The 25 Greatest Yacht Rock Songs of All Time

What the hell is yacht rock? Well, the internet has agreed that its defining sonic and aesthetical traits are broad. I’d have to agree, as it’s a sub-genre that stretches into everything from prog and pop to blue-eyed soul, jazz, disco, funk and R&B. But, at the end of the day, yacht rock is a smooth gesture of soft rock, and, from 1972 through 1982, few factions of mainstream music were as elemental or beloved. I was speaking with someone just the other day about this, about how I cannot come up with a solid explanation for yacht rock. It’s a style of music delivered through vibes and energy. I can hear a song and say “that’s a yacht rock song,” but don’t expect me to elaborate. When you know, you know! That’s why “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac is not on this list. While it’s been featured on rankings from other publications, it’s not a yacht rock song to me. Sorry to all “Dreams” fans who were expecting it to make an appearance. It made the Top 5 of our best Fleetwood Mac songs ranking, though.

Now, I am afraid of boats, so I can’t really say for sure whether or not all of these songs would make for a good seaside experience. I’ll let you be the judge. But, then again, all of this is arbitrary, so let’s just all enjoy it together. Oh, and if you came to this list hoping—or expecting—to see “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” get mentioned, then you might as well just click out of this page now. I will not stand for any Rupert Holmes inclusion, especially not an inclusion of one of the worst songs ever written. But, if you’re game to stick around and hear me out, then please see below for my picks for the 25 greatest yacht rock songs of all time. Please be advised: I am only choosing one song per artist. And feel free to sound off in the comments about what I missed or what I’m wrong on! So, without further ado…

25. Gary Wright: “Dream Weaver” (1975)

Every pop song should want a chorus as enormous as the one in “Dream Weaver.” Gary Wright wrote the hit single after George Harrison gave him a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s book Autobiography of a Yogi, and the title comes from a line in John Lennon’s “God”—but that’s where the Beatles crossover ends, as Wright forged an arrangement built on a mixture of keyboards and Jim Keltner’s percussion. It’s a coterie of keys, fueled by a Fender Rhodes, ARP Solina String Ensemble and Minimoogs, which make for a pulsing, breathy atmosphere of softened, proggy pop bliss.

24. Player: “Baby Come Back” (1977)

“Baby Come Back” is the total antithesis to the punk rock and disco music that was swarming the zeitgeist in 1977, and it launched Player into mainstream success. They got a #1 hit and a Gold certification out of it, and I’d say Peter Beckett’s charismatic lead vocal certainly helped all of that become true. I love John Friesen’s percussion, which is just a sensual deluge of drums, maracas and congas, and how it pairs so well with Beckett’s lead guitar tones and J.C. Crowley’s electric piano. And who could forget the three-part vocal in the chorus? Even if you’ve never spent a lick of time with Player’s music, you probably still know that “Baby, come back!” harmony. It’s a piece of yacht rock culture that’s aged beautifully.

23. Bob Welch: “Sentimental Lady” (1972)

Originally recorded in 1972 by Bob Welch when he was a member of Fleetwood Mac, the Hollywood singer-songwriter wound up giving it a do-over on his debut solo album five years later—and, despite my love for the Mac, Welch’s re-recorded version sounds so much better. It found a home in the Hot 100’s Top 10, and Welch even got Fleetwood Mac, save for Stevie Nicks, to play all the instruments on it again. Hearing Christine McVie sing backing vocals here is such a pleasant experience, and her voice cushions nicely underneath Welch’s. His tenure as the frontman of the Mac was short-lived, but I’d like to think this version of “Sentimental Lady” is as good a look as any into what their trajectory might have become had he stuck around.

22. Elvin Bishop: “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” (1976)

Elvin Bishop had never really busted out of his Southern rock bubble before striking gold with “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” in 1976. Produced by Eagles engineer Bill Szymczyk for Capricorn Records, the song peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 and became a mainstream country benchmark that blurred the lines with soft rock perfectly. With a beautiful guitar solo drenched in blues infatuations, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” is ripe for a slow dance, long drive or bender. What’s great is that Bishop doesn’t even sing on his only hit song. Instead, he invited vocalist Mickey Thomas to helm the lead. Thomas would later become the co-lead singer in Jefferson Starship and tackle new heights on singles like “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and “We Built This City,” but first, he made waves on the immortal, undeniable groove of hopeless romanticism stretched across “Fooled Around and Fell in Love.” Not a bad resume to have.

