Depeche Mode was initially a synth-pop group that courted fame. As years went on, the musical complexity of the group increased. As more years went on, the group adopted a darker, gothic-tinged aesthetic and sound. None of these changes diminished the success of Depeche Mode, one of the greatest bands of all time.

Picking the band’s very best material isn’t easy. However, I’ll take on the challenge. These are the 10 greatest songs by Depeche Mode.

Greatest 10 Songs by Depeche Mode

10. “Everything Counts”

Depeche Mode made sophisticated pop music from the beginning. Not all the songs, though. Some just fit the synth-pop mold. Some just got them out of school and onto tours.

Of those synth-heavy songs, “Everything Counts” was one of the most inspired efforts. It also presented a band conscious of its place in the grand electronic innovations happening in early 1980s pop music.

9. “Stripped”

Few bands get hits as quickly as Depeche Mode did. Those who first encountered the band’s music on jolly synth-pop singles like “Just Can’t Get Enough” may have been surprised by its transformation.

The hits kept coming. But they also kept spicier and/or more sinister. “Stripped,” with its call for people to recall their primeval nature, hinted at just how far Martin Gore and the band were willing to go.

8. “A Pain that I’m Used to”

Depeche Mode’s success, for many years, and to many observers seemed unfathomable. It became something of a sport to try to predict when it would end.

The success never did cease! That’s largely due to the fans’ commitment – Depeche Mode is, in some ways, one of the biggest cult bands in the world.

But it was also due to the band’s songwriting and Gahan’s charisma. “A Pain that I’m Used to” was the best song of yet another group relaunch. And, after all that the group had been through, the words sounded more truthful than ever.

7. “Policy of Truth”

Martin Gore has a few secrets. One of them is that, regardless of how it may appear, he does not write a lot of songs, nor does he just throw them on a record.

“Policy of Truth” was a song re-recorded hundreds of times, and it made it onto “Violator.”

When it was done, “Policy of Truth” was one of the most direct, memorable and mysterious tracks that the band had ever recorded.

6. “Strangelove”

Depeche Mode knows what it’s doing well. It just hides its dark, sensual interests in plain sight. Other 1980s rivals, instead, were much more obvious.

But this strategy helps make the group’s music and aesthetic all the more mysterious.

What’s the last piece of the puzzle? Oh, yes, highly memorable songwriting. “Strangelove” has all of this and ushered a new and somber era for the band.

5. “Home”

It seems almost fitting that, perhaps, Martin Gore’s most gorgeous composition is one of the few on this list to have not become a colossal hit.

“Home” is a real fan favorite. Sung by Gore, the song fits perfectly with the somber atmosphere surrounding the group at the time of its 1997 release. Fewer songs contain purer or more effective doses of melancholy, in my opinion.

4. “Never Let Me Down”

As long as there will be stadiums to fill and Depeche Mode to fill them, you’ll hear the main theme to “Never Let Me Down” ringing out from them.

A few bands, like Depeche Mode or Tears for Fears, turned pop hit songwriting into something of an art during the 1980s. “Never Let Me Down” contains an instantly pleasing jingle. But it’s also musically sophisticated and lyrically ambiguous. One of the best songs of that era to become a global hit!

3. “Personal Jesus”

“Reach out!/Touch faith!” Martin Gore and Depeche Mode won at the sport of creating undeniable hits once more.

However, the instantly infectious “Personal Jesus” was a darker and, in some ways, sexier affair than before. “Violator” was a dark album, the kind that gothic-rock or metal bands might’ve wanted to make.

“Personal Jesus” likely left a lot of those groups enviously admiring Depeche Mode’s continued rise from afar. The “Violator” album prolonged the band’s career and launched it on a trajectory where their style would never fall out of fashion.

2. “Enjoy the Silence”

It’s quite amazing how gracefully and naturally Depeche Mode navigated the musical changes that occurred during their existence. From cheerful synth-pop to sophisticated dance music to gloomy goth-rock, the group never fell out of favor.

That was hardly the route taken by most of its early 1980s contemporaries. By the 1990s, most were either gone or struggling to chart.

But Depeche Mode always innovated their sound. And Martin Gore never, in this period, seemed burnt out of ideas.

“Enjoy the Silence” with its evocative innocence-yearning lyrics was one of the biggest hits of the early 1990s. And while the memorable Anton Corbijn-shot video had a lot to do with it, the songwriting remains nearly unmatched.

1. “I Feel You”

Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan especially, never seemed bothered by playing to large crowds. And as the attendance at concerts got bigger, Gahan grew more confident.

You can hear that bravado in Gahan’s singing on the anthemic, but still foreboding, “I Feel You.”

This was art-rock created so well and with such self-assuredness that it was meant for the charts and for the stadium-sized crowds.

There are plenty of songs that could fill the same spot. To my mind, “I Feel You” captures Depeche Mode at its best. It’s one of the greatest songs of all time.