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Bo Diddley
Jerome Green's maracas, a tremolo guitar shaking like heat haze, and the beat that took Bo Diddley's name.
Take Me Out
Two songs welded together, the tempo dropping a minute in, and a sniper film lending Kapranos his double-edged title.
Hey Good Lookin'
Williams wrote it for Little Jimmy Dickens, recorded it first himself, and held country number one for eight weeks.
Bonita Applebum
Q-Tip read Miles Davis on space, then rapped conversationally over a Rotary Connection loop and made desire sound utterly relaxed.
Time of the Season
Argent and Blunstone rowed over the vocal at Abbey Road, and the band had broken up before America noticed.
Electric Relaxation
Q-Tip built the beat in his grandmother's basement from a Ronnie Foster loop, and Phife traded lines with him.
Then He Kissed Me
Larry Levine stumbled onto that echo by accident, and LaLa Brooks sings a whole courtship in under three minutes.
Da Doo Ron Ron
Nonsense syllables meant to be replaced by real words, La La Brooks on lead, and Spector's Gold Star thunder.
Who Do You Love
Jerome Green's maracas, Jody Williams on lead guitar, graveyard imagery, and a shuffle that skips the Bo Diddley beat.
Shop Around
Motown's first million-seller, recut at three in the morning with Gordy at the piano chasing a poppier hit.
Come Fly With Me
Cahn and Van Heusen wrote it to order, and Billy May's first Sinatra arrangement made travel sound like swagger.
Wannabe
Seven weeks at UK number one for a debut single, and a chorus that puts her friends before any suitor.
The Way You Make Me Feel
Cut at Westlake with Quincy Jones, a shuffle Jackson wrote himself, and Bad's third straight Hot 100 number one.
Get Ready
Smokey's song, Kendricks singing lead, number one R&B but only twenty-nine pop, which handed the group to Whitfield.
Somebody Told Me
Flowers called it the story of trying to meet someone in a club; Keuning's hook does the flirting.
Take a Chance on Me
Ulvaeus chanted "tck-a-ch" to pace his jogging; it became the a cappella hook on ABBA's seventh UK number one.
If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time
Jim Beck offered a free demo in his Dallas studio; Frizzell's stretched phrasing became the template Haggard and Jones inherited.
Sherry
Gaudio wrote it in fifteen minutes by his account, and Valli's falsetto carried it to five weeks at number one.
That Don't Impress Me Much
Twain and Lange built it on three men who fall short, and that hooded leopard print did the rest.
Poetic Justice
Scoop DeVille built it from Janet Jackson's "Any Time, Any Place", heard on the studio radio, and Drake glides in.
Shoop
Built on a Sweet Inspirations sample, with Salt and Pepa flipping the gaze and riding it to number four.
Young Folks
Yttling whistled a placeholder melody, ran it through tape delay, and kept it; Bergsman answers line for line.
Come Go With Me
Airmen stationed in Pittsburgh, a demo cut in a DJ's basement, and bass singer Clarence Quick's nonsense-syllable hook.
Call Me Maybe
A folk song on tour until Josh Ramsay poppified it, then nine weeks at the top of the Hot 100.
For Your Love
Brian Auger's harpsichord and Denny Piercy's bongos on a pop single, with Clapton confined to the middle break before quitting.
Are You Gonna Be My Girl
A cough left in from the demo, a Motown-derived stomp, and a riff everyone insisted they had heard before.
Roxanne, Roxanne
Released as a B-side, produced by Full Force, and Roxanne rejecting all three MCs set off dozens of answer records.
First Date
DeLonge wrote it after the band's manager complained the album had no feel-good song; a SeaWorld date supplied the rest.
Tell Me
Larrieux's feathery lead over Bryce Wilson's interpolation of the Mary Jane Girls, and neo soul had its blueprint.
Uptown Girl
Joel chasing Frankie Valli's falsetto and the Four Seasons' bounce; five weeks at number one, his only UK chart-topper.
Bus Stop
Graham Gouldman's father handed him the opening lines; Gouldman finished the middle eight on his own bus to work.
Short Skirt/Long Jacket
DiFiore's trumpet lick, chords borrowed from Sweet Jane, and McCrea deadpanning a want ad for the ideal woman.
The Tide is High
Holt's rocksteady original for Duke Reid, White Rum Raymond on violin, and a chorus Blondie later took to number one.
It's Gonna Be Me
Max Martin coached Timberlake into pronouncing the last word "may", and 'N Sync got their only Hot 100 number one.
Cruise
Twenty-four weeks atop the country chart, a Nelly remix, and the first country single ever certified diamond.
My Boo
Bass from Atlanta, an R&B vocal on top, and a 2016 dance craze that beat its 1996 chart peak.
Got My Mind Set on You
Harrison bought the James Ray original in Illinois in 1963; Jeff Lynne turned it into his last American number one.
Wild Thing (Tone Loc)
Young MC wrote the words, an uncredited Van Halen sample carried them, and Tone Loc's rasp did the rest.
Funky Cold Medina
Foreigner's riff, a Funkadelic drum break, and a phrase borrowed from Flavor Flav, built into a top-three hit.
On Top of Old Smoky
Cecil Sharp collected it in Appalachia in 1916; Seeger's arrangement and Terry Gilkyson's voice sold a million.
I Got A Man
The woman turning him down is Positive K himself, pitched up in the studio, and that duet is the joke.
Run It!
Cut at Criteria in Miami by Scott Storch and Sean Garrett, with Brown topping the Hot 100 at sixteen.
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Leo Friedman's tune, Beth Slater Whitson's words, and a 1911 quartet disc now in the National Recording Registry.
Two Princes
A video at Bethesda Fountain, a six-dollar hat, and a hook that pushed the album past five times platinum.
Too Shy
Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran co-produced it, and Limahl rode the hook to two weeks at UK number one.
How Country Feels
Three Nashville writers and producer Derek George handed Houser his first Country Airplay number one, and a platinum single.