Bad Romance
2009
Written on a tour bus in Norway and premiered at Alexander McQueen's last show, all nonsense syllables and appetite.
★ 8.7
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2009
Showing 41 songs from 2009
Empire State of MindJay-Z
Empire State of Mind
2009 · From The Blueprint 3
Two songwriters homesick in London started it; Keys and a Moments piano loop made Jay-Z's first lead-artist number one.
★ 7.2
My Girls
2009 · From Merriweather Post Pavilion
An arpeggio out of Chicago house, a sample from the Cassini Saturn probe, Lennox wanting only a home.
★ 6.9
You Belong With Me
2009 · From Fearless
Banjo, fiddle and mandolin under a scene Swift wrote after overhearing a touring musician's phone call with his girlfriend.
★ 6.8
Two Weeks (Grizzly Bears)
2009
Chris Bear started the piano line on a Cape Cod weekend; Victoria Legrand's stacked harmonies make the rest glow.
★ 6.3
1901
2009 · From Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
A fantasy of Belle Epoque Paris, handed out free online, that then spent thirty-one weeks climbing to alternative number one.
★ 6.2
Feel It All AroundWashed Out
Feel It All Around
2009
Bedroom pop in the literal sense, a Gary Low disco record slowed to a crawl, and chillwave had its template.
★ 6.2
Little Lion Man
2009
Banjo hammering under a chorus that needed a radio edit, produced by Markus Dravs and voted Australia's song of 2009.
★ 6.1
Woods
2009 · From Blood Bank
Four lines, no instruments, one voice stacked through Auto-Tune into a choir Kanye West later built a song from.
★ 5.8
Lisztomania
2009 · From Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Heine coined the word for Liszt's swooning fans, and Philippe Zdar gave these guitars their chrome shine.
★ 5.5
Party in the USA
2009
Jessie J wrote it with Claude Kelly, passed on singing it, and Cyrus took it to number two.
★ 5.3
Forever (Drake)
2009
Boi-1da's beat was first meant for Kardinal Offishall; Kanye, by his account, rewrote his verse for two days after Eminem.
★ 5.2
Need You Now
2009
Four writers, one late-night phone call, and a chorus that took Record and Song of the Year at the Grammys.
★ 5.2
Amazing (Kanye West)
2009 · From 808s & Heartbreak
Recorded in Honolulu for 808s & Heartbreak with Jeff Bhasker co-producing, Auto-Tune propping up bravado that keeps slipping.
★ 5.2
The Cave
2009
Written at a soundcheck in an Edinburgh pub, open-D guitar and banjo climbing into a stomp that drew four Grammy nominations.
★ 4.9
Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart
2009
Synth pitched somewhere in early-eighties Prince territory, with Keys singing insomnia as though it were a physical condition.
★ 4.6
Blame It
Jamie Foxx and T-Pain
2009
Fourteen straight weeks atop the R&B chart, T-Pain's Auto-Tune at its peak, and a Grammy for the pair.
★ 4.3
Just BreathePearl Jam
Just Breathe
2009 · From Backspacer
Vedder lifted the opening chord from Tuolumne, an Into the Wild instrumental, and Willie Nelson later took the song.
★ 4.2
Tik Tok
2009
Nine weeks at number one, the first of the 2010s, and Kesha's talk-sung verses over Dr. Luke's synths.
★ 4.0
Charlie Darwin
2009
Cut in a converted basement on Block Island, sung in falsetto with the drums stripped out; the Mayflower never sounded lonelier.
★ 3.9