Crazy in Love
2003
Rich Harrison looped a Chi-Lites horn fanfare; Jay-Z turned up at three in the morning and improvised his verse.
★ 8.8
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.
You Really Got MeThe Kinks
You Really Got Me
1964 · From Kinks
Dave Davies took a razor blade to his little Elpico amp's speaker cone, and distortion arrived on British radio.
★ 8.3
Oh, Pretty Woman
1964
Claudette said she was going out, Dees answered that a pretty woman never needs money, and the riff followed.
★ 8.2
When a Man Loves a WomanPercy Sledge
When a Man Loves a Woman
1966
Sledge gave the writing credits away to two bandmates, and Atlantic pressed the take with the out-of-tune horns.
★ 7.9
You Send MeSam Cooke
You Send Me
1957 · From Sam Cooke
Cooke credited it to his brother L.C. to dodge his publisher, then carried it to number one on both charts.
★ 7.8
Just Like Heaven
1987 · From Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Smith traced it to a day at Beachy Head with Mary Poole; Williams sped the tempo, adding the opening fill.
★ 7.7
I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
1965
Dozier lifted the title from his grandfather flirting in a beauty shop, and Stubbs sings it like a plea.
★ 7.7
Peggy SueBuddy Holly and the Crickets
Peggy Sue
1957
Cut in Clovis as "Cindy Lou" until Allison's girlfriend got the title, and his paradiddles never let up.
★ 7.7
Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
1967
Two quiet verses, then Artie Schroeck's brass kicks the door in, and Valli's solo single stalled one place from number one.
★ 7.6
Wild Thing (The Troggs)
1966
Ten minutes at the end of somebody else's session, and an ocarina solo standing in for a hand whistle.
★ 7.5
Killing Me Softly With His Song (Fugees)Fugees
Killing Me Softly With His Song (Fugees)
1996 · From The Score
Pras suggested the cover, the beat lifts Tribe's Bonita Applebum, and Hill sings it like she wrote it herself.
★ 7.5
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
1956
Herman Santiago built it from a neighbor's love letters; Lymon, thirteen, took the lead and the credit fight ran decades.
★ 7.3
All Shook Up
1957
A shaken Pepsi bottle gave Blackwell the title, and Presley's version held number one for two solid months.
★ 7.3
Be-Bop-A-Lula
1956
Cut in Nashville as a B-side, flipped by radio, and Cliff Gallup's guitar breaks took it to number seven.
★ 7.1
Cinnamon GirlNeil Young
Cinnamon Girl
1969 · From Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Written in Topanga during a 103-degree fever, double drop D tuning, and a solo that stays on one note.
★ 7.0
Like a HurricaneNeil Young
Like a Hurricane
1977 · From American Stars 'n Bars
Young wrote it on doctor-ordered voice rest, whistling the melody, then chased Sampedro's Stringman chords for eight electric minutes.
★ 7.0
Da Doo Ron Ron
1963
Nonsense syllables meant to be replaced by real words, La La Brooks on lead, and Spector's Gold Star thunder.
★ 7.0
I Saw Her Standing There
1963 · From Please Please Me
Martin spliced McCartney's count-in from take nine onto take one, and rock and roll never had a better doorway.
★ 6.8
There She GoesThe La's
There She Goes
1990
Bob Andrews cut it in 1988 to no interest; Lillywhite's remix made it Britpop's founding jangle.
★ 6.8
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
1981 · From Ghost in the Machine
Four years in Sting's drawer before The Police cut it, and Jean Roussel's piano overdubs are why it soars.
★ 6.8
I Can't Explain
1964
Straightforward Kink copying, by Townshend's own admission, with the Ivy League on harmonies and Shel Talmy at the desk.
★ 6.6
Just Can't Get Enough
1981 · From Speak & Spell
Daniel Miller sequenced it on a Roland MC-4, Vince Clarke's last single for the band and still a terrace chant.
★ 6.6
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
Linger
1993
Stephen Street produced it, the Duke Quartet supplied the strings, and O'Riordan wrote the melody at her audition.
★ 6.5
Fantasy
1995
Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love, flipped by Dave Hall, and Carey the first woman to debut at number one.
★ 6.3
Crimson and Clover
1968
Five hours on brand-new sixteen-track, with a vocal fed through an Ampeg amp's tremolo for that shimmering close.
★ 6.3
Head Over HeelsTears for Fears
Head Over Heels
1985 · From Songs from the Big Chair
Ian Stanley wrote the motif, Orzabal added melody and words, and the chorus arrives like a door kicked open.
★ 6.3
How Will I Know
1985 · From Whitney Houston
A demo Janet Jackson's camp turned down, which Houston rode to number one over her cousin Dionne Warwick.
★ 6.2
I Ran (So Far Away)
1982
Battery Studios, London: the echoing riffs were written for a guitarist who had just joined, and they still sound airborne.
★ 6.1
Honey
1997
Puff Daddy shaping the hook, the Ummah programming the drums, Carey's third record to debut at number one.
★ 6.0
Scarlet Begonias
1974 · From From the Mars Hotel
Hunter set his lyric in Grosvenor Square, and from 1977 the Dead ran it straight into Fire on the Mountain.
★ 5.9
Instant Crush
2013 · From Random Access Memories
A vocoder over a Strokes drawl: Casablancas welded two Daft Punk demos together and sang about a chance he missed.
★ 5.8
Me Gustas Tu
2000 · From Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
Three guitar chords, spoken city names saluting Havana's Radio Reloj, and a list of small pleasures that lands on you.
★ 5.8
Spanish Harlem
1960
Cut at the October 1960 session that also produced Stand by Me, with Stoller's marimba triplets carrying everything.
★ 5.8
Upside Down
1980
Rodgers and Edwards wrote the groove, Ross remixed the album to lift her vocal, and it topped the Hot 100.
★ 5.7
Closer
2012
Greg Kurstin's four-on-the-floor and mid-nineties Erasure worship turned the Quins into a dance-chart number one.
★ 5.7
Dilemma
Nelly and Kelly Rowland
2002
Bowser's beat interpolates Patti LaBelle, Kelly Rowland sings the hook, and it spent ten weeks at number one.
★ 5.7
Girl
2005 · From Guero
Thirteen seconds of chiptune open it, and the Dust Brothers built the rest around Beck jamming acoustic guitar.
★ 5.6