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The 20 Best Billie Eilish Songs, Ranked
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Vote up the strongest, most listenable songs with Eilish as the lead artist (no songs on which she's only featured).
The best Billie Eilish songs have worked their way into the pop culture lexicon over the past few years. Just 13 years old when she released her first single, Eilish achieved tremendous success at a young age with several singles and EPs before releasing her first full-length album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? in 2019.
While old Billie Eilish songs like “Ocean Eyes” demonstrate her talent, each new Billie Eilish song is further proof of just how much she has captured the cultural zeitgeist. The success of Billie Eilish singles like "Bury a Friend" paved the way for the platinum-level success of "Bad Guy."
All Billie Eilish songs make listeners stand up and take notice, but which are the best? Check out the tracks on this Billie Eilish songs list and vote up the ones you want to hear over and over.
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116 VOTESBellyache
Embracing her macabre side in all the best ways, Billie Eilish's “Bellyache” infuses influences from hip hop, house, alternative, and pop to create a story-song about a teenage psychopath who has dismembered her besties and dumped their bodies in the back of her car. Except for her former partner, who is now in the gutter. A song that changes tempo to fit with the character's mood-swinging mindset, “Bellyache” uses its high-spirited beat to elevate the gruesome lyrics to the point of parody, becoming a tongue-in-cheek fun dance tune that is perfect for any angry moment, inside the club or otherwise.
Eilish explains that the song is about a psycho, but it is also about guilt, though it is fleeting.
'Bellyache' is about the concept of guilt, when you do things in the moment because you feel so strongly about them. In the end you're left with the decision you made. That line 'I thought that I'd feel better, but now I gotta bellyache' is about how you kinda know that you're the worst but you don't care. It's about a psychopath who regrets being a psychopath but doesn't really care.
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253 VOTESBury a Friend
This is the song that plays in the background of a person's subconscious when they make the decision to become the villain instead of a main character.
This incredibly dark and infectious synth-pop tune takes the perspective of the boogeyman, the beast that hides in the closet or the monster under the bed. Using layered vocals to create an unearthly effect to match the sinister vibe, Billie Eilish's “Bury a Friend” is a monsterpiece of a song with a video to match, featuring hellish imagery that would make an Fangoria fan happy.
According to the singer, the song and video were inspired by her nightmares.
I have these terrifying dreams…Sleep paralysis, night terrors. It’s like the whole night is terrifying and then I wake up.
I probably wouldn’t have made that song the way it is if I hadn’t had sleep paralysis and nightmares…
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356 VOTESWhat Was I Made For?
The Oscar-winning ballad from Barbie is played during a pivotal scene in which the titular doll meets her maker (Rhea Perlman) and her creator bestows her with the gift of humanity. A beautiful, haunting melody with lyrics that explores questions regarding identity and belonging, Barbie director Greta Gerwig tapped Billie Eilish to create the tune for the film. The songstress told Allure magazine that the prompt was all she and brother/collaborator Finneas O’Connell needed to unleash the song:
It was as if this song was a tiny creature inside of me for years, scratching the inside of me. As soon as we got that prompt, the creature was like, ‘Okay, I’m out'… We wrote it in a period of time where we couldn’t have been less inspired and less creative. That day we were making stuff, and were like, ‘We’ve lost it. Why are we even doing this?’ And then those first chords happened and ‘I used to float / now I just fall down’ came out and the song wrote itself.
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420 VOTESXanny
Using distorted vocals and oscillating tempos that turn into a jazz-influenced ballad mid song, “Xanny” (slang for Xanax) is Billie Eilish's anti-drug anthem about being the only sober person in a crowd of smokers, drug abusers, and people who self medicate. In the song, Eilish uses a melancholy tune to lament how she is losing her friends to substances, and how solitary the sober lifestyle can be, even when out at in a club setting. But as the song continues, the beat picks up as Eilish makes it clear where she stands on the subject and how she feels about drug use.
