104 Women Who Defined the Decade in Pop Culture
In January 2010, Avatar was leading the box office. Kesha’s “Tik Tok” was dominating the airwaves. And Tiger Wood’s multiple affairs, which came to light two months before, was the scandal of the moment.
A lot has changed in the decade following, much of it for the better. Frozen II, an animated movie about two sisters saving their kingdom, is one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Kesha has become one of the many faces of the #MeToo movement after she sued her former producer Dr. Luke for emotional and physical abuse. And the scandal of the moment? The Hallmark Channel is being called out for removing an ad that featured two women kissing. The network has already apologized and reinstated the spot.
We wanted to show just how much has changed by reflecting on 100 women who were at the center of pop-culture this decade. Because looking back at the people who brought us the most entertainment and distraction—both good and bad—over the past 10 years helps us better understand where we’ve been as a society and where we still have room to grow.
It wasn’t an easy task. In part because you could make the argument that anybody who played a role in the things we watched, read, listened to, and scrolled for could be considered women of influence in their own way. But this list isn’t about females that had one great year or a single big moment. It’s about the ones whose impact will continue to felt during the next decade, or those who were emblematic of the 2010s because they represented a specific time and place that can never be recaptured.
A few caveats: We ended up with 104 women for reasons you’ll see, and this list is about looking back, not forward, so several women we love didn’t make the cut because we believe they’ll be defining culture in the next decade. (We see you, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge!) Other women—your Oprahs and Dolly Partons, for example—are so legendary that their influence goes well beyond just one decade, even though their contributions to this one have been vast. Not every woman who made the list had a positive impact, either. This isn’t about who we like best or would invite to our dream dinner party. It’s simply 104 women who made a lasting impression in movies, TV, books, and celebrity culture over the past 10 years.