U2’s 40 greatest songs, ranked
Just in time for the release of Songs Of Surrender, we count down the Irish quartet's best songs, including "I Will Follow," "Mysterious Ways," and more
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Looking back has never been U2’s thing. They were always about the future, or at least the present, craving to be the best and biggest band in the world. But with the release of Songs Of Surrender—a collection of subdued re-recordings of their 40 most celebrated songs—U2 finally have acknowledged that they’ve entered middle age.
The pandemic knocked them off course, but so did age. Now undisputed veterans, they’re dealing with the ramifications of time: Bono published a memoir late last year and Larry Mullen Jr. had to opt out of the band’s forthcoming Las Vegas residency due to health reasons. Songs Of Surrender itself feels like a deliberate holding pattern—a way to buy time while they figure out their next move. Its release also opens the door for us to look back and ruminate on our picks for the 40 essential songs that define U2.
157 Comments
One is #2.But I am #1. First.
*IRON MAIDEN INTENSIFIES*
Definitely the selection of somebody who played Under a Blood Red Sky to death in their teenage years.
Is this snark? That’s a great album. U2 for sure peaked in the late 80s. My faves though are Bad and A Sort of Homecoming. That was Lanois’ peak as well.
Not at all – it was recognition of a fellow traveller.
I never had the studio versions of any of their albums, but when I hear them now they all pale in comparison to the versions from Blood Red Sky. It’s got to be a top 10 live album.
And/or Wide Awake in America.
The cool kids all had Wide Awake in America. The rest of us just had Under a Blood Red Sky.
I had an art class where we would occasionally play tapes on a boombox. I tried to sell everybody on Boy, but they weren’t having it. My high school was all about Dark Side of the Moon.
U2 were one of the very few “current” acts you were allowed to like (along with Echo and the Bunnymen). The only other acceptable acts to be into were cribbed from your older brother’s extensive record collection (I could never work out why everybody’s older brother had had far more money for buying music than we had). So it was Floyd, Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Zappa and Beefheart.
A great list, except it is missing Acrobat. I might swap it with Mysterious Ways, oh and put it at the top. Every time I think about their greatest songs, I can’t avoid that one. Bravo to the author for selecting a few tracks off of Zooropa. It is a great album.
That is certainly a list of U2 songs.I’d swap out a whole lot of them though for So Cruel, Exit, Love is Blindness, Ultra Violet, Mothers of the Disappeared, The Wanderer, Bullet the Blue Sky (Rattle & Hum version), Acrobat, Running to Stand Still, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Red Hill Mining Town, and In a Little While (Joey Ramone picked that one to be the final song he heard in life ffs. It’s a helluva tune, and I still remember getting chills hearing the vocals that first time).Glad to see All I Want is You and Bad up so high at least, though I’d have subbed in the live version of the latter from Wide Awake in America.
I’ve loved this band (sometimes dearly) on and off throughout many decades, and get that such lists will always be subjective – but it’s hard for me to conceive of any group of their greatest songs not including “Red Hill Mining Town,” yearning Bono at his most epic. Likewise “In a Little While” (I think that album’s vastly underrated, but that’s a whole other topic)!
I, too, love them dearly. It was definitely a thrill to see them dust off such forgotten gems like “Red Hill …” during their recent Joshue Tree retrospective tour.Dare I day … that Bono’s voice’s timbre has improved with age? The lyrics of late may be clunky, but his voice and the band STILL are in top shape, imo …
Subjectivity be damned. Any list that leaves of Red Hill in favour of some of the other nonsense on here is worthless.
Well, they’ve been going in and out of style. But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile.
And where is Discotheque?
I actually really like that song. *cowers in shame*
It’s already a U2 song. How much more embarassing can it get?
Agree on Exit, In a Little While and really most of those. I think you grow a list to 40 and there’s always going to be favs left off – for me, October, I Threw A Brick, Elvis Presley and America and Electric Co all belong on the list.
I can’t believe “Bullet” isn’t on here but we got like 3 entries from the simply terrible Zooropa.Bleh. BtBS has Edge’s single greatest guitar moment ever, with that brilliant, simple, overdistorted slide guitar evoking the feeling of violence perfectly for the song’s subject matter.
Sorry, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses has to be on this list. Just take off the Passengers song (note: that’s NOT even U2) if you need to make room.
