Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs

Our Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs look at a band that merged the genres of pop, soul, and rock into a slam dunk hit-making machine for almost two decades. When the hits stopped, the duo continued to record and release magnificent albums that served as a master class for anyone wanting to learn how to play and sing with the ultimate form of expression bathed in soulfulness and perfection. Classic Rock History covers all forms of music that impacted society and inspired generations of musicians. Hall & Oates inspired thousands of musicians with brilliant songwriting and virtuoso performances, all captured perfectly on vinyl and CD.

Hall & Oates released their first album in 1972 entitled Whole Oats. The album Whole Oats did not chart. Their second album, Abandoned Luncheonette, arrived in 1973 and featured “She’s Gone.” The song first made a modest chart appearance before becoming a major hit when it was reissued in 1976. With that song, the legacy of Hall & Oates‘ musical career was born.

Hall & Oates followed Abandoned Luncheonette with the release of War Babies. Sadly, War Babies was a commercial disappointment that yielded no hit singles. The War Babies album signified the end of the relationship between Hall & Oates and Atlantic Records. Executives at Atlantic Records would have had a heart attack if they could have seen the future success Hall & Oates would have over the next ten years with their new label, RCA Records.

From 1975 to 1984, every studio album Hall & Oates released made it to the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Three of their albums reached the top 10. Nine studio albums in ten years reaching the Billboard 200 top 40 is one of the most successful feats completed by any musical artist of the 20th century.

After their run with RCA Records, Hall & Oates signed with Arista Records, releasing Ooh Yeah! in 1988 and Change of Season in 1990 before later studio albums appeared on other labels. Their last studio album together remains 2006’s Home for Christmas. Daryl Hall and John Oates later pursued separate careers, and their business dispute was resolved through arbitration in 2025. Both have said they do not expect a reunion.

Our Top 10 Hall & Oates songs list presents some of the band’s biggest hits, and a few of their songs that, while they might not have charted as high as others, were still fantastic recordings.

# 10 – Throw the Roses Away

We open our Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs list with a track from one of their most overlooked albums. The great record Marigold Sky album was released in 1997. There may not have been any big hits on the record, but that was due to a culture defined by hip-hop and boy bands. Sad days! Nonetheless, the Marigold Sky album delivered a record full of brilliant, passionate, and soulful songs that true Hall & Oates fans loved. One of our favorite tracks from the album was the knife-in-your-heart, gut-wrenching breakup song, “Throw the Roses Away.”

# 9 – Someday We’ll Know

Do It for Love was the last album Hall & Oates released that centered on original songs. The two studio albums released after Do It for Love were released in 2003 were a covers album and a holiday album. The two have also released solo albums, but Home for Christmas in 2006 remains the final Hall & Oates studio album. One listen to the great Hall & Oates album Do It for Love and the great track “Someday We’ll Know” shows why fans kept hoping for more records from the duo.

# 8 – Out of Touch

The great track “Out of Touch” defined big-budget Hall & Oates. During the rapid developments in recording technology in the early to mid-1980s, Hall & Oates produced a fantastic album that merged technology and performances better than most classic artists who embraced the technological audio achievements of the 1980s. The song “Out of Touch” was released on the Big Bam Boom album.

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# 7 – So Close

“So Close” was the highest-charting song Hall & Oates released in the 1990s. It just missed a top-10 hit, stalling at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990. The song was released on Hall & Oates‘ Change of Season album. The album was recorded so well that the audio jumps right out of the speakers, making the duo sound as if they are singing to you in your living room.

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# 6 – Kiss on My List

While the first part of our Top 10 Hall & Oates songs list may have included some lesser-known Hall & Oates songs, the following six on this list were some of the band’s most popular numbers. With the release of the Voices album in 1980, Hall & Oates began a remarkable stretch of hit singles. The great track “Kiss on My List” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks in 1981. The duo had already had a number-one hit with “Rich Girl,” but “Kiss on My List” took Hall & Oates to an entirely new level of stardom.

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# 5 – Do What You Want, Be What You Are

From that opening guitar note wrapped in those luscious strings, listeners knew they were in for something special. Daryl Hall begins to sing, John Oates joins in harmony, and we are engulfed in perfect Philly soul. It’s stunning, and it still sounds so good decades later. The song was released on the album Bigger Than Both of Us.

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# 4 – Maneater

The band Deee-Lite once sang, “Groove Is in the Heart.” This song defines groove as all that matters. That opening bass line performed by Tom Wolk killed it from the start. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 and remained there for four weeks. Imagine having a number-one record for an entire month. Nothing defines the popularity of a song more than that. The song was released on the H2O album.

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# 3 – Rich Girl

It isn’t easy to separate the order of the next three songs because these were the Hall & Oates songs that defined their popularity in the 1970s. Listening to Daryl Hall play that keyboard and sing “Rich Girl” has inspired anyone who plays and sings music.

“Rich Girl” was Hall & Oates’ first number-one record, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. The duo would score five more number-one singles over the next seven years.

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# 2 – She’s Gone

The classic Hall & Oates song “She’s Gone” was released on the duo’s second album, Abandoned Luncheonette. On its first chart run, the song reached number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100. After “Sara Smile” broke the duo into the Top 10, “She’s Gone” was reissued in 1976 and climbed to number seven. The song grew in popularity as Hall & Oates continued churning out hit after hit. Early on, fans were greeted by the beautiful harmonies the two presented while also showcasing their individual voices in separate parts of their songs. “She’s Gone” was a perfect example of their distinctiveness.

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# 1 – Sara Smile

If ever there was a song that defined the perfect blue-eyed soul masterpiece, it was Hall & Oates’s brilliant composition “Sara Smile.” Can this song get a lifetime achievement award for soulfulness? Harmonies to die for and a groove to melt your heart, “Sara Smile” is our choice for the number one position on our Top 10 Hall & Oates songs list. This is probably Daryl Hall’s greatest lead vocal of his career. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Read More: Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs

Updated August 16, 2026.

Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs article published on ClassicRockHistory.com © 2026