From teenage favourites to songs that took years to click, we rank 25 Radiohead tracks that have stayed with us.

As you can imagine, ranking Radiohead’s 25 best songs was far from an easy task, and I’m sure I’ll be kept up at night by the terrifying thought that I’ve missed an obvious pick. There are classics, a few less obvious choices and tracks from across almost every album. That’s part of the problem, though: how do you compare songs from a band whose music has changed so much? If you travelled back to 1993 with a copy of A Moon Shaped Pool, fans picking up Pablo Honey might be certain you’d brought them a different band.

This list reflects my own changing Radiohead tastes. As a massive fan in my late teens, it was the angst of The Bends and OK Computer that struck me. Now, though, it’s the weirdness of some of their later work that resonates with me. I’ve tried to be fair to my teenage self, but these are ultimately the 25 songs that have stuck with me most through my time listening to the band. And if Radiohead, or anyone who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows them, sees this, please make another album!

25) How to Disappear Completely

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to float on a cloud? Well, listening to ‘How to Disappear Completely’ from Kid A is as close as you’ll likely get. If you could sum this song up in one word, it would be ethereal. With Yorke repeating the refrain ‘I’m not here, this isn’t happening’, you start to feel a little detached from your own surroundings. The strings are perhaps the highlight, along with the softly strummed guitar at the start. There’s something unsettling beneath all that beauty, too, as the orchestration threatens to pull the song out of shape. With its reference to the River Liffey, it’s no surprise that this song was in my head while I was walking along the river last year on a trip to Dublin.

24) Daydreaming

‘Daydreaming’ arrived on A Moon Shaped Pool well over a decade after ‘How to Disappear Completely’, but it holds some of the same dreamlike qualities (and not just because of the title, I promise). The song begins with such a delicate piano line that it feels as though it could break if you don’t concentrate entirely on it. Jonny Greenwood’s orchestral arrangements add to that fragility, but it’s towards the end that the most interesting side of the song comes out. The haunting cellos and reversed vocal effects turn this beautiful dream into a nightmare.

23) There There

The lead single from Hail to the Thief, ‘There There’ is much more forceful than the previous two tracks on this list. Its layered percussion gives it a restless momentum, with the guitars gradually making the whole thing feel more precarious. It’s the type of song that feels as though it could tear apart at any moment, if not for Thom Yorke’s vocals keeping it together. Philip Selway’s drumming is a real highlight, particularly as the band push towards the final section.

22) Knives Out

The second single from Radiohead’s fifth album, Amnesiac, ‘Knives Out’ has dark undertones, its lyrics suggesting cannibalism in quite gruesome detail. The guitar is perhaps the most exciting part of the song, with the jangling lines carrying a real Johnny Marr quality. That contrast between the inviting guitar sound and the unpleasantness of the words makes it all the more disconcerting. Altogether, this is one of the standouts on Amnesiac.

21) A Wolf at the Door

‘A Wolf at the Door’ closes Hail to the Thief with one of Yorke’s strangest vocal performances. He’s almost rapping, his words tumbling into one another so quickly that it’s difficult to make out what he’s saying at points. The circling guitar figure and insistent drums give him something to push against, making the more melodic chorus feel like a brief chance to breathe. As an album closer, it’s a shock to the system that makes the record stick with you that bit longer. The title certainly fits the panic the band get across.

20) Jigsaw Falling Into Place

‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’ is a song title that perfectly encapsulates its content. It starts with an acoustic guitar frantically strumming away, with the drums and bass quickly establishing the momentum that carries it forward. I often think each instrument is in a race to get to the end. The effect is like someone tipping over a jigsaw box, only for everything to land in exactly the right position. We get some of Thom Yorke’s best lyrics here, too, with his humming almost serving as another instrumental part. Lines such as ‘before you’re comatose’ and the reference to a Cheshire Cat grin are so Radiohead. If someone asked me for the most Radiohead lyrics I could think of, these would be my answer.

19) 2 + 2 = 5

Another addition from Hail to the Thief, ‘2 + 2 = 5’ is a swirling tornado of a track that reaches a crashing climax. It opens with the sound of equipment and studio chatter before the guitar settles into its uneasy pattern. There’s restraint at first, but once the song erupts, it barely gives you a second to breathe. The title’s reference to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four fits the atmosphere of paranoia, with Yorke’s repeated accusations making the final stretch feel increasingly frantic.

