Miley Cyrus is a chameleon of a recording artist not just because she has literally inhabited multiple personas throughout her career — Hannah Montana and Ashley O, anyone? — but also because she’s able to jump between genres more effortlessly than perhaps any other singer of her generation.
And as she’s continued to experiment with her sound over the years, her one-of-a-kind voice strengthened. She’s a true powerhouse vocalist who has delivered just as many iconic ballads as she has certified bangers that have gone on to become dance floor staples. And that’s not to mention the fact that she can sing a cover song just as well as anyone else!
Below, we’ve picked out 20 of the best songs from Miley’s career.
20. Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
This collab with Mark Ronson is an outlier in the Miley discography — it was actually part of Mark’s 2019 album Late Night Feelings — but in many ways it represents how versatile Miss Miley’s voice is. It works across genres, and “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” is a midtempo jam that brings together country and dance influences effortlessly. Miley and Mark are a worthwhile duo, and this song makes you wonder what more they could do together.
19. Can’t Be Tamed
“Can’t Be Tamed” feels distinctly of the early 2010s dance-pop explosion, and it was the lead single for Miley’s often overlooked album of the same name. It attempted (and failed) to do what Bangerz did for her career, which was to fully break out of the confines of the Disney machine and the media treatment she had received through that point in her career. Turns out, it would require something much more drastic than that. But I still think that “Can’t Be Tamed” deserves its due — it was a top 10 hit, after all! — and the accompanying music video, with Miley adorned with peacock feathers while trapped in a giant bird cage, is low-key iconic. Let her fly!
18. Plastic Hearts
This is Miley at her rock-iest. And it’s heaven! There’s a laidback, island-inspired drum backing in the verses that leads into an absolutely booming chorus where Miley’s growl takes center stage. She may just want to feeeeeel, feel something, but it’s really us that’s doing the feeling here. Listening to “Plastic Hearts” — the song, but also the album as a whole — and you get the sense that Miley has figured out what works for her voice, and she’s not trying too hard. She has the effortless cool factor that lets her operate in this space with ease.
17. Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Miley is high-key the queen of covers, and this one is arguably the best one that she’s officially released on one of her albums. Originally sung by Poison (led by Bret Michaels), “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” offered the perfect rock-pop environment for Miley’s maturing vocals and provided a preview of what was to come after Can’t Be Tamed. Her voice is soaring and raspy and aching here—just like we like it.
16. Mother’s Daughter
By far the most recognizable song from her 2019 EP SHE IS COMING, “Mother’s Daughter” has aged incredibly well. “Don’t fuck with my freedom” she sings on the female empowerment anthem that doubles as an ode to her badass mom, Tish. This is the kind of self-assured celebration of women that Katy Perry has always wanted to deliver, yet isn’t capable of. She isn’t cool enough. It’s difficult to balance delivering a song like this that is both cool and inspiring, but Miley proved here that she’s more than capable of doing so. Swish swish, motherfucker.
15. 7 Things
Famously about Nick Jonas, “7 Things” kicked off Miley’s biggest step away from Disney musically and felt like a bridge between the Hannah Montana sounds fans knew and loved her for and what was to follow. The rock-tinged pop song is at once kind of sweet and absolutely savage. It fits right into the Avril Lavigne, Pink, Kelly Clarkson genre of edgy (but not too edgy) kiss-off anthems, and it’s a genuine head banger. Between the lore of the song and its genuine addictiveness, “7 Things” is up there with Miley’s most memorable hits.
14. Midnight Sky
Miley’s had some absolute monster first singles throughout her career, but “Midnight Sky” just hits different. It’s a jam straight out of the ‘80s (it samples Steve Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen”) that celebrates the singer’s independence: “I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone.” Maybe some of the most “Miley” lyrics ever? The song is slick and confident and feels both retro and forward-thinking at the same time.
13. When I Look At You
The placement of this ballad from the soundtrack to “The Last Song” may be controversial, but I stand by the fact that this is one of Miley’s most under rated vocal performances. Recorded when she was just 16, “When I Look At You” is a stunningly romantic ballad co-written by Hillary Lindsey, one of the most in-demand country songwriters of this century. Its soaring chorus is positively epic, and hinted at what this teenager was capable of, musically speaking.
12. Nobody’s Perfect
You know we had to include a little Hannah on this list. After all, without Hannah, we wouldn’t have Miley (and vice versa). “Nobody’s Perfect” is one of Hannah’s signature bops, and it came from the soundtrack for the second season of “Hannah Montana.” All these years later, it feels like one of the songs the best embodies what Hannah’s best songs did, which was to combine earnest, relatable lyrics with pop/rock sounds. “Sometimes I’m in a jam, I’ve got to make a plan / It might be crazy, I do it anyway.” I’m sorry, but… literally so true. Everybody makes mistakes is RIGHT — but when it came to her music, Hannah Montana made very few.
11. On A Roll
We knew Miley Cyrus, we knew Hannah Montana… but we didn’t know Ashley O. The gays weren’t ready when the fictional popstar played by Miley Cyrus on an episode of “Black Mirror” dropped “On A Roll” at the beginning of the last pre-pandemic summer in 2019, but we quickly soldiered up and turned it into one of the biggest viral hits of the year. Its sparse production and catchy lyrics are simply irresistible and—wait, is she saying, “Hey, I’m a hole, I’m on a roll?” No, she’s not; but it sounds like it, and we’re going to pretend those are the lyrics until the end of time. Ashley O shined fast and bright, and we’re forever grateful for her.
