By Steven Gottlieb on January 6, 2020 @ 8:17am PST |
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100 music videos that defined the decade. Spanning from commercial smashes to small art pieces to to pure pop and to insanely confrontational. Looking back, there's some videos that clearly couldn't be made in today's climate — and in retrospect are hard to watch, mainly due to the violence — but there's also plenty that stand the test of time and are compelling now as they were upon initial release. And going through 10 years of videos means a high probability of missing something, but all these feel worthy for one reason or another.
These are best enjoyed via the YouTube playlist — which omits two Jay Z videos that don't seem to officially be on the platform — but also read on for the list.
Happy New Year. Happy New Decade.
The Music Videos of The Decade:
- Childish Gambino "This Is America" (Hiro Murai, dir.)
- DJ Snake & Lil Jon "Turn Down For What" (Daniels, dir.)
- Young Thug "Wyclef Jean" (Ryan Staake, dir.)
- Beyonce "7/11"
- Jayz + Kanye West “Otis” — Spike Jonze, dir.
- Kendrick Lamar "Humble." (Dave Meyers, dir.)
- PSY "Gangnam Style"
- Black Keys “Lonely Boy” — Jesse Dylan, dir.
- Radiohead “Lotus Flower” — Garth Jennings, dir.
- Sia "Chandelier" (Sia & Daniel Askill, dir.)
- Taylor Swift "Blank Space" (Joseph Kahn, dir.)
- Adele "Hello" (Xavier Dolan, dir.)
- Arcade Fire "Afterlife" (Emily Kai Bock, dir.)
- Leon Bridges "River" (Miles Jay, dir.)
- Beyonce "Pretty Hurts" (Melina Matsoukas, dir.)
- Chet Faker "Gold" (Hiro Murai, dir.)
- Lil Nas X f/ Billy Ray Cyrus "Old Town Road" (CALMATIC, dir.)
- Camila Cabello f/ Young Thug "Havana" (Dave Meyers, dir.)
- Ariana Grande "thank u next" (Hannah Lux Davis, dir.)
- Ed Sheeran "Perfect" (Jason Koenig, dir.)
- Gotye "Somebody That I I Used To Love" (Natasha Pincus, dir.)
- Drake "Hotline Bling" (Director X, dir.)
- Robin Thicke, feat. T.I. and Pharrell, “Blurred Lines” (Diane Martel, dir.)
- Taylor Swift "Bad Blood" (Joseph Kahn, dir.)
- The Weeknd "False Alarm [NSFW]" (Ilya Naishuller, dir.)
- Gesaffelstein "Pursuit" (Fleur & Manu, dir.)
- Jamie XX "Gosh" (Romain Gavras, dir.)
- Jay-Z "The Story of O.J." (Mark Romanek, Jay-Z, dir.)
- Beyonce "Formation" (Melina Matsoukas, dir.)
- The Weeknd "The Hills" (Grant Singer, dir.)
- M.I.A. "Bad Girls" (Romain Gavras, dir.)
- imagine dragons "Thunder" (Joseph Kahn, dir.)
- Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball" (Terry Richardson, dir.)
- Eminem f/ Rihanna "Love The Way You Lie" (Joseph Kahn, dir)
- Katy Perry "Dark Horse" (Mathew Cullen, dir.)
- Jay Z "Picasso Baby" (Mark Romanek, dir.)
- The Carters "APES**T" (Ricky Saiz, dir.)
- Coldplay "Up & Up" (Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia, dir.)
- Michael Kiwanuka "Black Man In A White World" (Hiro Murai, dir.)
- Kendrick Lamar "Alright" (Colin Tilley, dir.)
- Miley Cyrus "We Can't Stop" (Diane Martel, dir.)
- Pharrell "Get Happy" (We Are From L.A., dir.)
- Mark Ronson f/ Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk" (Bruno Mars & Cameron Duddy, dir.)
- Justin Bieber "Sorry"
- Nicki Minaj "Anaconda" (Colin Tilley, dir.)
- Katy Perry "California Gurls" (Mathew Cullen, dir.)
- OK Go "The Writings On The Wall" (Aaron Duffy, Damian Kulash, Jr. & Bob Partington, dir.)
