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.
Breakfast at Tiffany's
1995
Todd Pipes drew the lyric from Roman Holiday, swapped in a different Hepburn title, and Britain sent it to number one.
★ 1.4
Don't Turn AroundAce of Base
Don't Turn Around
1994
Hammond and Warren's song first surfaced on a Tina Turner B-side; Aswad, then Ace of Base, found the hit inside.
★ 1.4
The Hardest Thing
1999
David Frank and Steve Kipner handed a boy band a breakup song about ending an affair; it reached number five.
★ 1.6
Too Close
2011
Diplo and Switch wrapped a breakup song in dubstep, and a Microsoft browser ad made it a worldwide hit.
★ 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
The Promise
1988
Written in a garden shed at Farrington's father's house, stalled at fifty-eight in Britain, then Napoleon Dynamite happened.
★ 2.9
How You Remind Me
2001
Forty-five minutes to an hour, by Kroeger's account, then more US radio plays than any song of the decade.
★ 3.0
King of Wishful ThinkingGo West
King of Wishful Thinking
1990
Three writers, a Pretty Woman soundtrack slot, and the most cheerful denial ever to reach the American top ten.
★ 3.1
Blue Skies
2009
Fink wrote the whole album around his split with Laura Marling; this became its first single, and its way out.
★ 3.1
Barely Breathing
1996
Fifty-five weeks on the Hot 100 without ever passing number sixteen, and Sheik got a Grammy nomination out of it.
★ 3.2
Too Little Too Late
2006
One week of downloads lifted it from sixty-six to three, a Hot 100 record, with JoJo just fifteen.
★ 3.2
If I Could Change Your Mind
2014
James Ford produced it, all three sisters wrote it, and the harmonies turn a plea into a groove.
★ 3.3
You Keep Me Hangin' On (Kim Wilde)
1987
Wilde rebuilt the Holland-Dozier-Holland original as hi-NRG and became the second act to take it to number one.
★ 3.4
Listen to Your HeartRoxette
Listen to Your Heart
1988
Cut at EMI Studios in Stockholm, Gessle's deliberate pastiche of overblown American FM rock, and it hit number one.
★ 3.5
Deuces
Chris Brown and Tyga
2010
Three voices, one mixtape: McCall produced and guested, Tyga rapped, and Brown took a breakup to number one R&B.
★ 3.5
Something Happened on the Way to Heaven
1990
Phenix Horns brass over Nathan East's bass, on a song Collins first wrote for The War of the Roses.
★ 3.6
Lately (Jodeci)
1993
Twenty-four hours to learn a Stevie Wonder ballad for MTV Unplugged, and K-Ci and JoJo owned it.
★ 3.6
Up Against the Wall
2006
Seven minutes long, never a single, self-produced by the trio, and the longest slow burn on Writer's Block.
★ 3.7
Some of These Days
1911
Tucker's maid pressed Shelton Brooks's song on her in 1910, and it stayed her signature for the rest of her career.
★ 3.7
Please Don't Go
1979
Casey and Finch's first ballad after a run of dance hits, and the first American number one of the 1980s.
★ 3.7
Landed
2005
Folds went back to a trio for Songs for Silverman, and made its lead single a phone call home.
★ 3.7
Hot N Cold
2008
Max Martin and Dr. Luke's pop machine at full tilt, a runaway-groom video, and 39 weeks on the Hot 100.
★ 4.0
Wide Awake
2012
Written for her own concert film with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, it climbed to number two in America.
★ 4.2
Sail On
1979
Richie handed a funk band a country ballad, rode it to number four, and re-cut it with Tim McGraw.
★ 4.2
Apologize
Timbaland and OneRepublic
2007
Tedder wrote it, Timbaland remixed it, and radio played the result 10,394 times in a single week.
★ 4.2
The SignAce of Base
The Sign
1993
A synth flute over a Banbarra drum sample, cut at Cheiron in Stockholm, and Billboard's biggest single of 1994.
★ 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
Take a Bow
2008
StarGate and Ne-Yo tracked the ballad in three studios on two continents, and it vaulted from fifty-three to number one.
★ 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
Warning SignColdplay
Warning Sign
2002 · From A Rush of Blood to the Head
Buckland gave up on a guitar part and played maracas instead, and Martin's slow crawl back still aches.
