In the City
2013
Recorded at Brooklyn's Rumpus Room with Nick Stumpf producing, and Julia Stiles stars in the video.
★ 0.9
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.
Thank God It's Christmas
1984
May and Taylor wrote it, Mercury sang it, and Queen waited until 2019 to give it a video.
★ 1.0
Bad Day
2005
Powter sketched it on the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver; American Idol adopted it and Billboard called it 2006's biggest.
★ 1.2
Breakfast at Tiffany's
1995
Todd Pipes drew the lyric from Roman Holiday, swapped in a different Hepburn title, and Britain sent it to number one.
★ 1.4
Higher
1999
Stapp built it from a recurring dream he learned to control, and it sat atop Mainstream Rock for seventeen weeks.
★ 1.4
Shake It
2008
Trace Cyrus, Billy Ray's adopted son, and Mason Musso built a synth hook that went double platinum.
★ 1.5
Wonderful Christmastime
1979
Recorded alone in Sussex in the summer of 1979, every instrument McCartney's own, and a UK number six by January.
★ 1.6
All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You
1990
Mutt Lange's hitchhiker story gave Heart a number two the Wilsons openly disliked; Ann called its message hideous.
★ 1.6
Only God Knows Why
1999
The first ballad Kid Rock ever cut, its opening lines written, by his account, in a jail cell.
★ 1.6
A Bad Dream
2007
Rice-Oxley built it from Yeats's poem about an Irish airman, a pilot too high up to hear the guns below.
★ 1.7
The Reason
2004
Estrin mailed Robb an instrumental demo; the lyrics came from scraps in a journal, the strings from Capitol.
★ 1.7
Someday
1999
Sugar Ray's drummer co-wrote it about touring temptation and a faithful girlfriend; the album title joked about vanishing fame.
★ 1.7
Forever (Kiss)
1990 · From Hot in the Shade
Paul Stanley and Michael Bolton co-wrote the ballad that returned Kiss to the Top 40 after eleven years away.
★ 1.8
Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)
1986
A shuffle borrowed from Tears for Fears, cut on day one, with Bryan Adams singing near the end.
★ 1.8
I Want to Come Over
1995
Padgham and Etheridge co-produced it, and Gwyneth Paltrow starred in the video shot at an old Los Angeles hotel.
★ 2.0
Cherry Pie
1989
A pizza box in a Florida Hard Rock Cafe holds the lyric Lane dashed off at the label's insistence.
★ 2.0
Wherever You Will Go
2001
Kamin wrote it after a funeral, imagining the widower left behind; it then held Adult Top 40 for twenty-three weeks.
★ 2.0
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)
1985
Foster showed Parr a news clip about Rick Hansen's wheelchair world tour, and the pair wrote it that Friday afternoon.
★ 2.2
Falling
2002
Twenty years old when Sha Sha arrived, Kweller later played this one through a nosebleed at Austin City Limits.
★ 2.2
Absolutely (Story of a Girl)
2000
Long Island power pop, written overnight for the girlfriend Hampson later married, cut in Atlanta with Nick DiDia.
★ 2.3
Free Fallin' (John Mayer)
2008
Two days was all Petty and Lynne needed; Mayer's acoustic version, taped at the Nokia Theatre, became a single itself.
★ 2.3
Hemorrhage (In My Hands)
2000
Twelve weeks at number one on Alternative Airplay, with Brett Scallions selling every syllable of Carl Bell's chorus.
★ 2.4
Outside
2001
Lewis finished the words onstage in Biloxi with Fred Durst singing along, and that live take became the hit.
★ 2.4
Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?Bryan Adams
Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?
1995
Paco de Lucía's flamenco guitar runs through it, cut for Don Juan DeMarco, and it held number one five weeks.
★ 2.5
Blurry
2001
Alone in a Hollywood hotel room missing his son, Scantlin turned the ache into ten weeks atop Mainstream Rock.
★ 2.5
To Be With YouMr. Big
To Be With You
1991
Gilbert traded shred for acoustic guitar behind Martin's teenage lyric, and hand claps carried it to number one.
★ 2.5
When I'm Gone
2002
Brad Arnold and the band shot the video aboard the USS George Washington, then held Mainstream Rock seventeen weeks.
★ 2.6
Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm)
2001
Funk metal aimed at a Bad-era Jackson hit; he vetted the video himself and asked for scenes reshot.
★ 2.6
Unwell
2003
Rob Thomas called it a song for people who feel alone; eighteen weeks at Adult Top 40 number one.
★ 2.6
Rock Me Amadeus
1985
Falco rapped Mozart's debts over a Bolland and Bolland production, and gave the Hot 100 its only German-language number one.
★ 2.6
Too Close
2011
Diplo and Switch wrapped a breakup song in dubstep, and a Microsoft browser ad made it a worldwide hit.
★ 2.6
Accidentally in LoveCounting Crows
Accidentally in Love
2004
Duritz dislikes writing to order, then handed Shrek 2 an Oscar-nominated rush of helpless, hurtling infatuation.
★ 2.6
Time (Hootie & the Blowfish)Hootie & the Blowfish
Time (Hootie & the Blowfish)
1994
Sonefeld's idea, written by committee on acoustic guitars, and Rucker addressing time itself like it owed him something.
★ 2.7
You and Me
2005
Cut at John Alagia's home studio in Maryland, it topped Adult Pop Songs for nine weeks and became a wedding standard.
★ 2.7
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
1993
Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads produced it, and Roberts sang three verses about strange childhoods in a startling baritone.
★ 2.7
Everything You Want
1999
Scannell wrote it about a friendship he wanted to be more, and it became Billboard's most-played single of 2000.
★ 2.7
Stuck with You
1986
Three weeks at number one, a Bahamas video, and Hayes and Lewis making long-term commitment sound like a holiday.
