Most of us learn songs through a voice first. The name in the credits tends to come later, if it comes at all. That gap is where some of the most successful writers in popular music have always worked.
The nine writers below span several decades and genres. In each case, the song that became the defining hit of their career was carried to the public by someone else.
Diane Warren: The Power Ballad Specialist
Diane Warren has written for a long list of singers, and her catalog is full of big, emotional ballads. Her song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” gave Aerosmith their first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998. It was written for the film Armageddon, and it remains the band’s best known chart success.
Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” is another Warren song that became a signature for its singer. Warren has rarely been the artist on the record. In 2022 she received an honorary Oscar, a notable recognition for a writer who has spent most of her career behind other people’s voices.
Max Martin: The Architect of Pop Hooks
Max Martin is a Swedish songwriter and producer whose melodies have defined pop radio since the late 1990s. He wrote “…Baby One More Time” for Britney Spears in 1998, and the song launched her career worldwide. He also cowrote “I Want It That Way” for the Backstreet Boys, which is still one of the group’s most beloved songs.
Later he moved easily into newer eras, working with artists such as Katy Perry, The Weeknd and Taylor Swift. His name rarely appears on the front of an album. Yet few writers have shaped what mainstream pop sounds like as much as he has.
Carole King: The Hit Factory Writer
Before she became a famous performer herself, Carole King wrote hits with her then husband Gerry Goffin. Their song “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” was recorded by The Shirelles and reached number one in the United States in 1961. It is often cited as the first girl group song to top the American chart.
The pair also wrote “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” for Aretha Franklin, released in 1967. King later recorded her own album Tapestry, which became a landmark of the early 1970s. Still, these two songs show how much of her legacy was built through other singers.
Dolly Parton: One Song, Two Eras
Dolly Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” in the early 1970s as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner. She took it to the top of the country chart herself. Whitney Houston’s version for the 1992 film The Bodyguard, however, turned the song into a global phenomenon.
Houston’s recording spent fourteen weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time. Parton has said in interviews that the song’s royalties were a major financial windfall. It stands as one of the clearest examples of a cover eclipsing a very successful original.
Prince: The Quiet Gift Giver
Prince wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U” for a side project called The Family, which released it in 1985. Sinéad O’Connor recorded her own version for her 1990 album, and it topped the Billboard Hot 100. Her stark, emotional performance and its famous music video made the song a defining moment of that year.
He also wrote “Manic Monday” for The Bangles, crediting himself under a pseudonym. It reached the top of the American chart’s second position in 1986. Prince often gave away songs that other artists could have built careers on, and these two are among the best known.
Linda Perry: From Rock Band to Pop Hit Maker
Linda Perry first became famous as the singer of 4 Non Blondes, whose song “What’s Up?” was a hit in the early 1990s. She later became one of the most sought after writers and producers in pop. In 2002 she wrote “Beautiful” for Christina Aguilera, a song about self acceptance that became one of the singer’s best loved releases.
She also worked with Pink on “Get the Party Started,” which gave that artist a major breakout single in 2001. Perry’s songs for others have often outlasted her own chart moment. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2023.
Desmond Child: The Rock Anthem Collaborator
Desmond Child is best known for helping rock bands find their biggest choruses. He cowrote “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, and those songs became defining hits for Bon Jovi in the mid 1980s. Child’s skill as a collaborator is a big part of why they feel so enormous.
He later crossed into Latin pop, cowriting “Livin’ la Vida Loca” for Ricky Martin in 1999 with Draco Rosa. That song helped drive the Latin pop boom of the period. Child was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.
Kris Kristofferson: The Poet Behind a Posthumous Number One
Kris Kristofferson wrote “Me and Bobby McGee,” and Janis Joplin’s recording of it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. Joplin died before the song was released, so the success arrived after her death. Her raw, loose performance is the version most listeners know best.
He also wrote “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” which Johnny Cash recorded and turned into a country standard. Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024, and tributes from across music pointed to his writing as much as his own performing. His catalog is a reminder of how often his words reached listeners through other people’s voices.
Sia: The Songwriter Who Stepped Out Later
Before her own pop fame, Sia was already writing for major artists. She cowrote “Diamonds” for Rihanna, released in 2012, and it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song became one of Rihanna’s most recognizable hits.
She also wrote songs for artists including Beyoncé and Britney Spears, and she supplied the vocal on David Guetta’s “Titanium.” Her path shows a writer whose work for others built the platform for her own career. “Diamonds” remains an example of how a song written outside the spotlight can still define it.