In an interview with the Guardian, Eilish talked about the song:
I have never done drugs, I’ve never got high, I’ve never smoked anything in my life. I don’t give a f*ck, I never have. It’s just not interesting to me…
[It's] less ‘don’t do drugs’; it’s more ‘be safe’…I don’t want my friends to die any more.
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520 VOTESI Love You
“I Love You” is a slow melodic tune that hypnotizes the listener as the hook evolves into a growing crescendo and a resounding chorus of “I Love You.” It's a guitar-based love song about a person who is trying to resist her feelings, but is overwhelmed by the strength and desire of her adoration. Written by Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell, the song's spotlight on a complicated relationship is highlighted by the slow, purposeful measure of the song, which allows each lyric to stand out so the listener can fully appreciate the song's bittersweet meaning.
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651 VOTESHappier Than Ever
Beginning as a downtempo pop song with alternative influences that culminates into an full-fledged rock anthem about a one-sided relationship, Billie Eilish dubbed her Grammy-nominated song “Happier Than Ever” as the ”most therapeutic song" she had ever written. Starting off with a slow melody, the song gradually builds as the singer finds her strength to express how happy she is outside of her toxic relationship. With the addition of a full studio band midsong, the ballad is transformed into a battle cry for any person in a terrible relationship looking for the inner strength to escape.
Eilish commented how recording the song was restorative to her soul.
I just screamed my lungs out and could barely talk afterwards which was very satisfying to me... I had wanted to get those screams out for a very long time.
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751 VOTESWhen the Party's Over
The emotional tune was written for Billie Eilish by her collaborator/brother Finneas O’Connell about the end of one of his relationships. Apparently, the haunting song had a big impact on Eilish when she first heard it:
I remember hearing it from the other room or something and, like, he was like, ‘Billie come here I just wrote this f*cking crazy song’. I feel like the melodies in that song get you, you know what I’m saying.
The dark video, in which Eilish is overflowing with a thick, black secretion escaping through her eyes, was inspired by a fan drawing.
I remember standing there, looking at this drawing of me, and my eyes were black and there was black ink dripping from my eyes, and I just stared at it and I feel like I got star-struck by this image, this drawing of me.
The piano ballad hammers home the sorrowful emotions, but the lyrics tell another story. While the minimal style of the song evokes strong emotions like a cry for help, “When the Party's Over” is more of a melancholy remembrance of an inconsequential relationship that didn't work out.
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853 VOTESNo Time To Die
The Oscar-winning theme song for the James Bond film of the same name was written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell specifically to work with the plot of the movie while carrying the mood of the film.
So for the songwriting process, the duo had to change how they usually write songs, as O'Connell explained to Variety:
Billie and I often write lyrics and melody at the same time; sometimes we write lyrics before we write melody. But in this song’s case, we wrote all of the melody before we wrote the lyrics, just because I had this feeling that the lyrics could be perfect, but if the melody isn’t also perfect, then it’s not going to land.
Once we had written the song, we were invited to London by Hans (Zimmer, the score composer) and Barbara (Broccoli, the producer) to see the movie before we orchestrated the song. So that was when we learned how the film ended.
The end result was a moving tribute to Daniel Craig's final outing as Bond with a melodic ballad that was both reminiscent of previous Bond songs and contemporary thanks to Eilish and O'Connell's small touches.
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956 VOTESEverything I Wanted
“Everything I Wanted" is an emotionally-charged song that reaches its audience through its low tempo tune and emotive lyrics that speak about the need to have someone to depend upon. The song is Billie Eilish’s tribute to her brother and collaborator Finneas O'Connell that started as a scary dream she had. In an interview, the singer-songwriter talked about the song and it's meaning:
We started writing it because I literally had a dream that I k*lled myself and nobody cared, and all of my best friends and people that I worked with basically came out in public and said, like, ‘Oh, we never liked her.’ In the dream, the fans didn’t care…
My brother is my best friend, and I have these dreams and these things happen, and no matter what happens, he’s gonna always be there for me, and it’s the same the other way around.
In the song, Eilish talks about how her brother is always there for her, and she sees him as her protector.
