Staying relevant for the long haul in the always-changing world of dance music is a near-impossible task, but French dance-pop robot-human-immortals Daft Punk may have found one way to do it--by disappearing a lot. Sounds paradoxical, but by taking nearly a half-decade between each of their albums, and basically keeping totally out of the limelight in between release cycles, they manage to stay outside the trends, existing on a plane of their own, and turning it into an event whenever they actually decide to re-emerge from the shadows and release new music.

However, one byproduct of this philosophy is a relatively shallow back catalogue. Though members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have been making music as Daft Punk for nearly two decades now, their discography encompasses just 86 songs--four fewer than even Taylor Swift, who was just four years when the duo released their debut single "The New Wave" back in 1994. That said, that number was even lower before a few weeks ago, when the duo released "Get Lucky," their first single in three years (and not counting live or soundtrack work, their first since 2006), and has gone up by another baker's dozen with the release of their much-anticipated Random Access Memories LP earlier this week.

Let's take a look at those 87 songs, now including all the Random Access Memories cuts and including the handful of commercially released remixes they've done for other artists--as well as the 22 tracks on the duo's oft-overlooked soundtrack to Tron: Legacy. In the case of songs that had multiple versions released--and given that Daft Punk have released three remix albums, there's a lot of those--we went with the version of the song we most preferred. Check out our rankings, and let us know which of the Robots' classics, new or old, are your favorites.

86. "ON/OFF"

Found On: Human After All

Almost unfair to even include this "song," which is really just 19 seconds of channel-flipping on French TV. But Daft Punk inexplicably decided to make it its own track on Human After All, rather than just combining it with "Television Rules the Nation"--possibly to make the album an even ten cuts--so it merits inclusion on our list, an easy choice for the very bottom.

85. "FUNK AD"

Found On: Homework

Similar to "On/Off," "Funk Ad" hardly registers as a real song--it's just their breakthrough single "Da Funk" played backwards for less than a minute, included as the closing track on debut album Homework, possibly for bookending purposes, though it ends up being a totally dissatisfying end to a thoroughly classic '90s album. Another obvious one to get out of the way here.

84. "OUTLANDS"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

One of the least memorable songs from TRON: Legacy--though truth told, only a handful of the album's songs make a really lasting impression outside of the context of the score--"Outlands" is a whole lot of frenetically racing strings and horns for three minutes, possibly brilliant soundtracking a cinematic chase scene, but just kind of exhausting on its own.

83. "DISC WARS"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

A pounding, creeping track that goes on for a little too long--it's one of the few TRON songs over four minutes, and feels it--though its Morricone-like sense of building anticipation is pretty undeniable.

82. "WDPK 83.7 FM"

Found On: Homework

A mostly unnecessary fake radio advertisement for Homework included as the album's second track, though it rates a little higher than their other non-song songs because of the excellent reduxe clip of early single "Musique" that starts off the track, and how much fun it is to imitate the booming voice of the French radio announcer at the end of the track.

81. "FLYNN LIVES"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Another minorly innocuous track from Tron: Legacy, stately and unmemorable. The duo does know how to produce a real righteous horn sound, though.

80. "GET FUNKY GET DOWN" (ORIGINALLY BY THE MICRONAUTS)

Found On: The Micronauts non-album single

One of Daft Punk's earliest remix, they take a fairly slight deep house track and give it a little muscle and edge, but still fail to derive a real hook from it. Pedestrian stuff by their later standards.

79. "RECOGNIZER"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Another atmospheric string-and-horn number, with some absolutely booming crescendos, but coming towards the end of Tron: Legacy, it feels inevitably redundant.

78. "WITHIN"

Found On: Random Access Memories

A piano ballad yearning for humanity, with typically vocoder-drowned vocals, which proves that perhaps doing yearning piano ballads is not where the Robots' true strength lies.

77. "RECTIFIER"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

True to Tron: Legacy's Disney roots, "Rectifier" feels like it could have come out of the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" section of Fantasia, so creepy is it in its processional march and wailing violins. It's not much for a Daft Punk mixtape, but it could scare the crap out of your six-year-old cousin, for sure.

76. "TAKE ME OUT" (ORIGINALLY BY FRANZ FERDINAND)

Found On: Franz Ferdinand non-album single

As enticing as a Daft Punk remix of Franz Ferdinand's classic dance-punk stomper "Take Me Out" sounds on paper, the final product is a little less appetizing--basically, all Guy and Thomas do the song is to dirty it up a little, spreading an increasingly voluminous squall of synth static across the song's first few verses and final choruses. It's still kinda cool, but it could have been so much more.

75. "ARRIVAL"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

One of the score's more sparse, subtle songs--much more going on atmospherically than melodically, but it's serene enough, and at two minutes, doesn't nearly outstay its welcome.

74. "ARMORY"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Another atmospheric two-minuter, with some "Moments in Love"-type breathy sounds, and with a bellowing single-note synth riff that comes off as pretty damn cinematic.

73. "ASSAULT"

Found On: The New Wave non-album single

An early b-side of Daft Punk's sees the duo still trying to find their own voice in house music, coming off as a fun-but-unoriginal mix of LFO and Joey Beltram. Not a bad listen by any means, but it's almost hard to believe they could make a song so anonymous.

72. "RINZLER"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

One of the better uses of synth as a core instrument to be found on the soundtrack, something we all thought we'd hear more of when news broke that Daft Punk would be scoring a sci-fi movie. More pounding drums and endless crescendoing, and again, short enough to not become tiresome.

71. "DAFTENDIREKT"

Found On: Homework

An enjoyable-enough intro to Homework, apparently cribbed from their live sets, though it cuts into "WDPK" just as its really starting to build to something. The "Funk back to the punk, c'mon" lyrical hook was memorable enough for Janet Jackson to sample it on her "So Much Betta" track from 2008's Discipline, in any event.

