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Aah, the 2010s... Do you remember them?

Back in that golden age when we were all still able to listen to music in bars, cafes, shops, stadiums, at the gym and (sometimes) even at the office.

Now with the first Easter of the 2020s on lockdown, PPL and BBC Radio 2 can reveal the top 40 most-played songs on UK TV and radio, of the last decade.

DJ Scott Mills will countdown the list of "absolute bangers" - led by Adele and Bruno Mars, with three appearances each - on the station on Monday.

"The top 40 most-played songs are the sounds that radio producers and broadcasters have consistently played throughout the last decade and will evoke many memories for all of us," said Peter Leathem, boss of the music licensing company which compiled the chart.

'Universally loved'

Jeff Smith, head of music at Radio 2, added it's "packed with universally loved, sing-along pop hits that really do stand the test of time".

The new data suggests broadcasters mostly favoured songs by male solo artists, with 22 nods compared to 14 solo female tracks, while American stars outweighed home-grown performers by 18-14.

Bands and groups accounted for 12 of the tracks, while that most modern phenomenon of the "collab" yielded seven hits.

And British outlets, it seems, also preferred to give airtime to songs released that decade (34 out of 40), with just a few from the noughties and Natalie Imbruglia flying the flag for the 1990s on her own, with Torn.

Rihanna, Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry all made the top 40, however that's the last you'll be hearing of that lot in this article. Because we're about to dip straight into the top 10, which features two Brits, two women and two Pharrells.

The top 10 most-played songs of the 2010s on UK TV and radio:

10. Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon