Stayin' Alive
1977 · From Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
Barry Gibb's falsetto over a drum loop so metronomic that paramedics still use it to time chest compressions.
★ 9.4
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.
N.Y. State of Mind
1994 · From Illmatic
Premier built the beat on the spot; Nas nailed verse one in a take, muttering doubt into the intro.
★ 8.7
Back in Black
1980 · From Back in Black
Johnson was told the Bon Scott tribute could not be morbid, so he wrote a celebration over Angus Young's riff.
★ 8.6
Jumpin' Jack FlashThe Rolling Stones
Jumpin' Jack Flash
1968
Named for the gardener who woke them up, and cut with an acoustic guitar recorded into a Philips cassette recorder.
★ 8.1
I Will SurviveGloria Gaynor
I Will Survive
1978
Buried as a B-side until DJs flipped it, and Gaynor cut the vocal in a back brace after spinal surgery.
★ 8.1
Shook Ones Part II
1995 · From The Infamous...
Havoc built the beat in his Queensbridge bedroom from a slowed Herbie Hancock piano figure and a Daly-Wilson drum break.
★ 8.1
It Was A Good Day
1993 · From The Predator
DJ Pooh looped the Isley Brothers' Footsteps in the Dark, and Ice Cube spent four minutes on an uneventful day.
★ 7.9
Thank You
1969 · From Greatest Hits
Larry Graham slapping and popping the bass line credited with inventing the technique, and a verse quoting their own hits.
★ 7.8
We are the Champions
1977 · From Greatest Hits
Mercury wrote it with audience participation in mind, and a 2011 study named it the catchiest song in pop.
★ 7.7
The Boxer
1969
Over a hundred hours of work, and that cannon-shot snare is Hal Blaine playing beside a Columbia elevator shaft.
★ 7.7
Another One Bites the Dust
1980 · From Greatest Hits
Deacon's bassline owes Chic, Michael Jackson talked them into releasing it, and Queen landed their biggest-selling single.
★ 7.7
Alive
1991 · From Ten
Gossard's demo was called Dollar Short until Vedder set it to learning who his real father was.
★ 7.6
Life's a Bitch
1994 · From Illmatic
AZ's first appearance on record, the only rapper Nas let onto Illmatic, and his father Olu Dara closing on trumpet.
★ 7.5
Superfly
1972 · From The Anthology 1961-1977
The soundtrack took three days at RCA Chicago; Johnny Pate arranged, Henry Gibson's rototoms set the strut.
★ 7.3
On & On
1996
Five-Percenter numerology over a bassline that barely moves, Badu's debut single, and a Grammy at the first attempt.
★ 7.3
Float On
2004
Brock wrote it in the final days of tracking, fed up with darkness, and built indie rock's warmest chorus.
★ 7.3
Hard Knock LifeJay-Z
Hard Knock Life
1998 · From Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life
The 45 King looped an Annie showtune, and Jay-Z cleared it with a letter he admitted was a lie.
★ 7.2
Live and Let DiePaul McCartney
Live and Let Die
1973
McCartney read the Fleming novel in a day and wrote it that afternoon; Martin's orchestra did the rest at AIR.
★ 7.0
Many Rivers to CrossJimmy Cliff
Many Rivers to Cross
1969 · From Jimmy Cliff
Fifteen minutes on foot to a New York studio was all the writing time, and Blackwell approved it instantly.
★ 6.9
That's Life
1966 · From That's Life
Ernie Freeman's arrangement, and a second take Sinatra resented making; the annoyance is why the vocal snarls.
★ 6.6
Respiration
1998
Hi-Tek loops Don Randi's "The Fox" under a Style Wars monologue, and three MCs read the city at night.
★ 6.5
Crazy (Seal)
1990
Trevor Horn spent about three months producing it; Seal built the chorus from a world visibly changing.
★ 6.4
Galang
2003 · From Arular
M.I.A.'s second song ever, built on a Roland MC-505 and written for Elastica; dancehall never sounded so homemade.
★ 6.3
Get By
2003
Kanye West built the beat from Nina Simone's "Sinnerman", and Kweli turned survival into his commercial breakthrough.
★ 6.2
Rooster
1992 · From Dirt
Cantrell's song for his father, a Vietnam veteran nicknamed Rooster who appears in Pellington's video; number seven on Mainstream Rock.
★ 6.1
Survivor
2001
A radio host's joke about the lineup changes, flipped into a Grammy winner Beyonce largely wrote on a flight.
★ 6.0
Titanium
David Guetta and Sia
2011
Sia cut the vocal as a guide for another singer; Guetta released it anyway, and she got a number one.
★ 6.0
Live to Tell
1986 · From True Blue
Leonard wrote it as a film instrumental that Paramount passed on; Madonna added the words and kept her demo vocal.
★ 6.0
Hold On (Alabama Shakes)
2012
Four Alabama day-jobbers paid for their own sessions at a Nashville home studio, and Rolling Stone named it 2012's best.
★ 5.7
Moment of TruthGang Starr
Moment of Truth
1998 · From Moment of Truth
Premier's beat under Guru facing a gun charge, cut at D&D Studios and delivered as a sermon on perseverance.
★ 5.3
Touch of GreyGrateful Dead
Touch of Grey
1987 · From In the Dark
Cut live on a darkened Marin auditorium stage with no audience, and somehow the Dead's only Top 10 hit.
★ 5.3
Everything's Gonna Be AlrightNaughty by Nature
Everything's Gonna Be Alright
1991
Treach turned a fatherless East Orange childhood into verse, with Marley's chorus supplying the only comfort on offer.
★ 5.3
Maria Maria
1999 · From Supernatural
Wyclef built it on a Headhunters drum break, Santana's guitar answering the Product G&B, ten weeks at number one.
★ 4.8
Falling (Haim)
2013
Danielle, Este and Alana wrote it with Morgan Nagler as a stay-strong pep talk, and it moves like one.
★ 4.8
Alive and Kicking
1985 · From Once Upon a Time
Robin Clark, credited as additional lead singer, answers Kerr line for line while Iovine pushes everything skyward.
★ 4.7
Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
2012
Nietzsche by way of a co-writer's mother, Greg Kurstin's production, and Clarkson's third number one.
★ 4.6
Spike Driver Blues (1928)Mississippi John Hurt
Spike Driver Blues (1928)
1928 · From 1928 Sessions
Okeh sent an Avalon sharecropper home after modest sales, leaving behind a fingerpicked John Henry that refuses the hammer.
★ 4.3
You Gotta Be
1994
Written out of a breakup and a Shakti Gawain self-help book, then re-released in Britain three times until it stuck.
★ 4.2
Safe and Sound
2011
Trumpet hook lifted from the Yiddish standard Dona Dona, and two and a half years later, number eight.
★ 3.8
Hold On (Wilson Phillips)
1990
Chynna Phillips drew the words from AA's one-day-at-a-time, Glen Ballard produced, and it topped Billboard's 1990 year-end chart.
★ 3.8