For songs #70-61, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #60-51, #50-41, #40-31, #30-21, #20-11, #10-1

#70. "BEYOND"

Found On: Random Access Memories

Hell of an attention-grabbing string intro to this one, and the bass line is extremely reminiscent of Michael McDonald’s early-’80s classic “I Keep Forgetting," which is never unwelcome. Unfortunately, there’s not too much else to the song beyond that borrowed groove and the shrieking strings that introduce it--it never really goes anywhere and lasts for at least a minute longer than it has to.

#69. "THE BRAINWASHER"

Found On: Human After All

Very strong, Green Velvet-like pummeling central riff, but it gets a little grating over the course of four minutes, as does the duo's distorted "I...AM...THE...BRAAIIIIIN....WAAAASHERRRRRR!!!!" vocal proclamations, which get more than a little corny by song's end. Still, great in bite-sized chunks, as when dropped in the group's live sets, best heard on the Alive 2007 release.

#68. "THE GAME HAS CHANGED"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

One of the more fleshed-out cuts from Tron: Legacy, sounding like a composition unto itself with its fine use of dynamics and pacing. Still not much of a central melody to latch onto, but perhaps the score's most representative single track.

#67. "THE PRIME TIME OF YOUR LIFE"

Found On: Human After All

Takes a while to get going, and even when it does, it never really becomes the dancefloor scorcher you initially expect it to, but the song starts to make sense as it picks gradually picks up speed halfway through, until the song's once arrogantly relaxed pace becomes unlistenably frenetic, probably making some sort of commentary about said "prime time" quickly slipping away. It feels right in the flow of Human After All, anyway.

#66. "OH YEAH"

Found On: Homework

An exceedingly one-note electro-funk filler track to end side C of Homework, but one that doesn't try to stretch its one idea too far in its two-minute runtime, and which is pretty damn funky while it lasts. Another duo of European electro-pop eccentrics with a similarly titled jam from the '80s would undoubtedly approve.

#65. "VERIDIS QUO"

Found On: Discovery

One of the less-memorable cuts from the second half of Discovery, "Veridis Quo" is one of the album's more self-consciously proggy songs, sounding like something Peter Gabriel-era Genesis might've come up with if they were raised on Derrick May and Juan Atkins records. The whooshing synths and flute-like hook are pleasant enough, but are stretched a little too thin over the course of the song's near-six-minute run time.

#64. "FINALE"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Appropriately epic for a song called "Finale" at the end of a long-ass film soundtrack, and fairly rousing as well, though sadly absent of most of the score's most memorable melodic motifs.

#63. "OVERTURE"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Timpani, cymbals, gongs--Daft Punk spared no expense with the attention-grabbing opening movement to their first-ever film score. Less predictable here is the good deal of Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings" to be found in the melody, though that's not really a bad thing.

#62. "THE GAME OF LOVE"

Found On: Random Access Memories

a thickly produced funk ballad with deep bass, airy synths and plenty of muted guitar, the song’s obvious nocturnal, sensual vibe would probably get it instantly dubbed as “porn funk,” if not for the Robots’ distractingly distorted vocals. In any event, the song is a worthwhile sequel to Discovery‘s mood-setter “Something About Us,” similarly hypnotic and seductive, though the five-plus-minute run-time is pretty excessive.

#61. "DISCO CUBIZM" (ORIGINALLY BY I:CUBE)

Found On: I:Cube non-album single

Another pre-Homework remix from the Robots. This one has a good deal more flair to it than "Get Funky Get Down," though its house style is much more lithe and fancy-free--listen to that electric piano riff, ferchrissake--than we would eventually get used to from Daft Punk. Still, undeniably catchy.

For songs #60-51, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #86-71, #50-41, #40-31, #30-21, #20-11, #10-1

#60. "NOCTURNE"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

One of the more arresting melodies to be found on Tron: Legacy, melancholy and gorgeous without being draggy, and managing to keep an air of menace to it as well. While too many of the songs on the score tend to run long, you actually wish you had a little more time than 1:42 to spend with the appropriately titled "Nocturne."

#59. "SON OF FLYNN" (KI: THEORY REMIX)

Found On: TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

The first of several remixes from the TRON: Legacy Reconfigured remix collection to be included on this list, American dance producer Ki Thoery gives the percolating synths of the original "Son of Flynn" a little backbone with his stuttering guitar riffs, and some crashing big beat drums that would have allowed the song to sound right at home on the soundtrack to a late '90s action movie. The spine-chilling piano riff added towards the end is also a nice touch.

#58. "HIGH LIFE"

Found On: Discovery

Probably the least memorable of the many filter disco excursions of Discovery, since after one time through its primary vocal hook and its organ-heavy breakdown, there's not a lot left for the next three minutes. There's still enough joy and pop giddiness included in the song's endlessly repeated hook to make it worth the time spent, though, and to make it worthy of its decadence-promising title.

#57. "EMOTION"

Found On: Human After All

The down-tempo closing track to the duo's third album, "Emotion" self-consciously falls short of being genuinely moving--that's not really the Robots' M.O.--but there is something decidedly hypnotic about the way it pulses, always seeming to go a step slower than it should be going. It's not quite enough to sustain seven highly repetitive minutes, but it's still a good choice of album closer.

#56. "TRON LEGACY (END TITLES)"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

A rare actual unleashing of the synths on the TRON: Legacy soundtrack, the group's "End Titles" theme is one of the group's best blends of the more conventionally cinematic score elements with their own personal bland of futuristic electro-pop. Also check out the Sande Kleinenberg remix of the song from the Reconfigured album for an edit that puts even more pep in the song's step, with gloriously funky results.

#55. "CONTACT"

Found On: Random Access Memories

The lush opening synths make “Contact” sound like it’s going to explode into something off their French countrymen M83′s latest album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, but the synth-organs and drums that take over after the song’s outer-space transmission sample ends put this closer back in Daft Punk (this era of Daft Punk, anyway) territory. it’s an appropriately interstellar way to end a Daft Punk album, even though with its perpetually crashing live drums and lack of any kind of house pulse, it would have sounded completely alien (pun semi-intended) on any other Daft Punk album.

