Nothing Compares 2 U
Prince wrote it for a side project that went nowhere; O'Connor's tears in the video were real, and unplanned.
Prince wrote it for a side project that went nowhere; O'Connor's tears in the video were real, and unplanned.

His grandmother told him to knock them out; Marley Marl looped Funky Drummer, and the Grammy followed.
Gore wrote it as a harmonium ballad; Wilder and Flood put a dance beat under it over his objections.

An Average White Band loop, Q-Tip and Phife trading lines, and a Queens rooftop that Linden Boulevard still remembers.

Michael refused to appear, so Fincher had five supermodels lip-sync while his Faith leather jacket burned onscreen.

Written with Ben Margulies in a studio behind his father's cabinet factory, and the whistle-register note that reset pop singing.

Bud Lee forgot his wallet, joked that he knew the cook, and Brooks took it to number one.

Q-Tip read Miles Davis on space, then rapped conversationally over a Rotary Connection loop and made desire sound utterly relaxed.

Angus called it a little guitar trick; Malcolm added the rhythm underneath, and it lands before Johnson sings a word.
Bob Andrews cut it in 1988 to no interest; Lillywhite's remix made it Britpop's founding jangle.

Jerden heard Livin' on a Prayer driving to the studio and suggested the talk box that defines it.

Trevor Horn spent about three months producing it; Seal built the chorus from a world visibly changing.

Elliot Straite, as Dr. Freeze, turned a letter to an ex-girlfriend into new jack swing at its sharpest.
A Sly Stone drum loop, a fake nose, and Shock G inventing Humpty Hump, the funniest alter ego in rap.

Rick James sued over the Super Freak riff and settled for a co-writing credit; Hammer's pants did the rest.

Guitar jangle, Wheeler's voice, and a US Modern Rock number one that Britain never received as a single.

A new jack swing pivot from L.A. Reid and Babyface, and by Reid's account the vocal took one take.

Steinberg brought a verse and chorus, the four writers finished it the next day, Australia sent it to number one.

Two voices and one acoustic guitar, dropped into a funk metal album, and A&M got a number one.