Back in the day, I was a proud music elitist. It all began in my freshman year of high school. The guy I had the biggest crush on found out I listened to crap like Jewel and Sum 41, so he took it upon himself to refine my music taste. What started with three burned CDs — Ben Folds, Pavement and Yo La Tengo — evolved into an indie music obsession. I listened to as much Neutral Milk Hotel, Death Cab (pre-OC, obvi) and obscure bands with stupid names like !!! as the best of them, and poured money into subscriptions to “Spin” and “Mojo” so that I could be closer to the edge of “the scene.”

Something happened, though, when I came to college: I found my feet tapping to Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and felt guilty for letting “My Humps” by the Black Eyed Peas grow on me. In weeks, my barriers against the music of the masses crumbled entirely. So, here are the top 10 singles that I still feel twinges of guilt for loving. Somewhere in the space-time continuum, a 15-year old version of me is threatening to kill herself.

10) Carrie Underwood — “Before He Cheats”

To be honest, I’m not really all that guilty about this song. Not only can Carrie sing like a champ, but it’s the kind of song that you can really get into singing in the shower, regardless of whether or not you’re actually pissed off. Despite all this, I’ve never met a country-loving music elitist, unless they count Bonnie Prince Billy as a country singer.

9) The Pussycat Dolls — “Anything”

Lately, my claim to fame has been that Nicole Sherzinger (lead singer, a.k.a., the only one who anyone recognizes) went to my high school. Watching the “Buttons” video on MTV makes me so proud. Chairs haven’t been so useful since Britney’s “Stronger!” I can’t help but love their music, but couldn’t they have picked a less cringe-worthy name?

8) Sean Paul — “Temperature”

“I wanna be the Papa, you can be the Mom...?” What does that even mean, and why does it make me want to dance?

7) Fall Out Boy — “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down Swinging”

I feel like Fall Out Boy is the Blink-182 of today’s high schoolers, without the adolescent humor. At some point, they were an indie band... then they were discovered by MTV. Perhaps they didn’t deserve all the attention that they got (Best New Artist at the Grammys?), but you have to admit, this song is kind of great.

6) Nelly Furtado — “Man Eater”

I love this video: Nelly Furtado follows her runaway dog through a shady underground gathering of dancing zombies. Then she finds her dog. Watch it — it’ll make you want to go clubbing.

5) Chamillionaire — “Ridin’ Dirty”

You know you’re successful when Weird Al does a parody of your song (which is also brilliant — who would have thought Weird Al was still kickin’?). Everyone from my eight-year-old nephew to my 34-year-old brother loved this song, whether they’d like to admit it or not.

4) Jessica Simpson — “A Public Affair”

While Nick Lachey was whining about what was left of him post-divorce (Vanessa Minillo? Downgrade!), Jessica Simpson showed us that she was so over him by bringing her BFFs roller-skating and fantasizing about threesomes with the employees. Listening to this song is like eating a pound of raw cookie dough, and then realizing you just ate a pound of raw cookie dough. Yum.

3) Fergie — “Fergalicious”

According to my friend, Becca, Fergie did for “delicious” what Gwen Stefani did for “bananas” in ’05. I might have chosen “London Bridge” instead, but it’s far too annoying to make the song a guilty pleasure while “Fergalicious” is (ugh) rather enjoyable. You can’t deny that putting the “e” in “tastey” was a stroke of pop genius... or just another contribution to society’s downfall.

2) James Blunt — “You’re Beautiful”

I have nothing to say for myself. Moving right along...

1) Brooke Hogan — “About Us”

Hulk Hogan stars in a reality TV show on VH1 and it remarkably gains some consistent audience. Then his daughter decides she wants to be a singer, so Mr. Nanny makes the calls and gets her a record deal. Brooke comes out with “About Us,” complete with a grill and Paul Wall to give her some street cred. It does the trick. I love it.

To end with an anecdote... a few weeks ago, a friend’s younger sister posted the following status on Facebook: “Kate is: listening to *old, cliche* indie music like the shins and ani difranco - lol.” I’ve never felt so out of touch in my life... but I bet she doesn’t enjoy the new Justin Timberlake album as much as I do. “Bringin’ SexyBack” guilt-free? Priceless.