#54. "THE GRID"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Surprisingly, the only track on TRON: Legacy to include any kind of samples from the movie proper, and all the better for it. The sound of Jeff Bridges' voice as he recalls his first entry into the world of TRON ("I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see...and then, one day...I got in.") is one of the most captivating things you'll hear on the soundtrack, especially when the Rush-like synths kick in immediately after. You can understand why the duo didn't want to rely too heavily on movie dialogue on their first-ever film score, but hell if it isn't pretty damned effective.

#53. "HIGH FIDELITY"

Found On: Homework

A song that after 15 years of rocking out to Homework, I still can't recognize from its title alone. Still, that's not a knock on the song--as soon as I hear it, it's "Oh right, this song! I love this song!" and then I'm trying to sing along with the vocab-less vocal hooks and blaring sax hooks. A worthwhile deep cut, for sure. (WhoSampled.com claims the vocals are from Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are," though I'm not sure if I buy it.)

#52. "GIORGIO BY MORODER"

Found On: Random Access Memories

To some, listening to disco and electro-pop pioneer Giorgio Morder (writer and producer behind such dance/pop classics as Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and Blondie’s “Call Me”) relate his early-life experiences and musical inspirations over nine minutes of zooming space-funk probably sounds like a damn good time, to others, it probably sounds absolutely interminable. As for us, we’d fall more in the “damn good time” category, though if you wanted to cut a minute or two from the middle, we wouldn’t be hugely disappointed.

#51. "FORGET ABOUT THE WORLD" (ORIGINALLY BY GABRIELLE)

Found On: Musique Vol. 1 1993-2006

Daft Punk twisted British singer/songwriter single's "Forget About the World" into something totally unrecognizable, though given that the original wasn't that great and Daft Punk's remix makes something borderline-ecstatic out of it with just the title phrase and a string sample, it's a forgivable destruction. Really, anything with that trademark Daft Punk hi-hat-and-snare combination as the primary rhythmic track is gonna be irresistible, and this remix is no exception.

For songs #50-41, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #40-31, #30-21, #20-11, #10-1

#50. "C.L.U. (PAUL OAKENFOLD REMIX)"

Found On: TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

Legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold wisely saved the creepy, spectral four-note riff from the original "C.L.U." and fashioned an old-fashioned trance rave-up around it, complete with "Dominator"-style zooming synths and his own trademark wash of keys lifting the song into the stratosphere. Not to be played at a nightclub before at least 2AM, but it would sound absolutely brilliant around then.

#49. "STEAM MACHINE"

Found On: Human After All

Speaking of creepy, how about the "SSSSSSTTTTTEEEEAAAAAMMMM MAAAAACHIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNE" exhortations in this one? Most likely, the duo are just trying to approximate the hiss of an actual steam machine, but the way they do it makes it sound like the titular appliance is somehow the trademark weapon of a mass murderer or horror villain. Luckily, the song's pogoing hook and relentless chug is enough to keep the song from being overwhelmed by the vocal freakiness, and it ends up as one of the more fun songs on Human After All anyway.

#48. "OUVERTURE"

Found On: Daft Club

An early warmup for the group's eventual scoring days came on the intro to their Daft Club remix album, the compilation's sole original composition. You can hear the seeds of TRON: Legacy in the plodding synths, echoing drums and deliberate pacing of "Ouverture," though the production layering and rhythmic propulsion of the song is actually far more compelling than most of that score would end up being. Also, further proof that spelling out your song's title over the course of the song is always a good idea.

#47. "MOTHERBOARD"

Found On: Random Access Memories

Strings, woodwinds, acoustic guitar and all kinds of synths adorn the widescreen shuffle of the instrumental “Motherboard,” one of the most cinematic compositions on Random Access Memories. There’s not much of a hook here to speak of, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as “Motherboard” is more about atmosphere and groove anyway, and it has both of those to spare, with enough going on in the texture of its composition to maintain interest, and make for a damn fine closer to the album’s second act.

#46. "MUSIQUE"

Found On: Musique Vol. 1, 1993-2006

The b-side to the duo's breakout "Da Funk" single, "Musique" was arguably the more representative song of the two--a heavily filtered house anthem with an extremely simple, repetitive, and addictive hook, both vocal and melodic. The filtering itself is almost the hook here, as the simple synth riff fades tantalizingly in and out of audibility on top of a trademark shuffle, with the one-note chant of "Musique!" attempting to explain everything. Not one of the duo's most sophisticated numbers, but an early gem nonetheless.

#45. "TELEVISION RULES THE NATION"

Found On: Human After All

Not exactly a home run as far as satire is concerned--though like all Daft Punk's prospective social commentary, it's too gleeful to really come off as bitter anyway--but one of the catchier disco-rock workouts found on Human After All, with the the song's faux-guitar strut over the walking 4/4 beat making it sound like a late '70s KISS single. The vocoder-drowned title phrase is as catchy as it needs to be, and sounds like it's saying something even if it really isn't.

#44. "ARENA (THE JAPANESE POPSTARS REMIX)"

Found On: TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

One of the most sophisticated remixes of the TRON: Legacy soundtrack, "Arena" manages to maintain the foreboding feel of the original 90-second instrumental, as well as most of its melodic trademarks (the piercing seven-note synth riff, the thundering tribal drums at song's end), but layers far more texture over it and extends it into a full-length, six-minute song of builds and drops and almost unbearable tension. Songs called "Arena" should always be this big and awesome-sounding.

#43. "INDO SILVER CLUB"

Found On: Homework

A simple, endless loop of the guitar riff to Karen Young's forgotten disco single "Hot Shot," with some pogoing, scratchy bass laid over top. Another dance outfit would kill for a hook this creative and memorable, for Daft Punk, it's just another cool jam on the second half of Homework.

