Best LGBTQ Anthems of All Time: 100 Queer Song Classics

Brothers Osborne singer TJ Osborne made history when he publicly came out in early 2021, thereby becoming the first openly gay artist in music history signed to a major country label. To help tell his story, the sibling act released “Younger Me,” an emotional anthem penned as a loving letter to TJ’s younger, closeted self. To make the moment all the more special, the song also turned Brothers Osborne into first-time Grammy winners when they clinched the award for best country duo/group performance with the song the following year. 

The world was introduced to Olly Alexander’s phenomenal voice when Years & Years’ “King” broke in 2015. An ‘80s-indebted synth-pop journey, “King” is simultaneously a plea for release from a controlling romantic partner and a declaration of personal independence. Alexander’s dramatic, dulcet vocals give “King” that push-pull energy while the soaring chorus elevates the listener to the dancefloor heavens.

After performing the song — originally by The Village People — at an AIDS benefit in Manchester, the duo recorded it as a single in 1993. The music video, which features slightly dated CGI, was Grammy-nominated for best short form music video.

Several of Mika’s songs could have made this list (“We Are Golden,” “Lollipop,” or “Last Party,” a song about Freddie Mercury’s infamous last party before he died), but “Grace Kelly” is why we fell in love with him in the first place: He’s authentically queer and has no interest in conforming.

“Lola” was nothing short of a boundary-pushing revelation when The Kinks released it in the summer of 1970. Detailing a night of lusty infatuation between a man and the titular bombshell who “walked like a woman but talked like a man,” the song became a top 10 hit around the world. And while frontman Ray Davies never explicitly delineates how Lola chooses to identify, that detail doesn’t ultimately matter all that much to the besotted narrator — who just might’ve discovered something new about his own identity by the song’s end — or to generations of music lovers.

While RuPaul reigns as the queen of drag in the English-speaking world, Pabllo Vittar is the drag queen of Latin America, especially in her home country of Brazil. She has parlayed her fierce drag persona into a groundbreaking pop career, which is certainly the case with 2018’s “Problema Seu,” a fiery ode to leaving expectations behind. Vittar already made history as the first drag queen to be nominated for a Latin Grammy and later to perform at Coachella; “Problema Seu” is just another footnote in her ever-growing story.

During the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, VINCINT let in a glittering beam of light with “Higher,” a club-ready ode to queer hope and romance featured on his 2021 debut album, There Will Be Tears. Between its gospel-tinged chorus and guest assists from Alex Newell and Princess Precious, the song offered a revelatory sense of communion for many in LGBTQ+ spaces as they shook off their collective trauma and stepped tentatively back into the safety and connection found on the dance floor.

In 2023, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers decided to go all in on on their supergroup Boygenius for a full year, and not a second after. Away from the online discourse, the borderline overexposure and their Troye Sivan cosplay on SNL, this song remains as strong as ever. This song is queer from its chorus to its liner notes, with Sarah Tudzin and Jay Som on production. Meticulously arranged like the best adult alternative from the ’00s but updated for its era of sapphic folk, it’s one of the best songs of its kind.

A self-described “fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas,” Beth Ditto has never looked as glamorous as she does in the video for this daring ultimatum.

Izora Armstead and Martha Wash were introduced to each other singing backup for Sylvester, who gave them their group’s original name: Two Tons o’ Fun. While the duo saw a handful of their songs hit the dance chart, “It’s Raining Men” was their only Hot 100 entry (charting at No. 46).

The way Musgraves nonchalantly suggests to “kiss lots of boys — or kiss lots of girls, if that’s something you’re into,” was seen as an attack on traditional Christian values by some, while others said it was positive a shift for country music. The hit was crowned song of the year at the CMA Awards in November 2014.

Kesha’s never been afraid of raising a little hell in the name of what’s right, and on the lead single off her fourth album, High Road, the pop star recruited none other than Big Freedia to help call forth the holy spirit in the face of fire and brimstone. With a macabre music video taking loose cues from a certain 1980s-era televangelist couple, Kesha preaches the value of charting your own path to salvation — all while shaking what the good Lord gave you and hopefully getting into some good trouble along the way.

Years before Lil Nas X nabbed headlines for his breakthrough success in the rap game, Kalifa — formerly known to fans as Le1f — proved just how far a Black queer rapper could go with “Wut.” Throughout this viral, bar-heavy cypher, Kalifa flexed not only his cheeky wordplay (“This yuppie’s talking blah blah, he wants to Bink my Jar Jar”) but his rapid-fire flow, making sure audiences heard every word of his subversive, challenging, glorious second verse. Without songs like “Wut,” hip-hop today wouldn’t look nearly as colorful.