- Drake "God's Plan" (Karena Evans, dir.)
- Justin Timberlake "Suit And Tie" (David Fincher, dir.)
- Taylor Swift "Look What You Made Me Do" (Joseph Kahn, dir.)
- Kendrick Lamar "DNA." (NABIL, The Little Homies, dir.)
- Woodkid “Iron” — Yoann Lemoine, dir.
- Tyler, The Creator "Yonkers" (Tyler The Creator, dir.)
- Run The Jewels "Close Your Eyes (And Count To F**k)" (AG Rojas, dir.)
- Jay-Z & Kanye West "No Church in the Wild" (Romain Gavras, dir.)
- Rihanna “We Found Love” — Melina Matsoukas, dir.
- Ed Sheeran "Thinking Out Loud" (Emil Nava, dir.)
- FKA Twigs "Cellophane" (Andrew Thomas Huang, dir.)
- Kanye West "Famous" (NSFW)
- Grimes "Oblivion" (Emily Kai Bock, dir.)
- Florence + The Machine "What Kind Of Man" (Vince Haycock, dir.)
- Cage The Elephant "Cigarette Daydreams" (Mark Pellington, dir.)
- MIA "Born Free" (Romain Gavras, dir.)
- Lady Gaga f/ Beyonce "Telephone" (Jonas Akerlund, dir.)
- Katy Perry "Roar" Mark Kudsi & Grady Hall, dir.
- Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee, "Despacito" (Carlos Peréz, dir.)
- Wiz Khalifa f/ Charlie Puth "See You Again" (Marc Klasfeld, dir.)
- Logic f/ Alessia Cara, Khalid "1-800-273-8255" (Andy Hines, dir.)
- The Weeknd "In The Night" (BRTHR, dir.)
- Jay-Z "On To The Next One" (Sam Brown, dir.)
- Kanye West "Black Skinhead" (Nick Knight, dir.)
- Billie Eilish "bad guy" (Dave Meyers, dir.)
- Father John Misty "Mr. Tillman" (Jeff Desom, Carlos Lopez Estrada, dir.)
- Stylo G x Jacob Plant "Bike Engine" (Keith Schofield, dir.)
- Kanye West "Bound 2" (Nick Knight, dir.)
- OK Go "The One Moment" (Damian Kulash, dir.)
- Is Tropical “The Greeks” — Megaforce, dir.
- Biting Elbows "Bad Motherfucker" (Ilya Naishuller, dir.)
- Kanye West "Power" (Marco Brambilla, dir.)
- 2Chainz f/ Kanye "Birthday Song" (Andreas Nilsson, dir.)
- Lorde "Royals" (Joel Kefali, dir.)
- Fun. "We Are Young" (Marc Klasfeld, dir.)
- DJ Shadow f/ Run The Jewels "Nobody Speak" (Sam Pilling, dir.)
- Manchester Orchestra "Simple Math" (Daniels, dir.)
- Woodkid "Run Boy Run" (Yoann Lemoine, dir.)
- Earl Sweatshirt "Chum" (Hiro Murai, dir.)
- Jack White "Sixteen Saltines" (AG Rojas, dir.)
- The Shoes "Time To Dance" (Daniel Wolfe, dir.)
- Justice "On N' On" (Alex Courtes, dir.)
- Phoenix "Trying To Be Cool" (Canada, dir.)
- Travis Scott f/ Drake "Sicko Mode" (Dave Meyers, dir.)
- Charli XCX f/ Troye Sivan "1999" (Ryan Staake, Charli XCX, dir.)
- Tyler The Creator "Tamale" (Wolf Haley, dir.)
- Tame Impala "The Less I Know The Better" (Canada, dir.)
- Beck "Colors" (Edgar Wright, dir.)
- Bjork "Mutual Core" (Andrew Thomas Huang, dir.)
- Jay-Z "SMILE" (Miles Jay, dir.)
- Flying Lotus "Until The Quiet Comes" (Khalil Joseph, dir.)
- Joel Compass "Back To Me" (Ian and Cooper, dir.)
- David Bowie "Lazarus" (Johan Renck, dir.)