#42. "DEREZZED"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

For a soundtrack to a movie about being stuck inside a video game world, only one song on TRON: Legacy really sounds like what you'd expect that experience to sound like. With its synth-organ hook sounding like a ping-pong ball bouncing all over an electronic, neon-glowing machine, "Derezzed" was an obvious choice for the album's lead single, and even if it's a little too frenetic to really be effective as a dance song, it's still sort of exactly what you'd want from Daft Punk scoring a video-game movie.

#41. "INSTANT CRUSH"

Found On: Random Access Memories

there was a time when it would be virtually inconceivable to think that Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas (of New York alt-rock demigods The Strokes) would do a song together, but these days a collaboration between the two of them doesn’t sound so jarring, conceptually or practically. A tense, auto-tuned midtempo groove vaguely reminiscent of the Alan Parsons Project’s ’80s prog-pop hit “Eye in the Sky,” which breaks into a recognizably Strokesian pop-rock burst on the chorus, "Instant Crush” sounds almost exactly halfway between where the two artists are right now, and not an awkward stretch of any kind on anyone’s part.

For songs #40-31, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #60-51, #30-21, #20-11, #10-1

#40. "ALIVE"

Found On: Homework

The "final version" of the duo's lead single "The New Wave," "Alive" isn't one of the group's catchier songs by any stretch--the echoing, thrashing beat and monotonous hook barely give you any melody to chew on--but it remains one of their most intense, singular listening experiences. Coming at the very end of Homework, it's a fairly enigmatic closer, washing your brain of memories of the album that was, until all you can remember is the throbbing, menacing synths of "Alive." There's rapture to be found here too, somewhere, somehow.

#39. "SOMETHING ABOUT US"

Found On: Discovery

"Robot porn music," as my friends used to call it. With its fat, popping bass, lounging synths and super-smooth R&B groove, "Something About Us" would indeed be ideal baby-making music for humans, if not for the stiff, super-auto-tuned vocals that grace the slow jam, making it clear that genuine human emotion is still not totally welcome here. Nonetheless, if robot porn is filled with ballads as lush and funky as this one, that could probably be enough to get the job done for some.

#38. "HORIZON"

Found On: Random Access Memories (Japanese Edition)

Daft Punk's fourth LP has been compared by some insightful critics to another challenging work from another French synth-pop duo, Air's 10,000 Hz Legend. The comparison would be perhaps no more apt than on this gorgeous bonus track from the album's Japanese issue, a primarily acoustic instrumental ballad with light synths and gradually crescendoing drums that reminds of some of the lovelier, though always slightly unsettling, ballads on the second Air LP. Why this song got cut from the regular RAM edition and a couple of the album's overwrought love songs survived editing will forever remain a mystery.

#37. "TEACHERS"

Found On: Homework

Like "Oh Yeah," a short and incredibly simple filler track on Homework, but this one is both far tighter with its creeping groove, and far more lyrically interesting, as the duo list their biggest musical influences one after the other ("Dr. Dre is in the house, yeah / Omega in the house / Gemini is in the house...") in a double-tracked, pitch-altered vocal with a pace and rhythm that makes it surprisingly catchy. For dance music fans, the song also doubles as a good gauge of your knowledge of the genre's history, and as you learn more and do more research, you find yourself recognizing more and more names mentioned in the song. (I still have no idea who DJ Slugo or Paris Mitchell are, though. Sorry, guys.)

#36. "ADAGIO FOR STRINGS (TEDDYBEARS REMIX)"

Found On: TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

The most over-dramatic song on Tron: Legacy becomes far less overbearing through the Teddybears' remix of the song, which chops the song's sweeping hook up into a slamming electro-funk, near-dubsteppy beat, with racing synths approximating the texture previously provided by the original's swarming string section. The result is one of the more epic, cinematic synth-pop songs you're ever likely to hear, and something that would've been right at home on an excellent deep house collection like Booka Shade's Movements album.

#35. "CRESCENDOLLS"

Found On: Discovery

A well-deployed sample of doo-wop group Little Anthony and the Imperials' disco-era jam "Can You Imagine" makes for one of the more joyous, almost riotous cuts on Discovery, a song that sounds like walking into a party for the first time and being greeted by all of your friends having the time of their lives. It's the kind of sound that fellow turn-of-the-century house duo Basement Jaxx perfected over the years, though with the "Rockit"-like scratch breaks in the middle and the old-school hip-hop opening drum intro, it's still unmistakably Daft Punk here.

#34. "FRAGMENTS OF TIME"

Found On: Random Access Memories

For a collaboration between two major dance artists–garage/house producer and longtime DP bro Todd Edwards provides vocals–”Fragments” somehow ends up as a super-smooth pop/rock nugget, sounding kind of like Phoenix covering Steely Dan. Still, the song is as catchy and clean-sounding as the Phoenix/Steely comparisons would indicate, and Todd Edwards has a nicely unassuming voice that fits the melody quite beautifully--a nice counter-balance to some of the more overbearing numbers on Random Access Memories.

#33. "BURNIN'"

Found On: Homework

On an album that didn't already have so many great songs with scratchy, scorching synth hooks, "Burnin'" would have had more of a chance to stand out. As is, it'll have to do with being the only such song on Homework to also (eventually) deploy a shuffling beat and bubbly, disco-ready bass hook for counter-balance, therefore not being quite as challenging a listen. I actually prefer the more challenging cuts, but there's a reason that this was the only one of the borderline-painful Homework cuts to be pulled as a single.

#32. "PHOENIX (BASEMENT JAXX REMIX)"

Found On: Daft Club

Speaking of the Jaxx, they took one of the more sublime cuts on Homework and made an exotic, almost Indiana Jones-like adventure out of it, adding all sorts of Eastern-sounding hooks, chants and percussion to the mix, turning it into an international party jam that not even Daft Punk could have dreamed of. You wonder what it has to do with the original "Phoenix," minus the occasional "Phoenix, the Phoenix" chants to be found in the song, but when that instantly recognizable sample hook makes its first appearance, all suddenly becomes clear. Probably the best thing to be found on the otherwise subpar Daft Club remix album.

