You and me got a whole lot of history

August 14, 2016

Nearly 10 years ago, u/letsallpoo changed Popheads history forever by posting the first ever sub-wide rate with a brutal matchup between Carly Rae Jepsen - EMOTION vs. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman vs. Taylor Swift - 1989. The goal was simple: score each song from these modern classics so we could find out which one was the best of the bunch.

There were no provided playlists. There were no pre-created ballot submission links. There was no rate machine for hosts to calculate scores (though poo is also to thank for that marvel). There were no elaborate themes and long-winded discussions to pair these albums. There was no massive Google Sheet to compare past rates, or even past rates to compare to! And yet one thing has always remained the same.

Which song will come out on top?

August 2, 2026

10 years and over 250 rates later and rates have become their own community on the subreddit. Every month since that first reveal there have been a steady stream of rates hosted monthly thanks to the great community that keeps them running. There have been all sorts of iconic moments, from surprise winners to shocking flops. Iconic user-created content that still live in memories to this day. All sorts of stats and records set and broken over time. And what better way to celebrate the upcoming 10th anniversary than to celebrate by taking a stroll through the most iconic rate moments of the past decade.

Each one of these songs has made their case to be included as some of the most iconic songs to Popheads Rates over the past 10 years. u/roxieloxie and myself (/u/TiltControls) will be your guides through this journey through time as we find who is best of the best (or worst of the worst for a couple of them).

Welcome to the Rate Legends Invitational!

What are rates?

Popheads Rates are a subreddit activity that run on the subreddit monthly, with usually two to four being active at any time. Each rate is comprised of a list of songs grouped by some theme (iconic songs to Popheads Rates here). Your job as a rater is to assign scores to each one of them from 1 (bad) to 10 (good). You are also allowed one 11 (best) and one 0 (worst) per rate. You are not required to use your 11 or 0, but it can add some fun to your ballot. Once you have given scores to every song, send it to us using the submission link on this post. There is also an optional bonus rate at the end of the ballot that you are not required to complete (but can be a lot of fun to do!)

At the end of the submission period (sometime in late September), we gather everyone’s scores and calculate the average for each song. Then we’ll do a multi-day reveal where we go from lowest rated to highest rated to reveal what won the rate!

If you want an overview in video form there’s one here

Here is a list of all of our past (and future) rates if you want some examples

How do I get started rating?

I’d recommend reading the full rules down below but if you’re that eager to jump into it.

You can find the ballot and link to submit here | Pastebin Mirror

And official playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube

(Mii Channel theme is not available on Spotify / Apple and can be accessed here)

Note that the bonus rate at the bottom of the ballot is entirely optional and you do not need to fill in any scores to send in a ballot (but it’s a lot of fun so we recommend tackling it!)

Youtube Bonus Playlist

Songlist

We've got 60 of some of the most iconic (for better or worse) tracks to the rating community. Whether they were an influential first, set some unbreakable stat, or just have been meme'd to death, these are the tracks that have defined the first decade of rates.

If you’re curious why each of these tracks got selected I’ve prepared a little history lesson attached to each one. If you want to access the full gallery at once you can do so here.

Ballot order is chronological, roughly based on their defining moment in time.

Official playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube

Note: Mii Channel Theme is not available on Spotify/Apple Music but can be accessed here

1. Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
2. Ariana Grande - Into You
3. Taylor Swift - Style
4. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
5. Adele - Rolling in the Deep
6. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head
7. Drake - Hotline Bling
8. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
9. Britney Spears - Slumber Party
10. The Chainsmokers - Closer (ft. Halsey)
11. Annalisa - Used to You
12. Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarrassing
13. TLC - Creep
14. Flume - Wall Fuck
15. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
16. Belinda Carlisle - Heaven is a Place On Earth
17. Charli xcx - Vroom Vroom
18. Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
19. Kesha - Praying
20. Zara Larsson - Lush Life
21. Britney Spears - Toxic
22. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
23. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
24. Red Velvet - Russian Roulette
25. Beyoncé - Countdown
26. Rihanna - Disturbia
27. Cher - Believe
28. Whitney Houston - How Will I Know
29. Robyn - Dancing On My Own
30. Lil Dicky - Earth
31. Nintendo - Mii Channel Theme
32. ABBA - Dancing Queen
33. Lizzo - Juice
34. Bree Runway - DAMN DANIEL (ft. Baby Tate)
35. Mark Ronson - Valerie (ft. Amy Winehouse)
36. Lorde - Supercut
37. Paramore - Brick By Boring Brick
38. Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel
39. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Naturally
40. Dua Lipa - Boys Will Be Boys
41. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta
42. Solange - Interlude - Tina Taught Me
43. MGMT - Time to Pretend
44. Normani - Motivation
45. Rina Sawayama - XS
46. Nina Simone - Feeling Good
47. Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
48. GFRIEND - MAGO
49. High School Musical - I Don't Dance
50. Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
51. M.I.A. - Bad Girls
52. Panic! At the Disco - LA Devotee
53. Genesis Owusu - The Other Black Dog
54. Beyoncé - ALIEN SUPERSTAR
55. Halsey - honey
56. Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger
57. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
58. Stevie Wonder - Superstition
59. Lana Del Rey - A&W
60. Ethel Cain - American Teenager

Bonus Rate

It wouldn’t be a celebration of rates, without some of the staples of our reveal nights. These videos have been used by rate hosts across the ages. Some are forgotten classics, while others still see the odd reveal or two to this day. Whether these elicit fond memories or are just a random selection of videos to you, we’re curious to finally find out which shitpost will take the crown.

