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.
Eleanor Rigby
1966 · From Revolver
No Beatle plays an instrument on it; George Martin's string octet does everything, sawing away at two solitary lives.
★ 8.9
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)Fleetwood Mac
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)
1977 · From Rumours
Nicks wrote it in a black velvet studio room at Sausalito's Record Plant; it remains the band's only US number one.
★ 8.9
(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
1968 · From The Dock of the Bay
Redding cut the vocal three days before the plane crash, and Cropper finished it into the first posthumous American number one.
★ 8.8
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
1949 · From 40 Greatest Hits
Issued as a B-side because jukeboxes wanted uptempo, with Jerry Byrd's steel guitar shadowing every line Williams sings.
★ 8.5
Waterloo SunsetThe Kinks
Waterloo Sunset
1967 · From Something Else by The Kinks
Davies started it as "Liverpool Sunset," moved it to the Thames, and Dave's tape-delay guitar did the rest.
★ 8.3
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
Rocket Man
1972 · From Honky Chateau
Taupin borrowed the title from a Pearls Before Swine song, and Hentschel's ARP put the loneliness in orbit.
★ 7.9
Ain't No SunshineBill Withers
Ain't No Sunshine
1971
Withers was building airplane toilets when he cut this, and he left the unfinished bridge as twenty-six repeats.
★ 7.8
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
Under the Bridge
1991 · From Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Rubin found the poem in Kiedis's notebook and pushed for it; Frusciante's mother sings in the choir at the end.
★ 7.7
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
Somebody to Love (Queen)
1976 · From Greatest Hits
Mercury wrote it at the piano, then three voices were multitracked into something the size of a gospel choir.
★ 7.4
Message in a Bottle
1979 · From Reggatta de Blanc
Summers' arpeggiated riff, Sting's castaway pleading over it, and the first of the Police's five UK number ones.
★ 7.3
Behind Blue EyesThe Who
Behind Blue Eyes
1971 · From Who's Next
Townshend's theme for the villain of his abandoned Lifehouse, and Daltrey sings the self-pity straight before Moon wrecks it.
★ 7.3
November Rain
1992 · From Use Your Illusion I
Slash's solo grew from an improvisation, Rose had chased the song since 1986, and nine minutes went top three.
★ 7.2
Please Mr. Postman
1961
Marvin Gaye played the drums, Gladys Horton pleaded the lead, and Motown had its first Hot 100 number one.
★ 7.0
Day 'n' Nite
2008
Cut in Dot da Genius's home studio in East New York, using a Geto Boys favorite as its blueprint.
★ 7.0
Wicked Games
2012
Doc McKinney and Illangelo built the guitar figure and the fog; Tesfaye gave away House of Balloons for free.
★ 7.0
White RoomCream
White Room
1968 · From Wheels of Fire
A 5/4 intro that worried the label, Pappalardi's violas, Baker's timpani, and Clapton's wah-wah doing the talking.
★ 7.0
Old Man
1972 · From Harvest
James Taylor picked up a six-string banjo he had never played, Ronstadt harmonised, and Young's ranch caretaker got a song.
★ 6.9
Tired of Being AloneAl Green
Tired of Being Alone
1971 · From Greatest Hits
Green wrote it inside an hour by his account, then spent days getting Willie Mitchell to listen.
★ 6.8
Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
1964
Burke's own band was at the session, so Tom Dowd cut it, and Burke delivered it as a sermon.
★ 6.7
Real Love
1992 · From What's the 411?
Prince Markie Dee and Cory Rooney sped up Audio Two's "Top Billin'", and hip hop soul had its template.
★ 6.7
Alone Again OrLove
Alone Again Or
1968 · From Forever Changes
MacLean wrote it about waiting for a girlfriend, David Angel scored the horns, and Lee added himself in the mix.
★ 6.6
Sweet Baby James
1970 · From Sweet Baby James
Taylor wrote it driving through the Carolinas to meet his newborn nephew, a cowboy lullaby in waltz time.
★ 6.6
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
2004 · From American Idiot
Armstrong wrote the lyrics alone in an East Village apartment, and that loneliness won Record of the Year.
★ 6.6
Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane)
1967 · From Surrealistic Pillow
Darby Slick wrote it after his girlfriend left; Grace Slick brought it from the Great Society to number five.
★ 6.5
Scar Tissue
1999 · From Californication
Frusciante's slide guitar on his first record back with the band, then sixteen weeks atop Billboard's modern rock chart.
