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
To Ohio
2009
Ten winter days in a Block Island basement, a pump organ, and a hush Emmylou Harris later covered.
★ 3.8
Grapevine Fires
2009 · From Narrow Stairs
Jason McGerr shaped the drums after the Purdie Shuffle, and Gibbard turned the 2007 California wildfires into something almost calm.
★ 3.7
Knock You Down
2009
Six names on the writing credit, three voices trading verses, and Danja's production holding a number three hit together.
★ 3.5
BedRock
Young Money and Lloyd
2009
Cut first as Girl You Know with Omarion, re-sung by Lloyd, and Nicki Minaj's debut single at number two.
★ 3.5
21 Guns
2009 · From 21st Century Breakdown
A chorus close enough to All the Young Dudes that Bowie got a writing credit, and Butch Vig produced.
★ 3.3
You and I
2009 · From Wilco (The Album)
Tweedy and Feist trading a chorus about two people trying to hold it together, Wilco's first album duet.
★ 3.2
Blue Skies
2009
Fink wrote the whole album around his split with Laura Marling; this became its first single, and its way out.
★ 3.1
Boom Boom Pow
2009
will.i.am heard electro in Sydney nightclubs while filming Wolverine, then rode that beat to twelve weeks at number one.
★ 2.8
Haven't Met You Yet
2009
Buble wrote it with Chang and Foster-Gillies while dating Luisana Lopilato, who plays his love interest in the supermarket video.
★ 2.8
Whatcha Say
2009
J.R. Rotem looped Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek under a debut single, and Derulo had a number one within months.
★ 2.7
Throw It in the Bag
2009
Loso's Way yielded exactly one charting single, produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, peaking at number fourteen.
★ 2.5
Hey, Soul Sister
2009
Espen Lind swapped a ukulele in for the guitar line, and Monahan's Burning Man daydream became Train's biggest hit.
★ 2.5
Stereo Love
2009
That accordion hook interpolates an Azerbaijani song from 1989, and Vika Jigulina's vocal rode it 47 weeks across Europe.
★ 2.3
Replay
2009
Sean Kingston's team turned it down, so Iyaz took it to number one in Britain and number two at home.
★ 1.9
Sexy Chick
David Guetta and Akon
2009
A chance meeting, a rented London studio, one night's work, and Guetta's first American top five.
★ 1.8
I'm On A Boat
2009
T-Pain's Auto-Tune, a yacht in Biscayne Bay, and a Grammy nomination for a Digital Short.
★ 1.6
Just Say Yes
2009
Written for Gwen Stefani, who passed, then offered to Nicole Scherzinger before Snow Patrol reclaimed it with Jacknife Lee.
★ 1.4