Orville Peck may have burst onto the country music scene as a masked Wild West desperado at the tail end of the 2010s, but the deep-voiced crooner never kept the unabashedly queer themes coursing through his particular brand of outlaw country a mystery. Just take “Dead of Night,” one of his earliest singles off 2019’s Pony, which finds the midnight rider cruising for boys not in the gay meccas of Hell’s Kitchen or West Hollywood, but under the dusty, dreamless lights of Carson City, Nevada. 

Expect Clarkson’s catalog to be on heavy rotation at any lesbian karaoke night. This song, with lyrics like “this is the life that we choose” and “come out, come out if you dare,” added sparks to rumors that Clarkson could be gay. Though straight, Clarkson accepted the rumors as a compliment.

The singer-songwriter revealed she wrote this catchy ode to courage as a love letter to a friend who was struggling to come out as an adult.

While her one-two punch of her femme-bashing “Ur So Gay” and her exhibitionist faux-lesbian “I Kissed A Girl” haven’t aged well, Perry has become more progressive and it would be hard to find a Pride parade not playing this booming (pun intended) anthem. “Firework” topped the Hot 100 for four weeks in 2010-11 and received a Grammy nod for record of the year.

For her sophomore album, Mariah Carey enlisted the help of Robert Clivilles and David Cole (the leaders of C+C Music Factory) who co-wrote and co-produced the gospel influenced dance track “Make It Happen.” The song reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 in April 1992. An anthem about hope, faith and overcoming adversity, “Make It Happen” was the antithesis of the nihilistic and anarchic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in the early ‘90s pop landscape, carrying with it an uplifting message that appealed to the queer club scene.

Though RCA decided not to release this song stateside, Bowie performed it on Saturday Night Live wearing a puppet body suit via special effects. The line “other boys check you out” was excised, but censors failed to notice his puppet’s bouncing erection at the close of the song.

Crystal Waters became a household name in the ’90s for her house music hits like the hypnotic “Gypsy Woman.” Among the LGBTQ+ community, though, she is perhaps best known for the sensual “100% Pure Love.” Since its 1994 release, the song became an anthem embodying queer joy and resilience, peaking at No. 11 on the Hot 100 chart. Waters’ signature hit connected with a new generation of listeners on season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race in a fierce Lip Sync for Your Life between Denali and Kahmora Hall. 

Comparing a cold, avoidant relationship to the repressed dynamic of Carol et al. is already an inspired concept, even before the production’s mix of old-fashioned spring-reverb guitars and contemporary 808s elevate this song further. As those in power want to take us back to at least the 1950s, this song feels as relevant as ever; societal repression won’t stop anyone from yearning, and it’s only going to make the yearning even more painful. Laugh at Mikaela Straus’ “this record is a thicc queen” antics all you want (no, seriously, go ahead), but it’s hard to deny the power of this song. 

This song plays during the famous scene in The Birdcage where Gene Hackman dons drag to avoid being noticed by the paparazzi. While the four members of Sister Sledge are actual sisters, the song took on a deeper meaning with the gay community being one big family. The smash, written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of Chic, reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1979.

It’s hard to remember now, but Mike Hadreas began his career as Perfume Genius trembling at his piano, releasing minimalist lo-fi recordings. “Queen” threw that out the window from the first five seconds of the song, with Hadreas taunting “don’t you know your queen,” followed by a menacing distorted synth bass. There’s anger in this song, acknowledging the pain of existing in public as queer before transmuting it into strength: “No family is safe when I sashay” is angry, tongue-in-cheek, and defiant all at once.

The euphoric gay staple — which reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 in January 1992 — is one of many songs featured in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert — both the movie and stage adaption.

Fun fact: Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain listed this classic (which hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in April 1977) as his favorite song during the 2008 election cycle.

Originally titled “Damn dis-moi” in French, “Girlfriend” kicked off the rollout for Christine and the Queens’ gender-bending 2018 sophomore album, Chris. The song, as well as the studio set that followed, introduced the French pop artist’s masculine stage moniker Chris with equal doses of bravado and funk. The synth-drenched groove unlocked a new side to Christine and the Queens’ multifaceted artistry and set the singer-songwriter on an intensely personal journey to unlocking his true identity as a trans man, adopting he/him pronouns and announcing his chosen name, Rahim Redcar, just a few years later. 

