My second favourite of theirs would actually be "Promises".



I didn't even know of Dreams. The Cranberries didn't have their breakthrough here until "Zombie" and the only one (granted, there's two) of theirs before then that I know is "Linger".

Figured I'd do some honourable mentions before I hit the top 3. Just a whatever number of songs that made the initial list, but didn't end up making it to the final 50.

"Try" by Nelly Furtado



"Left Outside Alone" by Anastacia



"If" by Janet Jackson



"Give In To Me" by Michael Jackson



"Girl Crush" by Little Big Town

"Madness" by Muse



"Love On Top" by Beyonce



"Never Alone" by 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor



"Run" by Snow Patrol and also maybe Leona Lewis.




"You'll See" by Madonna

...that awkward moment where you realize that you accidentally removed a song off your list a while ago and never noticed until you were on your top three and went "Wait, where's that one?" It would have been top 5 too.

The Most Honourable of Mentions (and secret actual #4)

3b. "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles



Toot toot, all aboard the nostalgia train! If I go by my memory, I spent all of 1989 in the backseat of my parents' car singing along to this song. It's the first song I actually knew all the lyrics too, despite my native language not being English (granted, English cartoons helped me start learning when I was 4) and I could probably still grab a mike and sing this song without having the lyrics ready (or with anything remotely resembling talent). Maybe the song itself filled me with so many memories that they pushed the actual memory of this song out while I was working on posting my list.

I love Eternal Flame, I found Susanna Hoff to be hot in that video when I was younger

Well, that weekend was a complete haze.

There's already so many videos on this page, but here's more.

3. "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks



That guitar riff alone would qualify it for my top 15. The best song Destiny's Child's done completely hinges on it, but otherwise doesn't come anywhere near this Stevie Nicks classic. Everything just comes together so well on this song, with Nicks' legendary voice as its centrepiece. I remember this song being on one of the radio channels in one of the Grand Theft Auto games (4, I think?) and how I'd just cruise around whenever it came on. Like, hold up criminal activities, gotta groove to this Stevie Nicks jam.

Lol I totally forgot Bootylicious sampled that song.

Also, controversial opinion, but I kinda like Linday Lohan's cover more than Stevie Nicks.

Lohan's cover isn't bad, her voice just doesn't measure up to Nicks'.

2. "Silence" by Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan (Airscape remix)



This, to me, is the best trance song out there (though I'm sure Algren disagrees ). It was always an easy contender for my top 15 and ranked in the top 10 initially, until I actually listened to it again and I remembered just how much I freaking love this song. There's several different great versions of it too, but the remix by the Belgian duo Airscape is the one I'm most familiar with (a shortened version of that was released as a single). McLachlan's vocals and the music are just a perfect marriage.



The Tiësto "In Search of Sunrise" remix is another great one though:



Either way, if you can keep my attention with a single song for 8+ minutes (or 11, as is the case with Tiësto's version) you're doing something right.

I grew up on these trance classics. I remember owning Gatecrasher Classics Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and these trance classics that you've been dropping on your list were featured in various remixes. Blew me away, and I became a bedroom raver for life.

"Silence" is one of the best. The first video posted is not the one I am familiar with. I mean, it is very similar, but not exactly how I remember it. That second video is the one I'm most familiar with. And the third video is by far the best, of course. Tiesto rules. He makes it timeless. The others feel dated.

In this white wave
I am sinking
in this siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilence
in this white wave
in this silence
I belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeve

I have seen you
in this white wave
you are silent
you are breathing
in this white wave
I am freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Looking forward to your no. 1

The second one is a trimmed down version of the first, they were both done by Airscape, whose remix became the hit that it was back in 2000. That one still feels timeless to me though, but the Tiësto version is great too. That's what I love about trance, how two different visions can turn the same song into two entities that stand on their own.

I struggled to find a proper version of it. >.<

1. "Purple Rain" by Prince and the Revolution



The version in the video isn't ideal (Spotify has a better one), but finding a proper version of "Purple Rain" on Youtube is like trying to hunt a unicorn on there, sheesh.

Anyway, this was the easiest choice for my list by far. I'm pretty sure ever other song on this list moved up or down (or both) during my compilation of it, but this was always the easy number one. I've loved this song for as long as I consciously remember listening to music. According to my mum, I yelled along with the more passionate parts of the song when it first came out. I wasn't even three at the time. I've never NOT enjoyed this song, and every time I listen to the full version of it on Spotify (which is over 8 minutes long) I just go on a journey, man. I'm not even that big of a Prince fan (I enjoy several of his songs, but that's it) but this song just draws me in and keeps me there.

lol

Nice to have the list complete, I'll take some time to go through to it again one by one later.

Purple Rain is cool, well-known song, that I like too, just have no particular feeling to it. Don't know many other Prince songs either actually, but my favorite of his has always been "1999", in fact that might even make my HM list.

