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Time to celebrate the hidden gems of the music world! Join us as we count down those pop songs that deserve way more recognition than they've received. From infectious dance beats to soulful anthems, these tracks showcase the brilliance that sometimes slips under the mainstream radar. Which overlooked pop masterpiece tops your personal playlist?
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the pop songs that deserve a little more love.
00:13We'll be looking at songs from the 21st century, but be sure to let us know in the comments if we should tackle other decades of underrated pop.
00:2010. How Long? Charlie Puth
00:32Look, when Taylor Swift says someone should be a bigger artist, chances are the general public should be paying attention.
00:45Sure enough, the reigning princess of pop endorsed Puth on the title track of her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department, and we're inclined to agree.
00:55For years, the New Jersey native has churned out undeniably catchy and masterfully crafted pop music that, for reasons we can't quite fathom, has largely been ignored by the public.
01:05She said, boy, tell me honestly, was it real or just for sure?
01:12The rare pop artist who writes, produces, and sings all of his own material, look to How Long from his Voice Notes album for proof.
01:21Mostly overshadowed by the hit Attention, How Long contains all the elements of a smash hit without actually having become one.
01:28How long has this been going on? You've been creeping around on me while you're calling me baby.
01:36Number 9. Troublemaker
01:38Ali Murs featuring Flo Rida
01:40You had me hooked again from the minute you sat down
01:44The way you bite your lip got my head spinning around
01:48The runner-up on the sixth series of British reality competition show The X Factor, Murs has been a superstar in his native UK since the late 2000s.
01:57Troublemaker, the first single off of his third album, Right Place, Right Time, became a sleeper hit worldwide, elevated by a guest verse by prolific American rapper Flo Rida.
02:07Maybe I'm insane
02:09Cause I keep doing the same damn thing
02:12Thinking one day we gon' change
02:14This should have elevated Murs to global icon status, but that never quite happened.
02:19While Troublemaker experienced huge success at the time of its release, it's unfortunately been overlooked since its initial peak.
02:26What could easily have been a throwaway bubblegum pop single is a masterful homage to 70s disco and funk with a distinctly modern twist, all anchored by Murs' light nimble vocals.
02:37I swear you're giving me a heart attack
02:40Troublemaker
02:41Number 8. Classic
02:42MKTO
02:43Founded by and consisting of former child stars Malcolm Kelly and Tony Aller, the pop duo MKTO released a single album in 2014 before breaking up and reuniting on and off for the greater part of the 2010s and 20s.
03:04Notably, their self-titled debut album featured the smash Classic, a love song that doubled as a tribute to musical icons of the past like Prince, Michael Jackson and Donny Hathaway.
03:14I wanna do you like Michael
03:16I wanna kiss you like Prince
03:18We're not saying that Classic is a hidden gem, it has a billion and a half plays on Spotify, but like Troublemaker, Classic has a little bit of everything you might want in a pop song, and we'd bet that throwing it on is enough to put you in a good mood.
03:32One of a kind
03:33Living in a world gone classic
03:35Baby, you're so classic
03:37Number 7. Run away with me
03:39Carly Rae Jepsen
03:40The British-Colombian native has come a long way since placing third on Canadian Idol, garnering considerable critical acclaim from music critics and diehard fans alike in the years since.
03:54However, it's all too likely that you only know her for her inescapable 2012 hit Call Me Maybe.
04:07An iconic hit though it may be, Jepsen has so much more to offer, and her 2015 album Emotion is a great place to start.
04:16Run away with me, the album's dynamic first track and second single, is one of the best songs in Jepsen's catalogue, and that's only partially to do with his explosive sax riff.
04:31Number 6. Cool Girl
04:33Tuvalu
04:34Once described by Rolling Stone magazine as quote, Sweden's darkest pop export, Lu definitely doesn't disappoint on that front.
04:50Combining a caustic, irreverent songwriting style with razor sharp mainstream sensibilities, Lu's brand of pop may not be for everyone, too raw and biting for North American audiences.
05:00While she experienced some commercial success in the early years of the 2010s, particularly for her viral hit Talking Body, Lu has struggled to maintain that same momentum.
05:16Cool Girl, the first single off of her 2016 album Ladywood, references the 2014 David Fincher film Gone Girl in perfectly encapsulating Lu's unique, often deliberately challenging approach.