#31. "SHORT CIRCUIT"

Found On: Discovery

The purest of Daft Punk's electro-funk tributes, jutting and piercing with its slamming faux-drums and guitar-approximating synths, sounding for most of its runtime like something anyone from Yellow Magic Orchestra to Afrika Bambaataa to Cybotron would have been proud to call their own. It's an awesome genre workout, but it's given extra depth by the song's minute-plus outro, which winds things down into something unexpectedly melancholy, and as the third-to-last track on Discovery, provides the perfect palette cleanser for the album's back-to-back epic finishers.

For songs #30-21, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #20-11, #10-1

#30. "SKY SAILOR (FLOAT AWAY)"

Found On: Sky Sailor EP

A collaboration with TRS-80, with vocals from surreal dream-pop mastermind Ariel Pink, "Sky Sailor" raises the stakes of the original ballad "Solar Sailer" from TRON: Legacy--one of the soundtrack's prettiest, most stirring cuts--with the addition of Pink's voice, gently intoning "Float away, sky sailor, sky sailor." It's enough to turn an already memorable instrumental into something totally inscrutable and awe-striking, a song that, like most of the best Ariel Pink work, absolutely gets underneath your skin and moves you for reasons you can't quite articulate. Well worth tracking down.

#29. "LIFE IS SWEET" (ORIGINALLY BY THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS)

Found On: Chemical Brothers non-album single

It bears absolutely no resemblance to the Chemical Brothers' original song, a vocal-led, blissed-out single from their debut LP Exit Planet Dust, but it ends up as one of Daft Punk's most arresting deep house numbers nonetheless, a rich brew of interlocking vocal and instrumental hooks, and one that never becomes monotonous over the course of its near-nine-minute run time. Plus, as a collaboration between two of the most important acts in '90s dance music, it deserves extra points just for not being a gigantic letdown, as most such works are.

#28. "NIGHTVISION"

Found On: Homework

An absolutely gorgeous two-minute interlude amidst all the robo revelry of Discovery, the impossibly lush, breathing synths and pulsing drum heartbeat of "Nightvision" don't last long, but make for one of the most stunning listens on the album nonetheless. The fact that the whole thing is unshakably reminiscent of 10cc's '70s soft-rock heartbreak classic "I'm Not in Love" doesn't hurt its standing here, either.

#27. "CHORD MEMORY" (ORIGINALLY BY IAN POOLEY)

Found On: Musique Vol. 1, 1993-2006

Ian Pooley's original deep house single, with its "Rock the discotheque!" exhortations and skittering, pulse-racing beat, was a gem in its own right, but Daft Punk take it to the clouds above by calming the beat down a little bit, finding a funky bass groove to go with it, and adding "Choooord memory" croons on top, which are catchy enough to avoid ending up being too corny. By the time Daft Punk interrupt their remix with a fake radio broadcast advertising the very remix being listened to, they've so taken over the original jam that the arrogance feels well-earned.

#26. "FRESH"

Found On: Homework

The best parts of this one come in the song's opening minute, which provides a brief respite from all the slamming beats and euphoric synth hooks on the album to provide a little chilling-on-the-beach time, as the sound of crashing waves is pierced with a gloriously sun-baked organ riff, instantly melting all your troubles away. The ensuing house number that follows--another filter-heavy number with an endlessly repeated vocal loop--isn't bad either, but the song never quite matches the bliss of that opening minute again.

#25. "TECHNOLOGIC"

Found On: Human After All

Another maybe-commentary on modern society from DP's third album, "Technologic" finds most of its rhythm and catchiness in another vocal list, this time of a seemingly endless succession of rapid-fire 21st century commands, like "Write it, get it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick, rewrite it." The chipmunk-sounding pitch-altered voice inevitably becomes annoying by the end of the song, but there's enough of a propulsion to the strings of commands (and enough of an impact when the voice ceases to simply intone the title phrase) that it remains a highly worthwhile single nonetheless. Busta Rhymes evidently thought so, sampling one of the strings of commands for the vocal hook to his "Touch It" hit.)

#24. "FALL (M83 VS. BIG BLACK DELTA REMIX)"

Found On: TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

It seems almost unfair to include M83's remix of "Fall" on a Daft Punk list, since the French synth-pop outfit takes only the sparsest of elements from the original Daft Punk instrumental, and essentially fashion a brand-new M83 song out of it. Nonetheless, it's a pretty fucking good M83 song that they made out of it, one that would've been a highlight on their Hurry Up We're Dreaming album, and one which continues to be a live favorite for the band, with its dreamy verse vocals and compulsory sing-along "NA-NA, NA-NAAAAA" chorus sections. A must-listen for fans of either artist.

#23. "MAKE LOVE"

Found On: Human After All

One of the slinkiest grooves that Daft Punk ever devised, with an almost bossa nova shuffle to it, and a simple, playful guitar (or is it just another synth?) riff providing all the melody necessary--it doesn't really go anywhere over its five minutes, but you don't really want it to, so that's fine. It could've been the backing track for a truly badass hit single for the Doobie Brothers or Steely Dan in the mid-'70s, and you get the feeling that Daft Punk would take that as a gigantic compliment.

#22. "GIVE LIFE BACK TO MUSIC"

Found On: Random Access Memories

It starts with a crashing, all-instruments-on-deck intro that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an Electric Light Orchestra single, then quickly settles into a gentle disco groove--and within the first few minutes, you know just about all you need to know about the exceedingly '70s-indebted Random Access Memories. It’s not subtle, and it’s more than a little cheesy, but it’s also very authentically Daft Punk, and it’s also considerably sublime, as the duo finds themselves right at home in the song’s inclusive, yacht-rock-smooth groove.

#21. "VOYAGER"

Found On: Discovery

Straight-faced filter disco doesn't make too many appearances on Discovery, the album too bursting with pop quirks for any such obvious genre excursions. Still, "Voyager" is about as straightforward as they come--with its shimmering guitar riff, "Billie Jean" like drum beat and up-and-down-the-register bass line, the song is just a vocal away from being a great Chic deep cut. Luckily, Daft Punk do their heroes proud, and "Voyager" is one of the most sheerly enjoyable, if not exactly one of the most mind-blowing, cuts on the album.