21. The Alan Parsons Project: “Eye in the Sky” (1982)

What’s crazy about “Eye in the Sky” is that it’s so often paired with “Sirius,” a song that is so antithetical to yacht rock. That’s fine, as the Alan Parsons Project really nailed it on the former—subverting the jazzier tropes of yacht rock and, instead, leaning into the proggier tropes. Even then, “Eye in the Sky” is pop bombast sung with softness. I love this track and, despite it peaking at #3 on the charts, it still feels underrated 42 years later. It’s certainly one of the best Alan Parsons Project songs! I blame the Chicago Bulls for this.

20. Eagles: “I Can’t Tell You Why” (1979)

While the Eagles always existed around yacht rock, they rarely crossed over that line—except for in 1979, when they made a song called “I Can’t Tell You Why” and put it on their then-final record, The Long Run. To this day, it’s still the band’s last Top 10 hit and it ought to be remembered as a yacht rock staple through and through. With Timotyh B. Schmit on lead vocals for the first time ever, the Eagles collage blue-eyed soul with their longtime penchant for country rock. The result? What Poco would sound like singing Motown. It is so unfathomably rich and anything but dense—and it’s a shame that the Eagles called it quits for more than a decade after releasing it, because it’s one of their sharpest efforts.

19. Christopher Cross: “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” (1981)

You can’t have a best yacht rock songs list without mentioning Christopher Cross at least once, despite my reservations about it. I will not hide my feelings: “Sailing” is one of the worst songs ever made. But, luckily for Cross, “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” is one of the best songs ever made. The duality of man is a potent, potent drug. Written for the Liza Minnelli-starring film Arthur, Cross won an Academy Award for the song and watched it climb to #1 on the Hot 100. Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager helped Cross write it, and I think that influence shines through. “Arthur’s Theme” is oozing with Bacharach’s pop chops, through the sublime, Michael Omartian-performed keyboard melody and his string arrangements. It’s all very baroque and splendid. It almost absolves “Sailing” of any wrong-doing. Almost!

18. Orleans: “Still the One” (1976)

The marquee single from Orleans’ fourth studio album Waking and Dreaming (still one of the greatest covers in rock history!), “Still the One” was the band’s highest-charting single (#5) and has become one of my favorite songs ever—oh, and it’s a pretty damn good yacht rock track, too. It would eventually be used as the jingle for ABC’s 1977-78 and 1979-80 television seasons, and it’s pure bliss from that opening guitar roll to those bass vocal harmonies. Orleans never really eclipsed the high of “Still the One” after its release, but founding member John Hall went on to be a congressman in the 2000s. Not too shabby for a guitar player from Woodstock, New York.

17. Little River Band: “Reminiscing” (1978)

I am not much of a Little River Band truther, but, by God, if “Reminiscing” isn’t one of the most yacht-rockian yacht rock songs ever assembled. When I think of the sub-genre, this is what I hear. I’ll give my proper thanks to Graeham Goble, who wrote it, and Glenn Shorrock, who sings it: You all really captured the essence of an entire movement. Inspired by black and white movies and Glenn Miller’s music, “Reminiscing” taps into a sentimental mode that few romantic songs of the era could. It’s danceable without sacrificing the emotional weight of the Little River Band’s three-part harmonies.

16. Ambrosia: “Biggest Part of Me” (1980)

Ambrosia are considered to be one of yacht rock’s most quintessential groups, even though they don’t have the same cultural staying power as a band like Steely Dan or the Doobie Brothers. That’s not their fault, though—and “Biggest Part of Me” was their brightest release, peaking at #3 on the Hot 100 and giving the trio a place in the echelons of slow, jazzy rock ‘n’ roll goodness. It’s got those sharp, beautiful keyboard runs that you could only really get 40, 45 years ago. “Make a list, baby” has got to be one of the most memorable yacht rock song lines ever, right? It’s one of the only things about Ambrosia I can ever remember, so I’d say yes.