On her first Dance Club Songs No. 1 in the 1990s, a rework of producer duo Clivilles & Cole’s “A Deeper Love,” Aretha Franklin moved away from the synth-laden sound of Who’s Zoomin’ Who and sported a more dance floor-ready house beat and a syncopated organ riff by C&C that was later incorporated on Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s “We Found Love.”

Neither Hayley “Lesbian Jesus” Kiyoko nor Kehlani have been quiet about their queerness, but it was still powerful to see the pair lock lips in this song’s music video.

Years after the Off-Broadway production premiered, the show was finally brought to Broadway. Winning the 2014 Tony Award for best revival of a musical, the show featured several actors taking on the titular role over its year-long run, including Neil Patrick Harris, Taye Diggs, Darren Criss and the show’s writer and original lead, John Cameron Mitchell.

“This Hell” did its pop homework, an homage to all the music the gays claimed as their own: a nod to #FreeBritney, an opening reference to Shania Twain, and the kinds of breathless key changes that literally recall “Breathless” (that pre-chorus is straight out of The Fame Monster, too!). Written with fellow queer songwriters Lauren Aquilina and Vic Jamieson, it’s a perfect pastiche of bombastic 2000s pop, down to its big-budget video. If you’re brave, it’s because you can slay, indeed!

Minogue recorded this jovial anthem specifically as an homage to her large gay fan base. The video depicts a peaceful flash mob taking over the streets of downtown Los Angeles, symbolizing — quite literally — an uprising of love.

This good-time-gal’s party jam shows mad love to the LGBTQ+ community. The fun video is full of colors, dancing and — of course — drag queens.

Where other artists might simply hint at their sexuality, punk group Pansy Division decided to say it as it was — through their live performances, through their gender presentation and especially through the lyrics to their rebellious track “Anthem.” Over blaring guitars, lead vocalist Jon Ginoli declared that he and his fellow bandmates were the “buttf–kers of rock and roll,” and made it clear that they were not the “closeted rockers” who “won’t risk their careers to come out to you.” Quickly becoming the leading voices of the queercore movement, Pansy Division struck a chord with “Anthem” — one that’s still more than relevant to this day.

While there are several underground queer hip-hop artists that deserve recognition (Le1f, Cakes Da Killa, Mykki Blanco, to name a few), Katz and his Paris Is Burning tribute is a standout.

The drag-centric musical took home six Tonys, including best musical; best score (with music and lyrics by gay icon Cyndi Lauper); and outstanding actor in a musical, for out-and-proud Billy Porter’s comeback performance as Lola, a drag queen.

Ezra Furman, a longtime voice of empowerment for the LGBTQ+ community, first started opening up about her queerness in 2015’s Perpetual Motion People album. Furman beautifully captured the body dysphoria that trans and non-binary people often face in the funky and freeing “Body Was Made.” She declares, “Your body is yours at the end of the day / And don’t let the hateful try and take it away.”

The outspoken ally’s toast to underdogs was a Hot 100 No. 1 in December 2010 and features scenes from a gay marriage in its music video, inspired by her best friend’s wedding. Cheers!

One of the most important LGBTQ+ anthems in Latin music is “A Quién Le Importa.” Spanish legend Alaska, who is openly trans, turned this eighties banger with Dinarama into a defiant ode to freedom and individuality. The song further became a staple in gay Latinx clubs when Mexican icon Thalia covered it in 2002. Her version went to No. 9 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. In a nod to the Alaska y Dinarama original, “A Quién Le Importa” is referenced at the end of every Drag Race España episode. 

Most artists can’t claim that their music helped shift our larger pop cultural discussion about sex and desire in media. But then again, Peaches is not most artists. With her signature song “F—k the Pain Away,” the electroclash star not only made something that felt raunchy and insightful at the same time, but created a model for what unabashed frankness about queerness and sex could look like in pop music. It’s clear that the world was listening — the song went on to receive prominent syncs in film and TV shows like Lost in Translation, True Blood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 30 Rock and Sex Education, as the teaches of Peaches continue to educate the masses to this day.

Leave it to singer Shea Diamond to deliver one of the most stirring anthems to trans solidarity in music history. “I am shame, she is me/ We get down with our bad selves figuratively,” she declares on this introspective soul anthem.