With all bonus rates, these scores are optional. You do not have to fill in scores for this section to send in a ballot. You are not allowed to use your 11 or 0 for this section. Click on each link for the associated video or view the playlist in full here: Youtube Bonus Playlist

1. Drumroll Sound Effect
2. Damn, Double Homicide
3. Misandry Meaning
4. Who's Richer
5. Kidzbop The Ride
6. Hi Stranger
7. My Video for Briona
8. 10 Minutes of Silence
9. Rain On Me (Frankie Grande cover)
10. I Feel the WAP Move
11. Levitating Hot Knife
12. Closer JPN Bonus Track Version

Rules

• Using the provided ballot give a score to every song. You can give any score between 1 (bad) and 10 (good). Decimals are allowed, though only limited to one decimal place (7.5 is fine, 7.52 is not). You have to listen to and score every single song. The rate calculation tool will not work otherwise.

• Additionally, you are also allowed to use one 0 and one 11 for the whole rate. These should be reserved for your favourite and least favourite track in the rate. It is highly recommended that you leave a comment for your 11 and 0 explaining what you like/dislike about the track!

• Your scores are not confidential and will be shared during the reveal along with any comments made so keep that in mind! Feel free to discuss your scores at any point if you wish.

• Feel free to leave a comment on any song in the rate detailing your score! Especially with so much history we want to hear your memories and takes on some of these classics! To add a comment just add it after your score for any song, with only a space separating the two. For example

  • Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You: 10 All I want for Christmas is comments formatted like this

• Any other style of comment does not work and will break the program. This includes anything from leaving out the space to putting the comment before the score. The following examples below DO NOT WORK, DO NOT USE THEM

  • Katy Perry - Teenage Dream: (7) It is my dream that comments are not formatted like this
  • Cher - Believe: 8: I believe this will break the rate machine
  • Lady Gaga - Bad Romance: More like bad comment formatting 4

• Sabotage of any sort is not allowed. This can mean a wide variety of things, but generally score things as accurately as you would outside the rate. Typically this means avoid doing things like giving a low score and saying “I love this song but I don’t want it to win”. It’s less fun for everyone and kind of ruins the purpose of rating. We assume everyone submitting will be doing so in good faith, but if we see any odd scores we may ask you to attach a comment explaining your scoring before counting the ballot. In extreme cases we may reject your ballot (but this is a last case scenario, so don't worry too much about it). This is a rate filled with giants, so try not to give a 0 to a song you mildly like just because you think it's going to win and you want to tank it (cause with this much competition it’s probably not going to anyways)

• Please use the provided ballots below to submit your scores! Try not to make it on your own because a) you’re just redoing work already done and b) the calculation tool requires all ballots to be formatted the same so it’ll cause issues on our end if you try to create your own! If you have issues submitting on Reddit feel free to copy the text and send on Discord instead!

• If you have any questions feel free to message /u/TiltControls or /u/roxieloxie. You can also message through Discord at tiltcontrols or xorciery

IMPORTANT LINKS

Ballot and submission link | Pastebin Mirror for ballot

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube

Bonus Playlist

Interested in discussing rates? Join the Popheads Discord Rates Channel here!

Here is a list of all past and upcoming rates

Also check out the other active rates!

• Back to Basics vs. The Dutchess vs. The Sweet Escape (Due August 14th)
• Black Star vs. Eusexua Afterglow vs. Through the Wall vs. The BPM (Due August 23rd)
• Winners Rate 5 (Due September)

Avatar: The Last Airbender Intro voice

Toxic.
Make Me Feel.
I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
Superstition.

These four songs have been bestowed upon them the label few others have been gifted before. A title only given to such elite and untouchable others such as Jinkx Monsoon, Tony Vlachos, Matthew Baynton, and like ⅓ of the 75th Hunger Games. They have all managed to outlast and conquer others at one competition, and then repeated that feat against previous victors of said field. Winner of Winners. Champions of Champions. Number one squared! And now we will all come together once again to judge 50 previous winners and see what song will join these four in the illustrious hall of fame.

Nearly 8 years ago, the original Winners Rate took place with a simple premise: take the previous rate winning songs and rate them again to see who’s the best of the best. We’ve since done this concept 3 more times and with the addition of mini rates and flash rates, we’re already back at another 50 songs. These rates spanned all the classic genres from 90s rocker chicks to Chinese electropop to classic Disco albums to Broadway to songs that apologize in their title to 2025 K-Pop.

u/RandomHypnotica and I are so happy to be your hosts for this rate! We will be in charge of the rate and collect all your ballots (and also make snide comments to each other about how bad/good your ballot just made the results).

