There is a strange rule in popular music: writing a great song and making the definitive recording of that song are two completely different accomplishments.

Sometimes the songwriter does both.

Sometimes they don’t.

A song can be recorded by its writer, released to modest success, and then sit quietly for years until another musician discovers something buried inside it. The second artist may change the tempo, rewrite the arrangement, alter the instrumentation, shift the emotional emphasis or simply bring a voice to the song that makes everything click.

Suddenly, the song has a new identity.

Sometimes the cover becomes a bigger hit.

Sometimes it sells dramatically more records.

Sometimes it reaches an entirely different generation.

And sometimes the cover becomes so famous that people forget the original ever existed.

That last category is particularly fascinating.

Ask a casual music fan who recorded “I Will Always Love You” and the answer will probably be Whitney Houston. Ask who recorded “Tainted Love” and most people will say Soft Cell. “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” belongs to Joan Jett in the public imagination. “All Along the Watchtower” sounds like a Jimi Hendrix song even though Bob Dylan wrote it.

And then there is Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now.”

Tommy James and the Shondells had already made it a hit in 1967. Twenty years later, Tiffany took the same song and transformed it into a gigantic piece of 1980s pop, taking it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

That is what makes cover songs so interesting.

The question isn’t simply whether one recording is better than another.

The more interesting question is:

What did the second artist discover that the first artist didn’t?

This list looks at 50 of the most compelling examples.

Some are obvious.

Some are controversial.

Some aren’t technically “better” in every musical sense but became vastly more popular.

And a few demonstrate that the original and cover are so different that comparing them almost feels unfair.

Popularity will matter throughout the list, because commercial success is part of the story. A cover that barely charted but became a cult favorite is a different phenomenon from a cover that turned an obscure song into a worldwide No. 1.

The goal isn’t to pretend that charts determine artistic quality.

They don’t.

But they do tell us something important about cultural impact.

So for each song, we’ll look at both.

SECTION ONE: THE COVERS THAT COMPLETELY STOLE THE ORIGINAL’S IDENTITY

1. “I Will Always Love You” — Whitney Houston

Original: Dolly Parton, 1974
Cover: Whitney Houston, 1992

The Original

Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” was already a major success before Whitney Houston ever touched it.

Parton wrote the song during the period when she was leaving Porter Wagoner’s television and recording partnership. The song was fundamentally a goodbye, and Parton’s performance reflected that. Her delivery was warm, restrained and intimate.

The original topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1974 and did so again when Parton rerecorded it in 1982.

So this wasn’t an obscure song waiting to be discovered.

It was already a country classic.

The Cover

Then Whitney Houston recorded it for The Bodyguard.

Everything changed.

The arrangement began quietly, almost entirely focused on Houston’s voice. Then the production gradually expanded until the song became one of the biggest vocal showcases in pop history.

Houston didn’t simply sing Parton’s melody.

She transformed the song’s emotional scale.

Parton’s version feels like a private goodbye.

Houston’s feels like an enormous declaration of love and loss.

That distinction explains why the cover became so gigantic.

Popularity

Houston’s version spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most successful singles in music history.

Parton’s original was a major country hit.

Houston’s version became a worldwide cultural phenomenon.

Verdict

Cover wins — decisively.

This is one of those rare cases where the original songwriter created a great song and another singer turned it into an entirely different level of cultural event.

2. “Respect” — Aretha Franklin

Original: Otis Redding, 1965
Cover: Aretha Franklin, 1967

The Original

Otis Redding’s “Respect” is a fantastic soul recording.

His version is energetic and rhythmic, but the basic premise is straightforward: a man demanding respect from his partner.

Then Aretha Franklin changed the entire perspective.

The Cover

Franklin’s version became a declaration of independence.

The arrangement became more aggressive.

The vocals became more commanding.

The famous spelling of the title became central to the recording.

The song stopped sounding like a man’s plea and became a woman’s demand.

That was a profound transformation.

Franklin didn’t merely improve the recording.

She changed the cultural meaning.

