Straight Outta Compton
1988 · From Straight Outta Compton
Dre and Yella built it in a Torrance studio on almost no money, and Compton stopped being invisible.
★ 8.8
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1988
Showing 32 songs from 1988
Fuck tha PoliceNWA
Fuck tha Police
1988 · From Straight Outta Compton
Structured as a mock trial with Dre presiding, and it drew a warning letter from an FBI assistant director.
★ 8.6
Fast CarTracy Chapman
Fast Car
1988 · From Tracy Chapman
Stevie Wonder's gear failed at the Mandela tribute, Chapman went on with a guitar, and the record went top ten.
★ 7.8
Where Is My Mind?
1988 · From Surfer Rosa
Francis traced the lyric to a fish that followed him diving; Albini taped Deal's vocal in a bathroom.
★ 7.7
Man in the Mirror
1988 · From Bad
Garrett and Ballard's demo won Quincy Jones over within hours, and the Andraé Crouch Choir carries Jackson home.
★ 6.8
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
My Philosophy
1988 · From By All Means Necessary
KRS-One produced it himself over a Stanley Turrentine loop, from the first album made after Scott La Rock's murder.
★ 6.5
Orange Crush
1988
Stipe's father served in Vietnam, and the title nods to Agent Orange; eight weeks atop Modern Rock.
★ 6.2
Father Figure
1988
Michael muted the snare while mixing a mid-tempo dance track and, by his account, suddenly had a gospel record.
★ 6.1
You Gots to Chill
1988 · From Strictly Business
More Bounce to the Ounce plus a Jungle Boogie sample, cut in West Babylon, and EPMD sounding utterly unhurried.
★ 6.0
BuddyDe La Soul
Buddy
1988 · From 3 Feet High and Rising
A Native Tongues posse cut, Q-Tip and the Jungle Brothers guesting, the remix riding Taana Gardner's Heartbeat bassline.
★ 6.0
My Prerogative
1988
Brown flew to New York with Gene Griffin for the aggressive song his album lacked, and new jack swing arrived.
★ 6.0
Copperhead Road
1988
Three generations of moonshine, Vietnam and the drug trade, named an official Tennessee state song in 2023.
★ 5.9
Can You Stand the Rain
1988
Jam and Lewis wrote and produced it for Johnny Gill's first New Edition album, and it topped the R&B chart.
★ 5.5
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
1988
Craig and Charlie Reid wrote it in an Edinburgh flat, sang it in undisguised Scottish accents, America followed in 1993.
★ 5.5
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
1988
By Michaels' account a bad phone call from a Dallas laundromat wrote itself into Poison's only number one.
★ 5.2
Straight Up
1988
Elliot Wolff wrote and programmed it alone, Fincher shot the video in black and white, three weeks at number one.
★ 4.9
Cherish (Madonna)
1988 · From Like a Prayer
Herb Ritts shot the mermen in Malibu surf, and Leonard's doo-wop bounce makes the Romeo and Juliet line land.
★ 4.4
Nite and DayAl B. Sure!
Nite and Day
1988
Two producers, one vocal barely above a whisper, and new jack swing's smoothest debut single went top ten.
★ 4.2
Simply Irresistible
1988
Number two in America, three weeks atop the rock chart, and the video that closed Palmer's mannequin trilogy.
★ 4.2
If It Isn't Love
1988
Jam and Lewis rebuilt the group as grown men, Johnny Gill's first single with them, Tresvant on lead.
★ 4.1
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
Wild Thing (Tone Loc)
1988
Young MC wrote the words, an uncredited Van Halen sample carried them, and Tone Loc's rasp did the rest.
★ 3.9
Listen to Your HeartRoxette
Listen to Your Heart
1988
Cut at EMI Studios in Stockholm, Gessle's deliberate pastiche of overblown American FM rock, and it hit number one.
★ 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
The Living Years
1988
Rutherford and B.A. Robertson had both just lost their fathers; Carrack, who lost his young, sang it.
★ 2.9
The Promise
1988
Written in a garden shed at Farrington's father's house, stalled at fifty-eight in Britain, then Napoleon Dynamite happened.
★ 2.9
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
Kokomo
1988 · From Cocktail (Original Soundtrack)
Mike Love's chorus of island names over Ry Cooder's guitar, and the Beach Boys' first number one in twenty-two years.
★ 2.6
A Groovy Kind of Love (Phil Collins)
1988
A 1797 Clementi sonatina rondo underneath, lyrics written in about twenty minutes, and Collins taking it to number one.
★ 2.5
You Got It (The Right Stuff)
1988
Maurice Starr wrote and produced it, Jordan Knight and Donnie Wahlberg took the leads, and Britain crowned it a year later.
★ 1.3