10 Best Cover Songs That Outshine the Original

Look, we’re not here to disrespect the classics. The originals earned their place in music history for good reason. But sometimes – just sometimes – an artist comes along and reimagines a song so brilliantly that it becomes impossible to ignore. That moment when you realize an artist has taken someone else’s song and absolutely elevated it to new heights. It’s by no means a definitive list, but here’s 10 of the best cover songs that outshine the original.

We love hearing familiar songs stripped back to their essence, built back up and performed in a way that feels totally new. Just look at the success of Triple J’s Like A Version, BBC’s Live Lounge, or NPR’s Tiny Desk and you’ll know that the best covers don’t just mimic – they transform. From bedroom pop reimaginings to full-blown genre switches, the last decade has served up some seriously exceptional covers.

These aren’t your karaoke night covers. These are the versions that make you forget the original ever existed.

10. Girl Crush – Harry Styles (Originally by Little Big Town)

When Styles performed this sultry country hit at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, he turned it from a country showcase into an indie folk meditation. A performance plucked from the post-One Direction years midway through his meteoric rise to solo stardom, Styles proved that sometimes a pop star’s reverent take on country can feel just as authentic as the Grammy-winning source material.

9. You’re Still The One – Teddy Swims (Originally by Shania Twain)

Sometimes a cover comes along that’s so perfectly executed, it earns the original artist’s seal of approval. Shania Twain herself gave her blessing to Teddy Swims’ impressive rendition, and it’s not hard to see why. The Atlanta native takes Twain’s 1998 country-pop classic and transforms it with his signature soulful vocals, trading the original’s polished production for raw emotional power. What could have been just another acoustic cover becomes something entirely different when filtered through Swims’ R&B sensibilities and that voice that sounds like it was aged in whiskey barrels.

8. Can’t Help Falling In Love – Haley Reinhart (Originally by Elvis Presley)

Some songs are so iconic they seem untouchable, but American Idol alum Haley Reinhart proved otherwise with her sultry, jazz-infused take on Elvis’s beloved classic. What started as a promotional single became a certified Gold hit, and it’s not hard to understand why. Reinhart’s raspy, hypnotic voice transforms the King’s romantic crooner into something that sounds like it was recorded in a smoky jazz club at 2 AM.

7. How Will I Know – Sam Smith (Originally by Whitney Houston)

Leave it to Sam Smith to take one of Whitney Houston’s most joyful anthems and turn it into something that’ll make you weep into your morning coffee. Smith debuted a snippet of his rendition in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, which should tell you everything you need to know about the emotional weight he brought to Houston’s 1985 classic. Where Whitney’s version was pure euphoria – all soaring vocals and infectious optimism – Smith strips it down to piano and heartbreak, transforming a celebration of new love into a vulnerable confession of uncertainty and longing, easily one of the best cover songs of the decade.

6. Put Your Records On – Ritt Momney (Originally by Corinne Bailey Rae)

Salt Lake City’s Jack Rutter, performing as Ritt Momney, turned Corinne Bailey Rae’s sunny 2006 hit into something entirely different – a dreamy, lo-fi bedroom pop anthem that somehow feels both nostalgic and completely contemporary. What started as a bedroom recording became a streaming sensation, proving that sometimes the best covers happen when an artist takes a leap of faith and completely transforms a beloved hit.

5. Moon River – Frank Ocean (Originally by Audrey Hepburn)

Leave it to Frank Ocean to take one of cinema’s most beloved ballads and make it sound like “how looking at a kaleidoscope feels.” Released quietly on Valentine’s Day 2018, Ocean’s take on the Breakfast at Tiffany’s classic strips away the orchestral grandeur in favor of layered vocals over sparse, smudged guitar. What results is something that manages to be both achingly intimate and impossibly dreamy – proof that sometimes the rarest artists can make even the most covered songs feel like they’re hearing them for the first time.

4. Godspeed – James Blake (Originally by Frank Ocean)

There’s something wonderfully meta about James Blake covering a song he helped create. Blake produced, arranged and played piano on Ocean’s original “Godspeed” from Blonde, but his 2020 solo version strips it down to just voice and piano – letting you hear the song’s skeleton in a way only its co-creator could reveal. First performed during an Instagram Live in lockdown, it’s a haunting reminder that sometimes the best covers come from the people who understood the song’s DNA from the very beginning. (Honorable mention to his equally devastating take on Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over” from the same covers album.)

3. Hurt – Johnny Cash (Originally by Nine Inch Nails)

When producer Rick Rubin suggested Johnny Cash cover Nine Inch Nails’ industrial nightmare, even Trent Reznor worried it might sound “gimmicky.” Instead, what emerged was one of the most haunting recordings in American music history. Cash transformed Reznor’s young man’s anguish into an elderly man’s meditation on mortality, recorded just months before his death at age 71. The result is so definitive that Reznor himself has admitted Cash’s version gave the song entirely new meaning – proving that sometimes the most unlikely covers become the most essential. It’s often considered one of the best cover songs in recorded history, and it’s not hard to see why.

2. Skinny Love – Birdy (Originally by Bon Iver)

While we’re on the topic of stripped-back piano covers, let’s talk about the cover that arguably defined the early 2010s indie-pop landscape. When then-14-year-old Jasmine van den Bogaerde took Bon Iver’s (Justin Vernon) haunting cabin-recorded original and reimagined it as a soaring piano ballad, she didn’t just create a viral moment – she created a template. Her trembling cover has racked up nearly 100 million YouTube views and spawned countless imitators, proving that sometimes a fresh perspective can transform folk introspection into something equally powerful but entirely different.

1. Make You Feel My Love – Adele (Originally by Bob Dylan)

No list of the best cover songs would be complete without this iconic performance. Bob Dylan’s 1997 ballad has been covered by everyone from Garth Brooks to Billy Joel, but it was Adele’s powerhouse rendition that truly made the song feel like it belonged to her. Initially reluctant to include any covers on her debut album 19, worried it would suggest she couldn’t write enough original material, Adele ultimately couldn’t resist Dylan’s masterpiece. Her towering vocal performance transformed Dylan’s tender folk ballad into a soul-stirring anthem that introduced his genius to an entirely new generation – proving that the best covers don’t just honor the original, they help it find new life with fans who might never have discovered it otherwise.

Ready to sing your own cover? Here’s our guide to why some covers hit different (and how to make yours one of them).