‘To Be Real’: Essential LGBTQ Anthems For Pride Month

If music is the universal language, then what makes a song an LGBTQ anthem? LGBTQ artists have always been at the forefront of music, spanning every genre and era, but with pop music, these artists have a conduit to express both the pain of isolation and otherness as well as the jubilant feeling of self-love and community. To celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month, here are some of the most memorable songs that celebrate the LGBTQ experience.

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33: Garbage: Queer

Despite its title, “Queer” wasn’t conceived as a celebration of people identifying as LGBTQ+. Indeed, vocalist Shirley Manson’s primary lyrical theme was tolerance rather than sexual orientation. Nonetheless, this slinky, trip-hop flavored alt-rock classic (a Top 30 success on both sides of the Atlantic in 1996) was embraced by the LGBTQ+ community, leading guitarist Duke Erickson to tell Scene magazine that “as musicians, we’re totally open to the song’s gay appeal.”

32: Carly Rae Jepsen: Cut To The Feeling

A long-time supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, Carly Rae Jepsen is long established as a queer icon, with many of her dancefloor-friendly singles such as “Call Me Maybe” and “Run Away With Me” enjoying popularity with the LGBTQ+ community. Another hot favorite is the sparkling “Cut To The Feeling,” recorded for 2016’s French-Canadian animated adventure comedy film Ballerina and a sizeable hit in Japan.

31: Lesley Gore: You Don’t Own Me

Lesley Gore was only 17 when she recorded “You Don’t Own Me,” yet she invested the song with a gravitas seemingly way beyond her years. Featuring a lyric seeking respect and equal parity for women in a man’s world, this haunting, yet defiant ballad struck a chord with a global audience and it peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. It’s long since been accepted as a song symbolizing women’s empowerment and remains a firm LGBTQ+-endorsed favorite.

30: Shania Twain: Man! I Feel Like A Woman

Another memorable, LGBTQ+-friendly female empowerment anthem, Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” was inspired by drag performers the singer saw onstage while working at an Ontario holiday resort prior to her musical career taking off. Lyrically defiant, yet also extremely radio-friendly, this country-pop classic exuded huge mainstream appeal and – with help from a brilliant video parodying Robert Palmer’s “Addicted To Love” – it bagged Twain a Grammy Award.

29: Who Is Fancy: Goodbye

Pop fans really did wonder Who Is Fancy when his debut single “Goodbye” was first released in 2015 and broke into the U.S. Top 30 hit courtesy of a mysterious internet campaign supported by three separate promotional videos. Eventually, Who Is Fancy was revealed to be Jake Hagood: a talented young Arkansas singer-songwriter who identifies as gay and has since released the roots-influenced album Southern Country as Fancy Hagood. “Goodbye,” though remains a career high: an emotive break-up song which has been embraced by not just the LBGTQ+ community, but pop fans of all persuasions.

28: Mika: Popular Song

Thanks to the success of hits such as “Grace Kelly” and “Love Today,” Lebanese-British singer-songwriter Mika built up a staunch LGBTQ+ following during the earliest days of his career. More recently, the excellent “Popular Song” (best known in its remixed single form with special guest star Ariana Grande) from his third album, 2012’s The Origin Of Love, has been widely celebrated as a quality queer pop classic.

27: Kim Petras: Heart To Break

Kim Petras is a fully-fledged LGBTQ+ icon, with “Unholy,” her 2022 collaboration with Sam Smith making her the first openly transgender artist to top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Prior to that milestone, though, Petras had already released a series of excellent dance-pop singles, with 2018’s “Heart To Break” proving especially well-received in LGBTQ+ circles and beyond.

26: Nelly Furtado: Maneater

Canadian pop superstar Nelly Furtado was supported by the LGBTQ+ scene from the off and she’s always reciprocated: regularly advocating LGBTQ+ rights and appearing at numerous Pride-related events including London’s Mighty Hoopla. Her catalog includes numerous queer-friendly pop hits, not least the evergreen “Maneater,” the irresistible third single from her multi-platinum third album Loose, inspired by the 1982 Hall & Oates hit of the same name.

25: Kacey Musgraves: Follow Your Arrow

Make no mistake, even country music has its share of LGBTQ songs, even if their message isn’t explicit. While the 90s gave us country divas like Shania, Reba, Trisha and Martina, it wasn’t until Nashville outsider-turned-critical-darling Kacey Musgraves came along and told us to “kiss lots of boys – or kiss lots of girls” that the genre was truly shaken up.

