Songs have been written about every subject imaginable, but the best, from '50s ballads to contemporary club hits, have been written about the ups and downs of love. We rank the top 50 Hot 100 hits with a form of the word "Love" in the title. The love songs cover every era of Hot 100 history, from 1958's "To Know Him Is to Love Him" ​​by the Teddy Bears to Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" in 2019. This list includes all types of love songs : Melodies about "The Power of Love" (Huey Lewis), "The Greatest Love Ever" (Whitney Houston), Eternal Love (Donna Lewis' "I Love You Always Forever") and NSFW Lovin' ("Justify My Love" by Madonna). ).
It's solid proof that while music trends and fads change with every generation, love and the songs it inspires will never go out of style. And we have the numbers to prove it: 9.6% of all Hot 100 No. 1s contain the word "Love" in the song title.
Ranking is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 charts.billboardThe 50 Greatest Love Songs of All Time ranking is based on weekly performance on the Hot 100 (from its inception on August 4, 1958 to February 4, 2023) and includes songs that contain the word "love." (or some variation like "lover", "loving", "lovable", etc.). Songs are ranked based on an inverse rating system, with top-ranked weeks earning the highest score and bottom-ranked weeks earning the lowest. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, epochs are weighted differently to reflect chart turnover rates over different time periods. Songs are ranked based on a combination of formula performance as described above, with weeks at #1 having the highest score and weeks at #1. ° 100 who earn the least. To ensure a fair representation of the greatest hits from each era, specific time periods have been weighted to account for the difference in turnover rates for those years.
"Te amo" - Minnie Riperton | Hot 100 Peak: Nr. 1 (1975)
In 1973, after signing with The Gems and the Rotary Connection of Chess Records, Riperton joined Stevie Wonder's backing singer Wonderlove. A year later he signed with Epic and Wonder produced his first album. The first single failed to chart, but the follow-up was "Lovin' You".
"You've Lost That Loving Feeling" - The Righteous Brothers | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1965)
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote this song on a rented piano at the Chateau Marmont on the Sunset Strip, inspired by the Four Tops' "Baby I Need Your Loving". The fictional lyrics read "You've lost that loving feeling", but producer Phil Spector liked them so much he kept them. The trio completed the song by writing the bridge at Spector's house.
"I Love a Rainy Night" - Eddie Rabbitt | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1981)
After Elvis Presley recorded Eddie Rabbitt's "Kentucky Rain," Elektra signed the Brooklyn-born songwriter as a recording artist. Searching through 300 tapes of song snippets and lyrics, Rabbitt heard a six-second snippet he recorded 12 years earlier: "I love a rainy night, I love a rainy night." Eventually, he completed the song and scored his first (and only) #1 on the Hot 100.
"This Boy Is In Love With You" - Herb Alpert | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Four Weeks (1968)
Alpert sang this Burt Bacharach/Hal David song to his wife on a Malibu beach on a CBS special. The next day, the network was flooded with calls from viewers asking where they could buy the song. A day later, A&M released a single and it became the label's first #1.
"Justify my love" - ​​​​Madonna | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1991)
The video for this song was too hot for MTV, which refused to air it. Within hours of the network's decision, Warner/Reprise Video announced that "Justify My Love" would be the first commercially released video single. ABC's "Nightline" aired the entire video uncensored.
"That's How Love Works" - Janet Jackson | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Eight Weeks (1993)
Jackson's first single for Virgin was based on a sample of James Brown's #1 R&B hit of 1974, "Papa Don't Take No Mess." On first hearing, Jackson disliked the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis track; Producers asked him to take him on the two-week Christmas break, and when he came back he said he was "the bomb".
"The Power of Love" - ​​​​Celine Dion | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for four weeks (1994)
A native of Queens, New York, Jennifer Rush signed with CBS in Germany and found international success with her fourth single, written about her boyfriend Steven. The song continued to fail in the US, with low covers from Rush and Air Supply and a slightly better performance from Laura Branigan. It was ultimately a No. 1 hit for Dion, who told Billboard, "If you want to open up and sing out loud, there couldn't be a better song than 'Power of Love'."
(Video) Most Old Beautiful Love Songs Of 70s 80s 90s - Best Romantic Love Songs đź’–đź’–đź’–"I just called to tell you I love you" - Stevie Wonder | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1984)
Dionne Warwick told the producers of Gene Wilder's The Woman in Red to ask Wonder to compose the soundtrack. This is how the film became an Oscar winner; This song, written for the film, won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
"The Greatest Love of All" - Whitney Houston | Hot 100 Peak: 1 for Three Weeks (1986)
Michael Masser and Linda Creed wrote this song for the film.The biggest,a biopic of Muhammad Ali. The single, off the George Benson soundtrack, peaked at number 24 in 1977. Later, when Houston auditioned for Clive Davis, she performed the song and it later became the B-side of her first Arista single, "You Give Good Love". Months later it was picked up by radio stations as the fifth single from Houston's debut album.
