2010s (decade)

File:2010s collage v21.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed; Crimea is annexed by Russia in 2014; ISIS/ISIL perpetrates terrorist attacks and captures territory in Syria and Iraq; climate change awareness and the Paris Agreement; the Event Horizon Telescope captures the first image of a black hole in 2017; ''Obergefell v. Hodges'' legalizes same-sex marriage in the United States in 2015; increasing use of digital and mobile technologies; the UK votes to leave the EU in 2016, on a rising tide of populism throughout the West during the decade., 420x420px, thumb
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The 2010s (pronounced ''twenty-tens"; shortened to "the '10s", also known as "The Tens" or more rarely "The Teens") was the decade that began on January 1, 2010, and ended on December 31, 2019.

The decade began amid a global financial crisis and subsequent international recession dating from the late 2000s. The resulting European sovereign-debt crisis became more pronounced early in the decade and continued to affect the possibility of a global economic recovery. Economic issues, such as austerity, inflation, and an increase in commodity prices, led to unrest in many countries, including the 15-M and Occupy movements. Unrest in some countries—particularly in the Arab world—evolved into socioeconomic crises triggering revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain as well as civil wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen in a regional phenomenon commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Shifting social attitudes saw LGBT rights and female representation make substantial progress during the decade, particularly in the West.

The United States continued to retain its superpower status while China, along with launching vast economic initiatives and military reforms, sought to expand its influence in the South China Sea and in Africa, solidifying its position as an emerging superpower, despite also causing series of conflicts around its frontiers, including conflicts with foreign governments with countries around South China Sea, Japan, South Korea, Mekong river countries, Taiwan, and its wolf warrior diplomacy have also distanced itself from some other countries, and within its border China also enhanced suppression and control on territories like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and such; global competition between China and the U.S. coalesced into a "containment" effort and a trade war. Elsewhere in Asia, the Koreas improved their relations after a prolonged crisis and the War on Terror continued as Osama bin Laden was assassinated by U.S. forces in a raid on his compound in Pakistan as a part of the U.S.'s continued military involvement in many parts of the world. The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremist organization in 2014 erased the borders between Syria and Iraq, resulting in a multinational intervention that also saw the demise of its leader. In Africa, South Sudan broke away from Sudan, and mass protests and various coups d'état saw longtime strongmen deposed. In the U.S., celebrity businessman Donald Trump was elected president amid an international wave of populism and neo-nationalism. The European Union experienced a migrant crisis in the middle of the decade and the historic United Kingdom EU membership referendum followed by withdrawal negotiations during its later years. Russia attempted to assert itself in international affairs, annexing Crimea in 2014.

Information technology progressed, with smartphones becoming widespread. The Internet of things saw substantial growth during the 2010s due to advancements in wireless networking devices, mobile telephony, and cloud computing. Advancements in data processing and the rollout of 4G broadband allowed data, metadata, and information to be collected and dispersed among domains at paces never before seen while online resources such as social media facilitated phenomena such as the Me Too movement and the rise of slacktivism, and online cancel culture. Online nonprofit organisation WikiLeaks gained international attention for publishing classified information on topics including Guantánamo Bay, Syria, the Afghan and Iraq wars, and United States diplomacy. Edward Snowden blew the whistle on global surveillance, raising awareness on the role governments and private entities have in global surveillance and information privacy.

Global warming became increasingly noticeable through new record temperatures in different years and extreme weather events on all continents. The CO₂ concentration rose from 390 to 410 PPM over the decade. At the same time, combating pollution and climate change continued to be major concerns, as protests, initiatives, and legislation garnered substantial media attention. Particularly, the Paris Agreement (2015) was adopted, and global climate youth movement as well as civil disobedience movement were formed. Major natural disasters included the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Nepal earthquake of 2015, the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami, and the devastating hurricanes Irene, Washi (Sendong), Sandy, Bopha (Pablo), Haiyan (Yolanda), Harvey, Irma, Maria, Florence, Michael, Idai, and Dorian.

Superhero films became box office leaders, with '' Avengers: Endgame'' becoming the highest-grossing film of all time. Cable providers saw a decline in subscriber numbers as cord cutters switched to lower cost online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Disney+. Globalization and an increased demand for variety and personalisation in the face of music streaming services such as Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music created many subgenres. Dance, hip-hop, and pop music surged into the 2010s, with EDM achieving mass commercial success. Digital music sales topped CD sales in 2012. The video game industry continued to be dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft; while indie games became sustainably more popular, with ''Minecraft'' becoming the best-selling game of all time. The best-selling book of this decade was ''Fifty Shades of Grey''. Drake was named the top music artist of the decade in the US by ''Billboard.

During the decade, the world population grew from 6.9 to 7.7 billion people. There were approximately 1.4 billion births during the decade (140 million per year), and about 560 million deaths (56 million per year).

Politics and conflicts

Major conflicts

The prominent wars of the decade include:

International wars

Civil wars

Revolutions and major protests

Successful revolutions and otherwise major protests of the decade include, but are not limited to:

Arab Spring

The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Islamic world in the early 2010s. It began in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living, starting with protests in Tunisia. In the news, social media has been heralded as the driving force behind the swift spread of revolution throughout the world, as new protests appear in response to success stories shared from those taking place in other countries. In many countries, the governments have also recognised the importance of social media for organising and have shut down certain sites or blocked Internet service entirely, especially in the times preceding a major rally. Governments have also scrutinised or suppressed discussion in those forums through accusing content creators of unrelated crimes or shutting down communication on specific sites or groups, such as through Facebook.

Nuclear proliferation

*On 8 April 2010, the United States and Russia signed a treaty in Prague, Czech Republic agreed to reduce the stockpiles of their nuclear weapons by half. It is meant to replace the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which was set to expire. The treaty went into force on 5 February 2011 after it was ratified by both nations.
*In 2015, Iran and other world powers agreed to trade sanctions relief for explicit constraints on Iran's contentious nuclear program, including allowing the inspections of nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). On 16 January 2016 the IAEA confirmed that Iran had complied with the agreement (the JCPOA), allowing the United Nations to lift sanctions immediately. However, on 8 May 2018, United States President Donald Trump announced the United States was withdrawing from the deal.
*On 7 July 2017, the United Nations passed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination. It has been signed by 58 nations.
*Throughout the decade, North Korea expanded its nuclear capabilities, performing alleged nuclear tests in 2013 and 2016, which governments responded by placing international sanctions on the country. In response North Korea has threatened the United States, South Korea and Japan with pre-emptive nuclear strikes. However, in 2018, North Korea suggested that they may disarm their nuclear arsenal after negotiations with the United States.
* On 1 February 2019, The US formally suspended the Russo-American Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), and Russia did the same on the following day in response. The US formally withdrew from the treaty on 2 August 2019.
* The United States initiated a renovation of its nuclear weapon arsenal.