★ 2.7
Over My Head (Cable Car)
2005
A fight with his brother Caleb, a Denver station spinning the demo, and Slade's chorus everywhere by 2006.
★ 2.7
Caught Up In You
1981
Jim Peterik of Survivor co-wrote it with Barnes and Carlisi, and it gave the band their first top ten.
★ 2.8
Burning Heart
1985
Stallone commissioned it for Rocky IV, and Peterik and Sullivan answered with East-versus-West dread over a marching riff.
★ 2.8
Amsterdam (Peter, Bjorn and John)
2006
Track four on Writer's Block, self-produced by the trio, and its plainest study of being left behind.
★ 2.8
All for You
1997
Cut at Ardent Studios in Memphis, re-recorded in 1997 for the band's second album, and a number eleven hit.
★ 2.9
The Living Years
1988
Rutherford and B.A. Robertson had both just lost their fathers; Carrack, who lost his young, sang it.
★ 2.9
Here Without You
2003
Rick Parashar cut it across three studios, and Arnold's ballad about missing someone became an unofficial anthem in Iraq.
★ 2.9
Again
2000
Kravitz wrote, arranged and produced it alone, cut it from an album, then won a third straight Grammy.
★ 2.9
December
1995
Roland wrote it about a souring relationship with the band's first manager, then rode nine weeks atop rock radio.
★ 2.9
All You Wanted
2002
A debut-album cut that Branch wrote alone, produced by John Shanks, and her first trip into the top ten.
★ 2.9
Beverly Hills
2005 · From Make Believe
Rick Rubin produced it, the video was shot at the Playboy Mansion, and Cuomo swears the longing was sincere.
★ 3.0
Tubthumping
1997
An anarchist collective from Leeds, a sample from Brassed Off, and a chorus about ordinary people refusing to stay down.
★ 3.0
Out of My HeadFastball
Out of My Head
1998
Scalzo sang lead from behind the bass, Hammond organ carrying it, and Machine Gun Kelly later borrowed the chorus.
★ 3.0
Picture
Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow
2002
Crow's label blocked the radio rights, so Allison Moorer re-cut the female vocal; it still became Kid Rock's biggest hit.
★ 3.0
Kyrie
1985
Page and George wrote the music touring with Adam Ant; John Lang set a Greek prayer on top.
★ 3.0
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us NowStarship
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
1987
Diane Warren's first number one, written with Albert Hammond for Mannequin and sung like the odds were nothing.
★ 3.0
Counting Blue Cars
1995
Richards wrote it after a talk with his ten-year-old neighbor, and calling God "her" brought death threats.
★ 3.0
How You Remind Me
2001
Forty-five minutes to an hour, by Kroeger's account, then more US radio plays than any song of the decade.
★ 3.0
You Are a Tourist
2011 · From Codes and Keys
Death Cab's first number one on alternative radio, and its video was performed live in one unbroken take.
★ 3.0
Two Princes
1991
A video at Bethesda Fountain, a six-dollar hat, and a hook that pushed the album past five times platinum.
★ 3.0
All Kinds of TimeFountains of Wayne
All Kinds of Time
2003
James Iha guests on guitar, and the lyric hangs on a quarterback in the pocket as noise falls away.
★ 3.1
The Ghost Inside
2010
Mercer sang falsetto for the first time here at Burton's urging; Christina Hendricks plays the android in the video.
★ 3.1
Lake Michigan
2007
Roger Moutenot produced the album, Zach Rogue wrote every word, and a Zune advert gave this one legs.
★ 3.1
Angel of the Morning
1981
Chip Taylor wrote it after hearing Ruby Tuesday, Connie Francis passed on it, and Newton reached number four.
★ 3.1
Every Morning
1998
Drummer Stan Frazier sang the hook on his way out of the studio, and the chorus borrows Malo's Suavecito.
★ 3.1
Black Velvet
1989
Ward got the idea riding a bus of Elvis fans to the tenth Graceland vigil, and Myles won a Grammy.
★ 3.1
Barely Breathing
1996
Fifty-five weeks on the Hot 100 without ever passing number sixteen, and Sheik got a Grammy nomination out of it.
★ 3.2
Hungry Eyes
1987
Previte and DeNicola wrote it in 1984; Carmen cut it in an Ohio studio and Dirty Dancing did the rest.
★ 3.2
Line of Fire
2013
González singing about taking responsibility over Winterkorn's organ, the track AMC used to send Breaking Bad off.
★ 3.2
You and I
2009 · From Wilco (The Album)
Tweedy and Feist trading a chorus about two people trying to hold it together, Wilco's first album duet.
★ 3.2
Pardon Me
2000
Scott Litt produced it at NRG, and Boyd wrote the lyric amid two deaths and a collapsing relationship.
★ 3.2
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 Heat Is OnGlenn Frey
The Heat Is On
1984
David Woodford's sax on the record, a different player miming in the video, and Frey's biggest solo hit.
★ 3.3
One Of Us
1995
Bazilian wrote it in one night to impress the woman he later married; Osborne's vocal earned three Grammy nominations.
★ 3.3
It's Been Awhile
2001
Written in 1996 for an acoustic side project and shelved, it returned to spend twenty weeks atop Mainstream Rock.
★ 3.3
Hanging by a MomentLifehouse
Hanging by a Moment
2001
Wade wrote it in about five minutes, and it never hit number one yet finished 2001 as America's biggest single.
★ 3.3
If You're Gone
2000
Thomas wrote it after meeting his future wife, then it spent thirteen weeks atop the Adult Top 40.
★ 3.3
21 Guns
2009 · From 21st Century Breakdown
A chorus close enough to All the Young Dudes that Bowie got a writing credit, and Butch Vig produced.
