Oh Girl (Paul Young)
1990
Eugene Record's Chi-Lites ballad, harmonica and all, remade by Young in 1990 for a number eight American hit.
★ 1.2
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.
How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
1989
Written in 1982, handed to Branigan after Bolton refused Clive Davis's rewrite, and reclaimed for a number one.
★ 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
She's Like The Wind
1987
Swayze and Stacy Widelitz wrote it in 1984; rejected for Youngblood, it found Dirty Dancing and Wendy Fraser's backing vocals.
★ 2.3
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
You're the InspirationChicago
You're the Inspiration
1984
Cetera sketched the chords in three hours for Kenny Rogers, who declined; Chicago kept it and hit number three.
★ 2.6
Do You Remember
1990
A slow burn, Hugh Padgham at the desk, Stephen Bishop harmonising behind, and Collins's fourteenth and final American top ten.
★ 2.6
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
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
One More Night (Phil Collins)
1984
A DX7 electric piano, a drum machine, and Don Myrick's saxophone taking a number one out quietly.
★ 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
From This Moment On
1998
Twain got the idea at a soccer match in Italy; Bryan White sang the original duet version.
★ 3.1
Right Here Waiting
1989
Written for Cynthia Rhodes while she filmed in South Africa, turned down by Streisand, then three weeks at number one.
★ 3.2
I Will Remember You
1995
Seamus Egan's instrumental came first; McLachlan added words, and the live Mirrorball version won her a Grammy.
★ 3.3
Can't Fight This Feeling
1984
Cronin sat on the verses for years before finishing them in Hawaii, and three weeks at number one followed.
★ 3.5
I Wish it Would Rain Down
1990
Clapton plays the lead over Padgham's production, the closest Collins had then come to writing a blues song.
★ 3.5
Have I Told You Lately
1991 · From Vagabond Heart
Morrison wrote it as a prayer for Avalon Sunset; Stewart's reading turned it into a wedding standard.
★ 3.5
Beth Rest
2011 · From Bon Iver, Bon Iver
A Korg M1 supplied most of the sounds, NPR called it the year's most divisive song, Vernon his favorite.
★ 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
Broken Wings
1985
Reversed cymbal into synth bass, John Lang's lyric drawn from Kahlil Gibran, and Page's voice soaring over it.
★ 3.6
Don't Know Much
1989 · From Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind
Barry Mann and Bill Medley both cut it first; Neville's tenor against Ronstadt is what finally carried it to a Grammy.
★ 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
Angel (Sarah McLachlan)
1998
Piano, upright bass, a drum machine, and McLachlan writing about a Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist's overdose with startling tenderness.
★ 3.9
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
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
That's What Friends Are For
1985
Bacharach and Bayer Sager wrote it for Rod Stewart; four voices later it raised over three million for AIDS research.
★ 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
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
When Can I See You
1993
Babyface stripped back to acoustic guitar, won his first performing Grammy, and landed his highest solo placing at number four.
★ 4.2
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
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
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
All By Myself
1996
Eric Carmen's verse borrowed from Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto, and Dion nailing the high F Foster dared her to try.
★ 4.4
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
Change the World
1996
Wynonna Judd cut it first as country; Babyface gave Clapton a soul groove and the Grammys gave back three.
★ 4.5
If You Leave Me NowChicago
If You Leave Me Now
1976
Parazaider heard it on the radio while cleaning his pool and assumed McCartney, not his own band.
★ 4.5
Crush
1998
Eight minutes on the album, four on the radio, and Tinsley learned his violin solo the day before.
★ 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