Terrorist attacks

The most prominent terrorist attacks committed against civilian populations during the decade include, but are not limited to:

Political trends

International relations

China was increasingly called a superpower in the early 2010s, including at the 2011 meeting between President Hu Jintao and United States President Barack Obama. China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest trading nation, filing the most patents, expanding its military, landing its lunar rover '' Yutu'' on the moon (ending a four-decade lack of lunar exploration) and creating China's Oriental Movie Metropolis as a major film and cultural centre. In 2018, global military spending reached the highest it has been since 1988, late Cold War levels, largely fuelled by increased defence spending by China and the United States, whose budgets together accounted for half of the world's total military spending. In 2019, the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, which measures the projections of power in the Indo-Pacific, called both China and the United States the superpowers of the 21st century, citing immense influence in almost all eight indexes of power.

Along with China, a Vladimir Putin-led Russia also steadily increased its defence spending and continued to modernise its military capabilities throughout the decade, including the development of the T-14 Armata main battle tank and the fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 jet fighter. Russia also flexed its power projection capabilities, particularly demonstrated during the 2014 annexation of Crimea and its interventions in eastern Ukraine and the Syrian Civil War; Wagner Group had a significant presence in both conflicts. Russia also notably waged information warfare campaigns against its geopolitical foes, including interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections via hacking and leaking emails of U.S. political party leadership and by spreading disinformation via the Internet Research Agency. Other alleged Russian intelligence operations included the Skripal poisonings and the Montenegrin coup plot, both of which were attributed by some to the Unit 29155 organisation. Collectively, these activities—and the Western-led efforts to combat the influence of Russian oligarchs and political interests—have been referred to as the Second Cold War.

The European Union went through several crises. The European debt crisis caused severe economic problems to several eurozone member states, most severely Greece. The 2015 migration crisis led to several million people entering the EU illegally in a short period of time. There was a significant rise in the vote shares of several eurosceptic parties, including the League in Italy, Alternative for Germany, and the Finns Party in Finland. As a result of a referendum, the United Kingdom became the first member state in the EU's history to initiate proceedings for leaving the Union.

Western polarisation

Socio-political polarisation increased as conservatives and social liberals clashed over the role and size of government and other social, economic and environmental issues in the West. In the United States, polls showed a divided electorate regarding healthcare reform, immigration, gun rights, taxation, job creation, and debt reduction.
*Jamrisko, Michelle
"Political polarisation affects economic views"
''Salon''. Associated Press, 2013. Web. 7 January 2015.
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* In Europe, movements protesting increasing numbers of refugees and migrants from Islamic countries developed, such as the English Defence League and Pegida.
The trend of polarisation in the West was partially influenced by the prevalence of identity politics, both left-wing and right-wing, among activist movements. Beginning around 2011, far-left and progressive concepts such as combating social inequality and economic inequality, often via progressive stack tactics, proliferated in the Western world and elsewhere. Around the middle of the decade, phenoms such as white nationalism, identitarianism and emboldened feelings of nativism saw a marked reemergence in the West due to drastically increased migration and corresponding crime and amongst both the right and left general disatistcation with Western government and Media responses to certain issues. There were also increased calls for egalitarianism, including between the sexes, and some scholars assert that a fourth wave of feminism began around 2012, with a primary focus on intersectionality.

Antiestablishment politics

Populism in politics saw a widespread surge throughout the decade, with many politicians and various political movements expressing populist sentiments and utilising populist rhetoric. This included conservative wave phenomenon in Latin America and neo-nationalist fervor in Europe and North America. The 2019 European Parliament election saw the highest voter turnout in two decades and saw relatively moderate centre-right and centre-left parties suffer significant losses to less moderate far-right, environmentalist, and both pro-EU and eurosceptic parties, who made gains. Examples of 2010s populist movements included the Tea Party movement, Occupy Wall Street, Brexit, Black Lives Matter, and the alt-right. Examples of populist country leaders were just as extensive, with Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Hugo Chávez, Matteo Salvini, Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte, and Boris Johnson, left and right-wing, described as such.

Related to the rise of populism and protests movements was the decline of traditional political parties. In Europe, pasokification described the loss of vote share experienced by traditional centre-left or social democratic parties. In France, specifically, Emmanuel Macron's ''La République En Marche!'' party won a majority in its first election in 2017.

Centre-left, neoliberal and traditional social democratic parties often lost their vote share to more socialist or democratic socialist alternatives, especially in Europe. This happened most completely in Greece, where PASOK was replaced by Syriza as the main left-wing party. Other far-left parties which rose in prominence included Podemos in Spain and La France Insoumise in France. In the two-party systems of the English-speaking world, these challenges mainly came from within the established parties of the left, with Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Party and Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour Party pushing for more left-wing policies.

The political establishment was also challenged in many countries by protest movements, often organised through new social media platforms. These included the various Arab Spring protests, the Occupy movement, and the yellow vests movement.

Democracy and authoritarianism

Countries which Democratisation, democratised fully or partially during the decade included Angola, which reformed under João Lourenço; Armenia, which went through 2018 Armenian revolution, a revolution; Ecuador, which reformed under Lenín Moreno; Ethiopia; and Malaysia, where the ruling party 2018 Malaysian general election, lost the first election since independence.

Long-term dictators ousted from power included Muammar Gaddafi of Libya (after 42 years), Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe (37 years), Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen (33 years), Omar al-Bashir of Sudan (30 years), Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (29 years), and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Ben Ali of Tunisia (23 years).

Democratic backsliding occurred in countries such as Hungary, Venezuela, and Turkey.

The Arab Winter refers to the resurgence of authoritarianism, Absolute monarchy, absolute monarchies and Islamic extremism evolving in the aftermath of the Arab Spring protests in Arab World, Arab countries. The term "Arab Winter" refers to the events across Arab League countries in the Mid-East and North Africa, including the Syrian Civil War, the Iraqi insurgency (2011–14), Iraqi insurgency and the Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017), following civil war, the Egyptian Crisis (2011–14), Egyptian Crisis, the Libyan Crisis (2011–present), Libyan Crisis and the Yemeni Crisis (2011–present), Crisis in Yemen. Events referred to as the Arab Winter include those in Egypt that led to the removal of Mohamed Morsi and the seizure of power by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in an anti-Muslim Brotherhood campaign.

In 2018, China's National People's Congress approved a Constitution of the People's Republic of China, constitutional change that removed term limits for its List of national leaders of the People's Republic of China, leaders, granting Xi Jinping the status of "President for life, leader for life". Xi is the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (paramount leader, de facto leader).

Deaths

Sitting world leaders such as Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Kim Jong-il of North Korea, Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Lech Kaczyński of Poland, Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia, all List of heads of state and government who died in office, died in office, as did former leaders Fidel Castro, Lee Kuan Yew, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, Robert Mugabe, Giulio Andreotti, Francesco Cossiga, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Jacques Chirac, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl, Mohamed Morsi, Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Václav Havel, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, B. J. Habibie, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Alan García, Jorge Rafael Videla, Néstor Kirchner, Fernando de la Rúa, Patricio Aylwin, Itamar Franco, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George H. W. Bush.