18) High and Dry

Am I clouded by nostalgia here? Maybe, but ‘High and Dry’ has to be included on this list for me. It’s a younger Radiohead, from an era when they were making more conventional alternative rock. The acoustic guitar is instantly recognisable, and Yorke gets to showcase his vocal range without having to compete with the dense arrangements of some of their later work. It’s the type of track that needs to be sung at full volume at the end of a night out.

17) Like Spinning Plates

This is the type of Radiohead track you finish listening to and think: how the hell have they done this? It’s no surprise that ‘Like Spinning Plates’ comes from the Kid A/Amnesiac era, appearing on the latter album. The backwards sounds and strange vocal delivery make the whole thing feel as though it’s moving in the wrong direction, and whenever I hear it, I think of the reversed scenes in Tenet. The only advice I have is not to listen to it at night. It’s truly terrifying.

16) Go to Sleep

Despite its title, Hail to the Thief’s ‘Go to Sleep’ is unlikely to help you drift off. The guitar is abrasive at points, and the shifting rhythmic pattern keeps you concentrating on where the song might go next. It makes for a track you can get lost in, particularly when Jonny Greenwood’s electric guitar starts splintering towards the end. That closing passage, continuing as the song fades out, is one of its highlights. It’s certainly one of Radiohead’s most underrated tracks, and there are moments when its restless guitar work puts me in mind of Muse.

15) The Daily Mail

‘The Daily Mail’ is the biggest outlier here as the only selection that doesn’t appear on a Radiohead studio album. Released as a single alongside ‘Staircase’, it also features in The King of Limbs: From the Basement. It begins slowly, with Yorke accompanied by piano, before erupting into a furious full-band performance. His delivery turns increasingly scathing, and the arrival of the heavier instrumentation makes that anger feel even more pronounced. What more could you want? This is one of my favourite Thom Yorke vocal performances, and it’s often overlooked when discussing the band’s best work.

14) True Love Waits

‘True Love Waits’ is one of Radiohead’s most touching and minimalist recordings. On A Moon Shaped Pool, layers of piano create an ambient setting that leaves Yorke’s voice exposed. The song had been around for more than twenty years before finding its place on a studio album, and this version makes that long wait feel worthwhile. It’s quite simple compared with much of Radiohead’s other work, but perhaps that’s why I like it so much. The closing plea, ‘don’t leave’, is also one of the most heartbreaking things Yorke has sung.

13) House of Cards

On In Rainbows, ‘House of Cards’ pairs an instantly recognisable guitar riff with backing vocals that float through the song effortlessly. That’s the word I’d use to describe this track: floating. From those vocals to the otherworldly guitar sounds, everything seems to drift in and out at will. It’s one of the reasons In Rainbows works so well for me: even when there’s plenty happening, the music feels incredibly free. And how could we forget one of Radiohead’s most memorable opening lines: ‘I don’t want to be your friend / I just want to be your lover’?

12) All I Need

The bass is the immediate standout on ‘All I Need’, and listening through headphones lets you appreciate how much that low end fills the space. Above it, the instrumental details gradually accumulate, creating a sense that something is struggling to get out. It all comes together with the piano-led climax, where Yorke’s vocals fight through the noise to be heard. In a song about unrequited love, it’s quite fitting that his voice ends up in that position.

11) Just

‘Just’ is another classic Radiohead track from The Bends. It takes only seconds for the opening guitar to hook you in, as the song moves between lighter passages and heavier riffs full of power and anger. Jonny Greenwood’s playing is one of the best things about it, especially towards the end, when he pushes into those sharp, high-pitched tones. The chorus cements its place among Radiohead’s best bangers. It’s almost impossible not to sing along.

10) Fake Plastic Trees

I could talk about the acoustic guitar steadily strumming away or the strings that add depth to ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, but ultimately we’ve got to talk about Thom Yorke’s vocals. The quiet opening gives his voice room to sound open and vulnerable, making the moments when the band get louder all the more affecting. For me, that makes this the best song on The Bends. I also remember it being one of the first music videos I watched as a kid. I can still picture Yorke sitting in that trolley.

9) You and Whose Army?

A softer but still hard-hitting Radiohead song, ‘You and Whose Army?’ begins with Yorke’s voice sounding muffled and distant. It makes me feel as though I’m walking down a street and hearing the song through an open window. Selway’s drums deserve another mention as they enter and help build towards the climax, with the piano becoming increasingly forceful alongside them. In many ways, this has the ingredients of a great Radiohead song: an unusual sound, a quiet opening and a release that makes the build-up worthwhile.

