Smells Like Teen Spirit
1991 · From Nevermind
Four chords, a mumble nobody could decipher, and the riff that ended one decade of rock and started another.
★ 9.9
Browse by time · decade
1990s
1990 – 1999
Showing 509 songs from the 1990s
C.R.E.A.M.
1994 · From Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
RZA looped a lonely piano figure from the Charmels, and Inspectah Deck's second verse became hip hop scripture.
★ 8.9
Nuthin' But a G Thang
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
1992 · From The Chronic
Dre built G-funk on a Leon Haywood sample, handed Snoop the mic, and gangsta rap reached number two.
★ 8.9
N.Y. State of Mind
1994 · From Illmatic
Premier built the beat on the spot; Nas nailed verse one in a take, muttering doubt into the intro.
★ 8.7
Dear Mama
1995
Pizarro built it from a Joe Sample loop and the Spinners' Sadie, and the Library of Congress later archived it.
★ 8.5
Juicy
1994 · From Ready to Die
Poke and Combs looped Mtume's Juicy Fruit, and Wallace told the rags to riches story that hip hop kept retelling.
★ 8.5
They Reminisce Over YouPete Rock
They Reminisce Over You
1992
Pete Rock looped a Tom Scott saxophone line, and CL Smooth's eulogy for a lost friend still aches.
★ 8.3
Hallelujah
1994 · From Grace
Buckley learned it from John Cale's version and cut over twenty takes at Bearsville; the edit sounds like one breath.
★ 8.2
Losing My ReligionR.E.M.
Losing My Religion
1991 · From Out of Time
Buck wrote the riff while teaching himself mandolin in front of the television, and R.E.M. got their biggest American hit.
★ 8.2
California Love
1995
Roger Troutman's talk box over a Joe Cocker sample, and Shakur's first single after Death Row sprang him from prison.
★ 8.2
Enter Sandman
1991 · From Metallica (The Black Album)
Hammett built the riff after Soundgarden's Louder Than Love, and Bob Rock sent Hetfield back to write a child's nightmare.
★ 8.1
I Will Always Love You
1992 · From The Bodyguard (soundtrack)
Parton wrote it to leave Porter Wagoner; Houston opened a cappella and held the Hot 100 for fourteen weeks.
★ 8.1
Shook Ones Part II
1995 · From The Infamous...
Havoc built the beat in his Queensbridge bedroom from a slowed Herbie Hancock piano figure and a Daly-Wilson drum break.
★ 8.1
Come as You Are
1991 · From Nevermind
A Small Clone chorus pedal gives the riff its underwater sound, and Cobain nearly withheld the single.
★ 8.0
Sabotage
1994 · From Ill Communication
Yauch's bass line started it, Ad-Rock turned a joke about their producer into a scream, and Jonze filmed the rest.
★ 8.0
Karma PoliceRadiohead
Karma Police
1997 · From OK Computer
Named for a tour joke about people behaving badly, with Greenwood's piano circling and a delay unit eating the ending.
★ 8.0
It Was A Good Day
1993 · From The Predator
DJ Pooh looped the Isley Brothers' Footsteps in the Dark, and Ice Cube spent four minutes on an uneventful day.
★ 7.9
The World Is Yours
1994 · From Illmatic
Ahmad Jamal's piano figure, a hook Pete Rock sang himself, and the most hopeful stretch of Illmatic.
★ 7.9
Nothing Compares 2 USinead O'Connor
Nothing Compares 2 U
1990
Prince wrote it for a side project that went nowhere; O'Connor's tears in the video were real, and unplanned.
★ 7.9
Still Dre
1999 · From 2001
Jay-Z wrote every line of it, Scott Storch played the piano figure, and Dre's seven-year album silence ended.
★ 7.8
Gin & JuiceSnoop Dogg
Gin & Juice
1993 · From Doggystyle
Dr. Dre produced it, George McCrae supplied the sample, and Snoop's unhurried drawl became the West Coast blueprint.
★ 7.8
Bitter Sweet Symphony
1997
Built on an Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of a Stones song; Jagger and Richards returned the credit in 2019.
★ 7.8
No Diggity
1996
Teddy Riley sang lead because none of his group liked it, then it ended Macarena's fourteen weeks on top.
★ 7.8
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
1997
Timbaland flipped Ann Peebles into stuttering space, and Hype Williams shot Elliott in an inflated suit through a fisheye.
★ 7.8
Paranoid AndroidRadiohead
Paranoid Android
1997 · From OK Computer
Four sections in six minutes, named for Douglas Adams's depressed robot, cut in a sixteenth-century manor near Bath.
★ 7.8
Doo-wop (That Thing)
1998 · From The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Hill wrote and produced it herself, aimed one verse at women and one at men, and debuted at number one.
★ 7.8
Mama Said Knock You Out
1990 · From Mama Said Knock You Out
His grandmother told him to knock them out; Marley Marl looped Funky Drummer, and the Grammy followed.
★ 7.7
...Baby One More Time
1998
Max Martin built it at Cheiron in Stockholm after TLC and the Backstreet Boys passed, and Spears was sixteen.
