Few artists have reshaped modern pop as thoroughly as Billie Eilish, and this guide counts down the best Billie Eilish songs across her career, from bedroom-recorded beginnings to arena-filling anthems. Ranking her catalog means weighing whisper-close vocals against orchestral swells, teenage bedroom pop against Grammy-sweeping production, and that is exactly the mix on display below. Every entry pulls from a real single or album cut, verified against her official discography, so there are no invented deep tracks padding out the list.
bad guy (2019)
This is the track that turned Billie Eilish from internet curiosity into a generational pop force, riding a warped bassline and a sneering, half-spoken vocal delivery straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Finneas built the beat around a dental drill sample and a pitched-down bass hook, proof that a hit does not need traditional instrumentation to dominate radio and playlists alike. The song swept Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2020 Grammys, cementing Eilish as the youngest artist ever to claim the show’s top categories in a single night.
bury a friend (2019)
Few pop songs commit this hard to horror-movie atmosphere, with Eilish framing the lyrics from the perspective of the monster under her own bed. The production layers dental tool sounds, distorted screams, and a menacing low end that rewards close, careful listening rather than background play. Picking the right set from this headphones comparison guide helps surface the buried textures Finneas stacked into the mix, since a lot of the detail sits in frequencies cheap speakers tend to flatten out.
everything i wanted (2019)
Written about a nightmare in which she imagined the world’s indifference to her own death, this standalone single becomes a tribute to her unbreakable bond with Finneas rather than a bleak listen. The house-influenced production stays minimal, built on soft piano and a downtempo bass pulse that lets Eilish’s hushed vocal carry every line. It won Record of the Year at the 2021 Grammys, making her the second artist ever to win that category back to back.
What Was I Made For? (2023)
Written for the Barbie soundtrack, this piano ballad strips away nearly every production flourish Eilish is known for, leaving just voice and keys to carry an existential meditation on identity and purpose. Finneas produced it with a restraint that lets the emotional weight land without manipulation, a rare feat in a film-soundtrack single built for maximum sync appeal. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Song of the Year, giving Eilish an EGOT-adjacent résumé before turning 22.
Happier Than Ever (2021)
The title track from her second album plays like two songs stitched together, opening as a delicate acoustic lament before detonating into a distorted, guitar-driven outburst that channels years of frustration. That structural gamble pays off live, where the shift from whisper to scream turns the song into a genuine arena moment rather than a studio trick. Anyone exploring the full album should browse the wider song rankings archive for more tracks that reward a full front-to-back listen.
NDA (2021)
This industrial, bass-heavy cut addresses the surveillance and paranoia that come with fame, wrapped in a beat that feels claustrophobic on purpose. Finneas layers static, distorted percussion, and shifting time signatures that keep the track from settling into a comfortable groove. It stands as one of the more sonically abrasive entries in her catalog, closer to alt-pop experimentation than radio-friendly hook writing.
Therefore I Am (2020)
Recorded mostly in isolation during 2020, this track leans into playful, talk-sung defiance aimed at critics and gossip alike, with a bassline that struts rather than broods. The video, shot solo in an empty shopping mall, matched the song’s lockdown-era detachment and became one of her most-watched visuals. It is a rare Eilish single built almost entirely around groove rather than atmosphere.
ocean eyes (2016)
The song that started everything began as a track Finneas wrote for his own band before handing it to his younger sister, who uploaded it to SoundCloud at age fourteen. Its reverb-heavy, dreamlike production hinted at the atmospheric style she would later refine across full albums. Hearing it after her later, denser work makes clear how consistent her sonic identity has been from the very beginning.
lovely (2018)
This Khalid collaboration, written for the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack, pairs two hushed, close-mic’d vocals over a sparse piano line that leaves enormous negative space in the mix. The restraint is the point, letting the melancholy of the lyrics sit in the silence between notes rather than being underlined by dramatic instrumentation. On a good pair from this earbuds comparison guide, the interplay between the two voices becomes far more three-dimensional than casual phone-speaker listening allows.
when the party’s over (2018)
Built around a single piano chord progression and layers of Eilish’s own harmonized vocals, this ballad shows how much emotional weight she can generate with almost no percussion at all. The production, once again handled by Finneas, uses pitch-shifted backing vocals to create an eerie choir effect that still sounds unsettling years later. It remains one of the clearest demonstrations of her range outside the bass-heavy material she is often associated with.