Prominent political events

Coups

''Coup d'état, Coups d'état'' against ruling governments during the decade include:

The following tables of events is listed by the region and by chronological order. The prominent political events include, but are not limited to:

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

World leaders

: List of state leaders in 2010, 2010 – List of state leaders in 2011, 2011 – List of state leaders in 2012, 2012 – List of state leaders in 2013, 2013 – List of state leaders in 2014, 2014 – List of state leaders in 2015, 2015 – List of state leaders in 2016, 2016 – List of state leaders in 2017, 2017 – List of state leaders in 2018, 2018 – List of state leaders in 2019, 2019

Assassinations and attempts

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:

Disasters

Non-natural disasters

Aviation

File:Katastrofa w Smoleńsku.jpg, On 10 April 2010 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed in Russia with the Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other passengers including many senior officials
File:Boeing 777-200ER Malaysia AL (MAS) 9M-MRO - MSN 28420 404 (9272090094).jpg, For over 15 months it was unclear what exactly happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 until at the end of July 2015 a few remnants of the plane swept to the shores of the island of Réunion

General

Fires

File:NotreDame20190415QuaideMontebello (cropped).jpg, View of Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire as seen from Quai de Montebello in Paris

Marine

Pollution

Natural disasters

Earthquakes and tsunamis

Tropical cyclones

Tornadoes

Floods, avalanches, and mudslides

Volcanic eruptions

Droughts, heat waves, and wildfires

Economics

The 2010s began amidst a global financial crisis that started in the late 2000s. A European debt crisis, sovereign-debt crisis in Europe began in early 2010, and the Greek government admitted that it was having difficulties servicing its large sovereign debt. In the summer and fall of 2011, bond yields for Italy and Spain spiked above 6 percent. By 2015 bond rates had returned to normal ranges across Europe, save for Greece, which accepted another, even more stringent bailout package. The size of the European Financial Stability Facility was increased from €440 billion to €2 trillion. Despite the Eurozone debt crisis, the American Dow Jones Industrial Average had its longest stretch of gains since the late 1990s tech boom. However, economic issues, including inflation and an increase in commodity prices, sparked unrest in many lower-income countries. In some countries, particularly those in the Arab world, political unrest evolved into socioeconomics, socioeconomic crises, resulting in the Arab Spring.

As a result of the global recession, many central banks instituted a zero interest-rate policy, or close to it. Another form of monetary stimulus (economics), stimulus was that of quantitative easing. The resulting flood of market liquidity caused a rise in Asset (finance), asset prices. As a result, for example, United States Capital stock, stock prices reached record highs. Another consequence has been the rise in housing prices in many major world cities. Some of the cities which recorded the most dramatic rises included Sydney, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Auckland.

In 2010, China became the second largest global economy, surpassing Japan. Japan also saw a rating downgrade the following year due to debt burden. In August 2011, the S&P downgraded the United States' credit rating from triple AAA to AA-plus following a United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, debt ceiling crisis. Also in 2011, a The Gallup Organization, Gallup poll found that more than half of Americans believed the country was still in a recession. In June 2015, the Shanghai Stock Exchange lost a third of the value of A-shares within one month, an event known as the 2015–16 Chinese stock market turbulence. India became the fastest growing major economy of the world in 2015, surpassing China. In 2018, as the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates, fears of a yield curve inversion preceding a potential U.S. recession sent inflation higher in several emerging markets, including Argentina, where interest rates hit 40% and an International Monetary Fund bail out was issued. In 2019, Singapore supplanted the United States as the world's most competitive economy, with the U.S. dropping to third, behind Hong Kong.

Global oil production in 2014 reached a historic peak, reaching 93 million barrels/day. In 2018, partially due to a Shale gas in the United States#Shale gas production, shale boom, the United States overcame Russia and Saudi Arabia in becoming the world's largest crude oil producer, the first time since 1973. Around the year 2017 is a period seen by some economists as being the new peak of a "goldilocks economy". The International Monetary Fund's April 2019 World Economic Outlook stated, "After peaking at close to 4 percent in 2017, global [economic] growth remained strong, at 3.8 percent in the first half of 2018, but dropped to 3.2 percent in the second half of the year."

In 2018, United States President Donald Trump announced he would put into place new tariffs on some Chinese products, starting the 'China–United States trade war, US-China Trade War', an economic conflict involving the world's two largest economies. Trump said the reasoning for the trade war is to punish China for 'unfair' trade practices, such as the appropriation of jobs and the theft of American intellectual property. China responded with tariffs of its own, and a cycle began, escalating the conflict to the situation faced today. As part of his 'America First (policy), America First' policy, Trump also announced Trump tariffs, new tariffs were being placed on countries around the world for various products such as steel and aluminium, which has drawn some economic retaliation.

By the end of the decade, in Economy of North America, North American and some Western European domestic economies, consumer-level purchasing habits had shifted significantly, a partial consequence of the Great Recession's impact on discretionary incomes and a shifting Breadwinner model#Decline of the male breadwinner, breadwinner model. The so-called "retail apocalypse" had commenced as consumers increasingly resorted to online shopping and e-commerce, accelerating the decline of brick-and-mortar retail and the continued Dead mall, decline of Shopping mall, indoor shopping malls. The transitioning retail industry and popularity of online shopping facilitated economic phenomena such as bricks and clicks business models, pop-up retail, pop-up and non-store retailing, drone delivery services, ghost restaurants, and a quickly maturing online food ordering and Food delivery, delivery service sector. This was only further perpetuated by the rise in cryptocurrency throughout the decade, such as Bitcoin. By May 2018, over 1,800 cryptocurrency specifications existed.

In the same vein as cryptocurrency, the trend towards a cashless society continued as non-cash transactions and digital currency saw an increase in favourability in the 2010s. By 2016, only about 2 percent of the value transacted in Sweden was by cash, and only about 20 percent of retail transactions were in cash. Fewer than half of bank branches in the country conducted cash transactions. A report published during the final year of the decade suggested that the percentage of payments conducted in cash in the United Kingdom had fallen to 34% from 63% ten years earlier. The 2016 United States User Consumer Survey Study claimed that 75 percent of respondents preferred a credit or debit card as their payment method while only 11 percent of respondents preferred cash.

Science and technology

Two of the most prominent deaths in the scientific community during the decade were Neil Armstrong in 2012 and Stephen Hawking in 2018.

Below are the most significant scientific developments of each year, based on the annual Breakthrough of the Year award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science journal ''Science (journal), Science''.

*2010: The first quantum machine
*2011: HIV treatment as prevention (HPTN 052)
*2012: Discovery of the Higgs boson
*2013: Cancer immunotherapy
*2014: Rosetta (spacecraft), ''Rosetta'' comet mission
*2015: CRISPR genome-editing method
*2016: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory makes the first observation of gravitational waves, fulfilling Albert Einstein, Einstein's prediction
*2017: Cosmic convergence: Neutron star merger (GW170817)
*2018: Single cell sequencing, Development cell by cell
*2019: First black hole :File:Black hole - Messier 87 crop max res.jpg, image released

Technology

Robotics, particularly Unmanned aerial vehicles, drones like quadcopters, experienced a wide use and application in the 2010s. Self-driving car, Autonomous and electric car technology and sales showed considerable growth as well. In addition, Reusable launch system, sustainable space launch technologies were spearheaded by entrepreneurs like Elon Musk. Video Games began to merge hand in hand with technology as seen in applications like ''Wii Street U'', an app which used Google Street View and the Nintendo Wii U to examine the cities of the world, streets, and addresses on a virtual globe.

