A Change is Gonna ComeSam Cooke
A Change is Gonna Come
1964 · From Portrait of a Legend
Cooke wrote it after a motel turned him away, and sang it like a hymn he already knew by heart.
★ 9.7
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.
Here Comes the Sun
1969 · From Abbey Road
Harrison wrote it in Clapton's garden while skipping a business meeting, and it sounds exactly like that relief.
★ 9.6
Let it Be
1970 · From Let It Be
McCartney dreamed of his mother Mary telling him it would be all right; Harrison cut two different solos.
★ 8.9
Thunder Road
1975 · From Born to Run
Bittan's piano, a harmonica, and a screen door slamming; Springsteen lifted the title from a Robert Mitchum film poster.
★ 8.3
People Get ReadyThe Impressions
People Get Ready
1965
Mayfield turned the gospel train of the spirituals into a civil rights hymn, and King used it to steady marchers.
★ 8.0
What a Wonderful WorldLouis Armstrong
What a Wonderful World
1967 · From What a Wonderful World
Armstrong took union scale so the orchestra could collect overtime; ABC's president hated it and buried the record.
★ 7.8
Live Forever
1994 · From Definitely Maybe
Gallagher wrote it in 1991, before Oasis had a record deal, pitching plain optimism against everything grunge was selling.
★ 7.7
I'll Take You ThereThe Staple Singers
I'll Take You There
1972
Al Bell lifted the bassline from a Jamaican instrumental, and Mavis Staples turned Muscle Shoals into a pulpit.
★ 7.5
Three Little BirdsBob Marley and the Wailers
Three Little Birds
1977 · From Exodus
Reportedly inspired by canaries at his Hope Road windowsill, cut in London, and the gentlest reassurance in reggae.
★ 7.4
Clint Eastwood
2001
Albarn built it on a melodica and an Omnichord's first preset; Del cut his verses in half an hour.
★ 7.4
Don't Stop Believin'
1981
Cain lifted the title from his father's advice, and the chorus stays hidden until the last fifty seconds.
★ 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
Dream On
1973 · From Aerosmith
Tyler had the tune on his family's New Hampshire lodge piano years before Aerosmith; a reissue reached number six.
★ 7.2
Move On Up
1970 · From Curtis
Master Henry Gibson's congas drive it, the horns arrive like good news, and Britain sent it top twelve.
★ 7.2
Livin' on a Prayer
1986 · From Slippery When Wet
The band laughed at Sambora's talk box until it opened the record. The last chorus climbs a minor third.
★ 7.1
Don't Dream It's Over
1986
Froom's Hammond solo does the heavy lifting, and Finn wrote the rest as an exhortation to himself.
★ 7.0
Everyday
1957
A celesta played by the producer's wife, Jerry Allison slapping his knees for drums, and two minutes of pure lift.
★ 6.9
Beautiful Day
2000 · From All That You Can't Leave Behind
Eno programmed the drum machine, Lanois played the Telecaster, and the Edge won the argument for his old delay-drenched sound.
★ 6.9
New Year's Day
1983 · From War
A bass line Clayton stumbled on while decoding Visage's Fade to Grey, then Bono aimed the words at Poland's Solidarity.
★ 6.8
Shining Star (Earth, Wind and Fire)
1975
A night walk at Caribou Ranch gave White the title, and the band their only Hot 100 number one.
★ 6.8
One Fine Day
1962
Goffin and King built it for Little Eva; the Chiffons got the track, King's piano intro intact.
★ 6.5
Ooh Child
1970
Stan Vincent's song sat on a B-side until it broke out in Philadelphia and Detroit and climbed to number eight.
★ 6.1
You Get What You Give
1998
Alexander buried a celebrity taunt in the last verse to prove the press would ignore the politics; it worked.
★ 6.0
This Will Be Our Year
1968 · From Odessey and Oracle
Take four, June 1967 at EMI, with a trumpet added later onto the mono mix and nowhere else.
★ 6.0
Red Eyes
2014 · From Lost in the Dream
Granduciel spent two years second-guessing these sessions, and the song still turns on one yelp before the chorus.
★ 5.8
We've Only Just Begun
1970 · From Close to You
Richard Carpenter recognized Paul Williams singing a bank commercial and asked whether a whole song existed underneath.