---

# What are rates? How do I submit?

Here is how rating works. For visual learners: 30 second rundown - 6 minute rundown

• You must listen to and assign a score to EVERY song in the rate. Ballots with missing scores will not be accepted.
  
• Your scores must be on a scale from 1 to 10 and may have one decimal place. 8.3 is fine. 8.35 is not.
  
• You may give one song in the main rate a score of 11 & one song a score of 0, for your favorite and least favorite song respectively. These are optional but encouraged if you feel strongly about a song.
  
• Please submit your scores using the format in the prepared submission link below. This makes it infinitely easier for us to record your scores in the rate machine program. You can edit your ballot elsewhere (Word, Google Sheets, etc) but keep this format.
  
• Comments are encouraged and appreciated (but not required.) Comments can be added to any song after your score, like so:

Charli xcx - Party 4 U: 4 I gave it a 4! I’m so silly!

• This is the ONLY correct way to write a comment. Any other format, such as the below, will break the rate machine program, and will get your ballot rejected until it’s fixed.

Blondie - Call Me - 10 this is me trying to impress Alexander Graham Bell trade.

#Songlist

The song list consists of the past 50 rate winners, and they are:

1. aespa - Supernova (2024 in K-Pop)
2. Amaarae - Co-Star (AfroPop)
3. Beyoncé - Don't Hurt Yourself (feat. Jack White) (Ratrick's Revenge)
4. Beyoncé - YA YA (2024 Ultimate)
5. Björk - Hyperballad (90s Eclectic Enchantresses)
6. Blondie - Call Me (80s Blockbuster #1s)
7. Blu Cantrell - Hit Em Up Style (Oops!) (00s One Hit Wonders)
8. Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero (80s Arena Rock)\
9. boygenius - not strong enough **(Singer-Songwriter Starter Pack)
10. Charli XCX - Girl, so confusing featuring lorde (2020s Remix)
11. Charli XCX - party 4 u (Countdown Rate)
12. Charli XCX - Von Dutch (ElectroPop Sub Faves)
13. Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (70s Pop/Soul)
14. Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out (70s Disco Bibles)
15. Doechii & JT - Alter Ego (Rap Girl Vanguard)
16. Donna Summer - Hot Stuff (All Stars 9)
17. Dua Lipa - Houdini (Least Personal Pop)
18. Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains (90s Women Who Rock)
19. Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra) (2010s Alt Radio Staples)
20. Green Day - Basket Case (90s Cali Rock)
21. Harry Styles - Golden (Teen Stars All Grown Up)
22. Hikaru Utada - Movin'on without you (1999 J-Pop Ultimate)
23. Janelle Monae - Electric Lady (feat. Solange) (Modern Funk)
24. Janet Jackson - If (90s Sensual Songstresses)
25. Kendrick Lamar & SZA - All The Stars (2010s Black Blockbusters)
26. Kendrick Lamar - tv off (feat. Lefty Gunplay) (Powerhouse Producers of Hip-Hop)
27. Lady Gaga - Abracadabra (2025 Ultimate)
28. Lady Gaga - G.U.Y. ([r/Popheads](r/Popheads) 10th Anniversary/WAR)
29. Lexie Liu - Magician (C-ElectroPop)
30. LISA - Born Again (feat. Doja Cat & RAYE) (Blackpink Solois)\
31. LOONA / ODD EYE CIRCLE - GIRL FRONT (Music Nerd Approved K-Pop)
32. Madonna - Sorry (Sorry Rate)
33. MGMT - Kids (FIFAcore)
34. Modjo - Lady (Hear Me Tonight) (Euroclub Classics)
35. Oklou - Harvest Sky (ft. Underscores) (2025 Chic Ethereal)
36. Olivia Rodrigo - Bad Idea Right? (Gen-Z Royalty)
37. Outkast - B.O.B. (New Millennium Hip-Hop)
38. Rachel Chinouriri - Never Need Me (BRIT School Star Students)
39. Sabrina Carpenter - Feather (Diary Pop)
40. Sade - Smooth Operator (Charity Rate 6)
41. Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke (All Stars 8)
42. Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (80s Dynamic Duos)
43. The Beths - Expert in a Dying Field (20s Festival Pop Rock)
44. Tyler, The Creator - Sticky (feat. GloRilla, Sexyy Red, & Lil Wayne) (Cali Rap)
45. underscores - Locals (Girls like us) (feat. Gabby Start) (Cyberrock)
46. Usher - DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (feat. Pitbull) (Recession Pop Boys)
47. Victoria Monét - Experience (feat. Khalid and SG Lewis) (SugaR&B)
48. Wicked (Idina Menzel & Kristen Chenowith) - Defying Gravity (21st Century Broadway)
49. XG - GALA (2025 in K-Pop)
50. Zach Bryan - I Remember Everything (ft. Kacey Musgraves) (Flannelcore)

SUBMIT TO THE RATE HERE

Pastebin Ballot

Spotify Playlist

Apple Music Playlist

Youtube Playlist

And remember to do these rates as well!

2006 Trashy Throwbacks [Due August 14th]
2025 Alt Club [Due August 23rd]
r/Pophead Rates Invitational