Just stumbled on an old list from 2019 and it's wild to see which dividend stocks actually delivered back then. The top performers were pretty interesting - investment firms like Carlyle Group, Apollo, and Blackstone absolutely crushed it that year, with returns over 100%. Makes sense given how strong the market was.

What caught my eye was how diverse the winners were. You had storage companies like Western Digital and Seagate dominating, a Russian telecom (MTS) with a crazy 8.7% yield, energy plays like TC Energy and Phillips 66 Partners, and utility stocks rounding out the list. The Southern Company and Brookfield Infrastructure both had solid runs too.

The interesting thing about high dividend stocks in 2019 was that they weren't just boring defensive plays - some of these actually had strong growth potential alongside the yields. Carlyle was expected to grow earnings at 15.8% annually over the next five years back then. Though I'd say some like MTS showed why high yields can be risky - great year in 2019 but pretty flat over the whole decade.

If you're hunting for dividend stocks now, worth looking at what worked then and why. The energy and utility sectors still seem to be reliable dividend payers, and the asset management firms definitely proved dividend growth was possible with the right companies. Just goes to show how much a good year in the market can make even defensive holdings shine.