Heartbreak HotelElvis Presley
Heartbreak Hotel
1956
Elvis's first RCA single, all cavernous echo and empty rooms, the loneliest number one ever cut.
★ 9.6
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.
Hey JudeThe Beatles
Hey Jude
1968
Seven minutes, four of them just na-na-na, and somehow nobody has ever wanted it to end sooner.
★ 9.5
Crazy (Patsy Cline)Patsy Cline
Crazy (Patsy Cline)
1962 · From Patsy Cline Showcase
Willie Nelson wrote it; Cline, back after a car wreck bruised her ribs, nailed the vocal in one take.
★ 8.8
Blue Monday
1983
A die-cut sleeve modelled on a floppy disk, an Oberheim drum machine, and the best-selling twelve-inch single ever pressed.
★ 8.4
The Tracks of My Tears
1965
Tarplin brought the guitar figure first, Robinson and Moore wrote words to it, and Motown got its saddest smile.
★ 8.1
Back to Black
2006 · From Back to Black
Ronson cut it at Daptone with the Dap-Kings, sixties girl-group machinery rebuilt around a voice in ruins.
★ 7.9
I Fall to Pieces
1961 · From Patsy Cline Showcase
Cline resisted the pop polish until Bradley's arrangement and the Jordanaires handed her a first country number one.
★ 7.7
Walk On By
1964
A B-side until Murray the K's listeners voted it up, cut live at Bell Sound with Warwick barely raising her voice.
★ 7.5
Ain't That a Shame
1955
Bartholomew and Domino wrote it, Pat Boone's cover took the number one, and Domino's rolling piano triplets outlasted it.
★ 7.5
Only the Lonely
1960
Orbison meant it for Elvis; the Everly Brothers told him to keep it, and Nashville's A-Team built the ache.
★ 7.5
Crying
1961
Cut at RCA Studio B with Floyd Cramer on piano, and Orbison's voice climbing until the room falls away.
★ 7.5
Where Did Our Love Go
1964
Holland and Dozier said the Marvelettes turned it down; Ross sang lower over Mike Valvano's foot stomps to number one.
★ 7.4
Baby Love
1964
Gordy asked for another Where Did Our Love Go, and Holland-Dozier-Holland answered with footstomps, a sax break, and Ross cooing.
★ 7.3
We Belong Together
2005
Fourteen weeks at number one, two soul interpolations underneath, and Carey singing softly rather than belting.
★ 7.1
Bye Bye Love
1957
Some thirty acts turned the Bryants' song down; Don Everly's intro, written for something else, took it to number two.
★ 7.1
Wildwood Flower
1928
Maybelle Carter played melody and rhythm at once, and every country guitarist since has learned this 1860 parlor tune.
★ 7.0
Downhearted BluesBessie Smith
Downhearted Blues
1923 · From The Complete Recordings
Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin wrote it; Smith's debut record sold 780,000 copies in six months, just voice and piano.
★ 6.9
The Great PretenderThe Platters
The Great Pretender
1955
Twenty minutes in a Las Vegas hotel washroom, by Ram's account, and Tony Williams sings heartbreak behind a smile.
★ 6.9
Crazy Blues
1920
Seventy-five thousand copies in two months, Perry Bradford's tune, and Smith's voice opening the record industry to Black audiences.
★ 6.8
Take Me to the River
1974 · From Al Green Explores Your Mind
Baptism imagery over Willie Mitchell's Memphis groove, and Hi Records never bothered to release Green's version as a single.
★ 6.6
You Give Love a Bad Name
1986 · From Slippery When Wet
A Bonnie Tyler chorus that went nowhere, rewritten by Desmond Child, and suddenly Bon Jovi's first number one.
★ 6.5
Runaway
1961
Crook hit the A minor to G change onstage in Battle Creek; his homemade Musitron took the solo.
★ 6.4
Cathy's Clown
1960
Cut live in one take with the brothers sharing a microphone, the drums looped on tape to double them.
★ 6.3
The Look of Love
1981
Trevor Horn's desk, Anne Dudley's strings, and Fry making his own jilting sound like the most glamorous thing available.
★ 6.3
Lonely Teardrops
1958
Berry Gordy wrote it before Motown existed, and arranger Dick Jacobs sped the ballad into Wilson's signature record.
★ 6.3
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
1952
Fats Domino sat in on piano at Cosimo Matassa's studio, setting the pattern for New Orleans rock and roll.
★ 6.2
It Makes No DifferenceThe Band
It Makes No Difference
1975 · From Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Robertson wrote it expressly for Danko's voice, and at their own Shangri-La studio the Band gave loss room to breathe.
★ 6.1
Against All Odds
1983
A Face Value outtake with new lyrics for Taylor Hackford's film, and Collins's first American number one.
★ 6.0
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
1972 · From Let's Stay Together
Willie Mitchell let a Bee Gees ballad run past six minutes at Royal Studios, and Green sings the whole ache.
★ 5.9
Red Eyes
2014 · From Lost in the Dream
Granduciel spent two years second-guessing these sessions, and the song still turns on one yelp before the chorus.
★ 5.8
It's the Same Old SongThe Four Tops
It's the Same Old Song
1965
Gordy ordered a rush job after Columbia reissued an old single, so Holland-Dozier-Holland reversed their own chart topper.
★ 5.7
Unbreak My Heart
1996
Diane Warren built it from the title alone, Braxton resisted recording it, then held number one eleven weeks.
★ 5.7
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
1982
A soft reggae beat from Mikey Craig's Caribbean instincts, Steve Levine's polish, and Boy George on Top of the Pops.
★ 5.7
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
1988
By Michaels' account a bad phone call from a Dallas laundromat wrote itself into Poison's only number one.
★ 5.2
In Circles
1994
Enigk wrote it as a solo acoustic song; the band took it over, and his cracked howl carries it.
★ 5.2
Here I Go Again
1982
Jon Lord's Hammond organ on the 1982 original, a heartbreak song Coverdale wrote in Portugal, later a number one.
★ 5.1
Don't Rock the Jukebox
1991
Jackson leaned against a wobbly jukebox in a Virginia lounge, left with the title, and George Jones got name-checked.
★ 5.0
Mama Said
1961
Number four in 1961, with Luther Dixon and Willie Denson turning a mother's shrug into pure reassurance.
★ 4.9
Everybody Plays the Fool (The Main Ingredient)The Main Ingredient
Everybody Plays the Fool (The Main Ingredient)
1972
Cuba Gooding Sr. stepped up after Donald McPherson's death and turned heartbreak into the warmest consolation soul ever offered.
★ 4.9
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
1996
Two million US copies, a Stockholm session from 1995, and a vocal Nick Carter recorded once his voice settled.
★ 4.8