There are few institutions with a prouder bequest aural pop music than the babe group. For as continued as the Billboard Hot 100 has existed, there accept been all-female articulate groups gracing its ranks, from the aboriginal canicule of The Chantels and The Bobbettes in the backward '50s all the way up to Fifth Harmony and Little Mix in 2017.
Over that six-decade amount of iconic boilerplate success, babe groups accept generally been dismissed, jeered at or all but accounting out of bedrock history. But as the years advance on, the groups accept endured -- through their fashion, their cool, and best importantly, their songs.
To account that legacy, Billboard will be accomplishing a week's account of babe accumulation coverage, starting with our account of the 100 greatest babe accumulation songs of best -- or at atomic of the bedrock era, with a quick shout-out to absent predecessors like the Andrews Sisters and The Chordettes -- as absitively by Billboard's exhausted staff. (For a account of the bigger babe accumulation hits of best as bent by their Billboard Hot 100 blueprint success, bang here.)
Our account takes us through the abounding forms the babe accumulation has taken over the aftermost 60 years -- from Spector to Motown to disco to bathe to R&B to Babe Ability to TRL to K-pop to X Factor -- but consistently keeps the accent on the sparkling, life-affirming and absolutely around-the-clock music.
Before we get counting down, though, a chat about how we authentic the appellation "girl group." For a accumulation to be included here, it had to be all-female, it had to accept at atomic three members, and it had to be primarily articulate in nature: In added words, no groups that present mostly as bands, with the accent aloof as abundant on their instruments as their singing. So you won't see artists like The Go-Go's or HAIM on this account -- aloof like you wouldn't see The Cars or Vampire Weekend on our account of boy bands.
Now that that's out of the way, it's time to get calm with your best friends, put on your finest analogous outfits, and analysis out our 100 admired babe accumulation songs: the leaders of the pack, now and forever. (Find a Spotify playlist of the accomplished account at the actual bottom.)
100. The Paris Sisters, "I Adulation How You Adulation Me" (1961)
The real-life affinity leash The Paris Sisters hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961 with "I Adulation How You Adulation Me," produced by a pre-Wall of Complete Phil Spector. The song's gentle, adorable guitar acrimonious is aggrandized by aseptic abetment harmonies and ascetic strings, and the accomplished agreement could assume oppressively wholesome -- if not for the aching animal anxious Priscilla Paris injects into the words "squeeze me, aggravate me, amuse me" aloof afore the song fades out. -- JOE LYNCH
99. Wilson Phillips, "Impulsive" (1990)
The abandoned one of second-gen supergroup Wilson Phillips' aboriginal four singles not to go to No. 1 on the Hot 100 -- petering out at No. 4, ho hum -- "Impulsive" was about a gem, marrying Belinda Carlisle's blahs with Tina Turner's edgeless pop force for one of the best actual radio singles of its era. Plus, if there's a bigger accretion of the archetypal girl-group appearance than "Wanna be impulsive, reckless, and lose myself in your kiss," we haven't heard it in the years since. -- ANDREW UNTERBERGER
98. L.A.X. Gurlz, "Forget You" (2006)
Before Cee Lo Green fabricated the song appellation acclaimed with a abundant added absinthian bulletin to an ex, these one-single wonders -- “Forget You” was L.A.X. Gurlz’s abandoned absolution as a accumulation -- dished one heck of a addictive moving-on anthem. Their bold lyrics, backed by a synth-pop beat, advice mend any burst heart, appropriate bottomward to its final acknowledgment of independence: “And that’s the story/ Now you apperceive how I feel/ That’s all I gotta say." -- TAYLOR WEATHERBY
97. B*Witched, "C'est La Vie" (1998)
If you couldn't acquaint from the Irish jig breakdown against the end of their admission single, B*Witched hailed from the Emerald Isle -- but the lyrics to their abandoned crossover hit, which slyly nod to boyish animal experimentation, are universal. They were additionally attenuate abundant to fly beneath the alarm of best censors, who were tricked by the absurdly airy bubblegum melodies into cerebration the lyrics were appropriately pure. -- J. Lynch
96. Atomic Kitten, "Whole Again" (2001)
The British leash brought a Aroma Girls-gone-disco vibe with their four antecedent singles, and afterwards slowing things bottomward a cleft with “Follow Me,” Atomic Kitten conflicting their aboriginal quasi-ballad with the arresting “Whole Again” -- assuming a altered ancillary of the usually-upbeat group. The U.K. chart-topping accident bound accepted a perennial, as adolescent European babe accumulation Play covered it aloof a brace years later, akin bringing out the track's amore a little more. -- T.W.
95. The Exciters, "Tell Him" (1962)
"Tell Him" was absolutely the appropriate song to accord to a accumulation alleged The Exciters, anniversary cord ache and rushed choir admonition aural like the artefact of a agitated apperception and rbeat-skipping heart. The affect and charge were connected abundant for a 2012 SNL account to acclimate the song's accessible burden to admonish a added cryptic access ("Tell him... that... you're absolutely into hockey... acquaint him that you're not grossed out aback he says the chat 'panties'"). -- A.U.
94. The Pointer Sisters, "Automatic" (1984)
Electro accepted the Pointer Sisters’ calling, singing made-to-order body over breakable boom machines and aerial disco synths that weren’t assuming to be annihilation else. It’s adamantine to brainstorm a dance-pop act nailing some of their bigger hits on their tenth anthology today, but the Pointers were complete machines by 1984, with Sister Ruth’s gender-bending contralto abounding out of the plasticine six-minute ballsy “Automatic” to adverse that sparkling five-note beep of a hook. Latter-day disco adeptness bare both, as you’d imagine, and aggregate on the spectrum in between. -- DAN WEISS
93. Apollonia 6, "Sex Shooter" (1984)
Prince's mid-'80s adeptness was so far too abounding to be independent to his own catalog, as he spun off archetypal hits for about all his Purple Rain casting mates. Apollonia 6's "Sex Shooter," performed by the leash in the film, was a bubbling jam of animalism and carelessness aces of The Purple One, Apollonia declaring, "I charge you to get me off/ I'm your bomb accepting accessible to explode," but adage far added with anniversary athrill "woah-oh-woahhhh!" -- A.U.
92. Little Mix, "Move" (2013)
The U.K. pop quartet has appear its fair allotment of should-been-bigger singles, but none added burnable than “Move,” the advance distinct from green LP Salute. Rhythmic afterwards sacrificing its smarts, the song adapted to boss both abandon of the Atlantic. -- J. Lipshutz
91. Richgirl, "He Ain't Wit Me Now (Tho)" (2009)
As assured a admission distinct as a babe accumulation has released, ambassador Rich Harrison advancing out accoutrements afire with the affectionate of affliction piano and shredding strings you'd apprehend on a Kubrick score, ambience the date for Richgirl to bang bottomward the aperture with their storming, "Get Me Bodied"-worthy articulate strut. Unsurprisingly it flopped -- no Top 40 base in the country would've had the assurance to achieve it 20 abnormal in -- and RichGirl disbanded afore their admission LP, but decades from now this affair will still be a stunner, the complete of a babe accumulation boot bottomward your aback in acutely aciculate aerial heels. -- A.U.
90. The Supremes, "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" (1966)
The best underrated distinct of The Supremes' archetypal run, a near-Northern Body exhausted congenital about a tensely cavernous bass line, honking guitars, and accretion as abstract as abandoned Holland and Dozier could achieve 'em ring. Diana Ross is still the MVP, though, yelping and cooing at the song's centermost as she sings in athrill annoyance about that crawling she aloof can't scratch: "Get up in the morning and I'm abounding with desire/ No, I can't stop the fire/ Love's a complete alive wire." -- A.U.
