Respect
1967 · From I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You
Aretha takes Otis Redding's song away from him for good, spells out the demand, and never gives it back.
★ 9.9
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.
Work ItMissy Elliott
Work It
2002
Timbaland's beat under a hook Elliott had reversed, a Run-DMC sample, and ten weeks parked at number two.
★ 7.9
It's a Man's Man's Man's World
1966 · From It's a Man's Man's Man's World
Betty Jean Newsome shares the credit and later claimed all of it; Sammy Lowe's strings carry Brown's most exposed vocal.
★ 7.7
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
1983
Robert Hazard wrote it in 1979 from a man's point of view, and Lauper flipped it into female solidarity.
★ 7.7
Glory Box
1995 · From Dummy
Barrow looped Isaac Hayes' Ike's Rap II, Utley added the guitar, and Gibbons sings it like a demand.
★ 7.6
Keep Ya Head Up
1993
A Zapp groove under the Five Stairsteps hook, dedicated to Latasha Harlins, and rap's warmest tribute to Black women.
★ 7.4
Stand By Your Man
1968 · From Stand By Your Man
Written in about twenty minutes at the end of a session, and Wynette immediately dreaded that high note forever.
★ 7.4
Express Yourself (Madonna)
1989 · From Like a Prayer
Madonna and Stephen Bray built it on horns and handclaps; Fincher's Metropolis video cost a reported five million dollars.
★ 7.2
Nasty
1986
Jackson answered street harassers by demanding respect over a factory preset Jimmy Jam found on an Ensoniq Mirage.
★ 7.0
Just a Girl
1995
A late drive home from Tony Kanal's house, a father's lecture, and Stefani's first song without brother Eric.
★ 6.4
Independent Women
2000
Written for the Charlie's Angels soundtrack, eleven straight weeks at number one, and Michelle Williams's first single with the group.
★ 6.0
Survivor
2001
A radio host's joke about the lineup changes, flipped into a Grammy winner Beyonce largely wrote on a flight.
★ 6.0
Look at Miss Ohio
2003 · From Soul Journey
Welch keeps the arrangement to two guitars, and a beauty queen decides she will do right, just not yet.
★ 5.8