24: Carly Rae Jepsen: Run Away With Me

Like Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen taps into something deeper with her pop hits, not shying away from the feelings of loneliness and disappointment that come with unrequited love. She’s long eclipsed the success of “Call Me Maybe” and delivers the kind of escapist LGBTQ songs that speak to the queer experience, especially on “Run Away With Me,” where the line “I’ll be your sinner in secret” has enshrined the song’s singalong status.

23: Kylie Minogue: All The Lovers

The Australian pop sensation has been churning out LGBTQ anthems since “Your Disco Needs You” back in the early 00s, so it’s nearly impossible to choose just one defining track. Among her impressive catalogue of dance-pop gems, “All The Lovers” marked the first time the singer seemed to directly address her gay fanbase, along with the accompanying video that features a mass of couples of all stripes making out around her.

22: Janet Jackson: Together Again

On her critically-acclaimed Velvet Rope album, Janet Jackson got personal and tackled an array of taboo topics. On “Free Xone” she sings about “One rule, no rules/One love, free zone”; she flips the gender script on Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s The Night”; and, on the bittersweet disco hit “Together Again,” pens a triumphant tribute to the friend she lost to AIDS, earning a GLAAD Media Award in the process.

21: Melissa Etheridge: Come To My Window

LGBTQ songs may dominate pop and disco music, but they can also be found in rock music and the singer-songwriter realm. The steely-voiced Melissa Etheridge squashed rumors after titling her album Yes I Am and penning one of the most iconic lesbian (or otherwise) love songs.

20: Rupaul: Sissy That Walk

While “Supermodel (You Better Work)” remains a timeless anthem, RuPaul has amassed an impressive discography since the 90s, including her homage to ballroom culture, “Sissy That Walk” off 2014’s Born Naked. If “Supermodel” was built for the runway, “Sissy That Walk” is a thumping call to the dancefloor. Only Ru could get a song that features “My p_ssy is on fire, now kiss the flame,” on the Billboard charts.

19: Bronski Beat: Smalltown Boy

The British trio’s universal hit spoke to small-town boys (and girls) everywhere who were looking to escape the oppressive nature of their hometowns. From the song’s opening synths and Jimmy Somerville’s unmistakable falsetto, “Smalltown Boy” marked a historic moment in pop music, especially coming from an openly gay group during the peak of the AIDS crisis.

18: Elton John: Elton’s Song

Even before he publicly came out in the late 80s, Elton John released one of the most revealing songs of his career with “Elton’s Song,” a moving piano ballad that was clearly about a hopeless crush on a boy. Co-written by Tom Robinson (who gave us “Glad To Be Gay”), it’s one of the rare LGBTQ songs that eschews the dancefloor for a more tender moment.

17: Pet Shop Boys: Go West

While much of their earlier work in the 80s relied on sexual ambiguity (“West End Girls”), or a lack thereof (“Domino Dancing”), Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe had an immense impact on queer pop and dance music at large. Among their countless hits, their cover of Village People’s “Go West” stands as their most enduring gay anthem.

16: Janelle Monáe: Make Me Feel

From Prince acolyte to force of nature, Janelle Monáe ditched her futuristic android persona and reclaimed her sexuality on the revelatory LP Dirty Computer and its lead single “Make Me Feel.” Sonically it’s the spiritual cousin of “Kiss,” while lyrically it an embrace of sexual fluidity, all with a palpable sensuality that bursts forth from your speakers.

15: Culture Club: Do You Really Want To Hurt Me

Emerging from London’s gay-bar circuit, Culture Club and their frontman, Boy George, brought both genre and gender fluidity to the MTV generation. George’s secret relationship with his bandmate Jon Moss inspired much of the angst and heartbreak on their second album, Colour By Numbers, including the immortal hit “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.”

14: Madonna: Express Yourself

Madonna crafted one of the most iconic LGBTQ songs decades before “live your truth” entered the pop lexicon. While many point to the ballroom culture-inspired “Vogue” as her pivotal LGBTQ anthem, “Express Yourself” and its homoerotic visual was a siren call to fans, encouraging them to have autonomy over their needs and desires.

13: Erasure: A Little Respect

As the torch-bearers of 80s queer pop, British synth-pop masters Erasure didn’t just write flashy floor-fillers, they wrote songs that captured the intense longing and desire of queer relationships. The fact that Andy Bell was passionately singing about an emotionally unavailable boyfriend was utterly lost on the thousands of teenage girls that would swarm their concerts.

