(Almost) Every Florence + The Machine Song, Ranked
July 13, 2010. I remember it like it were yesterday: watching the pilot of Covert Affairs, dreaming of the day I too would be a multilingual blonde CIA agent moonlighting as a Smithsonian acquisitions specialist (only three of those came true). It was also the first time I heard lyrics that one could say hit me like a train . . . on a track:
The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
’Cause here they come
Florence + The Machine wasn’t just another band—Florence was the gateway to all the music I listened to thereafter. It was the first band I felt I chose by myself, not something I inherited from my parents or older siblings. Florence has shaped my tastes more than any other artist, the mother of my musical sensibilities (not to be confused with my actual mother, who is also a musician).
I owe Florence so much. And I thought, what greater gift to give than an utterly subjective ranking list to trivialize her entire discography to date? Ah yes, a gift fit for a ̶q̶u̶e̶e̶n̶ king.
Methodology
The subject of this analysis is F+TM’s five studio albums: Lungs (2009); Ceremonials (2011); How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015); High As Hope (2018); and Dance Fever (2022). All but one had deluxe editions, so I included songs from the US deluxe editions. Note that there are at least four different bonus editions of Lungs; I defer to Spotify’s collection.
The goal of this analysis is to get at the core of Florence’s work, so I eliminated the following:
- Covers, such as “You’ve Got the Love” and “Girl With One Eye.”
- Demos or acoustic versions of songs that are already represented; however, I kept demos that were unique songs, such as “Falling” and “Which Witch.”
- Live recordings.
- Spoken word or interlude tracks, including “Restraint,” “Heaven Is Here,” and “Prayer Factory,” all from Dance Fever. These tracks feel more like connective tissue and I didn’t think it was fair to rank them alongside full-length songs.
But Vanessa, there are sooooo many good singles and live recordings; how could you not include those? Trust me, I know! I once received a speeding ticket while listening to “Breath of Life,” i.e., musical horsepower. And the MTV Unplugged rendition of “No Light, No Light” is a masterpiece. But don’t be dismayed; I will include honorable mentions.
These parameters give us 67 tracks, which you can view below in their unranked form. Deluxe or bonus tracks are marked with an asterisk (*).
Lungs
- “Dog Days Are Over”
- “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”
- “I’m Not Calling You a Liar”
- “Howl”
- “Kiss with a Fist”
- “Drumming Song”
- “Between Two Lungs”
- “Cosmic Love”
- “My Boy Builds Coffins”
- “Hurricane Drunk”
- “Blinding”
- “Swimming”*
- “Heavy In Your Arms”*
- “Falling”*
- “Are You Hurting The One You Love?”*
- “Bird Song”*
- “Hardest of Hearts”*
Ceremonials
- “Only If for a Night”
- “Shake It Out”
- “What the Water Gave Me”
- “Never Let Me Go”
- “Breaking Down”
- “Lover to Lover”
- “No Light, No Light”
- “Seven Devils”
- “Heartlines”
- “Spectrum”
- “All This and Heaven Too”
- “Leave My Body”
- “Remain Nameless”*
- “Strangeness and Charm”*
- “Bedroom Hymns”*
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
- “Ship to Wreck”
- “What Kind of Man”
- “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”
- “Queen of Peace”
- “Various Storms & Saints”
- “Delilah”
- “Long & Lost”
- “Caught”
- “Third Eye”
- “St Jude”
- “Mother”
- “Hiding”*
- “Make Up Your Mind”*
- “Which Witch” (Demo)*
High As Hope
- “June”
- “Hunger”
- “South London Forever”
- “Big God”
- “Sky Full of Song”
- “Grace”
- “Patricia”
- “100 Years”
- “The End of Love”
- “No Choir”
Dance Fever
- "King”
- “Free”
- “Choreomania”
- “Back in Town”
- “Girls Against God”
- “Dream Girl Evil”
- “Cassandra”
- “Daffodil”
- “My Love”
- “The Bomb”
- “Morning Elvis”
How Did You Rate These Songs?
I used an iterative binary selection method, a very real statistical analysis tool. Within each album, I gave each song a ranking of 1 (yes, I know I like it) or 2 (I need another listen). I then sorted and grouped them by ranking, and ranked them again, until each song had a unique ranking, outside of a few ties. Next, I combined all the ranked songs into one sheet and completed the process all over again, hiding previous rankings so they wouldn’t influence my work. I made final adjustments manually, asking myself, is this song truly better than this other song?
I considered scoring the tracks by a set of criteria, such as instrumentation, lyrics, catchiness, and Florenceness. I settled on a single criterion: vibes. My ability to sing the karaoke version of the song was not a factor in this ranking.
Results & Analysis
The part you skipped to! Here is (almost) every Florence & The Machine studio song, ranked from lowest to highest. I share my thoughts on the ten songs at either extreme, along with the occasional note throughout. As for the ten lowest, I keep my criticism to a minimum. It’s not that any of these songs are necessarily bad; everything else is just better. Also, what if she reads this?
67. “Are You Hurting The One You Love?” I don’t think I am, but I’m starting to think otherwise. For a band that delivers ghost pepper after ghost pepper, this is a bell pepper. A yellow bell pepper.
