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The title track to Katy Perry’s juggernaut Teenage Dream album deserved the moment it had. It sparkles and elicits a nostalgic glow that’s genuinely hard to capture. She may have some flashier hits, but this is the best song she ever made.

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How did so many people not get it? Like so many people that this just kept becoming a bigger and bigger hit – Billy Ray f*cking Cyrus hopped on a remix of it. Kids were singing it, their parents were singing it, and the gays sighed with a collective smdh. This song is absolutely, albeit ridiculously, genius.

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There’s just something about a co-ed Swedish pop group that hits. With a rhythmic nod to reggae and an inescapable hook, “The Sign” checks all the right boxes and then some. This track is borderline hypnotic.

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Michael Jackson’s honorific title, the King of Pop, was bestowed onto him not simply because of his quantifiable success, but because of his chameleon-like ability to turn any style or genre into a pop hit. “Beat It” is forever his rock opus, and with a legendary EVH guitar solo, undeniably one of the greatest pop rock songs of all time.

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Take us to church, Natasha! Pop does not get much more inspirational than “Unwritten,” and when that gospel choir comes in…tell me you’re not emotional. This song absolutely crushes the brief, and continues to capture hearts.

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For better or worse, Drake will be retroactively assessed as a decisive figure. His ability to curate earworms and one-liners has informed how generations of fans interpret and perceive a pop song to be, and he never did it better than “One Dance.” The dancehall inspired track, with amazing features from Kyla and WizKid, is mesmerizingly infectious.

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There is nothing better than a big, dramatic ballad – besides one with sax, of course. George Michael’s transitional hit out of Wham! is an epic masterpiece that his smooth voice carries with commanding effortlessness.

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Oliva Rodrigo kicked off her sophomore album era with something so invigorating it completely disappeared any worry of a slump. “Vampire” is a journey; an unconventionally structured crescendo of hyperbolic energy, carried along by a few choice f-words. The amount of confidence it takes to put out a track like this, and just stand back and watch it take off. Who knows what else she has in the tank, but this track – this moment – is going to be hard to out-do.

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Of all Fleetwood Mac’s many hits, “Dreams” is the only one that hit #1 in the US. And deservingly, as it’s one of the best representations of why the Rumours-era configuration was the powerhouse it was. This may be the most effortless-sounding song Stevie Nicks ever wrote, as mirrored by the way Lindsey Buckingham brought it to life. The harmonies, the bass line, everything…it’s perfection. As time has gone on and reevaluated their output – for the better – this song has only become more beloved.

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This song is kind of breathtaking. The fusion of pseduo-merengue, pseudo-hyperpop looks like a firecracker, but explodes like an a-bomb. Rosalía straps you in right from the jump, and sends you off in a thrilling ride of synths and percussion. You kinda wanna get in line again right away.

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