Lady Gaga is one of the unique music artists we’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. Everything about her, from her music to her wardrobe, is inspiring and different. She also happens to be one of the best-selling artists of all time and one of the biggest names in the music industry today.
In this article, we’ll go over 35 of Gaga’s best songs of all time.
1. Bad Romance
It’s hard to put any song at the top of this list that isn’t Bad Romance. The song originally came out in 2009 and defined the 2000s pop music scene. It discusses a relationship gone wrong, but it’s about dealing with the dark side of ourselves and others.
Bad Romance was successful in commercial markets, selling over 12 million copies worldwide and becoming one of the best-selling singles in history. It was an international hit, topping charts in numerous countries but failing to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 because Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind and Kesha’s TikTok occupied that spot. It sat at number two for seven consecutive weeks.
2. Born This Way
Born This Way is one of the best and most uplifting LGBTQIA+ anthems of all time, and when Gaga penned the song, she was setting out to change the world. She’s not asking you to believe in yourself.
Instead, she’s telling you that she believes in you. It easily stands as one of her most impactful singles and is full of all the uniqueness and acceptance that Gaga has become known for over the years.
Another international chart-topper for Gaga, it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold over eight million copies worldwide.
3. Shallow
Shallow is a duet between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga meant for the movie A Star Is Born, but it still ranks as one of her absolute best songs. It’s genuinely beautiful listening to two cynics serenade each other, asking if they are honestly content with how things are or if a change is necessary.
Despite being part of a film score, it was a radio release that found massive commercial success, topping the Hot 100, the Rolling Stone Top 100, and the Dance Club Songs chart.
4. Poker Face
After Lady gaga’s debut single found major success, she just had to do something even better to try to top it. That ended up getting us all Poker Face, which was only Lady Gaga’s second single to release from her debut album
. It sees her fantasizing about women while she’s still with an ex-boyfriend, full of innuendos and one of her most playful songs. Poker Face sold over 14 million copies worldwide, eventually topping the Billboard Hot 100 and numerous charts internationally.
5. The Edge of Glory
Lady Gaga had meant to leave a strong legacy and impression since the beginning of her career, even before she became one of the biggest artists in history. The Edge of Glory was inspired by the passing of her grandfather and told listeners to live without fear of death or the unknown. The song reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and held the same position on the Mainstream Top 40 for quite a while.
6. Paparazzi
Lady Gaga has always mixed some horror elements in her music and music videos. Paparazzi doesn’t break conventions with its theme, it’s common for artists to discuss fame, but it takes a different approach.
A horror-filled pleasure ride is the best way to describe it, simultaneously sounding seductive and dangerous. The final single on her debut album, Paparazzi reached number six on the Hot 100 and topped both the Mainstream Top 40 and Dance Club charts.
7. Alejandro
The popularity of Alejandro grew the longer the song was out. It wasn’t received with aplomb immediately, but it was one of those songs that grew on people. The initial reception was lackluster since it drew on songs from ABBA and Ace of Base too heavily for some people’s liking, but that didn’t stop it from reaching the top of the charts in seven different countries.
At home in the US, Alejandro peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and would eventually be certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.
8. Judas
Judas was another Gaga song that got brushed off when it was released. This time it was seen as her trying to revamp Bad Romance to capture some of the same success that song had, but in reality, it’s more like a sequel than a remake.
It’s all about falling in love with a backstabbing guy and is of course inspired by the biblical Judas. The song eventually cracked the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was yet another one of her singles to top the Dance Club songs chart.
9. Speechless
Lady Gaga wrote Speechless to convince her father to undergo heart surgery and to remind her fans to make sure they appreciate their parents while they still have them around. It wasn’t her best song with critics, and it took on more elements from rock power ballads than you’d normally expect from her work, but it’s still an amazing song.
It was not one of her best commercial songs, but it was still certified gold in the US by the RIAA and is one of the most important and personal songs she has ever released.
10. Applause
Applause is one of the best examples of watching Lady Gaga transcend the music scene she’s a part of. I mean, who does a live award show performance for one song that goes through five different costumes?
It was a song meant to span her entire career and draw on every era of Gaga, so of course it drew comparisons to her debut album. In the end, Applause reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four, and was yet another international hit for the pop sensation that is Lady Gaga.
11. Just Dance
Just Dance served as the lead single for the artist’s debut album, and if you believe, the stories only took Gaga about 10 minutes to write in totality. It’s a simple, happy song about being drunk at the club and having a good time.
With over 4.3 million copies sold worldwide, it was one of the best-selling singles of all time. It catapulted Gaga to international fame as soon as her career began.
12. Million Reasons
Million Reasons is one of Gaga’s most underrated tracks, if we’re honest about it. It would become an international chart success, reaching the top 10 in several countries and climbing to number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
Million Reasons also earned a Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 60th Grammy Awards and was on Lady Gaga’s setlist for the Super Bowl LI Halftime Show.
13. Telephone feat. Beyonce
What do you get when you have two of the biggest and best-selling female artists in the world team up? You end up with something like Telephone, a Lady Gaga and Beyonce track that was all the rage when it was released.
In 2010 alone, it sold almost 7.5 million copies, the fourth-best mark in that year. Telephone earned Gaga and Beyonce a Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and won them an ASCAP Pop Music Award.
14. Marry the Night
The music video for Marry The Night is just as, if not more, memorable than the song itself, spanning a whopping 14 minutes of Gaga singing about the desire for success and the hardships she went through before finally making it.
15. Rain On Me
Rain On Me came to represent one of Gaga’s core messages as her career advanced, that forgiveness and being positive are more healing than raging against the things that cause you pain. Seeing Gaga and Ariana Grande team up was a treat and earned the pair a well-deserved week atop the Billboard Hot 100.
