She's got you, babe: Cher's 20 best singles

Hot 100 Peak: No. 7

Slow, twangy and yet hopelessly upbeat, we start our list with "All I Ever Need is You," a late Sonny and Cher track that while it doesn't over or underwhelm, it shows exactly why audiences enjoyed the duo when they were together. It's a reliable song that is a little schmaltzy but very welcome when it's all said and done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE_qwqyyGaw

Hot 100 Peak: No. 8

A slightly underrated (even by Cher herself) gem, "Just Like Jesse James" might be a little tame compared to "Heart of Stone" album-mate "If I Could Turn Back Time." But the song stands as a solid piece of lyrical magic that feels like an '80s blanket that is more warm than campy, as power ballads go.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeWN4Zr10kM 

Hot 100 Peak: No. 7

Overshadowed by previous hit "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves," "The Way of Love" is a softer, seductive ballad with a classical tinge to it. Buttressed with violins and grand piano, Cher's delivery drips with yearning and is instantly infectious. One of the primary treats about Cher is her versatility, and this song highlights that even through its more subtle nature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoLuekOt9wE

Hot 100 Peak: No. 8

By the early '70s Sonny and Cher as an act were more kitsch than compelling. But every once in a while, a little gem would manage to slip out, which was the case with "A Cowboy's Work is Never Done," a boozy and drawling rendition punctuated with sharp guitars and a cadenced drum beat. It's a song that feels comfortable within the Tom Jones oeuvre, but as sung by Cher, there is some unexpected pleasure in listening a couple of times in a row.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHfAaG34H30

Hot 100 Peak: No. 9

Something about the flower child generation coming into bloom screams, 'we need to talk about divorce!' But in all seriousness, this Sonny and Cher track finds a way to mix a fair amount of saccharine and mood to be a formidable entry, particularly on the back of Cher's somewhat restrained vocals, which is just as well, since songs about divorce and signature vibrato probable don't mix all that well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osVCIlTto2Q

Hot 100 Peak: No. 17

A peculiar pick, "Love and Understanding" exists in a weird space somewhere between power ballad and power pop. Cher is throaty and confident in this '90s version of her — one that was on the way toward reinvention as a dance icon. Cher sounds fantastic here, and the track is a little more underrated in her overall catalog than one might think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWG7LsIo6nU

Hot 100 Peak: No. 2

While Tina Sinatra's version etched itself into the public consciousness as featured in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill," Cher's original is still the best and showcases her true talents as a solo singer, as she delivers the melancholy tune in a melodramatic yet compelling fashion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfyBHZc9rK4

Hot 100 Peak: No. 15

In the mid-'60s, Cher was also a solo act (another shrewd Sonny Bono decision) to extend the brand and to allow her to spread her wings with different producers. "All I Really Want to Do" is a cover of a Bob Dylan song that, thanks to Cher, sounds nothing like a Dylan song, instead sharing his tone while exhibiting a showy version of Cher that lives within the times but gives us something folky-funky in the exchange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YZZGfAC9dY

Hot 100 Peak: No. 14

Written by Jon Bon Jovi, this song serves as a softer companion to album-mate I Found Someone, signaling Cher's latest reintroduction to the musical landscape, going from '70s chanteuse to '80s power ballad queen. It's a heartfelt track that wears a certain amount of cynicism on its sleeve, but when delivered gently by Cher, with the right amount of touch, it's almost hypnotic. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNbafi9QmVY

Hot 100 Peak: No. 6

"The Beat Goes On" makes our list probably more for historical significance than actual quality. While the song is good, it certainly exists more strongly as a soundtrack to the birth of an entire culture — something that might just speak more toward Sonny Bono's shrewdness as a songwriter and impresario who absolutely knew what he had in Cher's sultry singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS3O5zg290k

Hot 100 Peak: No. 8

While not peak Cher, it's pretty close. One of the few examples of Cher as a disco queen, foreshadowing her future as an LGBTQ dance icon, "Take Me Home" is an infectious glimpse of an artist who isn't quite ready for the future that clearly awaits her. The track is funky, infinitely danceable and almost never mentioned outside of hardcore Cher fanatics, which is a shame because this track absolutely cooks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ3giJ0BPOw

Hot 100 Peak: No. 6

More soft rock than power ballad, "After All," from the "Chances Are" soundtrack, has Cher teaming with Peter Cetera on a track that is embarrassingly infectious and singalongable (that's a word now), while also defining an entire (tiny) era of music much like she did with Sonny on "The Beat Goes On" two decades prior. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXfWCqI3AUg

Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (one week)

THE Signature Sonny and Cher track, "I Got You Babe" is simple and effective, and if we can be noncynical for a moment, the type of song that only a couple who genuinely has feelings for one another can pull off. Yes, it's kitschy, and no, Sonny isn't the best singer in the world, but we defy you to listen and not find a butterfly or two floating in your stomach. Seeing the since-divorced duo perform the song together in 1987 on "Late Night with David Letterman," as Cher is peaking and Sonny is...well, not, is one of the more adorable moments in television and speaks to the longevity of such a pop creation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4EaFzRVjlM

Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (one week)

Only Cher can take a pure "Delilah" knockoff and make Tom Jones blush. The voodoo murder anthem Cher weaves with her vibrato turned to 11 is unabashedly sultry, seductive and absolutely irresistible. It made No. 1 on the charts for a reason. Even listening to Cher perform it live in her later years still brings the same punch to a song that frankly would be awful if anyone else took a stab at it. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXUH7Wk8-WI

Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (two weeks)

Sonny and Cher were always considered icons of the counterculture in the early-to-mid '60s. But what separated them from the stoners and burnouts was their ability to take a sharp look at where they came from and be nakedly honest about it. And while their contemporaries took a sort of folksy approach to tales of the downtrodden, Cher used it as a portable Vegas stage. "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" is a theatrical sort of production that is forceful and infectious through its entire runtime, giving the listener a portrait of Cher as a mix of angry, seductive and fearful in an infinitely listenable package.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSZwEwl_1Q

Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (two weeks)

Certainly Cher's most controversial hit, "Half-Breed" is even more powerful and defiant than "
"Gypsy, Tramps & Thieves." While it's a song that clearly capitalizes on her looks, Cher uses it as a way to attack racism by turning it inward and sharing her experiences (no, she did not write the song, hence the controversy) and making it believable. It was during this period that Cher started to camp things up with her costumes, and it rankled more than a couple of feathers that she performed this song wearing ceremonial headdresses. And even though she was part Native American, she would shelve the song for almost 25 years while never once apologizing for it. Today, it's a semiregular part of her act.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6E98ZRaU1s

Hot 100 Peak: No. 8

Like the later "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," this early song from Sonny and Cher trafficks in melancholy, but does so with an ethereal beauty that forgives even Sonny's shrill vocals, sounding here like a lovelorn specter who knows no home as he echoes Cher's chesty rendition. "Baby Don't Go" doesn't rate as highly on similar lists, but here it serves as an early sign that Cher was absolutely for real and Sonny was far shrewder than he was given credit for during his lifetime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjHSOzVU5j0

Hot 100 Peak: No. 10

In the late '80s, Cher was known as much for her boy toys as she was for her singing ability, and her flavor of the month was "Bagel Boy" Rob Camilletti, who she featured in the video for "I Found Someone," originally written by Michael Bolton (yes, that Michael Bolton) for Laura Branigan of "Gloria" fame. Cher's version is a powerhouse and by far the best one released, topping Branigan's effort as well as a later version by Bolton himself. We mention Camilletti just because only Cher could deliver a performance so powerful and so unironic, even though everything about it screams irony. That's power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zivtxPfF5Bg

Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (four weeks)

Cher is, by far, a queen of reinvention, and out of nowhere, her 1999 surprise hit single "Believe" was a minor miracle of dance nirvana. Surrounded by drum machines and a then-new auto-tune process, Cher completely rebuilt herself for a new audience, which was, by the way, the same audience that absolutely adored her already. This time, though, she let the camp fully wash over her in a way that she once embraced in her early days but sort of separated herself from in the '80s. "Believe" is not only an influential dance track, but it also is an indelible mark on a genre of music that owes a lot to the siren who sung it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p0chD8U8fA

1989 Hot 100 Peak: No. 3

It was hard to decide whether "Believe" or "Heart of Stone's" lead track, "If I Could Turn Back Time" deserved the top spot, as both songs are Cher at her absolute best. But if there's a difference, it would have to be that this song is Cher at her peak: a woman in full control and with power both in music and in film. Two years removed from winning a Best Actress Oscar for "Moonstruck," she takes the Diane Warren-penned power ballad and not only slays it, but also creates an infamous cheek-baring music video that just flaunts her awesomeness. Through six decades of being...well...a queen, "If I Could Turn Back Time" cements Cher as our forever goddess with a powerful voice unmatched to this very day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grdev5ktOGw