In 2018, during the Falcon Heavy test flight, the first production car was launched into space. Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, The car was attached to the Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful rocket in operation at the time.

Cyber security and hacking

Cyber security incidents, such as hacker (computer security), hacking, leaks or theft of sensitive information, gained increased attention of governments, corporations and individuals.

Health and society

AIDS, a pandemic responsible for killing over 30 million people since its discovery in the early 1980s, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, became a treatable condition, though by the end of the decade only two cases had been HIV/AIDS research, cured. With good treatment patients can generally expect normal lives and lifespans. However, only some 5 million of the 12 million affected people had access to such treatment.

During the 2010s, social changes included increases in life expectancy and falling birth rates leading to larger proportions of the population being elderly. This put pressure on pensions and other social security programs in developed nations. The environment became a topic of greater public concern around the world. Many parts of the world moved towards greater acceptance of LGBT people often including the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The internet took an ever greater role in entertainment, communication, politics and commerce, especially for younger people and those living in wealthier countries. In 2011, the world population Day of Seven Billion, reached seven billion people.

Popular culture

File:Netflix and Chill Graffiti.jpg, Netflix, a streaming service which for a fee gave users access to a portfolio of films and television, rose to prominence from around the early-to-middle part of the 2010s onwards. Here is 2010s vernacular like "Netflix and chill".
File:Unicorn Silly Bandz Macro July 09, 2010.jpg, Silly Bandz, a piece of pop culture and fashion wear in the early 2010s. They were often traded and worn by school children.
File:- ITALY - Pixar exhibition at the PAC in Milan 26.JPG, Pixar and Disney led CGI during the decade, making some of the highest grossing movies of all time like ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'' and ''Toy Story 3''.
File:The Big Bang Theory, Apartment 4A (5020600302).jpg, One of the sets used in the television show ''The Big Bang Theory'', which was popular in the 2010s. The show became the top sitcom throughout its airing on CBS and featured numerous pop-culture figures from science and tech.
File:Child with spinner (34074347651).jpg, A young child spinning a fidget spinner, one of the most popular toys of the decade from spring and summer of 2017, joining novelty toys of the '10s such as the Fidget Cube, fidget cube.
File:Nintendo-3DS-AquaOpen.png, The Nintendo 3DS, a portable 3D gaming device that contained glasses-free 3D and was released during the height of the 3D fad in the 2010s. Its flagship title was ''Super Mario 3D Land''.
File:Iphone 3GS-1.jpg, A smartphone. Introduced in the late 2000s, smartphones were used widely in the 2010s. They could be used to play games, make telephone calls, download music, and check the Internet.
File:Wii-Mini-Console-Set-H.jpg, The Nintendo Wii was a popular gaming console in the 2010s which influenced the Microsoft Kinect and PlayStation Move. One of the most critically acclaimed games of the decade, ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', released on this console.
File:Bangalore Wikipedian on phone 5 closeup.jpg, By the mid-/late 2010s, a plethora of social applications on phones, like Instagram, Snapchat, Discord (software), Discord and TikTok, were released. Applications were used for texting, sharing video, and voice chat. Social media usage greatly increased in the 2010s.
File:Red self-balancing two-wheeled board with a person standing on it.png, A self-balancing scooter. These devices (also named hoverboards at the time) attracted much attention and curiosity around 2015 on the Internet from appearing on shows such as ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon'' and ''Conan (talk show), Conan''.
File:No selfie sticks sign, Museum of Brisbane, 2015.jpg, Around 2015–2016, selfie sticks were a fad, and fell out of popularity past the mid-2010s. President Barack Obama used a selfie stick in a 2015 video promoting Obamacare.
File:Macklemore at the Super Bowl XLVIII (cropped).jpg, Wavy hair (as modeled here by popular rapper of the decade Macklemore) and the growing of beards became trends. Fashion-wise, the 2010s supported more formal and colourful outfits. People also wore shirts with references to television shows, video games, sports teams and Internet meme, memes on them.
File:Bruno Mars portrait.jpg, Fedora hats were popular at the beginning of the 2010s, as modeled here by Bruno Mars, one of the decade's most popular artists.
File:Pokémon Go Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.jpg, A public stop or "Pokéstop" for the game ''Pokémon Go''. The game made use of AR, or augmented reality, and became huge in the summer of 2016.
File:Kent Logsdon uses a virtual reality headset, 2018.jpg, Two men using Virtual reality, VR headsets in 2018. The same year Steven Spielberg's ''Ready Player One (film), Ready Player One'' released, which featured HTC Vive, Vive Virtual Reality headsets and helped advance motion capture.
File:PS4-Console-wDS4.png, The PlayStation 4 (pictured) was released in 2013, as was the Console war#Xbox One vs PlayStation 4, competing Xbox One, which succeeded the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 respectively, the seventh-generation systems that started out the 2010s.
File:Ramona Flowers (6087927274).jpg, A cosplayer dressed as the character Ramona Flowers from the 2010 movie ''Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'', which helped popularize the e-girl aesthetic seen in the late 2010s.
File:Juul flavour multipack (cropped).jpg, In the late 2010s, vaping became popular. Fruit-flavored vape cartridges could be purchased as well, and became highly controversial.
File:Vaporwave for China.jpg, Vaporwave was a 2010s music genre that attracted attention. Lofi hip hop was also new and grew a following. ''Floral Shoppe'' and Lofi Girl helped define these genres of the '10s.
File:Do the Dab.jpg, A group of teens dabbing, a popular fad and gesture of the youth around 2015–2016. Dabbing was the most prominent dance trend of the 2010s, which joined such dances as Floss (dance), Flossing and the Harlem Shake (meme), Harlem Shake.
File:Emoji group.jpg, A group of emojis. The '10s saw the first usage of modern emoticons or "emojis" which were often on the operating systems of phones and computers.
File:Steve Jobs with the Apple iPad.jpg, The iPad was introduced in January 2010. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, unveiled it the public. Jobs later died in October 2011 but remained a significant pop-culture figure throughout the decade.
File:ITunes Gift Cards US.jpg, With the infancy of mobile gaming stores in the early 2010s, apps like ''Doodle Jump'', ''Angry Birds'' and ''Cut the Rope'' became hits, with the success of apps like ''Smash Hit'' and ''Pokémon Go'' coming later on.
File:Nintendo-Switch-Console-Docked-wJoyConRB.jpg, The Nintendo Switch released in 2017. The system saw the line-up of games such as ''Super Mario Odyssey'', ''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'', ''Splatoon 2'', ''Arms (video game), ARMS'', and ''1-2-Switch''.
File:AirPodsEarbuds.jpg, Throughout the early-to-mid 2010s, wired earbuds were the norm, until the late 2010s and early 2020s when wireless technologies like AirPods increased in usage. Samsung Galaxy Buds series, Galaxy Buds, the competitor of AirPods, released in 2019.
File:E3 2011 - box-headed Minecraft men (5822675610).jpg, A group of men dressed up as Steve from ''Minecraft'' at E3 2011. ''Minecraft'' was a sandbox game that became a phenomenon in the 2010s.
File:LMFAO - Live Walmart (1).jpg, EDM obtained commercial success as seen with songs like "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO. The early 2010s had a unique party culture that was inspired by EDM.
File:Drake July 2016.jpg, Canadian rapper Drake was one of the best-selling and most culturally-significant artists of the decade.
File:Apple Watch running Wikipedia.jpg, An Apple Watch with a rainbow watch strap. Smart Watches became popular in the '10s, like the Pebble (watch), Pebble and the Fitbit.
File:3D printed paraganglioma model.jpg, A 3D printer, 3D Printed Object. 3D printers became of use in the 2010s, and were referenced or used in pop culture such as ''The Big Bang Theory'', ''Grey's Anatomy'', and ''Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars''.
File:Whitesolobeatsbydreheadphones.jpg, Beats Electronics, Beats by Dr. Dre became a popular brand and piece of headwear in the 2010s, endorsed by celebrities and athletes like Michael Phelps and LeBron James, among others.
File:Mitski - 51932297073 (cropped).jpg, In the '10s, indie artists gained traction online. Popular indie artists of the decade included Mitski (pictured), Courtney Barnett, Cage the Elephant, Mac Demarco, Fleet Foxes, Kurt Vile, Portugal. the Man and more.
File:2012_Summer_Olympics_Parade_of_Nations.jpg, The 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Parade of Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Fashion

