Lady Gaga Keeps MTV News' Top 25 Songs Of 2010 Rolling

On Thursday, MTV News began our countdown of the Top 25 Songs of 2010, revealing our picks for 25 through 18. On Friday (December 3), we're unveiling 17 through 11, a list that includes heavy-hitters like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and B.o.B.

And if seeing those kinds of names outside the top 10 shocks you, well, you're not alone. But in a year with so many really great songs, some tough decisions had to be made — and MTV News staffers were the ones making the calls. Over the past month, we asked them to come up with their own lists of their 25 favorite songs of 2010; they didn't have to be singles and, really, they didn't even have to be released in 2010. We were looking for any song that made an impact this year, be it commercially, culturally or critically. When we finally received all the lists, we had proof of just what a year it was: More than 300 different songs from some 200 artists were chosen, and it was up to a select few to tabulate the results and create a top 25.

Using a point system — the #1 song on each list received 25 points, the #25 song received 1 point — we spent the next few weeks whittling down the lists. Finally, after some frantic addition (math was never our strong suit) and some rather spirited debate, we had our list — and we feel it's a great one, full of songs by artists both big and small, yet all impactful in some way. It wasn't easy, but we got it done.

This week, we'll roll out 25 through 11, and then on Monday, we'll begin to unveil our top 10. Oh, and we're interested in seeing your lists too. Feel free to add them in the comments below. But now, without further ado, let's look back on the year that was, by continuing our countdown of the Top 25 Songs of 2010:
HERE
16. Lady Gaga, "Alejandro"


Total Points: 77

It's perhaps the most, uh, oddball track in Lady Gaga's increasingly odd arsenal — in that it sounds like Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" (or an Ace of Base B-side) — so it should come as no surprise to anyone that she decided to release it as a single, complete with a nine-minute video in which she swallows a rosary and pouts like Marlene Dietrich. Sure, Katy Perry might not have liked it all that much, but the rest of us marveled at Gaga's bravado, not only to transform a breezy ode to summertime love into a curio from the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but to carry such a retro-leaning song all the way to the upper reaches of the Hot 100. There truly isn't anything she can't do.