The 40 Most Sexual Hits in Top 40 History

Pop goes the dirty: The raunchiest, sleaziest, most sexual songs ever to chart so high and get this down.

Not Available Lead
Image via Complex Original
Not Available Lead

Music—especially pop music—has always oozed sex. But some songs go beyond the basics of sex appeal.

Some songs are truly a tribute to the act of forming the two-backed beast, a paean to the pleasures of _____, a glorification of gettin' some. You know them when you hear them. A sexual song isn't just a song about sex, although it might be. It's not just a song to have sex to, although it can be that, too. No: A sexual song is a sonic composition so unmistakably written in the key of F that the connection between the music and the act is impossible to miss.

Every song on this list prompts the question of how the hell anyone got away with playing it on the radio (in some cases, they didn't). Here's to the power of music in making people want to get down:

These are The 40 Most Sexual Hits in Top 40 History. 

Listen to Complex's Most Sexual Hits in Top 40 History playlists here: YouTube/Spotify/Rdio

Written by Kyle Kramer (@KyleKramer).

LIKE COMPLEX MUSIC ON FACEBOOK

40. Snoop Dogg "Sexual Eruption" (2007)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 7

For the distinction between sexual songs and songs that are simply about sex, look no further than the peak Akon era of '06/'07, when Snoop Dogg was on a song called "I Wanna Love You." It had a chorus that literally went "I want to fuck you." That's a song about sex. "Sexual Eruption," in which Snoop warbles in Auto-Tune that he is too busy making sure his girl gets hers to even leave the house, is a sexual song. Snoop literally ad libs "orgasm" at one point (in case you were wondering what a sexual eruption is). Even the clean version – "Sensual Seduction" – couldn't hide the way the song oozed that unparalleled doggy style libido.

39. TLC "Red Light Special" (1994)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 2

Here's your basic play-by-play of how you're going to want to get to the red light district: first, take the southern route. Seriously, your trip will last longer. There's something to be said for that southern hospitality. While you're on your journey, enjoy the scenery. It could be the last time you see it. Don't go too fast. Don't go too slow. When you get to your lover's door, go through it. Take off her clothes. Rock a sick guitar solo. Turn on the red lights. Honestly, is there anything about this song that is not a road map to Pleasure Town? Is there anything crazysexycooler than this? Look, you may only get the red light special this one night, but, for tonight, it's totally worth it.

38. Olivia Newton John "Physical" (1981)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

It's possible that, after exploring a list of very sexual top 40 songs, that you're not interested in reading or listening to music or doing much thinking at all. In which case this song, the biggest hit of the 1980s and an ode to our favorite "animal" undertaking, is for you. Because, when it comes down to sexual songs, Ms. Newton John put it best: "There's nothing left to talk about/Unless it's horizontally."

37. Aretha Franklin "Natural Woman" (1967)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 8

Fellas: you can "put it on" your lady all you want, but it's all for nothing unless your ultimate goal is to get her singing this song, to awaken her from her existential gloom, to have her feeling like she has the soul of Aphrodite herself. While it may be hard to believe people (let alone America's Aunt Aretha) were having sex all the way back in the '60s, the truth is they were just more polite about it, which, as anyone who has ever flirted before can tell you, is actually way hotter. Just listen to those strings and try to act like you aren't aroused by all that tension. That's a feeling so timeless that even your parents want to get down to this (and probably did).

36. Warrant "Cherry Pie" (1990)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 10

"Let me just say, as far as daughters go, yours really is my cherry pie. Okay, yes, I can see how maybe, as her father, you don't want to hear about her fruit filling. I totally understand." - This Song.

35. Toni Braxton "You're Makin' Me High" (1996)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

You put this on and add a glass of Merlot and you guys can discuss poetry or art or something until you get slowly arous – hold up, did Toni Braxton just say "I can imagine you touching my private parts?" Did she really just say the words "with you there inside me?" She did, in a rare song that manages to be both as direct as it is subtly in its sensuality.

34. Divinyls "I Touch Myself" (1991)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 4

Sex is always going be best as a full band activity, but the mark of a truly sexual song is its ability to inspire the listener to try a few improvised guitar solos of his or her own. An ode to the one-woman band, this song celebrates the power of the imagination and the draw another person can have on our minds. While you might not want to make it your karaoke staple, it's the perfect soundtrack for the phone—or (in a twist these Aussie rockers probably couldn't have imagined) cyber-sexually active.

