The years 2000 through 2016 have been filled with great fashion, great celebrities, great movies, great television shows, great inventions and most importantly... great music. But, what is our music saying about every year? Are we, as a society, maturing or are we seemingly taking steps backwards? They always say that the music you listen to can reflect what you really want to say to people. Well, there is only one way to find out who exactly our society is feeling and wanting to say, and that is taking a look at the top song of the year for Billboard for the past 16 years.

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2000

Song: "Independent Woman Pt. 1" by Destiny's Child

Back in 2000, Beyoncé wasn't just a solo singer, she was a part of one of the baddest girl groups around - Destiny's Child. She helped, in the year 2000, for society to realize we don't need nobody and we can buy our own diamonds and our own rings and if anyone tries to control us they can get dismissed!

Theme of 2000: Independence

2001

Song: "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback

Are we having fun yet? Now that in 2000 we realized how independent we were, now we were realizing we no longer wanted to live like blind men and we wanted a deeper purpose in our lives. We also realized we were doing our loved ones wrong and noticed that we needed to take the blame instead of letting them take the heat for ourselves.

Theme of 2001: Purpose

2002

Song: "Lose Yourself" by Eminem

Our palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy. There was vomit on our sweater already, mom's spaghetti. We were nervous, but on the surface we looked calm and ready to drop bombs. 2002 was when we began to ask ourselves this question: "If you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture it or just let it slip?" 2002 was when we realized that it was time for us to start going after our dreams. The world was ours for the taking, make us king.

Theme of 2003: Opportunity

2003

Song: "Hey Ya!" by Outkast

The year was 2003 and we, as a society, were getting into our feels. None of our babies were messing around because they loved us so, and this we knew fo' sho. We all knew they couldn't stand to see us walk out the door. (Thanks Mom and Dad for knowing how to stick through together, cause we didn't know how). We even began to wonder: what makes love the exception? What's cooler than being cool? Once we stopped pondering those questions, we went back to shaking it like a polaroid picture.

Theme of 2003: Love

2004

Song: "Yeah!" by Usher ft. Lil Jon and Ludacris

In 2004, we spent a lot of time up in the club with our homies. Our outfits were so ridiculous, we were up in the club looking so conspicuous. We were all on the prowl. But on a scale of 1 to 10, we were a certified twenty. People just wanted one more dance with us and I mean like, how the hell were we supposed to leave?

Theme of 2004: Dancing

2005

Song: "Run It!" by Chris Brown

In 2006 we were done with little kid things - we were starting to see ourselves as more mature. We were owning big boy toys, we were doing big boys things and make big boy noise. How dare anyone say we can't be sixteen?

Theme of 2005: Maturing

2006

Song: "Sexyback" by Justin Timberlake

Do. Not. Mess. With. Us. In. 2006. We were the best looking people around. While everyone else around were slacking, we were picking up the slack and bringing the sexy back. We were making up for the things that you lack. If that's your girl/boy better watch your back, cause they'll burn it up for us, and that's a fact.

Theme of 2006: Attraction

2007

Song: "Low" by Flo Rida

In 2007 we were looking fresh in our Applebottom jeans and boots with the fur - the whole club was looking at us. People who had names similar to states wanted us so bad.

Theme of 2007: Fashion

2008

Song: "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé

After years of being obsessed with meeting people in clubs and always being tied to someone, society in 2008 finally realized it was okay and cool to be single - thanks to Beyoncé. All the single ladies were throwing their hands up, were doing their own thing, busting cool dance moves in black leotards, teaching boys what it really feels like to us and demanding boys who liked us to put a ring on it or not get mad when we moved on to someone else. And if he gets mad... then like a ghost, we'll be gone.

Theme of 2008: Singleness

2009

Song: "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha

In 2009 we were waking up feeling like P. Diddy, getting pedicures on our toes, toes, boys were blowing up our phones, phones, playing our favorites CDs. Boys were blowing up, cause they heard we had swagger. (Which was totally true). But, we kicked them to the curb, UNLESS of course, they looked like Mick Jagger.

Theme of 2009: Partying

2010

Song: "Firework" by Katy Perry

In 2010, we were all tired of feeling like a plastic bag drifting through the wind. We began to see that there was a little spark in us that we just had to ignite - a firework. From that point, we began owning the night like the Fourth of July. That little spark had always been inside of us and in 2010, it was time to let it through.

Theme of 2010: Self confidence

2011

Song: "We Found Love" by Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris

In 2010, we got our hearts broken. We had such a great relationship, the way we were feeling we just couldn't deny. And then... it was broken. "It's like you're screaming, and no one can hear. You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important, that without them, you feel like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts. You feel hopeless; like nothing can save you. And when it's over, and it's gone, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back so that you could have the good." But then in that hopeless place we were in... maybe we could find love again.

Theme of 2011: Heartache

2012

Song: "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars

From getting out hearts broken in 2011, we were a bit cautious with love. We never had much faith in love our miracles; we never wanted to put our hearts on the line. Until... we met someone. Swimming in their water was almost like something spiritual, they made us feel like we had been locked out of Heaven for way too long.

Theme of 2012: New romance

2013

Song: "The Monster" by Eminem ft. Rihanna

Don't save us, we don't wanna be saved. In 2013, we began to realize and become used to the our inner demons. We became friends with the monsters under our beds and the voices inside of our heads. We also remembered to seize the moment, because we never knew when it could be over tomorrow. If you were trying to save us, stop holding your breath.

Theme of 2013: Inner demons

2014

Song: "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift

The years of 2014 and about 3/4 of 2015 we all knew were under the complete control and utter reign of Queen Taylor Swift. She had always been the girl we could to relate to, and with another album out - we, as a society, were thrown back into our feels with every lyric she sang. She made us realize we were young and reckless, we take things way too far, and love could leave us either breathless, or with a nasty scar. But we had a blank space... and we'll write Taylor's name.

Theme of 2014: Reckless love

2015

Song: "Hello" by Adele

As if we weren't already in our feels badly enough from 2014, Adele helped us make sure we weren't leaving them anytime soon. Whether you were in a relationship, single, had never been in a relationship, or were happily married; this song made you miss someone you may didn't even know.

Theme of 2015: Missing someone

2016

Song: "Cheap Thrills" by Sia

So far in 2016, we are realizing the little things. We don't need dollar bills to have fun, we can enjoy some cheap thrills. We are more than diamonds and more than gold.

Theme of 2016: Having fun