8) Pyramid Song

‘Pyramid Song’ feels like several different worlds occupying the same piece of music. There’s the orchestral sweep of the strings, the piano’s strange rhythmic pull and the background sounds that draw you further into the world Yorke is singing about. Those almost sample-like textures unsettle me as much as the rhythm does. It can be difficult to find your footing at first, and you have to let yourself embrace that sensation or risk feeling as though you’re drowning. Once the drums arrive, the song seems to open up without losing any of its mystery.

7) Karma Police

‘Karma Police’ is one of Radiohead’s biggest songs for good reason. It might be a travesty that this is the first time OK Computer has appeared on this list, but don’t worry, it won’t be the last. The change towards the end, when Yorke sings ‘for a minute there, I lost myself’, remains the highlight for me. Then there’s the sliding, echoing sound that gradually takes over, descending into distortion as the song breaks down. You could make a case that this is the band’s best hit, and you’d have good reason to do so.

6) Everything in Its Right Place

After the success of OK Computer, you wouldn’t have blamed Radiohead for sticking with that sound. Instead, the opening track on Kid A headed somewhere very different. ‘Everything in Its Right Place’ is closer to the electronic music of Aphex Twin than the guitar band many listeners thought they knew, and it captures their willingness to rethink what a Radiohead song could be. It begins with that keyboard figure, followed by Yorke’s voice repeating the title. The arrangement feels restrained and minimalist, yet there’s so much depth to it. Lyrics such as ‘yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon’ add to the sense of disorientation, while the chopped-up vocals make even the human element feel unstable. Those vocal fragments against the dreamlike backing are among my favourite passages in any Radiohead song.

5) Paranoid Android

If you’d asked eighteen-year-old me to make this list, ‘Paranoid Android’ would undoubtedly have been number one. I’d probably also have said it was one of my favourite tracks of all time, so it had to stay in the top five. Its structure is perhaps the best of any Radiohead song: the band keep changing direction, teasing the heavier passages and then pulling you somewhere else entirely. The final stretch never gets old. The layered vocals singing ‘rain down’ sound almost angelic, even as the words around them become increasingly dark and twisted. Then the guitars come tearing back in for the instrumental ending, leaving you wondering what on earth you’ve just listened to. It’s absolutely brilliant.

4) No Surprises

‘No Surprises’ is one of Radiohead’s prettiest songs and one of their darkest. The glockenspiel gives it an almost nursery-rhyme quality, lulling you into thinking you’re hearing something nice and sweet. Then you start listening to the lyrics. The exhaustion and dissatisfaction beneath the surface become impossible to ignore, with ‘a job that slowly kills you’ feeling painfully familiar. The video deserves a mention, too, with Yorke in a helmet that gradually fills with water. I remember watching it as a kid and being convinced he would drown.

3) Nude

‘Nude’ is a song I never get tired of hearing. The reverberating opening gives way to Colin Greenwood’s bassline, one of my favourites of all time. It’s so infectious that I find myself following it through the whole song, even when Yorke’s voice is doing everything it can to steal my attention. ‘Nude’ is dreamlike and euphoric, and the space between the instruments is part of what makes it so beautiful. It also contains one of my favourite Radiohead moments: the arrangement briefly pulling back as Yorke reaches upwards, before the music gathers around him again.

2) Exit Music (For a Film)

‘Exit Music (For a Film)’ starts quietly, with an acoustic guitar and a vocal that’s foreboding from the beginning. There’s a light tapping of cymbals that hints at what’s coming, before the song drops into something much heavier and darker. Colin Greenwood’s distorted bass hits like a wall of sound, and there’s something almost shoegazey about the weight of it. Whenever I think of this song, I also think of its use in film and television. It was written for Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, but I can’t help remembering THAT Black Mirror episode. Without giving away the ending, the song’s arrival makes an already horrible revelation even harder to shake. Even away from those associations, the build from a near-whisper to that furious climax is enough to earn it this spot.

1) Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

‘Weird Fishes/Arpeggi’ takes the number-one spot, and can you blame me? It feels frantic but incredibly ordered, with the interlocking guitar parts creating a sense of constant movement. Every member of the band seems to be at their best, but if I had to single someone out, it would be Philip Selway. His drumming keeps everything moving while the guitars and vocals build around him, and the steadiness of that pulse makes the changes above it even more absorbing. It reminds me a little of Can, with instrumentation so tightly connected that it feels like one big organism. I also have to shout out Lianne La Havas, whose version on her self-titled album is one of the greatest covers I’ve heard. But it’s Radiohead’s original I keep returning to, finding another part to follow each time.

The 25 Best Songs By Radiohead, Ranked