Top 20 Greatest Cover Songs Of All Time

These are the best covers in music history! For this list, we’ll be looking at any song sung by someone other than the original recording artist. Our countdown includes “The Sound of Silence”, "Smooth Criminal”, “I Shot the Sheriff”, “I Will Always Love You”, “Twist and Shout”, and more! Did we forget one of your favorite covers? Let us know in the comments below.

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#TheBeatles

[WatchMojo]

Did we forget one of your favorite covers? Let us know in the comments below.

[OkieAllDay]

Fun Fact: Only two people are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame - Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash

[jasonmistretta]

Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" wrecks me every time I hear it or see the music video. It is the epitome of a swan song.

[ansiedade]

Fun Fact: Trent Reznor, lead singer of NIN (nine inch nails) loved Johnny's cover so much, Reznor said "that song isn't mine anymore"

[mafia]

Johnny Cash's cover of HURT is not just a cover of a song, it's literally a symphony, a statement and a masterpiece that will keep on living for eternity.

[crossiscool]

I love Otis but the original Stand By Me is superior.

[wesleysilver]

Joe Cocker "with a little help from my friends" not being on this list is one thing but it belongs on a top 5 list of cover songs..that is one of the best covers ever and is better than the original version of the song

[wesleyzimmerman]

Johnny's cover of Hurt wasn't just good, it was "So good that the original band gives him all credit for the song" good

[steellady]

Chris Cornell's "Nothing Compares to U" is amazing!

[williamsummerson]

Hurt is without a doubt the greatest cover of all time. Johnny cash made it his own. Absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking and iconic. RIP to the man in black. Gone but never forgotten. 🙏😪

[jeremygilbert]

I think Trent Reznor said it best himself, “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, and it really then, wasn’t my song anymore.”

[Subangelis]

"Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine any more. Then it all made sense to me. It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. Some-fucking-how that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning – different, but every bit as pure. Things felt even stranger when he passed away. The song's purpose shifted again." - Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails

[matthewriebe]

I can't imagine how Van Halen's cover of You Really Got Me, originally played The Kinks, didn't make this list. My favorite cover song of any genre. They truly made it their only.

[ethandegge]

Hurt is a tragic and beautiful song that Cash really put his heart into singing, you can feel the pain in his voice as he sings it.

[Sweetyhide]

Heart's Stairway To Heaven Live At The Kennedy Center Honors makes me cry every time.

[mountednoble]

When I saw this video pop up on my recommended list, my first thought was if Johnny Cash covering Hurt isn’t number one, this world has lost its mind! Did you know that after he covered it, Trent Reznor was quoted as saying “This song belongs to him now.” Best cover ever!

[dougiejones]

A honerable mention is also from Nirvana Unplugged: Where did you sleep last night(In the Pines) it was simply amazing

[camlautensleger]

Chris Cornell’s rendition of “Nothing Compares 2 U” is top tier

[Punkmonker]

Everyone talks about Disturbed's cover of Sound of Silence, and it's beautiful, but their cover of Genesis's Land of Confusion was brilliant. I always come back to that song

[neilburns]

Disturbed did such a fantastic job of the Sound of Silence that it actually had lead singer David Draiman in tears listening to it.

The guy who was recording it for them in the sound booth said that David had come into the room without saying a single word and was so quiet he thought that he must have done something wrong and had screwed it up.

David stared down at the equivalent and played the song back three times in a row before he decided to turn to the guy in the control booth.

David just gave him a huge big hug and told him that he absolutely loved it and that he was sorry about the fact that he just couldn't talk but he was so filled up with emotion but also incredibly proud of what they had done.