Decades from now, when we look back on 2010, we will all remember that light bulb moment when into the cultural lexicon came one of life’s great questions: Fuckin’ Magnets, how do they work? (Also worth considering: Fuckin’ Giraffes, why are their necks so long?) At times, it was easy to wonder how this incredibly ridiculous song and video by Insane Clown Posse ever got the green light. But in the end, we were just incredibly grateful that it did.—Trevor Kelley

This Bungles-sampling track, replete with will.i.am’s signature visual tricks, may not have wound up on the Black Eyed Peas latest—landing instead on Nicki’s debut—but the video had the Peas’ frontman’s style written all over it. From pulsating dancers to an MC Escher pencil-sketch of the BEP leader himself, it’s obvious that these two happily went overboard. But then Nicki re-appears in pink latex and we all smile, because you realize that it’s a sight no pricey visual trickery could ever outshine.—Dan Hyman

If you didn’t fall in love with Bruno Mars after watching this heartstring-tugging clip for what was arguably the year’s biggest pop song, then you may not have a heart. Or are lying. Or work security at the Hard Rock Hotel. Whatever the case, the video was magical: Using nothing more that the angelic voice that cuts through “Just The Way You Are” as his weapon, Mars manages to transform a cassette tape into a full-fledged animation studio. Oh, and he also presumably gets the girl.—Jonah Bayer

Sure, this may be essentially the diva equivalent to that far too ubiquitous Red Hot Chili Peppers clip that surfaced a couple years back, but as Ms. Keri gives us her inspired (and surprisingly faithful) takes on Diana, T-Boz and Hova’s lady, you realize that this is one homage that is all heart. It also speaks to one of this medium’s greater truths: That being, that sometimes the best videos are made by those who have spent their entire lives positively obsessing over them.—Trevor Kelley

Oh “Single Ladies,” look at what you have wrought. In 2010, high-energy, single camera video shoots were all the rage, but perhaps no one did this in as arresting of a way as Ciara. Throughout the video for “Ride” the ridiculously-toned Southern pop starlet slowly pops, locks, tweaks and gyrates for us all, but this is no mere spank clip. It’s a bizarrely consuming work of art. If she didn’t make this video, the dude from Aphex Twin probably would have.—Trevor Kelley

Nabbing Christina Hendricks, best known as the hard-ass Joan Halloway on Mad Men, was probably the best thing Danger Mouse and James Mercer have done since deciding to start a side-project together. Whether she’s literally giving up an arm and a leg to get to paradise (which, in this case, means sipping cosmos poolside) or generally living in a sci-fi dream, the results are both beautiful and puzzling. When it comes to these two, forget the sky; the galaxy is the limit.—Dan Hyman

In the hazy, Aquanet-enhanced ’80s, the “we are the biggest band in the world and this is what our life is like on the road” video became an absolute staple. So it seems only suiting that it took a band fronted by a near forty-year-old man with a pink mohawk (hey, the Aquanet still comes in handy!) to revive the format. It’s all so suitably epic, but the part to rewind over and over is the earnest segment in the middle where it accidentally sounds like the little girl is saying, “I just wish there was no such thing as farting.” We’re with you sister.—Trevor Kelley

Back in the day, when music videos dominated the television sets of suburban teenagers everywhere, there was a group of young men from Compton, Calif. named N.W.A. whose sole job was to scare the living shit out of suburban teenagers everywhere. And they were incredible at it. They held up guns to the camera. They carjacked dudes who looked like your dad. They were terrifying. Well, guess what? There is a new kid in town—and, this year, he made us want to hide under the fucking covers.—Trevor Kelley

These resilient indie vets‘ first video in over nine years proves that smart writing trumps a huge budget, both when it comes to songs and memorable videos. The clip, which imagines frontman Mac McCaughan trying to reunite the band as the only original member, not only pokes fun at the ’80s glam metal bands who have seriously attempted that same transition, but also shows that the past decade hasn’t dulled Superchunk’s sense of humor and irony a single ounce. Also good to note: You can slay a hipster with a Hall And Oates LP.—Jonah Bayer

It took Deftones singer Chino Moreno 15 years to finally appear in a video topless and, clearly, the setting for this momentous event had to be a haunted, dust-filled school library. Replete with scantily clad models, overdramatic rock moves and a whole sea of bodily fluid-soaked onlookers, this was easily one of the most captivating alt-metal-whatever videos of the year. Seriously, we haven’t wanted to be at a video shoot this bad since “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”—Jonah Bayer