Good list. Reminds me I do have to keep an eye on my kids at U2 concerts as they always get dangerously close to the Edge.
You too?
yes
Just Mullen it over
That’s… a pretty good list!
Now do UB40’s 2 greatest songs.
I’m no super-fan, but I’ve spent a good many commutes listening to U2 albums over the years and watched some concert videos more than once. Thanks for a trip back through the discography of a band I’ve been neglecting for a while—and reminding me that I might enjoy giving their early 90s foray into excess another chance.And, FWIW, their Rattle and Hum concert-movie-documentary video is a great watch on a rainy afternoon.
I wasn’t one of the early adopters, but was a pretty serious fan by the time The Joshua Tree came along. Rattle & Hum just didn’t do it for me and I fell away. Over the years my wife would occasionally remember that I liked U2 around the time of my birthday, so I have All That You Can’t Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and their singles compilation albums. As a result there are quite a few songs in the list that I don’t know at all, but I still think the best of their work is pretty outstanding. One of these days I might start again with Achtung Baby.
Achtung baby is arguably their best album so its for sure worth revisiting. Its also probably the last truly “great” U2 record. Everything after has its moments (sometimes lots of them) but Achtung is the last one that does it for me all the way through.
I’d put “All that You Can’t Leave Behind” as one of their greats. It holds together as a whole album.
It’s a really great album that people shit on because they think it’s a step backwards after the 90s, something I view as silly.
Agreed. Achtung Baby is my favorite album of all-time. I like Pop and All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is not bad, but Achtung Baby is definitely their last great album.
I agree. Achtung Baby isn’t my favorite U2 album, but it is their last great album.
Speaking of Joshua Tree, I know it’s boring to list too many songs off one album but in addition to the three listed, there’s no denying that Running to Stand Still, Red Hill Mining Town, In God’s Country and Trip Though Your Wires are the soul of that album and better than at least 10 songs on this roster. Also, if you’re going to list Bad then please reference the transcendent live version. The song would barely register a second thought these days if not for that recording.
The Joshua Tree is pretty close to the perfect album. I’d rank it alongside Rumours and Parallel Lines as an album with no hint of a weak link.
Nice to see some Blondie appreciation in 2023. Yeah there are really only a handful of true no-filler albums. Damn the Torpedoes comes to mind as well.
Although I was only 11 when the 70s ended, my older brother’s record collection largely shaped my own musical taste, and Rumours and Parallel Lines were two of the records of his I played most, along with Led Zeppelin IV and Thick as a Brick. All the early Blondie albums are pretty great.
The live version especially from Live Aid is the best.
I watched Rattle and Hum many years after the it’s release. And while pretentious Bono is at his peak here, I think the knowledge that U2 has been taking down many pegs over the years makes it less annoying somehow.My favorite U2 albums are The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree.
I didn’t like U2 until I was almost out of high school in the early 00s, so my “Rattle and Hum” exposure was around the time I was hungry for grandiose idealism so I guess I have a soft spot for all that haha.
Agree. That film was savaged by the media, but I thought it was great
Flip-flop numbers one and two, and maybe move up “Where the Streets Have no Name,” and eliminate “Lemon.”Otherwise, a perfectly cromulent list.
Scrumtrulescent even.
Remember that movie Blown Away? There is a funny scene where Tommy Lee Jones, playing an IRA terrorist, discovers the music of U2 and has like a religious experience. I put it up there with the scene from Dracula 2000 where Dracula, played by a young Gerard Butler, goes to a Virgin Records and discovers he loves Monster Magnet.
Until the End of the World isn’t bleak. It looks like it’s gonna be bleak for a while, but the film doesn’t go there. And the U2 song only turns up at the end credits, right after the most hopeful part. I can only assume you just read a summary and didn’t actually watch it. Everyone should (specifically the three film version.)
I figured the same thing after reading that part. On a side note I found the best way to watch the full version of it is as a TV program in 2-3 parts. Its episodic enough that breaking it up into separate viewings keeps it from flagging interest. I think part of the song is used in the beginning at a mechanic’s shop.
It blew my teenage mind when I decoded “Until the End of the World” as Judas talking Jesus about his guilt and betrayal and yet, his friend remains loyal and forgives him. The song’s roots are religious, but it fortunately grows past that and becomes relatable and human.
Some very dubious late-era U2 selections.
An Cat Dubh or GTFO.
