20. You’re a Special Part of Me (1973)

In between Marvin Gaye’s celebrated stint with Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross’s chart-topping duet with Lionel Richie, the two Motown stars teamed up to record a song about pure, unadulterated warmth and affection as the key single from their 1973 album Diana & Marvin.

19. Muscles (1982)

Ross’s answer to Olivia Newton-John’s Physical is a campy celebration of beefcake – and gave her fans LGBT and straight something slinky to groove to in the post-disco era.

18. Pops, We Love You (1978)

A Motown family reunion. Ross teams up with Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder to pay tribute to Berry Gordy Sr, father of the founder of the record label that changed their lives – and the world. On this breezy, backyard barbecue ode to her roots, Ross and her superstar friends – all of whom had by now flown from Gordy’s enterprise – reunite to remind fans of where they came from.

17. It’s My Turn (1980)

On the theme song to the Jill Clayburgh/Michael Douglas romantic comedy, Ross voiced the longings of Clayburgh’s unfulfilled maths professor protagonist as she pursues an affair and then her independence. “It’s my turn,” proclaims our diva, “this time’s just for me.” It’s white middle-class feminism in the age of Kramer vs Kramer sounded out, ironically, by a black female superstar.

16. The Boss (1979)

Love may save the day on the disco dancefloor, but Ross declares (on a track that would turn into a calling card) that love is capable of upending even a superwoman’s know-it-all stance. Less a confession of weakness and more an invitation to let go and fall into joy, The Boss takes delight in the world’s ability to surprise.

15. Remember Me (1970)

Taken from her superb 1971 album Surrender, written and produced by her longterm collaborators Ashford and Simpson, Remember Me is arguably the Ross single most resonant of the Supremes’ heartbreak hits such as Where Did Our Love Go? and My World Is Empty Without You. Remember Me invokes classic Ross tropes of love lost and “reflections of the way life used to be”. Sad and dreamy, it reminds listeners of the string of hits that led her to her solo career.

14. Good Morning Heartache (1972)

Ross’s reading of Lady Day’s 1946 classic sums up the complexity of her critically acclaimed and history-making portrayal of Billie Holiday in the 1972 biopic Lady Sings the Blues. Rather than deliver an impersonation, Ross captures the emotion and energy of Holiday’s lament with measure and care. It’s a sonic love letter from one brilliant artist to the genius who paved the way for black female musicians in the second half of the 20th century.

13. Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1981)

From her first self-produced album of the same name, this Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers cover pays tribute to early pioneers of rock’n’roll, the black doo-wop groups led by teen dreamers who kicked some heavy falsetto. Effervescent and nostalgic, Ross embraced old school playfulness as the flipside to her 80s persona – a grown-ass fashionista.

12. It’s My House (1979)

Before Janet Jackson sang about control, before Beyoncé declared that she might be the “black Bill Gates”, Ross was laying out tracks that assertively stated that she ran things. Yet her take on black women’s social agency is wrapped gingerly in a seduction narrative, a come-on track that invites a lover to enter into a candlelit space of her own design. But we all know who owns the property.

11. Missing You (1984)

After Gaye was killed at the hands of his own father, Ross channelled her devastation into a melancholic ballad that charts the shock and disorientation of the Motown community who grew up with him and adored him. She asks the universe: “Tell me why the road turns?” It’s a moving expression of the senselessness of loss.

10. Endless Love (1981)

Though the Brooke Shields film it soundtracked was instantly forgettable, Ross and Lionel Richie’s single was a duet for the ages. It’s aan easy-listening classic, but one with delicacy and depth – and its evocation of black intimacy and mutual desire still provokes a thrill.

9. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (1970)

Gaye and Terrell’s Motown classic gets a loving makeover as Ross turns their earnest duet into a one-woman inspirational anthem. Here, she presents herself as not just a mere diva but an unstoppable force, a source of hope and determination, and a a communal beacon of light. In 1983, she performed it in a downpour in Central Park, New York, stretching her arms out as if to guide the masses through a storm.

8. Love Hangover (1976)

At the dawn of the disco phenomenon, Ross breaks through with a pre-Studio 54 slow jam turned whirling fantasia. In the season of (Donna) Summer, Ross matched her diva counterpart during pop’s sexual revolution, delivering her own brand of breathy vocals, euphemistic lyrics and a sinuous groove – the foreplay that draws you on to the dance floor and takes you higher into a boogie down raveup.

7. When We Grow Up (1972)

Actor turned feminist activist Marlo Thomas assembled a who’s who of celebrities to perform on her 1972 TV special Free to Be You and Me, a children’s programme celebrating gender equality. Performed live by Roberta Flack and Michael Jackson, When We Grow Up maintains its gorgeously sensitive energy in Ross’s version on the original cast recording. With gentle assurance, she would inspire a whole generation of Gen X listeners to break free from gender stereotypes.

6. Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand (1970)

Another anthem courtesy of Ashford and Simpson, Ross’s debut solo single is a mid-tempo plea for solidarity and social connection amid the upheaval at the end of the 60s. It has defied time to become her signature showstopper, challenging listeners to care for their neighbours. A utopian triumph, it remains more timely than ever.

5. I’m Coming Out (1980)

Written and produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, this is the pride anthem to end all pride anthems. Long adored by LGBT fans for her fierce fashion, poise, beauty and power, Ross embraced the act of becoming exactly who you really are on this extravagant declaration of self-love and self-worth.

4. Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To?) (1975)

While acts such as Labelle were breaking down black feminism on the dancefloor, Ross the movie star was delivering string-laden anthems to independence to express her characters’ celluloid struggles. “You knew how I loved you, but my spirit was free” is the line that builds a bridge between the classic blues queens and 21st-century women warriors such as Beyoncé and Rihanna, Lizzo and SZA.

3. Touch Me in the Morning (1973)

Sumptuous and sensual, Touch Me in the Morning was part tear-stained showtune, part hear-me-roar feminist anthem on which Ross demanded both sexual fulfilment and respect: “If I’ve got to be strong / Don’t you know I need to have tonight when you’re gone?”

2. Upside Down (1980)

Ross announced her own “rebirth of cool” with this flawless Rodgers/Edwards production. Sleek and elegant, with a biting rhythmic edge, Upside Down moved her out of the disco age and into a new era of sophisticated pop without breaking sweat.

1. Home (1978)

Ross’s greatest performance came out of left field, the finale to Sidney Lumet’s controversial adaptation of the The Wiz, an all-black Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz. There were those who had their doubts about whether or not the glam diva superstar could fill the ruby slippers of teen phenom Stephanie Mills (the original Wiz’s Dorothy), but in one long, breathtaking shot, Ross draws from her deepest emotional reservoir and turns a fairytale lament into an epic anthem that articulates the yearning for safe spaces and the black diasporic longing for communal reunion.