Popularity

Redding’s original reached the Billboard Hot 100 but was nowhere near the cultural impact of Franklin’s version.

Franklin’s recording reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the defining songs of the 1960s.

It became associated with the women’s movement, civil rights and Franklin’s own public identity.

Verdict

Cover wins.

This is probably the strongest example of a cover becoming greater than the original because the second artist found a completely different meaning inside the same words.

3. “All Along the Watchtower” — Jimi Hendrix

Original: Bob Dylan, 1967
Cover: Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968

The Original

Dylan’s original is strange, sparse and mysterious.

The acoustic guitar gives it an almost medieval quality.

The lyrics feel deliberately cryptic.

It sounds like Dylan wandering through an unsettling landscape.

The Cover

Hendrix heard a rock song.

He turned the composition into an electric storm.

The opening guitar immediately changes the atmosphere. The rhythm section drives the song forward, while Hendrix’s guitar becomes almost another voice.

The original asks you to listen.

Hendrix’s version grabs you.

The transformation was so successful that Dylan himself incorporated elements of Hendrix’s arrangement into his own live performances afterward.

Popularity

Dylan’s version was respected but wasn’t a major American pop hit.

Hendrix’s recording became the much more commercially successful version and reached the Top 40 in the United States.

More importantly, it became the version that countless rock listeners think of first.

Verdict

Cover wins.

Dylan wrote the masterpiece.

Hendrix discovered its rock-and-roll identity.

4. “Tainted Love” — Soft Cell

Original: Gloria Jones, 1964
Cover: Soft Cell, 1981

The Original

Gloria Jones’ original is a Northern soul record.

It has energy.

It has rhythm.

It has a wonderful 1960s soul feel.

But it was not a major mainstream hit.

It became much more influential in Northern England’s soul scene than it did on American pop radio.

The Cover

Soft Cell heard something completely different.

Marc Almond and David Ball transformed the song into synth-pop.

The guitars and horns disappeared.

Synthesizers and electronic rhythms took over.

The tempo and atmosphere changed.

Instead of sounding like a soul club recording, it sounded like a lonely, futuristic song being played in a dark nightclub.

The transformation was enormous.

Popularity

The original remained relatively obscure.

Soft Cell’s version reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom and No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It spent a remarkable 43 weeks on the American Hot 100, at the time an extraordinary chart run.

It became one of the defining recordings of early-1980s synth-pop.

Verdict

Cover wins by a mile.

Gloria Jones recorded the song.

Soft Cell turned it into a cultural landmark.

5. “I Think We’re Alone Now” — Tiffany

Original: Tommy James and the Shondells, 1967
Cover: Tiffany, 1987

The Original

Tommy James and the Shondells’ version is classic late-1960s pop.

It is catchy, energetic and unmistakably from its era.

The production has the bright, slightly psychedelic character associated with mid-to-late-1960s pop.

It was already successful, reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

There was no obvious reason the song needed to be remade.

Then Tiffany came along twenty years later.

The Cover

Tiffany’s version essentially moved the song from 1967 to 1987.

The guitars became bigger.

The production became shinier.

The rhythm became more contemporary.

Tiffany’s young voice gave the song an entirely different personality.

The song suddenly fit perfectly into the world of MTV, mall culture and 1980s teenage pop.

It was still the same composition.

But it no longer sounded like a 1960s song.

Popularity

Tiffany’s version became a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1987.

It became her signature song and one of the most recognizable teenage-pop records of the decade. Tiffany’s later career has remained closely associated with the song.

Verdict

Cover wins in cultural impact.

The Tommy James version is a great 1960s record.

But if you say “I Think We’re Alone Now” to most people, the sound that comes into their head is Tiffany.

6. “Hurt” — Johnny Cash

Original: Nine Inch Nails, 1994
Cover: Johnny Cash, 2002

The Original

Nine Inch Nails’ original is dark, industrial and deeply inward.

Trent Reznor’s performance sounds like someone trapped inside his own head.

The production is cold and unsettling.

The Cover

Johnny Cash removed almost everything.

