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Some of music's biggest hits have been written about real people! Join us as we explore legendary tracks that immortalize celebrities, lovers, and icons through song. From heartbreak ballads to fierce diss tracks, these compositions reveal the personal stories behind the music we love most.
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00:00Hey Jude, don't be afraid. You were made to go out and get lost.
00:12Welcome to WatchMojo! And today, we're counting down our picks for the most successful songs
00:18that are about celebrity subject matter.
00:20You can go your own way, go your own way.
00:2730. Diamonds and Rust
00:33As a revered artist in her own right, Joan Baez was one of the guiding lights of the 1960s
00:39folk movement.
00:40Well, I'll be damned, here comes your ghost again, but that's not unusual.
00:51She's also forever intertwined with Bob Dylan's legacy. Diamonds and Rust finds the singer looking
00:57back at their relationship, taking in the complications of it all.
01:01Well, you burst on the scene already a legend, the unwashed phenomenon.
01:11Baez weaves together intricate words about Dylan's highs and lows. With her folk sensibilities,
01:18the moving work feels like a cathartic examination of the affair.
01:22The answer, my friend
01:24This was partly prompted after the blowing in the wind icon surprised her with a phone call. From the
01:37haunting beginning to the poetic details, the performer guides listeners through a series of
01:42heartbreaking memories. Number 29, Silver Springs, Fleetwood Mac.
01:48In many of the songs, Fleetwood Mac hashes out their interpersonal baggage.
01:52Silver Springs is one where Stevie Nicks discusses her feelings about Lindsey Buckingham. The two
02:14came to the band together, but ended their romance during one of the act's most successful periods.
02:20Nick sings through her complex emotions, focusing on Buckingham and their failed partnership.
02:36It wouldn't be the first or last time they sang about each other either, during their heyday.
02:40It must have been extremely awkward to perform this while standing next to each other.
02:45I'm best to spell on you, but you won't forget me.
02:52To their credit, the artists continued to work together for many years despite the internal drama.
02:58Number 28, O Yoko, John Lennon. Years before he released his second album,
03:05Imagine, this singer famously married artist Yoko Ono. This song goes to great lengths to
03:11immortalize the couple's relationship. It's a hopelessly romantic number, following John Lennon's
03:16thoughts about his wife. In the middle of the night. In the middle of the night, I call your name.
03:27Each verse finds him wondering about his love in blissful and seemingly ordinary moments. After
03:33adding up Lennon's thoughtful words, you realize just how serious he was about Ono.
03:38O Yoko is a light and breezy song, but with an intensity burning underneath. It's both a direct
03:54and meaningful statement that signifies a deep love between the pair.
04:03Number 27, Fix You, Coldplay. On a long list of hits. This one stands out as one of Coldplay's
04:11strongest ballads. Even if you don't love the pop group, you can feel soothed by this number.
04:17When you try your best, but you don't succeed. When you get what you want, but not what you need.
04:29Singer Chris Martin wrote it for the band's third album, X and Y. On a personal level,
04:34the frontman crafted it as a way to help his grieving wife, Gwyneth Paltrow. The actress,
04:39lost her father, and her musical then-partner created a way to process the death.
04:44I will try to fix you.
04:51Using his skill as a songwriter, the artist makes it sound both intimate and universal all at once.
04:57The bridge, in particular, captures the moment where you lean into the sadness and let the tears fly.
05:03See a stream above your face. When you lose something you cannot face.
05:15Number 26, I Knew You Were Trouble. Taylor Swift. For her hit album, Red, Taylor Swift tried out a
05:22more pop-heavy sound. She also spilled the tea about certain relationships, with Harry Styles becoming
05:28the focus of the song. Swift later mentioned how I Knew You Were Trouble detailed her thoughts about
05:34the former One Direction star. It was a bold rundown of their allegedly rocky pairing, hinting
05:51at the troubled affair in detail. You don't need your imagination after you hear the performer's lyrics
05:56and tone. The fiery vocals aren't all directed at Styles, either, with the artist taking some blame
06:11for what went down. She ultimately channels a mix of strong emotions into this mega-single.
06:17And the saddest fear comes creeping in that you never loved me or her.
06:26Number 25, You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette. At this point, most people believe this one is
06:33about Dave Coulier. I'm here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away.