"The Power of Love" - ​​Huey Lewis and What's New | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1985)
He was asked to contribute a song to itBack to the FutureSoundtrack, Lewis said he had the perfect tune: "In the Nick of Time". The negotiations lasted so long that Lewis gave the song to another film,Brewster's millions. The "Future" audience was upset, but Lewis said he had a perfect second song, "Back in Time." For another scene, Lewis created "The Power of Love," which became the film's breakout hit.
"Dream Lover" - Mariah Carey | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Eight Weeks (1993)
Carey and producer Dave Hall didn't have the title "Dreamlover" when they started writing the song. "Usually...I do a song without a title," says Hall. "Let's take the hook and use it as a title." Their collaboration gave Carey her longest-running No. 1 hit at the time.
"Love Hangover" - Diana Ross | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1976)
Other labels were very interested in disco in 1976, but not Motown. So it was an anomaly that Ross recorded that Pam Sawyer/Marilyn McLeod song. Ross had no problem with the seductively slow first bar, but he chuckled as the beats per minute rose and protested that he couldn't sing that part. Producer Hal Davis created a club atmosphere in the studio and Ross jumped right in, resulting in another No. 1 hit for the ex-Supreme.
"I can't stop falling in love" - ​​UB40 | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for seven weeks (1993)
Elvis Presley's version peaked at #2 in 1962. Three decades later, UB40 were asked to redo the song for the soundtrackHoneymoon in Las Vegas.The producers turned down their version in favor of one by U2's Bono. The UB40 recording may not have been released, but music oversight for another film,Switch, saved the stretch from the Vaults of the Virgin.
"I Knew I Love You" - Wilder Garten | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for four weeks (2000)
After producer Walter Afanasieff delivered the new Savage Garden album to Columbia, he received a message to return it to the band: "It's an artistic masterpiece. But we want another 'Truly Madly Deeply'” (the duo's first #1). An enraged Darren Hayes left with bandmate Daniel Jones for 10 minutes and returned with a full song, "I Knew I Loved You" (the duo's second #1).
"I want to know what love is" - Ausland | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1985)
The consensus among Foreigner members was that this song would make a great single for the group. Lou Gramm thought it could do irreparable damage to his rock image, and Rick Willis thought it was "cute". Mick Jones told Billboard that the song was released "because it came out around Christmas and I was in the right mood."
"What does love have to do with it?" -Tina Turner | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1984)
Newly signed to Capitol, Turner's first single for EMI's own label was a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," which peaked at a disappointing #26 on the Hot 100. The follow-up was original, albeit British pop. . The Bucks Fizz Quartet recorded it first. Her version was not released, and Turner scored her first US number 1.
"She Loves You" - The Beatles | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1964)
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote "She Loves You" on a tour bus in Yorkshire, England. It was producer George Martin's idea to start with the chorus of "She loves you, yes, yes, yes" instead of the first verse.
"Love Child" - Diana Ross and the Supreme | Hot 100 Peak: #1 for Two Weeks (1968)
After 10 #1 hits written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, Diana Ross and the Supremes hit the studio with a new crew of Motown collaborators, resulting in the trio's #11 Hot 100 hit starting in 1968 released, including "Cloud Nine" by Temptations and "War" by Edwin Starr.
(Video) 50's Romantic Songs - Music From The 50's (Stereo)"(Love is) thicker than water" - Andy Gibb | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1978)
Robin Gibb was considered the "chart geek" of the family, but Andy was also an avid chart watcher, following the progress of his second Hot 100 single... his jump in sales activity And then... he just bounced back and nothing's stopping him .
"I Think I Love You" - The Partridge Family | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1970)
David Cassidy and his stepmother Shirley Jones were the only cast members from the TV series to appear on the group's recordings, and Jones says, "I did very little... I literally did backing vocals for David. I never thought I'd have a gold record...it's hanging on my wall and I'm very proud of it."
"Roller Coaster of Love" - ​​Ohio Players | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for a week (1976)
After 15 years of struggle, the group reached #1 with "Fire" off their first Mercury album in 1975. The next LP,Mel,It produced one single, "Sweet Sticky Thing", which faltered at No. 33. It was the second single, "Love Rollercoaster", that brought the group back to the top.