The industrial machinery disappeared.

The electronic atmosphere disappeared.

What remained was Cash’s voice, sparse instrumentation and the weight of his life experience.

The words suddenly sounded like an elderly man looking backward at decades of mistakes, loss and regret.

Whether that interpretation exactly matches Reznor’s original intent almost doesn’t matter.

Cash made the song his own.

Popularity

The Nine Inch Nails version was critically important but never a mainstream pop hit.

Cash’s version became one of the most famous recordings of his career.

The accompanying video became enormously influential, and Cash’s recording sold more than two million digital downloads in the United States by 2017.

Verdict

Cover wins culturally, although this is one of the closest artistic debates.

There are still plenty of Nine Inch Nails fans who prefer the original.

That’s completely fair.

But Cash made the song mean something different.

And that is the magic of a great cover.

7. “Hallelujah” — Jeff Buckley

Original: Leonard Cohen, 1984
Cover: Jeff Buckley, 1994

The Original

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is a complicated, unusual song.

Cohen’s version is deliberately understated.

His voice sounds like a songwriter presenting an idea rather than a singer trying to overwhelm the audience.

It took years for the song to become widely recognized.

The Cover

Jeff Buckley slowed everything down.

His guitar playing is delicate.

His vocal is intimate.

He moves effortlessly between a whisper and falsetto.

Suddenly the song sounds less like a literary meditation and more like an intensely personal confession.

Popularity

Buckley’s recording was not a giant mainstream hit during his lifetime.

Its importance grew enormously after his death.

It eventually became one of the most covered and recognized songs of the modern era.

Cohen’s version is the historical original.

Buckley’s version became the emotional template for countless later interpretations.

Verdict

Cover wins for emotional impact.

Cohen created the song.

Buckley turned it into the version that defined how a generation heard it.

8. “Black Magic Woman” — Santana

Original: Fleetwood Mac, 1968
Cover: Santana, 1970

The Original

Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac version is excellent blues rock.

It’s restrained.

It’s atmospheric.

It has Green’s distinctive guitar style.

For blues-rock fans, the original is hardly something to dismiss.

The Cover

Santana completely changed the musical environment.

Latin percussion entered.

The guitar became more psychedelic.

The groove became more hypnotic.

The song became less British blues and more Latin-rock.

Santana essentially discovered an entirely new genre inside the composition.

Popularity

Fleetwood Mac’s original was a modest British hit.

Santana’s version became a major international success and reached the Top 10 in the United States.

It remains one of Santana’s signature recordings.

Verdict

Cover wins.

Fleetwood Mac created the song.

Santana found the hit.

9. “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” — Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Original: The Arrows, 1975
Cover: Joan Jett, 1981

The Original

The Arrows’ recording is a fun piece of British glam rock.

But it never became a major American hit.

Joan Jett recognized its potential.

The Cover

Jett stripped the song down and made it tougher.

The guitar riff became enormous.

The production became punchier.

Her vocal attitude became the defining feature.

It sounded less like glam rock and more like a declaration.

Popularity

The Arrows’ original remained relatively obscure in America.

Jett’s version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the defining rock songs of the 1980s.

Verdict

Cover wins decisively.

The Arrows wrote it.

Joan Jett owns it.

10. “Blinded by the Light” — Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

Original: Bruce Springsteen, 1973
Cover: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, 1976

The Original

Springsteen’s original is quirky.

The vocal phrasing is unusual.

The arrangement is loose.

It sounds like an early Springsteen song in every possible way.

The Cover

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band transformed it.

The synthesizer became central.

The rhythm became tighter.

The production became much larger.

It became polished arena rock rather than loose singer-songwriter rock.

Popularity

Springsteen’s original wasn’t a major chart hit.

Manfred Mann’s version became a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit.

This is one of the clearest examples of a great songwriter writing a song that somebody else ultimately made commercially enormous.

Verdict

Cover wins commercially.

Whether it wins artistically depends on whether you prefer Springsteen’s eccentricity or Manfred Mann’s polished power.