Photo: By Raph_PH (HallOatesO2281017-36) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Hall & Oates released their first album in 1972 entitled Whole Oates
. The album Whole Oates
did not chart. However, with their second album, Abandoned Luncheonette, in 1973, the world was introduced to the sound of Hall & Oates via the mega-hit single “She’s Gone.” With that one song, the legacy of Hall & Oates‘ musical career was born.
Hall & Oates followed up the successful Abandoned Luncheonette
album 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 album Hall & Oates released made it to the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard album charts. Three of their albums reached the top 10. Nine albums in ten years, reaching the US Billboard Hot 100 Albums chart, is one of the most successful feats completed by any musical artist of the 20th century.
After their ten-year run with RCA Records, Hall & Oates signed with Arista Records. The duo released six more albums for Arista Records. Their last studio album was released in 2006 and is entitled Home For Christmas.
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 break-up 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 records released after Do It For Love 
was released in 2003 were a covers album and a holiday album. It’s been too long since Hall & Oates have released an album together. The two have released solo albums, but Home for Christmas
in 2006 was the last Hall & Oates album. One listen to the great Hall & Oates album Do It For Love 
and the great track “Someday We’ll Know,” will further the argument that these two should still be releasing records together.
# 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 being a top 10 hit as it stalled 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.
Read More: Top 10 Hall & Oates Album Covers
# 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 ten-year stretch in which the duo had over 20 top 40 hits on the U.S. Hot 100. The great track “Kiss in My List” reached all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song stayed at number one for almost a month in 1980. The band had already had a number-one hit with “Rich Girl,” but “Kiss On My List” took the duo to an entirely new level of stardom.
Read More: Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs With Lead Vocals By John Oates
# 5 – Do What You Want But Be Who 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 forty-something years later. The song was released on the album Bigger Than Both Of Us.
Read More: Complete List Of Hall & Oates Albums And Discography
# 4 – Maneater
The band Dee 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 lasted a month. 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.
Read More: Top 10 Hall & Oates Love Songs
# 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 have five more number-one records over the next fifteen years.
Read More: Top 10 Hall & Oates Albums
# 2 – She’s Gone
The classic Hall & Oates song “She’s Gone” was released on the band’s second album, Abandoned Luncheonette. It was the duo’s first hit and the first Hall & Oates song to reach the Billboard Top 100. The song grew in popularity over the years as the group continued churning out hit after hit. Early on, fans were greeted with the beautiful harmonies that the two presented fans while at the same time showcasing their own individual voices in separate parts of their songs. “She’s Gone” was a perfect example of the distinctiveness between the two.
Read More: 10 Biggest Hall & Oates Hits
# 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 February,16 2025
Top 10 Hall & Oates Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2025
Having been introduced to Hall and Oates by an independent/local record store owner, during the early 1970s, one selection he played on his high-end stereo system, that got my attention (In the days when you could hang out in a record store, and discover gems from all genres of music), and is still one of my favorites (of all artists), is “Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)” from the “Abandoned Luncheonette” album.
The breezy, smooth, and jazzy feel to the song, along with outstanding harmonies, and a killer sax solo, still resonates today, almost 50 years on.