10. Slide Away
“Slide Away” was a one-off single released in 2019 after her breakup from Liam Hemsworth and in the midst of her headline making two-month romance with Kaitlynn Carter. It’s a gorgeous, reflective missive on moving on from her relationship with Liam and blends a ton of different genres, once again highlighting Miley’s versatility as an artist. It’s at once hip-hop-inspired and rock-influenced, and it’s actually a sound that Miley could be wise to return to at some point in her career.
9. Best Of Both Worlds
This was the song that introduced Miley Cyrus to the world via Hannah Montana, and it still stands as the most quintessential Hannah hit. It’s cheeky and referential and infectious, encapsulating that rock-infused bubblegum pop that the Disney machine perfected for the four-season Disney Channel show. There’s also something to be said about how it makes being famous aspirational while also giving you an appreciation for being a normal person.
8. II Most Wanted
There’s just something so special and beautiful about this collaboration between Miley and Beyoncé, which was released as part of Bey’s country-inspired Cowboy Carter. Miley first wrote a version of this song years before the album came out, and this final version was written with Queen Bey herself. Their voices blend together sensationally—Miley’s deep rasp with Beyoncé’s pure vocal—and lives at the perfect intersection of pop and country. “I’ll be your shotgun rider until the day I die”? I’ve never heard something more romantic.
7. Angels Like You
Another banger of a Miley ballad, this one from Plastic Hearts, the under rated rock album Miley released during that pandemic that — in my humble opinion — is the closest that she’s gotten to capturing the perfect sound for her voice so far in her career. This is her sweet spot; it’s a perfect home for the delicious, rougher edges of her voice, and “Angels Like You” is one of the best examples of that from this album. It’s a heartbreaker of a track, with Miley singing, “Angels like you can’t fly down here with me / I’m everything they said I would be.” We know what everyone’s said about Miley and to know that those things have sunken into her own psyche breaks your heart even more.
6. See You Again
Sorry, but this is a certifiably timeless bop. It was Miley’s first big, commercially successful track released under her actual name and proved that she could release hits out from under the Hannah Montana persona. I actually think that the lyric “My best friend Leslie said, ‘She’s just being Miley!’” had a huge part in helping this song latch onto the zeitgeist when it was released at the end of the ‘00s — there was something addicting and catchy and silly about it that I distinctly remember singing along to with my friends at the beginning of high school. But, crucially, the song isn’t juvenile or silly in and of itself. It’s a pop-rock song for all ages — and for the ages.
5. Flowers
“Flowers” is technically the biggest hit of Miley’s career so far—it logged eight weeks at No. 1 and garnered her her first two Grammys. It wasn’t just that the song was a feel-good jam, but also that it had its own Liam Hemsworth-centric lore that sent the TikTok sleuths into a tailspin. Miley achieved all that she did with “Flowers” all the while shying away from a lot of the front-facing aspects of being a celebrity, letting the song do most of the talking. And what a song to choose to do so!
4. We Can’t Stop
This is really the song that changed it all for Miley, as it ushered in her controversy-courting Bangerz era that completely erased her Disney-formed child star image to make place for a pot smoking, bleached pixie cut-sporting troublemaker. Originally written with Rihanna in mind, “We Can’t Stop” is an ode to partying, which happens to be the best environment to listen to the bop in. Throw it on at a party, and you’re guaranteed to get people in the mood for a good night.
3. Party in the USA
And a Miley song was on, and a Miley song was on… “Party in the USA” will go down as Miley’s most pervasive, mainstream hit. You’ll be hearing it at weddings for the rest of time—and, honestly? There are much worse songs that that can be said about. The track was initially crafted by Jessie J and Dr. L*ke as part of the sessions for her debut album, but Jessie passed on it and it was given to Miley. And thank god for that! Miley feels like one of the only singers who could inject this song with just enough funk to make it interesting. I mean, remember when she danced on a stripper pole at the Teen Choice Awards in the TV debut of this song? Talk about “she’s just being Miley!”
2. Wrecking Ball
“Wrecking Ball” was the first No.1 hit of Miley’s career, and it’ll forever represent one of the most enduring images of her career: Miley with short blonde hair, clad in a white tank top, underwear and combat boots swinging on a literal wrecking ball and then licking a sledgehammer. It was the perfect ballad for her breakout Bangerz era—it’s a literal head-banger of a slow jam, and she sounds fucking incredible on it. This is where Miley showed to the masses that her voice has power and edge and aching emotion that can make you feel real adult feelings.
1. The Climb
Put simply, this will be the Miley Cyrus song that most thoroughly stands the test of time. She has a lot of iconic ballads in her discography, but “The Climb” stands above the rest—pun intended. The fact that it was released via “Hannah Montana The Movie” makes it even better, if you ask me, because a song from that soundtrack had no business being this good. You could argue that it’s a little cheesy, but most of pop music’s best ballads are. It has a universal, timeless message that packs a wallop and 16-year-old Miley proved that she had one of the best voices of her generation with this vocal. Life’s a climb, but the view’s great.
