Hound Dog
1956
Leiber and Stoller wrote it for Big Mama Thornton; Elvis took it, sped it up, and set it on fire.
★ 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.
That'll Be the DayBuddy Holly and the Crickets
That'll Be the Day
1957
Holly took the title from a John Wayne line and recut it in Clovis after Decca shelved the first version.
★ 8.2
How Soon is Now?The Smiths
How Soon is Now?
1985 · From Meat Is Murder
Marr's shudder came from four Fender Twins with their tremolos fighting, and Morrissey put a lonely man in a nightclub.
★ 8.1
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
1965 · From Rubber Soul
Harrison's sitar, widely reckoned the first on a rock record, and Lennon smuggling an affair past everyone.
★ 7.9
Hit the Road JackRay Charles
Hit the Road Jack
1961
Percy Mayfield mailed it in as an a cappella demo; Margie Hendrix answers Charles line for line.
★ 7.7
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
Ticket to Ride
1965 · From Help!
Cut at EMI in February 1965, with Harrison's Rickenbacker riff and a record Lennon later called the first heavy metal.
★ 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
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
Substitute
1966
Townshend built it from a single word in "Tracks of My Tears", and American pressings rewrote the line about race.
★ 6.8
Ain't Too Proud to BegThe Temptations
Ain't Too Proud to Beg
1966
"Get Ready" stalled at 29, so Gordy handed the Temptations to Whitfield, and Ruffin tore into the result.
★ 6.6
Standing in the Shadows of LoveThe Four Tops
Standing in the Shadows of Love
1966
Holland-Dozier-Holland cut the vocals at Golden World in October 1966, and Levi Stubbs sings like the blow already landed.
★ 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
Ms. Fat Booty
1999 · From Black on Both Sides
Ayatollah looped the chorus of Aretha's 1965 Columbia single "One Step Ahead", and Mos Def narrates a romance collapsing.
★ 6.3
High and DryRadiohead
High and Dry
1995 · From The Bends
Rescued from a 1993 demo the band wrote off as too Rod Stewart, and adored everywhere except by Yorke.
★ 6.3
Heartbreaker
1969 · From Led Zeppelin II
Page cut the unaccompanied solo at Atlantic while the rest of the track was taped across town at A&R.
★ 6.2
Keep A-Knockin'
1957 · From Little Richard
Charles Connor's drum intro opens it, and Bonham borrowed the same beat for Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll.
★ 6.2
My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)
1992
Foster and McElroy looped a guitar figure from James Brown's "The Payback," and four voices turn refusal into swagger.
★ 6.1
That Don't Impress Me Much
1998
Twain and Lange built it on three men who fall short, and that hooded leopard print did the rest.
★ 6.0
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
Build Me Up ButtercupThe Foundations
Build Me Up Buttercup
1968
Mike d'Abo co-wrote it and played piano, and new lead singer Colin Young sang it into the American top three.
★ 5.6
Mr. Big Stuff
1971
Wardell Quezergue brought five artists to Malaco in a borrowed school bus; Stax passed, then Knight's put-down sold millions.
★ 5.6
Roxanne, RoxanneUTFO
Roxanne, Roxanne
1984
Released as a B-side, produced by Full Force, and Roxanne rejecting all three MCs set off dozens of answer records.
★ 5.3
The Wire
2013
Three sisters, one kiss-off, and Ariel Rechtshaid's production splitting the difference between Laurel Canyon soft rock and nineties R&B.
★ 5.3
Apologize
Timbaland and OneRepublic
2007
Tedder wrote it, Timbaland remixed it, and radio played the result 10,394 times in a single week.
★ 4.2
I Got A Man
1992
The woman turning him down is Positive K himself, pitched up in the studio, and that duet is the joke.
★ 3.4
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
Too Little Too Late
2006
One week of downloads lifted it from sixty-six to three, a Hot 100 record, with JoJo just fifteen.
★ 3.2
Everything You Want
1999
Scannell wrote it about a friendship he wanted to be more, and it became Billboard's most-played single of 2000.
★ 2.7
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
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