89. 3LW, "Playas Gon' Play" (2001)
Turn-of-the-millennium babe accumulation 3LW are best-remembered today for the buzz top 40 hit "No Added (Baby I'ma Do Right)," but the aloft jam might've been aftereffect "Playas Gon' Play," an closed assembly with a animadversion exhausted that fizzes delectably but unpredictably. The agreeable aberration is in abrupt adverse to the restrained, accommodated vocal, in which the leash (including approaching acting ablaze Naturi Naughton) attempts to besom off the peanut arcade commenting on adulation from the sidelines, affronted but determined. -- A.U.
88. Fin.K.L., "Now" (2000)
O.G. K-pop admirers would mostly accede that the backward '90s/early '00s were bedeviled by boy bands -- barring S.E.S and Fin.K.L., with the closing accumulation reportedly created by almanac characterization DSP Media aloof to battling the former. "Now" stands as one of the best creations from that rivalry, with the song consistently adorning itself, conceivably best heard aback the ladies' slinky, harmony-driven choir is afresh topped by a shout-and-repeat hook. Fin.K.L's access would abide accomplished their 2002 disbandment, with baton Lee Hyori acceptable one of K-pop's best acknowledged changeable abandoned artists. -- JEFF BENJAMIN
87. Sweet Sensation, "If Wishes Came True" (1990)
Not the best abiding Hot 100 No. 1 hit of its era, conceivably -- as of publishing, "If Wishes Came True" had yet to akin ablaze 200k streams on Spotify -- "If Wishes Came True" was still a chart-topper for a reason, a carol as able as the beard metal lighter-wavers assertive the charts, but with a tender-hearted, acute chastity to achieve it abnormally crushing. Could be behind for an alarming HAIM cover. -- A.U.
86. The Cookies, "Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" (1963)
Find you a babe accumulation who sings about you the way The Cookies sing about their man: A pop song of either complete aplomb or unparalleled naivete, the leash spends "Don't Say Nothin'" asserting their man's accomplishment and proving thoroughly afraid to apprehend any allocution to the contrary. "He's true/ He's accurate to me/ So girl, you bigger shut your mouth!" The song was accounting by affiliated brace Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who (somewhat ironically) would anon breach over Goffin's unfaithfulness. -- A.U.
85. Klymaxx, "Meeting in the Ladies' Room" (1985)
"I'd abhorrence to appear bottomward to their akin and become a BW -- a basal woman -- but if they don't stop, it's gonna get scandalous." Such are the contest that accelerate the Klymaxx lath chairs convening in the bathroom to altercate Bernadette Cooper's plan of activity in befitting the added ladies' easily off her man -- and by the arrogant electro-pop jam's end, ascendancy has accurately been asserted: "Excuse me, ladies, this man's with me/ I don't like to share, you can audibly see." Measure twice, cut once. -- A.U.
84. Brownstone, "If You Adulation Me" (1994)
Harnessing the strut of New Jack Exhausted with an affecting edge, Brownstone’s “If You Adulation Me” reigns as a sidepiece canticle delivered with a aching ego, a la Changing Faces’ “That Added Woman” and Aaliyah’s “If Your Babe Abandoned Knew.” The R&B trio, at the time active to Michael Jackson’s MJJ Records, absorb the aboriginal minute in a attentive bastille of their lover’s making, binding afterpiece to an atomic choir that runs bottomward a account of reasonable demands. -- STEVEN J. HOROWITZ
83. Shirley Gunter & the Queens, "Oop Shoop" (1954)
Dating aback to 1954, "Oop Shoop" not abandoned laid accomplishments for babe accumulation but for bedrock n' cycle itself. As with Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, Shirley Gunter and the Queens gave "Oop Shoop" – a nonsense R&B cardinal -- a bent rockabilly activity that adapted it into article ahead unheard. In accession to exhausted a brand that would anon booty over the world, Shirley Gunter and the Queens were additionally one of the aboriginal all-female African-American groups to adore aloft blueprint success. -- J. Lynch
82. Martha and the Vandellas, "Jimmy Mack" (1967)
A before-she-cheats swinger, in which Martha pleads over a affliction baby of handclaps and drums for her titular man to appear aback afore she's led all the way into temptation. The song's sweet-and-sour choir would've landed in any era, but in the backward '60s the song took on appropriate resonance, as girls beyond the country were argumentation for their own Jimmy Macks to bustle aback from overseas, afore fates a lot worse than adventurous betrayal befell them. -- A.U.
81. Eden's Crush, "Get Over Yourself" (2001)
The pre-American Idol absoluteness alternation Popstars didn't leave the bequest of its successor, but it did exhausted Idol to the top 10 of the Hot 100, aback division one winners Eden's Crush hit No. 8 with the glitchy, head-smacking R&B adjournment of "Get Over Yourself," a acutely abandoned gem of the period. The accumulation was bankrupt anon after, but one of their ranks agitated the babe accumulation bake for the blow of the decade, as Nicole Scherzinger went on to advance the caricatural troupe-turned-pop hitmakers The Pussycat Dolls. -- A.U.
80. Electrik Red, "So Good" (2009)
The-Dream and Tricky Stewart followed in the attitude of producers and writers like Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Rich Harrison in creating babe groups So Plush and Richgirl, respectively, with Electrik Red. The brief quartet has abandoned one anthology to its name -- How to Be a Lady: Volume 1 -- featuring the singles “Drink in My Cup” and “So Good,” the closing of which bass bottomward the aroma and acclimatized on airy terrain, with a ablaze burden of afraid accedence ("I shouldn't accept let you hit that/ 'Coz now I can't balloon that"). -- S.J.H.
79. The Bobbettes, "Mr. Lee" (1958)
The blithely airy "Mr. Lee" is so amorous with its accountable that The Bobbettes answer the appellation ten times per choir and addition 20 times in the verse, a fair approximation of adulation so acid all trains of anticipation advance aback to one name. Of advance such infatuations can ultimately prove dangerous, and in the case of the Bobbettes, it was complete baleful -- as apparent by aftereffect song "I Attack Mr. Lee," unsurprisingly a bottom hit than the original. -- A.U.
78. The Jaynetts, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" (1963)
Unusually cryptic for a babe accumulation smash, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was congenital about a proto-psychedelic choir that about served as an incantation, its cryptic choir accessible to interpretations of aggregate from biologic use to homosexuality. The song's ambience of abstruseness and artifice led it not abandoned to aloft blueprint success at the time, hitting No. 2 on the Hot 100 in '63, but to it actuality one of the best covered songs in girl-group history, akin authoritative for one of the aboriginal singles appear by a pre-disco Donna Summer. -- A.U.
77. Destiny's Child, "Independent Women (Part I)" (2000)
Destiny’s Child racked up four Hot 100 No. 1 hits during the group's existence, and “Independent Women Pt. 1” spent the longest time at the top – 11 weeks. Featured on the soundtrack to the 2000 cine adjustment of the TV alternation Charlie’s Angels (as able-bodied as on the trio’s Survivor album), the song’s staccato artifice exhausted and “I depend on me” attitude – a anxiety of Beyonce’s approaching abandoned assignment -- still sizzles, admitting the anachronous references to the film’s stars, Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. -- FRANK DIGIACOMO
76. Play, "I Must Not Chase the Boys" (2003)
While added babe groups were singing of falling in adulation or accepting over an ex, Swedish quartet Play declared that they were opting out of accomplishing either. Instead, they delivered a bulletin that abounding girls could acceptable chronicle to -- whether it’s because they’re additionally bent amid the devil and the angel they acclimated to be, or they’re over block boys who don’t accord them the time of day. Play had brought that aforementioned affectionate of don’t-need-you accede with “Cinderella,” but the bedrock bend of “I Must Not Chase the Boys” showed that the accumulation had accomplished in the aforementioned way that the song’s lyrics explained. -- T.W.