06:43The Full House star and Alanis Morissette dated before the release of Jagged Little Pill.
06:48After hearing some of the explicit lyrics, Coulier thought it sounded too close to home.
06:59Morissette's rock diss has not lost any of its edge, either. While the singer might be coy about
07:05its origins, You Oughta Know does contain references to a relationship gone wrong. Certain specifics,
07:12like interrupting dinner plans, could be just the tip of the iceberg.
07:25While the comedian might not be the target of every verse, he's likely one of the unlucky
07:31subjects. Number 24, Thank You Next, Ariana Grande. Even if you're not a superfan, you've probably heard
07:39about Ariana Grande's relationship history. She decided to tackle the subject head-on with Thank
07:44You Next. The song refers to her exes like Pete Davidson, with direct references to her former fiancé
07:51and others. She doesn't dwell on them, though, and instead wants to move forward. Embracing her
08:05independence, the artist seems to think of the men as important learning experiences.
08:19It's an almost therapeutic track for someone that loved and broken up in the public eye. In the end,
08:26Davidson comes out largely unscathed after this pointed look into the past.
08:31I got so much love, Got so much patience, Learned from the same thing, Turned out amazing, Turned out amazing!
08:41Number 23, Heart-Shaped Box, Nirvana. On the band's third studio album, Nirvana explored some of their
08:49darkest and most personal imagery yet. Kurt Cobain dug deep for lyrics that confronted subjects like his
08:57romantic life. The singer's wife, Courtney Love, might be the key to Heart-Shaped Box after all.
09:10According to Love herself, the song is an intimate look into Cobain's views on her body. She's even
09:16explained in more graphic detail than that. There's a chance that the songwriter had more in mind, but
09:22it's fair to assume there's some truth there. The frontman combined imaginative phrases with
09:36sometimes unsettling descriptions. If it's really about the whole singer, that adds another layer to
09:42the twisted single from In Utero.
09:52Number 22, Not Like Us, Kendrick Lamar. Over the last few years, the feud between Kendrick Lamar
10:00and Drake reached new heights. They ended up trading diss tracks until Not Like Us sealed the deal.
10:06Say Drake, I hear you like I'm young. You better not ever go to cell block one.
10:11While the Canadian artist might not admit defeat, this single is hard to fight against. Lamar's
10:16flow flies through a catchy beat and some devastating verses. This includes one reference to a chord
10:23that may or may not be the best line. Why you trolling like a b****, ain't you tired? Trying to strike a chord in
10:29it's probably A minor. After both critical and commercial success, the performer provided a
10:38critique with a no-holds-barred approach. Drake's personal life gets thoroughly lambasted throughout,
10:44with allegations galore. The audience not dumb, shape the stories how you want. Hey Drake,
10:50they're not slow. The Super Bowl halftime show only added to this hit's legacy. Without a doubt,
10:55the song's subject does not look good after this one. Number 21, I Will Always Love You,
11:01Dally Parton. Whether you know the original or Whitney Houston's cover,
11:05this song endures through multiple decades.
11:18I Will Always Love You is not a traditional ballad either. Dally Parton wrote it while trying to break
11:23away from her singer-partner, Porter Wagner. The latter wanted to be a duo, but the writer wanted
11:29to go out on her own. It's both a personal and professional matter forever enshrined in song.
11:35If I should stay, I would only be in your way.
11:47Parton's beautiful words and music work to this day, with high notes to sell each emotional word. The
11:55result is one of the performer's best tracks and pays homage to an important force in her career.
12:01Number 20, Still Feel Like Your Man, John Mayer.
12:06While Mayer himself felt like it should be pretty obvious who he was talking about in Still Feel Like
12:12Your Man. There are those who may not have been paying as close attention to his love life prior
12:23to that. If you had been, then you would have known that he and Katy Perry spent four years on and off
12:36again from 2012 to 2016. And with that knowledge, yes, it now does seem pretty obvious that she is the
12:45ex he's talking about in the song. As Mayer put it, who else would I be thinking about?
12:56Number 19, Obsessed, Mariah Carey. Did Eminem and Mariah Carey ever date?
13:04The answer depends on who you ask. If you ask Eminem, the answer is a resounding yes.