05:28I'm a cool girl, I'm a, I'm a cool girl
05:32Number 5. Confident
05:34Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper
05:36I'm focused, I'm focused
05:39She got a body like that, I ain't never seen nothing like that, uh
05:42Canadian megastar Bieber had one of the fastest, wildest blowups of the 21st century so far, rocketing to fame at the tender age of 15.
05:51In fact, his first album, 2010's My World 2.0, made him the youngest male solo act to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100.
05:59So, with that in mind, you may be surprised to learn about Bieber's 2013 compilation album Journals, which found the singer incorporating a more mature R&B-inflected sound into his work.
06:10And then she started dancing, sexual, romantic
06:14Nasty but she fancy, lipstick on my senchy
06:17Journals just sort of came and went at the time of its release, but has been positively re-evaluated in the years since.
06:23Confident didn't even hit the top 40, and that's shocking given its catchy melody and cheeky lyrics.
06:29Oh no no, oh no no, she's confident
06:32Oh no no, oh no no, and I'm down with it
06:36Number 4. Party For You
06:38Charli XCX
06:39I only do this party for you
06:42Only do this party for you
06:44For you, for you
06:46I was hoping you would come through
06:48Like in the case of Justin Bieber and Journals, it can take years for an artist's lesser-known work to catch fire with mainstream audiences.
06:55Such was the case with hyper-pop provocateur Charli XCX, whose experimental take on the genre cast a long, influential shadow over its direction in the 2010s.
07:04I was hoping you would come through
07:07It's true, it's true
07:08Despite critically acclaimed albums like Charli and Crash, she was relegated to cult status, at least until the brat summer phenomenon of 2024.
07:23The 2020 album How I'm Feeling Now featured the deep cut Party For You, which was released as a single in 2025 after going viral on social media.
07:32With that, audiences finally got a taste of what they'd been missing the whole time.
07:36Party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on, party on...
07:43Number 3. Dancing On My Own
07:46Robyn
07:47Somebody said you got a new friend
07:51Largely considered one of the greatest songs of the 2010s, Dancing On My Own is full of contradictions.
07:57Chief among them is its bright, shiny 80s indebted sound, contrasted with its heart-sick lyrics of hurt and redemption.
08:04In subverting audiences' expectations, the Swedish cult icon tapped into something deeply powerful and wholly human.
08:10Yeah, I know it's stupid, but just gotta see it for myself
08:18While only a modest hit at the time of its release, Dancing On My Own has been reassessed as a progenitor and forerunner of the sound of pop in years to come.
08:26Sure, it wasn't the first sad pop song ever released, but it was among the first in recent decades to touch on something deeply relatable in such a clear way.
08:34I keep dancing on my own
08:38Number 2. XS. Rina Sawayama
08:50At first listen, British avant-pop sensation Sawayama's genre-defining, anti-consumerist XS might leave your head spinning.
08:57A rollercoaster ride of new metal and early 2000s pop, XS decries capitalism, mindless consumption and climate change,
09:04while lamenting a general apathy toward issues that affect us all.
09:08RDA said Tesla XS
09:12Calabasas
09:14I deserve it
09:16Said Sawayama of her song, quote,
09:18It seemed hilarious to me that public figures were doing a gigantic house tour of their gated property in Calabasas in the same week as doing a sad about Australian wildfires Instagram post.
09:29With that said though,
09:30Don't mistake her advocacy for stodginess, XS is a genuine floor filler and once again proves that music can be a powerful delivery system for socially conscious messaging.
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10:01We're taking it way back with this ageless anthem.
10:16You may be wondering, isn't Jackson one of the biggest pop stars ever?
10:20What's she doing on an underrated list?
10:22And you'd be right.
10:23However, her 2004 Super Bowl scandal overshadowed her musical output and regrettably drew focus away from what was actually important.
10:31The music.
10:40Someone to call my lover, Jackson's most recent Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hit is an impressive musical melange borrowing its main riff from America's Ventura Highway
10:48and the melody from pianist Eric Satzy's Gymnopédie No. 1.
10:52An eternally relatable tale of seeking true love, someone to call my lover will open your eyes to what Miss Jackson has to offer.
11:06Which underrated pop song is your favorite?
11:08Are there any we missed?
11:09Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
11:11Tell me I'm the one and we have so much fun.
11:14I'll be the girl of the reasons.
11:16Maybe.
11:17Maybe.
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