This past weekend at Music Midtown, I witnessed two unbelievable covers performed by Bastille and Haim. Recently, I was sent a link to Harry Style’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain”. I’ve always loved a good cover, especially when artists don’t just stop at simply singing a great song, but go a step further to make it their own. After encountering these three wonderful celeb covers over the course of the week, I grew increasingly intrigued and decided to track down what covers my personal favorite artists have performed.

Here I’ve compiled and ranked the best I found, along with the three that inspired this journey. I hope you enjoy them as much I have!

1. Gallant and Dua Lipa: Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry On Their Own"

The two artists covered the song as a part of Gallant's "In The Room" one-take cover series and released it on what would have been Winehouse's 34th birthday. This cover came up on my Facebook feed last week and immediately gave me chills. The rendition is astounding and the song is a perfect match for their vocal talent. Watch and weep (tears of joy), friends!

2. Beyoncé: Prince and the Revolution's "The Beautiful Ones" and Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire"

I remembered years and years ago reading about how much the Kings of Leon loved Beyoncé's rendition of their popular song and thought it was high time to bring it back. While the video is low quality, Beyoncé's performance is (as always) far from it. I love this cover slightly less than half as much as I love Beyoncé for, as Nick Miller once aptly put it:

3. Paramore: Drake's "Passionfruit"

At face value, this cover sounds like it would not work. But I'm begging you to trust me on this: Hayley's voice softens the song to something less "I'm going to drive with my windows down to this summer groove" and more "I'm going to study in style to this quiet jam".

4. OneRepublic: Adele's "Send My Love"

I very strongly believe that because Ryan Tedder has written or performed half of the pop songs we listen to on a regular basis, it is only natural he can take on any of them and sing it perfectly. This cover is strong proof for my argument.

5. Taylor Swift: Vance Joy's "Riptide"

This is one of my favorite covers of all time. I love Taylor Swift, I love Vance Joy, I love "Riptide", and if it was evident already, I love study music. This cover brings all of that and more to the table; what's not to love about it?

6. The 1975: One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful"

If this combo sounds too good to be true, I have fantastic news for you: it does exist and it is as amazing as you're imagining it. Straying far from the signature upbeat pop sound of 1D, the stripped-down sound and vocals give the cover an almost haunting quality that makes you want to listen to it again (and again, on repeat).

7. Halsey: The 1975's "The Sound"

Anyone who manages to do a cover mashup is a hero in my eyes. It's no surprise that one of my favorite contemporary musicians manages to completely make the song her own. From nimbly changing the lyrics to give the song an even sassier tone to mixing in a bit of Ke$ha's "Die Young", Halsey manages to do so much good while making it look effortless.

8. Imagine Dragons: Taylor Swift's "Blank Space"

This song is a staple on Spotify's cover playlist, as it is just so good. It's so different from the original and from Swift's sound entirely, yet it works. It sounds so seamless as if it could stand as its own song and not just a cover.

9. Ed Sheeran: Little Mix's "Touch"

I'm of the mindset that Ed Sheeran can do no wrong in this world. To support my theory, I ask you all to watch little Ed bop around while performing and let me know if this cutie pie could ever hurt a fly. Oh; and the cover itself is incredible, but I feel like that was already assumed.

10. One Direction: Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney's "FourFiveSeconds"

This song is last but certainly not least. As much as I would have wanted to, I couldn't do a list of just 1D covers. Sure, I had so many options to choose from: I could have very well picked either "Torn" cover; I could have picked "One Way or Another" (and probably should have because that was such a good music video); I could have picked the infamous "Teenage Dirtbag" cover!

But I had never heard One Direction's rendition of FourFiveSeconds before now and for that reason, I felt it deserved the spotlight most of all.