★ 3.3
You Keep Me Hangin' On (Kim Wilde)
1987
Wilde rebuilt the Holland-Dozier-Holland original as hi-NRG and became the second act to take it to number one.
★ 3.4
All I Want
1991
Credited to all four members, it climbed to fifteen; Phillips says it is about how quickly epiphanies vanish.
★ 3.4
Bent
2000
Codependency as a love song, Serletic producing, and the only Matchbox Twenty record to reach number one.
★ 3.5
What About Love
1985
Recorded first by the band Toronto in 1982 and shelved, it became Heart's first Capitol single, with Grace Slick harmonizing.
★ 3.5
Listen to Your HeartRoxette
Listen to Your Heart
1988
Cut at EMI Studios in Stockholm, Gessle's deliberate pastiche of overblown American FM rock, and it hit number one.
★ 3.5
Popular
1995
Ric Ocasek produced it, and the spoken verses lift straight from Gloria Winters' 1964 teenage charm and popularity guide.
★ 3.5
Always (Bon Jovi)
1994 · From Cross Road
Jon Bon Jovi wrote it for a film he then disowned; Kalodner found the track and pushed a re-recording.
★ 3.6
Walk on the Ocean
1991
Phillips wrote it after a trip to Orcas Island, keeping the placeholder lyrics because nothing he tried afterward worked better.
★ 3.6
Take it on the Run
1981
Epic wanted a different follow-up single; the band held out for Richrath's chain of hearsay and reached number five.
★ 3.6
Something Happened on the Way to Heaven
1990
Phenix Horns brass over Nathan East's bass, on a song Collins first wrote for The War of the Roses.
★ 3.6
Only Wanna Be With You
1994
Rucker quotes Blood on the Tracks in the verses; the 1995 out-of-court settlement with Dylan cost the band $350,000.
★ 3.6
Baby Come Back
1977
Beckett and Crowley wrote it after two bandmates' breakups, and Lambert and Potter's production held number one for three weeks.
★ 3.6
Shiny Happy PeopleR.E.M.
Shiny Happy People
1991 · From Out of Time
Kate Pierson's guest vocal, Mark Bingham's waltzing strings, and R.E.M.'s only top ten hit in both Britain and America.
★ 3.6
Up Against the Wall
2006
Seven minutes long, never a single, self-produced by the trio, and the longest slow burn on Writer's Block.
★ 3.7
Perfect Strangers
1984 · From Perfect Strangers
Stowe, Vermont, a mobile studio, the Mark II lineup back after eleven years, and Lord's organ doing the heavy lifting.
★ 3.7
Landed
2005
Folds went back to a trio for Songs for Silverman, and made its lead single a phone call home.
★ 3.7
Grapevine Fires
2009 · From Narrow Stairs
Jason McGerr shaped the drums after the Purdie Shuffle, and Gibbard turned the 2007 California wildfires into something almost calm.
★ 3.7
Shiver
2000 · From Parachutes
Martin called it a blatant Jeff Buckley attempt, cut at Rockfield with Ken Nelson, and the chorus soars anyway.
★ 3.7
Take a Picture
1999
Patrick's blackouts and a father's disappointment sit behind it, six minutes of guitar haze on Title of Record.
★ 3.7
Dare You to Move
2004
A song Foreman wrote to talk himself into moving, cut twice, the 2003 version the band's biggest hit.
★ 3.8
One Thing Leads to Another
1983
Curnin called it an indictment of dishonest politicians, Rupert Hine produced it, and America took it to number four.
★ 3.8
Hold My Hand
1994
Written by all four members in 1989, David Crosby added backing vocals, and the debut album sold twenty million.
★ 3.8
(Everything I Do) I Do It For YouBryan Adams
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You
1991
Sixteen straight weeks at number one in Britain, from a ballad Adams and Lange wrote in forty-five minutes.
★ 3.8
The World I Know
1995
Two hours walking New York on a day off, and Roland returned with four weeks atop album rock.
★ 3.9
Right Here, Right NowJesus Jones
Right Here, Right Now
1990
Romania in February 1990, weeks of upheaval still fresh, and Edwards came home to write pop's happiest history lesson.
★ 3.9
Got My Mind Set on You
1987
Harrison bought the James Ray original in Illinois in 1963; Jeff Lynne turned it into his last American number one.
★ 3.9
Waiting on the World to Change
2006
Steve Jordan on drums, Pino Palladino on bass, and a Grammy for a chorus about feeling politically stuck.
★ 3.9
Soak Up the Sun
2002
Crow and Jeff Trott wrote it on a plane out of rainy Portland; Liz Phair turned up to sing backup.
★ 3.9
Something in the Way She Moves
1968 · From James Taylor
Taylor played this at his Apple audition to land the deal, and Harrison lifted its title for "Something".
★ 3.9
Jamaica Say You Will
1972
Clarence White on acoustic guitar, and the demo that led David Geffen to found Asylum Records and sign Browne.
★ 4.0
Hard to Say I'm Sorry
1982
Foster brought in three Toto members and saved Chicago's horns for the coda, returning the band to number one.
★ 4.0
Forever Young (Rod Stewart)Rod Stewart
Forever Young (Rod Stewart)
1988 · From Out of Order
A father's blessing written for the kids Stewart missed while touring, and similar enough to Dylan's song that they share royalties.
★ 4.0
Another Day in Paradise
1989
The last number one of the eighties and the first of the nineties, with David Crosby singing behind Collins.
★ 4.0
Daysleeper
1998
Stipe found the word on a New York apartment door and gave the night shift its lullaby, post-Berry R.E.M.
★ 4.0
Heaven
1984
Written on tour opening for Journey, buried on a movie soundtrack first, and number one nearly two years later.
★ 4.0
The WayFastball
The Way
1998
Scalzo read about an elderly Texas couple who drove off and never came back, then wrote them a happier ending.
