Home Music Music Lists

The 20 Best Billie Eilish Songs

Few artists in the past decade have changed the pop landscape like Billie — and here are the highlights from her already-historic run

Rachel Luna/FilmMagic; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Koury Angelo/Getty Images

Over just three releases, Billie Eilish has blazed a new path in pop music that so many others are already following. Sometimes dark and ambient, other times classically jazzy, she’s a tour de force of doing whatever the hell you want while still keeping it catchy. Her second studio album, Happier Than Ever, proved how capable she was maturing her music (which she makes with co-writer, producer, and big brother Finneas) without losing sight of who she is at her core.

Now, to celebrate the start of her massive Happier Than Ever US tour, we’ve ranked the 20 best Billie Eilish songs.

From Rolling Stone US

Play video

Sacha Lecca

4

‘Oxytocin’

On this slinky little techno bop, Eilish pays tribute to the hormone released during sex and childbirth, wondering coyly “What would people say … if they listen through the wall?” The dark and clubby track evokes Nine Inch Nails and Crystal Castles, letting the singer fly her freak flag. “Honestly, the images I have for ‘Oxytocin’ were just sex,” she told The Guardian. “That’s it. All different kinds, and styles, and colors, and locations. That’s really what was in my head. Sex.” —B.S.

Play video
3

‘Your Power’

It starts inconspicuously enough, with some campfire strumming and a simple, seven-note melody. Then Billie descends. Doubling the acoustic guitar in a voice so high, so pure, so otherworldly, and so completely, unbearably, impossibly sad, she puts you on the cusp of tears before the first chorus is through. That’s when she slips in the stiletto. “How dare you? And how could you?” she asks. “I thought that I was special. You made me feel like it was my fault you were the devil.” It’s a brutal accusation, coming from an angel’s throat. —N.S.

Play video
2

‘Bad Guy’

Once in a generation, a great artist comes out of nowhere to step up to the microphone, and declare, “Duuuuh!” “Bad Guy” was the hit that introduced Billie Eilish to the world, a self-proclaimed “annoying 16-year-old” who turned out to be a genius singer and songwriter. She half-whispers, half-threatens her manifesto: “I’m the bad type, make your mama sad type/Make your girlfriend mad type/Might seduce your dad type.” But she refuses to tone down any of her essential weirdness — she even begins by taking out her Invisalign. “Bad Guy” was the perfect breakthrough hit for Billie: She demands that you pay attention, but demands that you do it on her terms. Because she’s the bad guy. Duh. —R.S.

Play video
1

‘Happier Than Ever’

The title track of Eilish’s sophomore album comes in like a lamb and goes out like a whole pack of lions. Inspired by the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” “Happier Than Ever” is split into two very different halves. The first two and a half minutes are a folky, emo ballad where she reflects on how much happier she is without a neglectful partner. By the back half, she’s gone electric, screaming at the top of her lungs “I’d never treat me this shitty/You made me hate the city.” It’s pure angst and a departure for the usually cool-headed singer-songwriter, now flexing some of that Green Day fandom that molded her early taste in music. —B.S.