the world flying cars or anything, the century did eventually provide some amazing music. Sure, so did the 20th century, but that’s another topic for another time. It’s easier to focus on “just” a bit over a quarter of a century. Truth be told, that’s still an overwhelming amount of time when you consider the sheer quantity of songs that have been released in that period.
So, what follows is ambitious, and potentially frustrating, but it’s an attempt to go through 25 of the best and most enduring songs of the past 25-ish years, and spanning that whole time, too. There’s a limit of one song per artist, and whatever the first release of a song was (be it a pre-album single or first heard on the album it belonged to), that’s the year that will be considered and noted. Apologies, in advance, for a rundown of tracks that won't please anyone 100%.
25 "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" (2021)
Taylor Swift
Look, let’s tear off the band-aid and get it over with. Taylor Swift probably needs to be represented on a ranking like this, and if you didn’t, people would be annoyed. And then when you do, maybe some other people will be annoyed. You can’t win, she’s too everywhere. Maybe the person writing this isn't thrilled about including Swift. But here she is, and it’s “All Too Well,” but specifically, that highly acclaimed “10 Minute Version” from Swift’s Red (Taylor's Version).
Pop/rock songs exceeding 10 minutes aren’t anything new, and there are some comparably long songs from the 21st century that are probably even better, but "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" is impressive. It’s easy to resist some more recent Taylor Swift songs, but this is a showcase of her strengths, and if you listen to the whole thing, it can help you understand the hype… if you're somehow one of those people who've shielded themselves from any and all Taylor Swift over the past (almost) 20 years. So you're probably not one of these people. This is good, that’s the main thing. It’s Swift at her least swift (you know, with the 10-minute runtime and all), but also at her best.
24 "Electric Feel" (2008)
MGMT
If you were a teenager at any point in the back half of the 2000s, “Electric Feel” might well feel about as nostalgic as music gets. It felt like it was just cool enough to be alternative, but then it was also punchy enough to not feel out of place on mainstream radio, so if you liked or just passively tolerated any form of music in 2008, there’s a good chance you liked this song.
Is it even MGMT’s best? Like, it’s got some tough competition, with “Kids” and “Time to Pretend” also being phenomenal tracks from MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular, and then there are also several incredible songs from the fairly underrated (in the overall scheme of things) album Little Dark Age, but there’s something special, offbeat, and infectious about “Electric Feel.”
23 "Hey Ya!" (2003)
Outkast
“Hey Ya!” is to Outkast what “Bohemian Rhapsody” is to Queen, in the sense that both are the boring and obvious picks for the title of best individual song for both, but hey, it’s “Hey Ya!”! Maybe it’s also worth the admittedly sort of bizarre reference to “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the sense that it and “Hey Ya!” are probably overplayed, and ubiquitous, but both songs are still great, even if you’ve potentially heard them too many times.
It's the song Outkast are best known for, and far from their only noteworthy track, of course, but it’s easy to see why it’s the one everyone knows. The intro’s iconic, the verses are great, the chorus makes for one hell of an earworm, and then the call and response also adds a lot of charm. It’s very pop, but also adventurous in a playful kind of way, which is probably a factor in making it resonate and endure more than your average early 2000s mega-hit.
22 "Bad Guy" (2019)
Billie Eilish
It felt like Billie Eilish exploded out of nowhere (not literally, thankfully; not like a drummer from Spinal Tap), in 2019, but she had been gaining steam for the preceding few years, with music recorded and released when she was still only 13. But 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was a breakout hit, album-wise, and the defining single from it was “Bad Guy.”
It was everywhere, for a while, but at least it wasn’t everywhere and grating like "Dance Monkey," which also got released in 2019. “Bad Guy” is ominous, catchy, and immediately attention-grabbing, and felt forward-thinking in a strong enough way that it’s already been influential, or was at least suggestive of the direction somewhat alternative pop music would go in during the 2020s. For a still relatively new song in the overall scheme of things, it's pretty iconic. Duh.
21 "Run Away with Me" (2015)
Carly Rae Jepsen
"Call Me Maybe" exploded in popularity in 2012, after first being released in 2011, and it’s still probably the most well-known song Carly Rae Jepsen’s done, but it pales in comparison to most of the songs from 2015’s Emotion. The album performed well enough, and was critically praised, but still not the kind of smash hit it probably deserved to be, and so it’s weird to call it underrated when it’s so poppy and approachable, but it kind of is.