★ 5.7
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
Come Sail Away
1977
A piano ballad at first, then a synthesizer break, then guitars, angels and a starship headed skyward.
★ 5.5
Learnin' to Fly
1991 · From Into the Great Wide Open
Four chords, F, C, A minor, G, looping unchanged while Petty and Jeff Lynne make uplift sound effortless.
★ 5.5
Not Afraid
2010 · From Recovery
Boi-1da's beat, Resto's keyboards, and Eminem setting the Slim Shady mask aside; it debuted at number one.
★ 5.3
Crystal Blue Persuasion
1969
James took the title from Revelation's New Jerusalem and floated it over organ, acoustic guitar and overdubbed bongos.
★ 5.3
I Believe I Can FlyR. Kelly
I Believe I Can Fly
1996
Written for Space Jam, Paul Riser's strings taped in Detroit, the Luv Club Choir massed behind the vocal.
★ 5.1
Long December
1996
Duritz wrote it before dawn while a friend lay in hospital, and the band cut it almost entirely live.
★ 4.9
The Cave
2009
Written at a soundcheck in an Edinburgh pub, open-D guitar and banjo climbing into a stomp that drew four Grammy nominations.
★ 4.9
Unwritten
2004
Cut in Venice Beach with Danielle Brisebois, then adopted by The Hills and every graduation slideshow since.
★ 4.8
One Headlight
1997
Jakob Dylan wrote it at a Los Angeles kitchen table, then watched it top all three Billboard rock airplay charts.
★ 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
I Hope You Dance
2000
Sanders and Sillers wrote it in 1999; five weeks at country number one, and every graduation since has borrowed it.
★ 4.6
Hero
1993
Written for Gloria Estefan until Mottola heard the demo; Carey thought it schmaltzy and took it to number one.
★ 4.5
Steve McQueen
2011
Justin Meldal-Johnsen co-produced at Sunset Sound, and Gonzalez turns unembarrassed optimism into a wall of synthesizers.
★ 4.3
The Rose
1980
A song its writer said had no bridge and no hook, written in 45 minutes and sung to number three.
★ 4.3
Life is a Highway (Tom Cochrane)
1991
A Red Rider demo called "Love Is a Highway", revived after Cochrane's World Vision trip to eastern Africa.
★ 4.2
Forever Young (Rod Stewart)Rod Stewart
Forever Young (Rod Stewart)
1988 · From Out of Order
A father's blessing written for the kids Stewart missed while touring, and similar enough to Dylan's song that they share royalties.
★ 4.0
Hold My Hand
1994
Written by all four members in 1989, David Crosby added backing vocals, and the debut album sold twenty million.
★ 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
Grapevine Fires
2009 · From Narrow Stairs
Jason McGerr shaped the drums after the Purdie Shuffle, and Gibbard turned the 2007 California wildfires into something almost calm.
★ 3.7
The Show Goes On
2010
Kane Beatz interpolated Modest Mouse's Float On, Atlantic made it the price of releasing Lasers, and Fiasco got his biggest hit.
★ 3.5
Don't Worry Be Happy
1988
Eight tracks at Fantasy Studios, every sound McFerrin's own voice, and the first a cappella number one ever.
★ 3.3
Life Goes On
2011
Critics heard the Kinks' Lola in the strum, and a Dancing on Ice slot lifted it to number fourteen.
★ 2.8
Haven't Met You Yet
2009
Buble wrote it with Chang and Foster-Gillies while dating Luisana Lopilato, who plays his love interest in the supermarket video.
★ 2.8
Waiting for a Star to Fall
1988
Turned down for Whitney Houston and passed over by Belinda Carlisle, so the writers cut it themselves and reached number five.
★ 2.7
That's The Way It Is
1999
Three Swedes wrote and produced it, and Dion turned her greatest-hits lead single into a final Hot 100 top ten.
★ 2.6
Life is a Highway (Rascal Flatts)
2006
Written after Cochrane's famine-relief trip to Africa, and reborn as a Pixar road anthem by Rascal Flatts.
★ 2.6
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
Thank God It's Christmas
1984
May and Taylor wrote it, Mercury sang it, and Queen waited until 2019 to give it a video.
★ 1.0