Here Are Lady Gaga’s Top 5 Songs On Genius

Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault and abuse that may be triggering for some.

With 12 Grammy wins, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar under her belt, Lady Gaga has received ample acclaim throughout her legendary pop career. But that doesn’t mean we should stop praising the singer-turned-actress any time soon. Gaga turned 36 years old on Monday, and in honor of her birthday, we thought we’d comb through Genius data and continue the celebration by highlighting the icon’s Top 5 songs on the site based on pageviews.

Claiming the No. 1 spot, with a whopping 6.5M pageviews, is the song that earned Gaga the 2019 Academy Award for Best Original Song, “Shallow.” The track also earned the star a Golden Globe and four Grammy nominations, two of which she won (Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media).

Gaga wrote “Shallow” with frequent collaborator Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and Anthony Rossomando after earning the lead role in her feature film debut, A Star Is Born, which she starred in opposite Bradley Cooper. The film tells the love story of Gaga’s character, Ally, a star on the rise, and Cooper’s character, Jackson, a troubled star past his prime. On the duet’s first verse, Cooper senses Gaga is looking for something she hasn’t yet found in life.

Are you happy in this modern world?
Or do you need more?
Is there somethin’ else you’re searchin’ for?

The pair seem to share that quest for something more on the second verse, which Gaga sings.

Tell me something, boy
Aren’t you tired tryna fill that void?
Or do you need more?

On the chorus, these similarities draw the pair together, and they dive head first into a romantic relationship.

I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in
I’ll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface where they can’t hurt us
We’re far from the shallow now

After the A Star Is Born writers heard “Shallow,” the song was written into the film’s narrative. It became a recurring theme for the couple throughout the movie and a soundtrack favorite for fans, who helped it climb to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Gaga and the rest of the songwriting team had no idea the track would receive that kind of placement in the film when they wrote it. “I certainly never realized it was going to be part of the plot, the narrative in the parking lot, which is really such a beautiful scene,” co-writer Mark Ronson told Billboard. “You really get that first part of falling in love or having a crazy crush on someone in the moment. It does it really well without being cheesy."

Coming in at No. 2 is “Poker Face,” Gaga’s breakthrough No. 1 single off her 2008 debut album, The Fame. It’s not totally surprising that “Poker Face” has racked up 2.5M Genius pageviews since its release. Apart from being an enduring pop classic, the song features some pretty explicit and hard-to-decipher lyrics. Gaga did her best to explain the song’s raunchy concept in an interview with Rolling Stone. “Obviously, it’s my pussy’s poker face!” she said. “It was about a girl singing to her boyfriend about how she wants him to go down on her.”

On the verses, Gaga uses clever wordplay about gambling to describe a woman playing the game of love to get what she wants from her partner.

LoveGame intuition, play the cards with spades to start
And after he’s been hooked, I’ll play the one that’s on his heart

Most of the confusion surrounding Gaga’s lyrics comes from the song’s post-chorus, though. It’s clear Gaga isn’t just repeating “p-p-p-poker face,” and the singer once revealed onstage that she’s actually singing something pretty dirty. Once you know, you can’t un-hear it, and yet countless stations continue to play the track unedited.

P-p-p-poker face, f-f-fuck her face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, f-f-fuck her face

Next up is “Bad Romance,” which lands at No. 3 on the list with 1.5M pageviews and continues Gaga’s streak of surprising fans with her choice of lyrics. The lead single off The FameMonster, her 2009 follow-up to The Fame, “Bad Romance” combines horror glam and a Eurodance beat with lyrics about a reckless love affair. Many were left confused by the song’s post-chorus, which has been interpreted as everything from non-sensical sounds to a shoutout to the Italian city of Rome.

Ra-ra-ah-ah-ah
Roma-roma-ma
Gaga, “Ooh la-la”
Want your bad romance

In reality, there’s quite a simple explanation for the catchy refrain. “It’s [saying] romance,” Gaga explained to James Corden. “It’s like the beginning of romance.”

“Bad Romance” rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of three Top 10 hits off of The Fame Monster and solidifying Gaga as a pop A-lister. It also gave fans a peak into Gaga’s own personal history with bad romances—something she later addressed in more detail. “I’m drawn to bad romances,” she told Vanity Fair in 2010. “My relationships with straight men are always abusive, always tumultuous, always emotional. I don’t trust anybody. I have this weird thing that if I sleep with someone they’re going to take my creativity from me through my vagina.”

No. 4 on this list proves just how career-defining A Star Is Born was for Gaga. With 934.2K pageviews, “Always Remember Us This Way,” another cut off the film’s soundtrack, claims the spot. As with “Shallow,” the song is about the love between Ally and Jackson—except this time, their relationship has fully bloomed.

On the hook, Gaga worries their love will have an endpoint, but she finds solace in the fact that she’ll at least be left with one perfect moment.

Every time we say goodbye, baby, it hurts
When the sun goes down
And the band won’t play
I’ll always remember us this way

“Always Remember Us This Way” didn’t fare quite as well as “Shallow,” but the song still made a significant impact. It reached just outside of the Top 40 on the Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. Co-writer Lori McKenna could’ve guessed it would resonate with listeners. “There was a moment where we all got choked up, she told Esquire. “Whenever that happens when writing a song, it’s gotta stay!”

Rounding out the Top 5 on this list is “Do What U Want” (907.2K pageviews), which undoubtedly earns its place for its controversial history. Released in 2013 on Gaga’s ARTPOP album, the original song featured disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly and was later removed from all streaming platforms after allegations of Kelly’s sexual abuse received prominent media attention. Gaga later re-released the track as a duet with Christina Aguilera, and Kelly was found guilty on nine charges related to sexual abuse in 2021.

Of course, Gaga wasn’t the only singer to have collaborated with Kelly, but the lyrical content of “Do What U Want” made the duet all the more controversial. The song compares the media’s exploitation of Gaga’s image to a woman telling a man that he can do whatever he pleases with her body—a message Gaga didn’t realize at the time was deeply rooted in her own experiences with sexual assault.

You can’t have my heart, and you won’t use my mind
But do what you want with my body
Do what you want with my body
You can’t stop my voice ’cause you don’t own my life
But do what you want with my body

After Gaga shelved the song, she shared a note apologizing to anyone she may have hurt with the track. “I think it’s clear how explicitly twisted my thinking was at the time,” she wrote. “If I could go back and have a talk with my younger self I’d tell her to go through the therapy I have since then, so that I could understand the confused post-traumatic state I was in. I’m sorry, both for my poor judgment when I was young, and not for speaking out sooner.”

Gaga has since become dedicated to using her platform to help victims of sexual assault. Not only has she bravely shared her own story, but she’s shined a light on others. At the 2016 Oscars, the star gave a heart-wrenching performance of her song “Til It Happens To You” flanked on stage by dozens of sexual assault survivors. The survivors all displayed different messages on their forearms, including “not alone,” “not your fault,” and “we believe you.”

Looking back at the Genius data, one thing is certainly clear: With a Top 5 that’s sonically diverse, daring, and incredibly honest, Gaga has earned every accolade she’s received over the years. And we’re pretty confident there’s more to come.