“Good Luck Babe!” by Chappell Roan

Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!" came out on April 5, 2024, through Amusement Records and Island Records, and it turned into her breakout: a slow-burning sleeper that kept climbing long after release. She wrote it with Justin Tranter and Dan Nigro, and Nigro produced it, playing bass, guitar, keyboard, synthesizer and percussion himself.

It's a huge retro power ballad, all throbbing synths and swooning strings (Paul Cartwright on violin and viola, Sterling Laws on drums), blending synth-pop, new wave and dance music, shot through with baroque pop and a little soft rock. Roan belts it like she has nothing left to lose.

Critics went wild for the voice, the production and the storytelling. NME, The Guardian and Rolling Stone each named it the best song of 2024, it hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100, and it won the Brit Award for International Song in 2025 after three Grammy nominations.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.