All of these listicles are subjective as hell, so in no way am I going to judge the selection. All of my favorites are on here, so I’m satisfied.But speaking as someone who was in the crowd at Sun Devil Stadium when they were filming Rattle and Hum, for me there will never be a better U2 song than “Where the Streets Have No Name.” I’ve been to several U2 concerts, but after seeing this song open the show in Tempe, and then seeing it again at the 2002 Super Bowl halftime show, it will forever remain at the pinnacle of my favorites from the boys.
I’m waiting for them to release a song called “Found It!”
I get that you probably shouldn’t have every song from the Joshua Tree on here, so I have no problem with Running To Stand Still not being here… but after hearing so many U2 songs hundreds of times over the decades, that one still chokes me up when it comes on the radio.
just posted something similar above. For me it’s Red Hill Mining Town, but the four-song stretch from Running to Stand Still through Trip Through Your Wires is what elevates a great album to all-time rock hall of fame material.
It’s honestly a perfect album. For me, it’s up there with Rumours, Brothers in Arms, So and Duke as albums that are killer from start to finish.
Brothers in Arms is a great pull, because its strongest tracks are almost all unknown to the casual fan. It starts with the breezy So Far Away, goes into the pop hits Money for Nothing and Walk of Life, then the next six songs are forty minutes of pure bliss. The use of Brothers in Arms in The West Wing still gives me goosebumps. The first time I listened to it all the way through was on a nighttime road trip in the back seat, looking out into the dark. Absolutely mesmerizing.
Funnily enough, Walk of Life and Money for Nothing are probably my least favourites from the album. So Far Away and the title track are both fantastic but Your Latest Trick, Ride Across the River etc are just sublime.
I like both those songs just fine but they don’t really have the same groove as the rest of the album. Made the guys rich, though.
I like them as well but if I had to rank the album’s best songs, they’d be at the bottom.
TJT is such a front-heavy album, the gems, starting with Running To Stand Still get overlooked. It’s a major key song about drug addition. It’s brilliant.
I’d probably describe U2’s output in the 21st century as very inconsistent. At their best, they’re still surprisingly great. At their worst, it’s pretty embarrassing. But as someone who mostly liked Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience is the first U2 album where absolutely none of the tracks worked for me. I’m going to go into this new album with an open mind, but sitting through an album of FORTY rearrangements of your old songs with nothing new sounds like it’s going to be a real two-hour slog. For a band that was so great in the first half of their career, I’ve seen little evidence they’re setting themselves up for a late-career renaissance e.g. Bob Dylan.
I hadn’t appreciated that’s what the new album was! Fuuuuck, no.
Pride is especially painful.
Songs of Innocence is genuinely fantastic. It’s such an underrated record because people get hung up on the controversy around its release.It’s extremely listenable and one I’ve gone back to many times over the past decade. There’s so many great tracks on there.Songs of Experience isn’t as good but it’s got a couple of tracks I dig – Lights of Home, You’re the Best Thing About Me, Little Things that Give you Away, Love is Bigger, 13 and the remix of Ordinary Love.
For some reason, this list just showed up on my iPhone.
Thank you – that just made me laugh out loud.
It’s a shame some people truly hate this band and I wish I knew why. Just through and through great music from all of their eras.
I know people think Bono is an asshole, but I think he’s really earnest in his struggle with how to use his wealth and status to effect positive change in the world.
It’s easy to mock bombastic and overly earnest. But these guys have a list of classics you can stand up next to just about anyone, and like any great band make every single one better when played live. So I mostly view U2 haters as performative contrarians.
Easy AND fun. It’s so much fun to mock U2. But they are indisputably one of the greats for many reasons. The worst haters that I’ve come across have always been from the UK. I wonder if there are cultural reasons for that or if citizens of that country would agree that they are one of the greats. I think as an American I greatly appreciated their faux-Americana phase in the late 80s.
Nope. I hate the because of all the songs I’ve heard, I dislike all of them. I knew this guy in law school who was obsessed with them. OBSESSED. I mean literally obsessed. Every single conversation ended up at U2 somehow. I didn’t know much about them at the time, except for one song (With or Without You, I believe it was) that was on the in-store music at a store I used to work at, and which I hated. Anyway, I got so sick of hearing about them, and he’d play the songs for me and they’d be truly bad, with Bono’s terrible, terrible voice. There was so much hype and then he plays me this crap. So anyway, that’s why I hate them. Not to mention that Bono is annoying as fuck in general. A person doesn’t have to be a “performative contrarian” to dislike something you like, you know.