33. Flo Rida "Whistle" (2012)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

You know how in Snow White, birds come and land on Snow White's shoulder when she whistles? This song is that idea, inverted (though lyrically indebted to the Disney princess: "Go girl/you can twerk it/Let me see you whistle while you work it").

32. Rick James "Give It To Me Baby" (1981)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 40

There are pretty much three routes you can take when singing about sex: there's the tender lover angle (wine and candles), the accomplished performer angle (stamina and positions) and then there's the less frequently explored incorrigible horndog angle (persuasion and come ons). Notorious superfreak Rick James is decidedly part of the third camp, and his appeal to his lover to give him "that funk/that sweet/that funky stuff" after he comes home drunk? Exhibit A, and maybe the only one you need. 

31. Aaliyah "Rock The Boat" (2001)

Not Available Interstitial

30. Color Me Badd "I Wanna Sex You Up" (1991)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 2

This wasn't the first time we'd seen this scenario—dude brings lover home, pours her wine, disconnects the phone, makes love until they drown—and it wasn't the last. But while the setting might be familiar, the audacity of making a song with a hook that is literally the phrase "I wanna sex you up" was truly groundbreaking. A lot of guys might offer to take your coat, but not all of them would go ahead and suggest you spend the entire night sexing each other up and rubbing each other down to Doug E. Fresh songs (sampled here to serve as a reminder there will be no stopping) immediately after.

29. Labelle "Lady Marmalade" (1975)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

French: A language of passion and romance, and everyone should have at least a couple phrases très charmants in their pocket to whip out in the event they meet the perfect gamine. Patti Labelle made sure the people of America would all have at least one committed to memory—albeit one that some French mademoiselles might consider a little forward—when she recorded the iconic lines "voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" ('Do you want to sleep with me tonight?'). Keep it in mind whether you're visiting New Orleans (where the song is set) or Paris, but use in small doses, as it's best employed to rare occassion (e.g. when you know the answer you're going to get to the song's core question is a resounding "yes").

28. Britney Spears "If You Seek Amy" (2009)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 19

Britney's always been surrounded by sex, but she stays coy about it. This is her at her raunchiest. Most dudes have probably imagined getting intimate with Britney, and according to her lyrics here, most girls have too. So, really, it was polite to just come out and address it openly. Even if the lyrics go over your head, there's no denying the kinkiness of the video, which shows Britney cleaning up from an epic sex party that most of America wishes they had gotten an invite for (we feel your pain, K-Fed).

27. Donna Summer "Hot Stuff" (1979)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

Back in the days before the Internet made it possible to peruse potential strangers (or friends) to sleep with, there were only two options for wrangling some warm-blooded company for a chilly night: Cold-calling strangers and going to clubs that played disco. Donna Summer made a song that bridged the two methods, discussing the former in the context of the latter. The result ensured that anyone who heard it on the dance floor would immediately start looking for a partner with whom to make some hot stuff of their own.

26. 50 Cent "Candy Shop" (2005)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

If your first impression on hearing "Magic Stick" was "This is pretty good, but I'd like to hear even more explicitly what it's like to have sex with 50 Cent, hopefully with some candy metaphors thrown in," you only had to wait two years to get served the sweet stuff you were looking for. 50's magic stick returned for this club hit off "The Massacre," and this time its saccharine sorcery included such tricks as melting in your mouth (but not in your hand—the only thing 50 hates more than a hand job is holding a bunch of congealed M&Ms) and turning into a lollipop to be licked.

25. Starland Vocal Band "Afternoon Delight" (1976)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

You probably have never heard of Bill Danoff, but he deserves a round of applause. This is a guy who played the acoustic guitar, looked like a calculator repairman,and somehow still managed to become most famous as the singer of a song about setting off his pelvic fireworks in the middle of the afternoon. The song itself is pretty straightforward—there's even a plane sound effect at the moment the sky rockets take flight—but it should be commended for opening up the minds of millions of Americans to the possibilities of grabbing your baby tight in the hours before sunset. It's also a prime example of the Ferrell Rule: if your sex song shows up in a Will Ferrell movie ("Anchorman" in this case), it's probably a little over-the-top.

