All 11 Beatles Songs With Ringo Starr on Lead Vocals, Ranked

Published Oct 29, 2026, 2:43 PM EDT

Val Barone is a journalist working remotely and specializing in music features. A passionate music lover, she keeps up to date on the latest developments in the entertainment world, and in the past five years, she's written for several sites, including ScreenRant, MovieWeb, TheThings, and Far Out Magazine. She covers breaking news in the music world and loves sharing stories about the classic rock musicians she grew up listening to. As a Gen Z writer, she offers a fresh perspective on the events that change music history.

Ringo Starr is often ignored or underappreciated, but his influence on The Beatles' sound is larger than a lot of people realize. Much like George Harrison, when the band first started, he stayed away from songwriting, since John Lennon and Paul McCartney had a monopoly over it. Harrison quickly started writing his own songs, but Starr was a late bloomer, but eventually, he also decided to try.

As all Beatles fans know, it was almost a rule to have Ringo Starr take the lead vocal on a song. There were very few albums that don't include a cover of a Beatles original sung by the drummer. And today, we're ranking all of them, from the early covers, to Starr-penned hits.

11 "Good Night" (1968)

"Good Night" is the closing track of The Beatles' 1968 eponymous album, known as the legendary White Album. It was originally written by John Lennon as a lullaby for his eldest son, Julian, and it's unlike anything Lennon usually wrote, so it made sense for him to give it to Ringo Starr to sing. The track is an unexpectedly traditional closing to an otherwise eclectic album, and Starr's deep voice pairs perfectly with the soft, tender spirit of the song. He's the only Beatle featured on the track, since, after many attempts, producer George Martin decided an orchestral backing would be better for a lullaby. It's a song that divides fans, since, while some adore the velvety sound of Starr's voice, others find it to be bit boring in comparison to the rest of the album.

10 "I Wanna Be Your Man" (1963)

Some readers might be confused about this, since "I Wanna Be Your Man" was famously The Rolling Stones' first hit single. But it was originally written by Lennon and McCartney, and generously given to the band that was supposed to be their greatest competition. But just because they let the Stones make a single out of it, doesn't mean they weren't going to record their own songs. For their second album, With the Beatles, they gave it to Ringo Starr to sing. He did a great version of it, and it was a staple of the early days of their live shows.

9 "Matchbox" (1964)

"Matchbox" is a classic Carl Perkins song that The Beatles loved from before they became famous. They would perform it live when they were just playing small clubs in Liverpool, and Ringo Starr sort of inherited the track from his predecessor. Before The Beatles asked Starr to join, it was their original drummer, Pete Best, who sang this cover during their live shows. After they fired him and recruited Starr, they gave the song to him. They ended up recording it in 1964 as part of an EP, and while it sounds great, Starr didn't feel confident about his performance because he had a sore throat, which ended up with him getting hospitalized due to acute tonsillitis. As a result, he missed the beginning of a Beatles world tour, and he was replaced by Jimmie Nicol, who took over for almost two weeks.

8 "Honey Don’t" (1964)

Clearly, Ringo Starr's voice was great for Carl Perkins' covers. Another iconic track that Starr sang lead on for the band was "Honey Don't," a short and upbeat rockabilly track that Lennon used to sing before Starr joined, but that the drummer was clearly a better fit for. In addition to the album version included on Beatles for Sale, Starr also sang it for the On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 compilation, and he sounds just as great live as he did in the studio.

7 "Act Naturally" (1965)

A surprisingly fitting song for Ringo Starr, though they didn't know it at the time. When The Beatles were doing Help!, they chose this Buck Owens hit for the drummer to sing. The lyrics tell a short story of a man who's down and feeling lonely, and because of that, he gets cast for a movie part where he has to play a sad man. The man then goes on to become a big star because of his great performance, and the reason this is so fitting for Ringo Starr is because he was the only Beatle who went on to have a great career as an actor after The Beatles broke up. In fact, it was on a movie set that he met his wife, actress Barbara Bach. So, he did become a movie star, but while remaining the cheery man he always was.

6 "What Goes On" (1965)

This is a very special track, since it's the first time in Beatles history that Ringo Starr was credited as a songwriter. It's also the only Beatles song credited to Lennon-McCartney-Starkey, though mainly composed by Lennon and McCartney. As Ringo Starr jokingly recalled in 1966: "[I wrote] about five words to 'What Goes On' and I haven't done a thing since." The song was released in late 1965 on the Rubber Soul album, and it remains a Ringo Starr staple. It represented his first steps as a songwriter, which then led to him writing some of the songs ranked higher on this list.

5 "Boys" (1963)

"Boys" is a great example of how unafraid The Beatles were to push boundaries. They were a revolutionary group in many ways, and the way they easily dismantled what was considered as music for women and music for men was one of them. In 1963, for their debut album, Please Please Me, they decided to do a cover of The Shirelles' 1960 track, "Boys," and it was a big hit. McCartney later spoke about their decision to do a song by an all-girl group: "It was a Shirelles hit, and there were girls singing it, but we never thought we should call it ‘Girls’, just because Ringo was a boy. We just sang it the way they’d sung it and never considered any implications." It really worked, and it was a great way to help dismantle stereotypes in the music industry.

4 "Yellow Submarine" (1966)

The ultimate Ringo Starr classic. "Yellow Submarine" was not, as people might think, first released on the 1968 Yellow Submarine album. Instead, it was a part of the 1966 masterpiece that was Revolver. It is, to this day, the most popular Starr song which makes sense, most likely thanks to the beautiful imagery and catchy chorus. And, of course, the fact that it was especially made for him. "'Yellow Submarine' is Paul's baby," Lennon explained. "I helped with the lyrics too. We virtually made the track come alive in the studio, but based on Paul's inspiration. Paul's idea. Paul's title... written for Ringo."

3 "With A Little Help From My Friends" (1967)

"With a Little Help from My Friends" is a beautiful track from The Beatles' most experimental album, the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and it really sets the tone for the album. It's the second track on the album, and it segues from the opening song which "introduces" the band. Ringo Starr sings this track as Billy Shears, the character they made up for their concept album, who is the lead single of their imaginary band. It's a sweet song about friendship and about how even the hardest times are better with friends, which is right up Ringo Starr's alley.

2 "Don’t Pass Me By" (1968)

This is a simple yet eclectic track, and it earns second place on this ranking because it was the first Ringo Starr composition for The Beatles. While he had contributed some lyrics to "What Goes On," this was credited only to him and included on the White Album. "It was great to get my first song down, one that I had written. It was a very exciting time for me and everyone was really helpful, and recording that crazy violinist was a thrilling moment," Starr said proudly about the song. The final result, which producer George Martin helped put together, is pretty eclectic. It includes, as Starr said, a crazy violinist, a tack piano, maracas, and plenty of chaotic elements that really elevate a straightforward song.