As a lawyer you should appreciate that I gave myself an out with “mostly.”
I hate U2.
Sure, just like you don’t even own a TV, right fucko??(kidding, if not clear)
I’m in a thread about U2’s greatest songs saying I hate them, so I’m aware I deserve what I get. As to TV: sure I own one. But it’s never been the same since I put I put my foot through it the last time I saw Bono on its screen claiming to be “swingin’ to the music” over a half-finished, tuneless and decidedly un-swing-worthy dirge.
When a band gets as big as U2, there will be a backlash. So many songs that were monster radio hits – you really couldn’t escape them in the late 80s and 90s. And Bono’s earnestness made him easy to mock.
As others have said, Bono is easy to mock, even though I think he really is sincere in his quest to make the world better. And they’re a huge band, which naturally comes with haters. But also, they haven’t put out any truly great music in over 20 years. It’s easy to forget just how truly mind-blowing they used to be, especially for people under 30.
I’ll tell you why I do. I knew a guy in law school who was OBSESSED with them. I mean literally obsessed. And when I say literally obsessed, I mean every conversation with him somehow made its way to U2. It as maddening. At the time I only was familiar with one of their songs, With or Without You, which played on the in-store music for a while at a store I worked at, and I didn’t like it at all. And he’d tell me to listen to this song or that song, and they were just all bad, plus Bono’s voice is so terrible. Anyway, it was a combination of being annoyed with this guy plus, without that, I would have found the music just so-so anyway and he tipped it over the edge to hate for me. Doesn’t help that Bono is just an annoying person also. Plus U2 is one of those bands white people just really really love and Black folks are kind of like… um okay. lol So there’s my two cents as to why, since you asked. It was nice of you to ask rather than just labeling people who happen to not like the same music as you do “performative contrarians” like the other commenter did. lol
To borrow a quote from Peter Griffin: They insist upon themselves.Back when Yahoo Launchcast Radio was a thing, you could customize a personalized streaming station based on rating each song that came up, including a Never-Play-Again option. I had U2 rated at 2 stars (out of 4) because I like a few of their tunes, but I freaking LOATHE “Vertigo”, so I hit that song with the Never-Play-Again. It kept coming up on my station anyway.
So I hit the whole Atomic Bomb ALBUM with Never-Play-Again. “Vertigo” still kept popping up on my station.
I gave in & hit U2 as a whole with Never-Play-Again. Hey guess what that’s right “Vertigo” STILL kept popping up on my station (but none of their songs that I actually *liked* ever played!).
So I filled out a complaint form. Shortly afterwards, Launchcast dropped the personalized stations entirely; you could only listen to what they curated for you after that point. That’s when I stopped using the service.For a more mainstream example of U2 insisting upon themselves, there’s that time they autodownloaded Songs of Innocence to literally every iTunes account in the world, instantly granting themselves the title of “largest album release of all time”.
New Year’s Day (the non-truncated album version) is objectively a superior song to Sunday Bloody Sunday. FIGHT ME!Actually, subjectively, I’d say its their best song. Maybe Pride being #1 instead.
I agree. And I hate that truncated version, which seems to have become definitive. The “Ah, maybe the time is right…” section takes the song to a whole new level, and taking that out, along with most of the instrumental break, just pisses me off.
My biggest problem is how obviously cut and pasted the outro “I will be with you again” on repeat is. Its embarrassingly bad.
You are absolutely right. NYD is the best song on the album. I actually prefer listening to 2 Hearts, and Drowning Man over SBS.
IMO, New Years Day is the best song they ever did. That sharp, biting guitar and simple but haunting piano, just perfect.
I’ve listened to this band so much Bono could lose his voice and bring me on stage… Until the most recent releases anyway. It’s impossible for me to pick a list of favorites because I find that it always depends on mood which song is the one. 😉
This list would have been so much better, and much more accurate if there was one slide that just said “They all suck”.
I initially read the headline as “UB40’s best 40 songs.” I think that would have been a more interesting list
Hmmm. Signing Off era UB40, I won’t argue. But why they then decided to be Britain’s biggest reggae-themed covers band is beyond me. I’m surprised they didn’t have to start signing on again, as paying royalties for all the songs you play, before having to share what’s left with a band that always seemed to be well into double figures for personnel, can’t have been a viable going concern.
