Only God Knows Why
1999
The first ballad Kid Rock ever cut, its opening lines written, by his account, in a jail cell.
★ 1.6
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.
Rock Me Amadeus
1985
Falco rapped Mozart's debts over a Bolland and Bolland production, and gave the Hot 100 its only German-language number one.
★ 2.6
Overnight Celebrity
2004
Kanye looped a 1978 Lenny Williams record, Miri Ben-Ari sawed the violin, and Twista outran both to number six.
★ 2.8
Beverly Hills
2005 · From Make Believe
Rick Rubin produced it, the video was shot at the Playboy Mansion, and Cuomo swears the longing was sincere.
★ 3.0
Airplanes
2010
Alex da Kid's beat, Hayley Williams on the hook, and a wish on a passing plane that went diamond.
★ 3.2
Applause
2013
Snippets leaked online, so Gaga rushed it to radio a week early, cheering the crowd that cheers her.
★ 3.3
Jenny From the Block
2002
A Boogie Down Productions interpolation under the bridge, and Lopez answering the tabloids without once breaking her stride.
★ 3.4
Holy Grail
2013 · From Magna Carta Holy Grail
Timbaland and The-Dream produced it, Timberlake sings the hook, and Courtney Love cleared the Nirvana interpolation underneath.
★ 3.8
Circus
2008
Claude Kelly's ringleader conceit, a Dr. Luke stomp, and Spears back on top of the spectacle that swallowed her.
★ 4.2
I'm Real
2001
A Yellow Magic Orchestra synth loop from 1978, reportedly cleared for Mariah Carey first, carries Lopez to number one.
★ 4.3
Name
1995
Rzeznik twisted tuning pegs until a second high E replaced the B string, and that open ring carries the song.
★ 4.4
Get Back
2005
Cartoon-sized arms in a men's room, courtesy of Spike Jonze, and Tom Cruise dancing to it in Tropic Thunder.
★ 4.4
Notorious
1986 · From Notorious
Nile Rodgers brought the riff and the Borneo Horns; the band, down to three, answered its own bad press.
★ 4.7
Around the World (RHCP)
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante back in the band and playing deliberately spare, while Flea's bass run opens Californication at a sprint.
★ 4.8
Look at Me Now
2011
Diplo and Afrojack made the beat for a mixtape; Busta Rhymes' double-time verse pushed it to diamond.
★ 4.9
Juke Box Hero
1982
Two unfinished songs Mutt Lange stitched together, and a kid outside the arena hearing one guitar through the wall.
★ 4.9
Forever (Drake)
2009
Boi-1da's beat was first meant for Kardinal Offishall; Kanye, by his account, rewrote his verse for two days after Eminem.
★ 5.2
Tennis Court
2013 · From Pure Heroine
Cut with Joel Little in a small Auckland studio, the beat built before a word, that "Yeah" doing everything.
★ 5.4
Candle in the Wind 1997Elton John
Candle in the Wind 1997
1997
Taupin rewrote his Marilyn Monroe lyric for Diana, George Martin added strings hours after the funeral, and 33 million sold.
★ 5.5
If It Makes You Happy
1996
Jeff Trott's hook arrived first, the country arrangement went out, and Crow won a Grammy singing her own backlash.
★ 5.5
Lisztomania
2009 · From Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Heine coined the word for Liszt's swooning fans, and Philippe Zdar gave these guitars their chrome shine.
★ 5.5
Flawless (Remix)
Beyonce and Nicki Minaj
2014
Dropped without warning on a Saturday in August, an Outkast sample underneath, Minaj arriving to claim the rap crown.
★ 5.6
Into the Great Wide Open
1991 · From Into the Great Wide Open
Petty and Jeff Lynne wrote Eddie's rise and fall as one unbroken story; Johnny Depp played him on screen.
★ 5.8
It's Tricky
1987 · From Raising Hell
Rubin co-produced, the guitar hook lifted straight from My Sharona, and Penn and Teller hustle three-card monte in the video.
★ 5.8
Motownphilly
1991
Michael Bivins raps their discovery story over Dallas Austin's new jack swing, with a doo-wop turn at the close.
★ 6.0
Mr. Jones
1993
T-Bone Burnett replaced the band's own drummer with session man Denny Fongheiser, and Duritz got the fame he wished for.
★ 6.2
Good Life
2007 · From Graduation
West and DJ Toomp sped up Michael Jackson's P.Y.T. into a Grammy-winning glide, T-Pain's hook floating over it.
★ 6.2
Virginia Plain
1972
Ferry lifted the title from his own art-school painting of a giant cigarette packet, Eno's VCS3 shrieking behind him.
★ 6.3
Let Me Blow Ya Mind
Eve and Gwen Stefani
2001
Ninety beats a minute, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch on the track, Gwen Stefani's hook, Eve at number two.
★ 6.3
Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)Jay-Z
Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)
2001 · From The Blueprint
A Bobby Bland soul record from 1974, rebuilt by Kanye West, and Jay-Z sounding untouchable and unloved at the top.