Your #1 is a gut punch. The worst #1 so far out of all the lists. It was going so well. You were including trance anthems, some nice pop songs, then fucking "Purple Rain"!!! I'll need some time to recover from this.

lol, sorry Alrgen. I'm sure you'll get over it quickly enough.

"Purple Rain" is a great song, very worthy of a #1 spot. I like "Edge of Seventeen" too, there's just too much pop for me to say I like this list. I do like a few others, but can't remember what they are - I'd have to scroll back through again.

Your list is the same for me. I like a couple of songs, but the rest is just sort of lost on me because it's too metal or rock for my liking. But that's just how these things go, everyone's going to have different tastes. Mine is very clearly pop.

50 "Fading Like a Flower" by Roxette
49 "Tribal Dance" by 2 Unlimited
48 "Running Up That Hill" by Within Temptation
47 "Barber's Adiago for Strings" by William Orbit
46 "Feel" by Robbie Williams
45 "All That She Wants" by Ace of Base
44 "Fuck You" by Lily Allen
43 "I'm Outta Love" by Anastacia
42 "Clocks" by Coldplay
41 "Bootie Call" by All Saints
40 "America" by Razorlight
39 "Traffic" by Tiësto
38 "Weak" by Skunk Anansie
37 "Nothing Compares 2U" by Sinéad O'Conner
36 "Open Sesame" by Leila K
35 "Push the Button" by Sugababes
34 "In and Out of Love" by Armin van Buuten feat. Sharon Den Adel
33 "Hometown Glory" by Adele
32 "This Time" by John Legend
31 "Children" by Robert Miles
30 "Who Do You Think You Are" by Spice Girls
29 "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga
28 "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers
27 "Empire State of Mind" by Jay Z featuring Alicia Keys
26 "Crying" by Aerosmith
25 "Alone" by Heart
24 "Take me to Church" by Hozier
23 "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson
22 "Shake it Out" by Florence + The Machine
21 "My Immortal" by Evanescence
20 "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse
19 "Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson
18 "Without You" by Mariah Carey
17 "Vogue [b]" by Madonna
16 "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas
15 "Follow Your Arrow" by Kacey Musgraves
14 "Uprising" by Muse
13 "Ex-Factor" by Lauryn Hill
12 "Pure Shores" by All Saints
11 "Say it Right" by Nelly Furtado
10 "Confide In Me" by Kylie Minogue
9 "Zombie" by The Cranberries
8 "Makin' Me Look Good Again" by Drake White
7 "Trick Me" by Kelis
6 "Savage Garden" by To The Moon and Back
5 "Better off Alone" by DJ Jurgen
4 "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
3 "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks
2 "Silence" by Delirium ft Sarah Mclachlan
1 "Purple Rain" by Prince

A fine list.

That can be the lesser evil's Algren top 20.

I made a Spotify list of my top 50 when I was working on it and I've been listening to it a lot. It's making me feel like I should have listened to it for a while before doing the top 50, because there's a couple of songs that I've enjoyed a LOT more. Whenever I start the list (on shuffle) I tend to start over and over again until "Confide In Me" comes on, and "Feel" is another song that I like a lot more than its ranking shows. Meanwhile, songs like "Crying", "Weak", "Trick Me" and "Shake It Out" haven't tickled me as much as they should.

I guess I'm just fickle.

50. “Fading Like a Flower” by Roxette
Yeah, Roxette is good, this is a nice song. I'd probably do prefer "It Must Have Been Love" of them.

49. “Tribal Dance” by 2 Unlimited
2 Unlimited was hot in the mid 90's in Holland, and I listened to their music too, but never found them particularly good. The No Limits album is alright, we did have that at my home too actually. This song reminds me a bit of Mortal Kombat actually, cool film. "Anita's boobs", and OK, I watched it again, just for that reason.

48. “Running Up That Hill” by Within Temptation
Never liked them, still, not my kind of music.

47. “Barber's Adagio for Strings” by William Orbit
Doesn't really ring to my ears on first listen.

46. “Feel” by Robbie Williams
Love it, Algren mentioned it too, and it's just a top song, his repertoire consists of them.

45. “All That She Wants” by Ace of Base
It's a good song, but I feel I've heard it so often, I don't particularly like it much (anymore).

44. “Fuck You” by Lily Allen
It's alright, Lily Allen has some fun songs, but they never resonated much with me.

43. “I'm Outta Love” by Anastacia
I was really into Anastacia too in the early 2000's, bought her first 3 albums, listened to them a lot. A fan of her music at the time, but final she did get out of the picture, and recently I found that her old songs don't get to me as much as they did before. But liked her a lot anyway, and cool to see her on your list.

42. “Clocks” by Coldplay
Coldplay is great, and this is another good song of theirs.

41. “Bootie Call” by All Saints
Love their sound, they've got some other songs I prefer more, but always nice to listen to them.