24. Next "Too Close" (1998)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

This song is about a challenge that all dudes have dealt with at some point or another. It's one of those situations that is just really difficult. Like, really, really...hard. There are those who accused the acting in the video as wooden. Others who felt the lyrics were a little stiff (is it really necessary to clarify the phrase "The way that you shake it on me/Makes me want you so bad" with the adverb "sexually?"). But one thing about "Too Close" is that it got a lot of people excited, to the point that the number one song in the country AT THE HEIGHT OF THE CLINTON IMPEACHMENT SCANDAL was about getting a boner. We should erect a monument in its honor. 

23. Cassie "Me & U" (2006)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 3

There's nothing hotter than sexual tension, and the spare, slowly cascading synth notes on Cassie's breakout single are the musical equivalent of trading "let's continue this discussion at my place" eyes. It's the soundtrack for that slow build when the subtext of each line you trade is "also I'd like to see you naked." Play this on your phone while you're sending all those texts (or—let's be real—sexts) that end with the ;) emoticon. Play this at the party when the girl you've been sending those texts to shows up. Cassie's voice is basically what you should hear in your head when you watch some guy hit on the girl you already know is coming home with you.

22. Bob Dylan "Lay Lady Lay" (1969)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 7

Ah, 1969, the Summer of Love. Everyone was wearing billowy clothes all the time and smoking weed constantly and laying across all kinds of big brass beds. And then there was Bob Dylan, the original Mr. Steal Yo Girl, showing up with his cowboy hat and guitar, and literally charming the pants off of every flower power babe in sight. It would have almost been unfair if this song's country western guitars weren't so sensual that anybody could put it on and get lay lady laid.

21. Salt-n-Pepa "Push It" (1987)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 19

Salt-n-Pepa's breakout single is a real lesson in motivation. What exactly needs to be pushed, you ask? What is "it?" Even if you're not sure, that massive, pumping, throbbing synthesizer sample is really inspirational. As are all those "ooh baby baby" cheers of support. Yeah, hopefully you'll figure out what you're supposed to be pushing soon, or these girls are going to get pissed. Still struggling to see where the whole sexual thing comes in? Still unclear on the pushing? Can't you hear the music pumping? It is hard, like...never mind, you really don't get it do you?

20. Juvenile "Slow Motion" (2004)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

Sex with Juvenile is a give-and-take proposition. On the one hand, he might make you get in his car and refuse to tell you where he's taking you. On the other, he could be in a Cialis commercial with his all-night-long hard-on. Shit is unpredictable. The one constant is the speed (and Birdman showing up to rub his hands in the video, of course). And why, you ask, is going in slow motion so important? Well, traction for the necessary ass-gripping, for one, but also because Soulja Slim is more than a little concerned that too much speed could break his stick shift, so to speak. This is the kind of tip they don't share with you in sex ed, which is why, as with most things, you should trust Cash Money's wisdom.

19. Adina Howard "Freak Like Me" (1995)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 2

Let's be real: You don't have what it takes to have sex with Adina Howard. There's no shame in it, but the truth is most guys are not going to fit enough in (pause) to handle her schedule. You better be able to run like a six-minute mile if you're trying "pump pump" any time of day and all through the night and until dawn and in the morning and in the evening like she's looking for. If you thought taking a ride on nature's exercise bike was going to be a walk in the park, you were sorely mistaken. This song helped open the door for all the ladies looking to sing frankly about what they needed from a race partner in the great carnal 5K: a dude who could keep up.