★ 4.0
My Immortal
2003
Lee and Moody wrote it at fifteen; the album kept her raw demo vocal, radio got Campbell's grieving strings.
★ 4.0
Round and Round
1984
Three writers bouncing riffs between cassettes in a Hollywood apartment, and Milton Berle in the video that broke them.
★ 4.0
Is This Love (Whitesnake)Whitesnake
Is This Love (Whitesnake)
1987
Coverdale began it as a Tina Turner idea, Geffen told him to keep it, and it climbed to number two.
★ 4.0
Follow You Down
1996
Jesse Valenzuela had the chords by the time the sessions ended; the double A-side climbed to number nine.
★ 4.1
We Didn't Start the Fire
1989 · From Storm Front
Joel wrote it at forty, after a twenty-one-year-old told him the fifties were dull; he has called the melody terrible.
★ 4.1
Mr. RobotoStyx
Mr. Roboto
1983
DeYoung wrote it for a rock opera about outlawed music; Stan Winston designed the suit, the vocoder did the rest.
★ 4.1
Slide
1998
Rzeznik hid a teenage pregnancy story inside the sunniest jangle of 1998; it topped Modern Rock and Adult Top 40.
★ 4.1
Run-Around
1994
Popper wrote it about an unrequited crush, then watched it sit on the Hot 100 for forty-nine weeks.
★ 4.1
Ocean Avenue
2004
Sean Mackin's violin cutting through the guitars, and an avenue that is really a boulevard in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
★ 4.1
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (James Taylor)
1975 · From Gorilla
Carly Simon sings harmony behind her husband, David Sanborn takes the sax, and Holland-Dozier-Holland's Motown tune turns Californian.
★ 4.1
Crazy (Aerosmith)
1994 · From Get a Grip
Desmond Child helped Tyler and Perry finish it, and Liv Tyler's debut video kept MTV busy through 1994.
★ 4.1
Danger Zone
1986
Four acts turned it down before Loggins said yes, and Moroder's synth roar stalled at two behind "Sledgehammer."
★ 4.2
Life is a Highway (Tom Cochrane)
1991
A Red Rider demo called "Love Is a Highway", revived after Cochrane's World Vision trip to eastern Africa.
★ 4.2
Forever (Haim)
2012
Three sisters gave this away as a free download in February 2012; NME named it the year's fourth best track.
★ 4.2
A Pirate Looks at 40
1975
Buffett was twenty-seven when he wrote it, about a Chart Room regular in Key West and a life at sea.
★ 4.2
Simply Irresistible
1988
Number two in America, three weeks atop the rock chart, and the video that closed Palmer's mannequin trilogy.
★ 4.2
Just BreathePearl Jam
Just Breathe
2009 · From Backspacer
Vedder lifted the opening chord from Tuolumne, an Into the Wild instrumental, and Willie Nelson later took the song.
★ 4.2
I Want CandyBow Wow Wow
I Want Candy
1982
Criteria Studios in Miami, Kenny Laguna producing, the Strangeloves' 1965 hook over Barbarossa's Bo Diddley drums.
★ 4.2
Sister Christian
1984
Drummer Kelly Keagy wrote it about his kid sister Christy; Jack Blades misheard the name and Christian stuck.
★ 4.2
Father ChristmasThe Kinks
Father Christmas
1977
Ray Davies cut it at Konk in 1977, a department store Santa mugged by kids who want jobs, not toys.
★ 4.2
Apologize
Timbaland and OneRepublic
2007
Tedder wrote it, Timbaland remixed it, and radio played the result 10,394 times in a single week.
★ 4.2
Furr
2008
A four-track cassette machine in the rehearsal space Earley half lived in, and a boy who runs with wolves.
★ 4.2
These Dreams
1985
Taupin and Martin Page wrote it, Nancy Wilson sang lead through a cold, and Heart got their first number one.
★ 4.2
More Than Words
1990
Two voices and one acoustic guitar, dropped into a funk metal album, and A&M got a number one.
★ 4.3
Let Her Cry
1994
Rucker flipped the genders when he wrote it; by his account the addiction in the song was his own.
★ 4.3
Hear You Me
2001
Trombino set it as a 6/8 waltz for two sisters who ran Weezer's fan club; never a single, sung everywhere.
★ 4.3
Perfect Situation
2005 · From Make Believe
Cuomo re-recorded it after crowds sang his original melody back at him, and it topped alternative radio for four weeks.
★ 4.3
Valerie
1982
Every instrument on it is Winwood alone; the 1982 single stalled, and Tom Lord-Alge's 1987 remix reached the top ten.
★ 4.3
Hello OperatorThe White Stripes
Hello Operator
2000 · From De Stijl
Jack White turned a children's clapping rhyme into a complaint about the phone company, cut in his own living room.
★ 4.3
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
1972 · From Honky Chateau
Taupin's first New York, gunfire outside the hotel window, a rose borrowed from Spanish Harlem, all cut in France.
★ 4.3
Missing You
1984
Waite heard a guitar melody on cassette and improvised the first verse on the spot; its chorus is pure denial.
★ 4.3
Amsterdam (Coldplay)
2002 · From A Rush of Blood to the Head
Martin wrote the verse in Amsterdam and the outro in Iceland; the closing track waits minutes before the guitars arrive.
★ 4.3
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
1991
Elton John joined Michael onstage near Chicago in October 1991, and the live duet topped both charts.
★ 4.3
Dreaming with a Broken HeartJohn Mayer
Dreaming with a Broken Heart
2007
Pino Palladino on bass, Ricky Peterson on piano, Steve Jordan producing, and Mayer singing the moment the dream ends.
★ 4.3
Wish You Were Here (Incubus)
2001
Written late in the Malibu sessions on the street that gave the album its name, Boyd making stillness sound enormous.