Before she dropped this artsy fashionista-style video for her debut single, Dev, the 20-year-old chick who told us how to get slizzered via the hook for Far East Movement’s “Like A G6,” was just a name behind a robotic pop chorus. So how does she get noticed? Easy—putting four of herself front and center in her video, changing outfits at Lady Gaga-esque speed. Maybe a little more booty bouncing next time. But hey, this works.—Dan Hyman

We all can’t be Ludacris. The last time we tried to pop out of mirrors while chicks shaked their asses in front of us, it ended in shame and restraining orders. So consider this video further proof why Luda’s a rap star and we most certainly are not—the man can make creepy appear cool. In the end “How Low” is vintage Luda: Booty, black lights and buxom babes. Same player, different year.—Dan Hyman

The concept for “I Was A Teenage Anarchist” may seem simple, but using one camera and slow motion to stretch out a 30-second-clip is actually harder to choreograph and produce than most music videos with a six-figure budget. It’s also way more effective: As the cops whacked at AM frontman Tom Gabel with their billy clubs, it was impossible to look away. Plus, this clip allows you to revisit Gabel’s anarchist youth without having to actually attend a Food Not Bombs meeting.—Jonah Bayer

In 2010 the real Slim Shady stood up, manned up and stopped rapping like a demented middle-eastern cab driver who had just taken 18 hits of nitrous. And the results were massive. Em’ ended up with arguably the song of the year (fistbump to Ri-Ri for that one), his sixth consecutive platinum album and the kind of undeniable credibility that could easily convince the chick from Transformers and the dude from Lost to take off their clothes and occasionally beat the crap out of each other.—Trevor Kelley

This was the third clip from Yeasayer’s Odd Blood or, as we saw it, where the year’s most bewitching and bizarre album got even stranger. In the middle of it all is a health-stricken troll who woos, bleeds, oozes and eventually dies in the arms of an emotionally distraught Kristen Bell who, truth be told, hasn’t been this convincing since Season Two of Veronica Mars. The results were positively baffling. But in 2010 few videos kept your attention in the same, startling way.—Trevor Kelley

If you can picture what would happen if The Twilight Zone met Night Of The Living Dead and was cast by one of the Suicide Girls, you’ll have some idea of what you’re in store for with Bring Me The Horizon’s clip for “It Never Ends.” It’s bloody, brutal and vaguely erotic, which are three emotions you’re certainly not going to get from most videos starring a British teen idol.—Jonah Bayer

Arcade Fire have always been artistically ahead of the curve (how many indie rock troops really had nine members back in 2003?), but with this sweetly interactive HTML5 video known as “The Wilderness Downtown,” the band transport the viewer to his or her childhood home. The results are so seamless that it’ll leave you just as breathless in the present as it does nostalgic for the past.—Jonah Bayer

Just when we thought that this country’s obsession with Bobblehead dolls was finally ancient history, two kids from Drexel University had to go ahead and make a video showing that when you have giant heads on bodies that are skateboarding and breakdancing, anything is possible. Internet fame. A major label bidding war. An MGMT sample that doesn’t marginalize you to indie snobs. Ride on young men, ride on.—Jonah Bayer

“Tighten Up” has so many elements that are so undeniably awesome that we don’t know where to start: Little kids with adult voices, schoolyard fights and a dude who looks like a librarian spitting up blood. The list could go on and on. But really, the best part is that when you consider the fact that The Black Keys are from Ohio, which means this all could have actually happened in real life.—Jonah Bayer

“Drunk Girls” video production meeting, day one. James Murphy: “So I want to have a bunch of human panda bears attack me and my band mercilessly with eggs, fire extinguishers and…. let’s dress me like Goldilocks. Also, some of them must molest me. And if there isn’t confetti I am leaving!” This video has absolutely nothing to do with drunk females. And it was directed by an Academy Award nominee. In 2010, who else could have pulled off the same feat?—Dan Hyman

My Chemical Romance have always made fantastic music videos, but with “Na Na Na” the band transcended them all. A little bit Robert Rodriguez and a whole lot Quentin Tarantino, “Na Na Na” was the cinematic equivalent of serving smelling salts to an audience who had waited four years for Gerard Way and company to do, well, pretty much anything. Admittedly, we don’t completely understand the sci-fi storyline, but that’s what the inevitable sequel is for.—Jonah Bayer

Vampire Weekend mashed together all manners of musical styles on this year’s Contra, so it kind of made sense that for this tennis-themed clip they convened what had to have been the first-ever meet-up between the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. Oh, it also sports cameos by Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil Jon and two dudes wearing motorcycle helmets who may or may not be Daft Punk. Game on!—Mikael Wood

The Gorillaz‘ concept here was simple: A car chase in the desert. Really, it wasn’t all that different from the My Chem video a few slots up. But, as is the case with any good action flick, the payoff was in the details: The animated characters’ creepily lifelike movements, the delicious-looking doughnuts riding shotgun in the cop’s car and, of course, the sight of Bruce Willis revisiting his “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” pose from Die Hard. Always a sight worth seeing.—Mikael Wood