Neil Diamond really , really likes their version of Red Red Wine , like for a long time he pretty much did a cover of their cover (and namecheck them ). To be fair he makes it sound great.
That’s fair – but the song’s success led to them focusing too much on covers. Their earlier self-penned social commentary songs were brilliant.
Same
I still keep seeing it that way even knowing what it really it is and having commented on it.
One heartfelt vote for “Numb” – simplistic but a good beat and fun in its own way. Plus I like the way Edge’s monotone kinda zones you out.Good for driving across a desert at night with a top down….and yes I draw from personal experience.
As a lifelong U2 fan… this is a pretty solid list!
Except that Pop (and especially the AB/Zoo/Pop trio) is a sensational record. I just do not get the hate. You have 3 trashy fun-as-hell dance tracks that give way to solid guitar rock (Gone is incredible live) and eventual haunting “ballads” (Velvet Dress, Please, Wake Up Dead Man).
It’s got something for everyone and was the last great thing they did.
ATYCLB only works as a sleepy cathartic foil to Pop.
Pop is a weird one in that most obviously, it doesn’t sound finished, which it wasn’t.It’s got an absolutely killer middle – If God Will Send His Angels, Staring at The Sun, Last Night on Earth and Gone.I have a lot of fondness for Discotheque too.Those four songs are fantastic but were killed by incredibly rushed and shitty mixing, among other things.The re-recorded versions they did when they released them as singles sound so much better.Also, Last Night on Earth should have been the first single. It and Starring at the Sun are by far the best two songs on Pop.
I’m the opposite. I think they’re great songs but definitely felt more standard U2 (coming off AB and Zooropa). Discotheque, Mofo, Do You Feel Loved? (which is just fucking killer…and never got any love). Those tracks are my fave just because of how different it was. Followed by Please/Velvet/Wake Up/Miami/LNOE/Gone/Sun/Angels – basically(ish) in that order.
I never minded the roughness of it either, but at that time I was in college and also discovering the massive treasure trove of bootlegs/b-sides/ultra deep cuts/etc that were always a bit rough. So – technical qualities aside – I have this weird warm spot for the roughness of it.
The remasterings were fine I guess but I never was like “oh NOW these sound finished.” They always sounded just fine to me.
But let’s be honest, the album release of any U2 stuff pales in comparison to how they end up finding new revisions in their live performances. Whenever I listen to U2 I almost always listen to live stuff… which might explain my penchant for overlooking album mastering.
Their live performances are amazing.I’ve always loved the Mexico City album from the Popmart tour.“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis” – Bono introducing Hold Me Kiss Me, Thrill me, Kill Me.
If You Wear That Velvet Dress is one of my all-time favorites. #1 no contest on that album. Gone is good, but the quintessential version is the re-record for the Best Of album.
Also, in a world of Sunday Bloody Sundays, Please is hands down their best anti-war song of all time.
The back half of this list doesn’t do much for me. But from 15 on it’s pretty solid. You could quibble with the order I suppose. My biggest issue would be the inclusion of “Mysterious Ways” which I don’t really go back to ever. It could be because of overexposure.
I would have put “Walk On” over any of the ones in the bottom 4. Its zippy and has a great finish
That’s definitely one of my favorite of theirs from the current millennium. Great song, and not overplayed.
As a fan from early on, the list had a lot of my favourites, left out some, and I am not excited by what I’ve heard of “Songs of Surrender” to this point – if I was to pick my favourite stripped-down U2 covers, they’re not even by U2:
I would also argue that “Bullet the Blue Sky” is the closest thing to metal U2 have recorded:
I can still remember the first time I saw the music video for Sunday Bloody Sunday, the Live at Red Rocks version. It was playing on a bar TV set in a back when MTV was still a relevant music channel (yeah, I’m old). They put on such an incredible performance at an incredible setting (a rain-soaked amphitheater outside Denver), and at least for me that Red Rocks concert is one of the best live shows ever taped.
same, same. i have friends who were at that show, and it kills me that i missed it. i wore that album out, and it’s still one of the best concert videos i know of.
Any list with Zooropa or Lemon on it, and suggests Mysterious Ways is U2’s 4th best song (It is great, but 4th!?), is pretty flawed.