★ 4.4
5 Years Time
2007
Laura Marling's ukulele and Charlie Fink's deadpan flopped in 2007; a 2008 re-release carried the sunshine to number seven.
★ 4.4
Name
1995
Rzeznik twisted tuning pegs until a second high E replaced the B string, and that open ring carries the song.
★ 4.4
Creep (Stone Temple Pilots)Stone Temple Pilots
Creep (Stone Temple Pilots)
1992
Weiland called it the gap between kid and young man, and Brendan O'Brien's production leaves the voice bare.
★ 4.4
Feels Like the First Time
1977
One of four songs on the demo that got Foreigner signed, and Gramm sang it at his audition.
★ 4.4
Daughters
2004
Mayer lobbied his label against releasing it, then won Song of the Year in 2005 and said so onstage.
★ 4.4
Take Me Home Tonight
1986
Told it was impossible, Money phoned Ronnie Spector himself, and she sings her 1963 hook right back.
★ 4.4
Wrong Way
1996 · From Sublime
Jon Blondell's trombone solo quotes Rhapsody in Blue over a ska bounce carrying Nowell's bleakest subject.
★ 4.4
Runaway Train
1993
Pirner wrote it during a breakdown, and Tony Kaye's video named missing children, region by region, until some came home.
★ 4.5
Who Will Save Your Soul
1995
Written at sixteen on a road trip, produced by Ben Keith, from a debut that took two years to break.
★ 4.5
Hey There Delilah
2006
Higgenson told a steeplechase runner he had written a song about her, then spent a year making it true.
★ 4.5
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
1982 · From Too Low for Zero
Cut at AIR Montserrat with the classic band reunited, and Stevie Wonder's harmonica lifting it clean off the ground.
★ 4.5
Jumper
1997
A bullied teenager's death behind it, and Jenkins turned the fifth single off his debut into a plea.
★ 4.5
Warning SignColdplay
Warning Sign
2002 · From A Rush of Blood to the Head
Buckland gave up on a guitar part and played maracas instead, and Martin's slow crawl back still aches.
★ 4.5
Title and Registration
2003 · From Transatlanticism
Unhappy with the mix, Walla squashed the drums through speech-therapy hardware and rebuilt the track around a glove compartment.
★ 4.5
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
Everybody's Changing
2004
Rice-Oxley wrote it after the guitarist quit, which is why a rock band's biggest hook is played on piano.
★ 4.5
Boy with a Coin
2007
Sub Pop led The Shepherd's Dog with this, the record where Beam's whispered four-track folk grew a full band.
★ 4.5
Oh! Sweet NothingThe Velvet Underground
Oh! Sweet Nothing
1970 · From Loaded
Reed's parade of characters with nothing to their names, sung by Doug Yule over seven closing minutes of Loaded.
★ 4.6
Plateau
1994 · From MTV Unplugged in New York
Curt Kirkwood wrote it for Meat Puppets II, then stood onstage playing it while Cobain sang his obscure song to millions.
★ 4.6
The Luckiest
2001
Written for the comedy Loser, which cut the scene, and now the piano ballad people play at weddings.
★ 4.6
Crush
1998
Eight minutes on the album, four on the radio, and Tinsley learned his violin solo the day before.
★ 4.6
Bring Me To Life
2003
Lee wrote it at nineteen, the label insisted on a male voice, and David Campbell's string section did the rest.
★ 4.6
Shine
1993
A basement demo meant only for publishers, until an Atlanta college station put it into rotation and Atlantic came calling.
★ 4.6
She Will Be Loved
2002
Levine says he and Valentine wrote it in about an hour, drawing on a troubled couple he knew.
★ 4.6
Love Hurts
1975
A 1960 Boudleaux Bryant song the Everly Brothers cut first, remade by McCafferty's rasp into the version everyone knows.
★ 4.6
Sex and Candy
1997
Four in the morning, under an hour of writing, and a fifteen-week grip on the Modern Rock chart.
★ 4.6
Here Comes the Hotstepper
1994
Salaam Remi's remix bolts a Taana Gardner sample to that Land of 1000 Dances chorus, and Kamoze went number one.
★ 4.6
How's It Gonna Be
1997
Fifty-two weeks on the Hot 100 for a breakup song that began with Cadogan picking up an autoharp.
★ 4.6
The First Cut Is The DeepestP.P. Arnold
The First Cut Is The Deepest
1967
Thirty pounds bought the song from Cat Stevens, and an ex-Ikette in London charted it before he released his own.
★ 4.6
Surfin' SafariThe Beach Boys
Surfin' Safari
1962 · From Surfin' Safari
Brian Wilson chased Chuck Berry on the piano into a C-F-G pattern; a surfing friend supplied the beach names.
★ 4.7
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
1975
Cut live at C. W. Post College in 1975, shelved six years, then loosed on every December radio playlist since.
★ 4.7
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
2002 · From Castaways and Cutouts
Two chords written in a northeast Portland duplex, and Nate Query put the whole album on his credit card.
★ 4.7
April 29, 1992
1996 · From Sublime
Nowell sings the wrong date, April 26, and the band kept the take anyway; he died before the album arrived.
★ 4.7
Baby I Love Your Way
1975
Stalled at 43 as a studio single until the live version on Frampton Comes Alive! reached the top twelve.
★ 4.7
Fly Away
1998
Kravitz stumbled on the riff testing an amplifier, nearly buried it as a B-side, and won a Grammy instead.
★ 4.7
My Doorbell
2005 · From Get Behind Me Satan
Piano and Meg's drums instead of a riff, cut at White's Detroit house, thematically the album's one cheerful track.
★ 4.7
Honey Don'tCarl Perkins
Honey Don't
1956
Flipside of Blue Suede Shoes, cut at Sun with both Perkins brothers, and later Ringo's turn on Beatles for Sale.