13:10But ask Carey and you'll get a big fat no.
13:20The two went back and forth on this matter for years in the press and in song.
13:24Carey took on Eminem's obsession with her through her 2009 album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.
13:31Just in case the lyrics aren't enough, Carey took all the guesswork out of it with the music video.
13:43A video in which she plays two characters, herself and an obsessed gray hoodie wearing,
13:49goateed Eminem. The rapper was also convinced the song was about him and released the warning
13:55as a response just six weeks later.
13:58But if I'm embarrassing me, I'm embarrassing you.
14:00And don't you dare say it isn't true.
14:02As long as that song's getting there, play, I'm dissing you.
14:04Number 18, All Those Years Ago.
14:08George Harrison.
14:10John Lennon's murder in December of 1980 shocked and saddened the world.
14:14While most people didn't have a way to express their love for Lennon to the world,
14:27some of his musician friends did exactly that.
14:30One such friend was his former bandmate George Harrison,
14:34who just five months after Lennon's death released all those years ago.
14:39We're living in a bad dream, they've forgotten all about mankind.
14:45Originally written with different lyrics for Ringo Starr to sing,
14:49after Lennon's passing, Harrison rewrote it as a tribute to his friend.
14:54Another one of Lennon's good friends, Elton John,
14:57was hesitant to record a tribute song to his dear friend.
15:01But when he saw the lyrics Bernie Taupin presented him with for Empty Garden,
15:05Hey Hey Johnny, it was a no-brainer.
15:08Cause you come out to play in your empty garden.
15:15Number 17, Love Bug, Jonas Brothers.
15:19While Nick Jonas has stated in the past that the song Love Bug is about
15:24really just falling in love with somebody, that somebody appears to be Miley Cyrus.
15:30I fell so close but you were far away.
15:34The two Disney TV stars dated for about a year and a half from 2006 through December of 2007,
15:41a relationship that's, according to Nick's brother Kevin, changed girls for Nick forever.
15:47Now I'm speechless, over the edge and just breathless.
15:52Although the song wasn't released until late 2008, Love Bug was written in 2007,
15:59while Nick and Miley were an item. During a time when Nick has said that he
16:04started writing about love and I actually knew what it felt like.
16:08And it's the first time I can't hear it, but it's love bug again.
16:13Number 16, Uptown Girl, Billy Joel.
16:19We know what you're thinking, everyone knows this song is about Christie Brinkley.
16:24It's so obvious. Joel and Brinkley were married and she's the Uptown Girl in the music video.
16:36Well, let's just say you're half right.
16:46The song did eventually become about Brinkley, but when Joel first wrote the track,
16:51he did so with a different supermodel in mind, Elle McPherson.
16:55You see, prior to his marriage to supermodel Brinkley, Joel and McPherson were an item.
17:01And it was she who was his girlfriend when he wrote the track.
17:12Number 15, Dude Looks Like a Lady, Aerosmith.
17:16As the story goes, one night, Aerosmith was out of the town when lead singer Steven Tyler thought he
17:24saw a hot blonde woman.
17:32However, it turned out that it wasn't a woman at all, but rather Motley Crue singer Vince Neil.
17:38This case of mistaken identity led to some ribbing from Tyler's bandmates.
17:44But it also eventually led to the writing of their hit single, Dude Looks Like a Lady.
17:54Motley Crue co-founder Nikki Sixx has also confirmed the accuracy of that story
17:59and Neil being the inspiration for the song.
18:02Number 14, Miss Jackson, Outkast.
18:12While calling the song Miss Wright might have been more accurate, it sure doesn't have the same
18:18syllable-esque flow as Miss Jackson.
18:26Why Wright, you ask?
18:28Well, because Erykah Badu's mother's name is Colleen Wright.
18:32But what does she have to do with it, you also ask?
18:35Well, Outkast's Andre 3000 dated Badu in the 90s and they had a child out of wedlock together.
18:42Feeling the need to tell his side of the story, Andrea wrote the song as an apology
18:47and explanation to Badu's mother.
18:54You might remember the intro dedicates the song to baby's mama's mamas.
18:58If you didn't know it before, now you'll know it forever, forever, ever, forever, ever.
19:10Number 13, Aether, Nas.