Fashion of the 2010s became slimmer-fit and slightly more formal compared to previous decades. In addition, people's handheld devices such as cellphones which came in a variety of colors and cases (as well as things like handheld gaming systems) became more prevalent personal items. The decade was also defined by Hipster (contemporary subculture), hipster fashion, athleisure, and a revival of 1930–1945 in Western fashion, austerity-era and other nostalgic alternative fashion trends (such as 1980s in fashion, 1980s-style neon streetwear and unisex 1990s in fashion, 1990s-style elements influenced by grunge).

In 2018, a subculture of "e-kids" came into existence, whom took their style from Japanese street fashion, cosplay, skater aesthetic, and other pieces of pop culture. In contrast to the colorful subculture of "e-kids" later in the decade, the early 2010s saw the Emo revival.

Political fashion became a genre of fashion starting around 2016, as people wore hats like Make America Great Again, MAGA hats (popularized by political outsider, prior TV-star and businessman President Donald Trump), as well as the Pussyhat. These two pieces of fashion wear would be popularized in the 2010s in popular culture on television and further, but would become controversial in their own right.

The decade sparked many smaller fashion movements, notable examples including Cottagecore and Normcore (a notable icon of Normcore in the 2010s was Steve Jobs, whom represented the decade's casual clothing). To a lesser extent, objects like the Fidget spinner, Silly Bandz, and Shutter shades remained popular among youth throughout the decade.

Film

Superhero films became box office leaders, especially with the Marvel Cinematic Universe whose '' Avengers: Endgame'' became the highest-grossing film of all time, grossing List of box office records set by Avengers: Endgame, over $2.7 billion worldwide, followed by ''Avengers: Infinity War'', ''The Avengers (2012 film), The Avengers'' and ''Black Panther (film), Black Panther''. Horror film ''It (2017 film), It'', which was based on the It (novel), novel of the same name by Stephen King, became the List of highest-grossing horror films, highest-grossing horror film of all time. ''Toy Story 3'' became a success and the highest grossing animated film of the early 2010s until ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'' became List of highest-grossing animated films, the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide, which was then further beaten by the The Lion King (2019 film), 2019 remake of ''The Lion King'', while ''Incredibles 2'' became List of highest-grossing animated films, the highest-grossing animated film of all time in North America. ''Brave (2012 film), Brave'' became the first film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format. Motion capture grew in terms of its realism and reach, and was seen in movies like Steven Spielberg's ''Ready Player One (film), Ready Player One'', a film which was praised for its visual effects and acting performances, winning several awards. The decade also saw the release of many popular and critically acclaimed films such as ''The Social Network'', ''Her (film), Her'', ''12 Years a Slave (film), 12 Years a Slave'', ''Boyhood (2014 film), Boyhood'', ''Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (film), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'', ''The Edge of Seventeen'', ''The Fault in Our Stars (film), The Fault in Our Stars'', ''The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film), The Wolf of Wall Street'', ''The Perks of Being a Wallflower (film), The Perks of Being a Wallflower'', ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'', ''La La Land'', ''Eighth Grade (film), Eighth Grade'', ''Steve Jobs (film), Steve Jobs'', ''Lady Bird (film), Lady Bird'', ''Green Book (film), Green Book'', ''Moonlight (2016 film), Moonlight'', ''Get Out'', ''Parasite (2019 film), Parasite'', ''Love, Simon'', ''The Irishman'', ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'', and ''Uncut Gems.''

The critically acclaimed movies of the '10s mentioned above set new precedents, movies like ''Boyhood (2014 film), Boyhood'' (2014) were filmed over the span of a decade in real time to show the growth and childhood of a young boy, movies like ''Uncut Gems'' (2019) brought Adam Sandler back to a wide screen release and was critically acclaimed for Sandler's serious portrayal of Ratner, while teenage movies like ''The Edge of Seventeen'' (2016) and ''Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (film), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'' (2015) helped kickstart the careers and gave more attention to actresses Hailee Steinfeld and Olivia Cooke, and ''The Perks of Being a Wallflower (film), The Perks of Being a Wallflower'' (2012) was called the period drama of the early 2010s by The Sentry. ''Her (film), Her'' (2013) became Spike Jonze's highest grossing and most critically acclaimed movie, noted for its filming locations and art direction, ''Parasite (2019 film), Parasite'' (2019) became the first foreign film to win best picture, and movies like ''Ready Player One (film), Ready Player One'' (2018) helped advance motion capture technologies (winning two Outstanding Achievement Awards from the Visuals Effects Society and a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film), in addition to becoming one of Steven Spielberg's highest-grossing films and serving as a return to the classic Spielberg format with references to 2010s pop culture.

2019's ''Joker (2019 film), Joker'' became the first R rated movie to gross over $1 billion and cemented itself in popular culture by making the Joker Stairs famous in late 2019, a group of stairs seen in the movie and on its poster. These stairs became a popular place for tourists to take photographs of and walk down, as if to impersonate the Joker character from the 2019 film. In January 2010, ''James Cameron's Avatar'' surpassed $1 billion in sales, becoming the first movie of the decade to do so, then it surpassed $2 billion in sales by February 2010. The following year, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2'' became one of the fastest grossing films of all time, and became the highest-grossing film of 2011.

Television

The 2010s decade is often said to be apart of the Golden Age of Television (2000s–present), Golden Age of Television, due to the widespread quality of multiple shows, as well as advancements in technology leading to streaming, cable television, and online outlets bringing this quality and quantity of programming.

