Rumors of a Glee reboot were spreading over the past couple of months, but within the recent week that rumor has now been confirmed by Disney+ and Hulu. Glee is officially coming back. Whether you are excited, disappointed, or somewhere in the middle (pleak), you can always revisit the original Glee cast’s songs. Both individually and in mashups, across six seasons, Glee featured 754 songs. While it’s not easy to point out the best performances, I believe that I came up with a perfectly curated list of the top 25 Glee songs of all time that are better than the original.
The Top 25 Glee Performances
This list is in order of when the glee club sang them and not in the actual order of how I would rank them.
- “Don’t Stop Believin’,” season 1, episode 1
- “Keep Holding On,” season 1, episode 7
- “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” season 1, episode 13
- “Jessie’s Girl,” season 1, episode 18
- “The Boy Is Mine,” season 1, episode 18
- “Bohemian Rhapsody,” season 1, episode 22
Season one of Glee had plenty of great songs, but these are my favorites from the season for the nostalgia they bring when thinking of the show. And the drama? It had everyone just as hooked as the songs did.
- “I’m a Slave 4 U,” season 2, episode 2
- “Me Against the Music,” season 2, episode 2
- “Valerie,” season 2, episode 9
- “Somewhere Only We Know,” season 2, episode 18
- “Rolling in the Deep,” season 2, episode 20
Season two brought in more characters, along with giving more of the supporting characters from season one time to shine with more duets and solos. It’s pretty obvious who my favorite characters are from this season because of their standout performances.
- “Smooth Criminal,” season 3, episode 11
- “Cough Syrup,” season 3, episode 14
- “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights,” season 3, episode 21
- “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” season 3, episode 21
For season three, I think these deserve to be the best songs of Glee because of the tension, emotion, and vibe that these songs brought to the season. Once again, this season brought new characters whom you’ll either love or hate, but one thing we can say for sure about this season is that they can sing.
- “Don’t Speak,” season 4, episode 4
- “The Scientist,” season 4, episode 4
- “Mine,” season 4, episode 4
- “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” season 4, episode 5
- “Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself),” season 4, episode 12
- “Cold Hearted,” season 4, episode 16
- “Creep,” season 4, episode 17
There are many songs from season four that I believe are some of the best from this show, honorable mention “Nutbush City Limits,” but this list could only be so long. There is a little bit of a theme with these songs: they are emotional songs that deal with the relationship problems in this season — my favorite types of songs, as gathered from the selected season four songs. And we can clearly tell which episode from season four had the most impact on me.
- “Make You Feel My Love,” season 5, episode 3
- “If I Die Young,” season 5, episode 3
Looking at this list and only seeing two songs may suggest that I don’t love this season. And that assertion would be correct. While I love Glee as a whole, I can say that season five isn’t the strongest. If you know the show, you know which episode these songs are from and the emotional damage they cause earns them a spot in the top 25.
- “I Lived,” season 6, episode 14
That being the only song from season six on the list is because it is the very last song that the Glee cast ever does on the show. With that being said, it holds significance, meaning, and it wraps up the whole show, giving it a bittersweet ending. While many of the songs that have been on Glee are peak music, you can clearly tell that I am biased towards certain seasons more than others. And that’s how Sue C’s it.