OK Go have come a long way since the treadmill-based video for “Here It Goes Again” turned them into a next-generation music-biz case study. For “This Too Shall Pass,” they solicited the help of approximately 60 engineering types to construct an enormous Rube Goldberg machine complete with dominoes, bowling balls and color-coded paintball guns. Yet, the charm of the clip remains its decidedly low-tech vibe, as you’re reminded when the camera tilts up at the end and you catch a glimpse of all those engineers cheering at their crazy invention.—Mikael Wood

Possible subject lines that were attached to the email you received with a link to this Rammstein video: 1) “Tell HR you will have your desk cleared out by noon” 2) “Remember that weird industrial band from the ’90s who used tons of pyro in their videos? Ever wonder what their junk looks like?” 3) “What comes after NSFW?”4) “Spoiler alert: You can’t unwatch the last 30 seconds of this!” Now, we here at Myspace do not allow such profane material on our site. Because that would be wrong. But we’re sure that there is a search engine near you that does.—Trevor Kelley

Leave it to Kanye West to visually represent My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with one over-the-top 35-minute art film (“Runaway”) and one 92-second clip that doesn’t even include the entirety of “Power”— Fantasy’s prog-rocking meditation on being branded the “abomination of Obama’s nation.” What this “video portrait” (as director Marco Brambilla described it) does include is a plethora of highbrow art-historical references that appears to illustrate the way West views his place in the cultural landscape. Is it a coincidence that he’s at the center of the screen? Doubtful.—Mikael Wood

Admittedly, LMFAO’s video for “Yes” has pretty much the exact same plot as the movie Dodgeball, except it centers around the Olympic sensation of competitive curling instead of that dreaded gym- class staple. But plagiarism may actually be this video’s greatest asset because, let’s face it, that movie was awesome. Though somewhat slept on by others,“Yes” was able to hold our attention for “Estranged”-esque lengths—and we’re pretty sure it cost less than renting a dolphin for Axl Rose.—Jonah Bayer

Even a hardcore hater of late-’90s teen pop would have to admit that the videos from that era represented a high point for the form. So let’s give it up for Hot Chip’s decision to revive the shaved-chest awesomeness of those classic ’N Sync and Backstreet Boys clips. Especially because, halfway through “I Feel Better,” a bald-headed evil-alien type wearing a hospital gown shows up and destroys the boy toys with a death ray that shoots out of his mouth.—Mikael Wood

Really, where do you start? The caution-tape outfit? The cigarette sunglasses? The Diet Coke hair-curlers? The fact that Beyoncé shows up driving a customized pickup known as the Pussy Wagon? For the “Telephone” video, Lady Gaga pulled out the few stops she hadn’t already pulled out for “Bad Romance,” and the result was a junk-pop masterpiece that split the considerable difference between Quentin Tarantino (big year for him, apparently) and Spice World. For all ten minutes that “Telephone” played out, this was her world; we were merely living in it.—Mikael Wood

Sure, the world’s introduction to Die Antwoord—via these two bizarre, but hugely engaging clips—looked like it cost a few hundred bucks. And, yeah, we should probably admit that “Zef Side” isn’t even a proper music video. (The song featured in the clip is actually “Beat Boy,” from the South African rave-rap outfit’s major-label debut, $O$.) But even with that being said—and with apologies to the numerous big-budget productions hailed above—nobody else utilized the music video as effectively in 2010 as Die Antwoord.

With “Enter The Ninja,” a bizzaro freak out that recalled the “Parents Just Don’t Understand” video, but on crystal meth, and “Zef Side,” a three-minute slice of alternate reality exploring the band’s origins, we get a remarkably comprehensive picture of the Die Antwoord aesthetic: Their sense of humor, where they come from and how that background has shaped their entire being. That’s a rather old-school notion of what a music video should do; these days plenty of acts seem to view the form (if they indeed view it all) as a way to impress, rather than engage. But needless to say, when these two clips trickled onto the Internet this past winter, we were left with far more questions than answers.

What, for instance, were we to take from the sight of Ninja’s nuts rattling around inside his Dark Side Of The Moon boxers? What should we make of the seemingly extraterrestrial-like creature stuntin’ in the “Enter The Ninja” clip? This year, only one band were this good at presenting themselves as a riddle, creating videos that, as a whole, were funny, weird and strangely cozy. These two clips, more than any other, invited us into Die Antwoord’s world and made us want to linger for awhile. Consider it an old-school artistry for a new-school paradigm.—Mikael Wood