Shamir wastes no time introducing himself on his breakthrough single — what other song can make “Hi, hi, howdy, howdy, hi, hi” sound cool? What makes this song special is how Shamir turns dorky one-liners like “Guess I’m never-ending, you could call me pi” and “Don’t try me, I’m not a free sample” into boasts by sheer charisma alone. It’s less than 3 minutes long, but sounds like it could indeed go on forever.

Self-described “rock’s truest fairy,” Jobriath was the first openly gay musician to be signed to a major label (Elektra). For his television debut on The Midnight Special, the glam rocker initially planned to play this S&M-themed jam, but had to switch tunes after a producer objected.

Janet Jackson channeled one of the most dark and difficult moments in her personal life into a liberating and cathartic LP. The pop icon continued to push boundaries with her sexuality in 1997’s The Velvet Rope, while pushing back on the status quo. Jackson especially used her album to speak out against homophobia and stand with the LGBTQ+ community. She normalized sexual pairings and relationships of all kinds in the euphoric “Free Xone.” With her sultry whisper, Jackson declared: “One rule, no rules / One love, free zone.” 

Aguilera was given a GLAAD Media Award for the song’s accompanying music video, which featured moving portrayals of a gay couple and a transgender person. The song, which peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in February 2003, was written and produced by out-and-proud Linda Perry. Aguilera won a Grammy for her performance of the song. Perry received a song of the year nod for writing it.

This heartbreaking piece of ‘80s synth-pop tells the story of a runaway whose family rejects him for being gay.

Following up her E•MO•TION: Side B, Carly Rae Jepsen released “Cut to the Feeling” from the catalog of more than 200 songs she wrote for E•MO•TION. Opening with a rippling synth that brings to mind Madonna’s “Lucky Star,” the song boasts a sizable chorus brimming with over-the-top hooks that recall peak Cyndi Lauper, and it is a Pride party essential track that celebrates the exhilaration of being free to love whom we love.

Graduating from City Girls’ makeup artist to mic-dominating rapper, Saucy Santana dropped the taunting, winningly bratty “Material Girl” in 2019; three years later, he teamed up with the Queen of Pop herself on a victory lap rework titled “Material Gworrllllllll!” and the two performed it together during NYC Pride in 2022.

In what appeared to be a response to the British government’s damning Section 28 act (which criminalized the promotion of homosexuality, resulting in the closing of lesbian, gay and bisexual support groups across British schools and colleges), the song questions “What religion or reason could drive a man to forsake his lover?”

Opening with a sky-high guitar that brings to mind the open plains on a hot day, “American Teenager” finds Ethel Cain tapping into ethereal regions of her voice in a way that brings to mind the Cranberries. The song is earnest yet jaded, familiar yet fresh – kind of like, well, an American teenager. Cain specializes in exploring uniquely American dichotomies, and this one is a glimmering winner.

For when you’ve done enough soft-focus yearning, “Untouched” is pure lust dialed up to ludicrous speed, a madcap romp through the minds of two women in the throes of long distance limerence. The Origliasso sisters relentlessly spit their lines out almost entirely in unison, so desperate that no words can convey it but a-la-la-las have to suffice. “See you, breathe you, I wanna be you” is the kind of lyric straight people will find nonsensical and queer people will instinctively understand. “All rise for the gay national anthem”, boasted Jessica Origliasso at a 2019 pride event, and if only all national anthems had this much energy.

Sure, the lyrics to Dove Cameron’s breakout solo hit “Boyfriend” are explicitly LGBTQ, but the music itself — a vamping mixture of high camp and seductive drama with a villainous touch – is just as queer. And that cooing “plus all my clothes would fit” line is just the cherry on top.

The gayest song from Queen’s catalogue was surprisingly not written by Freddie Mercury, but rather bassist John Deacon. This anthem had the whole band dress in soap opera-inspired drag characters for its music video.

The band is one of the pioneers of the feminist riot grrrl movement. The song, featuring lyrics like “rebel girl / you’re the queen of my world,” and “in her kiss I taste a revolution,” has recently seen a resurgence after being featured in both Orange Is The New Black and a viral DIY pro-Hillary Clinton clip.

Pop the culture iconography! Troye Sivan practically broke the gay internet in 2023 when he dropped Something to Give Each Other’s third single “One of Your Girls.” Not only does the sultry mid-tempo jam boldly address the blurry lines that can come with falling for a guy who’s stuck somewhere between straight and questioning (“Give me a call if you ever get lonely/ I’ll be like one of your girls or your homies”), but the Australian pop star stunned in the steamy music video by serving face card — no cash, no credit — in full Britney-inspired drag opposite shirtless hunk Ross Lynch. 