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #40-31, #10-1

#20. "END OF LINE"

Found On: TRON: Legacy

Easily the TRON: Legacy song that would fit least awkwardly on a non-score Daft Punk album, "End of Line" rides one of the duo's most striking synth riffs over some warbling bass and a comfortable walking beat, for a song that sounds like it belongs on the Drive soundtrack just as much as anything TRON-related. It's so good that it really makes you wonder what TRON: Legacy could have been like if the duo had focused solely on sci-fi-sounding synth-pop as in their wheelhouse as this, rather than attempting to prove they could pull off a more conventional-sounding film score as well. But at the end of the day, we do not question the Robots.

#19. "TOUCH"

Found On: Random Access Memories

A sweeping, eight-minute-plus epic that shifts from melodramatic prog-pop to Andrew Lloyd Weber-like theatricality to soaring disco to honky-tonk ragtime to near-gospel balladry and all back again, “Touch” is undoubtedly the most ambitious thing to be found on Daft Punk’s third album, obviously meant to serve as the LP’s centerpiece, and certainly one of the most singular pieces of music you’re likely to hear in 2013. The fact that it’s not a complete disaster is, from the outset, a pretty sizeable accomplishment--we’re actually all the way in on the whole crazy thing, but if you could only stand to listen to all 8:17 of it once or twice in a year, we couldn’t really blame you.

#18. "ROCK'N ROLL"

Found On: Homework

At pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum from the smooth-sailing disco vibes of much of Random Access Memories reside the brutal house scratches of "Rock'n Roll," a song which doesn't even come close to living up to its namesake in sound, but does get there in sheer ballsiness and attitude. Compared to "Rock'n Roll," even a song as intense as "Alive" sounds puny and weak, the hammering beat matched with a revving hook that sounds like the synth equivalent of tires screeching against rubber, while handclaps in the background pretend that everything is still all fine and dandy. It could have ended up as unlistenable--and to some fans, it probably is--but its build is handled with such mastery by the duo that instead it's just one of the most visceral and exciting listens to be found in their discography--even if it's hard to go back to the mellow beach sounds of "Fresh" afterwards.

#17. "GET LUCKY"

Found On: Random Access Memories

Speaking of smooth-sailing disco vibes, you won't get much closer to the spirit of 1979 in 2013 pop music than Daft Punk's Pharrell-assisted "Get Lucky," which even features Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers in the pocket. If not for the song's typically high-in-the-mix bass groove, and the robots' late-song echoing of Pharrell's "We're up all night to get lucky!" hook, the song would be almost unrecognizably human-sounding, but it still packs that giddy pop rush that all the best Daft Punk singles have. And, thanks to the incredible anticipation surrounding the song's release last week, it's also their highest-charting single in the U.S. to date, even becoming the duo's first top ten hit on this week's Hot 100.

#16. "ROBOT ROCK (SOULWAX REMIX)"

Found On: Human After All: Remixes

The original "Robot Rock" was a worthy, if slightly hard-to-grasp at first, lead single for the Robots off their third album, a purposefully dumb but impossibly catchy jam keyed around a well-chosen (though perhaps a mite too cleanly lifted) sample from '80s funk-rock outfit Breakwater's single "Release the Beast." The Soulwax remix of the song gets a little more playful with it, though, messing around with the phrasing and instrumentation of both the beat and the hook, adding some much-appreciated variety to the gonzo-ness of the original. You can't properly appreciate it without already knowing the original, but once you do, you might end up preferring the remix for the long haul.

#15. "HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER"

Found On: Discovery

Possibly Daft Punk's most recognizable song, largely thanks to its sampling in Kanye West's chart-topping pop hit "Stronger," the mechanical grind of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" makes it a worthwhile choice for de facto group anthem, even though there are greater pop thrills to be had for the group elsewhere in their discography (and particularly on Discovery). The endless "Work it harder, do it better..." chant may get a little monotonous at times, but when the song cuts from the final-sounding "never over" to the super-robo-funky breakdown section, though, it's easily one of the most singular moments to be heard in 21st-century dance music.

#14. "MOTHERSHIP RECONNECTION" (ORIGINALLY BY SCOTT GROOVES)"

Found On: Musique Vol. 1, 1993-2006

A third-generation remix for Daft Punk, as it's a remix of a Scott Grooves experimental house cut that was itself a spin on Funkadelic's '70s funk standard "Mothership Connection." Daft Punk truly takes things interstellar with it, though, brilliantly turning the original "If you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys" chant into a human/robot call-and-response hook over an Afrika Bambaataa-like beat, before the song erupts into one of the most pleasurable house grooves the duo ever devised, one that bridges the gap between the harder edge of Homework and the glossier pop rush of Discovery. Probably the group's best-remembered remix, and for good reason.

13. "DOIN' IT RIGHT"

Found On: Random Access Memories

Panda Bear, not exactly known as a go-to party-starter in his work as a solo artist or the singer for Animal Collective, is one of the more idiosyncratic choices for collaborators on Random Access Memories, but his earnest, reaching vocals hit all the right notes on this surprisingly catchy jam, as he sings “If you lose your way tonight / That’s how you know the magic’s right.” It’s a much less obvious slam dunk than the duo’s two Pharrell collaborations, but it’s arguably a richer return, a surprisingly successful blend of the starkly hypnotic qualities of the best Panda Bear songs and the crowd-pleasing maximalism of the best Daft Punk jams.

#12. "TOO LONG"

Found On: Discovery

With its title phrase, countlessly repeated throughout the song, considered alongside its ten-minute run time, "Too Long" would easily court mockery were it not such a fun song and perfect closer for Discovery. In fact, "Too Long" is not the least bit too long at all--rather, the way it gradually unfolds over the course of its ten minutes is one of the most impressive things to be found on Discovery, how the song slowly sinks into its groove before switching things up completely half-way through, and taking off even further into the house stratosphere from there. By song's end, you'll be singing "Do you need it? / (Hey!) / Well, I need it too! / (Well, all right!") up until you hit play on the album again.