75. The Blossoms, "That's Aback the Tears Start" (1965)
Few babe groups accept anytime been done as bedraggled historically as The Blossoms, who absolutely performed the "He's a Rebel" adaptation accustomed (as a chart-topping hit) to The Crystals, and who delivered bearding abetment vocals on The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," additionally a No. 1. Needless to say, the Darlene Love-led leash never accomplished such success beneath their own name, but they did cleft a cardinal of bandage classics, including the dancing-through-the-tears "That's Aback the Tears Start" -- whose horn-led amplitude would be all but swiped for Spiral Starecase's "More Today Than Yesterday" a half-decade later; a abundant bigger blueprint hitch, natch. -- A.U.
74. Bananarama, "Robert De Niro's Waiting (Talking Italian)" (1984)
One of the added destructive girl-group songs of the 1980s, “Robert De Niro’s Waiting” distracts with a airy of-the-moment synth-pop complete and the British trio’s harmonies, which both arise and dive to a barbarous announced whisper. Accept carefully to the lyrics, though, and they’re about… date rape, as the associates explained in afterwards years: “Don’t appear any closer/ I don’t wanna feel, ooh!/ Your breathing, your touching.” De Niro, who in 1984 was still at the aiguille of his acting powers, abstracts as a accurate escape from the trauma. -- F.D.
73. The Chiffons, "He's So Fine" (1962)
Good luck accepting “doo-lang, doo-lang doo-lang” out of your arch 55 years afterwards -- and benevolence the poor songwriter who has the Chiffons’ invincible, sub-two-minute archetypal awkward about in their artistic center, inexplicably infecting their own works with that bulletproof, simple-as-hell two-part melody. They got George Harrison and seeped appropriate into “My Sweet Lord.” You could be next. -- D.W.
72. SWV, "Weak" (1993)
Sisters With Voices, consisting of Coko, Taj and Lelee, reigned as one of the best arresting and affecting babe groups of the 1990s acknowledgment to hits like “Anything” and “I’m So Into You.” Their sole Hot 100 topper, “Weak,” abandoned accent their adeptness to toggle from upbeat to apathetic afterwards accident any momentum, lacing this doe-eyed carol with aerial articulate runs. -- S.J.H.
71. The Marvelettes, "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game" (1966)
The affectionate of un-self-explanatory song appellation that armament you to pay absorption to a song's complete lyric for able context, "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game" was agilely assured in its mystery, The Marvelettes boring advance their pursuer-becomes-the-pursuee ball over a slow-and-low canal and bang faux-harmonica hook. Accounting and produced by Smokey Robinson, "Hunter" aloof absent the top 10 on the Hot 100, but has aback been covered by such paragons of air-conditioned as Grace Jones, Blondie and Massive Attack. -- A.U.
70. Red Velvet, "Dumb Dumb" (2015)
There are pop hooks that grab you, and afresh there are hooks that asphyxiate you and absolutely debris to let go. Red Velvet's "Dumb Dumb" epitomizes that latter, with the arbitrary quintet repeating the chat "dumb" added than 200 times throughout this single, blithely allegorical why K-pop acts -- decidedly the babe groups -- ability some of the best addictive singles in pop. -- J.B.
69. Expose, "Exposed to Love" (1985)
Expose was a pop superpower for at atomic one anthology in the backward '80s, with their Exposure LP ablution four top 10 hits, including the No. 1 carol "Seasons Change." But the best distinct of all might've been the non-Hot-100-charting "Exposed to Love," a beatific bathe banger with a less-is-more choir ("Exposed to love/ Never acquainted like this, love") whose burst commitment gets best of the way to cogent adolescent love's inherent blackout -- and the flourescent synths ample in the gaps from there. -- A.U.
68. The Pussycat Dolls, "Stickwitu" (2005)
After zooming to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their blemish jam “Don’t Cha,” and afore their alluring follow-ups “Beep” and “Buttons,” PCD created one of the best ardent ballads in avant-garde babe accumulation history with “Stickwitu.” Admitting the majority of blow of the Pussycat Dolls’ 14 singles would be fabricated for the club (with the notable barring of 2008’s breakdown carol “I Abhorrence This Part”), the acquiescently buzz “Stickwitu” accepted that the accumulation wasn’t aloof about the sex address – and 12 years later, the song is acceptable still authoritative couples everywhere amplitude forth and abatement added in love. -- T.W.
67. The Three Degrees, "When Will I See You Again?" (1974)
The Philly body that bedeviled the '70s didn't aftermath anywhere abreast the babe accumulation agenda that Motown did in the '60s, but Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff gave us one all-female archetypal in The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again?" Despairing akin by girl-group standards, the mascara absolutely starts to run on the argumentation chrous ("Are we in adulation or are we aloof friends? Is this the alpha or is this the end?") afore the leash afresh simplifies their bandage of analytic to the affecting titular query. -- A.U.
66. Sister Sledge, "He's the Greatest Dancer" (1979)
Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards able Sister Sledge with that busy, unrelenting, akin affectionate of apocalyptic canal in 1979, and Will Smith purloined it for his own calm 1998 Hot 100-topper “Getting’ Jiggy Wit’ It.” But the sisters Sledge themselves — Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy — achieve “He’s the Greatest Dancer” what it is, as the world’s best effusive cheerleading bandage for a guy who had a “body that would abashment Adonis.” It's such connected antecedent flight that you absolutely absorb the abstraction that this bearding dude could alive up to his affair song. -- D.W.
65. Girls Aloud, "Love Machine" (2004)
It's a bedchamber assault from U.K. superheroes Girls Aloud on this juggernaut of a pop/rock rave-up, accomplishing The Miracles one bigger while gearing up for the ultimate action of the sexes in a neglige. What will the neighbours say? Acceptable question, and bigger larboard unanswered. -- A.U.
64. The Cake, "Baby That's Me" (1967)
In which Phil Spector accessory Jack Nietzsche tries his duke at creating his own archetypal Ronettes carol -- with advice from co-writer Jackie DeShannon and a accomplished articulate achievement from New York leash The Block -- and abuse abreast gets there. Drenched in reverb and articulate anguish, "Baby That's Me" creates the aforementioned activity of accepting bent in an affecting cloudburst as "Walking in the Rain" -- admitting unfortunately, by '67, pop audiences had aloft their awning to such Wall of Complete storms, and The Block never akin aching the Billboard charts.
63. The Ikettes, "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)" (1961)
In amid arguably inventing bedrock and cycle and axis his wife into one of the abundant pop icons of the 20th century, Ike Turner begin bashful blueprint success fashioning The Ikettes, a babe accumulation whose bigger hit came with this hypnotically blue mid-tempo number. The accumulation was abbreviate lived, but the song became a perennial, not abandoned alarming the abstract nonsense of Eiffel 65's abandoned U.S. hit, but additionally allegorical the archetypal choir to "Shoop," the signature '90s hit for a actual altered affectionate of babe group. -- A.U.
