Billboard is marking Pride Month 2025 with some fiery hot takes after sharing naming its 100 greatest LGBTQ+ anthems of all time.
Published on Thursday (4 June), the curated list of 100 LGBTQ+ hits spans over five decades and features icons from across the diverse and very, very gay world of music, including Elton John, Sam Smith, Lil Nas X, Bronski Beat, Tracy Chapman, and many more.
To ensure the list wasn’t just filled with every ABBA song in existence, Billboard only allowed one song per artist.
The list also showcased links on how to help fight back against homophobia in the US and beyond, including ways to push back against the overwhelming number of state-wide anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have swept the nation over the past few years.
While Billboard’s staff said it’s impossible to truly define what makes a song “gay,” it ensured concerned readers anxiously clutching their rainbow pearls that the list “definitely isn’t straight.”
“You will see many overlaps between this list and some of the best house and disco tracks that were blasted in the ballrooms, as well as transformative hits by our beloved big-voiced divas,” the article reads.
Which songs are in the Billboard’s 100 greatest LGBTQ+ anthems list?
Get your pitchforks ready, queens. Billboard’s top 100 LGBTQ+ anthems list might not match your exact opinion on the best queer hits, but it’s undeniably filled with tunes every self-respecting diva needs in their rotation.
Near the top of the list from 100 to 91 are classics like Lily Allen’s “F**k You” at 99, “Go West” by the Pet Shop Boys at 98, and, at 97, Mika’s “Grace Kelly”. “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls just missed the top 90, reaching number 91 – take that however you will.
Landing further down the list are artists like Orville Peck at 87 with “Dead of Night”, Katy Perry’s “Firework” at 84, and ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”, which, to the potential dismay of the club-going gays, made it to just 76 on the list.
Just missing the 50-and-below spot includes, P!ink’s “Raise Your Glass” at 64, Christina Aguilera’s 2002 hit “Beautiful” at 57, and Erasure’s A Little Respect at 53. At 51, just missing the halfway point, is “Untouched” by The Veronicas.
The top 50 includes a healthy mixture of modern-day hits and music legends, such as Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” at number 49.
Whitney Houston makes her mark at 45 with “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay (Thunderpuss Remix)”, while Janelle Monáe’s “Make Me Feel” lands at number 40. Of course, you couldn’t have a queer classics list without Beyoncé, who reached number 37 with “Break My Soul”.
At the sub-30s, it becomes difficult to handpick notable entries since every song is bop and then some. At 30, drag royalty makes its debut with RuPaul’s 1992 hit, “Supermodel (You Better Work)”. Purveyors of raunchy gay pop hits, Scissors Sisters and Lil Nas X, land squarely next to each other, with “Let’s Have a Kiki” landing at 23, while “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” reaches number 22.
What is the best LGBTQ+ anthem according to Billboard?
While we’ll let you discover the final nine runner-ups by taking a gander at Billboard’s list yourself, we can’t help but reveal Billboard’s number one pick for the best LGBTQ+ anthem of all time; and besides, it’s so obvious you’ve likely already guessed it.
The number one queer anthem according to Billboard’s top 100 list of LGBTQ+ hits is, of course, Lady Gaga’s 2011 hit “Born This Way”.
The artpop icon’s early 2010s hit is so iconic you’d be hardpressed to find a Pride, club, or hell even a rainbow street crossing where it isn’t being blared. Gaga’s lyrics ooze Pride, instilling the unapologetic mantra that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks; baby, you were born this way.
Billboard writes in its entry that the song was inspired by the “empowering music of the ’90s,” with Gaga telling the magazine in 2011 that she wanted to write a “freedom record” that wasn’t hidden behind “poetic wizardry and metaphors.”
Indeed she achieved this goal, with “Born This Way” becoming not just a stand-out hit, but an anthem for all the queers, closeted or otherwise, to express themselves.
The post Billboard names 100 greatest LGBTQ+ Pride anthems of all time – but who’s at number one? appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.