Similarly, the opening track of the album, “Run Away with Me,” also likely should’ve been the inescapable song of 2015, but it wasn’t. Even in Canada, where Jepsen hails from, it only reached #83. It is an undoubtedly perfect pop song, just a real musical rush of sugar that’s still exciting and moving when you listen to it for the 100th or 200th or however many hundreds of times. People who've heard it are likely aware of that, but still, more people should hear it.
20 "Seven Nation Army" (2003)
The White Stripes
Maybe classic rock died a bit when grunge came along in the 1990s, but that sort of sound did pop in the mainstream more recently, even past the year 2000, as demonstrated by “Seven Nation Army.” It’s got a little edge to it that does make it sound more contemporary, admittedly, though the throwback sound of it is hard to deny, especially thanks to that timeless and almost ancient-sounding riff.
It's another big song from the past 25-ish years that might be a bit overplayed, so if it’s lost some of its impact since 2003, that might be why. Still, you can see why it was everywhere for a while there, and it’s still the defining track for the White Stripes (though the album it’s from, Elephant, does still hold up as a pretty good listen overall, too).
19 "Casimir Pulaski Day" (2005)
Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens has a knack for ruining your day in a musical (and good) way. People who don’t like music that makes them feel sad should probably steer clear, but then if you're into movies, you’ve probably already been made susceptible to Stevens’ sadness, since his track “Visions of Gideon,” used at the end of Call Me by Your Name, is a big reason why that ending is so soul-crushing.
His recent 2023 album, Javelin, was also brutally sad, as was 2015’s Carrie and Lowell, but Stevens’ biggest single tearjerker would have to be the song “Casimir Pulaski Day,” from the incredible (and emotionally varied; not just sad) 2005 album, Illinois. “Casimir Pulaski Day” is about grieving the death of a loved one, and associating it forever with the titular local holiday, since it happens on that day. Lyrically, it’s Stevens at his strongest, and the instrumentation – simultaneously folky, lush, and minimalist – adds a lot to the emotional punch the song delivers, too.
18 "Bad Romance" (2009)
Lady Gaga
Just as you kind of need to have a song by Taylor Swift, if you're talking about the most iconic tracks made since 2000, so too should you probably have a shout-out to the similarly influential and singular Lady Gaga. Of all her songs, “Bad Romance” feels like it deserves singling out, and maybe some of that has to do with the very memorable (and weirdly unnerving) music video, but the song does also stand on its own.
Like a few other songs in this ranking, it does a good job at summarizing Lady Gaga’s appeal, as an artist (alongside her unique qualities), within the confines of just one track. Lyrically, it’s about a familiar pop music topic, as the title pretty much lets you know straight away, but there is also the hook to consider, which is dangerously infectious. Hell, science apparently even backs up the idea that it might well be an all-timer, as far as catchy pop songs go.
17 "Swimming Pools (Drank)" (2012)
Kendrick Lamar
Picking one song per artist does mean Kendrick Lamar probably isn't as represented in a ranking like this as he might deserve, since he’s been behind plenty of the best hip-hop songs of the 21st century to date. Also, his albums are probably even more impressive than his singles, but if you want one song… uh… maybe six songs were picked, let’s say, numbers were given to each, then a die was rolled, and the number assigned to “Swimming Pools (Drank)” was the one that came up.
So, “Swimming Pools (Drank)” it is. This one unpacks drinking culture without being preachy, unfolding skillfully musically, and then also fitting in incredibly well with the narrative told throughout all the tracks on 2012’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. It’s Lamar at his best, and considering he’s one of the best overall (hip-hop-wise or across all genres, really), that’s saying something.
16 "Heartbeats" (2002)
The Knife
The first release of “Heartbeats” was in 2002, and then the album it belonged on, Deep Cuts, was released in 2003, and the single was re-released in 2004. Whichever year you want to assign most of all to the song, one fact remains: it’s crazily ahead of its time. This kind of slightly offbeat but infectious electronic pop absolutely exploded in the 2010s, and that’s when it feels like “Heartbeats” could’ve/should’ve been made, but no… The Knife was well ahead of the curve here.
It was never really a hit, maybe because it was too ahead of its time, even though the whole electronic/synth-heavy pop thing in the 2010s was popular because it served as something of a throwback to the 1980s. Anyway, all that rambling is in place of trying to break down what makes “Heartbeats” so good. It is just phenomenal and strange and intoxicating and endlessly replayable, and The Knife made a couple of albums post-Deep Cuts that were even better, but “Heartbeats” remains the duo’s signature song.
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