★ 4.7
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
1998 · From Armageddon: The Album
Written for Armageddon by Diane Warren after a Barbara Walters interview, it gave Aerosmith their only American number one.
★ 4.7
I Will Possess Your Heart
2007 · From Narrow Stairs
Five minutes of Harmer's bass riff before a word arrives, a krautrock crawl radio edits had to hack apart.
★ 4.7
Flagpole Sitta
1998
Named for a 1920s pole-sitting fad, cut in Seattle in 1996, and now inseparable from Peep Show's opening titles.
★ 4.7
Come UndoneDuran Duran
Come Undone
1993 · From Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
One drum loop, a phone call that brought Nick Rhodes over, and Tessa Niles unleashing the diva on the chorus.
★ 4.7
Small Town
1985 · From Scarecrow
Written in the laundry room of Mellencamp's old house, it makes Indiana sound like enough for one life.
★ 4.7
Soul Meets Body
2005 · From Plans
Gibbard wrote it for his girlfriend, Walla produced at a Massachusetts farm studio, ten weeks atop Adult Alternative.
★ 4.7
Fascination
1983 · From Fascination!
Martin Rushent's last Human League production for seven years, with four band members trading lines over a restless synth hook.
★ 4.7
3AM
1996
Thomas drew on his mother's cancer fight, and his earlier band Tabitha's Secret put it on record first.
★ 4.7
Summer Breeze
1972
Larry Knechtel on piano, Jim Gordon on drums, and a chorus that arrives like the evening it describes.
★ 4.8
Walking on Sunshine
1985
Kimberley Rew called it simple fun; the 1985 re-recording added horns and carried the band into the American top ten.
★ 4.8
Roam
1989
A rare B-52's lyric from an outsider, Robert Waldrop, and Pierson and Wilson make wanderlust sound weightless.
★ 4.8
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
1980 · From Glass Houses
Richie Cannata's sax break, Joel needling critics and fashion alike, and his first American number one.
★ 4.8
Last Resort
2000
Bassist Tobin Esperance wrote that riff on a piano, and Shaddix built a nu-metal standard about despair over it.
★ 4.8
All Star
1999
Greg Camp studied the Billboard top fifty for parts, then Shrek used it as temp music and never replaced it.
★ 4.8
Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)
2001
Monahan woke from a dream of his late mother, and Paul Buckmaster's strings carry the whole ache.
★ 4.8
Walk Like an Egyptian
1986
A tape loop, a LinnDrum, and a whistled hook: David Kahne built it while three Bangles split the verses.
★ 4.8
Your Love (The Outfield)
1986
Guitarist John Spinks wrote it, Tony Lewis sang it, and producer William Wittman pushed the band past their softer demo.
★ 4.8
The Heart of the MatterDon Henley
The Heart of the Matter
1989
Campbell cut the track at home before Henley and Souther added words, and forgiveness never sounded so hard-won.
★ 4.8
One Headlight
1997
Jakob Dylan wrote it at a Los Angeles kitchen table, then watched it top all three Billboard rock airplay charts.
★ 4.8
Around the World (RHCP)
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante back in the band and playing deliberately spare, while Flea's bass run opens Californication at a sprint.
★ 4.8
One (Johnny Cash)
2000 · From American III: Solitary Man
Rick Rubin's arrangement leaves it bare, and Cash, his voice thinned by illness, turns U2's Berlin song into a reckoning.
★ 4.8
Love is All AroundThe Troggs
Love is All Around
1967
A Salvation Army band on television gave Presley the idea; he later spent the royalties on crop-circle research.
★ 4.8
Falling (Haim)
2013
Danielle, Este and Alana wrote it with Morgan Nagler as a stay-strong pep talk, and it moves like one.
★ 4.8
Madman Across the Water
1971 · From Madman Across the Water
Buckmaster spilled ink across his orchestral score and rewrote all of it in a day; Spedding's electric guitar prowls underneath.
★ 4.8
The Pusher
1968
Hoyt Axton's mother held the publishing back over its language; Easy Rider then made Steppenwolf's version unavoidable.
★ 4.8
Sirius, Eye in the Sky
1982
Woolfson took the title from casino surveillance slang; Sirius became the music that introduced Michael Jordan's Bulls.
★ 4.8
Run to You
1984
Blue Oyster Cult passed, .38 Special passed, and Adams kept the riff; the first full take made the record.
★ 4.8
Carry Me Ohio
2003 · From Ghosts of the Great Highway
Kozelek grew up in Massillon, Ohio, and this is what he sends back: an apology set to ringing acoustic guitars.
★ 4.9
Working for the Weekend
1981
Dean found an empty beach midweek and wondered where everyone was; Reno turned waiting for the weekend into working.
★ 4.9
Something to Talk About
1991
A Shirley Eikhard song Raitt carried to number five, her biggest American hit, and a Grammy for that vocal.
★ 4.9
Holiday (Green Day)
2005 · From American Idiot
Armstrong spent two months doubting the lyrics until Cavallo pushed him; it went to number one on modern rock radio.
★ 4.9
Short Skirt/Long Jacket
2001
DiFiore's trumpet lick, chords borrowed from Sweet Jane, and McCrea deadpanning a want ad for the ideal woman.
★ 4.9
You Wear It Well
1972 · From Never a Dull Moment
A letter to an ex, sung over acoustic guitar, fiddle and McLagan's Hammond, and another UK number one.
★ 4.9
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
1993 · From Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell
Twelve minutes on the album, and the guide vocal Lorraine Crosby sang under a pseudonym is the one you hear.
★ 4.9
Bleed American
2001
Capitol dropped them, so they paid for it themselves; that opening riff bought the whole gamble back.
★ 4.9
The Sound of Settling
2003 · From Transatlanticism
Walla had to talk the band into keeping it, and Gibbard's throwaway became their singalong.
