Stan
2000 · From The Marshall Mathers LP
The 45 King looped Dido under four letters, and Eminem's fan character ended up in the Oxford dictionary.
★ 8.7
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.
Every Breath You Take
1983 · From Synchronicity
Sting woke at Fleming's Goldeneye with the melody; Summers cut that arpeggio in one take and made surveillance sound tender.
★ 8.2
Heart-Shaped Box
1993 · From In Utero
Albini recorded it at Pachyderm in a Minnesota winter, and Scott Litt later remixed it to lift Cobain's vocal.
★ 7.6
Can't Get You Out of My HeadKylie Minogue
Can't Get You Out of My Head
2001
Dennis and Davis wrote it in three and a half hours, and Minogue committed after twenty seconds of the demo.
★ 7.5
Bizarre Love Triangle
1985
It missed the UK top forty, all Fairlight sequencing except Hook's bass, and now every indie disco needs it.
★ 7.5
All Day and All of the NightThe Kinks
All Day and All of the Night
1964
Ray Davies's publisher wanted to sue the Doors over the riff; Davies declined, and the snarl outlived the argument.
★ 7.4
I Put a Spell on You
1956
Intended as a blues ballad until the producer brought wine; Hawkins said he never remembered recording it.
★ 7.3
Spoonful
1960 · From Howlin' Wolf
A Willie Dixon lyric about craving, drawn loosely from a 1929 Charley Patton side, and Wolf looming over one chord.
★ 7.2
Total Eclipse of the Heart
1982
Nearly seven minutes, Rory Dodd's voice answering Tyler on the refrain, and Steinman's vampire love song became number one.
★ 7.2
Fallin'
2001
Two chords, one piano, and Keys writing and producing her own debut single straight to Song of the Year.
★ 7.0
Latch
Disclosure and Sam Smith
2012
Too weird for radio, not clubby enough for clubs, by the duo's own reckoning; Sam Smith's falsetto settled it.
★ 6.8
Hungry Like the Wolf
1982 · From Rio
Rhodes had the backing track in mind before reaching the studio; the Sri Lanka video carried it to number three.
★ 6.7
Nowhere to RunMartha and the Vandellas
Nowhere to Run
1965
Snow chains rattling for percussion, Jamerson's bass shoving it along, and Reeves sounding genuinely cornered by the arrangement.
★ 6.6
One Way or AnotherBlondie
One Way or Another
1979
Harry turned a 1973 stalker into a chase song, and Nigel Harrison's riff supplies the relentless forward motion.
★ 6.5
BernadetteThe Four Tops
Bernadette
1967
Dozier had three Bernadettes in mind, and Levi Stubbs shouts the name at the false ending like a man drowning.
★ 6.4
Plush
1992
The riff arrived in the back of a U-Haul, and DeLeo's ragtime chords carried grunge to a Grammy.
★ 6.3
Addicted to Love
1986
Chaka Khan's label blocked her from the duet, so Palmer sang it alone over Tony Thompson's drum intro.
★ 6.3
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
1984
Seventeen weeks climbing to a UK number one, the first for Stock Aitken Waterman, and Burns devours it.
★ 5.8
She Drives Me Crazy
1989
Cut at Paisley Park with David Z, the snare a drumhead struck with a wooden ruler under Gift's falsetto.
★ 5.3
The Distance
1996
Guitarist Greg Brown wrote it, McCrea narrates deadpan over trumpet, and the driver keeps racing long after everyone left.
★ 5.2