13. "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service (2003)

"Such Great Heights" was one of this decade's most recognizable songs and fittingly so. With the track's accessible electronica and over-emotive (and insanely catchy) lyrics, the song was featured in everything from UPS commercials, to Greys Anatomy, to Garden State, to M&M covers.

For those who don't know, Jimmy Tamborello (from Dntel and Figurine) and Ben Gibbard (from Death Cab for Cutie) collaborated through the postal service, hence the name. Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and sent the DATs to Gibbard, who then revised the songs and added vocals. Gibbard and Tamborello essentially traded recordings back and forth until they arrived at a finished product. Give Up was released in 2003 and became the indie label Sub Pop's best-selling album since Nirvana's debut Bleach.

The song's exuberant optimism is perfectly backed by the bubbling, propulsive programmed beeps. Gibbard has written some good songs over the past ten years--this is arguably his best and certainly one of the most distinctive tracks of the decade.

Why listen? The defining moment of so-called lap-pop; "Such Great Heights" (especially when compared with its peers) reinforces just how difficult it is to create a great song even if you have all of the tools at your fingertips. The song is also a popular example of indie-rock's slow but ultimate embrace of electronics. (No guitars, no glory!) Fitting that it should come by way of Gibbard, one of the most polarizing figures in the indie-realm. People either like his stuff or they don't. But with this song it doesn't matter. The first few beeps alone are enough to make this list--they might just be the decade's musical code.
Something else? "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," "We Will Become Silhouettes," "Sleeping In," "Brand New Colony."