Holding On For Life
2013
Mercer tried a falsetto in the booth, doubled the take, and Broken Bells arrived sounding like the Bee Gees.
★ 3.2
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
1978 · From Blondes Have More Fun
Stewart heard Jorge Ben's Taj Mahal at Rio Carnival, absorbed the melody unwittingly, and signed the royalties over to UNICEF.
★ 4.5
Don't Go Breaking My HeartElton John
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Elton John and Kiki Dee
1976
Ann Orson and Carte Blanche on the credits, a Motown duet pastiche that held British number one for six weeks.
★ 4.7
Treasure
2013
Breakbot got a songwriting credit after the fact, and Mars turned late-seventies disco into a top-five American hit.
★ 4.9
FunkytownLipps Inc.
Funkytown
1980
A ten-note synth riff cut at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Cynthia Johnson vocoded then unleashed at full wail.
★ 4.9
Love RollercoasterOhio Players
Love Rollercoaster
1975
Number one in January 1976, and the murder rumor attached to that shriek was only Billy Beck reaching high.
★ 5.6
Upside Down
1980
Rodgers and Edwards wrote the groove, Ross remixed the album to lift her vocal, and it topped the Hot 100.
★ 5.7
Get Down Tonight
1975
A guitar solo recorded slow and played back at double speed opens KC's first American number one.
★ 5.8
Instant Crush
2013 · From Random Access Memories
A vocoder over a Strokes drawl: Casablancas welded two Daft Punk demos together and sang about a chance he missed.
★ 5.8
D.A.N.C.E.
2007
Justice built it from Michael Jackson song titles and handed the chorus to a London children's choir.
★ 6.0
Best of My Love
1977
Maurice White and Al McKay wrote it, Earth Wind and Fire's rhythm section played it, and the Hutchinson sisters soared.
★ 6.0
That's The Way (I Like It)
1975
Casey and Finch's call-and-response chant for TK in Hialeah topped the Hot 100 in two separate runs.
★ 6.0
December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)
1975
Gaudio first wrote it about Prohibition's repeal, then Judy Parker rewrote the lyric and drummer Gerry Polci sang lead.
★ 6.2
Take a Chance on Me
1978 · From Gold: Greatest Hits
Ulvaeus chanted "tck-a-ch" to pace his jogging; it became the a cappella hook on ABBA's seventh UK number one.
★ 6.2
Brick House
1977
Drummer Walter Orange stepped out front, LaPread's bass line did the rest, and funk got a permanent floor-filler.
★ 6.4
Last Dance
1978
Jabara reportedly locked Summer in a hotel bathroom with a cassette until she agreed; it won the Academy Award.
★ 6.4
Disco Inferno
1976
Jimmy Ellis over eleven minutes of Philadelphia rhythm, a flop in 1976 until Saturday Night Fever made it a hit.
★ 7.0
Miss You (The Rolling Stones)
1978 · From Some Girls
Four-on-the-floor from a Billy Preston jam, harmonica by Sugar Blue, found busking in Paris, and their last American number one.
★ 7.1
Hot Stuff
1979
Moroder's four-on-the-floor, Jeff Baxter's rock guitar solo bolted on, and the first female rock vocal Grammy.
★ 7.2
Lady Marmalade (Labelle)
1974
The Meters on rhythm at Sea-Saint, Toussaint producing, and Patti LaBelle singing a French hook she did not understand.
★ 7.3
Get Lucky
2013 · From Random Access Memories
Rodgers' guitar, Pharrell's vocal, Nathan East on bass, and disco walked back onto the radio wearing robot helmets.
★ 7.6
Rock With You
1979 · From Off the Wall
Rod Temperton offered it to Karen Carpenter first; Quincy Jones and Jackson took it to number one.
★ 7.6
Sir Duke
1977 · From Songs in the Key of Life
Wonder built it for Ellington after his death in 1974, then handed the melody to horns playing in unison.
★ 7.7
Another One Bites the Dust
1980 · From Greatest Hits
Deacon's bassline owes Chic, Michael Jackson talked them into releasing it, and Queen landed their biggest-selling single.
★ 7.7
Heart of Glass
1978
A demo kicked around since the mid-seventies, rebuilt on a Roland drum machine that appalled their punk friends.
★ 7.9
I Will SurviveGloria Gaynor
I Will Survive
1978
Buried as a B-side until DJs flipped it, and Gaynor cut the vocal in a back brace after spinal surgery.
★ 8.1
Good Times
1979
Edwards' bassline turned up on Rapper's Delight within months; the settlement put Chic's names on rap's first pop hit.
★ 8.1
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
1979 · From Off the Wall
Jackson wrote it himself and steered the session; a whisper, a water-bottle rattle, then Louis Johnson's bass takes over.
★ 8.3
September
1978
Willis wanted real words instead of ba-dee-ya; White refused, and the groove outlived any lyric she could have written.
★ 8.3
Rapper's Delight
1979
Big Bank Hank auditioned outside the pizzeria where he worked, rapping lines borrowed from Grandmaster Caz's notebook.
★ 9.0
Dancing Queen
1976 · From Gold: Greatest Hits
Seventeen and gliding across the floor, the rare disco record that sounds like joy and ache at once.
★ 9.1
Superstition
1972 · From Talking Book
Wonder wrote that clavinet riff for Jeff Beck, heard it back, and sensibly kept it for himself.
★ 9.1
I Feel LoveDonna Summer
I Feel Love
1977
Moroder's pulsing synth track, Summer floating above it, and the record Eno reportedly called the sound of the future.
★ 9.3
Stayin' Alive
1977 · From Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
Barry Gibb's falsetto over a drum loop so metronomic that paramedics still use it to time chest compressions.
★ 9.4