62. Aroma Girls, "Spice Up Your Life" (1997)
Besting "Wannabe" would bound prove impossible, but the Aroma Girls still managed to shoot off one of the best babe accumulation songs of the '90s with the advance distinct to additional anthology Spiceworld. A alarm for all-around accord (emphasized by the actuality that all bristles women sing the choir simultaneously) that stuffs an complete aural carnival into 2:53, the song has an clamorous activity acknowledgment to its beatific samba rhythms and alluring "Hai, si, ja" burden – which agency "yes" in Japanese, Spanish and German, respectively. -- J. Lynch
61. Mary Jane Girls, "All Night Long" (1983)
Rick James protégés Mary Jane Girls may not accept denticulate a abundant blueprint hit with “All Night Long,” but it’s ablaze to see why it’s become one of the best sampled annal of that era, with anybody from Mary J. Blige and Canal Theory to LL Air-conditioned J and Big Daddy Kane repurposing the cookout classic. Over a James-produced, bass-plucked confection, the accumulation harmonizes while stylishly anticipating an R-rated night with a adventurous interest. -- S.J.H.
60. The Chantels, "Maybe" (1957)
An African-American babe accumulation fabricated up of aerial academy acceptance from the Bronx, The Chantels weren't accustomed abounding avenues to achieve in the backward '50s, but about denticulate a 1957 blueprint hit with "Maybe," one of the babe accumulation genre's aboriginal classics. The advancement vocals are doo-wop, the music is gospel-R&B, but the advance is a exhausted game-changer: Akin admitting the lyrics allege to affected boyish lamentation, Arlene Smith belts them like a assertive force, her articulation actual able akin admitting the words tip to weakness. That ambush of marrying articulate boldness to adverse accountable amount would be afresh on endless such abstract to come. -- J. Lynch
59. f(x), "Rum Pum Pum Pum" (2013)
A song that embodies why the K-pop amphitheatre is as artistic as it is weird, beginning accouterments f(x) attenuated samba-inspired production, alien-like harmonies and the melody of a acclaimed Christmas carol for what angry out to be a huge hit. The ladies alloy abstruse coos and active raps to analyze their dating appearance to aggressive acumen teeth, all while amphitheatre with accent and articulate tempos, consistent in one of the abounding standout advance on their admired Pink Tape anthology from 2013. -- J.B.
58. Xscape, "Who Can I Run To?" (1995)
Originally a B-side to the Jones Girls' 1979 hit "You're Gonna Achieve Me Adulation Somebody Else," the aching "Who Can I Run To?" begin new activity in the mid-'90s acknowledgment to the articulate accomplishment of hitmakers Xscape, accurately axis the dank apathetic jam into one of the defining R&B hits in his era. The song still captivates addition 20 years later, proving a highlight of Xscape's much-anticipated alliance assortment at the 2017 BET Awards. -- A.U.
57. Fifth Harmony, "Sledgehammer" (2014)
Physically, the bandage “If you could booty my beating appropriate now/It would feel aloof like a sledgehammer” is added than a bit confusing. Yet the girls of 5H advertise their account of implied admiration with committed melismas and adhesive production. -- J. Lipshutz
56. The Ronettes, "Baby I Adulation You" (1963)
Nobody in pop history has anytime "whoa-oh"ed absolutely like Ronnie Spector, and acceptable the finest announcement of her signature non-verbal came as the countdown to the ample drums and and bellowing apprehension of "Baby I Adulation You." Never matched, the song's affidavit of amoral adherence and amore has about fabricated it an accessible appetite for decades of covers, including by The Ramones and Cher -- the closing of whom additionally sings advancement on the aboriginal recording. -- A.U.
55. The Crystals, "Da Doo Ron Ron" (1963)
If you've anytime wondered what bodies beggarly by Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound," attending no added than The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron." Accustomed the agilely inane choir and simple exhausted scheme, the barnstorming assembly on "Da Doo Ron Ron" takes the spotlight, with bottomward piano chords and a arrest saxophone demonstrating that babe accumulation hits frequently rocked harder than best early-'60s bedrock n' cycle records. -- J. Lynch
54. Blaque, "Bring It All to Me" (1999)
No, they’re not a one-hit admiration — “808” was additionally a top 10 hit on its own — but Blaque’s defining moment will consistently be the delectably anachronous “Bring It All To Me,” a cottony R&B sing-along which included a hit remix featuring JC Chasez (but accustomed to all of *NSYNC). -- J. Lipshutz
53. Dixie Cups, "People Say" (1964)
Those abuse amusement haters, consistently accouterment their unsolicited sniping as to why babe accumulation romances won't aftermost -- The Dixie Cups don't wanna apprehend it, and on "People Say," they agitate 'em off in animating appearance over a snapping beat, declaring "I don't absolutely affliction what the bodies say." Admitting these assertions, the group's own addition gives abroad their abiding insecurity: "Don't you anytime aching me, if you do/ Aggregate they're adage will be true." -- A.U.
52. Jade, "Don't Walk Away" (1992)
Irresistible from its aperture answering-machine harmonies, "Don't Walk Away" had a strut afterwards associate in '90s R&B, boasting a clomping, Kool and the Gang-borrowing exhausted with added cowbell than a half-dozen Blue Oyster Cults. Still, it's the group's acute vocals that achieve the jam indelible, and the acumen producers like Diplo & Sleepy Tom are still aggravating to anamnesis its abracadabra decades later. -- A.U.
51. The Shangri-Las, "Give Him a Abundant Big Kiss" (1964)
The Shangri-Las were so absurdly in adulation on "Give Him a Abundant Big Kiss" they had to ad-lib a new spelling for the word, all feet- and heartbeat-skipping airheadedness as they bulb one of the loudest smooches you've anytime heard on their be-luv-ed. It sounds so friggin' acceptable that the abetment vocals accumulate insisting "tell me more, acquaint me more!" -- admitting at aloof 2:12, you best accept the Shangri-Las aren't giving all their secrets abroad on this one. -- A.U.
50. G.R.L., "Ugly Heart" (2014)
The adverse afterlife of Simone Action concluded the affiance of five-piece babe accumulation G.R.L., but not afore they delivered one abiding gem in this decidedly affective single, which featured anniversary of the members’ abandoned personalities animated through, as able-bodied as a absolutely angry chorus. -- J. Lipshutz
49. The Awning Girls, "Show Me" (1986)
One of the ancient and finest crossover hits of the bathe era, the sparkling "Show Me" accepted adulation and account through its vocals and sonic irrepressibility. "Actions allege louder than words," the accumulation affirms on the angle -- but of course, synths allege loudest of all, and the airy keys blanketing the Awning Girls' late-'80s blemish hit were absolutely unigonorable. -- A.U.
48. The Pointer Sisters, "Fire" (1978)
Bruce Springsteen was one of the bigger girl-group admirers of his era, so it's no abruptness that he gave aback to the attitude by giving this ever-so-slow-burning archetypal to the Pointer Sisters. Bruce eventually performed it himself, of course, but he could never do his agreement the amends that the Pointers' clover harmonies could on the song's blithely chaste chorus: "'Coz aback we kiss/ Oooh/ FI-IRE." -- A.U.
47. All Saints, "Never Ever" (1997)
Though they didn’t about achieve the aforementioned akin of success in the U.S., quartet All Saints concluded up acceptable one of the bigger all-female groups of the ‘90s in their built-in U.K. “Never Ever,” which ailing at No. 4 on the Hot 100, had a appreciably beyond appulse overseas, acceptable the second-best affairs distinct by a babe accumulation of all time in the U.K. to Aroma Girls’ “Wannabe.” It makes faculty why: accompanist Nicole Appleton deadpan chants the aboriginal carol afore abutting up with the blow of the quartet for a slinky, decidedly anthemic breakdown kiss-off. -- S.J.H.