12: Grace Jones: Pull Up To The Bumper

One of music’s greatest instigators, Grace Jones was always a beloved gay icon. From her striking androgynous style to disco cred, she knew how to navigate gay club culture and bring it to the mainstream. Her pivot from disco gifted us the reggae-infused New Wave classic “Pull Up to the Bumper,” a sexual-innuendo-loaded hit about taboo pleasure. With its bubbling bassline and infectious guitar lick, Jones’s ode to anonymous intimacy still sounds transgressive.

11: Donna Summer: I Feel Love

Despite her “Queen Of Disco” label, Donna Summer did more for the evolution of EDM than she’s given credit for, thanks to her pioneering collaborations with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder. From the pulsing Moog synths to Summer’s erotic trills, her 1977 hit “I Feel Love” turned the dancefloor into a celestial realm.

10: Robyn: Dancing On My Own

What started out as a tale of heartbreak over seeing an ex with a new lover quickly evolved into a triumphant anthem of self-acceptance. Inspired by “sad, gay disco anthems by Sylvester and Donna Summer,” Swedish pop icon Robyn turned an observation on club culture into something much larger. With its pulsating beat and lyrical themes of isolation, “Dancing On My Own” was immediately absorbed into the queer canon.

9: Village People: YMCA

Defining gay anthem of the disco era or wholesome celebration of young male-oriented community centers? Coming from a band with the hit single “Macho Man” and an album called Cruisin’, you decide. Before it was blasted at every bat mitzvah, this 70s hit, with its infectious chorus and simple choreography, was a fixture at New York City’s gay clubs.

8: Carl Bean: I Was Born This Way

Decades before Gaga’s gay anthem and pre-dating The Village People, Carl Bean brought gay pride to the clubs (and charts) on the 1977 Motown smash “I Was Born This Way.” Originally released as a disco single by Valentino, Bean brought his gospel-powered vocals to the track, as he proclaims, “I’m happy, I’m carefree and I’m gay/I was born this way.” The song has outlived disco through various remixes over the years and still sounds triumphant today.

7: The Weather Girls: It’s Raining Men

“Tall, blonde, dark and lean.” The Weather Girls didn’t discriminate when it came to the male specimen, so, naturally, their disco-pop hit was adopted by all. Co-written by David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer, “It’s Raining Men” would be nothing without the powerhouse vocals of Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes-Armstead.

6: Queen: I Want To Break Free

While Freddie Mercury never publicly came out during his lifetime, many of Queen’s enduring hits can be read as LGBTQ anthems, none more so than “I Want To Break Free.” Written by Queen’s bassist, John Deacon, the song spoke to any repressed individual. When the band satirized the popular UK soap opera Coronation Street by dressing up in drag for the music video, the world laughed with them – apart from America, which clutched its pearls at perceived subversive content.

5: George Michael: Freedom 90

Though best remembered for its supermodel-starring music video, “Freedom 90” is an unabashed LGBTQ anthem for the former Wham!-singer-turned-sex symbol. “I think there’s something you should know/I think it’s time I told you so/There’s something deep inside of me/There’s someone else I’ve got to be,” George Michael sings in this timeless 90s hit.

4: Lady Gaga: Born This Way

When Lady Gaga penned her bombastic ode to self-love, her words cemented a greater shift in cultural attitudes around homosexuality. “Born This Way” was not only a triumphant LGBTQ anthem but a retort to anyone who questioned their self-identity. Unlike her 80s and 90s pop predecessors, Gaga didn’t have to hide behind cryptic lyrics. The fierce LGBTQ ally made her intent loud and clear, and just so happened to spawn one of the biggest pop hits of the century.

3: Diana Ross: I’m Coming Out

Like so many LGBTQ anthems, “I’m Coming Out” used Top 40 pop to convey more subversive messages to the community. “I’m Coming Out” didn’t just allude to the former Supreme’s disco makeover, it was a sign of support to her gay fanbase (whether Diana Ross was overtly aware of it or not) crafted by funk architects Nile Rodgers and Chic co-founder Bernard Edwards.

2: Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive

Gloria Gaynor’s resilient disco anthem took on a deeper meaning after the AIDS crisis hit. Outlasting the fallout of the infamous Disco Demolition Night, Gaynor’s song evolved into a rallying cry of a community that was being decimated by disease. Both then and today, “I Will Survive” is one of the most enduring LGBTQ anthems for times when survival itself becomes an act of defiance.

1: Sylvester: You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

The “Queen Of Disco” was never a big enough title for the dynamic, gender-fluid singer known as Sylvester. With his airy falsetto and dynamite stage presence, the openly gay artist always kept it real, and that boldness can be heard in his music. A celebration of liberation, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” remains one of the most outspoken LGBTQ anthems of all time.

Looking for more? Discover the LGBTQ musicians who helped their fans find a voice.