Our critics pick the most extraordinary English-language pop recordings since the beginning of TIME magazine in 1923. Here are 100 (unranked) songs of enduring beauty, power and inventiveness
‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’
Artist: Beyoncé
Year Released: 2008
“As simple as a double-dutch chant and as complicated as half a decade of psychotherapy,” “Single Ladies” encapsulates the lessons pop songs have picked up from hip-hop: that a great beat and a great voice can carry a lot of weight, that a slightly sour sound (the little electronic swoop that keeps tugging at the song’s fringe) can make everything else sweeter, that looping your audience into a hook is a great idea.
By the time “Single Ladies” appeared, Beyoncé Knowles was already 10 years into her stardom, first achieved with Destiny’s Child, then as a solo artist. Her public persona crystallized a long time ago—she’s the voice of women who won’t settle for less than the best—and the song fits neatly into that premise (and sets up its scenario with ingenious concision). It’s a sing-along that lets Beyoncé show off her virtuosity, a focused, commanding display of individuality that speaks for every raised hand without a ring on it.
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‘Bad Romance’
Artist: Lady Gaga
Year Released: 2009
Aren’t pop stars supposed to be sweet? Britney, Christina and Katy just wanted to love and be loved by you. Even Madonna’s early work was largely about thanking her lucky stars and wanting to dress you up in her love. But Gaga doesn’t want any of that. On the lead single from her second album, The Fame Monster, she pines for a destructive relationship that she knows will end in disaster. (Or, according to the music video, a singed bed and a corpse. Either/or.) She will play mind games. She will use you. “Bad Romance” is an infectiously catchy dance song about all of the crazy, messed-up feelings people have for one another.