16. Dance in the Dark
Dance In The Dark is a moving song that tackles the feelings of insecurity many women have with their bodies, with many preferring to have sex in the dark. It isn’t ever meant as a song about the freedom to do it how you want, but more of a song that exists to assure women who deal with those feelings that they aren’t alone.
It wasn’t a massive chart-topper in the US, finding more success abroad and especially in France, but it still broke into the top 10 of the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart.
17. Hair
All of Gaga’s songs work well as dance club singles, but Hair was a bit more of a rocker than much of her previous work. It focused on the idea that a simple haircut can do wonders for your confidence and how you feel about your appearance. Your hair is also one of the best ways to express yourself. It would eventually ascend to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and 13 on the UK Singles chart.
18. ‘Til It Happens to You
‘Til It Happens To You is just vague enough to be a universal song for any loss in life and was initially written for the film score of The Hunting Ground. It did deal heavily with sexual assault and was eventually used in a public service announcement video. On its own, the song peaked at 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned numerous awards, wins, and nominations.
19. Love Game
Love Game had one of Gaga’s most iconic hooks looking back at it. The combination of sick beats and riding on disco sticks ended up on the tip of everyone’s tongue back when it was released in 2008. One of Gaga’s most explicitly sexual songs, the song eventually was certified triple Multi-Platinum and broke into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.
20. Always Remember Us This Way
Another track from the 2018 movie A Star Is Born, this song received nominations for song of the year at the Grammys. Need we say more?
21. I’ll Never Love Again
Yet another track from the aforementioned movie with Bradley Cooper and Gaga, this emotional and powerful climax track truly brings the film to a raw peak of drama. Watch the film and appreciate Gaga in this track.
22. You and I
You and I were one of the forgotten tracks from Gaga’s Born This Way album, which is unfortunate. It ended up topping the Dance Club Songs chart and just missing out on the top five of the Hot 100.
23. Stupid Love
This disco and electro-pop song might be enough to make you believe in love again. It was the lead single off Gaga’s Chromatica album in 2020 and was yet another international hit for her.
24. Monster
The monster in Monster was less a terrible beast and more the fact that Gaga always found herself in relationships with bad dudes. One of the cooler parts of the song is the zombie metaphors and references to her earlier songs. This is a really cool song about monsters and the figurative language surrounding it.
25. Perfect Illusion
Perfect Illusion served as Gaga’s commentary on image culture and social media. It can bring you to the highest high and the lowest low, but in the end, it’s all just for show.
26. Free Woman
Free Woman is one of Gaga’s most empowering songs and dives into her history of sexual assault while also celebrating her role in the LGBTQIA+ community. It’s all about reclaiming your own identity after dealing with traumatic events, and while it isn’t one of her most popular songs, it’s easily one of her best. It also did break into the top ten of the Dance Club Songs chart despite not making it onto the Hot 100.
27. Replay
I’ve said a few of Gaga’s songs are underrated, but Replay may be more underrated than anything else on the list. A major fan favorite from her Chromatica album, it wasn’t released as a single and wasn’t one of her big chart-topping hits, but it’s more than worth a listen if you’re unfamiliar.
28. Bloody Mary
So, putting Bloody Mary on this list is hard for me because a certain four-year-old went to sleep with it on repeat for two months straight, but it definitely is one of her best songs. One of the forgotten songs of her Born This Way album saw a chart resurgence in the 2020s as it gained fame for both becoming a TikTok trend and featuring in the Netflix series Wednesday.
29. Sine From Above
Sine From Above was a wonderful team-up of Lady Gaga and Elton John on her sixth studio album Chromatica. It was widely regarded as a standout song on the album and made it to number 14 on the Dance Club Songs chart.
30. Joanne
Joanne marked a big shift in Lady Gaga’s image, away from the rough imagery of her previous era and into something… pink. It focused on the death of her aunt and family relationships as a whole.
31. Hey Girl
A hit from Gaga’s Joanne album, Hey Girl, was the only collaboration on the album, seeing Gaga team up with Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. Despite only seeing one performance on the Joanne World Tour, it still became a fan favorite Gaga song.
32. Gypsy
This may be the only, or one of the only, entries to the list from Gaga’s third album Artpop. It was meant to be the most personal song on the album and an 80s-inspired anthem that describes her fans as the closest people to her.
33. John Wayne
John Wayne really shows the diversity in Lady Gaga’s music, incorporating country, funk, and disco into a rock-pop package. It may not seem like her style, but it talks about Gaga craving the touch of a blue-collar man, and it’s a bop.
34. 911
Critically, 911 was named one of, if not, the best song on Chromatica, and it’s easy to see why with how seamless the transition is between it and the instrumental before it. It’s a hard-hitting song about mental health and the medications used to treat it, making it an incredibly relatable take and one of her best singles.
35. So Happy I Could Die
So Happy I Could Die was the second release from Gaga’s The Fame Monster back in 2009 and describes the artist’s struggles with alcoholism, liberalism, and a few sexual themes. It was mainly met with positive reviews and was a significant feature on The Monster Ball Tour. In the US, it only charted on the Dance Club Songs chart, where it reached number 35, but it was a top-ten song in Hungary.
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As a contributing writer for Music Grotto, Dakotah writes and produces professional music/media content. He works closely with editorial staff to meet editorial standards and create
quality content for the Music Grotto website. Dakotah is passionate about music in a wide variety of genres, from hip-hop to country and lo-fi to metal, and he enjoys creating music pieces for Music Grotto.
