Songs from each year of your childhood that are nostalgic

There's also a song called "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles, and every time I listen to it, it feels like 2007 all over again. I remember when it would play on the radio when my mom would drive me to school. I can't believe it was almost 11 years ago now.

Haha, I laughed when I noticed that you listed "Ridin'" for 2006. It makes me feel very nostalgic for 2006 as well, especially after I rediscovered it only a few weeks ago.


I remember when that song was popular as well. Hard to believe it is so long ago. I'm not sure if you feel the same way or not, but it's really starting to dawn on me how long ago my childhood is now. My childhood started almost 16 years ago.

I thought you hated that song, though? I guess both good and bad things can evoke powerful memories, even though I personally wouldn't describe myself as nostalgic for crap like "Laffy Taffy" and "Lean wit It, Rock wit It!"

Anyway, these would probably be the songs that most bring me back to each respective year growing up:

1995:

I was 3 at the time. I wouldn't exactly call this song classic or anything, but it was undoubtedly the first song that really helped me find my own voice.

1996:


1997:


1998:


1999:


2000:

I used to think this was the biggest song of all time, even though it was nowhere near the Backstreet Boys' biggest hit!

2001:


2002:


2003:

This was like my sister's favourite song for awhile! There was already another song called "Gangsta Lovin'" by Eve and Alicia Keys, which was on the American Now 11 right before this came out, but this delightful "Freestyler"-sounding piece of cheese is by far the one that I remember the most.

2004:

This song is so 2004!

2005:

Probably because I was surrounded by dudebro gaming types at the time, this felt like the biggest song in the world when it came out, and to be fair, it charted excellently for a nu-metal song at the time, doing far better on the Hot 100 even than any of System of a Down's singles from Toxicity.

2006:

This was to 2006 what "B.Y.O.B." was to 2005. It didn't chart as high, but it felt totally ubiquitous if you were part of any sort of gaming community, even though I was really only into Dance Dance Revolution and its hardcore counterpart, In the Groove at the time.

2007:

This may be pretty much opposite of the typical sound of 2007 in the United States, but even the mere mention of 2007 is enough to cause that synth-guitar riff to start playing in my head!

2008:

I barely followed pop music whatsoever in 2008, but even then, I was fully and utterly aware of this.

2009:


2010:


2011:


2012:


2013:


2014:


2015:

I originally heard this song around Christmas 2002, when I got the Back to the Future trilogy for Christmas, but c'mon.

2016:


2017:

Just a personal prediction.

Have decided to do a more up-to-date one.

All of the examples you gave make me feel nostalgic in some way as well, with the only exception being "Dangerous". It's probably still a bit too recent for me personally, but it also reminds me of Year 9 (and not in a good way).  

This is going to make me look old compared to you other guys, but here's my favorites.


1990



Yeah, I guess I should be pretty embarrassed over this, but my parents loved this song back then, and so I have a lot of childhood nostalgia for it.

1991



Another song that's a favorite mostly because my parents having it on the radio so much during my childhood.

1992



A lot of nostalgia here. This song is the background for my Kindergarten year.

1993



This is a song that I can actually recall like when it was at it's peak of popularity.

1994



My favorite song from the first years of Post-Grunge.

1995



Probably my favorite song of the '90s.

1996



Technically, this song was popular the previous year, but this is when I primarily heard it.

1997



Yeah, this is ridiculously cheesy, but I heard this song so much that year that I can't lie about my nostalgia for it.

1998



Though it might be cheesy, still very nostalgic.

1999



Though I don't like the Backstreet Boys that much, this song dominated my junior high school so much that I have nostalgia for it, even though I didn't like it back then.