15. Toto: “Rosanna” (1982)

It took me a long time to buy into the idea that Toto, the band known best for the overplayed “Africa,” is a yacht rock band. But, much to my one-time dissatisfaction, Toto IV is probably one of the greatest yacht rock albums ever made—and we can thank “Rosanna” for that, which peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and stayed in that spot for five consecutive weeks. David Paich, who will appear on this list again, had a penchant for those sweet, sweet coastal jams. “Rosanna” conjures a vibe similar to something from the Doobie Brothers’ Minute By Minute, and that’s likely because of Bobby Kimball and Steve Lukather’s two-part lead vocal that’s pushed up against terrific guitar lines from the latter. The half-time shuffle drums from Jeff Porcaro, meshed with his brother Steve’s keyboard-playing and David Hungate’s bass guitar, anchors a terrific rhythm section, too. Few songs feel as complete as “Rosanna,” and I’ll never stop meeting it all the way.

14. Daryl Hall & John Oates: “Rich Girl” (1977)

By the time the 1980s rolled around, Daryl Hall & John Oates were certified hit-makers. You could bank on one of their singles being as good as anything else on the pop charts, and that’s because their 1970s output was bang-on. A combination of blue-eyed soul and pop led to the yacht rock masterpiece that is “Rich Girl,” a single from their fifth LP, Bigger Than Both of Us. It was their first-ever #1 hit, and it’s simply one of the coolest, sweetest foot-tapping songs on this list. Catchiness is a prerogative that Hall & Oates had no trouble keeping up with, and “Rich Girl” soars through a potent cocktail of Christopher Bond’s keys, [redacted]’s drumming and James Getzoff’s orchestration.

13. Al Stewart: “Year of the Cat” (1976)

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios with a producer named Alan Parsons (you might be familiar with his project?), “Year of the Cat” is one of my favorite title tracks of all time. Al Stewart makes a second-person perspective sound so excellent here, singing about exotic markets and women in silk clothing. Inspired by a page in a Vietnamese astrology book and Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War,” “Year of the Cat” simmers in tight guitar lines played in D major and a duel-keyboard melody courtesy of Peter Wood and Don Lobster (the coolest name I’ve ever heard). “Year of the Cat” would crack the Top 10 on the charts and cement Stewart’s legacy.

12. America: “Sister Golden Hair” (1975)

In recent years, “Ventura Highway” has become the quintessential America song, but I refuse to let the world sleep on the absolute masterwork that is “Sister Golden Hair.” You can rightfully argue that it’s a song better served for a long, winding road than a sea-bound boat, but don’t get tangled up in the semantics of it all—just let the three-part harmonies from Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek carry you to the Promised Land. They sing about a man who’s fallen in love but doesn’t want to get married, and they used Jackson Browne’s style of Los Angeles-minded, observational songwriting to really sell the story home. The result is an absolute smash rewarded with a #1 on placement on the Hot 100.

11. Donald Fagen: “New Frontier” (1982)

By the time Donald Fagen released his debut studio album, The Nightfly, in 1982, yacht rock was mostly over, at least in a cultural sense. Daryl Hall and John Oates had already ditched the jazz for a much more pop-sensible sound, but Fagen collected the same musicians and production team that had worked on most of Steely Dan’s output a decade earlier and turned in an autobiographical delight. “I.G.Y.” could have taken this spot, but I think “New Frontier” is a much stronger song—though it only peaked at #70 on the Hot 100 at the time. Somehow, MTV played its music video steadily, and the song’s fallout shelter-inspired verbiage melted nicely into the funkified instrumental.