As a powerful Black woman in pop that broke all the rules, Grace Jones has also helped shape LGBTQ+ culture. The gender-bending icon channeled her rebellious spirit into club anthems that resonated with her queer listeners. One of the most bold and daring songs in her vast catalog is her 1981 hit “Pull Up to the Bumper.” Backed by a unique fusion of reggae and disco music, Jones gives an unforgettable retelling of a car collision of sensual proportions.

The original version of this 1998 single placed Whitney Houston’s inimitable voice at the center of Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins’ skittish, plinking R&B production, but Thunderpuss’ frankly superior remix transformed the world-class vocalist into a certified LGBTQ+ icon with what one Billboard writer referred to back in 2018 as “the gay national anthem.” And if there’s even a shred of doubt left of its enduring place in the queer canon, just look to Sasha Velour’s winning lip sync performance of the song on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9, which officially earned her the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar nearly two decades after Houston’s revered remix topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.

Many queer musicians owe something to Tegan and Sara’s Heartthrob, including some on this very list — the mix of ebullient synth-pop and Lilith Fair-style songwriting virtually created the space that acts like MUNA now occupy. Like “Untouched” — another song from a pair of pop-minded identical twins — “Closer” is virtually unstoppable, crammed with massive synths and even bigger hooks. The already explosive chorus explodes even more in its second half, like a roller coaster entering another launch midway through. “Closer” perfectly captures how visceral physical contact can feel.

It’s impossible to put a finger on when Cher became a gay icon, but this music video didn’t hurt her reputation. In an outfit design that was surely based on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the pop star boarded a U.S. Navy ship and treated herself to her own personal Fleet Week. “If I Could Turn Back Time,” written by Diane Warren, reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in September 1989, becoming Cher’s highest-charting hit of the 1980s.

Throughout her career, Gloria Trevi has weathered several storms of controversy. In 2006, the Mexican pop icon decided to embrace the media circus around her with the defiant “Todos Me Miran.” Trevi found solace with her fans in the LGBTQ+ community and paid tribute to them with the melodramatic music video, which starred a man who becomes a fierce drag queen. The disco-infused banger peaked at No. 18 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. Since the song’s release, it has become an anthem of empowerment for the queer Latinx community. 

This battle cry’s message of resilience seems simple on the surface, but it resonates deeply. The band was known for their sociopolitical lyrics, specifically when it came to issues of feminism and LGBTQ+ rights.

Before revealing that they are non-binary, Janelle Monáe had come out as pansexual prior to the release of her 2018 critical sensation Dirty Computer. The Prince-esque lead single “Make Me Feel,” accompanied by a video that features Monáe flirting with the Creed actor Tessa Thompson and a man, was their nod to the bisexual community.

“When the girls don’t need your love / Who says boys don’t cry?” taunts Anitta on Versions of Me lead single “Boys Don’t Cry.” The mechanized beat and reverberating synths conjure up an ‘80s chase scene, and sure enough, the music video finds her fleeing a bevy of zombie losers who put the “dud” in dude, as she finds better satisfaction on the Sapphic side of things

Actress Tracie Thoms initially auditioned for the stage version of Joanne in Rent but the role was given to Fredi Walker. Almost a decade later, Thoms was cast in the film adaptation — which led to a role in the Broadway revival of the rock opera.

“Break My Soul” was almost instantly declared a modern queer classic when Beyoncé dropped it out of nowhere to introduce the world to Renaissance. Arriving in the thick of the 2022 Pride season, Queen Bey’s polished, assertive homage to ‘90s diva house sent hes, shes and theys of all kinds flocking to the dance floor on an entirely new vibration.

And just when the Beyhive thought the living legend’s No. 1 hit couldn’t get any more fabulous, she went and declared herself “Mother of the House” on “The Queens Remix,” sampling another anthem on this list — Madonna’s “Vogue” — and name-dropping everyone from Janet Jackson, Diana Ross and Grace Jones (twice!) to pillars of New York City’s ballroom culture like the House of Xtravaganza, the House of Aviance, the House of Miyake-Mugler and more.

