Rude Boy by Rihanna (2010)

Rude Boy is dancehall built for American radio: a bright, elastic StarGate beat and a hook in which Rihanna asks a man, twice per chorus, whether he can "get it up" and whether he is "big enough". It is the frankest question a number-one single has asked, and she asks it with the weary tone of a hiring manager on her fortieth interview of the day.

The third single from Rated R spent five weeks at number one in the United States in 2010 and is certified five times Platinum, making it the biggest hit on this list whose subject is the man's equipment itself rather than a metaphor for it. No "lollipop", no "sledgehammer", no ten-inch "record". Just a checklist, and a pen hovering over it.

The Melina Matsoukas video, a pop-art riot that borrows from Warhol, Keith Haring and M.I.A., turned the song into a visual brand stylists still cite by name. It also set the terms for a decade of pop in which the man is assessed rather than adored: Big Energy and Captain Hook are its direct descendants, and both are on this list, still holding the clipboard.