Criteria: These 200 greatest funk songs of all time are ranked based on impact, influence, and popularity in the music recording industry.
Edited By: Jeff B.
Last Updated: 2008-08-07
Greatest Funk Songs
1. Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine) Part I - James Brown 2. Papa's Got a Brand New Bag - James Brown & The Famous Flames 3. Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Sly & The Family Stone 4. Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk) - Parliament 5. Theme from "Shaft" - Isaac Hayes 6. Superfly - Curtis Mayfield 7. Superstition - Stevie Wonder 8. Papa Was a Rollin' Stone - The Temptations 9. When Doves Cry - Prince & The Revolution 10. One Nation Under a Groove - Funkadelic 11. Cold Sweat Part I - James Brown & The Famous Flames 12. Out of Sight - James Brown & The Famous Flames 13. Funky Broadway - Dyke & The Blazers 14. Cissy Strut - Meters 15. Chameleon - Herbie Hancock 16. It's Your Thing - Isley Brothers 17. Flash Light - Parliament 18. War - Edwin Starr 19. Super Freak Part I - Rick James 20. Little Red Corvette - Prince & The Revolution 21. Don't Stop ('Til You Get Enough) - Michael Jackson 22. Family Affair - Sly & The Family Stone 23. Living for the City - Stevie Wonder 24. I'll Take You There - Staple Singers 25. That Lady Part I - Isley Brothers 26. Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight 27. Tell Me Something Good - Rufus 28. Kiss - Prince & The Revolution 29. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder 30. Play That Funky Music (White Boy) - Wild Cherry 31. Car Wash - Rose Royce 32. Brick House - Commodores 33. Fire - Ohio Players 34. Low Rider - War 35. Pick Up the Pieces - Average White Band 36. Got to Give It Up Part I - Marvin Gaye 37. More Bounce to the Ounce Part I - Zapp & Roger 38. Jungle Boogie - Kool & The Gang 39. Funky Drummer Parts I and II - James Brown 40. Amen, Brother - Winstons 41. Apache - Incredible Bongo Band 42. The Payback - James Brown 43. Think (About It) - Lyn Collins 44. Word Up - Cameo 45. Express Yourself - Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band 46. Atomic Dog - George Clinton 47. You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate 48. Funky Stuff - Kool & The Gang 49. Dazz - Brick 50. Shining Star - Earth, Wind & Fire 51. Hollywood Swinging - Kool & The Gang 52. Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) - B.T. Express 53. For the Love of Money - O'Jays 54. Give It to Me Baby - Rick James 55. Clean Up Woman - Betty Wright 56. Groove Me - King Floyd 57. Ain't Nobody - Rufus & Chaka Khan 58. Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin 59. What is Hip? - Tower of Power 60. You Dropped a Bomb on Me - Gap Band 61. I Can't Stand the Rain - Ann Peebles 62. Genius of Love - Tom Tom Club 63. (Not Just) Knee Deep Part I - Funkadelic 64. Get Down On It - Kool & The Gang 65. Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players 66. It's Just Begun - Jimmy Castor Bunch 67. Slide - Slave 68. P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) - Parliament 69. I Don't Believe You Want To Get Up and Dance (Oops, Up Side Your Head) - Gap Band 70. Keep on Truckin' Part I - Eddie Kendricks 71. Fight the Power Parts I and II - Isley Brothers 72. Say It Loud - I'm Black and Proud Part I - James Brown 73. Give It Up or Turnit a Loose (In the Jungle Groove remix) - James Brown 74. Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas 75. Bustin' Loose - Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers 76. Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly & The Family Stone 77. Sign O' the Times - Prince 78. Cloud Nine - Temptations 79. Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today) - Temptations 80. Funkin' for Jamaica - Tom Browne 81. Heartbeat - Taana Gardner 82. Use Me - Bill Withers 83. Shakey Ground - Temptations 84. Future Shock - Curtis Mayfield 85. Just Kissed My Baby - Meters 86. Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me?) - Gap Band 87. Get the Funk Out of Ma Face - Brothers Johnson 88. Freddie's Dead (Theme from "Superfly") - Curtis Mayfield 89. Upside Down (Inside Out) - Diana Ross 90. Lovely Day - Bill Withers 91. The Jam - Graham Central Station 92. Stand! - Sly & The Family Stone 93. Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John 94. Computer Love - Zapp & Roger 95. Fantastic Voyage - Lakeside 96. Let it Whip - Dazz Band 97. I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl) - Instant Funk 98. No Parking (On the Dancefloor) - Midnight Star 99. Cutie Pie - One Way 100. Get on the Good Foot - James Brown
101. Doing It To Death Part I - Fred Wesley & The JBs 102. Tramp - Otis & Carla 103. Get Out of My Life, Woman - Lee Dorsey 104. Mothership Connection (Star Child) - Parliament 105. Up for the Down Stroke - Parliament 106. Soul Finger - Bar-Kays 107. The Horse - Cliff Nobles & Co. 108. Memphis Soul Stew - King Curtis & The Kingpins 109. Let a Woman Be a Woman, Let a Man Be a Man - Dyke & The Blazers 110. I Gotcha - Joe Tex 111. Smiling Faces Sometimes - Undisputed Truth 112. Outa-Space - Billy Preston 113. Be Thankful for What You've Got - William DeVaughn 114. Pusherman - Curtis Mayfield 115. I Know You Got Soul - Bobby Byrd 116. Drop the Bomb - Trouble Funk 117. Get Up Offa That Thing - James Brown 118. Bootzilla - Bootsy's Rubber Band 119. Jungle Love - The Time 120. A Love Bizarre - Sheila E. & Prince 121. (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again - L.T.D. 122. Scorpio - Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band 123. Too Hot to Stop - Bar-Kays 124. Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - Indeep 125. She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked) - Carl Carlton 126. Serpentine Fire - Earth, Wind & Fire 127. Slippin' Into Darkness - War 128. Brother's Gonna Work It Out - Willie Hutch 129. Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack & Peace 130. The Bottle - Gil Scott-Heron 131. Jungle Fever - Chakachas 132. The Funky Worm - Ohio Players 133. You Haven't Done Nothin' - Stevie Wonder 134. Don't Stop the Music - Yarbough & Peoples 135. Holy Ghost - Bar-Kays 136. Cosmic Slop - Funkadelic 137. Pass the Peas - Fred Wesley & The JBs 138. Ffun - Con Funk Shun 139. Expansions - Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes 140. (Fallin' Like) Dominoes - Donald Byrd 141. Juicy Fruit - Mtume 142. All Night Long - Mary Jane Girls 143. Strawberry Letter 23 - The Brothers Johnson 144. Candy - Cameo 145. Take Me To the Mardi Gras - Bob James 146. Fencewalk - Mandrill 147. (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going To Go - Curtis Mayfield 148. Street Life - Crusaders 149. Rock Creek Park - Blackbyrds 150. Running Away - Roy Ayers 151. God Made Me Funky - Headhunters 152. The Message - Cymande 153. Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got, To Get What She Wants) - James Brown 154. I Can't Get Next To You - Temptations 155. Escape-ism - James Brown 156. Funky Nassau - Beginning of the End 157. Summer Madness - Kool & The Gang 158. Backstrokin' - Fatback 159. Funky President (People It's Bad) - James Brown 160. Why Can't We Be Friends? - War 161. Birdland - Weather Report 162. Yes We Can Can - Pointer Sisters 163. I Can Understand It - New Birth 164. The World is a Ghetto - War 165. Supernatural Thing Part I - Ben E. King 166. N.T. Parts I and II - Kool & The Gang 167. Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved - James Brown 168. (I Wanna) Testify - Parliaments 169. Everybody is a Star - Sly & The Family Stone 170. The Breakdown Part I - Rufus Thomas 171. Sing a Simple Song - Sly & The Family Stone 172. The Ghetto - Donny Hathaway 173. Mary Jane - Rick James 174. Machine Gun - Commodores 175. Joy and Pain - Maze feat. Frankie Beverly 176. Funky Sensation - Gwen McCrae 177. Movin' - Brass Construction 178. I Want To Be Your Man - Roger 179. We Got the Funk - Positive Force 180. Impeach the President - Honey Drippers 181. Ashley's Roachclip - Soul Searchers 182. Dance to the Drummer's Beat - Herman Kelly 183. Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother For Me) - James Brown 184. Always There - Ronnie Laws 185. Could Heaven Ever Be Like This? - Idris Muhammad 186. To Prove My Love - Ned Doheny 187. I Thought It Was You - Herbie Hancock 188. Right Off - Miles Davis 189. Love Will Bring Us Back Together - Roy Ayers 190. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron 191. Whistle Bump - Deodato 192. Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On) - Lee Dorsey 193. Superman Lover - Johnny "Guitar" Watson 194. I Get Lifted - George McCrae 195. Dukey Stick - George Duke 196. If I'm in Luck I Might Get Picked Up - Betty Davis 197. Burning Spear - S.O.U.L. 198. Action Speaks Louder Than Words - Chocolate Milk 199. Soul Power '74 - Maceo Parker 200. Zombie - Fela Kuti
James Brown
Sly Stone
George Clinton
Rick James
Honerable Mentions
*Proto-Funk
Limbo Jimbo - James Brown
Think - James Brown
Testify Part I - Isley Brothers
Green Onions - Booker T. & The MGs
Land of 1,000 Dances - Wilson Pickett
Funk music is sometimes overlooked and usually lumped with disco music. However, funk music has its own style and culture and was here before disco's birth, born in the mid-1960s by James Brown. Funk music is usually heavily syncopated with polyrhythmic rhythms, horn and percussive sections, and features the guitar. Funk music is known for its breaks (making it a sample pool for much of hip hop and electronic dance music) and obscure classics known as "rare grooves". Important pioneers include James Brown, Sly & The Family Stone, The Meters, and Dyke & The Blazers.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, some disco and funk music shared blurred lines. This list excludes purely disco records and includes funky psychedelic soul, go-go, Afro-beat via Fela Kuti,and jazz funk. The latter subgenres that spun off from funk (such as electro funk and G-funk) are given their own sidebar lists.
10 Post Disco Funk Songs
Top 15 G-Funk Songs
1. Double Dutch Bus
- Frankie Smith
2. In My House
- Mary Jane Girls
3. Candy Girl
- New Edition
4. Rumours
- Timex Social Club
5. Pull Up to the Bumper
- Grace Jones
6. Jump to It
- Aretha Franklin
7. When I Think of You
- Janet Jackson
8. Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll
- Vaughn Mason & Crew
9. Get Down Saturday Night
- Oliver Cheatham
10. Somebody Else's Guy
- Jocelyn Brown
Influential Disco Songs in Funk
Soul Makossa
- Manu DiBango
Good Times
- Chic
Let's Groove
- Earth, Wind & Fire
I'm Every Woman
- Chaka Khan
I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More, Baby
- Barry White
(early 90s gangster West Coast Hip Hop)
1. Nuthin' But a G-Thang
- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg
2. California Love
- 2Pac and Dr. Dre
3. Regulate
- Warren G. and Nate Dogg
4. It Was a Good Day
- Ice Cube
5. Keep Ya Head Up
- 2Pac
6. Gin and Juice
- Snoop Doggy Dogg
7. What's My Name?
- Snoop Doggy Dogg
8. Funkdafied
- Da Brat
9. Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')
- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg
10. Thuggish Ruggish Bone
- Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony
11. Me Against the World
- 2Pac
12. Let Me Ride
- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg
13. Deep Cover
- Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg
14. This DJ
- Warren G.
15. Black Superman
- Above the Law
Top 5 Electro-Funk Songs
Top 6 New School Funk Songs
(ranked in terms of influence on funk music as a whole)
1. The Message
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
2. Planet Rock
- Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
3. White Lines (Don't Do It)
- Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel
4. Looking for the Perfect Beat
- Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force