The 20 greatest Christina Aguilera singles of all time, ranked from worst to best

The chaps from the Dirrty video alone deserve their own spot on the ranking

2 years ago

Christina Aguilera is an artist whose voice has transcended decades and genres across her entire career. Emerging alongside Britney Spears as the breakout pop stars from their Mickey Mouse Club early 90s origin, Christina carved her own path of pop greatness and became renowned for her powerful vocal that has proven time and time again it can sing almost anyone into the ground. She’s a singer who is as versatile as her discography, and with her 2022 return to Spanish language music, here are the ranked 20 greatest Christina Aguilera singles of all time. According to me – a FAN.

20. Fall in Line

Featuring Demi Lovato, Fall in Line is an epic feminist anthem of stratospheric vocal proportions. That’s what happens when you get Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato bellowing together on a stirring, anthem commentary on misogyny. The vocals are truly something you have to sit back and behold – not many could come close to belting at the heights of Fall in Line. The second single from the underrated Liberation, it received a Grammy nod for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Beyoncé also revealed that she tried to secure the song for Chloe x Halle.

19. Santo

Xtina’s latest single, Santo, is a collaboration with Ozuna and is the third single from her upcoming album. She’s releasing the era in three EP chapters, the first of which titled La Fuerza (translation: The Strength) was released in January 2022. So far, Christina Aguilera and her return to Spanish language music is a return to form – creating excellent Latin bangers that she sounds right at home on with reggaetòn beats that help her voice truly soar. Santo is an absolute banger – all these years into her legacy, Christina remains in her prime.

18. Ain’t No Other Man

I personally was a bit of a hater of the faux-vintage Back To Basics era – but Ain’t No Other Man, the album’s jazzy, rip-roaring lead single remains a standout of both the album and her career. It’s a stark contrast from the Stripped era before it, but one that still allows her to riff like most singers could only dream of.

17. What A Girl Wants

Fun fact: I forced my parents to buy me a Christina Aguilera doll from Toys ‘R’ Us that sang a tinny rendition of What A Girl Wants when you pushed a button in its back. For that reason alone, What A Girl Wants is early days Aguilera nostalgia of the highest order. Sugary, sweet and a bit sickly – it’s everything you want from 1999 era pop music. The Britneyest song of Christina’s catalogue.

16. Like I Do

In a fair and just world, the Grammy nominated Like I Do would have been a huge hit single. It’s got such a fresh, cool and breezy summer sound that honestly deserved to light up the charts in 2018 when it dropped as Liberation’s third single. At least the Academy acknowledged its greatness. Christina and Goldlink trade verses with wonderful chemistry and it all permeates with an irresistible laidback sexiness.

15. Accelerate

Look, the girls that get it, get it. And the girls that don’t – DON’T. Maybe it was too ahead of its time for some people! I’m ready to have that conversation! The rap verses are garbage, but Christina sounds cool as fuck and the Kanye production goes off. Sue me!

14. Woohoo

There was a day last year where I nearly drove my friend to murder because I just couldn’t stop bellowing “KEEP ME AND CHRISSY IN CHRISTINA DEEYORRRR” like Nicki Minaj does in her iconic Woohoo verse. I love Woohoo a lot. I’m a Bionic apologist through and through, and this song is bratty pop perfection. Of all the Christina Aguilera singles ranked here, Woohoo stands as one of the most enigmatic – a weird, hand-clappy masterpiece that’s aged marvellously. It’s giving Rihanna Rated R era.

13. Your Body

As soon as you hear that breathy/belty “Ahh ahh ahh!” that kicks off Your Body, you know your in for a good time. Lotus is a mess of an album, but at least the era kicked off with a banger that brims with promise. She came on this track mad as hell! And massacred men in the music video because of it!

12. Pa Mis Muchachas

The lead single from Christina Aguilera’s first Spanish record in 22 years is one that packs an absolute punch – one of the greatest songs of last year, and one of the best songs of her career. It’s the kind of song Camila Cabello would sacrifice a Victorian orphan to get her clutches on. The translation of its title to For My Girls resonates harder when you know Tina got Becky G, Nathy Peluso and Nicky Nicole along for the Guaracha beat laden ride. What a banger.

11. Keeps Gettin’ Better

Honestly, the stupidest and campest of all the Christina Aguilera singles ranked here, with one of the daftest choruses she’s ever sang. But I love every second. It feels like the kind of song RuPaul would force some drag queens to write a verse for. “Some days I’m a super bitch” is an iconic way to start a chorus. End of. I want a full electroclash production Christina Aguilera album. Please.

10. Not Myself Tonight

Not Myself Tonight is the most underrated and ahead of its time song of Christina Aguilera’s career. It’s absolutely excellent, just try to ignore the fact she looks like Claire Richards in the music video thumbnail. Not Myself Tonight was chided for being unoriginal – and Aguilera branded a Gaga-success wanting trend chaser. But Not Myself Tonight and Bionic as a whole are iconic in their own right. Justice for the era on TikTok immediately!