How could you leave out “Love is Blindness” and “Acrobat”?? And: There is only ONE version of “One” (haha): The original from “Achtung Baby” and not the slaughtering of it with Mary J Blige.
I have this longstanding conception that One is about a gay person coming out to their unaccepting parents. True or not, I like the reading. “You act like you never had love, and you want me to go without.”
Bono did say that this is one interpretation of the song.
I was getting nervous that this list was going to be way too heavy on songs released in a year starting with 2, but it got better towards the end.
I thought the best ones came with an ipod?
This…who article is trolling, right?
I actually liked Spanish Eyes, the companion of Sweetest Thing on that B side, more than I did the latter. Both were nearly impossible to find for like a decade after; I think I might even still have the original 45 sitting around someplace.I could nitpick a few things on the list but I’ll give you a lot of credit for including substantially underplayed stuff off of Boy and October that is some of their most original work. Decades back I once was at one of those planetarium laser shows (with an awful, awful lot of THC in the air – I was still in at the time and was slightly worried I’d get enough secondhand exposure to fail a piss test) and it was clear that the crowd knew pretty much nothing prior to Unforgettable Fire besides I Will Follow/New Years Day/Sunday Bloody Sunday. I suspect that’s gotten even worse now.Then again, the reason they didn’t end up like The Alarm or so many other footnotes from the early 80s is that like the other bands that have held up, they kept experimenting. Sometimes it’s worked, sometimes it hasn’t.
How TF are you going to tell me that Acrobat doesn’t make this list……
I can hear the gears of your mind grind as they look for justifications to insert any song made after Zooropa into this list.
With the exception of two songs (which were unfortunately the two most traveled songs), No Line on the Horizon is a classic U2 album that you could throw on an Achtung Baby-era mixtape and someone just discovering them would think they were all from the same album.
Not so fast. I like the album, There are some great songs on it. Title track, Magnificent, Fez, White as Snow, Cedars of Lebanon, Moment of Surrender. But maybe two of those songs would mesh with Achtung Baby. and the album also holds 3 really not good songs, and the worst song the band has ever written, Stand Up Comedy
Bullet the Blue Sky? No? Really?
I said the same thing. The list is invalid as that song made The Joshua Tree the classic it is today.
Yeah, both the studio version from Joshua Tree and the live version from Rattle and Hum are pretty amazing. At least one of them deserves to be on this list. I also love Angel of Harlem. That would be in my top 40 of U2 songs.
Lol…what a joke list. Obviously, the critics/ratings come from an unsophisticated u2 fan or fans. Proof of this is easy. “Streets” at 11 lol. Anyone that knows…it’s easily top 3 and undoubtedly one of the best live songs ever. Period. Embarrassing
This critic has reviewed every U2 album on allmusic.com.
That’s a bit harsh man. Where would you rate Streets if you took the legendary live element out of it? I don’t think he’s way off. Go look at other lists online. Most are a laughable joke. His is pretty solid. I wouldn’t have Sweetest Thing on mine, but hey to each his own.
… and that’s all I have to say about that.
Unforgettable Fire decently represented. Finally someone who knows when the band peaked!
Pretty good list but I’d add a few more.Mothers of the DisappearedThe WandererLast Night on EarthCaliforniaTomorrowBullet the Blue SkySo CruelThe Ground Beneath Her FeetOrdinary Love.
“Staring at the Sun” is primarily notable for Gorillaz nicking the verse melody for the chorus to “Feel Good Inc.”“Sweetest Thing” is primarily notable for being bloody awful.
#1
I’m really fond of Zooropa, Lemon, and The Wanderer from the Zooropa album and pretty much the entirety of All That You Can’t Leave Behind – Kite, Walk On, Wild Honey, Stuck in a Moment and When I Look at the World are the work of experienced and skilled musicians at the top of their craft. Of their earlier songs, The Unforgettable Fire is uncharacteristically eerie and evocative. I’ll never be able to hear With or Without You without thinking of The Americans.
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Wow… I cynically thought that this list was just a promo/tie-in for the release of their new album to boost sales, but I have to compliment you – What a nuanced and deep list of tracks from someone who obviously knows their discography. Love your deep cuts (the Batman song was a great include) and inclusion of Unforgettable Fire, one of the finest produced, textured mood pieces in rock history, not to mention a vocal performance that is just stunning even decades later.If I can make one suggestion for a worthy addition… their Cole Porter cover of “Night and Day” was beautifully crafted with another incredible performance from Bono. It came just as they were reinventing themselves.