18. Lil Wayne "Lollipop" (2008)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

In retrospect, maybe we're all to blame for Wayne's slow decline from best rapper alive to decrepit sex joke peddler. But this song—the point where it all began to go wrong—was such a good use of a dumb, extended blowjob metaphor that we didn't see what we had wrought. Instead we enabled it. Lil Wayne wants to compare himself to a lollipop? Well, that creeping synth line is basically the full time soundtrack in Candyland. He's so sweet that they want to lick the wrapper? Come on, that's a groundbreaking achievement of double entendre. Other artists had made similar jokes before, but no one else had offered the full, uh, package. So yes, Lil Wayne, if transforming yourself into goofy sex pun lollipop guy is the way to score a massive smash hit and reel in a wider variety of fans, go for it. What we didn't count on was that he might never turn himself back from a candy mogul – and we'd be left forever wondering exactly what, in either lollipop terms or penis terms, he meant when he said "call me so I can get it juicy for you." How is this lollipop juicy? Is it a Gushers brand lollipop? Wouldn't the girl licking it be responsible for getting it juicy? These are questions we may never resolve now that Lil Wayne is a full-time resident of Planet Ring Pop.

17. Samantha Foxx "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" (1986)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 4

Samantha Fox was a British model before starting her music career, so there was already an audience looking to cop a feel when she released this single. And with lyrics like "I want your body all the time" and "like a tramp in the night/I was begging for you/to treat my body/like you wanted to" (followed by a series of moans), Ms. Fox pretty much guaranteed she would be competing in the titillation trials and the objectification olympics on an international scale. One mark of a sexual song? A little bit of moaning (or groaning, or grunting) so we know it's real.

16. The Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Women" (1969)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

When you hear the words "sex jam," you might think of one of those honeymoon suite type settings, with the rose petals on the floor and the heart-shaped bed and the smooth jazz playing in the background. But the urge to bump coyote uglies doesn't always strike in the most romantic circumstances. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, two connoisseurs of a good barroom boink, understood that desire can strike at any time, hence their country western ode to the saloon seductresses and brothel beauties of the world. While Mick Jagger's hips are often considered the most sexual part of the Stones' legacy, this song's filthy guitar licks (and only slightly less randy subject matter) give them a run for their money.

15. Lil Kim "Magic Stick" (2003)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 2

It's a well-documented fact that dudes will do a lot of crazy shit to dip their wands in a witch's brew. And Lil Kim, who, among other talents, can make a Sprite can disappear in her mouth, has such a powerful, um, spell, that she can make a guy buy the two of them matching Lambos with the same color wheels. That may be a half million dollar commitment, but if you weren't picking out rim color schemes for Kim by the end of this song, you weren't listening closely enough. Seriously, Lil Kim bragged about how she doesn't go out because she's too busy deep-throating (Sprite cans, presumably)!

14. George Michael "I Want Your Sex" (1987)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 2

For all the great insights that many of the artists on this list have shared about sex, few make as convincing of arguments for the act as George Michael, who spends this song trying to enlighten a girl of the health benefits of doing the deed, as well as of the glories of monogamy: "Sex is something that we should do/sex is something for me and you/sex is natural, sex is good/not everybody does it/but everybody should/sex is natural, sex is fun/sex is best when it's one on one." The thing about George Michael is when he says stuff like "sex is chemical" you imagine him being the kind of dude who's going to want to try some weird hippie shit with crystals and start talking to you about your life force. But, you know, it's cool. We all have our own things we're into.

13. Rod Stewart "Tonight's The Night" (1976)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

One hallmark of sexual songs is that they often tread the line between creepy and sensual – and the scenario in this one certainly fits the bill. But if the idea of a gravel-voiced Rod Stewart disconnecting his phone, closing his blinds and supplying his "virgin child" with drinks until she takes off her French gown seems a little suspect in theory, the moment he croons the line "ain't nobody gonna stop us now" and the smooth sax sets in it's clear that everything here is très bien. 

12. Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Relax" (1983)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 10

There's no more reliable formula for making something mildly risqué incredibly popular than banning it, so it should come as no surprise that BBC Radio's decision to stop playing this song in 1984 due its "overtly obscene" lyrics guaranteed it a spot as one of the most successful U.K. hits of all time. If the leather-clad people on the single cover and the gay nightclub-themed video weren't enough of a tip-off about a song in which the central lyric is "when you want to come/come...but shoot it in the right direction," the release of the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome made it clear this music was about more than meditation tactics. 