19:14The hip-hop feud between Nas and Jay-Z was one of the biggest,
19:18most talked about in the history of the genre.
19:21And the musical pinnacles of said feud both came at the end of 2001.
19:26First, it was Jay-Z hitting Nas hard with his diss track,
19:30Takeover, from his album, The Blueprints.
19:38But as hard as he hits, there are many who'd argue that Nas hit back even harder.
19:44Three months after Takeover, Nas put out Aether.
19:47And to say he didn't hold back would be an understatement.
19:51It's been called a diss song classic and was so influential,
20:01that Aether has become a hip-hop slang term for destroying an opponent in a rap battle.
20:07Ask me if I'm trying to kick knowledge? Nah, I'm trying to kick the shit you need to learn,
20:11though. The Aether, that shit that make your soul burn slow.
20:14Number 12, All of Me, John Legend.
20:18Given that Legend wrote this song while he was engaged to Chrissy Teigen,
20:23and she is also in the music video, which they filmed days before their wedding in Italy,
20:29this song better be about Teigen.
20:31What would I do without your smart mouth? Drawing me in and you kicking me out.
20:39And no surprises here, the me that is all of Legend is indeed Teigen.
20:45Cause all of me loves all of you.
20:51But while she initially was extremely moved and touched by Legend's musical dedication to her,
20:57she has since heard the song so much that it no longer has the same impact as it once did.
21:03And you give me all of you.
21:10Number 11, Man on the Moon, R.E.M.
21:14No veiled references or possible misinterpretations with this one.
21:18Michael Stipe wrote this song about Andy Kaufman.
21:28The band had already composed the music, and as the recording sessions were coming to a close,
21:34Stipe still hadn't mastered the words. However, while taking a walk around Seattle,
21:40the music playing through his Walkman headphones, everything finally came together.
21:49Tell me how you locked in the pond.
21:52The references to Kaufman's work, from his wrestling career to his Elvis impersonations,
21:58and the titular metaphor comparing conspiracy theories regarding the moon landing
22:03to those claiming Kaufman faked his 1984 death.
22:07If you believe they put a man on the moon, man on the moon, man on the moon.
22:14Movie fans will also note Jim Carrey's 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic took its title from the song as well.
22:23Number 10, Cry Me A River, Justin Timberlake.
22:28Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears dated from 1999 until March of 2002.
22:33Then, in November of that same year, Timberlake released his first solo album,
22:39and the second single from said album was Cry Me A River.
22:49The song, about a guy who moves on after having his heart broken,
22:53was widely assumed to be about his recent breakup with Spears.
22:58Although he might have tried to deny it at the time, no one was buying it.
23:07Especially after the music video came out featuring a Spears look-alike,
23:11as well as easter egg references to his ex's iconic newsboy hat and her tattoo.
23:18Number 9, Pride in the Name of Love, U2.
23:28There is a world where we are all talking about this song as being about President Ronald Reagan
23:34and his pride in his country's military might.
23:43But we don't live in that world because a couple of books about civil rights leaders,
23:48Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X focused Bono's attention on the two sides of the movements.
23:55This led to King being the focus of U2's 1984 hit, Pride in the Name of Love.
24:06While Bono has since talked about his dissatisfaction with the all-too-simplistic lyrics,
24:12the song is one of the band's biggest hits and made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 songs
24:18that shaped Rock and Roll.
24:25Number 8, Hurricane, Bob Dylan
24:36In 1967, boxer Reuben Hurricane Carter was wrongly convicted of a triple homicide
24:43and sentenced to life in prison in New Jersey.
24:46While behind bars, Carter wrote an autobiography called The 16th Round.
24:51It was this book that inspired Bob Dylan to write his protest song about Carter
24:55and his wrongful imprisonment.
25:04The song was a hit and brought Carter's story to the attention of a wider audience
25:09and led to a growing movement of support and calls for his release.
25:13While Carter did get a new trial in 1976, he was once again convicted. It wasn't until 1985
25:22that he was finally let out after being granted a writ of habeas corpus.
25:34Number 7, You're So Vain, Carly Simon
25:37In case you were thinking that the song was about you, it isn't.
25:48Well, unless you're Warren Beatty and possibly two other men.
25:52The subject of Simon's number one hit song has been a much-talked-about mystery ever since its release in 1972.