46. 702, "Where My Girls At?" (1999)
Co-produced by Missy Elliott, “Where My Girls At?” catapulted R&B leash 702 assimilate Top 40 at the aboriginal acme of the solo-female era, with a angle that refuses to abate or leave the listener’s head. The song isn’t abundant added than that chorus, but it never bare to be. -- J. Lipshutz
45. The Sugababes, "Freak Like Me" (2002)
Not like Adina Howard's standard-setting G-funk'n'B '95 accident larboard allowance for improvement, but there was still amplitude for reinvention -- provided actuality by ambassador Richard X's sample of Tubeway Army's sci-fi synth-pop archetypal "Are 'Friends' Electric?," and The Sugababes' accumulated charge to not giving a abuse about a thing. In the trio's hands, "Freak" saw its calefaction replaced by aflame futurism, proving a near-decade afore Robyn that fembots bare loving, too. - A.U.
44. The Shirelles, "Mama Said" (1961)
“Mama Said” is inescapable, in its consistently quotable affectionate hand-on-shoulder wisdom, and as anesthetized bottomward through Van Morrison’s “Days Like This" and episodes of Adventure Time and Orange Is the New Black. But Shirley Owens was the baton of the babe accumulation to advance all babe groups, and the aboriginal altruism and gravitas of an easy-enough archetypal like “Mama Said” -- already injected into approved boy-crazy pop songs -- helped accessible pop’s doors for approaching mamas to circuit their own songs of wisdom. -- D.W.
43. Admiration Girls, "Nobody" (2008)
"Nobody" was a advance moment in K-pop history, with the No. 76–charting Hot 100 hit appearance one of the aboriginal indicators that Korean acts had address in America. Musically, the clue is an infectious, Motown-inspired earworm that encapsulated Admiration Girls' absorbing affection for throwback-inspired concepts -- this time all-embracing babe groups of the '50s and '60s -- and actual hooks (the acclaim on the choir is congenital into the song's iconic dance). -- J.B.
42. TLC, "No Scrubs" (1999)
Pioneering leash TLC had consistently alloyed letters of empowerment into their music, aback debuting in 1992 with Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. And afterwards abrading new heights with their star-cementing CrazySexyCool two years later, they alternate from defalcation added boastful than anytime in 1999 with “No Scrubs,” a appellation coined to denote a deadbeat who couldn’t akin accommodate for himself, let abandoned for a woman. It’s a attestation to their ability that the song’s complete -- and bulletin -- still bell today. -- S.J.H.
41. En Vogue, "Free Your Mind" (1992)
"Prejudice: Wrote a song about it. Like to apprehend it?" Luckily, En Vogue didn't accord America a adventitious to acknowledgment afore ripping into "Free Your Mind," a adverse pop takeover that quoted P-Funk, invoked Sly Stone, and booted anybody abroad the f--k off their runway. The riffs and cowbell still beating a quarter-century later, but not as adamantine as the group's lacerating vocals, acclamation any cardinal of still-extant apropos of racial, animal and demographical bias, and absolution them all with a atrociously aghast "Don't be so shallow." -- A.U.
40. Destiny's Child, "Survivor" (2001)
Destiny’s Child dished up some absolutely allotment tunes in their abreast 10 years as a group, but “Survivor” may booty the block for best anthemic. The “you can’t stop me” affectionate of lyrics actuality hollered over a active violin and stomping exhausted actualize an ultimate acknowledgment of ex independence. There’s annihilation absolutely like cogent a accomplished lover – or anyone you’ve confused on from – that you’re stronger, richer, wiser and smarter afterwards them. And as if the song didn’t do the bulletin justice, the jungle-themed, camo-filled video took it one footfall further. -- T.W.
39. Danity Kane, "Damaged" (2008)
About a year afore Lady Gaga took over the globe, Authoritative the Bandage champs Danity Kane beatific out aerial for how the U.S. would accede to an EMP of stomping approaching pop. Appealing well, turns out, as the beauteous don't-do-me-like-that cannonball became a Hot 100 top 10 hit, helped achieve green anthology Welcome to the Dollhouse the group's additional beeline cardinal one, and reintroduced coach Diddy to his aboriginal role of hype-whisperer, intoning with abnormal force over the song's outro: "This too shall pass." -- A.U.
38. The Supremes, "Stop! In the Name of Love" (1964)
"Stop! In the Name of Love" separates itself from the blow of Diana Ross & Co.'s dozen (!!) Hot 100 No. 1s through its almighty cautionary accent for a abeyant breakdown song: "Think it over," the ladies afresh assert over arresting angelus and horns, the aggregate cop aggravating to let their trifling man off with aloof a warning. The anatomy would prove enduring: Bristles years later, the group's boy-band breed at Motown would additionally hit No. 1 advising a altered affectionate of adventurous slow-down. -- A.U.
37. Vanity 6, "Nasty Girl" (1982)
Did you apprehend annihilation abroad from Prince’s billet leash of ladies, which he originally christened The Hookers? This sparse, arbitrary jam, with its around-the-clock proto-Janet attraction “Do you anticipate I’m a abominable girl?” was so cheating that accumulation baton Vanity ultimately became born-again (mind you, she apparently wasn’t baptized in Lake Minnetonka) and denounced it herself. If that doesn’t cede her the Linda Lovelace of pop, who is? -- D.W.
36. Dream, "He Loves U Not" (2000)
Maybe the abundant abandoned distinct of the complete TRL era, the Bad Boy-signed boyhood quartet -- Puffy again! -- got all the way to No. 2 on the Hot 100 with this skittering, abominable combustible production, as active and uncontainable as a Squarepusher single. Dream weren't the best acid of vocalists, but they absolutely got the point beyond on the ablaze chorus, finishing their own "He's into what he's got..." affirmation with the abetment ad lib: "...and that's me!" -- A.U.
35. The Tammys, "Egyptian Shumba" (1964)
If you anticipation The Beatles or The Rolling Stones were the best absonant bandage in '64, accept to The Tammys. A surreal anecdotal of a dream breadth "way bottomward in Egypt land, our mummies took our hand," "Egyptian Shumba" absent the archive but affirmed its abode in the bandage assize by advantage of arduous insanity. The song's befuddled harmonies and delirious, conflicting instruments are bound overtaken by shrieking, chanting and grunting from the acutely bedevilled Tammys, who auspiciously accumulated agreeable kitsch with unhinged agreeable 15 years afore the B-52's' debut. -- J. Lynch
34. Little Mix, "Black Magic" (2015)
Little Mix’s greatest hit of a still-young career is congenital from the best allegiant parts: the ablaze splashes of alarm guitar from Diana Ross’ “I’m Advancing Out,” the Accompany It On step-dancing chants of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend,” the Lisa Frank appearance of Kylie Minogue’s “Loco-Motion” remake. The melody is added of a bequest than say, Max Martin’s appearance of dynamite, and added breathable for anniversary abandoned Little Mix singer’s artificially aperitive body turns. Don’t be ridiculous, though: of advance the choir is the best part. But all of it’s the best part, you know? -- D.W.
33. Dixie Cups, "Chapel of Love" (1964)
A song that will alive as continued as bodies are accepting ma-a-a-ried (in calm Christian barrio of worship, anyway), "Chapel of Love" thrives with a banausic choir that turns a vow of aeon into a actual day at the beach. You could say that the Dixie Cups showed their active naivete in singing of alliance as the abiding end to all claimed problems ("And we'll never be abandoned anymore!"), or you could say that songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich -- afresh affiliated themselves, admitting not for decidedly continued -- were bravely captivation on to the acceptance that adulation could absolutely be so simple. -- A.U.
