The 10 Best Heart Songs, Ranked

Heart’s career is really two remarkable careers connected by the same two voices at the center.

In the 1970s, Heart sounded like a Pacific Northwest hard-rock band with folk instincts and a deep love of Led Zeppelin. Ann Wilson could sing with enormous power, Nancy Wilson brought acoustic texture and sharp guitar work, and the band created records that were heavy without losing melody. “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You” and “Barracuda” made it clear almost immediately that Heart was not a novelty in a male-dominated rock world.

Then, in the mid-1980s, Heart reinvented itself as a polished arena-rock and MTV powerhouse. The production changed, outside songwriters became more important, and synthesizers moved forward in the mix. Instead of destroying the band’s identity, the shift produced another run of enormous hits.

That makes ranking Heart unusually difficult. Some fans want the raw 1970s band. Others came in through “Alone,” “These Dreams” and “What About Love?” The strongest list has to acknowledge both.

Here are the 10 best Heart songs, ranked.

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10. Never

Album: Heart | Released: 1985 | Songwriters: Holly Knight, Gene Black, Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson

“Never” is Heart at full mid-1980s power. The drums are huge, the guitars are polished and the chorus is designed for an arena.

What keeps the record from becoming generic is Ann Wilson. She attacks the song with the same authority she brought to the band’s heavier 1970s material, giving the glossy production real muscle.

The single reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped make the self-titled Heart album one of the biggest commercial comebacks of the decade.

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9. What About Love?

Album: Heart | Released: 1985 | Songwriters: Brian Allen, Sheron Alton, Jim Vallance

“What About Love?” was the record that announced Heart’s 1980s rebirth. The production is dramatic, the chorus is enormous, and Ann Wilson sings as if the emotional question in the title is a challenge rather than a plea.

The song had been written outside the band, but Heart made it sound natural. That became one of the keys to this era: the Wilson sisters could take material from professional songwriters and give it enough personality to become unmistakably Heart.

The single returned the band to the U.S. Top 10 and opened the door for several years of major hits.

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8. These Dreams

Album: Heart | Released: 1985 | Songwriters: Bernie Taupin, Martin Page

“These Dreams” is unusual in the Heart catalog because Nancy Wilson sings lead rather than Ann. That change gives the song a softer, dreamier quality that fits the lyric perfectly.

The arrangement is restrained by 1980s power-ballad standards. Instead of building around Ann’s vocal force, the record floats, allowing Nancy’s more delicate voice to carry it.

“These Dreams” became Heart’s first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and proved that the band’s comeback was not tied to one sound.

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7. Dog & Butterfly

Album: Dog & Butterfly | Released: 1978 | Songwriters: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis

“Dog & Butterfly” represents the acoustic side of Heart that sometimes gets overshadowed by the band’s harder songs. Nancy Wilson’s guitar work gives the track an almost folk-like foundation, while Ann sings with unusual restraint.

The metaphor is simple but effective: chasing something beautiful that may always stay just out of reach. Heart could be thunderous, but songs like this proved the group understood space and delicacy too.

It remains one of the best examples of the balance that made the 1970s albums so distinctive.

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6. Heartless

Album: Magazine | Released: 1977 | Songwriters: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson

“Heartless” is leaner and darker than many of Heart’s best-known 1970s tracks. The groove has an almost funky edge, while Ann Wilson sings with the controlled anger that became one of her signatures.

The song came from the complicated Magazine period, when contractual disputes affected the album’s release, but the performance itself is focused and tough.

It is not as famous as “Barracuda” or “Crazy on You,” yet it shows how deep the band’s early catalog really was.

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5. Magic Man

Album: Dreamboat Annie | Released: 1975 | Songwriters: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson

“Magic Man” was one of the songs that introduced Heart to a mass audience, and it still sounds like a statement of intent.

The slow, hypnotic groove gives Ann Wilson room to tell the story, while the synthesizer break and guitar work make the arrangement feel larger without losing tension.

The single became Heart’s first major U.S. hit. More importantly, it established that the band could combine hard rock, atmosphere and a female point of view without softening any of those elements.

