December
1995
Roland wrote it about a souring relationship with the band's first manager, then rode nine weeks atop rock radio.
★ 2.9
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.
What You Want
1999 · From The Roots Come Alive
Jaguar Wright's hook over Philadelphia's finest, and lyrics so tied to The Best Man the film edited out a spoiler.
★ 3.6
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
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
What Goes Around...Comes Around
2006 · From FutureSex / LoveSounds
Danja's guitar riff started it in the studio; Timberlake's third straight number one turns betrayal into slow burn.
★ 5.3
I'm Movin' OnHank Snow
I'm Movin' On
1950
Twenty-one weeks at number one, and a chugging beat that lets the train do all the talking.
★ 5.5
Tennessee WaltzPatti Page
Tennessee Waltz
1950
Stewart reportedly wrote the lyrics on a matchbox cover, and Page's double-tracked vocal held number one for nine weeks.
★ 5.7
Runaround Sue
1961
Bell Sound in 1961, the Del-Satins behind him, Ernie Maresca's co-write, and Dion's only American number one.
★ 6.0
Return of the Mack
1996
Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love beat rebuilt as smooth British R&B, and Morrison sounding utterly unbothered about being wronged.
★ 6.2
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)Nancy Sinatra
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
1966
Tremolo guitar from arranger Billy Strange, a murder-ballad chorus, and the reading Tarantino chose for Kill Bill's credits.
★ 6.5
You Give Love a Bad Name
1986 · From Slippery When Wet
A Bonnie Tyler chorus that went nowhere, rewritten by Desmond Child, and suddenly Bon Jovi's first number one.
★ 6.5
Linger
1993
Stephen Street produced it, the Duke Quartet supplied the strings, and O'Riordan wrote the melody at her audition.
★ 6.5
Pancho and Lefty
1983 · From Pancho & Lefty
Nelson cut his part after midnight, fetched Haggard from his bus, and kept the one take Haggard wanted redone.
★ 6.5
Cecilia
1970
Friends banged on a piano bench at a party; Simon and Halee looped the thumping into a rhythm track.
★ 6.7
Irreplaceable
2006
Ne-Yo pitched it as country, written with Shania Twain in mind; Beyoncé turned it into ten weeks at number one.
★ 6.8
Wildwood Flower
1928
Maybelle Carter played melody and rhythm at once, and every country guitarist since has learned this 1860 parlor tune.
★ 7.0
Cry Me A River
2002 · From Justified
Storch's clavinet, Timbaland's beat, and a breakup Timberlake spent years declining to explain; the Grammy arrived anyway.
★ 7.1
Dead Presidents IIJay-Z
Dead Presidents II
1996 · From Reasonable Doubt
Ski looped Lonnie Liston Smith under a Nas vocal, and Jay-Z made money sound like a weary confession.
★ 7.1
Whipping PostThe Allman Brothers Band
Whipping Post
1969 · From The Allman Brothers Band
An ironing board cover, charcoal from spent matches, and Berry Oakley's bass counting the intro in eleven menacing beats.
★ 7.2
Dazed and ConfusedLed Zeppelin
Dazed and Confused
1969 · From Led Zeppelin
Jake Holmes wrote it in 1967, the Yardbirds absorbed it, Page cut it at Olympic with a violin bow.
★ 7.3
These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
1966
Chuck Berghofer's descending double bass, plus Sinatra talking Hazlewood into letting a woman sing lines written for a man.
★ 7.3
Chain of Fools
1967 · From Lady Soul
Joe South's tremolo guitar opens it, Don Covay wrote it young while singing gospel, and Franklin turns it merciless.
★ 7.5
Mr. Brightside
2004 · From Hot Fuss
Flowers wrote it after a bad night at a Vegas bar; Britain has kept it charting past 500 weeks.
★ 7.6
Black Dog
1971 · From Led Zeppelin IV
Jones wrote the riff, Page took the stop-start idea from Fleetwood Mac, and a stray labrador supplied the title.
★ 7.6
The ChainFleetwood Mac
The Chain
1977 · From Rumours
Razor-blade tape splices turned rejected scraps into the one Rumours song credited to all five, McVie's bass ending it.
★ 7.7
In The Air Tonight
1981
Padgham's talkback-microphone accident on Peter Gabriel's third album, a Roland CR-78 pattern, and pop's most anticipated drum entrance.
★ 7.7
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
Blue Monday
1983
A die-cut sleeve modelled on a floppy disk, an Oberheim drum machine, and the best-selling twelve-inch single ever pressed.
★ 8.4