Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs

Photo: Rama / CC BY-SA 2.0 FR (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en)

Our Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs list looks back at the very short career of a singer who showed incredible potential to become one of the biggest stars of all time. First and foremost, this list of Amy Winehouse songs is a tribute to one of our favorite artists of all time. It looks at our favorite Amy Winehouse songs and shares our feelings about them, with a little helpful information about each song and album. Of course, there are so many more great ones, and everyone has their own favorites, but top 10 lists are all about choices, and that is also what makes them fun to do and read. We hope you enjoy this list of the Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs. It was both fun and sad to compose for reasons we do not have to explain.

# 10 – “Amy Amy Amy”

We open our Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs list with a track from her debut album, entitled Frank. The album was released in 2003. The song’s opening primal drum groove, infused with a jazz snarl, creates a sense of wonderment about which direction the music is heading. The moment Amy Winehouse begins to sing with her incredibly floating melodic vocal line, the listener is instantly taken prisoner. Within moments, the desire to escape becomes apparent, and the allure of Amy Winehouse’s charm captures the listener forever. That is the way to open a top 10 list of Amy Winehouse songs.

# 9 – “Love Is a Losing Game”

Continuing with our Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs list, we turn straight to her groundbreaking musical gem of an album entitled Back to Black. If you close your eyes while listening to this song, you can easily be transported back to the 1960s, as this momentous recording breathes the sixties. That is a compliment of the highest order, as we feel the sixties was the most significant musical decade of all time. The song “Love Is a Losing Game” was written solely by Amy Winehouse. From a lyrical and musical standpoint, it defines who Amy was almost more than any of her other songs. It is a poignant display of the pain she endured in her many relationships. It is as genuine as it gets. It is one of the most relatable songs we have ever heard.

# 8 – “Valerie”

The song “Valerie” has traveled many roads. The Zutons originally released the song in 2006. Amy Winehouse later recorded it with Mark Ronson for his album Version. Her recording was also added as a bonus track to the deluxe edition of Back to Black. The song was a massive hit in England, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. The first version presented here is from the Amy Winehouse live DVD release I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London. The second is the promotional video for Mark Ronson’s recording featuring Amy Winehouse.

# 7 – “F**k Me Pumps”

Leave it to Amy Winehouse to take a pop culture saying and turn it into a dynamic R&B song that oozes groove. This great track was released on her first album, entitled Frank. Amy Winehouse and Salaam Remi wrote the song. It was the album’s fourth single, released in August 2004, ten months after the album was initially released in October 2003. The single was released as a clean edit. Otherwise, you would not have heard this one played on the radio.

# 6 – “Stronger Than Me”

“Stronger Than Me” was the first single ever released by Amy Winehouse. The song also served as the opening track on her debut album, entitled Frank. The song broke into the Top 100 in the UK, peaking at number 71. Amy looks much different in this video when compared with the look she would develop over the next couple of years. Her trademark long eyelashes are absent. Yet Amy’s vocals are spot-on, and her performance clearly showcases the tremendous talent that would soon be discovered by a much wider audience.

# 5 – “Back to Black”

We return to the Back to Black album as we settle into the second half of this Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs list. This record has so many great songs that we could easily have filled the entire top 10 with songs from the Back to Black album. The album’s excellent title track, “Back to Black,” is presented here. Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse wrote the song. “Back to Black” was released as the album’s third single. It was a Top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at number eight. It reached number three in Austria and number one in Greece.

# 4 – “Body and Soul” with Tony Bennett

As I was writing this piece, it became more complicated. While reviewing each song and watching these extraordinary performances, the loss of such an extraordinary human being felt so unfair. Watching this video of Amy Winehouse performing with Tony Bennett hit home. As Amy stood alongside Tony Bennett, one could see how happy she seemed to be singing with such a legendary talent from an era that inspired her songwriting and vocal style.

This was a performance by two old souls with almost a sixty-year age difference that did not matter. I could not help but think that if Amy had surrounded herself more with artists like Tony Bennett and other accomplished, mature adult musicians, she might have made better choices or at least been better protected. You can get a sense of that from this video. Just a thought, just a wish.

# 3 – “Rehab”

It seems fitting to go from our thoughts on Amy and her work with Tony Bennett to this next song. “Rehab” was a song many people saw and heard as just a song, but in the end, it was far more. This was Amy’s statement that she did not want help. Most people heard this song for the first time and thought, “Wow, this is great.” We did, too. It is such a brilliant piece of music. The vibe is so Stax and Motown sounding, yet incredibly original, just like so much of Amy’s work. However, listening to “Rehab” since Amy passed away is an entirely different experience from listening to it when she was alive. “Rehab” was released on her album Back to Black.

# 2 – “You Know I’m No Good”

While “Rehab” was the first single released in the UK from the Back to Black album, “You Know I’m No Good” was the first single released in the United States. The song reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK R&B chart. In the United States, it reached number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart.

# 1 – “Tears Dry on Their Own”

The first time we ever heard this song, we instantly fell in love with it. It may not have been Amy Winehouse’s biggest hit, but what a killer song. This was another great Amy Winehouse song that sounded like it was written in the mid-1960s. Full of soul in its rhythmic sense, what captivated us most was the soaring melody line and kicking chorus. This is as good as it gets in pop music. We will never get tired of listening to this fabulous song. Of course, we will never tire of listening to Amy Winehouse. She lives on.