Dancing Queen
1976 · From Gold: Greatest Hits
Seventeen and gliding across the floor, the rare disco record that sounds like joy and ache at once.
★ 9.1
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.
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
1965 · From Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
The record where the beat moved to the one and funk quietly began. James Brown never looked back.
★ 9.1
What'd I SayRay Charles
What'd I Say
1959 · From What'd I Say
Twelve minutes left at a Pennsylvania dance, so Charles improvised it on his Wurlitzer and many stations banned it.
★ 9.0
(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock
1954
Cut in leftover studio minutes with Sammy Davis Jr. waiting outside, it flopped until Blackboard Jungle put it under the credits.
★ 8.8
Get Ur Freak On
2001
Timbaland set a tumbi melody over tabla and left Elliott acres of empty space to fill.
★ 8.5
Dancing in the Street
1964
Gaye co-wrote it and cut an early version; Reeves heard block parties in it and needed two takes.
★ 8.4
One More Time
2000 · From Discovery
Romanthony's vocal pushed through auto-tune over a slowed Eddie Johns disco sample, filtered until the chorus explodes.
★ 8.3
September
1978
Willis wanted real words instead of ba-dee-ya; White refused, and the groove outlived any lyric she could have written.
★ 8.3
Jailhouse Rock
1957
Leiber and Stoller wrote it as a goof; Scotty Moore's solo nearly derails the take and Presley never blinks.
★ 8.3
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
1979 · From Off the Wall
Jackson wrote it himself and steered the session; a whisper, a water-bottle rattle, then Louis Johnson's bass takes over.
★ 8.3
Planet RockAfrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force
Planet Rock
1982
Bambaataa welded Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express to a Roland 808, and Tommy Boy paid Kraftwerk a dollar per record.
★ 8.2
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex MachineJames Brown
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
1970 · From Sex Machine
One of Brown's first dates with the new J.B.s, Bootsy Collins on bass at eighteen, Bobby Byrd answering every line.
★ 7.9
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
1957
One microphone, Roland Janes muted behind the boogie piano, and a July 1957 television debut that turned it national.
★ 7.7
Give Up the FunkParliament
Give Up the Funk
1975
Bootsy Collins on bass, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker newly arrived from James Brown, and Parliament's first gold single.
★ 7.7
Twist and Shout
1964 · From Please Please Me
Last song of a twelve-hour day, Lennon's throat gone, one usable take, and the Beatles' only million-selling cover.
★ 7.7
Let's Dance
1983 · From Let's Dance
Nile Rodgers on rhythm guitar, an unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead, and Bowie's biggest-selling single by a distance.
★ 7.7
Rock With You
1979 · From Off the Wall
Rod Temperton offered it to Karen Carpenter first; Quincy Jones and Jackson took it to number one.
★ 7.6
La Bamba (Ritchie Valens)
1958
Cut as the B-side of Donna, a Veracruz son jarocho with Carol Kaye on rhythm and Earl Palmer driving.
★ 7.6
Get Lucky
2013 · From Random Access Memories
Rodgers' guitar, Pharrell's vocal, Nathan East on bass, and disco walked back onto the radio wearing robot helmets.
★ 7.6
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
1987 · From Whitney
Walden thought the demo too country, funked it up, and Houston cut it while shaking off a bronchial infection.
★ 7.5
Flash LightParliament
Flash Light
1977
Bootsy passed on the bass part, so Worrell chained three Minimoogs together and gave Parliament its first R&B number one.
★ 7.5
Dance to the Music
1968 · From Dance to the Music
Clive Davis wanted a hit, so Sly wrote a roll call: each player steps forward, Cynthia Robinson shouting the title.
★ 7.4
Into the Groove
1985
Written for another singer, rebuilt with Stephen Bray for a Desperately Seeking Susan dance scene, then buried on a B-side.
★ 7.4
Around the World (Daft Punk)
1997 · From Homework
One lyric repeated 144 times over a synth bassline, and Gondry's video giving each instrument its own dancers.
★ 7.4
Good Golly, Miss Molly
1958 · From Little Richard
Little Richard lifted the piano intro straight off Rocket 88, and Earl Palmer's drums do the rest.
★ 7.4
One Nation Under a Groove
1978 · From One Nation Under a Groove
Clinton, Shider and Junie Morrison cut it at United Sound; six weeks at R&B number one, 1978's longest run.
