Best of the 2010s

The Club Fonograma staff have reunited to recap the Best Iberoamerican (Latin America + Iberian) music of the decade. This project consists of essays from ex-Club Fonograma writers and friends, along with a full list of our top 100 songs and top 50 albums of the decade.

K-Pop Goes West
by Blanca Méndez
The decade when Latinx K-pop fans saw their worlds collide.
Helado Negro and The Music That Let Us Exhale
by Julyssa Lopez
How Roberto Lange used his music to give listeners a place to think, heal, and recharge.
The World According to Natalia Lafourcade
by Andrew Casillas
What her rise to pop icon status says about our past, our present, and our future.
Generación Ruidosón: Creating the Sound of the Border for a New Decade
by Reuben Torres
On ruidosón, Mexican identity, and the ghosts of a generation.
Club Fonograma,
the Ungovernable Generation,
and the Pop Insurrection:
A Decade in Revolt

by Ze Puga
Understanding the socio-political (and highly danceable) last decade of protest pop.
The Brief Cuban-American “Gozadera”
by Stefanie Fernández
Cubatón in the age of U.S.-Cuba normalization.
El Embrujo Inconfundible de Mi Sol
by Verónica Bayetti Flores
On Rita Indiana's diasporic return anthem "La hora de volvé."
Déjenme Llorar: Thank-You Letters to the Songs that Held Me 2009-2019
by Phoebe Smolin
Club Fonograma and the songs that are my favorite places and my sweetest friends.
How Women Reclaimed a Space for Themselves in this Decade of Música Urbana
by Lucas Villa
A post-Ivy Queen generation fights for representation in a male-dominated genre.
The Night Dënver Gave Me a Future
by Richard Villegas
How Música, Gramática, Gimnasia changed my life.
CLUB QUE(R)ER
by Sam Rodgers
The Latinx LGBTQIA+ artists who globalized queer culture.
How Spain Turned to Música Urbana in the 2010s
by Pierre Lestruhaut
Trap music found a new outpost in the Old World.