32. Girls Aloud, "Biology" (2005)
Girls Aloud should accept been astronomic in the States; by extension, assorted Girls Aloud singles should accept been assured in the U.S. of A. Why? Attending no added than "Biology," one of the best fascinatingly structured babe accumulation songs ever. Consistently architecture and re-shifting until Nadine Coyle absolutely declares "You can't aberration my biology!," the distinct singlehandedly justifies the years of should-be-bigger lamentations from American Girls Aloud diehards. -- J. Lipshutz
31. The Crystals, "He's a Rebel" (1962)
With three words, The Crystals -- well, technically The Blossoms, but who's counting -- set up ther adventurous classic that would affect the blow of babe accumulation history, establishing the bad boy as the consistently article of good-girl obsession. "When he holds my hand, I'm so proud/ 'Coz he's not aloof one of the crowd," explains accompanist Darlene Love, with an consummate elan to achieve all the girls at home admiration why they'd been crumbling their time acquisitive for Johnny Angel. Aural a few years, The Shangri-Las were hooking up with a motorcycle assemblage leader, Martha and the Vandellas were idealizing their Wild One, and all was appropriate with the world. -- A.U.
30. The Pussycat Dolls, "Don't Cha" (2005)
Tori Alamaze’s Cee-Lo Green-produced aboriginal abandoned "Don't Cha" exudes the able-bodied animal astriction that the song’s burden – “Don’t cha appetite your adherent was hot like me” – deserves, but that distinct never fabricated the Hot 100. It took the ablaze ability of the Dolls, a singing accumulation that started as a caricatural act, to get it all the way to No. 2 -- the group's highest-charting hit -- acknowledgment to a gang-vocal access to the song's already tough-to-resist insistence, and a video in which frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger & Co. commutual snake-hipped ball moves with the song’s affiliated boom beat. -- F.D.
29. Martha and the Vandellas, "Dancing in the Street" (1964)
Onetime Motown A&R administrator William “Mickey” Stevenson, who co-wrote this song with Ivy Jo Hunter and Marvin Gaye, has said that the song’s appellation was aggressive by watching kids in Detroit amphitheatre in the aerosol of blaze hydrants opened on a airless day. With its scooting horn flourishes and Reeves’ active vocals, the No. 2-peaking Hot 100 accident still evokes that mild vibe and, acknowledgment to its lyrics -- which accept been interpreted as both a alarm to accoutrements and a appeal for ancestral accord -- has the added acumen of accepting been adopted as a civilian rights canticle during the agitated ‘60s. -- F.D.
28. Total feat. The Notorious B.I.G., "Can't You See" (1995)
Kima, Keisha and Pam were Bad Boy's abstruse weapon, agreeable in on the afloat hooks to The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" and "Juicy" (and akin Mase's "What You Want"), as able-bodied as one of the best babe groups of the '90s on their own. "Can't You See" was their defining moment -- admitting already actuality the sixth or seventh big '90s distinct to sample James Brown's "The Payback," the song maintained a atypical attraction acknowledgment to Keisha's seductive-but-tortured bawl ("I want... to be... alone... TOGETHER!"). And of course, a Steve Nash-like abetment from The Notorious B.I.G. helped, with an aperture carol blaze abundant for Puff to bread the abiding ad lib "Slow bottomward son, you're killin' 'em!" in response. -- A.U.
27. The Chiffons, "One Fine Day" (1963)
In the deathwatch of doo-wop babe groups and the heyday of the booming Motown movement, The Chiffons cut through in the aboriginal ‘60s with its admission distinct “He’s So Fine,” a chart-topper from their 1963 admission anthology of the aforementioned name. Afterwards that year, the Bronx quartet alternate with One Fine Day, whose appellation track, bound by Goffin and King, accomplished No. 5 on the Hot 100 acknowledgment to its active assembly and closed harmonies, which were around-the-clock abundant to stiil be giving a addition to boilerplate rom-coms three decades later. -- S.J.H.
26. The Shangri-Las, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (1964)
The Shangri-Las were one of the best aggressive babe groups of their era, with their big hits miniature melodramas that arrive time-signature changes, aviate samples, and all sorts of gadgetry that Phil Spector and the Beatles would get the complete acclaim for. “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)” was a chilling complaining that went Top 5 in 1964, though, so absorption it admiring the corrupt brand of Aerosmith to bewitch its demons afresh in 1979. Remember? -- D.W.
25. Aroma Girls, "Say You'll Be There" (1997)
It's all about babe power, of course, with the Aroma Girls donning action-film adapt egos in the "Say You'll Be There" music video and blame ass while consistently accepting anniversary other's backs. Underneath the bubblegum melodies, however, is a adventuresome bit of about Dr. Dre-like '90s G-pop assembly -- and easily up if you accepted the harmonica abandoned abolition the aback bisected of this one the aboriginal time you heard it. -- J. Lipshutz
24. The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back" (1963)
Originally advised for The Shirelles, the sparse, audacious audience from The Angels was able abundant to absolution as an official distinct and top the Hot 100. Like so abounding '60s babe accumulation classics, bisected the fun of this one comes address of the advancement singers, whose cheeky vocals acquaint a assertive cad he's about to get his ass whooped for overextension lies about a babe -- now that, you know, her boyfriend's back. The deliciously absonant "hey-la, hey-la"s booty centermost stage, but shout-out to advance accompanist Linda Jansen for imbuing the lyric "He's affectionate of big, and he's abominable strong" with abundant pheromones to accord the G-rated lyrics an NC17 subtext. -- J. Lynch
23. The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited" (1982)
The best affair about the "I'm So Excited" music video, filmed and appear in disco's crumbling moments in 1982, is the ending: the ball affair that the Pointer Sisters are arch artlessly does not end, as the attendees ball abroad out of the shot, acutely abrogation the club to go wreak blithesome calamity in the streets. That's the blazon of chain that "I'm So Excited" still packs, 35 years afterwards -- whenever its pristinely independent applesauce is heard, it's adamantine to agitate the airheadedness akin as the music fades out. -- J. Lipshutz
22. The Marvelettes, "Please Mr. Postman" (1961)
One of the best arresting and acknowledged babe groups from the Motown galaxy were The Marvelettes, who accomplished milestones for the groundbreaking imprint: Not abandoned did they acquire the characterization its aboriginal pop cardinal one with “Please Mr. Postman,” but it was additionally amid the aboriginal to hit that aforementioned atom amid all babe groups. It was the group’s advance on Motown’s Tamla label, and abandoned clue to hit the top, all befuddled and apart in adjustment but finer actual with its handclaps and abetment shrieks. -- S.J.H.
21. Girls' Generation, "I Got a Boy" (2012)
For years, Girls' Generation not abandoned disqualified Korea's girl-group amphitheatre but the country's complete zeitgeist, earning a cord of No. 1 hits and cardinal the Forbes Korea Ability Celebrity account for three altered years. "I Got a Boy" is what happens aback the greats strive to get greater, with this multi-genre, tempo-shifting Frankenstein's-monster jam that all-overs from boom 'n' bass to bubblegum hooks to Aguilera-esque belt sections. While the distinct still divides some admirers for not actuality as accessible to absorb as airy GG abstract like "Gee,""Oh!" or "Genie," the appetite and adroitness apparent actuality act as an all-embracing affidavit to why girl-group music is in a alliance of its own in agreement of action and abuttals blame -- J.B.
20. Sister Sledge, "We Are Family" (1979)
Disco abracadabra happened aback Philadelphia’s Sledge sisters were commutual with producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic. Backed by the in-your-face rubber-band bass and antic piano that acclaimed Chic hits like “I Appetite Your Love,” the foursome’s ode to sisterhood, with its sweet-honey harmonies and “Hey, hey, sing it to me” exhortations, hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1979 and became the affair of the 1979 Apple Alternation best Pittsburgh Pirates. (It charcoal a jukebox admired in the aloft animate town.) -- F.D.
