Top Ten Most Illegally Downloaded Albums, Songs, and Videos of 2010

[27monster27 15,868]

I recently came across this list after hearing about this with Bionic, so I wanted to post this here with things that stood out to me underlined:

https://alfitude.com/2010/12/28/the-top-10-most-illegally-downloaded-albums-tracks-and-music-videos-of-2010/#:~:text=Your Email-,The top 10 most illegally downloaded albums%2C tracks%2C and music,Telephone” ― Lady Gaga & Beyonce

(iLeaks seems to have gone defunct.)

Top ten most illegally downloaded albums of 2010:

10. “Aphrodite” ― Kylie Minogue
9. “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” ― Kanye West
8. “Recovery” ― Eminem
7. “Body Talk” ― Robyn
6. “Speak Now” ― Taylor Swift
5. “Can’t Be Tamed” ― Miley Cyrus
4. “Pink Friday” ― Nicki Minaj
3. “Teenage Dream” ― Katy Perry
2. “Bionic” ― Christina Aguilera
1. “Loud” ― Rihanna

Top ten most illegally downloaded songs of 2010:

10. “We R Who We R” ― Ke$ha
9. “Roman’s Revenge (ft. Eminem)” ― Nicki Minaj
8. “Can’t Be Tamed” ― Miley Cyrus
7. “Only Girl (In The World)” ― Rihanna
6. “Whip My Hair” ― Willow Smith
5. “Not Myself Tonight” ― Christina Aguilera
4. “Love The Way You Lie (ft. Rihanna)” ― Eminem
3. “California Gurls (ft. Snoop Dogg)” ― Katy Perry
2. “Greatest” / “Then You Love Me” ― Lady Gaga
1. “Telephone” ― Britney Spears

Top ten most illegally downloaded videos of 2010:

10. “Commander” ― Kelly Rowland
9. “Runaway” ― Kanye West
8. “Love The Way You Lie (ft. Rihanna)” ― Eminem
7. “Can’t Be Tamed” ― Miley Cyrus
6. “Whip My Hair” ― Willow Smith
5. “Baby (ft. Ludacris)” ― Justin Bieber
4. “California Gurls (ft. Snoop Dogg)” ― Katy Perry
3. “Not Myself Tonight” ― Christina Aguilera
2. “Alejandro” ― Lady Gaga
1. “Telephone” ― Lady Gaga & Beyonce

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I've read that the total number of illegal downloads this year was 1.2 billion, and that 2010 was a peak year for illegal downloads. So, while I can't find any specific numbers for individual entries in this list, expect the number of downloads from each entry in these lists to be huge.

[27monster27 15,868]

People who might find this interesting: @bionic @PartySick @Bronco @River

Edited March 25 by 27monster27

[27monster27 15,868]

Also, the fact that two music videos from minors were in the top 10 most illegally downloaded videos of 2010 really doesn't sit right with me. 

[gagzus 23,140]

5 minutes ago, 27monster27 said:

Also, the fact that two music videos from minors were in the top 10 most illegally downloaded videos of 2010 really doesn't sit right with me. 

In all fairness YouTube to MP3 was big in the early 2010s and school kids  often just downloaded the music videos and converted them for iPods and their Blackberry’s etc

[gagzus 23,140]

Earthquake being the second most illegally downloaded song omg the hit that got away

[Gohan 16,857]

That Bionic fiasco marketing from Perez really did "wonders" huh  imagine all those points for Xtina

Edited March 25 by Gohan

[Bronco 25,129]

10 minutes ago, gagzus said:

In all fairness YouTube to MP3 was big in the early 2010s and school kids  often just downloaded the music videos and converted them for iPods and their Blackberry’s etc

Literally how I got 90% of my music in highschool.

[phantasmas 12,372]

and only Whip My Hair stood the test of time   

 

[27monster27 15,868]

1 hour ago, gagzus said:

In all fairness YouTube to MP3 was big in the early 2010s and school kids  often just downloaded the music videos and converted them for iPods and their Blackberry’s etc

Honestly I can see this making sense. It might just be the culture we are in now with the awareness we have about how kids in the industry get treated that is making me feel uncomfortable.

[vmpiregrn 1,233]

18 hours ago, 27monster27 said:

Honestly I can see this making sense. It might just be the culture we are in now with the awareness we have about how kids in the industry get treated that is making me feel uncomfortable.

Def understood your logic here though. I cringe when I see the number of saves videos of children on tik tok get for what I imagine to be is a similar concern to yours

[StrawberryBlond 15,567]

Some of those albums were already popular, so I can only imagine how much bigger albums like Teenage Dream and Loud would've been if these were translated into sales. But the sheer repetition of Bionic in these stats is crazy. No way it's from her fans, though, more like everyone wanted to see if this album was really as bad as it was claimed to be, but didn't want to have to actually pay to find out. It was pretty much the sentiment towards music back then - I'll only pay for it if I know for sure it's good. Which I have to say, is how I still look at music. The only time I buy albums blindly is for my ultimate faves. Everyone else, I listen to every song first before I decide if it's worth buying.

[Guest]

I think Bionic is included in this list because every leak you would search for had a 50/50% of being Bionic. I must have downloaded that album so many times, and I used to download really obscure music back then. I was not really into popular music and it still somehow managed to impact my illegal activities (though I actually do like Bionic).

Edited March 26 by Agunimon

[nATAH 57,034]

but some of those illegally downloaded songs aren't released... so illegal download is the only option

[bxr 2,172]

The platinum era of P2P music-sharing, whew what a time to be a digital denizen … in retrospect the TRL x P2P [Napster, Kazaa, Limewire, Morpheus, Frostwire, etc.] active audience / participants probably share some signature Pop genome frequency … whatever je ne sais quoi seems to be missing in pop now, feels more likely embedded somewhere in that algorithm or pattern, than today’s Spotify / Billboard slate

Thanks for sharing the info; on first glance, the lists kind of feel like the closest thing we have to some quantification of “vibes” (and/or, “Okay, but how do you measure cultural impact”) for that window of time where the bleeding edge of the zeitgeist really was in the grey market—or, music wise, at least, in that digital transition … not that all of the releases on the lists were necessarily impactful in a culturally significant way, but there’s something that feels more intentional or authentic about illegal downloads from the Aughts, than streaming now necessarily—so, maybe the barrier of entry for the listener alone felt more impactful with P2P platforms than streaming services (or, where they are now at least, with bot farms, etc.)

This could all be generational bias, so take with a grain and such … but/and really fun rewind remind 

 

[Sugar Baby 1,002]

Damn Miley’s Numbers for Cant be tamed (song and video ) would have been massive without the illegal downloads