9. Hurt

If Christina Aguilera was perhaps a lesser artist, Hurt would by far be the greatest ballad of her career. It’s the most melodramatic and theatrical tune she’s ever put her name to – overblown balladry of the highest order. If it wasn’t for her untouchable vocals that sell the hell out of the cinematic grandeur of Hurt’s emotion, it might collapse under all the weight. But Hurt stays afloat, stays emotional and stays iconic. It’s truly epic.

8. Can’t Hold Us Down

Can’t Hold Us Down is one of the many assets that help to make Stripped the greatest Christina Aguilera album of all time. Xtina and Lil Kim went into that studio and came out with an R&B feminist jam for the ages – a song that sounds so early 00s it hurts but there’s rarely a time I’m not happy to bop to it. It got a mixed reception at the time, but Can’t Hold Us Down is a fine wine song that’s got better and more legendary with age. Classic.

7. Telepathy

ALERT! Stop what you are doing right now. Stop it. Go to YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Limewire if you must… and listen to Telepathy. Immediately. It’s one of the lesser known singles of the entire Christina Aguilera catalogue, and part of me wanted to get it ranked at number one just to get your attention. I still might! Released for the soundtrack of the ill fated but acclaimed Netflix series The Get Down, Telepathy has Christina teaming up with the legendary Nile Rodgers for one of the grooviest songs ever. It’s a toe tapper that makes you tap your toes so hard they get blisters. It’s perfection.

6. Genie in a Bottle

Although Christina Aguilera released Reflection for the film Mulan as her first single, it’s Genie in a Bottle that’s her true Baby One More Time. Her first lead single is late 90s teen pop perfection, a many ode to the anxieties of teen sex presented through metaphors of “you gotta rub me the right way”. It’s a time capsule song in which you can practically hear the sleepovers, school discos and prom rides its soundtracked in the many years it’s been a permanent fan favourite. Absolutely superb pop music.

5. Beautiful

Don’t look at me! Iconic opener. Honestly, it’s hard to even comprehend a song as big as Beautiful is to pop culture and music history sometimes – the fact it just sits nicely in Christina Aguilera’s catalogue of hits. It’s a staple. Great American Songbook. Modern ballad classic. I think it’s the kind of song so oversaturated in the media that it can be easy to overlook how great and important it really is – it won the Grammy for a reason. As a queer person, watching the music video and listening to these lyrics so young on MTV had such an impact. It was one of the first times I’d seen gay and transgender people on TV. It’s an anthem.

4. Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)

When I say pop perfection, Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You) is exactly what I mean. Even though the title is about q0 years long (do you wanna just pick one or the other for me dolly?) few songs have the serotonin loaded blast of this absolute BANGER from her debut album. It’s gay rights even before the “not just talking about your sexuality” lyric. Gym sessions have never and will never be the same thanks to this song. It’s just such pop euphoria. It’s what all pop music should strive to be!

3. Lady Marmalade

Lady Marmalade is MY Avengers Endgame. This is my pop cinematic universe event of the millennia. The chokehold this son had on my childhood is wild – I was obsessed with every outfit, every part, every lyric. The costume! The WIGS! Although it’s a bit of a pop all stars single, I truly think it belongs to Christina Aguilera above all else. I mean, it’s not Mya’s song is it? Christina’s vocals make this song what it is – an absolute pop culture classic by any proportions. Adore it.

2. Dirrty

A lotta people were scared. As they should have been, to be quite honest. This is what reinvention sounds like. You can practically hear conservatives shaking, quaking, crying and throwing up when they hear the opening, snarling beats of Dirrty. And that’s before they even clock eyes on the assless leather chaps. Dirrty is truly filthy by both name and nature, a song that has never once sounded anything less than daring, fresh and horny as fuck. It oozes pheromones every second and makes even the most tightly wound prude want to throw the suck by the end of it. A 00s classic, a career great and a conversation starter – the hallmarks of iconic music.

1. Fighter

Fighter is what happens when you take the grit and grime of Dirrty and mash it together with the empowerment and self love of Beautiful – a song that stands ranked as the greatest of all Christina Aguilera singles. It’s a tremendous effort on all fronts: Well written, motivating, powerfully sang and produced within an inch of its life. I love the way Fighter fuses R&B and rock music to become this snarling, arena and stadium worthy anthem that has you shouting along at the top of your lungs trying to keep up with the vocal acrobatics Christina’s doing like it’s absolutely nothing.

Listening to Fighter makes me feel like I could do anything. It’s a song that no one else should touch, though many have tried. It’s the essence of Aguilera – inspiring, loud and an inimitable vocal performance