★ 6.3
Blood on the LeavesKanye West
Blood on the Leaves
2013 · From Yeezus
Nina Simone's 1965 Strange Fruit against TNGHT's blaring horns, a breakup rendered enormous; platinum without ever being a single.
★ 6.6
Time to Pretend
2008 · From Oracular Spectacular
The praying mantis in their house inspired the music, by the band's account; the words satirize rock-star excess.
★ 6.6
Candle in the Wind
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Taupin lifted the phrase from a Janis Joplin tribute and pointed it at Marilyn Monroe; the chorus does the mourning.
★ 6.8
Can't Tell Me Nothing
2007 · From Graduation
DJ Toomp built the beat and bassline, West layered the strings, and Zach Galifianakis lip-synced it on a tractor.
★ 6.9
Forgot About Dre
1999 · From 2001
Eminem wrote the verses as a reference for Snoop Dogg, by Dre's account, and Dre kept the guide vocal.
★ 6.9
Bennie and the Jets
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Gus Dudgeon overdubbed crowd noise from old concerts, and the fake live track topped the Hot 100.
★ 7.1
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)Jay-Z
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
2001 · From The Blueprint
A Jackson 5 chop, an arena chant, and Jay-Z's first solo top ten, courtesy of a young Kanye West.
★ 7.3
The Real Slim Shady
2000 · From The Marshall Mathers LP
Iovine wanted another "My Name Is," so Eminem wrote this hours before the album was due. It hit number four.
★ 7.3
Californication
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante drew the sparse riff from The Cure's "Carnage Visors" on his first album back, and Kiedis indicts Hollywood.
★ 7.3
All of the Lights
Kanye West and Rihanna
2010 · From My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Rihanna sings the hook, Elton John plays piano, and West spent two years stacking fourteen singers behind the horns.
★ 7.3
Freedom! '90
1990
Michael refused to appear, so Fincher had five supermodels lip-sync while his Faith leather jacket burned onscreen.
★ 7.4
My My, Hey Hey
1979 · From Rust Never Sleeps
Recorded live at San Francisco's Boarding House in 1978, and Devo's Mothersbaugh handed Young the phrase that titled the album.
★ 7.4
Money for Nothing
1985 · From Brothers in Arms
Knopfler borrowed a pen in a New York appliance store to copy down a delivery man's complaints about MTV.
★ 7.4
Blank Space
2014 · From 1989
Swift plays her own tabloid caricature, a clicking pen for percussion, and she replaced herself at number one.
★ 7.5
Hypnotize
1997 · From Life After Death
Herb Alpert's Rise looped into a strut, released five days before Wallace was killed, number one within weeks.
★ 7.6
The Next Episode
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
1999 · From 2001
Dre and Mel-Man built it on a David McCallum orchestral cut from 1967, arranged by Axelrod, and Nate Dogg closes.
★ 7.6
Mo Money Mo Problems
1996 · From Life After Death
Kelly Price sang the hook uncredited over Stevie J's flip of I'm Coming Out, a posthumous number one.
★ 7.6
Niggas in Paris
Kanye West and Jay-Z
2011 · From Watch the Throne
Hit-Boy's beat, a Blades of Glory sample, and twelve straight encores of it one night in Paris.
★ 7.6
Don't You Want Me
1981 · From Dare
Oakey thought it the weakest thing on Dare; it became Britain's best-selling single of 1981 and Christmas number one.
★ 7.6
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Sessions collapsed in Kingston, so the band regrouped at a French chateau and Taupin traded Oz for a Lincolnshire farm.
★ 7.7
Help!
1965 · From Help!
Twelve takes in April 1965, McCartney's counter-melody chasing the lead, and Lennon insisting years later the plea was real.
★ 7.7
Ziggy Stardust
1971 · From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Cut at Trident in November 1971, never a single, and Ronson's riff draws the character as sharply as the words.
★ 7.7
Still Dre
1999 · From 2001
Jay-Z wrote every line of it, Scott Storch played the piano figure, and Dre's seven-year album silence ended.
★ 7.8
In Da Club
2003 · From Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Dre's beat was offered to D12 and Rakim before 50 Cent wrote to it and held number one nine weeks.
★ 7.9
Juicy
1994 · From Ready to Die
Poke and Combs looped Mtume's Juicy Fruit, and Wallace told the rags to riches story that hip hop kept retelling.
★ 8.5
Stan
2000 · From The Marshall Mathers LP
The 45 King looped Dido under four letters, and Eminem's fan character ended up in the Oxford dictionary.
★ 8.7
Johnny B. Goode
1958 · From Chuck Berry Is on Top
Chuck Berry's intro lick is rock's opening statement, a country boy's origin myth now drifting past the solar system.
★ 9.8
Billie Jean
1982 · From Thriller
That bassline, mixed and remixed until it gleamed, and the four minutes that integrated MTV.
★ 9.8