66. “My Boy Builds Coffins.” This one is fun, especially since my brother-in-law used to build coffins. Leave it Florence to give us a tune that is equal parts peppy and morose.
65. “Big God.” This one’s tough. There are a lot of cool things happening, but High As Hope has brighter spots.
64. “Bedroom Hymns.” I feel about this song the same way I feel about Hozier’s “Take Me to Church”; musically delightful, thematically uninteresting. I grew up religious, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that church is very unsexy. But again, musically ravishing.
63. “Bird Song.” One of my early favorites, walking the tender balance of whimsy and violence. What’s more early Florence than that?
62. “Kiss With A Fist.” It’s fun, chaotic, and punchy, and it was the first song F+TM ever released! It also has an interesting backstory. From Florence:
I was 16 or 17 when I wrote this. I’d just fallen in love for the first time, and I’d also started hanging out with an older group of people, watching how their relationships worked. There was this one couple who were so cool, but so visceral and so intense. The guy never hit the girl, but I saw her lamp him a couple of times, and she’d always give as good as she got. But it wasn’t really physical violence, it was more about the fact that their animal passion for each other was the thing that was attractive for them. It was how joyful destruction can be, and how alluring it is to be in a relationship so fiery. There was never a dull moment when they were around. I don’t know how they do it! I’m a conflict avoider. I think I write about such intense things because I’m actually really bad at expressing anger.
61. “Hardest of Hearts.” I’ve listened to this song so many times over the past two days to get a better sense of it. It’s hard to pin down, but I would compare it to a green bell pepper.
60. “Drumming Song.” I’m surprised this ranked so low as it was another early favorite. I love how F+TM uses drums, but they have better percussion-forward tracks (see 1, 3, 5, and 9 of this list).
59. “Strangeness And Charm.” I didn’t connect with Ceremonials as much as I did with other albums, likely because I listened to it while driving to early morning bible study in the dead of winter. I paired it with two of my least favorite things: driving in the snow and 5:30 am. It never had a chance. But as I listen now, it’s charming me.
58. “Remain Nameless.” Another Ceremonials castaway. Originally this ranked even lower, but the choir that fades in at 2:30 is breathtaking.
57. “Between Two Lungs”
56. “Back in Town”
55. “Hiding”
54. “Make Up Your Mind”
53. “Seven Devils” (Don’t come for me.)
52. “Long & Lost”
51. “Hurricane Drunk”
50. “Lover to Lover”
49. “100 Years”
48. “Falling”
47. “Daffodil”
46. “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)”
45. “What Kind of Man”
44. “Ship to Wreck”
43. “I’m Not Calling You a Liar” (Listened to the demo version for the first time. Isn’t it just a little snack?)
42. “Caught”
41. “Howl”
40. “Only If for a Night”
39. “South London Forever”
38. “Breaking Down”
37. “Mother”
36. “Grace”
35. “What the Water Gave Me”
34. “Leave My Body”
33. “St Jude”
32. “Heavy In Your Arms”
31. “Swimming”
30. “Spectrum” (Can I interest you in a 2011 Scottish variety we call Calvin Harris?)
29. “Sky Full of Song”
28. “Third Eye” (The demo version is better, IMO)
27. “Various Storms & Saints”
26. “No Choir”
25. “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”
24. “Dream Girl Evil” (In which her record label forces her to make content)
23. “Heartlines”
22. “Choreomania”
21. “My Love”
20. “Hunger”
19. “All This and Heaven Too”
18. “No Light, No Light”
17. “Girls Against God”
16. “Patricia” (The verse at 1:25 . . .)
15. “Free” (🏆 for the line, “Okay, but let’s discuss this at the hospital.”)
14. “Dog Days Are Over”
13. “Never Let Me Go”
12. “Cassandra”
11. “Queen of Peace”
10. “June.” Do you ever feel like your antidepressants are working a little too well? Try “June,” the official paean for summertime seasonal depression. It starts slow, but by the pre-chorus I’m hooked. Long live despair.
9. “Which Witch” (Demo). My third favorite piece of witch media, following Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic. Florence’s music is like the soundtrack to a graveyard soirée. This song leads the charge.
8. “The Bomb.” “The Bomb” encapsulates the exhaustion of being attracted to chaos — it even starts with a sigh. Smooth and understated with the slightest crescendo near the end, it’s everything one could want in a song and in a chocolate bar.
7. “Shake It Out.” Can we change the national anthem to this? If you’ve ever done yoga, this is what we would call a chest opener. It’s liberating, cleansing, detoxifying — now I’m describing skincare. It’s like skincare for the soul. This song was not originally in the top 10, but I relistened to the acoustic version and was admonished for my sin.
6. “Blinding.” Haunting, chilling, storied. Florence mentions Snow White in this song, so I associate it with Disney princesses, well, the dark timeline of Disney princesses (though one could argue that Disney princesses are living in the darkest timeline #patriarchy). I don’t often hear people talk about this song, and that’s a shame. If you’ve never listened to “Blinding,” today is the day!