10. Seals & Crofts: “Summer Breeze” (1972)

When I was nine or 10 and about to go into surgery for the first time in my life, a soft rock radio station played through the operating room speakers. The track that I remember hearing right as I, absolutely geeked out on laughing gas, went under was Seals and Crofts’ 1972 hit “Summer Breeze.” Anecdotes aside, however, “Summer Breeze” is one of the most comforting tunes I’ve ever heard, a measure of Jim Seals’s lead vocal and his and Dash Crofts’s swirling background harmonies. They had a Wrecking Crew pianist on the arrangement, as well as bassist Harvey Brooks and drummer [redacted]. “Summer Breeze” shines because of Seals’s saxophone and Crofts’s electric guitar, two textures that made for one of rock ‘n’ roll’s sweetest collisions ever.

9. Chicago: “Saturday in the Park” (1972)

You can’t go wrong with any Chicago song in this spot. “You’re the Inspiration” and “If You Leave Me Now” were both contenders, but I think “Saturday in the Park” runs away with it here. It opens with the most ridiculous recollection I’ve ever heard: “Saturday, in the park, I think it was the 4th of July.” You think? Many people wiser than me have already ruminated on this sentiment, but I think you’d know if it was the 4th of July or not. Anyways, Robert Lamm wrote the track for the band’s 1972 album Chicago V, and he and Peter Cetera trade lead vocal duties between the verses and choruses. A Gold record worth the designation, “Saturday in the Park” features an awesome bevy of horns (courtesy of Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Walter Parazaider) and few songs have ever felt as summery as this one.

8. Chris Norman & Suzi Quatro: “Stumblin’ In” (1978)

The greatest duet in the history of mainstream pop music, “Stumblin’ In” combines the forces of Smokie bandleader Chris Norman and vocalist Suzi Quatro. Though neither of them were household names at the time—and neither of them are today—they found immortality with this 1978 hit. It would peak at #4 on the Hot 100, marking Quartro’s only Top 40 appearance and Norman’s only non-Smokie charting song. In recent years, “Stumblin’ In” has gained adoration—especially after being used on soundtracks from Licorice Pizza and Netflix’s Dahmer. Before that, however, the song was a radio fixture that slowly faded into obscurity for 50 years. Though it clocked in at #23 on Billboard’s Year-End chart, it was widely absent from any contemporary conversations around the soft-rock movement. Thankfully, “Stumblin’ In” is one of those 1970s hits that was built to stand the test of time. “Our love is alive, and so it begins” is such a romantic opening line, it makes sense that Norman and Quatro caught such strong lightning in a bottle and then couldn’t replicate it. To me, “Stumblin’ In” is the epitome of a one-hit wonder, as it was once lost in the caverns of immortality’s deep, deep archive—only to be resurrected through generational interest. It doesn’t hurt that the song is catchy and beautiful and everlasting.

7. Ace: “How Long” (1975)

A #3 hit in 1975, Ace never had another Top 40 hit after releasing “How Long,” and that’s fine! It’s as good as, or better than, most artists’ greatest tunes, and I can’t deny how perfect Phil Harris’s guitar solo is at the instrumental’s halfway point. Paul Carrack delivers a nautical organ line, all while Harris croons through a melody that was, originally, envisioned as a Motown-style exercise. Like a lot of the songs on this list, “How Long” found a new audience when it was played during an Amazon Prime ad in March 2020. In turn, it went to #1 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart with a 2,000% increase in sales and a total streaming number of over 830,000 that week.

6. Steely Dan: “Dirty Work” (1972)

My self-imposed “one song per artist” rule has not been an issue until now, as no artist is more ingratiated in the yacht rock pantheon more than Steely Dan. The safe bet is probably “Peg,” and I wouldn’t besmirch you for choosing it. But, I’m going to go with “Dirty Work” here, the Can’t Buy a Thrill gem that’s so good even Tony Soprano likes to sing it in his car. Maybe it’s a bad look to pick a Steely Dan song that Donald Fagen doesn’t sing lead on, but he’s already had his day in the Paste Greatest Yacht Rock Songs sun. David Palmer takes the mic on “Dirty Work,” and he turns it into a million-dollar, career-beginning work. Steely Dan aren’t Steely Dan without it, and Can’t Buy a Thrill is just another good debut from an up-and-coming pair of deranged, quixotic Bard College kooks. A self-loathing marital affair never sounded so good.