"I want to dance with someone (who loves me)" - Whitney Houston | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1987)
George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam wrote How Will I Know for Houston. When asked to submit another song, they submitted "Waiting for a Star to Fall" and when the answer was no, they recorded it themselves as Boy Meets Girl. Encouraged to try again, it took them just two days to write I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me). This time, Clive Davis said yes.
"Love Will Keep Us Together" - Captain and Tennille | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Four Weeks (1975)
Four months after hitting #1 on the Hot 100 with "Laughter in the Rain," Neil Sedaka was back at the top as a songwriter thanks to Captain and Tennille's cover of a song heard by A&M's Kip CohenSedaka’s BackAlbum.
"Roses Are Red (My Love)" - Bobby Vinton | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Four Weeks (1962)
A hitless Vinton was about to be dropped by Epic when he found this song in a pile of rejections and asked for another try. He recorded it as an R&B song. "It was the worst thing he's ever heard in his life," he admits. The label agreed to a second session with a new arrangement, additional strings and a backing vocalist, and the result was a #1 hit on the Hot 100.
"Crazy in Love", Beyonce with Jay-Z | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for eight weeks (2003)
The first single from Beyoncé's first post-Destiny's Child album (dangerous in love) became the first number 1 of his solo career. "I asked Jay to come up with the song the night before my album shipped," Beyoncé told Billboard. "Thank God he did it. It never gets old no matter how many times I sing it."
"I Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for seven weeks (2010)
The combination of Eminem's rapping and Rihanna's singing about an abusive relationship that both artists have personally experienced, albeit from different perspectives, was powerful enough to send the song to No. 1 on the Hot 100 for seven weeks in the summer of 2010. 12x platinum, it is the best-selling song by both artists.
"To the Lord with love" - ​​Lulu | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Five Weeks (1967)
Lulu hated the producers' music for the film.To the Lord, with loveThey considered the soundtrack. He asked his friend Mark London to write a song for him to sing. He composed the music in five minutes and the next day Don Black wrote the lyrics. "I was overjoyed," says Lulu.
"Vision of Love" - ​​Mariah Carey | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for four weeks (1990)
Immediately after signing with Columbia, Carey wrote her first single with Ben Margulies. He described the composition not so much as a love song, but as a celebration of his life at the time.
"It must have been love" - ​​Roxette | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (1990)
Originally recorded in Sweden in 1987 as a Christmas carol, this track was reworked by Per Gessle when asked to update it for thePretty WomanSoundtrack. "I heard the director really loved the music," says Gessle. "I also heard that he re-edited the film to include it there."
(Video) Most Old Beautiful Love Songs Of The 70s 80s 90s Ever | Best Romantic Songs Of All Time“Love Takes Time” – Mariah Carey | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1990)
Their first album was just being mastered when Carey played a demo of the song to label president Don Ienner on board a plane. Carey was told the song was a "career builder" and despite her protests, the press stopped and the song was added to her debut release.
"Love Yourself" - Justin Bieber | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for two weeks (2016)
Ed Sheeran wrote "Love Yourself" for himself and intended to include it on his album.To share. But then he gave it to Justin Bieber, who wrote a little more about the song, which spent two weeks at the top of the Hot 100 in early 2016 and became Billboard's No. 1 song of the year.
"Woman in Love" - ​​​​Barbra Streisand | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1980)
Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song for Streisand, but the former told Billboard that he gives the artist the greatest credit. "At least 80 percent of the record's success belongs to her."
“Someone You Love” – Lewis Capaldi | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (2019)
Although Scottish-born Lewis Capaldi made his native UK debut in 2017, he was unknown in the US when his single Someone You Loved was released. The piano ballad proved to be a huge hit, peaking at number one on the Hot 100 in its 24th week. The song, which Capaldi wrote about his late grandmother, reigned for three non-consecutive weeks in November 2019.
"Love is blue" - Paul Mauriat | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Five Weeks (1968)
Five years after co-writing Peggy March's #1 hit "I Will Follow Him," Mauriat returned to the top of the Hot 100 with an instrumental version of "L'Amor Est Bleu," Luxembourg's 1967 Eurovision Song Contest entry. Vicki Leandros performed the song which placed fourth at the annual music festival.
"To know him is to love him" - The Bears | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1958)
Phil Spector was inspired to write the song by a photo of his father's gravestone in Beth David Cemetery in New York City. The inscription read: "To know him was to love him."
"The crazy little thing called love" - ​​Queen | Hot 100: No. 1 for four weeks (1980)
Freddie Mercury wrote the song while languishing in his bathroom at the Munich Hilton. He jumped out of the bathtub and ran to the guitar and piano to play the song. Her label was reluctant to release the song in the US, but radio stations played the UK import single anyway and forced its US release.
