Best music videos ever
Music videos transformed pop songs into visual spectacles, turning three-minute tracks into cinematic events that shaped culture, fashion, and the way we experience music itself. From groundbreaking choreography to mind-bending special effects, the best of these clips became iconic moments frozen in time, debated and celebrated for decades. Which music video do you think truly earned its place among the greatest ever made? Cast your vote and help settle the debate.
What counts: The crowd's votes decide the order — seeded neutral.
Thriller — Michael Jackson
John Landis directed this mini-movie masterpiece, turning a pop song into a 14-minute horror homage complete with werewolf transformation and zombie choreography. Its scale, narrative ambition, and iconic dance sequence set the template for what a music video could aspire to be. Decades later it still tops best-of lists as the genre's gold standard.
added by IJR
90Sabotage — Beastie Boys
Spike Jonze's 70s cop-show parody turned three rappers into mustachioed detectives, embracing pure comedic chaos over polish. The freeze-frame title card and gleeful overacting made it a cult favorite that rewired expectations for how self-aware a video could be. It belongs here as proof that hilarity and craft aren't mutually exclusive.
added by IJR
64Take On Me — a-ha
The pencil-sketch rotoscope animation blending into live action created one of the most technically inventive and romantic videos of the MTV era. Its comic-book escape narrative gave the synth-pop anthem a visual hook as memorable as the falsetto chorus. It's a staple on these lists for pioneering a technique nobody had seen before.
added by IJRin 2 rankings
47HUMBLE. — Kendrick Lamar
Dave Meyers and Kendrick crafted stark, symmetrical tableaux — the Last Supper restaging, the bald head in negative space — that turned austerity into striking visual poetry. Every frame feels like a deliberate art-history reference recontextualized through hip-hop swagger. It's here for redefining how much visual weight a rap video could carry.
added by IJR
30Single Ladies — Beyoncé
A black leotard, three dancers, one unbroken shot of choreography — Jake Nava's stripped-down staging became instantly, globally imitated. The 'put a ring on it' hand gesture alone spawned a thousand parodies and tributes. Its minimalism proves a great video doesn't need spectacle, just an unforgettable move.
added by IJR
5Smells Like Teen Spirit — Nirvana
Samuel Bayer's chaotic pep-rally-gone-wrong captured grunge's anti-establishment spirit better than any interview could, with cheerleaders, anarchic crowds, and Cobain's snarling indifference to spectacle. It became the visual manifesto for a genre shift in rock. Its raw, unpolished energy earns it a spot among the most influential videos ever made.
added by IJR
-2Sledgehammer — Peter Gabriel
Stop-motion claymation, surreal transformations, and Gabriel's own body morphing into impossible shapes made this the most technically audacious video of its decade, still the most-played clip in MTV history. Directed by Stephen Johnson with the Aardman team, it turned experimental animation into mainstream spectacle. It's on this list because nothing before or since has looked quite like it.
added by IJR
-26This Is America — Childish Gambino
Hiro Murai's unflinching, single-take-style choreography juxtaposed joyful dance with sudden violence, turning the video into a viral cultural reckoning on gun violence and distraction in America. Every rewatch reveals another layer of background chaos deliberately staged to be missed the first time. It's essential here for proving a music video could still shock and provoke discourse in the streaming era.
added by IJR
-56