The 30 Best Birthday Songs

Gathering friends and family around a candlelit cake to sing “Happy Birthday to You” has been a birthday tradition in English-speaking households for over a century. In 1998, the Guinness Book of World Records even named it the most recognized song in the English language, more than a century after it was first written by sisters Mildred and Patty Smith Hill for the 1893 book titled Song Stories for the Kindergarten. 

Whether you love it or hate it, it’s safe to say the tune and its many extended versions and comedic renditions aren’t going anywhere… but it doesn’t have to be the only song that defines your big day. Artists from Lesley Gore in the ‘60s to Stevie Wonder in the ‘80s to Katy Perry in the 21st century have all completely reinvented the long-established birthday singing tradition, with new and inventive melodies of their own. 

It’s definitely a good thing that there’s such an abundance of birthday-themed music, because let’s face it — birthdays can be complex. Along with all the cake, candles, streamers and presents come bittersweet, complicated feelings about turning one year older, from nostalgia for birthdays past to unbridled terror for the future, grief for one’s youth, confusion over what to do next and total happiness at the chance to live life to the fullest for another trip around the sun. The musicians on this list were able to capture all of those hyper-specific but universally felt emotions, and then some. 

From classic tracks that will make you want to “party like it’s your birthday,” even when it’s not (a la 50 Cent), to deep cuts that have you questioning your own mortality (we’re looking at you, Sufjan Stevens’ “Happy Birthday”), check out Billboard’s ranking of the 30 best birthday songs below.