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1025 VOTESMy Strange Addiction
This is Billie Eilish's love letter to her favorite show of all time, The Office. Featuring sound bites from the episode "Threat Level Midnight" and hero Agent Michael Scarn, the bouncy tune is one of the only bright spots in the dark, moody album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Upbeat and hilarious for her use of Office quotes and characters, the song perfectly encompasses Gen-Z's habit of bingeing classic shows for comfort, only in this case, the show became the focus of a jaunty little jingle.
The lyrics describe a person in a relationship that might not necessarily be the best for their mental health. While the listener might assume it is another person, Eilish points out that it is about her real addiction.
You know, the song is called ‘My Strange Addiction,’ and it’s about having somebody be your addiction and feeling like you’re suffocating because you want somebody so bad that it’s like a sickness… and, for real, it’s just mainly because my strange addiction is The Office.
How addicted is Eillish to The Office? She used the theme song to open her shows while on tour.
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1118 VOTESTherefore I Am
A trippy, happy-go-lucky electropop beat over mischievous, slightly malevolent lyrics color Billie Eilish's “Therefore I Am” as the perfect song for plotting revenge against your numerous enemies. Distorting Eilish's vocals over a playful beat, the song's catchy hook will have fans singing it long after their iPhone skipped to the next tune. The video for the chart topper is just as fun, featuring Eilish as she runs rampant through a deserted Glendale Galleria mall, living her best life as she snags all the sweet pretzels and glazed donuts for herself.
Critics, fans, and publications believe that the reference to philosopher René Descartes in the title, the music video itself, and the lyrics in the song are meant to call out body shamers who put the singer through the ringer with their snide comments, but Eilish insists the lyrics have multiple meanings.
You know this song is very, very up for interpretation. I’m very curious to see what people get from it and also what they feel when they hear it. I don’t know. But yeah, it’s a little mean. I love it.
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1214 VOTESMy Future
A song about self-empowerment and hope, “My Future” was considered a different direction for the songstress, who is mostly known for her melancholy ballads. Contemplative and optimistic in its lyrics, the song has more the vibe of ‘40s crooners than contemporary artists, but was the perfect note for a post-pandemic audience, who perhaps needed a cheerier message in darker times.
“’Cause I’m in love with my future, can’t wait to meet her,” sings the young superstar, inspiring fans to join her mindset and reminding them that everyone needs hope.
In an interview with Apple, Eilish explained:
Our future as a world and as a people… it’s crazy when you can get to a point in life where hope itself feels hopeless.
It feels hopeless to hope for stuff. Should you even be wishing? Should you even be hopeful? It’s like, is it even worth it? That’s insane, but that’s where we are at this point. We need the music. We need the hope.
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1330 VOTESOcean Eyes
The song that put Billie Eilish on the map, the superstar was only 13 when her brother Finneas O'Connell uploaded his sister singing this track onto Soundcloud, turning her into a viral sensation. Originally, the song was written for the pair's dance teacher.
We had a teacher named Fred… and he's amazing. And he knew that me and Finneas made music… He asked us to make a song just to choreograph a dance to, so we could do it for the end-of-year recital.
That dance studio really kind of deserves all the credit for the beginning of this career journey, so we love them a lot.
The siblings uploaded the song so Fred can have access to it, but the track was too good to be contained and went viral.
A beautiful haunting melody paired with child-like lyrics about an idealistic version of love ("You really know how to make me cry / When you gimme those ocean eyes."), the song propelled the singer into the stratosphere.
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1473 VOTESBad Guy
A highly-addictive earworm best known for Billie Eilish's “Duh” lyric, which helped cement it as a top-tier musical moment of 2019, “Bad Guy” became the go-to song for epic entrances of wannabe villains on screens of all sizes.
But despite how it used on screen, Eilish has explained that the tune pokes gentle fun at the type of people who try to project a specific image in the world and feel the need to reinforce it with every interview they give.
I think the actual idea for this song was people that have to tell everybody that they are a certain way all the time, they’re not that certain way… It’s basically just making fun of everyone and their personas of themselves, and even mine.