★ 7.4
Back That Azz UpJuvenile
Back That Azz Up
1999
Mannie Fresh's violin line over a bounce beat, Lil Wayne's chant at the close, and New Orleans bounce gone national.
★ 7.3
Oye Como Va
1970
Tito Puente wrote it as a 1962 cha-cha-cha; Gregg Rolie's Hammond organ replaced the horn section.
★ 7.2
MoondanceVan Morrison
Moondance
1970 · From Moondance
A melody Morrison worked out on soprano sax first, then Jack Schroer's alto solo swinging over Jef Labes' piano.
★ 7.1
Push It
1987
A B-side until a San Francisco DJ's remix reached radio, and a first rap Grammy nomination they boycotted.
★ 7.0
The Way You Move
2003 · From Speakerboxxx / The Love Below
Eight weeks stuck at number two behind Hey Ya!, then Big Boi's live Atlanta horns finally took the top.
★ 7.0
SexyBack
2006 · From FutureSex / LoveSounds
Timberlake sang it in a distorted low register borrowed from Prince, and it held number one for seven weeks.
★ 7.0
Love Shack
1989
Don Was suggested welding a fifteen-minute jam to a shouted chorus, and Cindy Wilson's tin-roof ad-lib stayed in.
★ 7.0
Disco Inferno
1976
Jimmy Ellis over eleven minutes of Philadelphia rhythm, a flop in 1976 until Saturday Night Fever made it a hit.
★ 7.0
Save the Last Dance for Me
1960
Pomus, who had polio, wrote the lyric on the back of his own wedding invitation, remembering his bride dancing.
★ 6.9
Sweet Little Sixteen
1958 · From One Dozen Berrys
Lafayette Leake's piano, Willie Dixon's bass, and a melody Brian Wilson borrowed so closely he lost the copyright.
★ 6.9
I Saw Her Standing There
1963 · From Please Please Me
Martin spliced McCartney's count-in from take nine onto take one, and rock and roll never had a better doorway.
★ 6.8
The Twist
1960
A Hank Ballard B-side first, then American Bandstand, then number one for Checker in 1960 and again in 1962.
★ 6.8
Rock & Roll MusicChuck Berry
Rock & Roll Music
1957 · From One Dozen Berrys
Willie Dixon on bass, Lafayette Leake on piano, Chicago in May 1957, and Berry arguing the case for backbeat.
★ 6.7
Avalon
1982 · From Avalon
A swan song by Ferry's own account, with a wordless vocal from Yanick Etienne, found in the next studio.
★ 6.7
It Takes Two
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
1988
The Think break from a 1972 Lyn Collins single, and two Harlem kids made the party record of 1988.
★ 6.6
Jump AroundHouse of Pain
Jump Around
1992
Cypress Hill could not write to Muggs's beat and Ice Cube passed on it; it reached number three anyway.
★ 6.6
Family Affair (Mary J. Blige)
2001 · From No More Drama
Dre's instrumental sat titled Fragile for months before it was renamed Family Affair and took six weeks at number one.
★ 6.6
Hot in Herre
2002
The Neptunes flipped Chuck Brown's "Bustin' Loose," and Nelly rode it to number one and the first male solo rap Grammy.
★ 6.6
All Night Long (All Night)
1983
Those African-sounding chants are invented gibberish; Richie had no time for a translator and no reason to care.
★ 6.5
Jungle Boogie
1973
Don Boyce, the band's roadie, shouted the vocal and got a writing credit; Pulp Fiction did the rest.
★ 6.5
Last Dance
1978
Jabara reportedly locked Summer in a hotel bathroom with a cassette until she agreed; it won the Academy Award.
★ 6.4
Let's Groove
1981
A vocoder hello, Philip Bailey's falsetto, and eight weeks at the top of the soul chart.
★ 6.4
Brick House
1977
Drummer Walter Orange stepped out front, LaPread's bass line did the rest, and funk got a permanent floor-filler.
★ 6.4
Don't Stop the Music
2007
StarGate looped Michael Jackson's chant from Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', and Rihanna took it to number one in ten countries.
★ 6.4
Tightrope
2010
Cut at Wondaland with Big Boi guesting, a horn-driven groove Monae wrote about staying level under praise and criticism.
