Glee: Ranking Every Song Covered More Than Once

As a series, Glee performed over 700 hundreds of songs over a six-year period. In that time, they revisited over a dozen songs to either flesh them out or modernize them. 

The songs below are full performances in every iteration. That is why songs like ‘I Kissed A Girl’, ‘You’re The One That I Want’, and ‘Piano Man’ daren’t featured, since all of their versions were not complete, or they were less than 30 seconds long. The following songs are ranked by the differences between versions, the impact on the characters and story, and overall feel for the audience. Time to revisit the New Directions’ favorites!

12 I’m The Greatest Star

During an audition for West Side Story in season 3, Kurt takes a turn on a Funny Girl song. The performance shows off Kurt’s range, his impressive skills with a pair of sai, and his physical prowess as he swings on bars of a platform. 

On opening night of Rachel’s Funny Girl revival, this is the song Glee uses to show her success in the role. While Kurt’s version was fun and energetic, this one was very straightforward and could have been exchanged for any other Funny Girl tune. 

11 A House is Not a Home  

The first cover of ‘A House Is Not A Home’ by Dionne Warwick comes from Kurt and Finn, though mostly Kurt. As Kurt is expressing his unrequited love for Finn, Finn uses the song to express his mourning for his dad. 

The second cover comes later in the same episode as Will and April Rhodes do a mashup alongside One Less Bell To Answer, as made popular by Barbra Streisand. The songs merge together in a beautiful tale of love that could be.  

10 Raise Your Glass 

Following the duet of ‘Candles’ by Blaine and Kurt during Regionals, the Warblers sing the P!nk hit ‘Raise Your Glass’ with Blaine as the lead soloist. While it isn’t as impactful as the other regional’s hit ‘Loser Like Me’ was storywise, it was still enjoyable. 

The ending of the titular glee club in “100” brought back several guests, including April Rhodes. Even though the New Directions didn’t sing the song, she and Will revisited the track, bringing an exciting toast to the end. 

9 I’ll Stand By You 

Notable as the song where Finn Hudson sings to a sonogram of what he believes to be his child, ‘I’ll Stand By You’ was an important solo for the character. It was one of the most emotional moments for Finn as a character and led to his mother finding out about the baby. 

Returning in “The Quarterback,” which pays respects to Finn (and Cory Monteith after his unfortunate passing), Mercedes sings the song to honor his memory. It’s emotional and raw, making it a perfect song to revisit. 

8 Toxic 

During the “Brittany/Britney” episode, Toxic was performed by Brittany, and, unfortunately, Will, for a school assembly, which ended in Sue pulling the fire alarm. The vocals are solid, but the whole scene is played for laughs, and general discomfort when remembering Will is a teacher. 

The Unholy Trinity reunites for “100” and tackle Toxic again. The vocals are a step up with the power of Quinn, Brittany, and Santana together, and this scene plays like a more digestable version. 

7 Keep Holding On 

‘Keep Holding On’ became Quinn’s personal theme throughout the series. The first version, sung by Finn and Rachel, comes after she is kicked from the Cheerios by Sue and the whole school finds out about her pregnancy. 

The second version comes as the Glee kids return for episode 100, which featured many songs previously covered. Finding out Quinn has been playing a character to be a normal person at Yale, Puck and the New Directions sing to her to remind her who she is. 

6 Don’t Rain on My Parade 

Opening their performance at Sectionals, Rachel’s rendition of ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ was a long time coming for the show. It is one of the most popular songs from Funny Girl and was always going to be one of Rachel’s big moments. 

It stayed Rachel’s big moment until, during auditions for Rachel’s understudy for the Funny Girl revival, Santana showed up with an updated version of the song that highlighted her vocal range. Each version is a solid performance of talent and style that reflects the characters’ personalities. 

5 Defying Gravity 

Setting up the first-ever Diva Off at McKinley High, Kurt and Rachel face off with Wicked’s Defying Gravity. While Kurt decided to throw the song for his dad, it was a powerful song. 

Bringing back the song for a new Diva Off of successful performers, Rachel, now a Broadway star, and Mercedes, now a Popstar, go head to head to settle who is better. Kurt also gets time to shine in this redo by actually hitting the note he threw 4 seasons earlier. 

4 Teenage Dream 

The song that made fans fall in love with Blaine, and the first introduction to the Warblers, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream has become Blaine’s personal anthem for the series. The performance added a whole new glee club to the world and a love interest for Kurt. 

In season 4, Blaine reprises the song in a deeply emotional acoustic rendition. Though fans don’t find out that the song is painful because Blaine cheated on Kurt until later, they could feel something was off purely by his vocals.   

3 Valerie 

‘Valerie’ by Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse is a Santana staple in Glee. It was the first and last solo she had in competitions, and it’s most notable since she is the lead soloist of the song both times it is covered, though Brittany also takes some lines solo in the second performance.   

In addition to having Santana as the main singer, both Mike and Brittany appear as the main dancers for the numbers with some of the most inspired choreography done by the New Directions. 

2 Loser Like Me 

‘Loser Like Me’ was one of several original songs, though it was the only one to be reprised in a later season. The first performance was the midseason finale, where the club went to Regionals, subsequently winning. 

After Tina is denied by every college she applied to, she needs comfort from fellow graduating seniors, Blaine, Sam, and Artie. The four sing an acoustic version of the song to cheer her up and make a nostalgic update to the song for fans.  

1 Don’t Stop Believin  

‘Don’t Stop Believin’ is, arguably, the Glee anthem. Performed the most across the series with 5 individual performances, it became the emotional crux for many huge moments. The first performance comes at the end of episode 1, cementing what Glee would be able to do as a show. 

Subsequent performances included the preparation for sectionals with Quinn as the lead, the finale of season 1, Rachel using the song as her audition for Funny Girl, and when the glee club is dismantled in season 5.  

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