★ 4.9
Long December
1996
Duritz wrote it before dawn while a friend lay in hospital, and the band cut it almost entirely live.
★ 4.9
Goodbye Stranger
1979
Davies wrote and sang it, Hodgson answered in falsetto, and that Wurlitzer figure runs the whole drifter's farewell.
★ 4.9
Juke Box Hero
1982
Two unfinished songs Mutt Lange stitched together, and a kid outside the arena hearing one guitar through the wall.
★ 4.9
Feeling This
2003
Hoppus and DeLonge wrote in separate rooms, choruses and verses, and Barker's beat locked them together in a day.
★ 5.0
Bus Stop
1966
Graham Gouldman's father handed him the opening lines; Gouldman finished the middle eight on his own bus to work.
★ 5.0
Cold as Ice
1977
A piano riff hammered like a warning, written by Gramm and Jones, later sampled wholesale by M.O.P.
★ 5.0
Stay Together For The Kids
2001
DeLonge's parents divorced when he was eighteen; Finn produced, and the wrecking-ball video was reshot after September 11.
★ 5.0
Centerfold
1980
Justman, the band's keyboardist, wrote it, and his synth hook took a Worcester blues band to six weeks at number one.
★ 5.0
Hang Me Up To Dry
2007
Cut first for the Up in Rags EP, all four members co-producing, a clothesline standing in for one-sided love.
★ 5.0
Hot BloodedForeigner
Hot Blooded
1978
One riff played idly in Jones's apartment, and Gramm making him stop and play it again.
★ 5.0
California
2002
Jason Schwartzman still drummed for the band when they cut it; The O.C. later made it a UK top ten.
★ 5.0
Flightless Bird, American Mouth
2007
Brian Deck built a loop for Beam to layer guitar over; Stewart reportedly chose it for Twilight's prom.
★ 5.0
Adam's Song
1999
A piano bridge from session player Roger Joseph Manning Jr. lifts the band's most serious song out of its despair.
★ 5.0
Rill Rill
2010
Funkadelic's Can You Get to That, looped and sweetened, under the one Sleigh Bells song that whispers.
★ 5.0
Simple Song
2012 · From Port of Morrow
Mercer wrote it in his living room about his marriage, with Greg Kurstin on guitars, Mellotron and piano.
★ 5.0
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
1975 · From Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Baldry talked Elton out of a wedding in 1968, and Taupin wrote him into the chorus as Sugar Bear.
★ 5.0
Drive (Incubus)
2000
Boyd called it a song about fear, and Scott Litt's production pulls the band down to acoustic guitar.
★ 5.0
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
2006
Never a single, still platinum: Mayer, Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino playing a relationship that both parties know is finished.
★ 5.0
Who Can It Be Now?
1981
Hay wrote the music in a Bermagui treehouse, and Greg Ham's saxophone hook does the rest.
★ 5.1
Here I Go Again
1982
Jon Lord's Hammond organ on the 1982 original, a heartbreak song Coverdale wrote in Portugal, later a number one.
★ 5.1
Ode to My Family
1994
A homesick lullaby from No Need to Argue, with a string arrangement O'Riordan scored herself over Noel Hogan's chords.
★ 5.1
Keep On Loving You
1980
Cronin wrote it after his wife confessed an affair; Richrath's Les Paul turned a piano ballad into a number one.
★ 5.1
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
1977
Jankel lifted the bass figure from Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'"; the BBC banned the single, and Peel played it anyway.
★ 5.1
Kryptonite
2000
Fifteen years old and stuck in a math class when Arnold wrote it; he sang it from the drum stool.
★ 5.1
Wakin' On A Pretty Day
2013
Guitar that unspools for nine and a half minutes, Stella Mozgawa on drums, Vile in no rush anywhere.
★ 5.1
Out of Touch
1984
A chorus Oates stumbled into on a synthesizer he could barely operate, and the duo's sixth and last number one.
★ 5.1
I Believe in a Thing Called Love
2003
Justin Hawkins in full falsetto, cut at Chapel Studios, on a riff Q placed among its 101 greatest guitar tracks.
★ 5.1
Stacy's Mom
2003
Schlesinger owned up to this one, chasing the Cars; Ocasek assumed the intro was sampled from Just What I Needed.
★ 5.1
Uptown Girl
1983 · From An Innocent Man
Joel chasing Frankie Valli's falsetto and the Four Seasons' bounce; five weeks at number one, his only UK chart-topper.
★ 5.1
April Skies
1987
Gillespie had gone off to Primal Scream, so a drum machine drives the Reids' highest UK charting single.
★ 5.2
In Circles
1994
Enigk wrote it as a solo acoustic song; the band took it over, and his cracked howl carries it.
★ 5.2
Reflektor
2013 · From Reflektor
Seven and a half minutes, James Murphy at the desk, Haitian percussion, and Bowie volunteering his voice.
★ 5.2
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
1988
By Michaels' account a bad phone call from a Dallas laundromat wrote itself into Poison's only number one.
★ 5.2
The Distance
1996
Guitarist Greg Brown wrote it, McCrea narrates deadpan over trumpet, and the driver keeps racing long after everyone left.
★ 5.2
Hold the Line
1978
Paich's pounding piano intro, Porcaro's triplet hi-hat, and Lukather's solo, all on a debut single that hit number five.
★ 5.2
Play That Funky Music
1975
A club patron asked the band's drummer for funky music; Parissi wrote the answer on an order pad.
★ 5.2
Phantom LimbThe Shins
Phantom Limb
2006 · From Wincing the Night Away
Mercer sketched a young lesbian couple stuck in a small town, then floated it on Chiccarelli's widescreen jangle.
★ 5.2
KicksPaul Revere & the Raiders
Kicks
1966
Mann and Weil wrote it about Gerry Goffin's drug problems, by Mann's account; the Raiders took it to number four.
