A Year in Review: The 10 Best Tracks of 2015

It wasn't my favorite year for music, but 2015 presented a number of stellar songs that soundtracked the last 12 months. It was a tremendous time for Top 40 pop, as unconventional influences and dance music seep into the mainstream. Below are the 10 best songs that came out this year, or had the biggest impact in 2015.

10. Chromatics - "I Can Never Be Myself When You're Around"

Chromatics' new record "Dear Tommy" was supposed to drop on Feb. 14 (maybe the group's mastermind Johnny Jewel meant Feb. 14, 2016), but it never happened. Instead, the band released a handful of stellar singles in 2015, including the beautiful cinematic and dreary "I Can Never Be Myself When You're Around." It's a sullen, overly-dramatic gothic synth track that chugs along as Jewel crafts a delicate soundscape with singer Ruth Radelet's fragile vocals croon on. It shimmers but it's also dense, ending up as one of the sleekest produced songs Chromatics has ever released, despite being the band's most shoe-gaze-y song to date.

09. Years & Years - "King"

U.K. pop outfit Years & Years' "King" is easily the best pop-dance track of 2015. Its inclusive lyrics coupled with a killer beat is rocketed up a level thanks to openly gay lead singer Olly Alexander's emotional vocals. Though it never found its way in the U.S. (it'll probably hit airwaves later in 2016, lets be real ::coughAlunaGeorgecough::) "King" is a classic dance track full of house rhythms and R&B vocals. We can only hope for a remix that will appeal to American audiences in the not-too-distant future, that way "King" can soundtrack our 2016, too.

08. Tame Impala - "Let it Happen"

Tame Impala's Kevin Parker has a magnificent ear for pop hooks. His huge single "Let It Happen" rips hard. It's a psychedelic trip that makes you want to smoke up with Austin Powers. It's a dizzying maze of beautiful synth and swirling guitar work, transforming the classic rock / indie rock-influenced band into a funktastic, bass-slapping and bright group. At a sprawling 8-minutes, "Let it Happen" doesn't outstay its welcome, and isn't weighed down by heavy guitars; instead the song is lifted by its disco-kissed tinges. On their new album "Currants," "Let It Happen" is their crown jewel and the Australian band's best song yet.

07. Destroyer - "Dream Lover"

"Serious" indie rock is probably dead but Destroyer's Dan Bejar is keeping the flame alive. While much of his album "Poison Season" is rooted in romantic prog rock, single "Dream Lover" is an off-the-cuff banger that sounds like a Broken Social Scene free style. It's loose and booms with sax and bristling guitars, which builds on itself and sounds like it's one note away from a total collapse. Though the Canadian rocker says he's is adversed to most modrn pop tunes, you'd never know it from the melancholy yet bright "Dream Lover."

06. Sophie - "Just Like We Never Said Goodbye"

If PC Music took over 2014, then it only makes sense that the Internet-based record label's BFF Sophie had one of the best songs of 2015. The mysterious producer's "Just Like We Never Said Goodbye" is the mysterious producer's most realized and actualized song, nearly topping his 2013 mind-eraser, "Blipp." On the surface, "Just Like We Never Said Goodbye" sounds like an innocuous pop track, but it soon becomes apparent there's something cynical going on behind the super saccharine synths and artificial and twisted vocals. Disguised as a love song about two people picking up a tender relationship years after being teens, the track is a fierce but side eye to poptimism that also honors today's biggest plastic-y hits.

05. Carly Rae Jepsen - "Run Away With Me"

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Run Away With Me" is a far step away from "Call Me Maybe," the sugary and perfect song that launched the Canadian singer's career. But it's the perfect evolution of M83's biggest hit, "Midnight City." About four years after the French band's crossover hit, "Midnight City" has had time to go through the pop machine, and thankfully an artist as skilled as CRJ got her hands on it, making the best version of "Midnight City" we don't deserve. "Run Away With Me" opens with MIDI-sounding sax horns that erupt into a burst of drum pad bliss, fitting in that perfect sweet-spot of Top 40 magic and small pop indie music.

04. Fetty Wap - "Trap Queen"

Technically a 2014 release, Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen" sunk its claws into the 2015 zeitgeist this summer. It felt like it popped out of nowhere but before long, the song was everywhere: Blasting from cars, booming from malls and blaring all over the radio. The New Jersey rapper's husky voice is a breath of fresh air and stands out amongst his peers, as does the thin production on "Trap Queen," which is oddly melodic for a hip-hop cut. Its blend of R&B, trap and hip-hop made Fetty Wap's lyrics about selling coke an instant meme. Mix those elements together and you get the perfect pop-rap song to date.

03. Jack Ü - "Where Are Ü Now" Feat. Justin Bieber

Jack �, a.k.a dubstep prince Skrillex and go-to producer Diplo, teamed up with Justin Bieber to relaunch his career. "Where Are � Now" is a pop song reversed in a funhouse mirror. It shouldn't exist but it does, in all its backwards ear worm glory. It doesn't sound like any other pop track that came out this year, with Bieber's angelic voice mutated into a creepy, addictive loop. When the beat drops it isn't the hard explosion of hard synths you'd expect from Skrillex. Instead, we get a jungle beat that sounds like it came from a lost "Donkey Kong" video game. Everything from the sonics, to the composition, to the lyrics on "Where Are � Now" shouldn't work, but in the end, the song found success in how wrong it sounds.

02. The Weeknd - "Can't Feel My Face"

Michael Jackson would not be rolling in his grave if he could hear the Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face." It's the best Jackson impersonation since the singer's untimely death. Abel Tesfaye is able to encapsulate, with excellent skill, that unexplainable spark the Prince of Pop embodied. "CFMF" also made the Weeknd a household name, thanks to production by the King Midas of pop, Max Martin. It's a little bit cheesy, a little bit sexy and a whole lot of fun, which was certified by its strong chart presence, gaining the number one spot on Billboard's Top 100.

01. Drake - "Hotline Bling"

Lorde said it best when she defended Drake's songwriting on "Hotline Bling," describing the song as "rothko's color." If the tracks off the rapper's If "You're Reading This It's Too Late" are black-and-white, then "Hotline Bling" is made with brushes of warm oranges, red hues and hot pinks. It's the perfect bridge between his R&B-heavy epic "Take Care" and his hard edged "Nothing Was the Same." Drake sounds removed, but the minimal production and fantastic sample choice (Timmy Thomas' 1972 hit "Why Can't We Live Together") makes "Hotline Bling" approachable. It's a flash of "old" Drake, but he's prepping us for what's to come: If anything on his upcoming LP "Views From the 6" is remotely close to "Hotline Bling," Drake could easily have the album of the decade.

Honorable mentions: "Lonely Town" by Brandon Flowers, "What Do You Mean?" by Justin Bieber, "Slumlord" by Neon Indian, "Baby Tonight" by Social Lovers, "Flesh Without Blood" by Grimes, "Player" by Tinashe, "Coffee" by Miguel, "Shadow" by Chromatics, "Sapokanikan" by Joanna Newsom, "High By the Beach" by Lana Del Rey