A 1977 classic built on just two chords is getting a surprising new honor nearly 50 years later.
In a countdown video, music producer and educator Rick Beato named “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac as the greatest two-chord song of all time, highlighting how its simplicity is exactly what makes it so powerful.
Released as a single from the band’s landmark 1977 album Rumours, “Dreams” went on to become the group’s only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. But its legacy has only grown in the decades since, with the song landing at No. 9 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Beato’s pick underscores something that might seem counterintuitive—sometimes the simplest songs are the hardest to pull off: “There are actually some big hit songs with only two chords.”
According to Beato, what separates songs like “Dreams” is how complete they feel despite their minimal structure.
“The reason that they sound like complete songs is because they have great verses and they have even better choruses,” he explains in the video.
He goes on to say that in each case, the chorus does the heavy lifting, with vocal harmonies rising in pitch and intensity, creating the sense of movement that the chord progression itself doesn’t provide.
“The choruses are in a higher range vocally and it makes them sound complete,” says Beato.
While “Dreams” takes his top spot, Beato also highlighted two other iconic tracks built on just two chords.
The first is “A Horse with No Name” by America, released in 1971. The folk-rock hit became the band’s breakthrough single, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and quickly becoming one of the most recognizable acoustic-driven songs of its era. Its hypnotic, desert-like atmosphere is driven almost entirely by its repeating chord pattern, proving how far mood alone can carry a track.
The second is “Something in the Way” by Nirvana, from the band’s 1991 album Nevermind. Unlike the other two songs, its power comes from stark minimalism and emotional weight. Beato even noted the unusual recording approach behind it:
“The producer of this record recorded the singer lying down playing the classical guitar in the control room doing the lead vocal,” he says.
That stripped-down recording style helped give the song its haunting, intimate feel—a stark contrast to the radio polish of “Dreams,” yet equally effective within its two-chord framework.
Still, it’s “Dreams” that rises above the rest.
Written by Stevie Nicksduring a turbulent period for the band, the song emerged from the emotional fallout surrounding the Rumours sessions, when multiple relationships within the group were unraveling—ultimately becoming one of the most enduring breakup anthems of its era. Nicks famously wrote it in about 10 minutes.
Its understated production only adds to its mystique. Built around a steady drum loop and airy instrumentation, “Dreams” leans into atmosphere rather than complexity, allowing Nicks’ distinctive vocal to take center stage.
And its impact hasn’t faded. In 2020, the song surged back into the charts after a viral video introduced it to a new generation, sending it back onto the Billboard Hot 100 more than four decades after its release. That kind of longevity is no accident. The song’s emotional clarity and musical restraint make it timeless.
Sometimes, two chords are all it takes.