The hit single was also a huge hit in the Eilish homestead, as Billie and Finneas's dad declared the song “awesome” the first time he heard it. Finneas would go on to state:
I mean, if you make your 61-year-old dad dance around the room, it's quite a validation.
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1540 VOTESAll The Good Girls Go To Hell
According to songwriter Finneas O'Connell, the song is about climate change, God and the Devil, and how humans made a mess out of the planet.
We thought it would be fun to write a song from the perspective of the devil, or God, as if they were kind of shaking their head and looking down at humans f*cking up Earth. Like, the pre-chorus is, 'Hills burn in California / Don't say I didn't warn ya / It's our turn to ignore ya.' Just sort of the consequences of long-standing obliviousness to your actions... It's sort of looking at humanity like this screw-up, being like, 'Wow, you guys really messed up the planet with this one.'
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168 VOTESMy Boy
A minimalist pop song that makes the most out of Billie Eilish's vocals with just a hi-hat and a keyboard, “My Boy” is brimming with low key dance grooves and Eilish's trademark snark as she describes a lover who is less than perfect. A melodramatic liar who tries to boss her around, at one point during the song, the diva tells the young lad, “Alright dude, go trip over a knife.” The spirited nature of the song and the energetic beat brings comedy to the tune, which ends with the singer showing herself out of the relationship.
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178 VOTESCome Out and Play
A lullaby-like ballad that feels like a hug, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell wrote the sweet serenade as a holiday song for Apple as part of a holiday campaign called “Share Your Gifts." Slow and deliberate, the ditty makes full use of Eilish's angelic vocals to create a Yuletide tune about empowerment and overcoming fears. In the song, Eilish is pleading with an unnamed friend to come out of hiding and join in the festivities.
I know it makes you nervous / But I promise you, it's worth it.
To show 'em everything you kept inside / Don't hide, don't hide.
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1832 VOTESYou Should See Me In A Crown
A dark dancefloor destroyer with a trap beat, this Billie Eilish evil electropop tune was inspired by an episode of Sherlock in which villain Moriarty sassily remarks, ""Honey, you should see me in a crown." Written from the point of view of Sherlock's greatest nemesis as he plots for world domination, the lyrics reflect a sinister schemer at work: “You should see me in a crown / I'm gonna run this nothing town, Watch me make 'em bow / One by one by one.”
Eilish admits that her ultimate goal for the song was to freak out her fans.
I just want it to sound like, if you heard it in a dark room, it’d be f*cking scary. So terrifying… but that’s the goal, is to freak everybody out. My songs have in the past just been sad, and more sad and some more sad and so to write a song that’s kind of almost empowering, that was not even something I ever thought of doing or wanted to do, even.
Ominous yet spritely, the song's morose lyrics play with the harsh beats to create a wicked dance tune. To complete the full evil-vibes feeling of the track, the opening sound on the single is a sound bite of Eilish's father sharpening knives.
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1942 VOTESB*tches Broken Hearts
This beautifully chill R&B jam is the story of a relationship gone sour, but the singer knows her ex still cares about her and hides his true feelings. He might pretend he doesn't care, but all he can do is talk about her. Exiting a toxic relationship, the narrator seems to take great joy in her ex-partner's misery. Subdued in its song structure, Eilish's vocals and pitch raises above the melody to tell the bittersweet story of a broken relationship to both the listener, as well as the one that got away, informing the ex-lover that they are not fooling anyone.
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2015 VOTESWish You Were Gay
In an Instagram story, Billie Eilish explained to her fans the real-life events that inspired the catchy track.
I wrote this song about a guy that really was not interested in me and it made me feel horrible so the song is called ‘I Wish You Were Gay.’
…That's so not meant to be offensive in any way. It literally means I wish he was gay so that he didn't like me for an actual reason.
This is backed up in the song's lyrics, which state:
To spare my pride / To give your lack of interest an explanation
I’m not your type / Maybe I’m not your preferred gender orientation.