You Should See Me in a Crown (2019)
Inspired by a Sherlock Holmes villain, this track trades melody for menace, built on a stuttering beat and a vocal performance that stays coiled and controlled until it snaps. The minimalist arrangement, mostly percussion and bass with almost no traditional harmonic instrumentation, gives the song a stalking, predatory momentum. It became a fan-favorite deep cut long before streaming numbers caught up to its reputation.
bellyache (2017)
Told from the perspective of a killer racked with guilt, this early single pairs finger-snapped percussion with jazzy chord voicings that feel almost playful against the dark subject matter. That tension between cheerful arrangement and grim lyricism became a defining trait of her songwriting long before it was widely recognized as a signature move. It also showcases Eilish’s ability to hold a conversational, almost spoken-word cadence over a full pop structure.
idontwannabeyouanymore (2017)
A stripped-back piano ballad about self-image and internalized criticism, this track leans almost entirely on vocal performance, with Eilish’s voice cracking and swelling in ways that feel unrehearsed. Finneas keeps the arrangement sparse enough that every breath and vocal imperfection stays audible, a deliberate choice that adds to the song’s rawness. It remains one of the most covered tracks from her early catalog among aspiring vocalists.
wish you were gay (2019)
Originally written about unrequited feelings, this song wraps a doo-wop-influenced chord progression around lyrics that self-deprecatingly reframe rejection as something almost funny. The old-school harmonic structure is a deliberate contrast to the trap-influenced production found elsewhere on the same album, showing range within a single tracklist. Eilish later clarified the song’s intent after some listeners misread its title, adding useful context to how the lyrics should land.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER (2024)
The breakout single from Hit Me Hard and Soft blends baroque-pop strings with new wave synth textures, building toward a soaring chorus that made it the most-streamed song on Spotify in 2024. It earned nominations for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 2025 Grammys and spent thirty weeks atop the Hot Rock and Alternative Songs chart. Live, it has become a centerpiece moment, performed everywhere from the Grammy stage to the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
CHIHIRO (2024)
Named after the protagonist of Spirited Away, this cut opens with a slow-burning house groove before shifting into a driving four-on-the-floor pulse that feels closer to club music than anything on her earlier records. Finneas’ production layers filtered synths that build and release tension across nearly five minutes, a rare instance of Eilish stretching a song’s runtime for atmosphere rather than hooks. It debuted at number twelve on the Hot 100, the album’s second-highest charting entry after Birds of a Feather.
LUNCH (2024)
A confident, groove-driven track about desire, this song marked Eilish’s highest-ever Hot 100 debut at number five and stands as one of the most overtly danceable moments in her catalog. The bassline and rhythm section take center stage here, a shift from the atmospheric restraint of her earlier work toward something built for movement. Its directness signaled a new comfort in her songwriting, less coded than the veiled references found on previous albums.
WILDFLOWER (2024)
This gentle, acoustic-leaning ballad addresses the complicated emotions of loving someone with a complicated past, delivered with a conversational, almost diary-entry intimacy. The arrangement favors warm guitar tones over the icy synths found elsewhere on the album, giving the song a different sonic palette from its Hit Me Hard and Soft neighbors. It is a strong example of Eilish’s continued strength as a lyricist willing to sit inside discomfort rather than resolve it neatly.
L’AMOUR DE MA VIE (2024)
Structurally, this is one of the boldest songs in her discography, opening as a heartbreak ballad before pivoting midway into a pitch-shifted, vocoder-heavy dance section that feels almost like a different track entirely. That extended dance edit earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Dance Recording, recognition for a production choice that could easily have alienated listeners but instead became a highlight. The shift rewards patience and works especially well as a headphone listen where the transition hits with full impact.
THE GREATEST (2024)
Building from a restrained verse into a massive, guitar-driven climax, this track showcases the vocal power Eilish has increasingly leaned into on her more recent material. The dynamic range between the hushed opening and the explosive final chorus mirrors the structural trick used on Happier Than Ever, but with a different emotional target, frustration at being taken for granted. It closes out this ranking as proof that her songwriting continues to evolve rather than repeat itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Billie Eilish’s most successful song commercially?
Bad guy remains her most iconic commercial breakthrough, hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and sweeping the top Grammy categories in 2020, though Birds of a Feather has since become her most-streamed track worldwide.
Does Billie Eilish write her own songs?
Yes, she co-writes nearly all of her material with her brother Finneas O’Connell, who also produces the vast majority of her catalog from his home studio.
Which Billie Eilish album is considered her best?
Opinions vary, but Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024) received widespread critical acclaim and seven Grammy nominations, while When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019) remains the fan favorite for launching her career.
Has Billie Eilish won an Academy Award?
Yes, What Was I Made For?, written for the Barbie soundtrack, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and also took home Grammy Song of the Year.
What genre best describes Billie Eilish’s music?
Her catalog spans alt-pop, electropop, dark pop, and baroque pop, often shifting genre within a single album or even a single song, as heard on tracks like L’Amour de Ma Vie.