19. The Supremes, "You Can't Bustle Love" (1966)
The Motown songwriting-production aggregation Holland-Dozier-Holland gave the characterization some of its best material, including this Hot 100 No. 1 for the Supremes in 1966. Buoyed by one of the best underrated (and cautiously influential) bass curve in pop history and an irrepressible abbey music energy, Diana Ross' able vocals alteration from a brittle coo at the song's crestfallen alpha into a beatific affront at the amid point, demonstrating 1) Ross' attenuate adeptness and 2) that mama's consistently right. -- J. Lynch
18. The Pipettes, "Pull Shapes" (2006)
The admission anthology from the Pipettes, 2006's We Are The Pipettes, begins with a appellation clue that credibly positions the leash as throwback, polka-dot-wearing pop saviors beamed in from addition planet. The songs that follows on the album's clue account is "Pull Shapes," a cyclone of a distinct that acquainted of an conflicting breadth but articulate wholly realized. "Shapes" was a eyes of addition time refracted through three ablaze British choir who accepted avant-garde assembly techniques. The Pipettes weren't continued for this apple -- two of the three associates ancient afterward their admission -- but we're abiding animated they chock-full by. -- J. Lipshutz
17. SWV, "Right Here" (Human Nature Remix) (1992)
If you charge a leg up in your pop career, you can consistently do a lot worse than a addition from the King himself. A lift from Michael Jackson's bouncing Thriller carol "Human Nature" was all the drive SWV charge would be to become one of the best acknowledged R&B groups of the Clinton era, earning the sample with a commanding, expertly controlled articulate -- aback they assert that their adulation ain't goin' boilerplate over the beat's athletic shuffle, you'd accept no acumen to anytime agnosticism them. Speaking of that beat, SWV paid the MJ abetment advanced by lending a allowance duke to approaching pop royalty: It's an 18-year-old Pharrell Williams amphitheatre advertising boy ("S! The Double! The U! The V!") on the song's mini-breaks. -- A.U.
16. Labelle, "Lady Marmalade" (1974)
While adolescent ancestors may accede the hit “Lady Marmalade” for its Moulin Rouge accommodate from Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink and Lil’ Kim (as able-bodied as a abstracted adaptation by All Saints), Labelle will go bottomward in the books for bringing the song to the mainstream. Originally recorded by Eleventh Hour, “Marmalade” was abounding of activity and suggestively smirk-worthy, with a choir delivered in French that not-so-subtly asked a suitor to beddy-bye with them that night. Labelle’s adaptation stands as the best groundbreaking, decidedly in bringing women’s changeable to the forefront. -- S.J.H.
15. Wilson Phillips, "Hold On" (1990)
Never let anyone acquaint you this isn’t a abundant song, akin as you nod through the plaintiff’s aporetic address of the verses balladry “pain,” “chains” and “sustain” (with “pain” again!). There’s no way they would cartel attack to asperse the chorus, both actual and deceptively tricky: Wilson Phillips fabricated that obstacle advance of a angle feel like a 30-foot baptize accelerate in 1990, the leash activity bottomward it all at once, with their accoutrements bouncing high. There’s a acumen Bridesmaids anchored it as the ultimate feel-good affair song for women’s rom-coms, and why nine out of ten doctors acclaim “Hold On” for affliction and chains alike. -- D.W.
14. Fifth Harmony feat. Ty Dolla $ign, "Work From Home" (2016)
Never apperception that the chat “work” is mentioned 95 times on Fifth Harmony’s “Work From Home” -- its alliteration is allotment of its charm. Afresh still a quintet, 5H anchored its bigger hit to date with the Ty Dolla $ign-assisted banger, with melodies that adverse the blooping synths, punctuating a almost dispersed beat. Anniversary affiliate delivers, admitting now-departed affiliate Camila Cabello excels, belying the song’s aboveboard verses with acrobatic runs that accompany it all home. -- S.J.H.
13. Bananarama, "Cruel Summer" (1983)
For at atomic three months out of every year, "Cruel Summer" fills a agreeable abandoned no added song does -- by articulating all the agency the dog canicule prove an anniversary drag, afterwards abacus to the problems by actuality an complete affliction itself. Bananarama's signature '80s hit pulls it off by marrying a pitch-perfect articulate of affronted boyish apathy with a fantastically blue electro-pop animation and the "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" of xylophone riffs, creating a jam as adhesive as melting tar and as addictive as Dippin' Dots -- but one beneath for the kids partying at the bank than for the loners staring beyond the ocean. -- A.U.
12. Martha and the Vandellas, "Heat Wave" (1963)
The best berserk accepted girl-group song of all time, “Heat Wave” shuffles forth raucously and alluringly akin afore a Vandella horns in. The drums are aloof so busy, and the bond of women singing ties calm beautifully at the end of those circuitous verses -- let's not akin get started on the sax breaks. Martha Reeves makes “tears all over my face” complete like the goddamn greatest bearings to anytime be in. Holland-Dozier-Holland’s magnum agreement was so complete that akin a 2010 Phil Collins awning wasn’t D.O.A.. -- D.W.
11. TLC, "Waterfalls" (1995)
An accomplished aggregate of sonic and agreeable ambition. TLC possesses a abundance accession of rock-solid singles, but the backbone of the assembly and storytelling on "Waterfalls" fabricated it an all-timer. As the leash rocks over clover beats and canned horns, narratives of drug-related abandon and an HIV-related afterlife advance pop music to do better, be smarter, say more. TLC's bequest is anointed in songs like "Waterfalls," a accident hit that's still effectively accelerating 20 years later. -- J. Lipshutz
10. The Emotions, "Best of My Love" (1977)
This 1977 No. 1 Hot 100 hit (for bristles weeks, by the way) sounds like Earth, Wind & Blaze fronted by a assertive changeable leash -- and essentially, it is. “Best of My Love,” which was co-written by EWF’s Maurice White, and Al McKay, acclimated that band’s signature bright, agleam horns and ambit alarm guitar. But it’s Chicago’s Hutchinson sisters – Wanda, Sheila and Jeanette – who took this clue aloft the disco din. Aural like Patti Labelle to the third power, they arise and dive their way through “Best of My Love” with gospel-tinged apparent clarity. -- F.D.
9. The Shangri-Las, "Leader of the Pack" (1964)
Teenage tragedy songs were a pre-British Invasion fad in American pop, and best are absurd to accept to afterwards animated at the soap opera-levels of histrionics. A prime classic is 1964 Hot 100-topper "Leader of the Pack," breadth a boyhood babe explains to her classmates that she watched her arrant admirer die in a motorcycle blast afterwards her parents affected her to dump him. Compounding the action are complete effects, dead-serious announced chat segments and advancement vocals that answer the lead. Somehow, what should appear beyond as greatly asinine ends up acid beeline into your body – if you're smirking at the 17-second mark, you're absolutely devastated at 2:09 aback advance accompanist Mary Weiss intones, "At academy they all stop and beam / I can't adumbrate my tears but I don't affliction / I'm apologetic I aching you, the baton of the pack." -- J. Lynch
8. The Crystals, "Then He Kissed Me" (1963)
Preserved in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, “Then He Kissed Me” -- co-written by Spector with the allegorical aggregation of Greenwich and Barry -- captures the wholesome airheadedness of a blossom romance, and the optimism of John F. Kennedy’s Camelot. The song, which ailing at No. 6 on the Sept. 14, 1963 Hot 100 (roughly two months afore JFK was assassinated) moves perpetually advanced in both adventure and sound. Advance accompanist Lala Brooks tells the adventure of a blossom romance, from aboriginal kiss to alliance vows, agitated forth by guitar, strings, sax, a mix of bang that seems to accommodate sleigh accretion and whatever abroad Spector threw into his sui generis mix. There’s article animating about the tune's amaranthine propulsion, which fabricated it an ideal clue to accompany (in its entirety) Martin Scorsese’s tour-de-force, three-plus-minute single-take Copacabana amphitheatre in Goodfellas. -- F.D.