Cable providers saw a decline in subscriber numbers as cord-cutting viewers switched to lower-cost online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. On cable television, as well as streaming services, a variety of shows gained popularity. Newer adult animation grew rapidly throughout the decade with shows such as ''Rick and Morty'' (''Rick and Morty'' specifically in the realm of adult entertainment became a phenomenon among Generation Z and other groups, the show growing a dedicated fanbase and cult following), ''BoJack Horseman'', ''Bob's Burgers'', among many others. Nickelodeon brought back three classic Nicktoons; ''Hey Arnold!'' (''Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie''), ''Rocko's Modern Life'' (''Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling'', which was themed around late 2010s culture), and ''Invader Zim'' (''Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus'') near the end of the decade, turning them into reboot films. Cartoon Network also brought back shows such as ''Mad (TV series), Mad'', ''The Powerpuff Girls (2016 TV series), The Powerpuff Girls'', and ''Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood, Johnny Bravo'', while adult animation like ''Family Guy'', ''Futurama'', ''South Park'', ''The Simpsons'' and 2011's ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' remained popular. ''Adventure Time'', ''The Loud House'' List of The Loud House characters, (which featured one boy and ten sisters and later turned into a live-action series), ''Regular Show'', ''Steven Universe'', ''Phineas and Ferb'', ''Gravity Falls'', ''The Amazing World of Gumball'', ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' (which, under its G4 status, became a pop culture phenomenon in its own right, thanks to its controversial, but loyal cult following known as 'Bronies' who peaked in 2012–2015), and ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' were among other cartoons that were popular during the decade. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' also made headlines for the petition and attempts to get "Sweet Victory" played at the 2019 Super Bowl after the passing of its series creator Stephen Hillenburg. The comedy sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' ran for the entirety of the decade, and was the number-one television sitcom for all of its airing prior to its finale in 2019. The show featured a group of scientists – Sheldon Cooper, Howard Wolowitz, Raj Koothrappali, Leonard Hofstadter and their friends – and became a hit for CBS, the show often referencing tech, films, and shows of the decade, a notable example being The Big Bang Theory (season 7), The Indecision Amalgamation, where Sheldon can't decided between buying a PlayStation 4 and an Xbox One, asking his friends their opinions. Other sitcoms like ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'', ''Scrubs (season 9), Scrubs: Med School'', Netflix's ''Trailer Park Boys'' and its Out Of The Park: USA and Europe specials and ''How I Met Your Mother'' narrated by Bob Saget (''HIMYM'' of which gained controversy for its 2014 finale, "Last Forever", which sparked an alternate finale to be created for the show, a television-first) were popular in the 2010s. Cult shows like ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', carried its popularity from the 2000s and lasted through the entirety of the 2010s. ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' featured a group of degenerates in Philadelphia, the show, a comedy, sometimes making light and comedic fun of serious political and current world events of the 2010s, political satire heavily seen in its It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (season 13), 2018 season. CBS's ''Two Broke Girls'' began it's run in 2011 (ending in 2017), it's 2 Broke Girls (season 1), pilot being the highest watched on the network in a decade. In 2011, in the television world, Charlie Sheen was fired from ''Two and a Half Men'', who made his last appearance in the show in Two and a Half Men (season 8), Season 8 during February 2011. Sheen's 2011 outbursts and firing from ''Two and a Half Men'' were highly publicized. ''The Apprentice (American TV series), The Apprentice'' was a reality television show that starred media personality and businessman Donald Trump as host until 2015, at which time resigning as host Trump would use the success he gained on ''The Apprentice'' to run for President of the United States; Trump was elected in 2016. The show coined Trump's well known catchphrase "You're fired!". Additionally, programs such as ''The Celebrity Apprentice'', Comedy Central's ''The Roast Of Donald Trump'', and Donald Trump's November 2015 hosting of ''Saturday Night Live'', would send the reality TV star and businessman into the spotlight to win the U.S. presidency. Governor in the early 2010s and movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger took Trump's place on ''The Celebrity Apprentice'', much to Trump's public disproval, Trump touting his success as host asked audiences at a prayer breakfast to "Pray for Arnold's ratings". Indian sitcom ''Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah'' became the world's longest-running sitcom, with over 2,500 episodes, and dramas like ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013), ''The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022), ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019) and the ''Breaking Bad'' Spin-off (media), spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022) became some of the most popular American television series of all time.

A new era of family television and tween television existed in the 2010s, sitcoms of which were mainly spearheaded by Disney and Nickelodeon, but also appeared on cable channels such as ABC (''The Middle (TV series), The Middle'' on ABC for example) and streaming like Netflix. Shows such as Nickelodeon's ''iCarly'' and ''Victorious'', and Disney's ''Girl Meets World'' were notable examples of popular shows among tween and youth throughout the 2010s. ''Stranger Things'' gained a massive following during the decade among teen and youth, and 2019's ''Stranger Things (season 3), Stranger Things 3'' gained even more recognition for the character of Robin Buckley, who was popularized online. The short lived 2018 version of ''Roseanne (season 10), Roseanne'', (a family sitcom on ABC), gained attention for the firing of its main star Roseanne and her outbursts (just like ''Two and a Half Men'' gained recognition for Charlie Sheen and his outbursts earlier in the decade). The cancellation of ''Roseanne (season 10), Roseanne'' even caused former TV star and President Donald Trump to remark on the situation, tweeting against Bob Iger of ABC. The decade proved to be monumental for television reboots and revivals, including ''Dallas (2012 TV series), Dallas'', ''Will & Grace (season 9), Will & Grace'',''The Conners'', ''Murphy Brown'', ''Fuller House (TV series), Fuller House'', among many many others.

Reality television as somewhat mentioned above grew an increased following during the decade. ''Kitchen Nightmares'' and ''Hotel Hell'' gained popularity on cable television, as well as getting millions of views on YouTube, making Gordon Ramsay famous. ''America's Got Talent'' drew in viewers when radio personality Howard Stern announced his joining of the show in late 2011, staying as host until 2015. ''AGT'' made acts such as Jeff Trachta, The Singing Trump, Grace VanderWaal, and Darci Lynne famous. ''Property Brothers'' and ''A Very Brady Renovation'' ( a show seeing ''The Brady Bunch'' cast build their home from the show) brought viewership to HGTV, especially with older audiences. Meanwhile, shows on ABC such as ''Shark Tank'' allowed entrepreneurs to pitch their products which led to the fame and fortune of many products seen on the show, and ABC's ''The Bachelor (American season 22), The Bachelor'' gained attention for Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his confession on the show's 2018 season finale that he was still in love with the runner-up, not the girl he gave the final rose to. Corinne Olympios also gained recognition on the 2017 season of ''The Bachelor'' for her behavior on set. ''American Idol'' remained popular into the beginning of the decade with musical talent like Steven Tyler as hosts, in addition to ''The Voice (franchise), The Voice'' which was popular and saw musicians like CeeLo Green singer of 2010's "Fuck You (CeeLo Green song), Fuck You" host the show. ''Impractical Jokers'' flourished throughout the decade, gaining exposure on YouTube. TMZ became a popular television show and news source in the 2010s, and MTV's reality show ''Ridiculousness (TV series), Ridiculousness'' was popular.

