Break Your Heart
2010
Fraser T Smith produced a UK number one; Mercury then added Ludacris and it leapt to the American top spot.
★ 1.5
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.
Achy Breaky Heart
1992
Don Von Tress wrote it; the Marcy Brothers cut it first, then Cyrus's video sent line dancing worldwide.
★ 1.5
How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
1989
Written in 1982, handed to Branigan after Bolton refused Clive Davis's rewrite, and reclaimed for a number one.
★ 1.7
Stereo Love
2009
That accordion hook interpolates an Azerbaijani song from 1989, and Vika Jigulina's vocal rode it 47 weeks across Europe.
★ 2.3
Hemorrhage (In My Hands)
2000
Twelve weeks at number one on Alternative Airplay, with Brett Scallions selling every syllable of Carl Bell's chorus.
★ 2.4
Nobody Knows
1996
Rich played almost every instrument on it himself in an Atlanta studio, then sang the heartbreak like a secret.
★ 2.8
Bless the Broken Road
2005
A decade after the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band cut it first, Rascal Flatts rode it to five weeks at number one.
★ 2.9
Everybody Plays the Fool (Aaron Neville)
1991
Linda Ronstadt produced it, and Neville's falsetto turns the Main Ingredient's 1972 consolation into something even gentler.
★ 3.2
Beautiful Girls
2007
Rotem built it on Stand by Me, and Kingston, seventeen, became the first nineties-born artist to top the Hot 100.
★ 3.3
It Will Rain
2011
Half-finished on the Hooligans tour, the melody landed once Mars saw an early cut of Breaking Dawn.
★ 3.3
Nothing But a Heartache
1968
Two Pearce sisters and Viola Billups on a British label, a Northern soul classic that outlived its modest chart run.
★ 3.4
Knock You Down
2009
Six names on the writing credit, three voices trading verses, and Danja's production holding a number three hit together.
★ 3.5
Tearin' Up My Heart
1998
An all-night session at Stockholm's Cheiron Studios, Chasez on the last vocal at six a.m., the hook already immovable.
★ 3.6
Baby Come Back
1977
Beckett and Crowley wrote it after two bandmates' breakups, and Lambert and Potter's production held number one for three weeks.
★ 3.6
You Were Mine
1997 · From Wide Open Spaces
Two sisters writing about their parents' divorce, and a demo vocal that won Natalie Maines the lead job.
★ 4.0
Everybody Everybody
1990
Martha Wash sang it, a model mimed it, and her lawsuit changed how dance records credit their singers.
★ 4.1
After You've GoneMarion Harris
After You've Gone
1918
Cut for Victor in July 1918 by the singer billed as Queen of the Blues; jazz kept it.
★ 4.3
Dreaming with a Broken HeartJohn Mayer
Dreaming with a Broken Heart
2007
Pino Palladino on bass, Ricky Peterson on piano, Steve Jordan producing, and Mayer singing the moment the dream ends.
★ 4.3
Walking On Broken Glass
1992
Spiccato strings, a skipping piano, and a breakup lyric; Malkovich and Hugh Laurie costar in the period video.
★ 4.6
Love Hurts
1975
A 1960 Boudleaux Bryant song the Everly Brothers cut first, remade by McCafferty's rasp into the version everyone knows.
★ 4.6