The 25 Best Pop Songs of All Time, Ranked

Published Sep 12, 2026, 5:25 PM EDT

Jeremy has more than 2800 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
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Songs. There have been so many of them. How far back do you want to go? What do you want to count as a song? Think of all the genres. Think of what might've been sung once and then lost to time, because its time came before music was able to be recorded and replayed. What if 25 of those songs, however abstract, were actually better than what’s ranked below?

Actually, that might not matter anyway, because the focus here is on pop music. Pop music is usually popular, or it’s intended to be popular, even if it doesn’t find a particularly big audience. That’s a distinction worth making, because not all the songs here were hits in the traditional sense. They either were, or they sound like they could’ve/should’ve been. Also, some of the songs blend some other genres in with pop, but as long as there are recognizable pop music elements there, it’s fair game to be included. And only one song per artist, for the sake of having some variety.

25 "The Chain" (1977)

Fleetwood Mac

A possible highlight on Rumours, and the word “possible” is only being used because it’s such a great album, here’s Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.” There are a few other songs from Rumours just as worthy as “The Chain,” and then there are perfect songs by the band found on other albums, too. Fleetwood Mac is good, you know? To kick things off with the coldest take possible.

As far as poppy-sounding songs go, “Go Your Own Way” might be the poppiest, but “The Chain” is only ever so slightly less immediate with its catchiness. It’s got the energy to match that other song from Rumours, and then the way it builds/progresses is also great. Lyrically, it also represents Rumours at its best, which is saying a lot, since the entire album is as memorable on that front as it is on a melodic front.

24 "Waterloo Sunset" (1967)

The Kinks

If this were a top 26, ABBA would be here. Maybe “Waterloo” would be that ABBA song, or at least be a contender, but instead, you're going to have to put up with “Waterloo Sunset.” And also put up with no ABBA. Sacrilege, yes. Consider, though, “Waterloo Sunset,” by The Kinks. Can you listen to this song and feel worse three minutes later? Give it a shot, see if it’s possible.

The Kinks have a lot of good music, but “Waterloo Sunset” is far and away their best song. It's not even close.

Those still seething with rage about the ABBA snub might not feel any better, because their minds are on that, but if you're not in that camp, “Waterloo Sunset” is undeniably spirit-raising in nature, even while being kind of bittersweet. If The Kinks had a bunch of other songs that were nearly as good, “Waterloo Sunset” might feel like the band’s best qualities distilled into a single song, but no. The Kinks have a lot of good music, but “Waterloo Sunset” is far and away their best song. It's not even close. There are no other contenders.

23 "This Is the Day" (1983)

The The

Like “Waterloo Sunset,” “This Is the Day” is another bittersweet song, but there’s more ambiguity here regarding the extent to which it’s bitter and/or sweet. It’s different things depending on how you're feeling when you give it a listen, and that’s something you can say about many of the best songs of all time. What’s less praiseworthy here is the band’s name, admittedly. The The. That’s a choice alright.

This song’s also a reason why a distinction was made between “pop” and “popular” early on, because The The don’t typically sound like a radio-friendly kind of pop band. “This Is the Day” is infectious, though, if you're willing to give it a shot, and it’s the band’s signature/best song. The The is sort of a band, anyway. It’s a Tame Impala situation where the band is kind of just one guy (Matt Johnson, in The The’s case, and Kevin Parker, in the case of Tame Impala).

22 "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1979)

The Buggles

It’s all very tongue in cheek that “Video Killed the Radio Star” is from an album called The Age of Plastic, and that it came out right at the end of the 1970s, more or less establishing what the sound of the 1980s would be. Call synth-pop plastic in nature if you want, but it’s still pop, and it can still be great, evidenced here (and in a few more songs to come, too).

There’s also quite a bit to be said here regarding it being, quite appropriately, the first music video played on MTV, which was another thing undeniably tied to pop music throughout the 1980s. The Buggles sometimes get labeled as a one-hit wonder band, because of “Video Killed the Radio Star” being easily the band’s best-known song, but The Age of Plastic, as an album, is better than it gets credit for, even if this particular song is admittedly the standout track.

21 "Style" (2014)

Taylor Swift

There’s a lot that can be said about the music of Taylor Swift (they're calling that take just now the biggest understatement of all time), and not all of it’s positive. But the good songs have to be appreciated, as does her knack for putting out a ton of good pop music that plenty of people have found hard to resist. “Style” is one such song, and it’s great enough that it makes most (though not all) of The Life of a Showgirl a bit easier to forgive.