★ 6.3
Get Low
2003
Crunk's breakthrough, produced entirely by Lil Jon, stalled at number two and drove the album past two million copies.
★ 6.3
Hips Don't Lie
Shakira and Wyclef Jean
2006
Jean and Duplessis rebuilt his 'Dance Like This' around Jerry Rivera's salsa trumpet line; number one in eighteen countries.
★ 6.2
Holiday (Madonna)Madonna
Holiday (Madonna)
1983 · From Madonna
Mary Wilson and Phyllis Hyman turned it down; Benitez cut it at Sigma Sound in a week, cowbell included.
★ 6.2
Just Dance
2008
Twenty-two weeks crawling up the Hot 100 before number one, RedOne's synths announcing the pop decade ahead.
★ 6.2
Do You Believe in Magic
1965
Sebastian's autoharp opens it, written after he watched a teenager dance at the Night Owl in Greenwich Village.
★ 6.1
Sherry
1962
Gaudio wrote it in fifteen minutes by his account, and Valli's falsetto carried it to five weeks at number one.
★ 6.1
That's The Way (I Like It)
1975
Casey and Finch's call-and-response chant for TK in Hialeah topped the Hot 100 in two separate runs.
★ 6.0
The Humpty DanceDigital Underground
The Humpty Dance
1990
A Sly Stone drum loop, a fake nose, and Shock G inventing Humpty Hump, the funniest alter ego in rap.
★ 6.0
U Can't Touch This
1990
Rick James sued over the Super Freak riff and settled for a co-writing credit; Hammer's pants did the rest.
★ 6.0
D.A.N.C.E.
2007
Justice built it from Michael Jackson song titles and handed the chorus to a London children's choir.
★ 6.0
La Bamba (Los Lobos)
1987
Los Lobos took a Veracruz wedding dance to number one, in Spanish, for the Ritchie Valens biopic.
★ 5.9
Get Down Tonight
1975
A guitar solo recorded slow and played back at double speed opens KC's first American number one.
★ 5.8
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
1984
Ridgeley scrawled a note to his parents, doubled a word by mistake, and George Michael built a number one on it.
★ 5.7
Conga
1985
Written after a show in Utrecht by the band's own drummer, it walked Latin percussion onto American pop radio.
★ 5.7
Get BusySean Paul
Get Busy
2003
Lenky Marsden's Diwali riddim is mostly handclaps and space, and Sean Paul rode it to three weeks at number one.
★ 5.7
Flashdance...What a Feeling
1983
Cara and Forsey wrote most of the lyric in a cab to the studio; six weeks at number one followed.
★ 5.6
Rock Your Body
2003 · From Justified
The Neptunes wrote it for Michael Jackson's Invincible; he passed, Timberlake took it, and the falsetto glides straight into disco.
★ 5.6
Pine Top Boogie WoogiePinetop Smith
Pine Top Boogie Woogie
1928
Smith calls out the steps over a rolling left hand, on the first record to carry boogie woogie in its title.
★ 5.6
Weapon of Choice
2001
Bootsy Collins doubled in both channels, a Sly Stone sample, and Christopher Walken dancing through a Los Angeles hotel lobby.
★ 5.5
Footloose
1983
Pitchford wrote the screenplay first, then the lyrics; Loggins supplied the tune and his only number one.
★ 5.5
1, 2 Step
Ciara and Missy Elliott
2004
Jazze Pha built the beat on an Akai MPC3000, and Missy Elliott cut her verse before ever meeting Ciara.
★ 5.5
Back and ForthAaliyah
Back and Forth
1994
Fifteen years old, a debut single that went top five, and Aaliyah already sounding unhurried and completely in command.
★ 5.4
Tighten Up
1968
Houston's T.S.U. Toronadoes laid down the groove, and Bell was serving in Vietnam when it topped both charts.
★ 5.4
The LocomotionLittle Eva
The Locomotion
1962
Top three in America across three decades, three different singers, and Eva Boyd invented the dance after the hit.
★ 5.4
Get Up Offa That ThingJames Brown
Get Up Offa That Thing
1976 · From Get Up Offa That Thing
Brown put the writing credit in his wife's and daughters' names over IRS debts, then cut it live in two takes.
★ 5.3