★ 6.4
CrossroadsCream
Crossroads
1969 · From Wheels of Fire
Cut live at Winterland in March 1968, Robert Johnson's blues sped up under two of Clapton's most copied solos.
★ 6.4
Strangers in the NightFrank Sinatra
Strangers in the Night
1966 · From Strangers in the Night
Bert Kaempfert's film melody, an Ernie Freeman arrangement, Sinatra's first number one in eleven years, and he reportedly hated it.
★ 6.3
Baby I Need Your Loving
1964
Jamerson's bass, Levi Stubbs pleading, Holland-Dozier-Holland at the board, and the Four Tops' first million seller.
★ 6.3
Mona Lisa
1950
Nelson Riddle arranged it uncredited under Les Baxter's name, and Cole's baritone turned a B-side into a million seller.
★ 6.2
Please Send Me Someone to Love
1950
Cut for Art Rupe's Specialty in 1950, Mayfield's prayer for the world arrives before he asks anything for himself.
★ 6.2
Mr. Jones
1993
T-Bone Burnett replaced the band's own drummer with session man Denny Fongheiser, and Duritz got the fame he wished for.
★ 6.2
One (Harry Nilsson)Harry Nilsson
One (Harry Nilsson)
1968
A busy signal Nilsson sat listening to became the song's opening notes; Three Dog Night took it to number five.
★ 6.1
DesperadoThe Eagles
Desperado
1973 · From Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)
Never released as a single; Henley's piano sketch dated to 1968, and Jim Ed Norman's strings turned it monumental.
★ 6.1
I Need Love
1987 · From Bigger and Deffer
Hip hop's first successful ballad, an MC known for boasts admitting loneliness, and a number fourteen pop hit.
★ 6.0
Miss Misery
1997 · From Good Will Hunting (Original Soundtrack)
An earlier version with different lyrics sat unreleased until Good Will Hunting sent Smith to the Oscars in white.
★ 5.9
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2003
Tamborello mailed the beats to Gibbard on discs, who wrote this over a breakup with someone who moved to Washington.
★ 5.8
Rainy Night in Georgia
1970
Toots Thielemans on harmonica, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Arif Mardin producing, and Benton sounding like the rain itself.
★ 5.8
I Miss You
2004
Cello, upright bass and brushed drums, roughly seventy acoustic tracks, and Hoppus and DeLonge trading verses about missing someone.
★ 5.8
Cruel SummerBananarama
Cruel Summer
1983
Jolley and Swain built it around oppressive heat, and The Karate Kid carried it into the American top ten.
★ 5.7
Use Somebody
2008 · From Only by the Night
Recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, it spent fifty-seven weeks on the Hot 100 and won Record of the Year.
★ 5.7
Blue Christmas
1968 · From Elvis' Christmas Album
Millie Kirkham's soprano wailing over the Jordanaires at Radio Recorders, 1957, with Scotty Moore answering every line.
★ 5.6
3005
2013
Ludwig Goransson's synths under a hook everyone reads as romance; Glover insists it is really about fearing solitude.
★ 5.5
One (Three Dog Night)
1969
A busy signal on Nilsson's telephone became the repeating note, and Chuck Negron sings loneliness to number five.
★ 5.4
Stay With Me
2014
One voice layered roughly twenty times into a choir, and a settlement that added Petty and Lynne.
★ 5.3
Need You Now
2009
Four writers, one late-night phone call, and a chorus that took Record and Song of the Year at the Grammys.
★ 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
Adam's Song
1999
A piano bridge from session player Roger Joseph Manning Jr. lifts the band's most serious song out of its despair.
★ 5.0
It Must Have Been Love
1987
Written to order as a Christmas single, then reworded for Pretty Woman and two weeks atop the Hot 100.
★ 4.8
Runaway Train
1993
Pirner wrote it during a breakdown, and Tony Kaye's video named missing children, region by region, until some came home.
★ 4.5
All By Myself
1996
Eric Carmen's verse borrowed from Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto, and Dion nailing the high F Foster dared her to try.
★ 4.4
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
1991
Elton John joined Michael onstage near Chicago in October 1991, and the live duet topped both charts.
★ 4.3
When I Call Your Name
1989
Gill wrote it with Tim DuBois, Patty Loveless sang the harmony, and the CMA named it Single of the Year.
★ 4.0
Paper Doll
1944
Cut in under fifteen minutes as a B-side in 1942, it sat at number one for twelve weeks.
★ 3.4
Amsterdam (Peter, Bjorn and John)
2006
Track four on Writer's Block, self-produced by the trio, and its plainest study of being left behind.
★ 2.8