The 20 best Rihanna songs ever, definitively ranked (from 'We Found Love' to 'Umbrella')
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What does Rihanna plan on singing at the 2023 Super Bowl?
That's the question with Rihanna set to take the world's biggest stage as the star of Sunday's halftime show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
She may not be The Only Pop Star (In the World), but it could be argued that she’s had as big an impact on pop radio this century as any artist in the running, having topped the Billboard Hot 100 14 times with hits ranging from “SOS” to “Work," at which point she became the youngest artist in chart history to land that many songs at No. 1.
We haven't heard much from Rihanna lately, but that's all about to change after the first half of the big game.
And that makes this as good a time as any for a countdown of her greatest singles – not the biggest but the best songs that have made her such a huge pop icon.
20. 'Rehab' (2008)
Justin Timberlake wrote this double-platinum hit with his producers and supplies guest vocals. But Rihanna’s wounded vocal holds the spotlight on this melancholy ballad, comparing her feelings for a lover to addiction. When they first meet, she’s never felt something so strong. When he leaves, she feels empty and hollow. “It's like you were my favorite drug,” she sings. “The only problem is that you was using me in a different way that I was using you / But now that I know it’s not meant to be / You gotta go, I gotta wean myself off of you.” The production is a richly textured gem, making excellent use of acoustic guitar and gloomy strings. The only downside? Timberlake’s guest vocal, which adds nothing and is way too prominently featured in the mix.
19. 'Where Have You Been' (2012)
It opens on a sly interpolation of the Geoff Mack country standard "I've Been Everywhere," a song that truly has been everywhere, to the extent that when a version done by Johnny Cash in 1996 resurfaced in a U.S. Postal Service ad last year, a lot of listeners may have been surprised to hear him "covering" Rihanna. Not that anything about this track feels even slightly country. It's a dancefloor-packing banger with a thumping house beat and an urgent vocal from RiRi, who's been everywhere, man, looking for someone. It topped the Billboard dance charts and won best dance performance (deservedly so) at the Soul Train Awards.
18. 'Needed Me' (2016)
This anti-romantic anthem is one of the edgier moments on her latest album, musically and lyrically. The production is dark and futuristic, slinking along at an ominous crawl as Rihanna brushes off a lover with an attitude that would destroy most men on the receiving end. “I was good on my own,” she begins. “That’s the way it was / You was good on the low for a faded (expletive) / on some faded love.” She doesn’t need his white horse or his carriage. She got what she wanted, and now it’s time for him to get his own damn cab ride home.
17. 'Don't Stop the Music' (2007)
Michael Jackson earned a writing credit for the sampling of "Mama-say, mama-sa, ma-ma-koosa," a hook the Gloved One borrowed from Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” to put the thrill in the "Thriller" hit "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." But it's more about the near-euphoric throbbing of that club beat as Rihanna effortlessly lives up to the disco-friendly promise of that title, pleading "Please don't stop the music" on the chorus of an ode to finding new love on the dancefloor as contagious as Madonna in her prime. It topped the dance charts for obvious reasons and became a massive global smash.
16. 'Diamonds' (2012)
A brooding ballad driven by a nagging dance beat, RiRi's 12th chart-topping entry on the Billboard Hot 100 was written by Sia in collaboration with the song's producers, Benny Blanco and Stargate. You may tempted, in fact, to believe that's actually Sia repeating "Shine bright like a diamond" but that's just Rihanna doing all she can to channel what she liked about the character in Sia's vocal on the demo. The rest of the vocal is pure Rihanna, impassioned and soulful and fully committed to making the audience want to see themselves in the single's empowering lyrics.
15. 'Bitch Better Have My Money' (2015)
This platinum single peaked at No. 15, which is higher than most murder ballads were charting in 2015. It’s on the darker side of the Rihanna spectrum and yet she sounds completely natural delivering threats with the off-handed shrug of a professional. Is it dark and disturbing? Yes. But that’s what makes it work, work, work, work, work, work. The production is suitably creepy. And that definitely adds to the appeal. But the casual swagger of Rihanna’s vocal is what ultimately seals the deal here.
14. 'FourFiveSeconds' (2015)
You may have seen the power trio of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney do this on the Grammys. And by power trio, I mean a trio of powerful figures, including an actual Beatle (still bigger than Yeezus). McCartney's contributions here are kept to strumming an acoustic guitar and possibly contributing some harmony. The lead vocals are shared by Rihanna, who brings soulful grit to the proceeding after starting the song with an endearing squeak, and West, who brings requisite swagger to slang-heavy lyrics that are, frankly, on the hit-or-miss side. 'Hold me back, I'm 'bout to spaz?!' The good news is the hook is undeniable enough to make the weaker lines worthwhile.
13. 'Take a Bow' (2008)
It could be argued that this single is Rihanna at her schmaltziest. And you would win that argument. But here’s the thing. The vocal plays to all her soulful strengths. And the lyrics are occasionally kind of funny, which offsets the schmaltz. Take the opening verse: “You look so dumb right now / Standing outside my house.” And the second verse is genius: “Grab your clothes and get gone / You better hurry up / Before the sprinklers come on.” This song became her third chart-topping entry on the Hot 100, going on to be certified quadruple-platinum.
12. 'Stay' (2013)
This ballad stalled at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100, but that didn’t stop it from finishing 13th on the year-end Hot 100. It starts as a piano ballad with an aching vocal from Rihanna and never kicks in like you half-expect it to the first time through, not even after Mikky Ekko makes his entrance. The best part is the two voices coming together on “Funny you’re the broken one but I’m the only one who needed saving / ’Cause when you never see the light it’s hard to know which one of us is caving.”
