The 20 Best Paramore Songs, Ranked

• From: All We Know Is Falling
• Release date: 2005

A track off Paramore's 2005 album All We Know Is Falling, "Here We Go Again" is an early example of the imaginative storytelling that we've come to know and love from the band. Hayley Williams is phenomenal vocally as usual, and what makes this song even better is the fact that she was so far beyond her years in terms of how she made you connect to what she was singing. "I'll write you to let you know that I'm alright. Can't say I'm sad to see you go cause I'm not." Are those not words of every emo teenager spoken during the 2000s/2010s when they decided they were done with a relationship or friendship? Hayley Williams said you could close the door behind you as you were leaving, and that's all that mattered.

• From: Riot!
• Release date: 2007

The title here absolutely says it all. If you were a diehard fan of Paramore in the late 2000s, you weren't "just a pessimist"—pessimism was a way of life—or a state of being rather as each minute you found a new reason to hate the moment your parents decided to join forces to create your existence. Within that pessimism, however, was an optimism that existed underneath that you couldn't let people see because it would break your gangster. "For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic" represents that the very attitude to the fullest, and it's an underrated song in their catalog in our opinion.

• From: Paramore
• Release date: 2013

Track no. 7 off the group's fourth studio self-titled album, "Part II" represents an older wiser Paramore that has gone through the trenches of life just a little bit more than when they debuted in 2005. That growth and maturity is one that can be in Hayley's vocals and within the overall lyrics within the song. You see, by this point, us 2000s kids had also grown up a bit from 2005, making lyrics like "Butterflies with punctured wings," "Dancing all alone to the sound of an enemy's song," and "I question every human who won't look in my eyes" hit much differently than a decade prior. "Part II" is a deep song—that's for sure.

• From: Brand New Eyes
• Release date: November 23, 2009

Little by little. Drop by drop. Brick by boring brick—it's all a way of basically saying that fairy tales are magical mythical world that you have to wake up from in order to get back to reality. Released in November 2009 as the second single off their album Brand New Eyes, "Brick by Brick" is yet another haunting track in the Paramore collection, rightfully getting a place in a 2010 episode of The Vampire Diaries. Well received by critics, the song peaked at No. 20 on the US Hot Rock & Alternative Chart, and has gone to have another life after its initial release as the music video has amassed 144 million views as of this writing.

• From: Riot!
• Release date: 2007

And just like that we're back to the Riot! album. "When It Rains" is a deep song that you have to be emotionally in the mood for because it really can make you cry. Full of emotional lyrics that everybody can probably relate to in one way or another, Hayley's vocals reel you in, while the mellow drums and subtle powerful guitar licks take care of the rest. "When It Rains" wasn't released as a single off the Riot!, but it's an example of an album that tells a story from start to finish. "When It Rains" is simply a part of the story.

• From: After Laughter
• Release date: 2017

You ever come to the realization that people think you're something that you're not? Or that you aren't who people who think you are rather? That is exactly the meaning behind "Idle Worship," which is a track off Paramore's 2017 album After Laughter. In it, Hayley Williams talks about realizing that she isn't the person that people around her think she is. It's a rather poignant reminder of fame (or even life to a certain degree)—people think they know you (or make an assumption based on what they're seeing on the outside) but they really...don't.

• From: Paramore
• Release date: 2013

And to think this was a bonus track! If you've ever been a situation where you felt like time was up and you needed to move on, "Escape Route" is a song you can relate to because the lyrics are sure to elicit a head nod, fist pump, or "Yes!," in approval. "Not quite a victory to run from your problems, but that's all I got," "Paid my dues and I tried to be loyal, but now I'm done with all that," "Cause I just want to feel for once that I belong,"—yeah this song hits hard for sure.

• From: Paramore
• Release date: 2013

We've talked about a lot of the lyricism in Paramore's songs thus far, but if you want a song where you're going to be captured the riveting guitars and hectic drums, then you'll enjoy "Anklebiters." There's an element of "Anklebiters" that almost sounds old school Pac-Man—like you're running through a maze. Not that the lyrics aren't great because they are, but it's the guitar that puts you in a trance here. Throw in the fact that Hayley is addressing people that absolutely have a problem thinking for themselves and forming their own opinions without the help of others, and "Anklebiters" is a truly epic cut.

• From: Riot!
• Release date: 2007

Looky here—we've made our way back to Riot! for yet another song. There's a reason why drummers use this track as a way to practice and improve their skills—just listen to those drums. Whether you're a drummer or not, "Let the Flames Begin" is sure to get you instantly hype upon the beat first kicking in, even though it is a rather mellow tune. You can still bang your head to it to the point where you get a headache, and that's really all that matters in the world of Paramore fandom right?

