Trans Europa Express
1977
Kraftwerk's rhythm rode a train across Europe, name-checked Bowie and Iggy Pop, then turned up inside Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock.
★ 8.1
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.
Everything In Its Right Place
2000 · From Kid A
Radiohead opened Kid A with no guitars at all, just a Prophet-5 and Yorke's voice diced in Pro Tools.
★ 7.6
Midnight City
2011
Gonzalez built that shrieking hook from his own distorted voice, then let James King's saxophone close the record.
★ 7.5
Super Bass
2011
Kane Beatz's synth bounce, a bonus track buried on the Pink Friday deluxe, and Minaj's first solo top ten.
★ 6.5
Two Weeks (FKA Twigs)
2014
Emile Haynie and Arca build a slow cathedral of bass, and Twigs sings desire in a whisper.
★ 6.5
Retrograde
2013
A wordless hum to open, then distortion flooding the chorus; lead single from the Mercury-winning Overgrown.
★ 6.4
The Mother We Share
2012
Cut in the trio's Glasgow basement studio, sibling estrangement wrapped in synth glitter and Mayberry's bright clean vocal.
★ 5.1
Tough Love
2014
Recorded low at first until BenZel pushed her up an octave, and the falsetto turned touring loneliness into something weightless.
★ 4.6
Steve McQueen
2011
Justin Meldal-Johnsen co-produced at Sunset Sound, and Gonzalez turns unembarrassed optimism into a wall of synthesizers.
★ 4.3
Motivation
2011
Cut at Miami's Circle House, Jonsin's sparse keys and Lil Wayne's verse gave Rowland seven weeks atop the R&B chart.
★ 4.2
We Own The Sky
2008
Gonzalez wrote it with his brother Yann, and Ken Thomas produced an album that worships John Hughes and eighties synths.
★ 4.1
E.T.
Katy Perry and Kanye West
2011
Dr. Luke and Max Martin built the dubstep stomp at Conway; West's verses took it to number one.
★ 2.9