“Style” isn't even from one of the very best Taylor Swift albums, though it’s being highlighted here as her single best pop song (“All Too Well,” as in that 10-minute version, goes a bit beyond the bounds of the pop genre). You can play this one to a Taylor Swift denier, or even a hater, and you're almost sure to get an “Okay, that’s not too bad” out of them, which is definitely worth something.

20 "Just Like Heaven" (1987)

The Cure

At the risk of sounding weird for comparing Taylor Swift to The Cure, “Just Like Heaven” is here in a similar way to “Style.” It might not be the very best song the band’s ever done, a bit like how some more ambitious songs of Swift’s might top “Style,” but “Just Like Heaven” is the best pop – or pop-adjacent – song The Cure have ever done, because this is an undeniable radio-friendly song.

The Cure contain multitudes, or whatever that saying is. Most of the time, The Cure’s moody and more rock-oriented in sound, yet “Just Like Heaven,” “In-Between Days,” and “Boys Don’t Cry” prove the band’s skill at putting out songs in a poppier style. Of the bunch, “Just Like Heaven” is the biggest rush, emotionally speaking, and also the most cathartic. It’s a perfect song condensed into a perfectly brisk track-length.

19 "The Downtown Lights" (1989)

The Blue Nile

If you'll allow one more slightly unconventional pick here, after the The The shout-out (that series of words does make sense, promise), here’s something by The Blue Nile, which is another band that came to “prominence” in the 1980s, even if the band’s never been particularly prominent. The Blue Nile deserved (or deserves?) better, is the main thing.

“The Downtown Lights” is about as good as synth-pop gets, if it fits within that particular pop sub-genre. It’s very moody synth-pop, and also, the album version of the track is about two to three times longer than your average pop song, which might technically make it less attention-grabbing and immediate. Still, what a song, and what a cinematic album it happens to come from (seriously, Hats is one of the best albums of all time, thank me later for letting you know).

18 "Dancing on My Own" (2010)

Robyn

Just based on the title, it’s not too hard to figure out what “Dancing on My Own” is about. The lyrics are also very on the nose, if you don’t happen to catch the title, but that narrative is strong and bleakly relatable (unless you’ve been lucky in life and love) nonetheless. There’s a desperate person longing for someone they were once in love with, and they keep dancing on their… you know…

It’s the way this Robyn song is also energetic in sound, though, beyond the lyrics, that ensures those lyrics hit harder. It is a song you can dance to, if you ignore the lyrics, and maybe even if you can mostly ignore the lyrics, too. But things are hard to ignore entirely. You might not be able to ignore the lyrics entirely. If you can just dance, even if it’s on your own, all through the pain, maybe that’s enough. Pop music can be distressing and emotionally damaging too, you know?

17 "Dreams" (1992)

The Cranberries

There’s a big risk that comes with calling a song “Dreams,” because if it doesn’t sound sufficiently dreamy, that title is going to look kind of silly, or at least unfitting. The song of that name, by The Cranberries, thankfully more than delivers in terms of feeling dreamlike, because it’s one of the most effortlessly floaty and cathartic pop songs ever recorded.

Chungking Express is a feature-length demonstration of how good “Dreams” is, or at least a cover of it. Okay, not quite, but throughout the second half of that film, you hear “Dreams” a bit as part of the soundtrack, and the same goes for “California Dreamin',” by The Mamas & the Papas. Honestly, the repeated uses of “California Dreamin’” eventually get grating. But no matter how many times the movie plays “Dreams,” and no matter how many times you choose to rewatch Chungking Express, it never gets old, like the song equivalent of Paul Rudd or something.

16 "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" (1988)

Prefab Sprout

One more selfish pick, and that’s it, but here’s a Prefab Sprout song, and it’s one that’s very pop, despite its title. “The King of Rock 'n' Roll” is pretty depressing lyrically, being about a washed-up artist who had a one-hit wonder decades earlier, and now the song itself is decades old, and it wasn’t quite a huge hit either. But it’s better known than most Prefab Sprout songs.

The chorus definitely contributes to the feeling of “The King of Rock 'n' Roll” being a joke song, because it literally goes: “Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque.” And then they repeat it. That’s the chorus. This song is not here as a joke, promise. It is so catchy, and then once you move beyond the catchiness, it’s lyrically incredibly clever, all the while technically being very lyrically simple. It’s great subversive pop and great genuine pop all at once.