Carole King's 15 best songs, ranked

30 April 2026, 14:37

By Mayer Nissim

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Carole King is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

It's not even up for debate. Often alongside her first husband, the lyricist Gerry Goffin, King wrote a clutch of songs that become more than pop classics - they became standards.

So many of King's remarkable songs were written for other people, so even if she got round to recording them herself eventually it felt like she was in competition with well, Carole King.

But whether reclaiming her past writing efforts or writing from scratch for herself, King is an incredible performer, too.

For this ranking we're looking just at King's own performances, which means some classic songs King did get round to eventually taking back ('Going Back', 'The Locomotion') have just missed out.

But that's no indictment of her recordings of those tracks, just even bigger praise for some of her other work.

So Far Away

Carole King - So Far Away (BBC In Concert, February 10, 1971)

After her low key emergence as a performer with Writer in 1970, Carole King burst on to the scene as a singer with the following year's Tapestry, which saw her mix new versions of songs written for others and stuff she'd held back for herself.
One in that latter category was this song for an absent lover ("It would be so fine to see your face at my door"), which featured regular collaborator James Taylor on acoustic guitar.
Only Love Is Real

Only Love Is Real

Carole King's fourth Easy Listening Chart number one, this 1976 hit also went top 30 on the pop chart and was the trailer for her 1976 album Thoroughbred.
A gentle but pure melody was the perfect showcase for King's illustrative turns of phrase ("As I bask in the glow of a just-lit fire").
Up on the Roof

Carole King - Up on the Roof (from Welcome To My Living Room)

The first song on this list that came from Carole King's first act as a songwriter for hire.
'Up on the Roof' was a King/Goffin number recorded by The Drifters in 1962, which became an absolutely massive hit the following year (as well as a hit for Kenny Lynch). It was later covered by Carole's old pal James Taylor and, lest we forget, Robson and Jerome.
King had the tune first, and Goffin lent on West Side Story for his lyric. Carole's version was released on her 1970 debut Writer and showcases the beauty of the words and music without any bells and whistles.
Sweet Seasons

Carole King - Sweet Seasons (Live at Farm Aid 1985)

Following up Tapestry was never going to be easy, but while the same year's Music didn't quite scale the same commercial heights it was still a US chart-topper that went Platinum, buoyed by this gorgeous lead single.
It was written by King with lyrics from Toni Stern, who had pitched in on a couple of songs from Tapestry, which are all about the ups and downs of love and life and dreams of a carefree country life.
Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Carole King Feat Louise Goffin - Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Live in Hyde Park 2016

Another of the Goffin/King 1960s classics, it was The Shirelles who recorded 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' first, making history with the song by becoming the first girl group to top the Billboard Hot 100 with it.
King slowed it right down for this version from Tapestry, which featured not just James Taylor but also Joni Mitchell on backing vocals, to fully take back the song and remake it as her own.
Beautiful

Carole King - Beautiful (Live at Montreux, 1973)

One of those Tapestry originals, 'Beautiful' has long remained a fan favourite and gave its name to the 2014 Broadway musical about Carole King.
Carole apparently wrote it in a sort of stream of consciousness on the NYC subway, it's all about getting up, hitting the world with your game face on and being as Beautiful as you feel.
Nightingale

Carole King - Nightingale (Official Audio)

The second single from Carole's excellent 1974 album Wrap Around Joy (more on the first very soon), 'Nightingale' topped the Easy Listening chart and slow burned its way to number 9 on the pop charts, too.
Rather than the likes of James Taylor or Joni Mitchell, this time around she enlisted her kids Louse and Sherry to sing backing vocals for this catchy track that she co-wrote with Steely Dan's David Palmer.
Where You Lead

Carole King - Where You Lead, I Will Follow (from Welcome To My Living Room)

When Carole King started performing herself, it didn't mean that other people were any less eager to snaffle up her songs. Her playing them first wasn't any sort of problem.
King and Stern's 'Where You Lead' was one of the standouts (weren't they all?) from Tapestry and (along with 'Beautiful' and 'You've Got A Friend') one of THREE Carole songs from that album that Barbra Streisand covered for her Barbra Joan Streisand album in 1971, the same year Tapestry came out.
Babs had a hit with her version, recorded with Fanny as her backing band, but well always go back to Carole's tender original. And the re-recorded version with her daughter for the theme of Gilmore Girls, too.
One Fine Day

One Fine Day - Carole King (81.121.08)

