Sourced and sung.
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Birthday Cake
Seventy-eight seconds of Da Internz production, cut in a Copenhagen hotel room, that leaked and made the album by demand.
BedRock
Cut first as Girl You Know with Omarion, re-sung by Lloyd, and Nicki Minaj's debut single at number two.
Motivation
Cut at Miami's Circle House, Jonsin's sparse keys and Lil Wayne's verse gave Rowland seven weeks atop the R&B chart.
Love Me Harder
Max Martin's Stockholm crew wrote it, The Weeknd found the demo generic, and rewrote himself into his first top ten.
I Want Your Sex
A MIDI malfunction at Sarm West handed Michael that squelching bassline; the BBC then confined it to after the watershed.
I Touch Myself
Steinberg brought a verse and chorus, the four writers finished it the next day, Australia sent it to number one.
Doin' It
Built for Biggie, sold to Def Jam instead: Rashad Smith's beat rides a Grace Jones sample, LeShaun trading verses.
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Jankel lifted the bass figure from Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'"; the BBC banned the single, and Peel played it anyway.
What's My Name
Stargate's synth organ, Drake's first number one, and Rihanna turning a chorus of nonsense syllables into flirtation.
Hey Ma
DR Period built it on the Commodores' "Easy," and Cam'ron and Juelz Santana rode it to number three.
Body Party
Ghost Town DJ's 'My Boo' flipped by Mike Will Made It, Future co-writing, and Ciara singing barely above a whisper.
Still Not a Player
Knobody flipped a Brenda Russell record, Joe sang the hook, and Pun became the first solo Latin rapper certified platinum.
Any Time, Any Place
Fingersnaps, a saxophone and rolling thunder from Jam and Lewis, with Jackson singing desire at a whisper.
Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg
Dallas Austin stacked seven samples, an Average White Band loop sped up, and Left Eye wrote the rap.
Whole Lotta Rosie
Vanda and Young cut it at the Let There Be Rock sessions, reworking a 1976 outtake called Dirty Eyes.
Blow the Whistle
Lil Jon's beat never cracked the Hot 100, yet it became Too Short's signature, later borrowed by Drake and Saweetie.
Physical
Written for Rod Stewart, declined by Tina Turner, and parked at number one for ten weeks by Newton-John.
I Get Around
Shock G's beat was meant for Digital Underground, and by his account Shakur wrote Shock's verse for him.
Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Carole King)
A decade after the Shirelles made it the first girl-group number one, King slowed it down with Taylor and Mitchell.
Buddy
A Native Tongues posse cut, Q-Tip and the Jungle Brothers guesting, the remix riding Taana Gardner's Heartbeat bassline.
I'll Make Love to You
Babyface wrote it and the group nearly turned it down; fourteen weeks at number one settled that argument.
The Seed 2.0
Cody ChesnuTT's four-track bedroom original rebuilt by a live band, his guitar hook intact, Questlove pushing the tempo up.
December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)
Gaudio first wrote it about Prohibition's repeal, then Judy Parker rewrote the lyric and drummer Gerry Polci sang lead.
Sixty Minute Man
Bill Brown's bass voice, not McPhatter's tenor, carried fourteen weeks at R&B number one past nervous radio programmers.
Two Weeks (FKA Twigs)
Emile Haynie and Arca build a slow cathedral of bass, and Twigs sings desire in a whisper.
Electric Feel
A 6/4 groove where pop usually sits in 4/4, and Fridmann's production turns silvery synths into a slow strut.
Between the Sheets
Chris Jasper's keyboards and drum machine, Ronald Isley at his silkiest, and the loop under "Big Poppa".
Super Freak
The Temptations sang backup, and the bass line James dismissed as silly later won him a Grammy through Hammer's sample.
OPP
A loop of the Jackson 5's "ABC," Melvin Bliss drums, and an acronym that carried the group to number six.
SexyBack
Timberlake sang it in a distorted low register borrowed from Prince, and it held number one for seven weeks.
Drunk in Love
Detail's beat was called "Drunk" before Beyoncé heard it; she and Jay-Z freestyled their verses in Manhattan.
Back That Azz Up
Mannie Fresh's violin line over a bounce beat, Lil Wayne's chant at the close, and New Orleans bounce gone national.
Sledgehammer
Gabriel wanted real brass, hired the Memphis Horns' Wayne Jackson, then knocked his old band Genesis off number one.
Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones)
Cut at Muscle Shoals days before Altamont, Bobby Keys on tenor, and a lyric Jagger later said he would censor.
Walk This Way
Rubin had to talk Run-DMC into it; Tyler smashed through the video's wall and Aerosmith got a career back.
Walk This Way (Aerosmith)
Perry built the riff at a Honolulu soundcheck; Tyler wrote the words on a Record Plant stairwell wall.
You Shook Me All Night Long
Recorded at Compass Point in Nassau with Mutt Lange, Johnson's first single, and a riff that swings rather than pounds.
Doo-wop (That Thing)
Hill wrote and produced it herself, aimed one verse at women and one at men, and debuted at number one.
Sexual Healing
Gaye programmed the TR-808 himself in a Belgian studio, and it finally won him the first Grammys of his career.
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
One of Brown's first dates with the new J.B.s, Bootsy Collins on bass at eighteen, Bobby Byrd answering every line.
Work It
Timbaland's beat under a hook Elliott had reversed, a Run-DMC sample, and ten weeks parked at number two.
Will You Love Me Tomorrow (The Shirelles)
King wrote the melody and the string arrangement, and a girl group topped the Hot 100 for the first time.
Mannish Boy
Waters answered Bo Diddley's answer to his own song in 1955, holding one chord and a stop-time riff throughout.
Let's Get It On
Ed Townsend conceived it as a spiritual; Gaye kept the backing track, rewrote the lyric, and Billboard number one followed.
Nuthin' But a G Thang
Dre built G-funk on a Leon Haywood sample, handed Snoop the mic, and gangsta rap reached number two.
Tutti-Frutti
A nonsense holler cleaned up just enough to press, and the moment rock and roll stopped asking permission.