7. Destiny's Child, "Say My Name" (1999)
Many bodies accept covered “Say My Name.” None of accept attempted to do so faithfully. That would crave Aphex Twin-level programming, caffeinated charge that makes the appellation “rapid-fire” feel quaint, and ability of proto-Timbaland pop gymnastics that accept calmed bottomward added than a bit in pop catalogs aback 1999 -- including in Beyoncé’s own. But it’s still a standard, still a brace of an canticle that akin base scrubs will sing forth to. Let’s balloon the Joyce-invoking lasagna of capacity and allusions that Lemonade was for a moment, and aloof brainstorm accepting to ball while affairs this affair off. No admiration they fabricated us say their name. -- D.W.
6. En Vogue, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" (1992)
There may accept been '90s babe groups added iconic than En Vogue, but none added studied, added accomplished or added dazzling. "My Lovin'" is an complete adept class: Artlessly put, there are aught things a babe accumulation distinct should do that it doesn't, and En Vogue does all of them at Diana Ross and/or Patti Labelle akin -- whether it's the "oooooOOOOHHH BOP!" abetment vocals, the abrupt refrain, the heights-scaling pre-chrous, the post-chorus spoken-word bantering, or, of course, the breakdown harmonies, so ballsy they charge an announcer's introduction. Throw in the OG of those abuse "Payback" samples and a star-making music video, and you accept a '60s bequest that does it bigger than all but one or two of the aboriginal greats anytime did it. -- A.U.
5. Aroma Girls, "Wannabe" (1996)
If there’s one affair that babe groups should consistently encompass, it’s babe power. And while affluence of added songs do so, it’s appealing boxy to top the byword “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,” delivered through the quintet's peerless, winking sneer. For a babe accumulation to appear out of the aboideau with such an best hit -- one that accomplished No. 1 in aloof about every bazaar -- is admirable in itself, but what the Aroma Girls did with “Wannabe” was to be around-the-clock and fun while additionally actuality empowering, and that’s article that isn’t accessible for aloof one song to accomplish. Except, for the Aroma Girls, it’s article that they accomplished with about every song they created afterwards their aboriginal distinct – and it all began with them declaring what they appetite (what they really, absolutely want). -- T.W.
4. The Supremes, "Where Did Our Adulation Go?" (1964)
If not the greatest babe accumulation song of best -- and boy, there's an altercation to be fabricated -- afresh absolutely the song that may consistently be best associated with the archetype. At the actual least, it's the best song by the best group, the distinct that aboriginal conflicting The Supremes to the top of the Hot 100 and set the accepted for an absurd cardinal of girl-group song conventions to come: The handclaps, the "baby, baby" abetment vocals, the sax solo, and best importantly, the pinched, heart-piercing, scarily accessible charge of one Diana Ross, consistently apathetic but never shy. "Where Did Our Adulation Go?" able the art of beatific melancholy, of award backbone in fragility. What could possibly be added f--king pop than that? -- A.U.
3. The Shirelles, "Will You Adulation Me Tomorrow?" (1961)
For as advocate as the '60s were, few songs gave articulation to complete activity apropos of adolescent women -- abnormally aback it came to sex. Acknowledgment to co-writer Carole King (who would afterwards absolution her own version), The Shirelles' "Will You Adulation Me Tomorrow?" was the aloft barring to that rule. A stunningly attractive mix of country chords, R&B annoyance and agreeable pop flourishes, the carol finds Shirelles baton Shirley Owens banishment her admirer to acknowledge if he's in adulation for real, or aloof until he gets what he wants. The lyrics accommodate some of the finest couplets in all of pop ("Is this a abiding abundance / or aloof a moment's pleasure?" and "Can I accept the abracadabra of your blow / Will you still adulation me tomorrow?"), and the superb blackout in Owens' articulation cautiously conveys the faculty she's been austere before. While sex isn't absolutely mentioned, the teens-fumbling-in-the-backseat subtext was clear. Naturally, some radio stations banned it, but it still attack to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961, and charcoal one of the finest songs in any genre, ever. -- J. Lynch
2. TLC, "Creep" (1994)
Prior to absolution its bigger anthology to date CrazySexyCool, TLC gave off an angel of artery cool, all bright colors and bent wide-leg jeans. The album, appear in 1994 and continuing on to advertise 7.7 actor copies according to Nielsen Music, signaled a sea change for Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. Gone were the condoms over their eyes and affianced to their pants to advance safe sex. Here, they were all-embracing a added complete angle of adulthood, acclamation the HIV crisis and assemblage abandon on the set’s accident advance distinct “Waterfalls.” Midriffs were apparent and accountable amount advised heavier. The leash had bid adieu to the big beats and choir chants and accepted the abutting date of adolescence.
“Creep” was that moment’s acme jewel, and one of the best important pop singles of the '90s. Produced by Dallas Austin, the track, apprenticed by a aerial trumpet and T-Boz’s croaking attraction vocals, subverted what had become a acceptable adumbration in R&B: women somberly crowing about their man’s infidelity. The ‘90s saw a axis point breadth women sang about not abandoned actuality adulterine to their men, but accomplishing it as an act of revenge, with songs like SWV’s “You’re the One” and Xscape’s “My Little Secret” extolling the act of acknowledging cheating. But it was “Creep” that set the groundwork, a avant-garde in the cheating subgenre. The ladies accept to the devil on their amateur -- and while two wrongs don’t achieve a right, through the trio's calmly glassy vocals over abiding pop-funk production, they somehow achieve it all add up. -- S.J.H.
1. The Ronettes, "Be My Baby" (1963)
Forget babe groups for a second. If you were to abbreviate all of pop history to one five-second complete byte -- one atom for the aliens, the ahead deaf, or the avowedly Scrooge-like to about-face them into burning converts -- it'd accept to be the aperture confined of "Be My Baby," a boom addition iconic abundant to accommodate the ultimate through-line in the decades of accepted recordings since, so consistently quoted that it's gone accomplished the point of cliché to aloof actuality an capital allotment of the cultural language. It's annihilation beneath than the baby of American pop music, pumping claret and animation into approaching generations: Aggregate from jailbait to techno to shoegaze to alcove pop to amphitheatre bedrock to Diane Warren owes a allotment of its axiological DNA to that BOOM. BA-BOOM. CHK!
OK, now bethink babe groups again. As basal as that boom addition (performed by Hal Blaine, produced by Phil Spector) has become, it's aloof addition brick in the Wall of Complete afterwards The Ronettes affairs the song to follow. Ronnie Spector's articulation -- acutely thin, but still acutely towering, like Manute Bol -- was the complete of billions of adolescent hopes and dreams, and her note-perfect account of Greenwich and Barry's greatest agreement (with Estelle Bennett and Nedra Talley confined as the absolute accomplishments subconscious) grows added alternate in every second. The song is a 2:41-long arch rush, a boundless anniversary of life, adulation and the following of boyish kicks, and if it anytime goes out of style, that agency we've absolutely invented article bigger than pop music. Might booty a while still. -- A.U.
