# What is the best songwriting duo in music history?

> Brill Building professionals, band-mate partnerships and lyricist-composer pairs who never wrote in the same room. Which pen wins?

*By YPB Team · Published July 30, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-songwriting-duo-in-music-history*

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## Current results (3 votes)

1. **Lennon-McCartney** — 66.67% (2 votes · score 1000/1000)
   The Beatles partnership that wrote the bulk of the band's catalogue and holds the record for most number-one hits by a songwriting team.
2. **Burt Bacharach and Hal David** — 0% (0 votes · score 724/1000)
   Pop-orchestral duo behind Walk On By and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head.
3. **Jagger-Richards** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 689/1000)
   The Rolling Stones' writing core since 1963, credited on everything from Satisfaction to Gimme Shelter.
4. **Steven Tyler and Joe Perry** — 0% (0 votes · score 596/1000)
   Aerosmith's Toxic Twins, credited together on Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way and Draw the Line.
5. **Walter Becker and Donald Fagen** — 0% (0 votes · score 517/1000)
   Steely Dan's writing pair, who put jazz harmony and unreliable narrators into the pop charts.
6. **Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus** — 0% (0 votes · score 517/1000)
   The two men who wrote ABBA, then wrote Chess and Mamma Mia on top of it.
7. **Rodgers and Hammerstein** — 0% (0 votes · score 423/1000)
   Broadway team behind Oklahoma!, Carousel and The Sound of Music.
8. **Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil** — 0% (0 votes · score 423/1000)
   Brill Building husband-and-wife team behind You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and On Broadway.
9. **Joe Strummer and Mick Jones** — 0% (0 votes · score 423/1000)
   The Clash's writing axis, from White Riot through London Calling.
10. **Morrissey and Johnny Marr** — 0% (0 votes · score 423/1000)
   The Smiths' lyricist and guitarist, whose four-album run defined British indie songwriting.
11. **Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson** — 0% (0 votes · score 310/1000)
   Motown writers responsible for Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing.
12. **Elton John and Bernie Taupin** — 0% (0 votes · score 310/1000)
   Taupin writes the lyrics, John writes the music, and the two have worked that way since 1967 without ever writing in the same room.
13. **Gerry Goffin and Carole King** — 0% (0 votes · score 310/1000)
   Brill Building couple behind Will You Love Me Tomorrow and The Loco-Motion, with more than 120 Hot 100 entries.
14. **Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller** — 0% (0 votes · score 172/1000)
   Wrote Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock and Stand By Me, effectively inventing the rock-and-roll songwriting team.

Tags: pop, music, rock, songwriters