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This song is not the butt of any joke. This song is not a meme. This song is not a prank. If you click a link, and “Never Gonna Give You Up” starts playing, it’s your damn lucky day! By any and all accounts, this track is perfection incarnate; a rare pop gem that gets everything right…the melody, the vocal, the production. The song is the epitome of exuberance, paired with an impassioned, soulful pleading of the blue-eyed variety that feels singular. It’s what pop music is at its best, and there’s a reason Rick Astley’s hit remains definitive of the 1980s, but also of pop music at large.

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Considering we’re approaching a decade since RiRi’s last studio album, it does feel almost insensitive to bring up how she was once the most prolific force on the charts. Month after month, year after year, there was always something of hers happening; almost as if she couldn’t stay still for very long. By the time she got to “We Found Love,” her epic collaboration with Calvin Harris, she had already made her mark…but now she was a legend. The song isn’t maximalist, but you can tell it wants to be. Even Rihanna can’t restrain her vocal delivery; the melody is just too powerful to hold back. Very seldom has house and pop music merged so perfectly, and in so many ways this is the biggest and liveliest moment in her rich and enviable catalog. “We Found Love” is one of the true greats.

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What makes Cyndi Lauper such an icon of pop music is the juxtaposition of her quirkiness with her talents. I mean, she’s honestly one of the best vocalists of her generation, and even all of pop history. Her eccentric style and unapologetic boisterousness was attention-grabbing and down-right fun, but even at her most saccharine the music is serious business. “Time After Time” remains the cornerstone of what makes Cyndi make sense. The beautiful ballad, written and performed with the Hooters’ Rob Hyman, is sparse without feeling empty. Her incredible voice works the melody masterfully to fill that space in a way only she could.

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Everyone, please rise for the Honorable Sasha Fierce. Having wrapped up shop with Destiny’s Child and making her mark as a solo artist, this was the moment Beyoncé surpassed being a legend. It was such a massive event it changed the trajectory of her entire career – so much so that she never felt the need to replicate its success, and delivered some of the greatest works of all time as a result. “Single Ladies” is a wholistic pop experience: a beat you can’t sit still to, a knock-out vocal, and, I don’t know, about a million? different hooks. It’s a frenzy truly unlike anything else. Of course, it provided the backdrop for one of the most legendary videos and dance routines of all time, but even devoid of the visuals (and the Hive knows about that life right now), this would’ve been a hit. Truly the song could only be executed at this level by Beyoncé, no-one else.

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Dolly Parton has an untouchable catalog, and her songwriting has profoundly informed the way we think about music in country and beyond. While at any time, she could have stepped out of her country bubble, her immense crossover success came from sticking to her guns, and “9 to 5” is living proof. With tinges of disco sprinkled over her textbook flair, this holds as one of pop’s great equalizers. Who can deny this song? It’s brilliantly fun and sassy, but also real as sh*t, as only Dolly could pull of. This is not her signature song as an artist, but when it comes to the world of pop music this is almost impossible to top. A testament to her artistry.

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At one point in time, TLC was the biggest girl group to ever exist. Their merging of hip-hip and R&B helped shape popular music as we know it today, and they have the hits to prove it. This was already true by the time they got to “No Scrubs,” but they reached a summit truly never touched again. This song is an opus. It’s fun, it’s vibey, it’s an irresistible sing-a-long, and it’s chock full of attitude. This track sounds as fresh and exciting a quarter century later as it did at the time, because great pop songs are built to last.

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Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, the Bee Gees, created some of the most important pop music way beyond just the last 50 years. Their collective ability to merge lyrics with melody and harmony is borderline divine, and at least in this timeframe this is the greatest song they made, hands down. The tenderest Saturday Night Fever soundtrack hit, “How Deep Is Your Love” is gorgeous ballad that essentially summarizes their talents into a single track.

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Unapologetic bubblegum, hallelujah! The breakout hit for Carly Rae Jepsen stopped everything in its track – truly, the world stopped spinning just to listen to “Call Me Maybe.” At the peak of text-culture, here’s Carly Rae waltzing in asking you to pick up the phone and speak with her, damnit. It’s incredible! Truly one of the most effervescent moments in all of pop history, with a picture-perfect production and relentless assault of earworms. But it’s her voice, so sweet and earnest…how could you not call her?!

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Charli and SOPHIE. In hindsight, this is like peanut butter and jelly. Sadly, a collaborative duo we’ll never get to see together again, but the impact of what they left behind is immense. “Vroom Vroom” is not a conventional pop song, by design, and yet it permeates deeper into the pop canon as the years go on. This is what both of these artists do best: simplicity. SOPHIE’s beat is as sparse as you can go, but it reverberates in the empty space. Only teasing moments of hype that disappear like a ripple. Then there’s Charli’s melody, which is as accessible as a nursery rhyme; even the rapping. This is the product of two geniuses who have informed so much of what pop music is now and where it’s going… we are so lucky to have this moment.

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Earth Wind & Fire’s immortal uber-hit dazzles with all the horn-y funk of their others, and yet this has pulled away from the pack by a wide margin. If you don’t know this song, you’re lying. If you don’t like this song, you have terrible taste/are lying. “September” has so many memorable melodies in insolation, but they are all strung together into one giant earworm. It’s just so infectiously jubilant!

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