Best Usher Songs: Top 5 Tracks Most Recommended By Fans

Usher Raymond IV, known simply as Usher, is an American R&B icon and mainstay of hip-hop. Usher made his music debut as a teenager in 1994 with his self-titled album, but his breakthrough record “My Way” was released in 1997 and saw him rise to epic levels of stardom. With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Usher is undoubtedly a pop mega-star, having recorded eight studio albums with at least 80 hit singles. Our list of the top five best Usher tracks celebrates his greatest hits.

Born in Texas, Usher spent his formative years growing up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Showing talent as well as an intense interest in professional singing, Usher moved to Atlanta for high school where he began serious work on honing his abilities as a singer and performer. Usher allegedly had difficulty adjusting to his voice change with the onset of puberty, and this may have caused his early recording efforts to stall. Additionally, the tracks on the 1994 album “Usher” were sexually explicit, despite Usher being just 15 years old at the time of recording.

By the 2010s, Usher had firmly established himself as more than a hip-hop and R&B artist but as a pop icon, starting with a memorable halftime show with The Black Eyed Peas in 2011 at Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas. Despite co-starring in a handful of feature films, television roles, and stage productions, Usher has found the most success with his efforts as a singer. It is worth noting, however, that he is a popular coach and celebrity judge on the NBC talent show “The Voice.” Usher has continued to make music and expand his music brand, leveraging his talent for great live shows. Usher’s Las Vegas residency at Park MGM earns him a reported $37 million annually and is proof that audiences line up for his fantastic concerts.

The best Usher songs of all time are some major league bangers that slap as hard today as they did when first unleashed. Our trusted sources helped us sort through nearly three decades of songs to rank his greatest hits. Let us know your favorite Usher songs in the comments below!

This seminal dance club song is still relevant today nearly 20 years after its initial release. Anyone that has been at the club when this song comes on will attest that from the very first iconic bars, people rush to get on the dance floor. Watch Mojo raves by way of recollection, “Truly a pop song for the ages, this monster jam united crunk-tastic Lil’ Jon and the hip hop giant Ludacris. People simply lose all control when this song is played, and its enormous success led to a #2 ranking for Billboard’s most successful tracks of the decade. Lyrically, Usher sings about a shorty getting low, and Ludacris wraps up the joint with spectacular rhymes about milking cows and booty poppin.’ Few jams bring the energy like ‘Yeah!,’ which won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.”

On this day in 2004 the song "Yeah!" by #Usher featuring #LilJon & #Ludacris started a 12-week run at #1.https://t.co/D9b7LrjCph pic.twitter.com/kr4TnI2XhL

— Music Charts Archive (@ChartsArchive) February 28, 2022

“‘Peace up! A-Town down!’ That’s all you need to hear to realize one of the biggest songs of all-time is about to infest your ears. ‘Yeah!’ features three artists at the top of their game. Usher belts out the huge vocals, Ludacris drops a clever verse and Lil Jon shouts as loud as he can. The single spent 12 weeks at No.1 and sold more than four million copies in the U.S. More importantly, it had ‘the beat to make your booty go clap.’ Now, that’s an achievement,” gushes Cleveland.com.

“With a minimalist musical approach, ‘Yeah!’ became more than song. It was a global event. ‘Yeah!’ was the first time Usher incorporated crunk and R&B, which Lil Jon coined as ‘Crunk&B,’ in the composition of one of his songs. Released as the first single from ‘Confessions,’ ‘Yeah!’ became a cultural phenomenon, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 consecutive weeks selling over four million copies. Still his biggest hit to date, ‘Yeah!’ catapulted Usher into legendary status,” expounds Revolt.

“Love in this Club” is an absolute earworm of a song that is so good, it belies its own utterly absurd lyrical content. In this song Usher somehow manages to present wildly inappropriate public conduct as a genuine prelude to romance. Vulgarity aside, Tone Start praises this classic club jam, “The song features his unique epic hip hop style, with a surprisingly emotional chord progression and those signature Usher vocals that complete the song. This track is unique in that it’s a song about finding love in unexpected places and perhaps even confusing infatuation with true love.”

