The greatest pop song ever written...

“What makes a pop song great?”

It’s the question that has eluded the world’s greatest scholars and philosophers for centuries. Perhaps it’s the catchiness of the beat, or the sticky, sweet lyrics but there certainly is a formula that makes a pop song great.

But which one is the greatest?

Something deep within me decided that it was my responsibility to explore what the greatest pop song ever written was. It’s possible I was on my umpteenth listen of “I Don’t Do Drugs” by Doja Cat and Ariana Grande which sparked the idea (side note: Doja Cat is the next big pop star that we’ve been waiting for).

By definition, pop music is popular music, and can span across different genres. When we think of pop music, we think of female-fronted songs and boy band singles. And while we don’t have the time today to fully dive into the history of pop music (The book Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll does an excellent job explaining this), we’ll briefly touch on it.

So the journey begins. I tried to put my personal biases aside (sorry Gaga). I considered the greats - Mariah, Britney, Whitney, Janet, Madonna. I thought about every cassette and album I’ve ever listened to, from the complimentary Dream Street album that came when you purchased *NSYNC’s Celebrity in 2001, to Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 7 which I played on a heavy rotation.

I’ve listened to far too many Now That’s What I Call Music! CDs on a stereo that looked like this.

I also laid out criteria, which included the following:

• Level of legendary status

• Power to make everyone excited and rush to the dance floor

• Mainstream plays and popularity

• Impact on mainstream culture

In an effort to further better navigate these waters, I turned to social media where I asked “What do you think the best pop song ever written is?” and I thank all who contributed. I encouraged people to consider not what their favorite song is, but the best (I made a playlist of the songs, plus some additional ones that needed to be included).

Below is a selection of some of those responses:

• Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

• Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

• Crazy in Love - Beyoncé

• Firework - Katy Perry

• Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn

• Style - Taylor Swift

• Blank Space - Taylor Swift

• I Knew U Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

• Ray of Light - Madonna

• In Your Room - The Bangles

• Toxic - Britney Spears

• …Baby One More Time - Britney Spears

• What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction

• Beat It, PYT, Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

• Life on Mars - David Bowie

• Timber - Pitbull ft. Kesha

• TikTok - Kesha

• Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

• Rain On Me - Lady Gaga

• Emotions - Mariah Carey

• Super Bass - Nicki Minaj

• Closer - The Chainsmokers and Halsey

• Bye Bye Bye - *NSYNC

• Yeah - Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris

• We Found Love - Rihanna

• Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

• Sorry - Justin Bieber

• Into You - Ariana Grande

So I listened, and I thought, and I thought some more. And suddenly, the answer came to me.

The greatest pop song ever written is…

“Gimme”More by Britney Jean Spears

“It’s Britney, bitch.”

You can hear the intro now, can’t you? All it took was three words to change the course of music forever. It takes that simple, beautiful, wonderful phrase to send a party into a tizzy, guests fighting to make their way to the dance floor.

“Gimme More” is the lead single off of Spears’ 2007 album, Blackout. The song was released during a particularly tumultuous point in Spears’ life and career. She had already experienced an ungodly level success early on in her career, but 2005-2007 left us with uncertainty.

The public had gone four years without a new album from Spears, and paparazzi stalking was becoming more of a serious issue. If we can put aside the invasion of privacy, her personal life being heavily publicized and scrutinized - and the fact that she had recently given birth - it was the perfect time to release new music.

What she delivered was pop excellence. The word “iconic” is thrown around far too much these days, but the opening line of “It’s Britney, bitch” is truly iconic. It is forever cemented into pop culture, and forever remains a fan favorite. The song references the public spectacle her life had become (Cameras are flashin' while we're dirty dancin', they keep watching), and the beat was infectious. And while the first live performance of the single did not go over well (to say the least) is it not something that we’ll remember forever, for better or for worse?

After an already incredible career, Spears still managed to surprise us with “Gimme More”. As the song’s producer Danja proclaimed at the end of the song, “Bet you didn't see this one coming.”

To explore the impact and importance of “Gimme More” and Blackout further, I suggest listening to this episode of the podcast It’s Britney, Bitch!, hosted by Spears historians T. Kyle and Bradley Stern.

As I mentioned earlier, while I didn’t have the proper amount of time to go into the history of pop music and the extent of Britney’s illustrious career, I do hope I’ve pleaded my case as to why it’s the greatest pop song ever written.

So, what do you think? I look forward to hearing your thoughts, whether you agree or disagree. Shoot me a DM. 😉

Long live Britney.