★ 4.5
Title and Registration
2003 · From Transatlanticism
Unhappy with the mix, Walla squashed the drums through speech-therapy hardware and rebuilt the track around a glove compartment.
★ 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
Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
2012
Nietzsche by way of a co-writer's mother, Greg Kurstin's production, and Clarkson's third number one.
★ 4.6
Out in the Streets
1965 · From Shangri-Las-65!
Shadow Morton production, Greenwich and Barry words, and a narrator who quietly hands her boyfriend back to the streets.
★ 4.6
How's It Gonna Be
1997
Fifty-two weeks on the Hot 100 for a breakup song that began with Cadogan picking up an autoharp.
★ 4.6
The Heart of the MatterDon Henley
The Heart of the Matter
1989
Campbell cut the track at home before Henley and Souther added words, and forgiveness never sounded so hard-won.
★ 4.8
Falling (Haim)
2013
Danielle, Este and Alana wrote it with Morgan Nagler as a stay-strong pep talk, and it moves like one.
★ 4.8
I Love It
Icona Pop and Charli XCX
2012
Charli XCX passed on her own demo; Icona Pop roughed it up, and HBO's Girls did the rest.
★ 5.0
Problem
2014
A saxophone loop, Big Sean whispering the hook uncredited, and Max Martin's team handing Grande her first pop blockbuster.
★ 5.0
Gone Gone Gone
2007 · From Raising Sand
A 1964 Everly Brothers single, rebuilt by T Bone Burnett into swampy menace, won a Grammy.
★ 5.1
Out of Touch
1984
A chorus Oates stumbled into on a synthesizer he could barely operate, and the duo's sixth and last number one.
★ 5.1
If You Leave
1986
John Hughes reshot Pretty in Pink's ending and asked for 120 BPM; OMD turned it around in a day or two.
★ 5.2
Kissing the Lipless
2003 · From Chutes Too Narrow
Cut in the basement of Mercer's Portland house, a breakup song that starts at a whisper and detonates.
★ 5.2
The Wire
2013
Three sisters, one kiss-off, and Ariel Rechtshaid's production splitting the difference between Laurel Canyon soft rock and nineties R&B.
★ 5.3
Lost Cause
2002 · From Sea Change
One week of writing after a nine-year relationship ended, and Godrich kept the arrangement to acoustic guitar and brushes.
★ 5.4
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
Give Me One Reason
1995 · From New Beginning
Chapman played it live for seven years before recording it, then a loose blues shuffle became her biggest hit.
★ 5.5
If I Could Turn Back TimeCher
If I Could Turn Back Time
1989
Diane Warren got on her knees begging Cher to cut it; the video was shot aboard the USS Missouri.
★ 5.6
Different DrumThe Stone Poneys
Different Drum
1967
Strings, harpsichord, a second take cut live, and Ronstadt the only Stone Poney anywhere on the record.
★ 5.7
Here's Where The Story Ends
1990
Guitar jangle, Wheeler's voice, and a US Modern Rock number one that Britain never received as a single.
★ 5.7
Bye Bye Bye
2000
Andreas Carlsson reportedly wrote the lyric during a Stockholm driving test; Cheiron's producers built pop's most decisive exit.
★ 5.8
Bills, Bills, Bills
1999
She'kspere started beatboxing the groove in a store, and Kandi Burruss turned a deadbeat boyfriend into a number one.
★ 5.8
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2003
Tamborello mailed the beats to Gibbard on discs, who wrote this over a breakup with someone who moved to Washington.
★ 5.8
I'll Be Around
1972
Norman Harris's octave guitar riff, a B-side that DJs flipped, and five weeks atop the R&B chart.
★ 5.8
Set Fire to the RainAdele
Set Fire to the Rain
2011 · From 21
Rosie Danvers wrapped the strings around Adele's biggest crescendo, and 21 took its third straight American number one.
★ 5.8
Separate Ways
1983
Cain and Perry wrote it backstage during the Escape tour, melody one evening and lyrics the next afternoon.
★ 5.9
Always Be My Baby
1996
Carey stacked her own harmonies with Kelly Price behind them, and Jermaine Dupri's shuffle carried her eleventh number one.
★ 5.9