The warmest year on record was arguably 2005 (depends which numbers you run with – see http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=climate+study+NCDCGL&lk=1 ), the hottest 12 month period ever recorded was June 2009-May 2010. The last decade was the hottest decade on record and the statistical trend is very much upward.

A dispassionate look at all the numbers does suggest 1998 might be an outlier (such things happen in statistics), and of course we had the solar minima which, as you will see, overlays a 10 year cycle of cool/hot on the long term graph. Nevertheless there very clearly has been and continues to be warming.