5. “Cosmic Love.” This song stands the test of time AND space (because cosmos). This is one of the first Florence songs I heard, and it continues to be one of my favorites. What can I say? It has *star* quality. Okay, I’m done.
4. “Morning Elvis.” In my college town, there was a patisserie and bakery called Fillings & Emulsions, which I always thought they should have called Feelings & Emotions. If that were the case, this song would be playing around the clock. It’s about pandemic burnout, depression, anxiety, and also, hope. I saw Florence perform this live (in Tennessee, where the song technically takes place), and it’s just so beautiful. Bonus points for having a live version that features ETHEL CAIN.
2. A Tie.
- “Delilah.” When I listen to this song, I don’t want to run a mile, but I feel like I could. The pace, the call-and-response, the literary allusions, the drums, the DRAMA. Hell yes.
- “King.” Christmas trees can take up to 15 years to grow to stature. If Lungs is a balsam fir seedling, then Dance Fever is the ample, maximalist árbol de Navidad it propagated. This album felt like the grown-up version of Lungs—all drums, haunting lyrics, and Florencian belts. “King” is its crown jewel.
- “The End of Love.” I read a very lousy Pitchfork review of High As Hope after the album came out, and even Florence herself admits that this album was an experimentation with minimalism, an experiment that has since ceased. However, it’s an album I come back to again and again; there’s something about the stripped-downédness, paired with Florence’s powerhouse vocals, that I find soothing. “The End of Love” is devastating, my favorite subgenre. During the last forty seconds, I feel as if I am drowning in the Antarctic Ocean, but in a good way. And who else could get away with lyrics of being metaphorically ghosted by an Old Testament figure? None but the friendly South London phantom herself. Also, I saw her perform this live. I meannnnnnnn?
Honorable Mentions
In no particular order:
- “Breath of Life” and “Landscape” (Demo). These songs were among Ceremonials’ 2012 digital deluxe edition bonus tracks. The former was featured in Snow White and the Huntsman and was the song in question when I was going 80 in a 55 (or 128 in an 88, for our metric folks). I’m angry with “Landscape” because I didn’t discover it until 2022 (10 years after its release), and it is splendid. There are too many different deluxe and digital editions that you lose track of the tracks. Don’t hide your light under a bushel!
- “Too Much Is Never Enough.” Another chest opener. This song was released in 2016 as part of Songs from Final Fantasy XV. When I listen to this, I feel as if I am going to be whisked away into the sky, never to be seen again, but content.
- “Just A Girl.” The cover we never knew we needed and will never deserve. If you’re a No Doubt and F+TM fan, prepare for elation.
- “Wish That You Were Here.” I want more movies to feature F+TM music. There are many but not enough! This sweet, sorrowful strain was produced for the 2016 film Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
- “You’ve Got The Love.” Because this is a cover, it was not included in the main ranking list. But it feels like an original Florence song and thus deserves a shout-out.
- MTV Presents Unplugged: Florence + The Machine (Deluxe Version). Probably the most punctuated album and the live album to end ALL live albums. Herein Florence gives us arguably the best versions of “No Light, No Light,” “Shake It Out,” “Only If For A Night,” and many more. The sound technician deserves a raise, the harpist deserves a raise, the backup vocalists deserve a raise—everyone deserves a raise!
Discussion
The time and frenzied energy I’ve put into this thing makes me think that Darkest Timeline Anessa is one of those ladies who writes love letters to serial killers in prison. When I met Alex Clare in person after a concert, I blurted out, “I love you.” And I’m not even that big of a fan. Imagine what I would do if I met Florence.
Okay, I’m now really regretting this whole IMRAD bit because I now have to write a discussion. I’ll keep it brief. Let’s 👏🏼 talk 👏🏼 takeaways. I have two.
Preference for musical minimalism. Florence is almost synonymous with musical maximalism, and yet, many of my top-10 choices were some of her more minimalist work. And come to think of it, I am often drawn to more subdued performances from powerhouse vocalists: “Ave Maria” and “Broken-Hearted Girl” by Beyoncé; “Glitter in the Air” and “I Don’t Believe You” by P!nk; Adam Sandler in Spanglish. I’m impressed when gargantuan musicians choose to deliver something so intimate.
In which nostalgia lost. My choices surprised me. I thought my nostalgia for the Dog Days would drive most of my rankings. Rather, my top 10 reflected more of her recent work. But this isn’t necessarily a case of recency bias; I think it means I’m just incredibly objective.
In all seriousness, this article is not meant to be one of those confrontational Do You Agree❓🤔 LinkedIn posts. I envision this more as an Enlightenment salon — or at least our collective imagination of an Enlightenment salon — a place for Florence fans to engage in civil discourse about the discography of one of the most haunting, resplendent musicians of our time.
And Florence, I know I just compared myself to a murderer’s pen pal, but if you ever want to go out for tea or visit a Victorian fashion museum or whatever, you know where to find me.
AGREE OR DISAGREE? 🧐
References
Peppermint, V. (2024). Analyzing radioactive levels of scrupulosity’s impact on adolescent musical tastes. Journal of Adolescent Psychology, 10(1), 118–137. doi: 10.1007/8675309
