Music's most explosive choruses

20) Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
Post-Richey, ‘Design For Life’ came out with all guns blazing, fighting for life. As a cascade of Bacharach-influenced strings came down, the guitar chords sounded bold and triumphant. James Dean Bradfield sings: “We don’t talk about love/We only want to get drunk,” and the full weight of the meaning lay heavily in every listener's heart.

19) Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
Their commercial breakthrough in the US, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard charts. The chorus finds the Basildon boys playing to their strengths, mixing the upbeat nature of the tempo with the downbeat, slightly sinister lyrics. The fact that the demo was originally penned on a gloomy church organ and played at half the speed will come as no surprise.

18) Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
With Whitney’s recent untimely passing, she’s been on all of our minds. Arguably one of the best tracks of her career, this is one of those ultimate club songs that make you want to grab the person closest to you (no matter how creepy that might be). And if nothing else, the chorus successfully distracts us from that guy’s awful dancing in the video…

17) Oasis - The Masterplan
The B-side to ‘Wonderwall' was just as majestic as Oasis' best-known track. Latterly, Noel chastised himself for being so "young and stupid" as to not release the song as an A-Side. The chorus is a perfect mash up of ‘Whatever’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, with its quasi-religious lyrics, bell-clear Noel vocal, and titanic singalong value.

16) Blink-182 - All The Small Things
Though this isn’t the Cali trio’s only earworm, (see also ‘The Rock Show’ and ‘Always’), ‘All the Small Things’ is an explosion of pop-punk joy. The simple "na na na na na na na na na na" chorus combines with brash guitars and snotty harmonies to make a track that’s as much about the fun of listening to music as it is making it. Oh, and the boy-band-mocking video’s pretty rad too.

15) Nirvana - Lithium
If the chorus of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was essentially meaningless, 'Lithium' was almost wordless: a succession of throat-ripping "Yeah"s, tailor-made for communal moshpit yelling. You have to squint to hear it, but Cobain's love of The Beatles is in evidence. Think of it as a grunge rewrite of 'She Loves You'.

14) David Bowie - Life On Mars?
The only thing more explosive than this chorus is the colour of Bowie's hair and makeup in the song's promo video. Never before has the speculation of life on another planet been so appealing. No matter how many covers this song might endure, no one will ever do it the justice Mr. Stardust treats it to (perhaps because he is, in fact, just so other-worldly).

13) The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
A love song, Morrissey-style. Pulling on a narrative from Rebel Without A Cause, he croons that "To die by your side, would be such a heavenly way to die". Though the album also featured such masterpieces as ‘The Boy With the Thorn In His Side’ and ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘There Is A Light...’ remains the jewel in ‘The Queen Is Dead’s crown.

12) Iron Maiden - Run To The Hills
The killer guitar solo in ‘Run To The Hills’ might be the attention-grabber, but it’s Bruce Dickinson’s hurricane-strength vocal on the chorus that’s the real stand-out. ‘Run To The Hills’ was Bruce’s first outing as Maiden’s new vocalist, and he hit a blinder.

11) Lana Del Rey - Video Games
Also known as the track that launched a thousand blogposts, ‘Video Games’ was the making of Lana. Sultry, moody and intimate, the contrast between the frustrated girlfriend of the verses with the pleading lover of the chorus made it irresistible. From the heartfelt "It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you" to the throwaway "I tell you all the time" aside, the chorus is the icing on the cake.

10) Metallica - Enter Sandman
The band called this a ‘one riff song’. Yet ‘Enter Sandman’’s chorus provided a thrilling release from all that chugging, and focused the song around the creepy protagonist, while James Hetfield channeled a mood of cackling, demonic grandeur. The most anthemic chorus in all metal?

9) Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
From the wub-wub-wub intro to Jon’s raspy tenor, the chorus to ‘Livin' On A Prayer’ is the musical equivalent of a fist of pure emotion. Tommy and Gina are forgotten in the moment, it’s all about us now. Pro tip for singalongs: don’t start too high, the second "woah-oh" has been known to rupture diaphragms.

8) The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
A Brown/Squire classic, bursting forth with euphoria. “Fill my guts and ease me head” sang Ian Brown against cascading guitar lines. It was a track which was wide eyed with the wonder of new love, and found its fans wide eyed in love with them.

7) Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor
A debut single for the ages. Scowling above a brash backing of guitars and drums, Alex Turner walks a line between contempt and interest as he comments on a dirty dancefloor with "dreams of naughtiness" - but lets his imagination run wild in the refrain, shouting with teenage glee: "I bet you look good on the dancefloor!".

6) Blur - Song 2
An over-caffeinated buzzsaw screwball of a thing that is physically impossible not to put you in a good mood. Having teased us from the outset with the musical bones of the chorus, Blur dial it down for a sparse few bars before setting it off yet again, this time with added lyrical nonsense. “Well I feel heavy metal!” We've all been there.

5) Muse - Plug In Baby

A riff that wouldn’t quit (and, allegedly, inspired by Bach’s ‘Toccata And Fugue’) and a chorus that would follow the band for their entire career. It's all about Bellamy finding solace in his guitar (his ‘Plug In Baby’), and comes equipped with a chorus so vast it would have fans singing along for years to come.

4) Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

With a propulsive bass line and a yearning chord sequence, ‘Sex On Fire’ is a song in heat. Like Frankie Cocozza fuelled by WKD Blue, Caleb Followill’s vocals make no bones about what he’s looking for. When the chorus kicks in, the demands are made explicit, though as we all know sex on fire is a health and safety nightmare. Still, ten points for use of "transpire" in a rock chorus.

3) The Killers - Mr. Brightside

The song that launched a million spilled pints, as punters slosh their drinks while running to the dancefloor. ‘Mr. Brightside’ touches all the bases - sex, revenge, jealousy and a chorus that incites listeners to pump their fists. The opaque lyrics about "Jealousy turning saints into the sea" are made to be mouthed at friends across a grubby room.

2) The Ronettes - Be My Baby

Not so much a chorus, more a thunderous torrent of joy. Brian Wilson calls it the greatest pop record ever made, and he's well qualified to judge. As vocal harmonies overlap across each other with an irresistible come-to-bed charm, the only rational response is, "you had me at the bridge".

1) Oasis - Don’t Look Back in Anger

Legend has it that Noel used ‘Wonderwall’ as a bargaining chip to get Liam to give him lead vocals on this track. It’s not hard to see why. Heroic, Beatles-y and poignant, the elder Gallagher smashes it out of the park. Sally’s not a real person - just a name that fit in the chorus. Like so many songs in this list, it's a special kind of nonsense that somehow means everything.

See #21-50 here.