★ 7.7
Say My Name
1999
Rodney Jerkins chopped the beat into stop-start halves, and a phone call full of suspicion became two Grammys.
★ 7.7
Mind Playing Tricks On Me
1991
An Isaac Hayes loop from Tough Guys, three verses by Scarface, and a rap record about fear rather than swagger.
★ 7.7
Under the Bridge
1991 · From Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Rubin found the poem in Kiedis's notebook and pushed for it; Frusciante's mother sings in the choir at the end.
★ 7.7
Creep (Radiohead)
1992 · From Pablo Honey
Greenwood meant those three dead notes before the chorus to wreck the song, and they are what makes it work.
★ 7.7
Everlong
1997
Drums by Grohl, Hawkins not yet in the band, and Louise Post's backing vocals sung down a phone from Chicago.
★ 7.7
Black Hole Sun
1994 · From Superunknown
A Leslie speaker gives the guitars their swirl, and Cornell built the title from a misheard news broadcast.
★ 7.7
Protect Ya Neck
1993 · From Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Eight MCs, a beat RZA scrapped and rebuilt, and a 12-inch the group pressed themselves before any label would.
★ 7.7
All I Want For Christmas Is You
1994
Carey and Afanasieff wrote it fast in 1994 from Spector chords, and it reached number one twenty-five years later.
★ 7.7
Basket Case
1994 · From Dookie
Armstrong rewrote it around his undiagnosed panic attacks, cut it at Fantasy Studios, and sold punk to the suburbs.
★ 7.7
Live Forever
1994 · From Definitely Maybe
Gallagher wrote it in 1991, before Oasis had a record deal, pitching plain optimism against everything grunge was selling.
★ 7.7
Scenario
1991 · From The Low End Theory
Five MCs passing the microphone, and Busta Rhymes at nineteen turning a guest verse into an entire career.
★ 7.6
Heart-Shaped Box
1993 · From In Utero
Albini recorded it at Pachyderm in a Minnesota winter, and Scott Litt later remixed it to lift Cobain's vocal.
★ 7.6
Big Poppa
1994 · From Ready to Die
Chucky Thompson built it on the Isley Brothers' Between the Sheets, and Biggie made charm sound entirely effortless.
★ 7.6
Mo Money Mo Problems
1996 · From Life After Death
Kelly Price sang the hook uncredited over Stevie J's flip of I'm Coming Out, a posthumous number one.
★ 7.6
Loser
1994 · From Mellow Gold
Six and a half hours in Stephenson's house, a slide guitar loop, and a hook mocking Beck's own rapping.
★ 7.6
Glory Box
1995 · From Dummy
Barrow looped Isaac Hayes' Ike's Rap II, Utley added the guitar, and Gibbons sings it like a demand.
★ 7.6
Who Am I (What's My Name)
1993 · From Doggystyle
Dre stacked Atomic Dog over Parliament and Funkadelic, and Snoop's debut single walked straight into the top ten.
★ 7.6
Enjoy the SilenceDepeche Mode
Enjoy the Silence
1990 · From Violator
Gore wrote it as a harmonium ballad; Wilder and Flood put a dance beat under it over his objections.
★ 7.6
Waterfalls
1995 · From CrazySexyCool
Organized Noize's horns, a million-dollar F. Gary Gray video, and the first number one record to confront AIDS.
★ 7.6
The Next Episode
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
1999 · From 2001
Dre and Mel-Man built it on a David McCallum orchestral cut from 1967, arranged by Axelrod, and Nate Dogg closes.
★ 7.6
Check the Rhime
1990 · From The Low End Theory
An Average White Band loop, Q-Tip and Phife trading lines, and a Queens rooftop that Linden Boulevard still remembers.
★ 7.6
Alive
1991 · From Ten
Gossard's demo was called Dollar Short until Vedder set it to learning who his real father was.
★ 7.6
Hypnotize
1997 · From Life After Death
Herb Alpert's Rise looped into a strut, released five days before Wallace was killed, number one within weeks.
★ 7.6
No Surprises
1997 · From OK Computer
Radiohead cut version after version and kept the first take, glockenspiel and all, a lullaby about suburban despair.
★ 7.5
Life's a Bitch
1994 · From Illmatic
AZ's first appearance on record, the only rapper Nas let onto Illmatic, and his father Olu Dara closing on trumpet.
★ 7.5
Fake Plastic Trees
1995 · From The Bends
Yorke came straight from a Jeff Buckley gig, sang three takes at RAK, then burst into tears.
★ 7.5
Killing Me Softly With His Song (Fugees)Fugees
Killing Me Softly With His Song (Fugees)
1996 · From The Score
Pras suggested the cover, the beat lifts Tribe's Bonita Applebum, and Hill sings it like she wrote it herself.
★ 7.5
Where Did You Sleep Last Night
1994 · From MTV Unplugged in New York
Closing the Unplugged set at Sony Studios, a Lead Belly song, and a last verse Neil Young called unearthly.
★ 7.4
Big Pimpin'
1999 · From Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
Timbaland looped a flute from a 1957 Egyptian record, and Pimp C nearly turned the beat down for sounding pop.
★ 7.4