Back to the Goffin/King/1960s era, for this catchy classic that was originally written for Little Eva, who had a hit with the pair's 'The Locomotion'.
Unable to get the arrangement they wanted, the song was passed over to band/production team The Tokens, who kept Carole's piano, zapped her vocal and turned it into an absolutely glorious hit for The Chiffons, who were riding high on 'He's So Fine' at the time.
While Carole often won critical and artistic acclaim when re-recording her hits-for-hire, with 'One Fine Day' she even scored a bona fide smash of her own with that approach, getting to number 12 in the charts when she recorded it for 1980's m Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King.
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Carole King - (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman (Live from Oakland - 1972)

Of all the songs King wrote for other artists, '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman' is probably the one best suited to the star that made it famous: Ms Aretha Franklin.
It probably won't surprise you that King and Goffin wrote it for Franklin specifically, working from an idea by Atlantic Records' producer Jerry Wexler.

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Just four years later though, Carole put her own stripped back, slowed down sheen on it. She didn't match Aretha note for note (who could?) but instead clawed a different sort of emotion from the swords and melody.
And we have to mention the all-powerful supergroup of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin and Shania Twain, led by King, who did the song for VH1 Divas Live in 1998.
Jazzman

Carole King - Jazzman - Live in Hyde Park 2016

The other song on this list from 1974's Wrap Around Joy, and this lead single also has lyrics from Steely Dan man David Palmer.
It has appropriately jazzy sax solos all over the place (thanks to Tom Scott) and is a love letter to a superlative player, said to be Ray Charles's musical director Curtis Amy.

The Simpsons: Jazzman (Lisa and Bleeding Gums Murphy) Part 2

It became one of King's very biggest hits, getting to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 (only Bachman Turner Overdrive's 'You AIn't Seen Nothing Yet' kept it off the top).
And it was covered by Lisa Simpson in tribute to Bleeding Gums Murphy in a classic episode of The Simpsons.
You've Got a Friend

Carole King - You've Got a Friend (Live at Montreux, 1973)

Not to be confused with Randy Newman's 1995 Toy Story theme 'You've Got a Friend in Me'... Carole King's 'You've Got A Friend' was another Tapestry song featuring James Taylor.
That was appropriate enough, given that it was apparently a response to his own 'Fire and Rain' ("I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend") – though King has suggested that isn't quite the case.

James Taylor & Carole King - You've Got A Friend (BBC In Concert, 11/13/71)

"The song was as close to pure inspiration as I've ever experienced," Carole said. "The song wrote itself. It was written by something outside myself, through me."
Taylor did his own version (featuring Joni Mitchell) at pretty much the same time in the same session with the same musicians, and it was Taylor's version that topped the Billboard Hot 100 and went to number four in the UK.
It's also been covered since by Dusty Springfield, Michael Jackson, Anne Murray and Donny Hathaway, but Carole's version is still our favourite.
It Might as Well Rain Until September

It Might As Well Rain Until September - Carole King (81.121.05b)

Back in 1962, Carole King and Gerry Goffin were very much in "writing songs for other people" mode, and after giving Bobby Vee the number one single 'Take Good Care of My Baby', wrote 'It Might as Well Rain Until September' for him.
King recorded a demo and Vee's version would eventually nestle on his album The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, he didn't release it as a single.
That's because exec Don Kirshner loved Carole's version so much that he decided to release it - this despite it only existing on an acetate rather than a master tape.
Her appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, wasn't a smash hit, which perhaps turned her off performing, but the song still went to number 22 in the US and as high as number 3 in the UK.
I Feel the Earth Move

Carole King - I Feel the Earth Move (BBC In Concert, February 10, 1971)

With zero apologies, we're topping this ranking with a double-header, double-A-side single taken from Tapestry, and it's a bit of a toss-up as to which way round we had these, too.
The song is that perfect combo of beautiful melody with a delicate-but-just-gritty-enough vocal line that mixes up pure romance and raunch in just the right quantities.
It went to number 25 in the US, and did even better over here, going as high as number 7.
It's Too Late

Carole King - It's Too Late (BBC In Concert, February 10, 1971)

And on the flipside was this song of heartbreak, that sticks out a mile for its lyrical maturity – thanks to Toni Stern – that marries so perfectly to Carole's melodic sensibilities.
Most breakup songs are tales of cheating, recrimination and worse, but the grounded 'It's Too Late' is a much better representation of how most relationships just fizzle out of love and energy ("Though we really did try to make it / Something inside has died").
'It's Too Late' topped the charts, and was only knocked off by... James Taylor's version of Carole's 'You've Got a Friend'.