Out singer-songwriter Linda Perry has penned songs like Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and P!nk’s “Get This Party Started,” which have become anthems in and of themselves for the LGBTQ+ community. But the star songwriter first launched her career in the ’90s with rock group 4 Non Blondes. Though the band was short-lived, their legacy continues to live on thanks to Perry’s iconic howl in “What’s Up?” Questioning the establishment and patriarchy as a queer woman, her battle cry has continued to fuel the fight for LGBTQ+ equality.

The original music video, banned by the BBC, featured mustachioed leather men, dominatrix drag queens, and…watersports? A version featuring similarly transgressive footage from Brian De Palma’s Body Double aired on MTV as well. “Relax” reached No. 10 on the Hot 100 in March 1985.

From her album Yes I Am, this Grammy-winning song was the first to be released after Etheridge came out publicly as a lesbian.

Arca embodies the word “transgressive” with her boundary-defying artistry. The Venezuelan producer and musician often imbues her deconstructive and experimental electronic music with transcendental views of gender identity — take one look at her genderf–k anthem “Nonbinary,” and you’ll see how. Over a grinding beat, the artist declares that “I don’t give a f–k what you think/ You don’t know me.” Arca continues to queer every space that she infiltrates, including major collaborations with artists like Lady Gaga, Sia, Rosalía, Tokischa, Bad Bunny, and Addison Rae.

Since its 1980 release, Stephanie Mills’ anthem “Never Knew Love Like This Before” has been a staple for the queer community, and it’s easy to see why. The grooving beat, the joyful lyrics and the glittering disco production each check the boxes for what we look for in an LGBTQ+ anthem. Yet “Love Like This” would go on to cement its place in the pantheon of queer anthems nearly 40 years after its release. In 2019, the track received its most prominent sync to date in season 2 of Pose, where Angelica Ross’ Candy uses the song for a ballroom performance that also marks a heartbreaking farewell, showing yet again just how enduring this anthem has been for a community in need of uplifting music.

All hail Queen Elsa, Disney’s greatest queer(coded) icon. Not only is Frozen’s Elsa the first Disney princess without a love interest, which has invited interpretations of her being gay or ace/aro, Elsa’s experience of isolation and rejection and her identity struggles are all too relatable to the movie’s queer audiences. Elsa’s song of liberation sends out a message of empowerment to the kids — until we have the first real Disney queer protagonist. This is the first of two Oscar winners for best original song on this list. Idina Menzel’s recording logged five weeks at No. 5 on the Hot 100 the spring of 2014. (You could say it was “frozen” in that spot.)

With the fierce declaration of “You betta work,” RuPaul pushed drag into the mainstream with her breakthrough smash hit. In 1992, the queen of drag tapped into the supermodel craze to make herself a global superstar while breaking down barriers for queer expression. “Supermodel” is an enduring runway anthem that shows anyone can steal the spotlight with the right work ethic and confidence.

Not only was this disco classic featured heavily in Paris Is Burning and Carrie Bradshaw’s runway debut, but it made an appearance in the first season of Will & Grace as well. Will (Eric McCormack) is singing the song in the mirror while shaving, to which Grace (Debra Messing) quips, “We’re just like 50 men and a mirror ball away from being a gay disco.”

While it was widely speculated that this was his version of coming out (“I think it’s time I told you so / there’s something deep inside of me / there’s someone else I’ve got to be”), Michael explained that the song was actually about liberating himself from his former image with the band Wham!. Nearly a decade later, Michael came out publicly. “Freedom” reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in December 1990.

On “Sofia,” Clairo touches on the painful — and all too relatable — internalized shame she and/or her partner feels about their same-sex romance. “Know that you and I shouldn’t feel like a crime,” she sings on the deceptively danceable track.

It didn’t need an Elton John and Neil Tennant cover to make “In Private” a queer classic. Its original performer, Dusty Springfield, was many things: a British Invasion pioneer, a blue-eyed soul luminary, a camp icon and not least the first U.K. pop star to come out as bisexual. Her third Pet Shop Boys-produced single, “In Private,” is a tongue-in-cheek story about an illicit affair between the singer and a married man. Guess it wasn’t “just the story of my life” – it was also the reality for many queer relationships.

Whether it’s in a dive bar or in a two-hour car ride like the infamous The L Word scene, nearly every lesbian will participate in a sing-along of this introspective anthem at some point.

When Eilish dropped her third studio album Hit Me Hard and Soft in 2024, the immediate standout track was “Lunch” — a swaggering, flirtatious jam that finds the star explicitly singing about her attraction to women for the first time ever. With lyrics like “I could eat that girl for lunch/ Yeah, she dances on my tongue/ Tastes like she might be the one,” this Finneas-produced love song is the perfect anthem for all WLW who have a crush on someone delicious.