26:00For years, Simon remained very coy about the whole thing, refusing to name names and then slowly only
26:13giving out letters from their name. Then in 2015, she finally confirmed that Warren Beatty was the
26:21subject of the song's second verse. Although in wonderfully coy Carly fashion, she also said,
26:28Now, that doesn't mean that the other two verses aren't also about Warren. It just means the second
26:34one is…
26:35Number 6, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pink Floyd
26:47While he may not be a household name, to Pink Floyd fans, Sid Barrett is a key figure in music
27:01history. For those who don't know, Barrett was one of the co-founders of the band, the lead singer
27:07and primary songwriter for about the first three years of Pink Floyd's existence. However, due to his
27:13use of psychedelic drugs and deteriorating mental health, Barrett was dismissed from the group in 1968.
27:28This wasn't something the other band members did happily, and Barrett remained an important piece
27:33of all of them. So much so that in 1975, they created Shine On You Crazy Diamond, a 25-minute,
27:42nine-part track on their Wish You Were Here album, as a tribute to their friend.
27:54Number 5, Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac
27:59Imagine singing backup vocals on a song written by your pained ex-boyfriend about your breakup.
28:04Nope, we can't imagine it either. But that's exactly what Stevie Nicks had to do
28:16on Go Your Own Way. The song, written by Lindsey Buckingham, was the first single off the now iconic
28:23album, Rumors. As Buckingham explained, I was completely devastated when she took off. There
28:36was a lot of pent-up frustration and anger towards Stevie and me for many years. Frustrations that all came
28:43out in this, admittedly, very catchy song.
28:51Number 4, Hey Jude, The Beatles
28:54Hey Jude, Don't make it bad
29:00Had Paul McCartney stuck with the track's original title, it would probably be more well-known who
29:06this song is talking to. In 1968, John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia,
29:12separated over Lennon's love affair with Yoko Ono.
29:21McCartney, quote,
29:22always feels sorry for kids in divorces and wrote this song as words of comfort to Lennon's then
29:29five-year-old son, Julian. When he first wrote the song, McCartney was singing Hey Jules,
29:35but he would eventually switch it to Jude because he thought that sounded a bit better.
29:47Number 3, Candle in the Wind, Elton John
29:51There are going to be some people who are expecting us to talk about how this song was written in honor
30:04and remembrance of Princess Diana. However, that version of the song, known as Candle in the Wind,
30:101997, was a rewritten version of Elton John's original Candle in the Wind from 1974.
30:18And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind.
30:25That song is an ode and tribute to another iconic woman, Marilyn Monroe.
30:30Lyricist Bernie Taupin has said that while it is about Monroe, it could have been about anyone who died
30:38young and sort of became this iconic picture. It's a beauty frozen in time. A sentiment that decades later
30:47obviously connected perfectly to the passing of Lady Di.
30:59Number 2, Layla, Derrick and the Dominoes
31:03The Derrick and the Dominoes song, Layla, was partially inspired by a 7th century Persian love story.
31:17A story that spoke rather strongly to Eric Clapton and the position he found himself in at the time.
31:23Namely the fact that he was secretly in love with Patti Boyd, who just so happened to be the wife of his
31:36friend George Harrison. Boyd and Harrison eventually had a very amicable divorce and in 1979 she and Clapton tied the knot.
31:45Although they were dating, Clapton wrote another song for Boyd, Wonderful Tonight.
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32:19Number 1, American Pie, Don McClain
32:26A long, long time ago, I can still remember
32:32You might have heard about the 1959 plane crash that took the lives of rock stars Buddy Holly,
32:38Richie Valens and the big bopper J.P. Richardson referred to as the day the music died.
32:44Well, it became known as such because that is how Don McClain poetically referred to it
32:49in his 1971 song, American Pie.
32:57As for the rest of the song, it is a general impressionistic allusion to the changes that
33:03took place throughout the tumultuous 1960s, but began on that fateful day in 1959.
33:11American Pie was the first single released off of McClain's similarly titled album. The second
33:24single? Vincent, a song McClain wrote in tribute to Vincent Van Gogh.
33:29They would not listen, they're not listening still.
33:33Did we forget another hit song with a well-known subject? Let us know in the comments below.
33:38We'll see you next time.
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