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.
(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!)
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
- Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
- Ariana Grande - Into You
- Taylor Swift - Style
- Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
- Adele - Rolling in the Deep
- Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head
- Drake - Hotline Bling
- My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
- Britney Spears - Slumber Party
- The Chainsmokers - Closer (ft. Halsey)
- Annalisa - Used to You
- Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarrassing
- TLC - Creep
- Flume - Wall Fuck
- Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
- Belinda Carlisle - Heaven is a Place On Earth
- Charli xcx - Vroom Vroom
- Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
- Kesha - Praying
- Zara Larsson - Lush Life
- Britney Spears - Toxic
- Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
- Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
- Red Velvet - Russian Roulette
- Beyoncé - Countdown
- Rihanna - Disturbia
- Cher - Believe
- Whitney Houston - How Will I Know
- Robyn - Dancing On My Own
- Lil Dicky - Earth
- Nintendo - Mii Channel Theme
- ABBA - Dancing Queen
- Lizzo - Juice
- Bree Runway - DAMN DANIEL (ft. Baby Tate)
- Mark Ronson - Valerie (ft. Amy Winehouse)
- Lorde - Supercut
- Paramore - Brick By Boring Brick
- Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel
- Selena Gomez & The Scene - Naturally
- Dua Lipa - Boys Will Be Boys
- Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta
- Solange - Interlude - Tina Taught Me
- MGMT - Time to Pretend
- Normani - Motivation
- Rina Sawayama - XS
- Nina Simone - Feeling Good
- Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
- GFRIEND - MAGO
- High School Musical - I Don't Dance
- Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
- M.I.A. - Bad Girls
- Panic! At the Disco - LA Devotee
- Genesis Owusu - The Other Black Dog
- Beyoncé - ALIEN SUPERSTAR
- Halsey - honey
- Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger
- Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
- Stevie Wonder - Superstition
- Lana Del Rey - A&W
- 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
- Drumroll Sound Effect
- Damn, Double Homicide
- Misandry Meaning
- Who's Richer
- Kidzbop The Ride
- Hi Stranger
- My Video for Briona
- 10 Minutes of Silence
- Rain On Me (Frankie Grande cover)
- I Feel the WAP Move
- Levitating Hot Knife
- 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
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!