Midder Music adds, “When this song [plays], your body instinctively moves to [the] rhythm, and you find yourself enthusiastically singing along to each and every word. Without a doubt, ‘Love In This Club’ stands as one of Usher’s most extraordinary achievements, an indispensable addition to any… party playlist.”

The Knuckle Blog reminisces: “This was the first Usher song I truly got hooked on, which probably goes a long way to deciding why this is my favorite of his songs. But nostalgia aside, this is just a quality song about love. You know, with lots of other people watching. Young Jeezy absolutely kills his verse, but it’s Usher’s voice that carries the song. I’m tired of all this music analysis; Usher’s just awesome, and this is his best song.”

Usher’s music is sensual and highlights his signature countertenor voice and ability to hit high notes in a soft falsetto. His vocal intensity shines through in this song. Gem Tracks Resources writes of this career high-point song, “On his sixth album, [Usher] enlisted the help of hitmakers from other scenes to write songs that would sell well in other countries. Will.i.am released the first of them, ‘OMG,’ which topped the charts in over ten nations. Usher went on to collaborate on tracks with David Guetta and Romeo Santos. It was unknown how long this non-R&B high would persist. Then there was ‘Climax.’”

“Usher’s never needed a hit as badly as he did when he released ‘Climax.’ As he admitted to [songwriter] Elijah Blake, he needed to give his longtime fans something as he searched for new listeners. Compromises rarely work in that regard, but he made it work. He found a way to please both audiences,” writes Complex.

Put simply, “During a period where his music was trending more toward a pop friendly sound, Usher came back to R&B strong with the ballad ‘Climax’ which was yet another #1 R&B single,” according to You Know I Got Soul.com.

The music video for “My Way” is a celebration of dance that has admittedly not aged as well as the song itself. The music video depicts a dance battle between Usher, dressed as Alex DeLarge from “A Clockwork Orange,” and movie star/singer Tyrese Gibson dressed as himself. Singer’s Room details, “The song’s infectious beat, catchy hook, and Usher’s smooth vocals make it an instant classic of the R&B genre… The song’s upbeat tempo and infectious energy make it a perfect example of Usher’s ability to create danceable, feel-good music that still resonates with fans today.”

#Usher recreated his old album cover to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “My Way.” #MyWay pic.twitter.com/APhoCBcfw7

— The Crowd Updater (@TheCrowdUpdater) September 23, 2022

“The title track from Usher’s sophomore album was a change of pace for the R&B star. Up until that point, Usher had topped the charts with more by-the-numbers R&B. But ‘My Way’ finds him doing some Bobby Brown-style rapping and showing off a bit of attitude. The song’s video was also plastered all over MTV, back when MTV played videos,” posits Cleveland.com.

“In 1997, [Usher] shed his ‘Baby Usher’ persona by dressing himself as a candy-colored ‘Clockwork Orange’ droog for the ‘My Way’ video. Of course, the video begins with Usher bouncing around in one of those inflatable play palaces, so the transition was perhaps a little shaky,” adds Gem Tracks Resources.

By all metrics, this is the song that kicked off Usher’s career. As his first and most enduring hit, “You Make Me Wanna” tells a simple story of temptation. Cleveland.com chimes in with a fond remembrance, “It’s the song that made Usher a superstar. Hip-hop and R&B were all the rage in 1997, with artists like Puff Daddy, Mase, R. Kelly and En Vogue ruling the charts. But it was Usher who emerged as the breakout star with ‘You Make Me Wanna…’ The track made him the clear Prince of R&B.”

“With a fresh beat from Jermaine Dupri, ‘You Make Me Wanna’ introduced Usher to the world, and his equally fresh dance moves made him the next big thing in pop music. The lyrics are undeniably relatable, and the music video was destined to become an MTV sensation. And so, the legend of Usher Raymond was born,” waxes Watch Mojo.

Revolt lauds, “With its distinctive use of acoustic guitar and hi-hat in tandem with Usher’s passionate vocal performance, ‘You Make Me Wanna’ had all the ingredients necessary for an R&B classic. ‘You Make Me Wanna’ was a career-defining moment for Usher. It launched him from being moderately successful into superstardom, a place he still occupies today.”

Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations.

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