
Angel (Shaggy)
Sting International stitched The Joker to Angel of the Morning, and Rayvon sang the hook to a number one.

Sting International stitched The Joker to Angel of the Morning, and Rayvon sang the hook to a number one.

Clarkson wrote it for the ten-year mark since Idol, and the chorus lands like someone taking stock mid-sprint.

A decade after the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band cut it first, Rascal Flatts rode it to five weeks at number one.

Barry Manilow produced Warwick's Arista debut, and this Kerr and Jennings ballad won her a 1980 Grammy.

Re-recorded in a new key after Genie in a Bottle, it reached number one on January 15, 2000.

Babyface wrote it for Luther Vandross, who declined; Mariah Carey sang backing and Kenny G played soprano sax.

Morrison wrote it as a prayer for Avalon Sunset; Stewart's reading turned it into a wedding standard.
Diane Warren wrote it as a tribute to her father, and Foster's arrangement held number one six weeks.

Fogelberg wrote it for his father Lawrence, a working bandleader who lived to hear it and talk about it.


A 1982 song already cut by Lou Rawls and Gary Morris before Beaches made it Record of the Year.

A 1940 flop revived by a film, cut with Percy Faith conducting, and ten weeks at number one.

Carly Simon sings harmony behind her husband, David Sanborn takes the sax, and Holland-Dozier-Holland's Motown tune turns Californian.
Vedder lifted the opening chord from Tuolumne, an Into the Wild instrumental, and Willie Nelson later took the song.
Tubular bells, autoharp and a muted guitar imitating pedal steel; Sebastian finished Boone's melody in half an hour.

JoJo Hailey wrote it thinking of his daughter, then kept it, and weddings have not let go since.

A hangover, a bike ride to Ant's house, and an optimistic beat that became Atmosphere's biggest song.

Eternal cut it first in Britain; Rodney Jerkins rebuilt it for Monica, who held number one four weeks.

Harmonica played by Morissette herself, Ballard's warm production, and a rare Jagged Little Pill song that is simply grateful.

Camille Yarbrough's 1975 vocal over a lo-fi piano loop, and a Spike Jonze video reportedly shot for eight hundred dollars.

Medley said no repeatedly until Warnes signed on, and the two finished the vocal in about an hour.

Wonder hands the first four lines to Jim Gilstrap and Lani Groves, then walks in over his own Fender Rhodes.

Tony Arata's lyric works as a breakup song or an elegy, and Brooks' video chose the elegy.
Holland-Dozier-Holland gave Gaye a rare uncomplicated love song, and that rolling piano and the Andantes carried it to number six.

Eno programmed the drum machine, Lanois played the Telecaster, and the Edge won the argument for his old delay-drenched sound.

Julian Koster's singing saw over double-tracked acoustics, cut in Denver with Robert Schneider, and a chorus that faces death smiling.

Written with Ben Margulies in a studio behind his father's cabinet factory, and the whistle-register note that reset pop singing.
Booked into Abbey Road as Billy Martin, McCartney played every instrument in a day and declined to release a single.

Larry Graham slapping and popping the bass line credited with inventing the technique, and a verse quoting their own hits.