Niggas in Paris
Kanye West and Jay-Z
2011 · From Watch the Throne
Hit-Boy's beat, a Blades of Glory sample, and twelve straight encores of it one night in Paris.
★ 7.6
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2011
Showing 47 songs from 2011
Midnight City
2011
Gonzalez built that shrieking hook from his own distorted voice, then let James King's saxophone close the record.
★ 7.5
Someone Like You
2011 · From 21
Dan Wilson of Semisonic at the piano, Adele singing, nothing else added; five weeks at number one.
★ 7.5
We Found Love
2011
Calvin Harris wrote and produced it alone, and Rihanna rode ten weeks at number one, 2011's longest run.
★ 7.2
Holocene
2011 · From Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Horns and clarinets swell over guitar in a converted Wisconsin veterinary clinic; Grammy voters nominated it for record and song.
★ 6.7
Super Bass
2011
Kane Beatz's synth bounce, a bonus track buried on the Pink Friday deluxe, and Minaj's first solo top ten.
★ 6.5
Somebody That I Used to Know
2011
Recorded at his parents' house on the Mornington Peninsula around a Luiz Bonfá sample, eight weeks at number one.
★ 6.5
Helplessness Blues
2011 · From Helplessness Blues
Pecknold called it an anti-protest song, a plain opinion with no poetry, and gave it away free in January 2011.
★ 6.0
Titanium
David Guetta and Sia
2011
Sia cut the vocal as a guide for another singer; Guetta released it anyway, and she got a number one.
★ 6.0
Set Fire to the RainAdele
Set Fire to the Rain
2011 · From 21
Rosie Danvers wrapped the strings around Adele's biggest crescendo, and 21 took its third straight American number one.
★ 5.8
Pumped Up Kicks
2011
Five hours in a Los Angeles jingle studio, the demo kept as the master, its subject hidden in plain sight.
★ 5.8
Paradise
2011 · From Mylo Xyloto
Eno took a co-writing credit and played synthesizers; it became Coldplay's second UK number one and a stadium fixture.
★ 5.6
A.D.H.D
2011 · From Section.80
Sounwave's woozy loop, Ab-Soul in the margins, and Lamar naming a generation's numbness on his debut album.
★ 5.5
We Are Young
fun. and Janelle Monae
2011
Six weeks at number one, and it began with Ruess singing the chorus, tipsy, at the Bowery Hotel.
★ 5.2
Look at Me Now
2011
Diplo and Afrojack made the beat for a mixtape; Busta Rhymes' double-time verse pushed it to diamond.
★ 4.9
Lights
2011
Goulding wrote it about a childhood fear of the dark, and the Hot 100 kept it fifty-two weeks.
★ 4.7
Who Gon' Stop Me
Kanye West and Jay-Z
2011 · From Watch the Throne
Flux Pavilion's dubstep drop rebuilt into a rap victory lap, cut at the Mercer Hotel with Jay-Z trading verses.
★ 4.6