Another vote for Night and Day.
Not bad, but no love for Red Hill Mining Town? That song is amazing. And Running to Stand Still? I’d put those both in the top 20. Happy to see One so high on the list.
I always feel awkward saying anything good about U2 , since I’m from Dublin, and we kind have a weird love/hate thing about the band being successful , but in their defence they’ve a good enough discography that you can have a list of 40 songs and with almost no missteps (except maybe The Sweetest Thing) still leave out a lot of good stuff (Red Hill Mining Town/Running to Stand Still /Bullet the Blue Sky/God Part II and my two faves Trip through your wires and Somedays are better than others)
Their 40 Best Songs and Bullet The Blue Sky is nowhere to be found. Uh no.
Thank goodness, hated that song since 1987.
I’m not much of a U2 fan, but New Year’s Day and Sunday, Bloody Sunday are two songs that when they popped up on my radio or iTunes I almost never skipped.
Any list that doesn’t include “Bullet the Blue Sky” is invalid.
Great list, but needs more October.
No list of top songs by U2 is complete without Numb.
Wrong. This list doesn’t even have Red Hill Mining Town? No Ultraviolet? C’mon man!
your top 10 are pretty spot on.
yes.
In 1990 I took my entire paycheck from McD’s and bought a Discman, a tape adapter so I could plug it into my car stereo and two used CD’s. One was Rattle and Hum. I don’t remember what the other one was because it made nowhere near the same impression.
I have a ton of respect for U2 and their longevity – but this list kind
of solidifies my opinion – the quality is nothing like it used to be.
Which is totally understandable – it’s unfair to expect otherwise. But
there is one song from the 2000’s on in the top 20 and that says a lot.
Especially when the list is inexplicably missing God Part II and Ultraviolet (Light My Way).To old sh*ts like myself, hearing new U2 kinda makes me an odd mix of happy for them and sad to hear it.
Too muchZooropa and no New Year’s Day but a good list overall.
Trick question. U2 has no good songs.
“Where The Streets Have No Name” (1987) should be in the top 10
As others have stated, any U2 list that doesn’t include “Bullet the Blue Sky” is null and void. Here is my personal top 3:3: I Will Follow2: Bullet the Blue Sky (live- Rattle and Hum)1: Where the Streets Have No Name (I get chills every time I hear the intro and outro keyboards. Brian Eno is a musical genius.)
Now do UB40!
Numb, The Wanderer and When Loves Comes to Town are among my favourite U2 tracks so surprised to see them missing. They had a good run but everything since Pop has been mediocre, for me at least.
“U2 finally have acknowledged that they’ve entered middle age.”
The were middle aged when I was young and I’m now entering middle-age. U2 is now old.
Bullet The Blue Sky is at least top-5 all time (along with Streets); the former is a big miss – I guess because it was’nt a release? And maybe somewhere between #30-40, I’d have included Electrical Storm, but otherwise not a bad list (for a change)
I do not understand how this list did not include “Angel of Harlem.” It’s not “Bad” but it’s certainly among its best 40.
You’re mostly right. Sunday Bloody Sunday is misplaced. It’s #1 or #2. It could alternate with Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.Also, everything released after Rattle and Hum is utter shit. U2 was amazing up until that point. After that, complete hot garbage.I’m allowed to have that opinion as an ‘80s kid who loved Boy, War, and Unforgettable Fire. I hold that War should be listed as one of greatest rock albums of the 20th century.
No way! This list is horrible. Here I will fix it. REAL TOP 40 by a lifer-U2-fan that understands this band and music. 1-40= Where the Streets…, One, Bad, Sunday Bloody Sunday, All I Want is You, Running to Stand Still, Bullet the Blue Sky, Pride, With or Without You, Unforgettable Fire, I Still Haven’t Found…, Beautiful Day, A Sort of Homecoming, One Tree Hill, Stay, Kite, Walk On, Until the End of the World, Mysterious Ways, Angel of Harlem, New Year’s Day, Red Hill Mining Town, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Ultraviolet, Trip Through Your Wires, Please, Zooropa, Acrobat, The Fly, Staring at the Sun, Stuck in A Moment, City of Blinding Light, Elevation, Some Times you Can’t Make It on Your Own, Gloria, Vertigo, Love Rescue Me, Wire, If You Wear That Velvet Dress, Discoteque, Zoo Station………../…………. My personal favs not on this list= Drowning Man, Like a Song, Red Light, Surrender, 11 O’Clock Tick Tock, 13 (There is Light), Crumbs From Your Table, The Little Things…, New York, Dirty Days, “40″
This is a pretty solid list for someone of whom I don’t know their U2 background. I’ve been a fan for 37 years, and have seen the band 13 times. I remember when the AV club hopped on the bandwagon of bashing POP when it came out when I was a student at UW. I hope looking back they see the error of their ways. Although Achtung is my favorite album, I still listen to POP the most. I appreciate it more and more every year older I get. It is a messy masterpiece that was completely lost on American critics and casual fans.