11. 'SOS' (2006)
Her first chart-topping entry on the Billboard Hot 100 samples Soft Cell’s New Wave reinvention of the old Ed Cobb song “Tainted Love” to glorious effect. She even paraphrases a few of the lyrics, pouting “You got me tossin’ and turnin’ / Can’t sleep at night.” The first single released from “A Girl Like Me,” the singer’s second album, it spent three weeks at No. 1 on its way to going double-platinum. The New Wave vibe is undeniable, and yet it topped the dance charts. In 2006.
10. 'Disturbia' (2008)
It's kind of weird that this would be the follow-up to the piano-driven lite-soul balladry of “Take a Bow.” But this song fits her outfits better with its throbbing club beat and electronic handclaps while her voice is filtered through some of the quirkiest Auto-Tune sorcery since Cher asked us whether or not we believe in a life after love for an overall effect that effortlessly picks up on the New Wave vibe of "SOS." Best line: "bum bum de-dum bum bum de-dum bum."
9. 'Kiss It Better' (2016)
There are obvious echoes of Prince’s glory days informing nearly every aspect of this soulful slow jam, from the tone on that guitar lick that opens the record to the vocal blend on the “What are you willing to do?” part. It’s a moody track, with Rihanna convincing her ex to “kiss it better,” brushing off the complications with “Who cares when it feels like crack?” and overruling his objections with “Man, (expletive) yo pride / Just take it on back, boy, take it on back.” This "Anti" single didn't do much on the pop charts but it should have.
8. 'Rude Boy' (2010)
Is this a song about Rihanna having fallen for a ska fan? Or is there some other kind of rude boy? There is a certain dancehall vibe at work here, but I'm pretty sure she means a less specific kind of rude boy, one who might respond well to her sexual advances, which range from taunts of "Is you big enough?" to promises of "I'm-a let you be the captain." Christina Aguilera may have dressed more like a dominatrix in 2010, but no one asserted her sexual dominance with more success than Rihanna on this track, the 16th-biggest single on the year-end Hot 100.
7. 'Work' (2016)
A moody dancehall-flavored ballad with a minimalist approach to constructing a groove, making excellent use of empty space, this global smash features Drake as the sensitive lothario he plays so well. “If you had a twin, I would still choose you,” he tells her. “I don’t wanna rush into it, if it’s too soon / But I know you know you need to get done, done, done, done.” And by done, he means exactly what you think he means. The emotional investment here is all Rihanna, and she nails it.
6. 'Pon de Replay' (2005)
This dancehall pop hit was Rihanna’s first single, and that beat, a thumping precursor to “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” is undeniable. So is the chorus hook, in which Rihanna pleads with Mr. DJ, “Won’t you turn the music up?” The title is apparently Bajan Creole for “play it again.” The single peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100, going double platinum.
5. 'Only Girl (In the World)' (2010)
This synth-driven Europop club banger was named best dance recording at the Grammys for a reason. By the time that thumping dance beat kicks in on the chorus hook, if you’re not dancing, that just means you don’t like dancing. A six-times-platinum smash, it topped the Hot 100 and the Billboard dance charts. And that hard-hitting dance beat is topped by an impassioned vocal, Rihanna demanding, “Want you to make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world / Like I’m the only one that you’ll ever love / Like I’m the only one who knows your heart.”
4. 'Umbrella' (2007)
For romance in the club, you'd be hard pressed to top "Umbrella," a promise to be there on a rainy day with her trusty umbrella to make it all better for you. In one of the catchier choruses to top the charts this century, she tells him, "When the sun shines, we'll shine together / Told you I'll be here forever / Said I'll always be a friend / Took an oath I'm-a stick it out till the end / Now that it's raining more than ever, know that we'll still have each other / You can stand under my umbrella." After filling the summer with thoughts of downpours, it finished second on the year-end Hot 100, right behind Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable."
3. 'We Found Love' (2011)
Rihanna sounds good in the club. This nine-times-platinum electro triumph is her biggest-selling single ever, spending 10 weeks in the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It was written and produced by Calvin Harris, who pushes the beat here with an urgency that’s less aggressive than what the producers behind “Only Girl (In the World)" would have done. That ascending synth coming out of the opening chorus is a stroke of genius, “A Day in the Life” for the dance floor. And Rihanna’s vocal is flawless, from the time she makes her entrance, her dreamy delivery juxtaposed against a driving synth hook, to her wistful phrasing on “The way I’m feeling I just can’t deny but I’ve gotta let it go.”
2. 'S&M' (2011)
Some people found this shocking. What's shocking is how long it took Rihanna to realize that she hadn't done a song called "S&M" yet. Is it kinky by the numbers? Sure. She seemingly couldn't come up with a line more quintessentially Rihanna than "I may be bad but I'm perfectly good at it." But then she turned around and followed through with "Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me." A remix starring Britney Spears spent one extremely kinky week at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.
1. 'Love on the Brain' (2016)
This soulful throwback to the sort of ballad Otis Redding might have done, complete with Hammond B3 organ and doo-wop-flavored backing vocals, somehow topped the Billboard dance charts on its way to going six times platinum. It doesn’t feel like the sort of song that would become Rihanna's 22nd top five entry on the Billboard Hot 100. But it does feel timeless. And timeless may even be better than topping the charts with a song that feels completely of the moment. Her delivery could not feel more wounded and it really shows you what she has to offer as a vocalist.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rihanna's 20 best songs ranked ahead of Super Bowl 57 halftime show