5. Jackson Browne: “Doctor, My Eyes” (1972)

“Doctor, My Eyes” is my favorite song of all time, and it’s not a particularly close race. It was Jackson Browne’s debut single, and it peaked at #8 on the Hot 100 when it was all said and done. But it didn’t just set the template for Browne’s career—it completely rewired what soft rock could be in the 1970s. Depending on the day, I might even argue that it’s one of the greatest California songs ever penned. I can’t imagine a better song to release as your first one ever, years after achieving low-key fame as the guy who wrote “These Days” and lived with Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther at the same time. “Doctor, My Eyes” casts a beautiful glow of rock majesty over those who tumble through its tempos, and Leland Sklar’s bass guitar lingers like a bruise beneath the one-two punch of Jesse Ed Davis’s guitar and Russ Kunkel’s congas. Oh, and Graham Nash is somewhere in the background harmonizing up a storm. It’s the pinnacle of feel-good music.

4. Boz Scaggs: “Lowdown” (1976)

It was between “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle” for which Boz Scaggs joint would make the final cut of this list, and I couldn’t resist picking the former. Scaggs, keyboardist David Paich, bassist David Hungate and future Toto founder Jeff Porcaro made the track together in 1976, and it became the defining part of Scaggs’s seventh solo album, Silk Degrees. The song rose to #3 on the Hot 100, and Scaggs has gone on record saying that its success was “an accident.” It’d win Best R&B Song at the Grammys and garner a Gold certification from the RIAA, but I’d argue that only tells half the story. “Lowdown” is, without a doubt, a pop masterpiece, and Paich’s amalgam of synths and keys is a big reason for that.

3. The Doobie Brothers: “What a Fool Believes” (1978)

Perhaps the most quintessential yacht rock song there is, the Doobie Brothers struck magic with “What a Fool Believes,” the runaway smash from their 1978 LP Minute By Minute. Sung by Michael McDonald, the president of yacht rock, “What a Fool Believes” reinvented the band post-“China Grove” and gave them a magnum opus in the process. I mean, hell, it won the Grammy for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1980! That’s a pretty good endorsement (or, at least, it used to be). McDonald’s Oberheim 8-Voice synths are recognizable anywhere, and Tiran Porter, Patrick Simmons and Keith Knudsen’s backing vocals still sound just as primitive now as they did 46 years ago. “The wise man has the power,” sung in four-part harmony, still rattles around in my noggin more than a decade after hearing it for the first time.

2. Looking Glass: “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” (1972)

It can be hard to quantify what makes a song a “yacht rock song,” sure, but Looking Glass’ 1972 #1 hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” might just be the most immediately recognizable staple of the genre. The track gained a new generational appreciation via its appearance on the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 soundtrack seven years ago. Before then, it was so popular and influential once upon a time that, after being the 353rd-most popular girl’s name in 1971, it was the 82nd-most popular. That’s absolutely bonkers work, a success that can be anointed onto the shoulders of Elliot Lurie, who sings his absolute heart out for three minutes. Throw in Larry Fallon’s horn arrangements and, well, the “my life, my lover, my lady is the sea” line couldn’t have sounded any sweeter.

1. Gerry Rafferty: “Right Down the Line” (1978)

I rarely work in absolutes, but I can’t think of a song more terminally cool than Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down the Line,” the fifth single from his breakout 1978 record City to City. It reached #12 on the Hot 100 and went #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and we have Hugh Burns to thank, on account of his slick opening riff. Gary Taylor’s bass, too, thumps like a beating heart set to a click track, while Rafferty sings like he was a pair of aviators in a previous life. The Max show Euphoria featured the song in its second season, helping bring it into the focus of new generations, but let’s not act like “Right Down the Line” wasn’t knocking down doors for 40 years prior. While “Baker Street” was the first taste of solo success for Rafferty post-Stealers Wheel,” “Right Down the Line” is the end-all-be-all of yacht rock superstardom. In some ways, it transcends even that. Does it sound good on a boat? Probably. Does it sound good with the top down and the city lights hovering over you? You bet your ass it does.

---

Check out a playlist of these 25 songs below.

---

Matt Mitchell is Paste’s music editor, reporting from their home in Northeast Ohio.