• From: After Laughter
• Release date: 2017

Released as the fourth single off After Laughter, "Rose-Colored Boy" is a track that gives you a little bit of 1980s with the incorporation of the synthesizers, but at the same time it still sounds like a modern 2017 release. Blending the old with the new is something that can work well when done brilliantly, and "Rose-Colored Boy" is an example of that. Plus, can we take a second to call out Hayley's vocals again? She always sound great, but she sounds extra super duper great here.

• From: Riot!
• Release date: 2007

Yeah we're back to Riot!, but we're not leaving "Decoy" out of this list. What is it with Paramore and bonus tracks? "You've never been so used as I'm using you, abusing you," "Don't look so blue, my little decoy, you should've seen right through, my little decoy." Why on earth didn't they include this on the original album release?! This could have been single! Well, somethings just aren't meant to be we guess. At least we've still gotten an opportunity to hear it at all right?

• From: Twilight
• Release date: 2008

Because who better to contribute to the Twilight soundtrack other than Paramore? Nothing and nobody else would have made sense, and it would have been a travesty for them to have not been included. Luckily the minds behind Twilight knew exactly what time it was, and tapped the band to contribute to the record. The result? The masterful "Decode," which is hands down a top ten Paramore song. If you don't have this track in your top ten you can't sit at the same table as us. Well, you can but you just have to sit a little further down.

• From: After Laughter
• Release date: 2017

When we first heard the song "26," when it was released in 2017 we thought it was about turning 26-years-old. It makes sense right? 26 is the last year of you're mid-twenties, and once you hit 27/28 you experience your Saturn's Return and you might as well just go on ahead and start referring to yourself as 30 because everybody else already is right? That's a cool story from us, but in actuality, "26" is about the fact that you actually spend roughly 26 years of your life sleeping when you add it all up, and that just takes the song and its meaning to whole nother level.

• From: Brand New Eyes
• Release date: 2009

Let's talk "Misguided Ghost" for a second. This track is a departure from the classic rock sound Paramore has been known for at times, and is a dive into the alternative/indie sound that they really began playing around with in the late 2009s. If you want a relaxing little tune you can listen to at nighttime, when it's raining, or just for any other moment where you feel like you need you need to chill and unwind, "Misguided Ghost" is the song that will do it for you every single time.

• From: After Laughter
• Release date: 2017

Another catchy track off 2017's After Laughter, "Caught In The Middle," is another song that will have you contemplating the concept of time as Hayley talks about not being caught in-between two lovers or people, but instead having to face the prospect of aging where she's essentially having to deal with facing her thirties after starting in the band when she was a teen. It's safe to say that everybody has some sort of fear about aging at certain points in their lives (though it might happen at different moment for different people), so this is a song that everybody can find commonality in.

• From: Paramore
• Release date: March 14, 2013

Released in March 2013 off the Paramore album, "Still Into You" was like classic 2005 Paramore in a 2013 format, and as catchy and fun as what the song is from a listening standpoint, we'd have to say the video is just as fun to watch. A feel-good song that's bound to get stuck in your head (even if you only listen to it once), "Still Into You" deserves a rightful spot in our top five.

• From: Riot!
• Release date: 2007

There's just no way "Fences" can't be in your top five Paramore records. No way. While it wasn't released as a single from the Riot! album (though it very well could have been), this tune represents everything we love about this era from the band. "I'd show you how to build your fences set restrictions. Separate from the world the constant battle that you hate to fight." Come on now! When you've got lyrics like that sung with Hayley's vocal and combined with the infectious beat—you've got no other choice but to call it memorable.

• From: Riot!
• Release date: November 26, 2007

"Rock and roll baby don't you know that, we're all alone now? Give me something to sing about!" Coming in at number three is "crushcrushcrush," which is an absolute monster of a song. I still remember hearing this for the first time on the radio on the way home from school, and the way it instantly was stuck in my head for the remainder of the day. I'd heard of Paramore before, but this was the song that really made me start paying more attention. Everybody's got that one song that made them fall in love with an artist, and for me that was "crushcrushcrush."

• From: Riot!
• Release date: June 4, 2007

For myself, the song that made me fall in love with Paramore was "crushcrushcrush," but for many, that song was "Misery Business," which has a case for arguably being their most popular. "Misery Business" experienced a resurgence this year when Steph Curry joined the band on stage to perform with them, and we feel confident in saying that if there's one defining song that everybody knows from Paramore—it's "Misery Business."

• From: Brand New Eyes
• Release date: September 29, 2009

And if the one defining Paramore song everybody knows isn't "Misery Business," than it's got to be "All I Wanted." The build up, the anticipation, the high notes—"All I Wanted" is a song that gives you everything—a song that has a climax—a song that has a beginning, middle, and end. Even if you aren't a lover of rock or alternative music, this is a song that can be appreciated. Adding to the single's legacy is the fact that it doesn't have a music video, and that it wasn't even performed live for the first time until about a year or so ago. "All I Wanted" remains a track that has stood on its own, and one of the most beloved by Paramore.