#11. "AERODYNAMIC"

Found On: Discovery

For a song that starts with the sound of a bell tolling--an established metal trope for the likes of Metallica and AC/DC--and includes what sounds suspiciously like an Eddie Van Halen-style finger-tapping solo, you'd think "Aerodynamic" would be Daft Punk's entree into the world of headbanging. Yes, but no--"Aerodynamic" rocks, for sure, but not without breaking the house-readiness of Discovery, rather just providing the absolutely perfect transition track between the album's two much-less-meat-headed first two lead singles--one so good that it was eventually released as a single in its own right, despite being a much less obvious choice than several other songs on the album.

For the top ten songs, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #40-31, #30-21

#10. "HUMAN AFTER ALL"

Found On: Human After All

The opening and arguably best track on Daft Punk's third album, "Human After All" finds the perfect balance between house energy and rock instrumentation and posturing--all obviously filtered through the duo's typically electronic and (ironically, intentionally) dehumanizing musical style. It's catchy, it's propulsive, and it sets the tone--much to the displeasure of many HAA detractors--for absolutely everything on the album to follow. Much of Daft Punk's music is indebted to electronic forefathers Kraftwerk, the original Robots, but "Human After All" is the song you could most picture them coming up with had they been born 25 years or so later.

#9. "REVOLUTION 909"

Found On: Homework

Politics and social protest don't often enter the realm of Daft Punk's music, but they make a brief appearance at the beginning of "Revolution 909," for the memorable rave bust skit ("Stop the music and go home, I repeat...") that intros the song, a strike at the French government's stance against such festivities. The rest of the song proves that the best revenge is raving well, as "Revolution 909" is one of the group's purest house numbers, down to the tastefully deployed vocal chants that keep the hook moving, and the 1-2-3-4 beat stutter in the song's breakdown section. It's a subtle anthem, but an undeniable one nonetheless. And its music video even teaches you how to make tomato sauce, for some reason!

#8. "LOSE YOURSELF TO DANCE"

Found On: Random Access Memories

“Lose Yourself to Dance” may or may not be the second single off Random Access Memories, but it’s hard to believe it won’t get pulled eventually. Like "Get Lucky," “Dance” unites the holy pop-funk trinity of Daft Punk, Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers and Neptunes beatmaker / hook singer Pharrell Williams for a disco workout of undeniable divinity. Pharrell’s falsetto fits like a diamond-studded glove over Rodgers’ shimmering guitar hook and the Robots’ popping bass and clapping drums, and by song’s end, you’ll be strapping on the polyester and Googling the location of the nearest roller rink. Not groundbreaking by any means, but still very impressive stuff.

#7. "SUPERHEROES"

Found On: Discovery

The most underrated song on Discovery is probably this first-half blast of pure pop giddiness, brilliantly using the "Something's in the air!" shout from the beginning to Barry Manilow's "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed" as a lift-off point to a stomping juggernaut of crashing beats and layered synths. Eventually, the song breaks out into a cacophonous flurry of laser noises, because the song has no other way to get more intense in its joyful exuberance. Coming off the hushed prettiness of "Nightvision," it's an absolute barnstormer of a dance-pop song, and it takes till the end of "Something About Us" to properly come down from.

#6. "FACE TO FACE"

Found On: Discovery

Another "Billie Jean"-like intro gives way to one of the most inspired hooks the duo ever devised. What really stuns about "Face to Face" is not just the funkiness of the song's chopped-together synth-and-bass hook, but the precision with which it is assembled--seemingly no two notes come from the same source material, yet it all still comes together for a rhythm and melody as transfixing and easily understandable as anything you might find in a song by their duo's rock/pop countrymen Phoenix. By the time collaborator and long-time influence Todd Edwards comes in with his pitch-perfect vocals about a strained relationship or some such (I've listened to this song dozens of times without ever once paying attention to what the words actually mean), the song's already an absolute winner. How it was never released as an official single--not that it would have been a hit in the States anyway--remains a mystery.

#5. "AROUND THE WORLD"

Found On: Homework

The song that really brought Daft Punk to prominence in the U.S., and simply put, one of the catchiest songs ever recorded. It's bad enough at the outset with the insta-funk of its Chic-inspired bass line, and on-the-down-beat synth-guitar riff, but then that three-word title vocal comes in--"Around the world, a-round-the-wooo-ooorrrrld"--and it's just game over. Good luck doing or thinking about anything else for the rest of the day without tapping the song with your fingers and humming the hook to yourself. The song doesn't really go anywhere else from there over the course of seven minutes, minus some drop-and-rebuild sections, but it doesn't have to, because it's already got you hooked for life. A video with different groups of eccentrically dressed dancers playing the various parts of the song also ensured that appropriate accompanying visuals would be an inextricable part of the Daft Punk experience from then on.

#4. "ROLLIN' & SCRATCHIN'

If you remember song #15 on this list, "Rock'n Roll," and how intense I talked about that song being, understand that I mean it as no small feat when I say that "Rollin' & Scratchin'" makes that song sound like "Music Sounds Better With You" by comparison. A slow-burning--and I mean burning house anthem, "Rollin' & Scratchin'" takes a little while to get going, but once it does, it will make you sorry for ever doubting it. The term "acid house" is an important descriptor in the dance music lexicon, but rarely do the songs it describes actually sound like literal acid is dripping off the beats. That's what "Rollin' & Scratchin'" does. The screaming two-note static hook becomes so vicious by song's climax that it actually sounds like it's ripping its own song (and the performers behind it) to shreds.

As with "Rock'n Roll," it could have verged on unlistenable (and probably still does for some), but the pacing of it is so perfect and the peak is handled with such respect for the song's blistering hook that it becomes as exhilerating as any of the group's more crowd-pleasing pop numbers. Back-to-back with "Around the World" on Homework, it's about as incredible a one-two punch as you're likely to find on any dance LP ever.

