Good Vibrations
1966 · From Smiley Smile
Brian Wilson's pocket symphony, months and a fortune spent chasing one shimmering theremin line into the sunlight.
★ 9.8
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.
I Want to Hold Your Hand
1963 · From Meet the Beatles!
Handclaps, that leaping chord under "I can't hide," and five weeks later America belonged to them.
★ 9.6
Be My Baby
1963 · From Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Hal Blaine's four-beat drum intro is the most imitated in pop, and Ronnie Spector owns everything after it.
★ 9.3
I Got You (I Feel Good)
1965 · From I Got You (I Feel Good)
Brown recycled a flop he'd cut on Yvonne Fair, added Maceo Parker's alto, and landed his highest-charting single.
★ 8.8
Will You Love Me Tomorrow (The Shirelles)
1960
King wrote the melody and the string arrangement, and a girl group topped the Hot 100 for the first time.
★ 8.0
At Last
1960 · From At Last!
Riley Hampton's strings behind a 1941 film tune James took over, and the Library of Congress preserved it.
★ 7.8
Your SongElton John
Your Song
1970 · From Elton John
Taupin scribbled the lyric over breakfast at a kitchen table, and Buckmaster's strings turned it into John's first Top 10.
★ 7.8
La Vie en Rose (Edith Piaf)Edith Piaf
La Vie en Rose (Edith Piaf)
1947
Piaf's own lyric, dismissed by her collaborators as foolishness, then a million American sales and a French national possession.
★ 7.8
Like a Virgin
1984 · From Like a Virgin
A Steinberg and Kelly demo Rodgers disliked at first, six weeks at number one, and a seventeen-foot wedding cake.
★ 7.7
Can't Help Falling in LoveElvis Presley
Can't Help Falling in Love
1961 · From Blue Hawaii
A 1784 French melody rewritten for Blue Hawaii, and the song Presley chose to close his shows for a decade.
★ 7.7
Take On Me
1985
Two releases flopped before the third one broke, Furuholmen's Juno-60 riff intact and a video rotoscoped over sixteen weeks.
★ 7.5
Vision of Love
1990
Written with Ben Margulies in a studio behind his father's cabinet factory, and the whistle-register note that reset pop singing.
★ 7.3
All Shook Up
1957
A shaken Pepsi bottle gave Blackwell the title, and Presley's version held number one for two solid months.
★ 7.3
Heat Wave
1963
Holland-Dozier-Holland over a gospel backbeat, Mike Terry's baritone sax break, and Reeves hollering the Vandellas to a Grammy nomination.
★ 7.3
We Found Love
2011
Calvin Harris wrote and produced it alone, and Rihanna rode ten weeks at number one, 2011's longest run.
★ 7.2
Ain't NobodyChaka Khan
Ain't Nobody
1983
Wolinski's synth loop, his threat to hand the song to Quincy Jones instead, and Khan sailing clean over it.
★ 6.8
Uptight (Everything's Alright)
1965 · From Up-Tight
Wonder was fifteen, his voice breaking, and Gordy feared he was finished; Sylvia Moy fed him lyrics line by line.
★ 6.8
Such Great Heights (The Postal Service)
2003
Tamborello sent instrumental DATs to Gibbard, who added vocals and shipped them back; his first happy love song.
★ 6.7
Help Me
1974 · From Court and Spark
Her only American top ten hit, cut with Tom Scott's L.A. Express as she swung folk toward jazz.
★ 6.6
