As the decade comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the 2010s’ best and most influential music.

Despite mixed feelings surrounding him as an artist, Drake’s hit-making ability was like no other. His hits “One Dance” and “God’s Plan” both surpassed the one-billion streams milestone, adding to his world-leading 28 billion streams on Spotify.

However, Drake’s path was heavily influenced by other artists such as Kanye West, who Drake called “the most influential person” to his music career. One of the albums the Canadian native took inspiration from was West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. Although it dropped at the beginning of the decade in 2010, it’s still one of the most critically acclaimed albums, being named “Album of the Decade” by Billboard.

In 2013, West released his sixth studio album “Yeezus”, which featured credited producer Jaques Webster, more frequently known as Travis Scott. Scott released his debut album “Rodeo” two years later, a dark and foreboding project focused on his rapid rise to fame.

In a poll taken by OPRF students, 71 students said they preferred “Rodeo” over  Kendrick Lamar’s grammy-winning album “To Pimp a Butterfly”, which received just 38 votes. Scott’s popularity hit an all-time high after dropping “Astroworld”, featuring the infamous track “Sicko Mode.”

In 2017, Tyler the Creator rose to the top of the music world with his beloved album “Flower Boy”. In another poll, this project received 66 of OPRF students’ votes while Pitchfork’s album of the decade, “Blonde,” received 46 votes.

“Flower Boy is probably Tyler’s chillest album,” said sophomore Theo Bennett. “Tyler brings aspects of his older albums but makes a new jazzy sound around it.” Also, Tyler’s new album “Igor” has been named a nominee for the Grammys album of the year award.

Another artist who emerged during the decade was Frank Ocean. Ocean began his music career penning for other singers under the name Lonnie Breaux. But in 2012, his debut album “Channel Orange” surfaced mainstream music, where Ocean was extolled as being the modern Marvin Gaye. Highlighting the album is “Thinkin Bout You” and “Forrest Gump”, two timeless songs that are bound to be wedding classics.

Ocean’s high expectations were fulfilled by his second studio album “Blonde”. This album was preferred by OPRF students over Rihanna’s “Anti” album by a margin of 41 votes. Months after the release of “Blonde”, Ocean dropped his most successful single to date “Chanel”. This song has become an anthem to genderfluidity and bisexuality, saying he “sees on both sides like Chanel”, referring to Chanel’s iconic interlocking C’s logo.

All in all, this decade was filled with music that will define our generation. Our passing periods, Friday night parties, and Homecoming mosh-pits would not be the same without all of the artists that made up this incredible decade.