★ 5.2
Rape Me
1993 · From In Utero
Written on acoustic guitar in 1991, recorded by Albini at Pachyderm, and stocked by Walmart under a changed title.
★ 5.2
We Are Young
fun. and Janelle Monae
2011
Six weeks at number one, and it began with Ruess singing the chorus, tipsy, at the Bowery Hotel.
★ 5.2
Kissing the Lipless
2003 · From Chutes Too Narrow
Cut in the basement of Mercer's Portland house, a breakup song that starts at a whisper and detonates.
★ 5.2
Acadian Driftwood
1975 · From Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Manuel, Helm and Danko trade verses on Robertson's account of the 1755 Acadian expulsion, Byron Berline's fiddle overdubbed above.
★ 5.3
The New Year
2003 · From Transatlanticism
A field recording of distant Seattle freeway noise opens the album, then the guitars come crashing in behind Gibbard.
★ 5.3
Southern Cross
1982
Stills took the Curtis Brothers' 'Seven League Boots', rewrote the words and chorus, and turned a divorce into open ocean.
★ 5.3
Hurts So Good
1982 · From American Fool
Sixteen weeks in the top ten, more than any other single of the eighties, and Aronoff's drums never let up.
★ 5.3
Ants Marching
1995
Played live since 1991 and cut twice on record, it rides Boyd Tinsley's violin hook and Beauford's snare.
★ 5.3
Carolina In My Mind
1968 · From James Taylor
McCartney played bass and Harrison sang uncredited backing on the Apple debut, while Taylor sat in London missing North Carolina.
★ 5.3
Gravity
2006
Alicia Keys sings backing behind Pino Palladino's bass, and Mayer called it the most important song he has written.
★ 5.3
The Wire
2013
Three sisters, one kiss-off, and Ariel Rechtshaid's production splitting the difference between Laurel Canyon soft rock and nineties R&B.
★ 5.3
Blue Sky
1972 · From Eat a Peach
Duane heard Betts's song, told him to sing it himself, and traded solos on one of his last sessions.
★ 5.3
Touch of GreyGrateful Dead
Touch of Grey
1987 · From In the Dark
Cut live on a darkened Marin auditorium stage with no audience, and somehow the Dead's only Top 10 hit.
★ 5.3
First Date
2001
DeLonge wrote it after the band's manager complained the album had no feel-good song; a SeaWorld date supplied the rest.
★ 5.3
Crash Into Me
1996
Desire watched from a distance, an acoustic figure circling, and Steve Lillywhite catching all of it at Bearsville.
★ 5.4
Peaceful Easy Feeling
1972 · From Eagles
Tempchin wrote it on a poster back while sleeping on a club floor; Leadon's B-bender guitar does the rest.
★ 5.4
Mony Mony
1987
Idol's 1981 studio take missed the Hot 100 entirely; the live 1987 version knocked Tiffany off number one.
★ 5.4
Dream Lover
1959
Neil Sedaka on piano, Darin's own chord discovery, and a wish for an ideal partner that topped Britain.
★ 5.4
Devil with a Blue Dress On
1966
Shorty Long cut it slow and bluesy first; Ryder welded it to Good Golly, Miss Molly and hit number four.
★ 5.4
Tuesday's GoneLynyrd Skynyrd
Tuesday's Gone
1973 · From Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd
A Mellotron faking the strings, producer Al Kooper credited as Roosevelt Gook, and Van Zant's rambling farewell.
★ 5.4
She Don't Use Jelly
1993 · From Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
A decade underground, then Beavis and Butt-Head featured the video and the Lips had their only American hit.
★ 5.4
So Far AwayCarole King
So Far Away
1971 · From Tapestry
Acoustic guitar from James Taylor, a flute solo from Curtis Amy, and King mourning a world where nobody stays put.
★ 5.4
Are You Gonna Be My Girl
2003
A cough left in from the demo, a Motown-derived stomp, and a riff everyone insisted they had heard before.
★ 5.4
Chasing Cars
2006
Lightbody's father compared him to a dog chasing a car; a Grey's Anatomy finale sent it worldwide.
★ 5.4
One (Three Dog Night)
1969
A busy signal on Nilsson's telephone became the repeating note, and Chuck Negron sings loneliness to number five.
★ 5.4
For Your Love
1965
Brian Auger's harpsichord and Denny Piercy's bongos on a pop single, with Clapton confined to the middle break before quitting.
★ 5.4
Mama Told Me Not to ComeThree Dog Night
Mama Told Me Not to Come
1970
Newman wrote it for Eric Burdon in 1966, and Cory Wells sings the bewildered party guest straight to number one.
★ 5.4
Do You
2014 · From They Want My Soul
Spoon's eighth album brought in Dave Fridmann and Alex Fischel, and Daniel spends the chorus asking to be understood.
★ 5.4
Trouble
2000 · From Parachutes
Recorded four times before Ken Nelson kept one, and Martin, by his account, apologizing for behaving badly toward his band.
★ 5.4
The Way We Get BySpoon
The Way We Get By
2002 · From Kill the Moonlight
Piano, bass and a single nagging guitar figure, with Daniel making aimlessness sound like the best available plan.
★ 5.4
Somewhere Only We Know
2004
Rice-Oxley hammered it out on piano after "Heroes", and Keane proved a rock band could skip guitars entirely.
★ 5.5
Strange BrewCream
Strange Brew
1967 · From Disraeli Gears
Pappalardi and Gail Collins wrote new words over a shelved "Lawdy Mama" take, and Clapton borrows Albert King wholesale.
★ 5.5
Planet Telex
1995 · From The Bends
Originally called Planet Xerox until the trademark intervened, drums spliced from other sessions, piano soaked in delay.
★ 5.5