#3. "DIGITAL LOVE"

Found On: Discovery

Ask any of the millions of rock kids who don't normally care for dance music but still get down to Daft Punk which song of theirs it was that first wormed its way into their heart, and chances are pretty good the answer you'll get is "Digital Love." It's not quite the perfect pop song that Discovery's lead single is--there's no real chorus or vocal hook to speak off, just the George Duke-cribbed synth-guitar riff that runs throughout the song, but the song is still sweet and grabbing enough with its gleeful-but-sighing verse lyrics about a party-and-romance fantasy (start any Daft Punk fan off with a "Last night I had a dream about you..." and they should be able to recite the whole thing) that its appeal is easily understandable even for non-dance listeners.

Then there's the Supertramp-like bridge, the slamming breakdown section, and of course, the Yngwie-like, uber-righteous, "Aerodynamic" redux guitar shredding that takes the song to its close, all of which combine to make "Digital Love" perhaps Daft Punk's most delectable pop concoction.

#2. "DA FUNK"

If there was a cooler dance song released in the '90s, I'm not sure what it was. From the moment the song kicks into full-gear with its muscular beat and pounding, one-note BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. bass line, and that growling, indescribale riff comes in over top, it's just the coldest, most badass thing the entire AMP generation had to offer--not even The Prodigy, with producer Maxim's violently zooming beats and crazy-eyed frotnman Keith Flint's lunatic raving on top, ever created a dance song quite this imposing. You don't title a song "Da Funk" without being able to back it up, and Daft Punk do so and then some on this one.

The song might not have had quite the same worldwide impact it did, though, without the impossibly clever Spike Jonze music video, with its dogman lead character and cold-world setting, imbuing the song with a weird kind of humanity. After you see the video, you can't listen to the song again without picturing it as some kind of paean to the lonely, unforgiving streets. And hey, we can't really blame the dogman for his tragic refusal to give up his radio at video's end--we might not have made it through the '90s without constantly blaring Daft Punk, either.

#1. "ONE MORE TIME"

As many incredible songs as Daft Punk have, it would still feel wrong putting any song but this one at #1. "One More Time" is, in the end, the song that Daft Punk will be remembered for, a song whose worldwide reputation as one of pop music's great unifying tracks will ultimately make the fact that it only ever peaked at #61 on the US Hot 100 seem absolutely insane. Romanthy's incredibly auto-tuned vocals might've sounded cheesy upon first listen--little did we know then how simply ahead-of-their-time they were--and the song's relentless groove (pilfered brilliantly from Eddie Johns' "More Spell on You") might've seemed a little too maximalist, but after some time, concerns about cheesiness fell by the wayside as the song's pop rush--as pure as that of "Crazy in Love," or "Call Me Maybe," or any other pop song released in the 21st century--triumphed over all, making concerns about freshness or coolness seem petty by comparison. Eventually all that matters is celebrating one more time, and not stopping the dancing.

"One More Time" was recently voted by readers of dance magazine Mixmag as the greatest dance song of all-time, and it's hard to find too much fault in their choice. If you're looking for a song that gets everyone on the dancefloor, that everyone's always glad to hear at any time, and that properly expresses the senses of joy and release that the best pop music provides, you're not going to do to much better from anyone, from any era, than Daft Punk's "One More Time."

Thanks for reading through our ranked list of every Daft Punk song! To take a quick glimpse at our list from #90-1 in its entirety, and to listen to a Spotify playlist featuring all of the songs available in order, click NEXT.

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #40-31, #30-21, #20-11

Rank Song

86 On/Off

85 Funk Ad

84 Outlands

83 Disc Wars

82 Wdpk 837 fm

81 Flynn Lives

80 Get Funky Get Down

79 Recognizer

78 Within

77 Rectifier

76 Take Me Out

75 Arrival

74 Armory

73 Assault

72 Rinzler

71 Daftendirekt

70 Beyond

69 The Brainwasher

68 The Game Has Changed

67 The Prime Time Of Your Life

66 Oh Yeah

65 Veridis Quo

64 Finale

63 Overture

62 The Game of Love

61 Disco Cubizm

60 Nocturne

59 The Son of Flynn (Ki: Theory Remix)

58 High Life

57 Emotion

56 Tron Legacy (End Titles) (Sander Kleinenberg Remix)

55 Contact

54 The Grid

53 High Fidelity

52 Giorgio By Moroder

51 Forget About the World

50 C.L.U. (Paul Oakenfold Remix)

49 Steam Machine

48 Ouverture

47 Motherboard

46 Musique

45 Television Rules the Nation

44 Arena (The Japanese Popstars Remix)

43 Indo Silver Club

42 Derezzed

41 Instant Crush

40 Alive

39 Something About Us

38 Horizon

37 Teachers

36 Adagio for Tron (Teddybears Remix)

35 Crescendolls

34 Fragments of Time

33 Burnin'

32 Phoenix (Basement Jaxx Remix)

31 Short Circuit

30 Sky Sailor (Float Away)

29 Life Is Sweet

28 Nightvision

27 Chord Memory

26 Fresh

25 Technologic

24 Fall (M83 vs. Big Black Delta Remix)

23 Make Love

22 Give Life Back to Music

21 Voyager

20 End of Line

19 Touch

18 Rock'n Roll

17 Get Lucky

16 Robot Rock (Soulwax Remix)

15 Harder Better Faster Stronger

14 Mothership Reconncetion

13 Doing It Right

12 Too Long

11 Aerodynamic

10 Human After All

9 Revolution 909

8 Lose Yourself to Dance

7 Superheroes

6 Face to Face

5 Around the World

4 Rollin' & Scratchin'

3 Digital Love

2 Da Funk

1 One More Time

Other Pages: #86-71, #70-61, #60-51, #50-41, #40-31, #30-21, #20-11, #10-1