Tutti-Frutti
1955 · From Here's Little Richard
A nonsense holler cleaned up just enough to press, and the moment rock and roll stopped asking permission.
★ 9.5
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.
My GirlThe Temptations
My Girl
1964
Smokey Robinson wrote it for his wife Claudette, then handed David Ruffin his first Temptations lead vocal.
★ 9.0
I Got You (I Feel Good)
1965 · From I Got You (I Feel Good)
Brown recycled a flop he'd cut on Yvonne Fair, added Maceo Parker's alto, and landed his highest-charting single.
★ 8.8
Dancing in the Street
1964
Gaye co-wrote it and cut an early version; Reeves heard block parties in it and needed two takes.
★ 8.4
September
1978
Willis wanted real words instead of ba-dee-ya; White refused, and the groove outlived any lyric she could have written.
★ 8.3
La Vie en Rose (Edith Piaf)Edith Piaf
La Vie en Rose (Edith Piaf)
1947
Piaf's own lyric, dismissed by her collaborators as foolishness, then a million American sales and a French national possession.
★ 7.8
Give Up the FunkParliament
Give Up the Funk
1975
Bootsy Collins on bass, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker newly arrived from James Brown, and Parliament's first gold single.
★ 7.7
Sir Duke
1977 · From Songs in the Key of Life
Wonder built it for Ellington after his death in 1974, then handed the melody to horns playing in unison.
★ 7.7
Flash LightParliament
Flash Light
1977
Bootsy passed on the bass part, so Worrell chained three Minimoogs together and gave Parliament its first R&B number one.
★ 7.5
Love and Happiness
1972 · From Greatest Hits
The tap opening it is Teenie Hodges counting time on a crate by his foot, and Green takes over.
★ 7.5
Isn't She Lovely
1976 · From Songs in the Key of Life
Wonder cut it for his newborn daughter Aisha, harmonica and all, and refused to shorten it for a single.
★ 7.3
Mr. Blue Sky
1977
Two weeks of Alpine fog broke, and Lynne wrote this and thirteen more songs, closing it with a vocoder.
★ 7.3
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher
1967
James Jamerson's bass, cut in Chicago with Funk Brothers moonlighting for cash, and Wilson sounding weightless above it.
★ 7.1
Lovely Day
1977
Withers holds the last note for eighteen seconds, Ray Parker Jr. plays guitar, and morning suddenly looks survivable.
★ 7.0
Happy
2013
Written first for CeeLo Green, whose label passed, cut in Miami, and given pop's first 24-hour video.
★ 6.7
Friday I'm In LoveThe Cure
Friday I'm In Love
1992 · From Wish
Smith left the vari-speed engaged at mixdown, so the released version sits a quarter-tone sharp and grins anyway.
★ 6.7
Sweet Caroline
1969
Cut at American Sound in Memphis with Charles Calello's horns, and every Fenway eighth inning has belonged to it since 2002.
★ 6.7
All Night Long (All Night)
1983
Those African-sounding chants are invented gibberish; Richie had no time for a translator and no reason to care.
★ 6.5
You Make My Dreams Come True
1981
A rare Yamaha CP-30 supplies the riff, and Oates traced the song to Delta blues jammed against Texas swing.
★ 6.5
La Vie en Rose (Louis Armstrong)
1950
Cut in New York with Sy Oliver's orchestra in 1950, Piaf's song rebuilt around a trumpet and a rasp.
★ 6.4
Holiday (Madonna)Madonna
Holiday (Madonna)
1983 · From Madonna
Mary Wilson and Phyllis Hyman turned it down; Benitez cut it at Sigma Sound in a week, cowbell included.
★ 6.2
Island in the Sun
2001 · From Weezer (The Green Album)
Not planned for the Green Album until Ocasek fought for it, then Spike Jonze filmed the band among wild animals.
★ 6.1
Do You Believe in Magic
1965
Sebastian's autoharp opens it, written after he watched a teenager dance at the Night Owl in Greenwich Village.
★ 6.1
Dreams (The Cranberries)
1993
A debut single written about her first love, with Stephen Street producing and Mike Mahoney's voice climbing wordlessly out the top.
★ 6.1
Best of My Love
1977
Maurice White and Al McKay wrote it, Earth Wind and Fire's rhythm section played it, and the Hutchinson sisters soared.
★ 6.0
Groovin'
1967
No drum kit on the record at all, just percussion, harmonica and birdsong, and Cavaliere's Sundays off tour.
★ 6.0
Chapel of Love
1964
Red Bird's first single, written by Barry, Greenwich and Spector, and it knocked the Beatles off number one.
★ 5.7
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
1984
Ridgeley scrawled a note to his parents, doubled a word by mistake, and George Michael built a number one on it.
★ 5.7
Heaven is a Place on Earth
1987
Number one in both America and Britain, with Thomas Dolby on synths and Diane Keaton directing the video.
★ 5.3
Emotions
1991
Clivilles and Cole of C+C Music Factory built the disco lift; Carey's whistle register handles everything above it.
★ 5.2
Walking on Sunshine
1985
Kimberley Rew called it simple fun; the 1985 re-recording added horns and carried the band into the American top ten.
★ 4.8
I Love Your SmileShanice
I Love Your Smile
1991
Branford Marsalis blowing a jazz solo across Narada Michael Walden's production, and Shanice sounds like she is actually smiling.
★ 3.9
Shiny Happy PeopleR.E.M.
Shiny Happy People
1991 · From Out of Time
Kate Pierson's guest vocal, Mark Bingham's waltzing strings, and R.E.M.'s only top ten hit in both Britain and America.
★ 3.6
A Groovy Kind of Love (The Mindbenders)The Mindbenders
A Groovy Kind of Love (The Mindbenders)
1965
Toni Wine and Carole Bayer Sager set lyrics to a Clementi sonatina rondo; Eric Stewart sang it to number two.
★ 3.0
The Way You Love Me
2000
Four weeks atop country radio in May, a Love to Infinity remix, and a pop top ten by December.
★ 2.9
Good Time
2012
One YouTube link from his manager gave Young the voice he wanted, and a top-ten summer duet.
★ 1.9
Beautiful LifeAce of Base
Beautiful Life
1995
Written on New Year's Day in the Canary Islands, then finished at Cheiron by Denniz Pop and Max Martin.
★ 1.8
Good Vibrations (Marky Mark)
1991
Donnie Wahlberg produced his brother's number one around a Loleatta Holloway sample, and Holloway herself appeared in the video.
★ 1.4