9 Singers Who Wrote Hit Songs for Other Artists

There’s a strange kind of anonymity that comes with being a great songwriter. Some of the biggest hits on the radio over the past few decades weren’t written by the person singing them, but by another artist entirely, often someone with their own successful career who simply had a song that fit better in someone else’s voice. It’s a quieter kind of stardom, one built on royalty checks and liner note credits rather than red carpets. What’s interesting is how many of these songwriters are singers themselves, people who could have kept the song for their own album but chose, for whatever reason, to hand it off. The following nine artists all built reputations as performers while also writing some of the most recognizable songs of other people’s careers.

1. Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1973 as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner, and released it herself that same year. It became a country hit, but few could have predicted what happened nearly two decades later when Whitney Houston recorded it for the soundtrack of The Bodyguard in 1992.

Houston’s version turned into one of the best-selling singles of all time, and it made Parton an enormous amount of money in royalties, reportedly enough to help her build parts of Dollywood. Parton has spoken publicly about how grateful she was that Houston chose the song, calling it one of the luckiest breaks of her career.

2. Prince

Prince wrote and produced songs for a long list of artists throughout the 1980s, often using pseudonyms or working behind the scenes without much fanfare. His composition “Nothing Compares 2 U” was originally recorded by his side project The Family in 1985, but it went largely unnoticed until Sinead O’Connor covered it in 1990 and turned it into a global phenomenon.

He also wrote “Manic Monday” for The Bangles, which became a top five hit in 1986, and “Sugar Walls” for Sheena Easton. Prince’s willingness to give away strong material, even songs that could have easily been his own singles, became a defining part of his creative legacy.

3. Sia

Uncomfortable with her growing fame, Sia took a hiatus from performing and focused on songwriting for other artists, producing successful collaborations “Titanium” with David Guetta, “Diamonds” for Rihanna, “Wild Ones” with Flo Rida and “Pretty Hurts” for Beyoncé. The story behind “Pretty Hurts” is particularly telling of how these songs move around the industry. Sia had originally written the song for Katy Perry, but Perry missed her email, so it went to Rihanna before Beyonce eventually secured the rights to it.

Sia revealed in an interview with the New York Times that she wrote “Diamonds” in just 14 minutes, and the song went on to top the Billboard Hot 100. That single track alone helped establish her as one of the most in-demand pop songwriters of the 2010s, someone labels would call when they needed a hit fast.

4. Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran wrote “Love Yourself” for Justin Bieber in 2015, a song that became a massive hit off Bieber’s Purpose album and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Sheeran’s own acoustic version, released later, showed just how naturally the song could have fit his own catalog, but he chose to pass it along instead.

He also co-wrote “Little Things” for One Direction and contributed to tracks for artists like Jessie Ware. Sheeran has talked openly about writing songs with specific artists in mind, treating songwriting sessions almost like tailoring, shaping lyrics and melodies to fit someone else’s voice and story rather than his own.

5. Carole King

Long before Carole King became known for her own landmark album Tapestry in 1971, she spent the 1960s writing hit after hit for other artists alongside her then husband Gerry Goffin. Songs like “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” for The Shirelles and “The Loco-Motion” for Little Eva became defining pop hits of the era, written years before King’s solo career took off.

She also wrote “Natural Woman,” a song that became indelibly linked to Aretha Franklin’s voice after its 1967 release. King’s early years as a hired songwriter in New York’s Brill Building era shaped much of the sound of American pop music, even though her own performing career came later.

6. Smokey Robinson

As a member of The Miracles, Smokey Robinson had his own string of hits, but he also became one of Motown’s most prolific in-house songwriters for other acts on the label. He wrote “My Guy” for Mary Wells, which reached number one in 1964, and “My Girl” for The Temptations, a song that has remained a staple of American pop culture for six decades.

Robinson also penned material for The Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye during Motown’s golden years. His ability to write convincingly across different voices, moods, and vocal ranges made him one of the label’s most valuable assets, even as he continued performing with his own group.

7. Babyface

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds built a career as both a solo R&B artist and one of the most successful songwriters in modern pop and R&B history. He wrote and produced “End of the Road” for Boyz II Men, a song that held the record for longest running number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 for several years after its 1992 release.

He also co-wrote “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” for Whitney Houston and contributed heavily to Toni Braxton’s early catalog, including “Breathe Again.” Babyface’s songwriting style, built around smooth melodies and emotionally direct lyrics, became a template that shaped mainstream R&B throughout the 1990s.

8. Linda Perry

Before she became known primarily as a songwriter and producer, Linda Perry fronted the alternative rock band 4 Non Blondes in the 1990s. Her later solo work continued alongside a second career writing for other artists, most notably “Beautiful,” which she wrote for Christina Aguilera in 2002.

The song became an anthem of self acceptance and won Aguilera a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Perry went on to write and produce for Pink, Gwen Stefani, and Celine Dion, carrying the same emotionally direct songwriting approach she developed as a performer into her work for others.

9. Kesha

Kesha has co-written , including “Till the World Ends” for Britney Spears and songs for Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Miranda Cosgrove, and Girls’ Generation. “Till the World Ends” became a key part of Spears’ 2011 comeback album Femme Fatale and remains one of the most enduring dance tracks of that era.

Kesha and her mother Pebe Sebert also contributed the title track for Miley Cyrus’s debut EP, The Time of Our Lives. Kesha has been candid about approaching these writing sessions with a specific artist’s voice and audience in mind, adjusting her usual style to fit whoever she was writing for at the time.

Songwriting credits rarely get the same spotlight as chart positions or award show performances, but they tell a fuller story of how popular music actually gets made. These nine artists prove that some of the most memorable songs in recent memory started as someone else’s idea, written by a performer who understood, better than most, exactly what would make another voice shine.