Science Fiction television gained a renewed sense of interest, thanks to ''The Orville (season 1), The Orville'' and The Orville (season 2), its second season which aired on Fox between 2017 and 2019, serving as somewhat of a parody of the ''Star Trek'' franchise. ''Black Mirror'' became popular due in part to episodes such as White Bear (Black Mirror), White Bear, Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, Hang the DJ, and Playtest (Black Mirror), Playtest. Science Nonfiction such as ''Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey'' also joined the line up on Fox, both ''The Orville'' and ''Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey'' of which were led at the direction of Seth MacFarlane. As well, ''Stranger Things'' and ''Rick and Morty'' (as previously mentioned) joined science fiction shows. ''The Orville'' gained high audience scores, and received a 100% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its second season.

YouTube

The video streaming website YouTube became popular, especially among younger people, as memes like Nyan Cat, Dat Boi, "We Are Number One", and well known channels like Fred Figglehorn (FRED), Annoying Orange, The Annoying Orange, Smosh, PewDiePie and Angry Video Game Nerd attracted millions of views, channels and videos becoming viral on the site. The popularity of YouTubers even ended up spawning films based on popular YouTubers, including ''Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie'' (2014), ''Smosh: The Movie'' (2015), and the Fred Figglehorn#Films, Fred Trilogy (2010–2012) starting with ''Fred: The Movie''. These YouTubers became well known through comedic skits, video game reviews, and "Let's Play" videos, as Angry Video Game Nerd reviewed games like ''Sonic The Hedgehog'' for the Xbox 360, and ''Life of Black Tiger'' for the PlayStation 4, which AVGN reviewed in a video featuring Gilbert Gottfried, Smosh would upload skits like "FOOD BATTLE" and Pewdiepie would play games such as ''Five Nights at Freddy's''.

Other YouTubers that constantly received views within the millions or went viral during the decade included the likes of Bill Wurtz, bill wurtz for his "history of japan" and "history of the entire world i guess" videos (and music like "and the day goes on"), Adande Thorne, Swoozie, Etika (and his fanbase the "JOYCONBOYZ"), h3h3Productions, Fine Brothers Entertainment, and TheOdd1sOut, among many others. YouTube itself would even end up banning controversial content creators like LeafyIsHere, who gained prominence during the 2010s.

Music

Globalism and an increased demand for variety and personalisation in the face of music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music created many new subgenres. US digital music sales topped CD sales in 2012. Dance music, Dance, Hip hop music, hip-hop, and pop music surged in the 2010s, with hip-hop and R&B surpassing rock music, rock as the biggest US music genre in 2018. At the beginning of the decade in 2010, musicians like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj (with their successful albums ''The Fame Monster'', ''My World 2.0'', ''Teenage Dream (Katy Perry album), Teenage Dream'', ''Doo-Wops & Hooligans'', ''Speak Now'', ''Loud (Rihanna album), Loud'' and ''Pink Friday'' respectively) increased the global commercial appeal of pop music, with each of them selling over 100 million records in the 2010s and becoming some of the best-selling musicians of all time. Electronic dance music (EDM) achieved mass commercial success in the middle of the decade but fell somewhat into decline by the end. The mass global appeal of EDM music (and subgenres such as dubstep, electro house and Trap music (EDM), trap) from the early-to-mid part of the decade spawned the rise in fame of DJs and digital music producers, such as Skrillex, Tiësto, Avicii, Steve Aoki, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Baauer and Diplo. Country music also saw a resurgence throughout the '10s in the United States, with artists like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton and Florida Georgia Line topping the charts and garnering many music industry awards. With the rise of the internet in the 2010s, independent music (or "indie music") gained a large international cult following, with successful indie bands being Foster the People, Dr. Dog, Tally Hall, Florence and The Machine, Beach House, alt-J, Of Monsters and Men, The National (band), The National, Two Door Cinema Club, and M83 (band), M83; as well as successful indie solo artists being Tame Impala, Neil Cicierega, St. Vincent (musician), St. Vincent, Father John Misty, Ellie Goulding, Feist (singer), Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Lana Del Rey, Justin Vernon and Lorde.

''Billboard'' named Drake the Billboard Music Awards#Artist of the Decade Award, top artist of the decade in the US. Other popular musical solo artists of the 2010s included Adele, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Khalid (singer), Khalid, Sam Smith, Travis Scott, Cardi B, Future (rapper), Future, Shawn Mendes, Post Malone, Kesha and Selena Gomez. Popular musical groups of the decade included One Direction, BTS, Imagine Dragons, Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire, Twenty One Pilots, Migos, Swedish House Mafia, Bon Iver, Zac Brown Band, Maroon 5, Alabama Shakes, The Chainsmokers, OneRepublic, Vampire Weekend, The Lumineers, Lady A and Fun (band), Fun. Successful duos included The Black Keys, Run the Jewels, Matt and Kim, Rae Sremmurd, Love and Theft (duo), Love and Theft, LMFAO, Garfunkel and Oates and Dan + Shay.

Several prominent musicians from past decades died in the 2010s, including Ronnie James Dio in 2010, Amy Winehouse in 2011, Whitney Houston and Adam Yauch in 2012, Lou Reed in 2013, Joe Cocker in 2014, B.B. King, Lemmy Kilmister and Ben E. King in 2015, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Glenn Frey, Phife Dawg, Prince (musician), Prince and George Michael all in 2016, Chuck Berry, Chris Cornell, Prodigy (rapper), Prodigy and Tom Petty all in 2017, Aretha Franklin in 2018, and Keith Flint in 2019. There were also several deaths of newer hip hop artists who had started or first became successful in the 2010s, including Capital Steez, Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, Mac Miller, Nipsey Hussle, Juice Wrld, Juice WRLD and others.

Video games

The video game industry continued to be dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft; ''Minecraft'' became the best-selling game of all time in 2019. The popularity of video games increased across the world, as the Wii influenced gaming in the early part of the decade, and the Nintendo 3DS provided 3D gaming through autostereoscopy. The successful Nintendo Wii was followed by the Wii U in 2012, a commercial failure. The Nintendo Wii would be responsible for the most critically acclaimed game of the 2010s decade, ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'' (which is also often considered one of the greatest video games of all time by game critics). The Wii (and later to a lesser extent the Wii U) would singlehandedly cause the increased use of motion controls in gaming with its ''Wii'' line up of games such as ''Wii Play: Motion'', ''Wii Fit U'', ''Wii Sports Club'', ''Wii Party'' and ''Wii Party U'', all released in the 2010s. Motion controls would carry over and advance during the decade with the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con in 2017, and would form the foundation of 2010's motion-based PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect, counterparts and competitors to the Wii. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One released in 2013, and in the United States the PlayStation 4 became the highest-selling console of the decade. The Nintendo Switch launched in 2017 and was responsible for bringing Nintendo's success back, the success of the console initially spawned by the strong sales of both ''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' and ''Super Mario Odyssey'', as well as titles like ''Arms (video game), ARMS'', ''1-2-Switch'', ''Super Smash Bros Ultimate'', ''Yoshi's Crafted World'', ''Super Mario Maker 2'', ''Splatoon 2'', ''Luigi's Mansion 3'', ''Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'', ''New Super Mario Bros. U, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe'', among many others. Ports and sequels to Wii U games on the Nintendo Switch sold considerably better than their Wii U counterparts. YouTube became a platform for "Let's Players" to upload videos of themselves playing certain games, which led to the popularity of existing games and newer indie games like ''Cuphead'', ''Undertale'', ''Octodad''/''Octodad: Dadliest Catch'', and ''Five Nights at Freddy's (video game), Five Nights At Freddy's'' (indie games like ''Cuphead'' were lauded for its rubber hose animation style, while ''Undertale's'' soundtrack like "Megalovania" came to light). "Let's Players" were even referenced in greater pop culture such as the 2014 episode Rehash (South Park), Rehash on ''South Park (season 18), South Park'' where gamer Pewdiepie appeared. The use of iPods, tablets, and cell phones became one of the most popular forms of gaming as the decade progressed with the rise of mobile games, expanding the industry's appeal among less traditional markets such as women and older adults. Apps such as ''Angry Birds'', ''Pokémon Go'', ''Subway Surfers'', ''Doodle Jump'', ''Cut the Rope'', ''Smash Hit'', ''Miitomo'', and ''Candy Crush Saga'' became hits. (In addition to ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', it is notable in mentioning that Nintendo Wii released a large group of critically acclaimed games in the early 2010s with popular titles such as ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'', ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'', ''The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword'', and ''Sonic Colors'').