11. Prince "Raspberry Beret" (1985)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 2

Prince is the closest thing we, as a civilization, have to an actual sex god. Dude probably single-handedly keeps the national candle industry afloat. Chances are good that if you're ever wondering what Prince is up to at this moment the answer is "exploring the tantric mysteries of the universe." So what makes "Raspberry Beret" the definitively sexual Prince song? You could argue that it's the imagery of the girl wearing almost nothing but a hat. Or maybe the story of a countryside tryst. Perhaps his insistence that if he "had the chance to do it all again" he "wouldn't change a stroke." But what really makes "Raspberry Beret" so sexual is the fact that while Prince enacts his and raspberry beret girl's most pornographic fantasies on the floor of a barn, in the rain, there are a bunch of horses there watching, being all "damn, Prince really put it on her." Prince is so fucking virile that he's totally cool including a lyric in his song about horses – animals renowned for the size of their members – being curious about what he's doing. This won't happen if you, a mortal, go and try out some barnyard activities in front of an able-bodied stallion. You'll probably just get kicked in the face. But Prince? That dude could have sex in the middle of a goddamn cavalry charge.

10. Marvin Gaye "Let's Get It On" (1973)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

From its first few, iconic opening notes, this single leaves no question as to what activity Marvin is about to suggest. Basically the entire genre of movie scenes in which someone slowly takes off their clothes owes its origin to those notes. Those notes are responsible for at least half of all pregnancies in the intervening four decades. With those notes, Marvin Gaye came awfully close to accomplishing his late-career goal of spreading world peace. And then there are Marvin's background harmonies and the bubbling sax and the sparkling strings and the unparalleled come-ons. We are all sensitive people with so much to give, Marvin is so right. How could that not get someone in the mood? There may be songs that are more overtly sexual, but this song is the ultimate sex jam. Come on, come on, come on, let's stop beating round the bush: this song is irresistible.

9. Ludacris "What's Your Fantasy" (2000)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 21

A partial list of places that Ludacris suggests having sex in this song:

- The bed.

- Down to the floor.

- The 50-yard-line of the Georgia Dome (while the Falcons are kicking a field goal).

- In the DJ booth of the club.

- In the V.I.P section of the club.

- On a black sand beach.

- In a public bathroom

- On the roof.

- On the roof of his Escalade.

- On stage, at a Ludacris show.

- In the pouring rain.

- In the library, on top of a stack on books.

- In the White House.

- In a sauna.

- In a jacuzzi.

- In the back row at the movies (film selection unspecified).

- In a barn (on a bed of hay). 

- On rose petals and silk sheets.

- In the garden ("all in the dirt").

- In the sun.

- In the shade.

- On the ocean (or in the boat).

- In a factory.

- In a candy store.

- And on the back of a horse. 

We rest our case.

8. Shawnna "Gettin Some Head" (2006)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 31

Like many of our entries, and, for that matter, many great love songs throughout history, this song is a duet. But it's not like a "let's play 'Heart and Soul' on the piano" duet. Or even a, like, "let's trade declarations of love and sweet nothings" duet. It's more of a "holy shit let's see how loudly we can shout about oral sex on the radio" duet. Or a "make sure you roll up your windows if you pull up next to a respectable adult at a stoplight while blasting this" duet. If you've ever been like, "I would love to get the most turnt up blowjob imaginable," this is the song to put on, although it's hard to know if it would lead to actual toe-popping pleasure.

7. LL Cool J "Doin' It" (1995)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 9

Ever since it was first discovered that Ladies Love Cool James, the question loomed of how Cool James went about loving the ladies in return. The answer? Well, first of all, LL Cool J believes in safe sex. Not only does he reassure his partner, Leshaun, that he uses a condom, but he offers the kind of pro-safety PSA that artists just don't take time to make any more, explaining that he's "safe sexin' it, flexin' it, gettin' that affectionate." Lest you think this makes LL Cool J a prude (which you shouldn't! Shouts out to safe sex!), let him assure you that conventional methods of having sex bore him. So what is he into? Making sex tapes, obviously. And then he and Leshaun watch it together! That shit is romantic as hell. It's kind of weird since Leshaun says she's been a fan of his since she was young, but it's cool since LL Cool J's been "schemin' on that ass since the first day." Kids, let LL Cool J and Leshaun teach you a few things about having an equitable sexual relationship. Scheme on all the asses you want, but remember it's a shared responsibility to bounce each other back.