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4. Straight On

Album: Dog & Butterfly | Released: 1978 | Songwriters: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis

“Straight On” may have the best groove in the Heart catalog. The rhythm section pushes the song with a funkier feel than the band’s earlier hits, while the Wilson sisters build a chorus that is immediately memorable.

The recording also shows how much Heart had developed by 1978. They were no longer simply the band that made Dreamboat Annie. They could move between acoustic material, hard rock and rhythm-driven songs without losing identity.

“Straight On” became another Top 20 hit and remains a standout from Dog & Butterfly.

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3. Crazy on You

Album: Dreamboat Annie | Released: 1975 | Songwriters: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson

“Crazy on You” begins with Nancy Wilson’s acoustic showcase “Silver Wheels,” then explodes into one of Heart’s greatest hard-rock performances.

The transition is essential. It captures the band’s identity in less than a minute: folk technique, acoustic beauty and then a sudden wall of electric guitars.

Ann Wilson’s vocal is astonishing, but the song is more than a vocal showcase. The arrangement keeps moving, the riff is memorable and the chorus feels both desperate and defiant.

It remains one of the defining recordings of 1970s rock.

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2. Alone

Album: Bad Animals | Released: 1987 | Songwriters: Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly

“Alone” was not written by Heart and had been recorded before the band got to it. None of that matters once Ann Wilson reaches the chorus.

The quiet opening creates the setup. The piano and restrained vocal make the song feel intimate, then the arrangement detonates. Ann’s vocal on the chorus is one of the great power-ballad performances of the decade.

The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of Heart’s most internationally recognized songs.

If this ranking were based only on vocal performance, “Alone” might be No. 1.

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1. Barracuda

Album: Little Queen | Released: 1977 | Songwriters: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Roger Fisher, Michael Derosier

“Barracuda” is the Heart song that no other band could have made in quite the same way.

The galloping guitar riff is instantly recognizable, but the anger in Ann Wilson’s vocal gives the record its real force. The song was written in reaction to an insulting publicity story that implied an incestuous relationship between Ann and Nancy. Heart turned that anger into a hard-rock anthem.

The band sounds completely locked in. Michael Derosier’s drums drive the track, the guitars bite, and Ann sings with a level of controlled fury that never becomes chaotic.

“Barracuda” also became larger than its original context. It is now one of the most recognizable guitar riffs of the 1970s and a song that still communicates defiance even if a listener knows nothing about the story behind it.

“Alone” was a bigger pop chart hit. “These Dreams” reached No. 1. “Crazy on You” may show more of the band’s musical range.

But “Barracuda” is Heart’s identity compressed into one recording: power, attitude, musicianship and the Wilson sisters refusing to be underestimated.

That makes it No. 1.

What Did We Leave Out?

“Even It Up” is the toughest omission. The 1980 single has the punch of classic Heart and features the Tower of Power horns, giving the track a different kind of power.

“Dreamboat Annie” also deserves consideration because it represents the gentler side of the debut album and became one of the band’s signature early recordings.

Other strong contenders include “Love Alive,” “Kick It Out,” “Little Queen,” “Bebe Le Strange,” “How Can I Refuse,” “Nothin’ at All,” “Who Will You Run To?” and “If Looks Could Kill.”

And yes, “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You” was a huge hit in 1990. It is excluded partly because this list already leans heavily into Heart’s second commercial era and because the Wilson sisters have never seemed especially attached to the song.

Why Heart’s Best Songs Still Work

Heart survived because the band was never built around only one thing.

Ann Wilson’s voice was the obvious weapon, but Nancy Wilson’s guitar playing, arranging instincts and vocals were equally important to the band’s range. The 1970s lineup could move from acoustic folk textures to heavy riffs. The 1980s version could take outside material and turn it into arena-rock drama.

The Wilson sisters also changed the image of women in mainstream rock. They were not simply singers placed in front of somebody else’s band. They wrote, played, arranged and led.

Most importantly, the records still sound emotionally committed. “Barracuda” sounds angry. “Alone” sounds desperate. “These Dreams” sounds fragile. “Crazy on You” sounds like it might come apart at the seams.

That emotional clarity is why the best Heart songs continue to work across generations.