2010s Party Playlist: Songs And Running Order

Streaming-era pop that everyone half knows, and a few that everyone knows completely.

This is the decade for an 18th, 21st, 25th or 30th. Below is the playlist in four parts - what to open with, what fills the floor, what everyone sings and what to save for the people who know the decade properly.

One rule before you start: never play your three biggest songs in the first hour. Everything else is detail.

Years covered in the 2010s

• 2010 - A hung parliament, a volcano that stopped the planes and the first iPad. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2010
• 2011 - The royal wedding, the riots and Adele's 21. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2011
• 2012 - The Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics in one extraordinary summer. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2012
• 2013 - A royal baby, Andy Murray at Wimbledon and the horsemeat scandal. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2013
• 2014 - The Scottish referendum, the ice bucket challenge and streaming joining the chart. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2014
• 2015 - The Queen's record reign, Leicester's title run beginning and Adele's return. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2015
• 2016 - Leicester won the league, Britain voted to leave and a lot of people died. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2016
• 2017 - Grenfell, the Manchester Arena attack and a snap election that went wrong. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2017
• 2018 - A royal wedding, a heatwave and England reaching a World Cup semi-final. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2018
• 2019 - A cricket World Cup final nobody could believe and a December election. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2019
• That is every 2010s year we have written up so far: 2010 to 2019.

The running order

• First hour, arrivals and talking: openers only, loud enough to fill the room and quiet enough to hear each other.
• Second hour, the room fills: start dropping floor-fillers, alternating one known song with one lesser-played track.
• Third hour, the peak: the biggest songs, back to back, no ballads.
• Last twenty minutes: the singalongs, finishing on one everybody knows every word to.
• Three hours of music is about 45 songs. Build 60 so you have room to skip.

2010s openers

• Dua Lipa - New Rules
• The 1975 - Chocolate
• Lorde - Royals
• Hozier - Take Me To Church
• Disclosure - Latch
• Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better

2010s floor-fillers

• Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk
• Daft Punk - Get Lucky
• Robyn - Dancing On My Own
• Calvin Harris and Rihanna - We Found Love
• Justin Timberlake - Can't Stop The Feeling!
• Sia - Cheap Thrills

2010s singalongs to finish on

• Adele - Someone Like You
• Kings Of Leon aside, Journey and Oasis still turn up at 2010s parties - let them
• Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved
• Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill
• Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody, still, at every party in this decade

2010s deep cuts

• Jamie xx - Loud Places
• Christine and the Queens - Tilted
• Rudimental - Feel The Love
• Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex
• Stormzy - Big For Your Boots

What to be careful with

• This is the first decade where nobody shares a childhood chart. Play fewer songs and repeat the known ones.
• Uptown Funk and Get Lucky are the two universal tracks. Don't spend them early.
• Ballads clear a floor faster in this decade than any other. Keep them to the last twenty minutes.

Practical bits people forget

• Download it. Venue wifi failing mid-party is the most common way a playlist goes wrong.
• Turn off shuffle and turn off the auto-playlist that kicks in at the end.
• Check clean versions if children or grandparents are in the room.
• Put one person in charge of the music and let them ignore requests after eleven.
• Print the track list and pin it up - people read it all night and it doubles as a quiz round.

Shop prints and posters

Music prints and lyric posters

A5, A4 and A3, ready to frame.

Decorations for a decade party

Banners, balloons, cake toppers and confetti, plain enough to take any era theme.

Milestone birthday cards

Blank inside, kraft envelope, printed in the UK.

How to write it so it lands

• Build the playlist around the years they were 15 to 25, not the year they were born.
• Hold your three biggest songs until the room is full.
• Download it rather than streaming it, and turn shuffle off.

Where to shop next

• Look back to 2010
• Look back to 2011
• Look back to 2012
• Look back to 2013
• Look back to 2014
• Look back to 2015
• Look back to 2016
• Look back to 2017
• Look back to 2018
• Look back to 2019
• 1950s party playlist
• 1960s party playlist
• 1970s party playlist
• 1980s party playlist
• 1990s party playlist
• 2000s party playlist
• 2020s party playlist
• Phone party games
• How to run a quiz night
• Look back to the 2010s
• Decade music round questions
• Decade recipes: dishes and food trends by era
• Music by decade: albums, artists and songs
• Retro party playlist by decade
• Nostalgia birthday party by decade
• Nostalgia gift shop
• Retro party supplies
• Milestone birthday cards
• Party supplies
• Posters and prints
• Shop birthday cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Birthday cards for kids
• Wedding cards
• Wedding cards guide
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What is a good 2010s party playlist?

Build it around the handful of songs everyone genuinely shares - Uptown Funk, Get Lucky, We Found Love, Dancing On My Own - and fill around them with the chart pop of the guest's own teenage years.

How many songs do you need for a 2010s party?

About 15 songs an hour, so roughly 45 for a three hour party. Build 60 so you can skip anything that isn't landing without a gap.

Should the playlist be all one decade?

No. Keep the middle of the night in the decade and let the last hour drift either side of it. A single decade for four hours starts to feel like a theme night rather than a party.

Do you sell music?

No. We make greeting cards, art prints, pin badges and stickers, and we stock party decorations - all printed in the UK. The playlist is free to copy.