The 2010s marked the growth, release, and large expansion of the "Toys To Life" category. Brands such as Nintendo's Amiibo became massively popular, and allowed figurines to be bought which were scanned into games to level up, train your figurine, or receive goods for your figurine. The Amiibo skyrocketed in success due to the roster of figurines available for ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U'', with many posting videos of them online going "amiibo hunting" mostly around late 2014 and 2015. Skylanders and Disney Infinity also remained popular at the time, as fads. The Nintendo Labo released in 2018, was also a part of the "Toys To Life" brand of video games, using cardboard to create objects such as a fishing pole, a crank, and a race-car wheel to be played with games. Micro-consoles also emerged during the decade, a notable example being the Ouya, a system which was a commercial and critical failure that received attention online.

In the 2010s movies based on video game franchises became popular, grossing more and being talked about in the media and among fans more than ever before. Movies like Ryan Reynold's ''Detective Pikachu (film), Detective Pikachu'' (which starred additional actors like Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens and Bill Nighy as Howard Clifford) broke box office records for movies based on game series at the time, while movies like actor Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey's ''Sonic The Hedgehog'' created buzz in the media and on shows like ''Conan'' (where the film and its fans were satirized) in 2019 for the movie's depiction of a more realistic looking hedgehog character, which by demand of the fans, was changed into a more cartoon version of the titular character to much like and approval upon the November 2019 trailer and movie's release. Video game themed movies became popular as well, with films such as ''Ready Player One (film), Ready Player One'', ''Pixels (2015 film), Pixels'', ''Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'', and ''Wreck-It Ralph''.

The best-selling games of every year throughout this decade were as follows:

* 2010: ''Call of Duty: Black Ops''
* 2011: ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3''
* 2012: ''Call of Duty: Black Ops II''
* 2013: ''Grand Theft Auto V''
* 2014: ''Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare''
* 2015: ''Call of Duty: Black Ops III''
* 2016: ''Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare''
* 2017: ''Call of Duty: WWII''
* 2018: ''Red Dead Redemption 2''
* 2019: ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019 video game), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare''

Literature

The best-selling book of the decade was ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', having sold 15.2 million copies in the United States.

The following is a list of the 10 best-selling books of the decade. Note that global data is unavailable and this is limited to the United States:

* ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' – 15.2 million sales
* ''Fifty Shades Darker'' – 10.4 million sales
* ''Fifty Shades Freed'' – 9.3 million sales
* ''The Hunger Games (novel), The Hunger Games'' – 8.7 million sales
* ''The Help'' – 8.7 million sales
* ''The Girl on the Train (novel), The Girl on The Train'' – 8.2 million sales
* ''Gone Girl (novel), Gone Girl'' – 8.1 million sales
* ''The Fault in Our Stars'' – 8 million sales
* ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' – 7.9 million sales
* ''Divergent (novel), Divergent'' – 6.6 million sales

The ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' series also became one of the best-selling book series of all time throughout the 2010s, with installments such as ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, Cabin Fever'' and ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, The Long Haul'' winning awards at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

Sports

Popular athletes of the decade included Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Megan Rapinoe, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Álvarez, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Kyle Busch, Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Mike Trout, Michael Phelps, Shaun White, Kelly Slater, Simone Biles, Sidney Crosby and many more.

A Lance Armstrong doping case, doping scandal and investigation that was concluded in 2012 led to former professional road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong being stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles.

In November 2016, the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series, World Series for the first time since 1908, over the then-Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Indians. Their win, along with Game 7 and the entire 2016 Series, was heavily noted in the sports and baseball community. It is often considered one of the best World Series ever played, due to the underdog nature of both teams, how close the games were and especially the final game, and how it ultimately ended the over 100-year drought of the Cubs not winning a series.

In January 2018, the final play of an NFL playoffs game between the 2017 Minnesota Vikings season, Minnesota Vikings and the 2017 New Orleans Saints season, New Orleans Saints, dubbed the "Minneapolis Miracle", became the first time in NFL playoffs history where a game ended in a touchdown as time expired, and prompted a change to the NFL's American football rules#Try plays, rules as they pertain to Conversion (gridiron football), extra-point conversion attempts.

Analysis

As the decade drew to a close, some commentators looked back on it as a politically unstable period. An article in the ''The New York Times, New York Times'' stated: "With the rise of nationalist movements and a backlash against globalisation on both sides of the Atlantic, the liberal post-World War II order – based on economic integration and international institutions – began to unravel." It heavily discussed the US presidency of Donald Trump (a reality TV Star and businessman with no political experience at the time of taking office, succeeding Barack Obama) whilst also commenting, "Echoes of Mr. Trump's nationalist populism can be found in Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain's recent electoral victory and the Brexit referendum of 2016, and in the ascent of the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Democracy is under threat in Hungary and Poland. Once fringe right-wing parties with openly racist agendas are rebranding themselves in Sweden and Belgium. And far-right groups in Germany and Spain are now the third-largest parties in those nations' parliaments." A December 2019 piece in ''The Guardian'' argued that the 2010s would be remembered "as a time of crises", elaborating "there have been crises of democracy and the economy; of the climate and poverty; of international relations and national identity; of privacy and technology". The article also noted that, in Britain, "politics since 2010 has often been manic. Parties have hastily changed their leaders and policies; sometimes their entire guiding philosophies. Last week's general election was the fourth of the decade; the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s had two apiece." Similar trends of political unrest were felt beyond the Western world, as suggested in ''The Asian Review'', which described the 2010s as a "tumultuous time for Asia, sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant and never dull".

See also

*List of decades

Timeline

The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:

2010s

Notes

References

Further reading

* Strong, Jason. ''The 2010s: Looking Back at a Dramatic decade'' (2019)

External links

*
{{2010s

2010s,
21st century
Contemporary history
2010s decade overviews