While this may not be Scissor Sisters‘ most inventive track, the campy number — and its instructional dance video! — shows the band’s brilliance. Every good gay house party has this song queued up.

Lil Nas X’s flamenco-inspired “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” was a cultural reset – never had a gay hip-hop star so ostentatiously commercialized his queerness and sexuality to such success. With a Bible-referencing and autoerotic video, the then 22-year-old star reclaimed the disparaging satanic imageries associated with queer people and, although not without controversy, pushed for greater acceptance of queerness in the industry. The smash topped the Hot 100 in April 2021 and received Grammy nods for record and song of the year.

Dating back to at least World War II — when homosexual acts were illegal — the term “friend of Dorothy” was underground slang for a gay man. While investigating homosexuality in Chicago, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service discovered that gay men used this term to refer to themselves. They started a massive witch-hunt for the elusive “Dorothy” in hopes that she would reveal names of gay service members. This universal song of yearning from the immortal The Wizard of Oz won an Oscar for best original song.

The dark, clanging “Unholy” became a surprise hit thanks to TikTok, eventually scaling up the Hot 100 to the No. 1 spot in October 2022 — making Smith and Petras the first openly nonbinary and trans artists, respectively, to top the main Billboard chart. A major moment in LGBTQ music history – big enough that if mummy didn’t know at first, she surely does now.

This Motown Hot 100 No. 1 hit in April 1977 was later appropriated by the gay community as an anthem for friends lost to the AIDS epidemic. As part of a commissioned “public space statement,” artist Nayland Blake juxtaposed the title of the song against an image of a bouquet of flowers with their tangled roots showing.

Robyn was inspired to write this earworm by her love for sad, gay disco anthems. Any gay guy who says he hasn’t related to this synthy jam shouldn’t be trusted.

Released shortly after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, MUNA’s “I Know a Place” provides a virtual safe space of acceptance and solidarity, where queer folks can come and be received with understanding and love.

This track garnered three Grammy Award nominations for Lang, including song of the year and record of the year. She walked away with the award for best female pop vocal performance. The song maintained its place in lesbian culture when it was covered on Glee by Naya Rivera, Idina Menzel and Chris Colfer in the episode where Rivera’s character, Santana, came out to her parents.

Tracy Chapman is famously a private person, and that includes her sexuality. While Alice Walker confirmed her relationship with Chapman in 2006 and further elaborated to Gayle King in 2022, that was not necessary to understanding why “Fast Car” resonates as a queer anthem. It starts with the voice, deep in timbre and in feeling, aching for a better life even if circumstances don’t allow it. No wonder queer people claim the song. Even famously cis, famously male Luke Combs kept the line about working as “a checkout girl” in his chart-topping cover, continuing the gender-bending that caught everyone’s ears decades ago.

For more than four decades, “I’m Still Standing” has stood the test of time as Sir Elton’s portrait of jubilant resilience. The bespectacled superstar had already publicly come out as bisexual in the pages of Rolling Stone by the time the song became a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1983. And with its swinging rhythm and empowering lyrics, the sunny earworm has encouraged generations of queer survivors to celebrate their own strength, self-determination and utter fabulousness in the face of all kinds of doubt and discrimination. 

There’s ahead of its time, then there’s “I Feel Love.” Any music buff can tell you that Brian Eno ran over to David Bowie and proclaimed “this is the sound of the future,” but Eno was still underestimating how influential the song would be on countless dance genres. It’s not just the delayed Moog synthesizer, but the lack of real structure that still somehow always moves, building momentum seemingly effortlessly. “I Feel Love” is liberated from pop conventions, from anything other than pure bliss — an ideal candidate to be a gay anthem, which Bronski Beat did when they covered the song even after rumors swirled regarding Summer’s alleged homophobia. Nearly half a century later, music still hasn’t caught up with Summer and Giorgio Moroder, and who knows if anything can?

Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” has often been overshadowed by the immensely successful Whitney Houston cover. Houston’s arrangement, which features a minute-long balladic intro that builds up to a beat drop, earned a nod from Khan, but on the original recording Khan opted for an exuberant string intro that ushered in one of the funkiest disco beats in history. Khan’s proud declaration of “I’m Every Woman” now holds an important place in Roe-era women’s liberation, and has since been adopted by queer and trans women everywhere as an unequivocal anthem to fighting for the rights they deserve.