That aside, I will list all of U2’s album songs ranked in order in my humble opinion, and this of course is at this moment in time, although the top dozen are pretty solid.
1. Until The End of The World2. With or Without You
3. Bad
4. Where the Streets Have No Name
5. Love Is Blindness
6. New Years Day
7. The Fly
8. Ultraviolet
9. One
10. I Will Follow
11. Bullet the Blue Sky
12. Lemon
13. Kite
14. Running To Stand Still
15. Electric Co
16. All I Want Is You
17. Acrobat
18. Sunday Bloody Sunday
19. Zoo Station
20. A Sort of Homecoming
21. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
22. Mysterious Ways
23. Stay
24. One Tree Hill
25. Out of Control
26. Gloria
27. Drowning Man
28. Pride
29. Wake up Dead Man
30. Two Hearts Beat as One
31. The Unforgettable Fire
32. Gone
33. Exit
34. So Cruel
35. Magnificent
36. Rejoice
37. Even Better Than The Real Thing
38. Dirty Day
39. Who’s Gonna Ride
40. Red Hill Mining Town
41. Every Breaking Wave
42. Vertigo
43. Beautiful Day
44. Zooropa
45. Cedars of Lebanon
46. Heartland
47. Sleep Like a Baby Tonight
48. Tomorrow
49. Mofo
50. In God’s Country
51. Hawkmoon269
52. The Troubles
53. No Line on the Horizon
54. Do You Feel Loved
55. Stories For Boys
56. Staring at The Sun
57. Wire
58. 40
59. Please
60. God Part II
61. Trip Through Your Wires
62. Twilight
63. Last Night On Earth
64. Numb
65. Red Flag Day
66. City of Blinding Lights
67. Seconds
68. Indian Summer Sky
69. An Cat Dubh
70. Elevation
71. I Fall Down
72. Another Time and Another Place
73. Promenade
74. October
75. Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms around the World
76. Desire
77. Little Things
78. Fire
79. Like a Song
80. Discotheque
81. White As Snow
82. Moment of Surrender
83. 13
84. Summer of Love
85. Raised By Wolves
86. Landlady
87. Mothers of the Disappeared
88. MLK
89. Fez
90. Into The Heart
91. Stuck in a Moment
92. Love Rescue Me
93. Original of The Species
94. Angel of Harlem
95. A Day Without Me
96. Volcano
97. Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
98. Shadows and Tall Trees
99. The Refugee
100. Breathe
101. Iris
102. I Threw a Brick Through A Window
103. In a little while
104. Love is All We have Left
105. Love is Bigger
106. If God Will Send His Angels
107. When I Look at the world
108. When Love Comes To Town
109. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
110. The Blackout
111. All Because of You
112. The First Time
113. Walk On
114. Get on Your Boots
115. You’re the best thing about me
116. Babyface
117. California
118. Lights of Home
119. Cedarwood
120. The Ocean
121. With a Shout Out
122. Is That All?
123. Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own
124. New York
125. Miracle
126. Surrender
127. Unknown Caller
128. Van Diemen’s Land
129. Red LIght
130. Stranger in a Strange Land
131. Elvis Presley and America
132. Crumbs From Your Table
133. A Man and A Woman
134. Miami
135. The Playboy Mansion
136. Some Days are Better
137. Love and Peace
138. Song For Someone
139. Get Out of Your Own Way
140. Wild Honey
141. Miracle Drug
142. Scarlet
143. 4th of July
144. The Showman
145. Crazy Tonight
146. American Soul
147. Yahweh
148. Peace on Earth
149. Grace
150. Stand Up Comedy