6. 2 Live Crew "Me So Horny" (1989)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 26

If you asked a bunch of 15-year-old boys to come up with a song about sex, there's like a 90 percent chance it would sample the movie Full Metal Jacket have the phrase "me so horny" in it. What really elevates the work of 2 Live Crew is their masterful use of just incredibly graphic language. While a lot of songs might express similar sentiments, most would stop short of using the actual line "put your lips on my dick, and suck my asshole too." Not 2 Live Crew! The group, whose music was so obscene it got banned in the state of Florida, should be congratulated not only for paving the way for stripper-loving rappers everywhere (would 2 Chainz exist without 2 Live Crew?), but also for getting the following summary of their music published in the New York Times: "The rap album 'As Nasty as They Wanna Be,' by 2 Live Crew, is a record loaded with graphic descriptions of sex, genitals and sodomy." Hashtag: #sexgenitalsandsodomy. 

5. Ying Yang Twins "Wait (The Whisper Song)" (2005)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 15

You have to hand it to the Ying Yang Twins. It's basically a scientific fact that a dude whispering the phrase "wait 'til you see my dick" is the creepiest thing in the English language (possibly rivaled by a dude whispering "beat the pussy up" over and over), but these guys took a hitting-on-someone-inappropriately line and made it an inappropriate hit song. You might think that anybody with such a direct come-on would probably go straight for whipping it out in the club and skip the rapping altogether, but that would leave out the opportunity to whisper more sweet nothings, like "walk around the club with your thumb in your mouth/put my dick in, take your thumb out."

4. R. Kelly "Bump N Grind" (1994)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 11

R. Kelly has sung a lot of songs about sex. They range from the absurdly contrived ("Sex Planet") to the extremely direct ("Sex Me"). By Kells' standards, "Bump N Grind" is actually pretty tame – it's not so much sexual as wildly sensual, which is actually more overpowering. No one could seriously have sex while playing a song about how R. Kelly is a remote control ("Remote Control"), but you can't listen to "Bump N Grind" and not fall under its spell. If you were a politician caught in a sex scandal and you played "Bump N Grind" in your ethics hearing, you would walk out of there getting high fives from the whole room. If they had had this shit in Victorian England, so many tragic deflowered virgins' lives could have been saved. Who is really going to listen to this song and be like "actually, I do find something wrong with a little bump n' grind?" Nobody. Bump n' grind in moderate amounts can cure any ailment.

3. Madonna "Like A Virgin" (1984)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 1

Most peoples' first trip to bone town is about as awkward/pleasurable as the phrase "bone town" would suggest. So the real power of "Like A Virgin" is that it makes you want to un-punch your V-card and redeem it again. If there was anyone on the planet who heard this song for the very first time and didn't immediately wonder what it would be like to not only get it on with Madonna, but to, like, make love to her, we haven't met them. After all, there's a difference between merely traveling abroad and actually taking a romantic gondola trip down your lover's Venetian canals (as in this song's video).

2. Silk "Freak Me" (1993)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 5

If half the R&B ladies' man stereotype can be credited to Barry White, the other half is surely the product of Keith Sweat. Sweat discovered Silk and wrote this track for them, and if you had describe what a sex jam was to someone who had never seen a ruffled shirt or a velvet-covered wall before, this would be the song for the job. The chorus is direct and over-the-top without being obscene ("let me lick you up and down 'til you say stop"), there are baritone spoken word breaks describing putting whipped cream on your lover and, wow, the harmonies! Honestly, this song should be on the syllabus of every college student hoping to learn more about pleasure – especially since most of them were probably conceived to it.

1. David Banner "Play" (2005)

Not Available Interstitial


Hot 100 Peak Position: 7

R.I.P. alternate clean versions of radio songs. These days, there's no way "Play" would make it on the radio because modern edits just take out the inappropriate lyrics, and doing that to David Banner's hit single would leave nothing but the instrumental. Instead of getting the alternate version of "Play," which is a great song about working out ("Work them hips/Run girl"), today we'd be left with an edit of the phrase "Work that clit/Cum girl" that sounded like ".../...girl." Of course, even the clean version has some lyrics removed because this song about watching a girl go all P90XXX on herself is incredibly explicit no matter what David Banner is whispering.

Latest in Music