In 2014, Gaynor caught heat from the gay community when she delayed a gig at The Abbey in West Hollywood. Citing her religious beliefs, she reportedly insisted that managers remove all the go-go dancers from the room. Controversy aside, this song’s staying power is undeniable: RuPaul sent two queens packing on the same episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race for not doing justice to a lip sync of the gay staple. The song topped the Hot 100 for three weeks in the spring of 1979, received Grammy nominations for record and song of the year and won the only Grammy ever presented for best disco recording.

It’s not easy when the person you love isn’t as accepting of their identity as you are, but on her breakout hit, Roan dances through the heartbreak. She also attempts to save a lot of time for others who are questioning their sexual orientations with lines like “You can kiss a hundred boys in bars … Make a new excuse, another stupid reason” and “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.” Spoiler alert: If those lyrics resonate with you, you might be more to the LGBTQ community than just an ally.

Inspired by her lesbian sister, Lauper has been an advocate throughout her career. Years after the uplifting ballad hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October 1986, Lauper co-founded the True Colors Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness for LGBTQ+ youth.

Before the world knew Laverne Cox or Caitlyn Jenner, punk rock band Against Me!‘s lead singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace came out as a transgender woman. Following her announcement, the band released the critically acclaimed Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Grace joined America’s favorite pansexual, Miley Cyrus, to sing the album’s lead single on behalf of Miley’s Happy Hippie Foundation, which aids LGBTQ youth.

It’s quite the task to choose just one track from Madonna’s discography, but the safest bet is this song, inspired by queer vogueing subculture. The tune was originally intended as a B-side, but ended up topping the Hot 100 for three weeks in the spring of 1990.

“Chanel” is one of the most vibe-driven songs on this list, as well as one of the most profound. “I see both sides like Chanel,” Ocean sings on his 2017 hit, which finds the R&B innovator exploring the dualities of his sexuality. He also gushes of his partner, “My guy pretty like a girl/ And he got fight stories to tell,” touching on the fluidity of gender and emphasizing how individuals can be both masculine and feminine at once, sans constrictive binaries.

“Don’t ever let them steal your joy,” Carlile assures the LGBTQ community — and anyone else who needs to hear it — on her By the Way, I Forgive You stunner about love always winning in the face of hate. “I have been to the movies, I’ve seen how it ends/ And the joke’s on them.”

“There are so many people feeling misrepresented [today],” she told NPR of the track. “So many people feeling unloved. Boys feeling marginalized and forced into these kind of awkward shapes of masculinity that they do or don’t belong in… so many men and boys are trans or disabled or shy. Little girls who got so excited for the last election, and are dealing with the fallout. The song is just for people that feel under-represented, unloved or illegal.”

Losing SOPHIE is one of the great tragic what-ifs in pop music history. The producer’s steadfast belief in a better, more expansive world powered forward-thinking songs like “Whole New World” and “Faceshopping.” “Immaterial” is the crown jewel of SOPHIE’s discography, though, mostly side-stepping the usual experimentation for pure unfiltered joy. No one working in this sound has come close to matching SOPHIE’s power. These days, the world feels increasingly limited for trans people; but when you put on “Immaterial,” the possibilities still feel endless.

Even at its conception, this song was a gay anthem: After seeing three drag queens impersonate Ross at a New York discotheque, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were inspired to write something for her gay fandom. Ross almost got cold feet releasing it but Rodgers convinced her to go with it. She took his advice and landed her sixth Hot 100 top five hit on the Hot 100 as a solo artist. (The song reached No. 5 in November 1980.)

The uber-fabulous Sylvester was so beloved by the San Francisco gay community that they gave him a standing ovation at the 1988 Castro Street Fair that lasted more than 10 minutes. Too ill to attend the event, he looked out at his fans from a wheelchair on his apartment balcony. He planned his own funeral, insisting that he be buried in an embroidered red kimono and matching red lipstick.

Inspired by the empowering music of the ‘90s, Gaga told Billboard that she wanted to create a “freedom record” that didn’t beat around the bush: “I want to write my this-is-who-the-f–k-I-am anthem, but I don’t want it to be hidden in poetic wizardry and metaphors.” She followed through, with lyrics like, “No matter gay, straight or bi / Lesbian, transgendered life / I’m on the right track, baby / I was born to survive.” Fans responded positively, as the song debuted at No.1 on the Hot 100 and remained there for six weeks.