Break Your Heart
2010
Fraser T Smith produced a UK number one; Mercury then added Ludacris and it leapt to the American top spot.
★ 1.5
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.
Achy Breaky Heart
1992
Don Von Tress wrote it; the Marcy Brothers cut it first, then Cyrus's video sent line dancing worldwide.
★ 1.5
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
Stereo Love
2009
That accordion hook interpolates an Azerbaijani song from 1989, and Vika Jigulina's vocal rode it 47 weeks across Europe.
★ 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
Nobody Knows
1996
Rich played almost every instrument on it himself in an Atlanta studio, then sang the heartbreak like a secret.
★ 2.8
Bless the Broken Road
2005
A decade after the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band cut it first, Rascal Flatts rode it to five weeks at number one.
★ 2.9
Everybody Plays the Fool (Aaron Neville)
1991
Linda Ronstadt produced it, and Neville's falsetto turns the Main Ingredient's 1972 consolation into something even gentler.
★ 3.2
Beautiful Girls
2007
Rotem built it on Stand by Me, and Kingston, seventeen, became the first nineties-born artist to top the Hot 100.
★ 3.3
It Will Rain
2011
Half-finished on the Hooligans tour, the melody landed once Mars saw an early cut of Breaking Dawn.
★ 3.3
Nothing But a Heartache
1968
Two Pearce sisters and Viola Billups on a British label, a Northern soul classic that outlived its modest chart run.
★ 3.4
Knock You Down
2009
Six names on the writing credit, three voices trading verses, and Danja's production holding a number three hit together.
★ 3.5
Tearin' Up My Heart
1998
An all-night session at Stockholm's Cheiron Studios, Chasez on the last vocal at six a.m., the hook already immovable.
★ 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
You Were Mine
1997 · From Wide Open Spaces
Two sisters writing about their parents' divorce, and a demo vocal that won Natalie Maines the lead job.
★ 4.0
Everybody Everybody
1990
Martha Wash sang it, a model mimed it, and her lawsuit changed how dance records credit their singers.
★ 4.1
After You've GoneMarion Harris
After You've Gone
1918
Cut for Victor in July 1918 by the singer billed as Queen of the Blues; jazz kept it.
★ 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
Walking On Broken Glass
1992
Spiccato strings, a skipping piano, and a breakup lyric; Malkovich and Hugh Laurie costar in the period video.
★ 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
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
Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart
2009
Synth pitched somewhere in early-eighties Prince territory, with Keys singing insomnia as though it were a physical condition.
★ 4.6
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
1996
Two million US copies, a Stockholm session from 1995, and a vocal Nick Carter recorded once his voice settled.
★ 4.8
Everybody Plays the Fool (The Main Ingredient)The Main Ingredient
Everybody Plays the Fool (The Main Ingredient)
1972
Cuba Gooding Sr. stepped up after Donald McPherson's death and turned heartbreak into the warmest consolation soul ever offered.
★ 4.9
Mama Said
1961
Number four in 1961, with Luther Dixon and Willie Denson turning a mother's shrug into pure reassurance.
★ 4.9
Don't Rock the Jukebox
1991
Jackson leaned against a wobbly jukebox in a Virginia lounge, left with the title, and George Jones got name-checked.
★ 5.0
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
In Circles
1994
Enigk wrote it as a solo acoustic song; the band took it over, and his cracked howl carries it.
★ 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
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
1982
A soft reggae beat from Mikey Craig's Caribbean instincts, Steve Levine's polish, and Boy George on Top of the Pops.
★ 5.7
It's the Same Old SongThe Four Tops
It's the Same Old Song
1965
Gordy ordered a rush job after Columbia reissued an old single, so Holland-Dozier-Holland reversed their own chart topper.
★ 5.7
Unbreak My Heart
1996
Diane Warren built it from the title alone, Braxton resisted recording it, then held number one eleven weeks.
★ 5.7
Red Eyes
2014 · From Lost in the Dream
Granduciel spent two years second-guessing these sessions, and the song still turns on one yelp before the chorus.
★ 5.8
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
1972 · From Let's Stay Together
Willie Mitchell let a Bee Gees ballad run past six minutes at Royal Studios, and Green sings the whole ache.
★ 5.9
Against All Odds
1983
A Face Value outtake with new lyrics for Taylor Hackford's film, and Collins's first American number one.
★ 6.0
It Makes No DifferenceThe Band
It Makes No Difference
1975 · From Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Robertson wrote it expressly for Danko's voice, and at their own Shangri-La studio the Band gave loss room to breathe.
★ 6.1
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
1952
Fats Domino sat in on piano at Cosimo Matassa's studio, setting the pattern for New Orleans rock and roll.
★ 6.2
Lonely Teardrops
1958
Berry Gordy wrote it before Motown existed, and arranger Dick Jacobs sped the ballad into Wilson's signature record.
★ 6.3
The Look of Love
1981
Trevor Horn's desk, Anne Dudley's strings, and Fry making his own jilting sound like the most glamorous thing available.
★ 6.3
Cathy's Clown
1960
Cut live in one take with the brothers sharing a microphone, the drums looped on tape to double them.
★ 6.3