"Because you loved me" - Celine Dion | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for six weeks (1996)
after seeing the movieat close range, Diane Warren met with director Jon Avnet to discuss her vision for the music she would compose for her film. In his office the next morning, he recalls: "The chorus was written only lyrically and musically."
"My Love" - ​​​​Paul McCartney and Wings | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Four Weeks (1973)
McCartney wrote "My Love" about one of the members of his post-Beatles band Wings. The inspiration for the sentimental ballad was Linda Louise Eastman, born in Scarsdale, New York, who was a professional photographer before marrying McCartney on March 12, 1969.
"Bleeding Love" - ​​Leona Lewis | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for four weeks (2008)
Ryan Tedder and Jesse McCartney wrote the song, inspired by his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend. McCartney wanted the song for himself, but his record company didn't like it, so it went to the Season 3 winnerThe x factorNot UK.
"I Can't Stop Loving You" - Ray Charles | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Five Weeks (1962)
In 1958, on a hot afternoon in Knoxville, Tennessee, Don Gibson wrote two songs: "Oh Lonesome Me" and "I Can't Stop Loving You". Four years later, Charles only needed to hear the first two lines of the latter before deciding to include it on his album.Modern sounds in country and western music.
(Video) Best Romantic Songs : Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Charlie Puth, Katy Perry"The Best of My Love" - ​​Emotions | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Five Weeks (1977)
When the Stax record label closed, the three Hutchinson sisters had to find a new home. They were signed to a production company run by Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White. With group member Al McKay, White wrote this song especially for her and provided vocals by Wanda Hutchinson.
"I love rock 'n' roll" - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts | Hot 100 Peak: #1 for seven weeks (1982)
Joan Jett tried to convince her '70s band The Runaways to record a cover of The Arrows' "I Love Rock n' Roll," but they didn't like it. He recorded a B-side version of a Dutch single (a new version of Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me"), but it was his version with backing band The Blackhearts that ruled the Hot 100 for seven weeks in 1982.
"Because I Love You (The Postman's Song)" - Stevie B | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for four weeks (1990)
Songwriter Warren Allen Brooks says his #1 hit was a "spiritual song," though people think he wrote about love between a man and a woman. "It's really about me and God having a personal relationship."
"Let me love you" - Mario | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for nine weeks (2005)
Mario didn't think this song would get so big. "I didn't know it would touch so many people," he says. "But it was emotional music and these records last forever."
"I will always love you" - Whitney Houston | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for 14 weeks (1992)
Whitney Houston Signature-Song: A No.The bodyguard- was originally a #1 hit for the woman who wrote the song, Dolly Parton. His version topped the Hot Country Songs chart in 1974 and again in 1982.
"Silly Love Songs" - Grand Piano | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for five weeks (1976)
1976 was a very good year for love songs topping the Hot 100. First it was "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players, followed by "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon, "Love Machine" by Miracles, "Let Your Love Flow", Diana Ross' "Love Hangover" and the am longest-running #1 "Love", "Silly Love Songs" by Wings.
"We Found Love" - ​​Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris | Hot 100 Peak: #1 for 10 weeks (2011)
What could be more romantic than finding love in a "hopeless place"? Rihanna scored the biggest hit of her career (and the best "love" song of the 21st century) with only her fourth Hot 100 entry to include "love" in the title, after "If It's Lovin' That You Want." (2005), Hate That I Love You (2007) and her breakthrough role in Eminem's Love the Way You Lie (2010).
"How deep is your love", Bee Gees | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for three weeks (1977)
Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb had not seen the script for the film that was madeSaturday Night Feverwhen they wrote "How Deep Is Your Love" for the soundtrack. They weren't even sure if there was a love scene in the film. They wanted the song to go to Yvonne Elliman, but their manager, Robert Stigwood, insisted they record it themselves.
"I'm Gonna Love You" - Boyz II Men | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for 14 weeks (1994)
When the members of Boyz II Men first heard Babyface's composition "I'll Make Love to You", they were concerned about recording a song too similar to their previous hit "End of the Road". Nathan Morris explains: "The record company convinced us and thank God it worked."
"Endless Love" Diana Ross and Lionel Richie | Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 for Nine Weeks (1981)
Producer Jon Peters and director Franco Zeffirelli asked Lionel Richie to compose an instrumental piece based on the themelove storyfor the movieendless Lovewith Brooke Shields. When Zeffirelli changed his mind and asked Richie if he would add lyrics, the Motown star agreed to write some. Zeffirelli then made another request: Add a singer, someone like Diana Ross.