Auld Lang Syne
1910
Burns said he took the song down from an old man; Stanley's 1910 disc is probably the first commercial recording.
★ 1.3
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.
Generator (First Floor)
2010
Queens kids who met on Craigslist and busked subway platforms, then made banjo and glockenspiel sound euphoric.
★ 2.0
My Best Friend
1999
Bill Luther and Aimee Mayo's ballad for A Place in the Sun, and McGraw took it to country number one.
★ 2.8
Exhale (Shoop Shoop)
1995 · From Waiting to Exhale (soundtrack)
Babyface hummed a placeholder where the words should go, kept it, and watched the record debut at number one.
★ 3.0
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
Wind Beneath My Wings
1989
A 1982 song already cut by Lou Rawls and Gary Morris before Beaches made it Record of the Year.
★ 4.1
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
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
Lovers and FriendsLil Jon
Lovers and Friends
2005
Lil Jon slowed crunk to a crawl, interpolated Michael Sterling's 1990 ballad, and rode Usher's hook to number three.
★ 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
Cool It Now
1984
A LinnDrum, five Boston teenagers, and a spoken bridge calling out Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike by name.
★ 4.4
See You Again
2015
Puth turned a dance production into a piano ballad for Paul Walker; it spent twelve weeks atop the Hot 100.
★ 4.5
22
2012 · From Red
An acoustic guitar riff opens it, then Max Martin and Shellback's synthesizers turn a birthday into a full night out.
★ 4.8
Back In My Arms Again
1965
Holland-Dozier-Holland's fifth straight number one for the group, Jamerson's bass driving it, Ross name-checking Flo and Mary mid-verse.
★ 5.1
I'll Be Missing YouSean Combs
I'll Be Missing You
1997
An uncleared Police sample handed Sting the royalties; Faith Evans and 112 turned mourning into eleven weeks at number one.
★ 5.2
Head Over Feet
1995
Harmonica played by Morissette herself, Ballard's warm production, and a rare Jagged Little Pill song that is simply grateful.
★ 5.5
Someday
2002 · From Is This It
Moretti woke to hear Casablancas inventing the melody in the bathroom, and it became the warmest song on Is This It.
★ 5.5
I Ain't Mad At Cha
1995
Released two days after Shakur's death, Daz Dillinger's loop of DeBarge's A Dream carrying a farewell to lost friends.
★ 6.4
White Winter Hymnal
2008 · From Fleet Foxes
A round about snow that the band never once played together, its voices stacked from first takes in production.
★ 6.4
You've Got a Friend
1971 · From Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon
King wrote it during the Tapestry sessions; Taylor cut it with Joni Mitchell behind him for his only number one.
★ 6.5
Wannabe
1996
Seven weeks at UK number one for a debut single, and a chorus that puts her friends before any suitor.
★ 6.7
Who Are YouThe Who
Who Are You
1978 · From Who Are You
Townshend woke in a Soho doorway after drinking with two Sex Pistols, and Keith Moon's last album took the title.
★ 6.7
Back on the Chain Gang
1982 · From Learning to Crawl
Hynde cut it weeks after Honeyman-Scott's death, with Rockpile's Bremner on guitar and a Sam Cooke chant behind her.
★ 6.9
On the Road Again
1980 · From Honeysuckle Rose
An airsickness bag, a film producer's request, and a single cut live at a club over two Austin nights.
★ 7.0
The Boys are Back in Town
1976
Gorham and Robertson's twin leads on a track the band nearly left off Jailbreak; Kentucky radio saved it.
★ 7.0
With a Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker)
1968
Cocker slowed a Beatles album track to gospel tempo, with Jimmy Page on guitar and Tommy Eyre's organ intro.
★ 7.1
93 'Til InfinitySouls of Mischief
93 'Til Infinity
1993 · From 93 'til Infinity
A-Plus flipped Billy Cobham's Heather into a beat he made in high school, and Oakland never sounded calmer.
★ 7.1
NightswimmingR.E.M.
Nightswimming
1992 · From Automatic for the People
Mills cut the piano at Criteria on the instrument heard on "Layla," and John Paul Jones arranged the strings.
★ 7.2
With a Little Help From My Friends (The Beatles)
1967 · From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Starr sang it at dawn after ten takes, having first made them cut the line about thrown tomatoes.
★ 7.4
Check the Rhime
1990 · From The Low End Theory
An Average White Band loop, Q-Tip and Phife trading lines, and a Queens rooftop that Linden Boulevard still remembers.
★ 7.6
They Reminisce Over YouPete Rock
They Reminisce Over You
1992
Pete Rock looped a Tom Scott saxophone line, and CL Smooth's eulogy for a lost friend still aches.
★ 8.3
Lean On Me
1972
Withers bought a small piano, ran his fingers up the keys, and found the coal-town kinship he missed.
★ 8.3
Bridge Over Troubled Water
1970
Garfunkel's voice climbing a gospel staircase, the last verse arriving like the cavalry.
★ 9.5
Hey JudeThe Beatles
Hey Jude
1968
Seven minutes, four of them just na-na-na, and somehow nobody has ever wanted it to end sooner.
★ 9.5