2010 was a year of renaissance for the music video. It was the year the notion that the rules of the game have changed in a post-MTV world came to fruition. Your video can’t just be cool, it has to be cool enough that bloggers write about it. It has to be cool enough that people send the link to their friends. It has to be cool enough that people think it’s a good idea to recreate their own version and post it online for the whole world to see. There isn’t one right way to do it. It can be simple or elaborate, funny or controversial, but if you want a YouTube hit, you need the clicks. Below are ten videos that succeeded in not only getting the clicks, but pushing the medium of the music video forward.

Rapper Eminem received 10 Grammy nominations last night, more than any other artist, including in the coveted album, record, and song of the year categories. Other artists with multiple nods include newcomer Bruno Mars with seven, and Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and Lady Antebellum each with six apiece.

The website WikiLeaks posted more than 250,000 leaked diplomatic cables from the State Department this week, sending shock waves around the world. And it’s thanks in part to Lady Gaga.

Last week, longtime digital holdouts the Beatles released their entire catalog on the iTunes. Since then, the band has sold over 2 million songs and more than 450,000 albums. Not bad for a band that broke up forty years ago.

Two weeks removed from scoring her eighth No. 1 hit with “What’s My Name?” featuring Drake, Rihanna returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with another Loud single, “Only Girl (In The World)”, setting a number of chart records.

In the age of digital music, the thought of getting in your car, driving to a store, and paying $10 for a full album that includes songs you don’t care for seems dumb in comparison to downloading a single song off iTunes from the comfort of your home. Although the record industry would gladly prefer consumers using legal downloading sites over online piracy, buying that $10 album would be even better.