Essentials for a new PC?

1. Uplay

2. Origin

3. Geforce experience

4. Spotify

5. Mozilla Firefox as backup browser

6. Skype

7. Teamspeak

8. Utorrent

9. Dropbox

10. GOG Galaxy

11. Acrobat Reader

12. CPU - Z

As torrent application, I'd choose Deluge. Better then UTorrent, imho.

Chrome and Firefox
7-zip or WinRAR
ImgBurn
IrfanView
CCleaner
MalwareBytes' AntiMalware
AdwCleaner
GetDataBack for NTFS
Hard Disk Sentinel
Revo Uninstaller
Rename Master
Media Player Classic Home Cinema

Malwarebytes (Basic windows defender+malwarebytes+common sense > any fancy pants antivirus)
Notepad++ (Useful even if you don't code, just for editing stuff)
VLC (Opens most things very reliably)

Meh you don't install a bunch of software just because someone put it on a list of "essential software". You install what you need when you need it... "When you need it" is the best moment to install a piece of software, because then you are in the right mindset to compare the choices a bit, and you get to compare (and install) the latest versions.
On a side note, I don't see how Steam, Battlenet, Chrome and Word qualify as "essential" 👀

+1 to...

• VLC - past couple of years, I'll recommend this one over MPC; haven't tried PotPlayer
• Notepad++
• 7zip
• SumatraPDF
• IrfanView - loads up way faster than Photoshop for simple edits
• browser - if you want to completely avoid ever starting up Internet Explorer, you can command line into Mozilla via ftp, get Firefox, and then get Chrome via Firefox -- unfortunately, Chrome doesn't offer an official FTP source
• f.lux - redshift your screen at night to avoid eye strain (remember to pause it if image editing)
• SysInternals Process Explorer - I prefer it to the usual Task Manager for various edge case reasons
• WinDirStat

Also...

• Launchy - No idea if it runs on Win10 (I'm on 7 still, and I think development has stopped), but I rarely use the Start menu because of it. Shortcut key I use is Shift-Backspace instead of the default.
• KeepassX - I recommend X over the original for Linux/Android cross-compatibility, but if you're definitely just on Windows, the autotype is more reliable in the original. Haven't checked into it recently though, and both were developing at a decent pace.
• I haven't settled on a standalone music player since the Winamp days and usually use VLC (or YouTube) when I need to play a specific music track. Otherwise, for listening to music, I'll usually use a non-legit Pandora player that cuts out all the ads.
• SysInternals Autoruns - See everything that runs on startup. Be your own virus protection.

Just install the software when you need it, no need to pile up soft for every possible case

My essential applications list:

1. Notepad ++
2. VLC
3. PeaZip (or 7-Zip)
4. Discord
5. CCleaner
6. f.lux
7. Fences (if you have window 8/10) (personal preference)
8. CPU-Z
9. Malwarebytes
10. SumatraPDF
11. Classic Shell (personal preference)
12. Chrome (or Firefox or Opera)

My essential extensions list:

1. Ghostery (or Disconnect)
2. Https Everywhere
3. Adguard (or some adblocker)
4. WOT
5. Hola

It very much depends what are essentials for you. You just should install what you need and what is important for you for daily basis.

My must have apps are:

On both Windows and Linux:
XAMPP
Atom editor
Firefox
Chrome
Photoshop
Lightroom
Filezilla
Putty
Virtualbox

Windows only:
Sony Vegas
Total Commander

Linux only:
Krusader
Wine
PlayOnLinux

And some more apps, But most of them you don't need so just get what you need don't follow others. It's not bad idea to go to filehippo website and look for ideas if you missed some app.

Sysinternals suite, total commander, the bat!, everything. mpc-be, foobar2000, greenshot

Winamp
Notepad++
fLux