Top 10 Cover Songs That Are More Popular Than The Original

These cover songs eclipsed the originals. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the covers of songs that earned more notoriety and are often more recognizable, than their original versions. Our countdown of cover songs that are more popular than the original includes “I Love Rock 'n' Roll”, “Nothing Compares 2 U”, “Hurt”, and more! Did you NOT know any of these were covers? Let us know in the comments!

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[WatchMojo]

What's YOUR favorite cover song of all time? Let us know in the comments!

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[WWChampion]

I prefer CCR's original version of Proud Mary a lot more than Ike & Tina's.

[Zaktan-xg]

Nirvana’s cover of The Man Who Sold The World got a lot of people (including me) into David Bowie.

[light]

I'm really surprised Torn by Nathalie Imbruglia (original by Ednaswap) didn't even deserve a mention

[Jeremiah_Rivers]

What makes Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” a standout isn’t just the acoustic guitar and piano but the overall pain you can feel. Six months after recording it, his time to leave the world came. It was his farewell letter, and we’ll have it all.

[tessat]

Sadly, Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash when he was just 26 years old. He didn't get a chance to see his album, "The Dock of the Bay" or the single from it become #1 hits. Miss Aretha got to sing "Respect" for the rest of her thankfully long life and kept it going all that while.

[stingrey]

Cash’s hurt still gets me teary eyed. It is like he was singing his own obituary.

[Hamletstwin]

What's amazing about the Hurt cover was after Trent saw Cash's video he said it wasn't his song anymore.

[justinwallace]

I thought 1985 was a Bowling for Soup original, but it was made by SR-71. It’s one of the best covers

[amielynn]

I will never understand how "I will always love you" is a popular wedding song since it's about goodbyes

[donaldwilson]

Other honorable mentions: 1. Cum On Feel The Noize: original Slade-cover Quiet Riot. 2. Don't Leave Me This Way: original Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes-cover Thelma Houston. 3. I Think We're Alone Now: original Tommy James & The Shondells-cover Tiffany. 4. Bette Davis Eyes: original Jackie DeShannon-cover Kim Carnes.

[moshecallen]

I have to completely disagree on Proud Mary. That is 100% CCR's song.

[theogaproject]

Where’s “With A Little Help Of My Friends”? Joe Cocker’s version is monumental compared with the Beatles original

[meta]

I never heard the Tina Turner version of Proud Mary. CCR is THE version of the song.

[wormspeaker]

Dolly is amazing and timeless, but Whitney had some amazing pipes. She absolutely slayed the vocals on that song.

[SharktopusMilk]

As a die hard Dolly fan and congregant of the church of Whitney, I can easily say there is plenty of room in the world and our hearts for both versions. They are both heartfelt and incredible, in ways that simply don’t compete.

[ChristyMcDaniel-gegl]

Hazy shade of winter should have been on this list

[legionaireb]

Houston's version is more epic and more technically impressive, but Dolly's has a greater sincerity to it. It feels more like it has real emotion behind it (mostly because it does).

[ericball]

Nirvana covering Ledbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

[Dave-msri]

We could do this all day, but my favorite that would qualify was Cyndi Lauper covering Jules Shear’s “All Through The Night”. But you mentioned her once with her more iconic song, so I can live with that.