Muse’s ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ Songs Ranked

Even great albums have a hierarchy. Some songs are stone-cold classics, some play quiet yet vital supporting roles, and others simply do not reach the same level as the band’s best material. In this Live Music Blog series, we rank every track from worst to best on some of the most notable albums in music history.

Muse’s fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations, came out in 2006, and some of the songs on the album have held up as highlights from the era and remain among the band’s most popular and most well-regarded. Lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Bellamy, bassist/vocalist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer/vocalist Dominic Howard delivered a definitive document 20 years ago that set the stage for the music that would follow in the intervening two decades. Let’s see which songs are the best from this seminal release.

Note: This album is a masterpiece, so each of its 11 tracks is better than many other songs from this era and beyond, but some are admittedly better than others. If you’re a mega-fan of this artist, sound off in the comments if you agree or disagree with the order.

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11. “Invincible”

Bellamy and co. have long had a penchant for delivering eminently dramatic (and sometimes melodramatic) anthems at will, and “Invincible” fits neatly into that mold. A powerful chorus—if somewhat trite—is lifted by an off-the-wall guitar solo that could only be delivered by Bellamy. The weakest song from a terrific album.

10. “Take a Bow”

An intriguingly moody and dramatic album opener, this cut doesn’t quite reach the heights found elsewhere on the album. Despite that, the climactic final section does set the stage nicely for the run of three straight singles that follows: “Starlight,” “Supermassive Black Hole,” and “Map of the Problematique.”

9. “Assassin”

Another banger built around a striking guitar riff and some of Dominic Howard’s best drumming on the entire album. Not the most memorable Muse song, but a sturdy and eminently headbang-able number nonetheless.

8. “City of Delusion”

Come for the skyscraping chorus and stay for the evocative string section and trumpet accents. Boasting a classic Muse bass tone courtesy of Chris Wolstenholme, this isn’t the most decorated track from the album, but its overall quality and memorability help cement the album’s consistency, as even a “deep cut” album track is better than many hits from other groups from the era.

7. “Hoodoo”

A moody, more subdued track, “Hoodoo” is one of the highlights from the latter half of Black Holes and serves as the perfect table-setter for the album-closing highlight “Knights of Cydonia,” (don’t worry, more on that one later).

With quieter elements inspired by earlier Muse songs like “Darkshines” from Origin of Symmetry and “Falling Away With You” from Absolution, the militaristic drumbeat dropping at the halfway point of this song is a truly memorable moment on the album, and the sweeping drama of the lyrics and elevated string parts combined with the “quiet/loud” dynamics help make “Hoodoo” one of the most underrated songs on the album.

6. “Map of the Problematique”

An intriguing, delay-heavy guitar intro leads into an intricate and unorthodox single from Black Holes, the one single that is likely forgotten by those who are not big Muse fans.

Despite the lesser stature of this track, it represents the platonic ideal of a Muse song from this era, with a memorable melody, a stunning, falsetto-laden chorus and a plethora of notable electronics-assisted guitar parts intermingling and transforming this catchy track into one of the highlights from an album that is absolutely full of them. “When will this loneliness be over?” indeed.

5. “Exo-Politics”

A deep-cut classic with one of the best riffs on the entire album: a slinky, catchy, beefy guitar figure that continues to amaze as the song progresses. Bellamy’s vocal melody and the spectral sound of a theremin attempt to distract, but that riff is simply too potent, which makes this track something of a dark horse on an album that boasts a plethora of all-timers.

4. “Soldier’s Poem”

This is admittedly a personal choice, but “Soldier’s Poem” earns its high placement through its melodicism and gentle counterpoint to the bombast found elsewhere on Black Holes and Revelations.

Bellamy has never been shy about the outsize influence that Queen has had on his songwriting and the musical exploits of Muse. That influence, especially the multitracked vocals of Freddie Mercury, can be heard loud and clear on this quiet wartime ballad.

While Muse is more often associated with bombastic sci-fi soundscapes littered with myriad distorted and zany-sounding guitar parts, “Soldier’s Poem” dismisses all of those trappings in favor of a gorgeous, gentle melody and some of the finest harmonies ever recorded by the group up to this point. A left turn for Muse, but an effective and potent pivot from the middle of Black Holes that continues to age exquisitely, even 20 years later.

3. “Starlight”

One of Muse’s early—and most successful—attempts at a radio hit, this gorgeous love song contains plenty of Muse’s trademark sonic exploration as well as some hard-hitting power chords layered atop a gorgeous, eminently hummable melody and one of Bellamy’s finest-ever choruses.

A truly classic Muse song, it’s no surprise that this song helped make Black Holes and Revelations the group’s most successful album to that point.

2. “Supermassive Black Hole”

Muse is no stranger to tremendous guitar riffs, as their early career was practically defined by them; just listen to tracks such as “Cave,” “New Born,” “Plug In Baby,” “Stockholm Syndrome,” and “Hysteria” to hear some of the group’s earlier guitar earworms.

As such, it’s no surprise that one of the best songs from Black Holes boasts one of the group’s finest-ever guitar riffs in the form of “Supermassive Black Hole.” A memorable title, an indelible guitar riff, and the song’s usage in that (mercifully) one-of-a-kind scene from Twilight ensure that this song will be omnipresent in the consciousness of music lovers forevermore.

Note: While the album version is, of course, brilliant, the group’s live version from HAARP is actually superior in my eyes. Check it out:

1. “Knights of Cydonia”

Muse put it all together here. From the lengthy instrumental intro, which boasts elements of Spaghetti Western scores, surf guitar, mariachi brass, and more, to the a cappella interlude that features Bellamy and the band multi-tracked into a striking, “Bohemian Rhapsody-esque” choir, to the general dramatic sweep of the music and lyrics,  “Knights of Cydonia” represents Muse firing on all cylinders and producing one of their finest works of art ever – across all of nine of their released studio albums, with a tenth, The Wow! Signal, due in June 2026.

Arty, catchy, and a pummeling rock song all at once, “Knights of Cydonia” represents the pinnacle of this era of Muse – and arguably of the trio’s now nearly 30 years of existence.

With lyrics that mean more now than ever: “No one’s gonna take me alive; time has come to make things right; you and I must fight for our rights; you and I must fight to survive,” it’s always a good time to listen to the best song on Black Holes and Revelations—one of the best songs of Muse’s entire career. Rock on!

No Holes in These Revelations

Black Holes and Revelations is a classic album in Muse’s discography, as well as a classic from the 2000s. It has aged beautifully, and the songs still hit hard and deliver some profound moments 20 years after the fact. With a new Muse album on the horizon in June 2026, let’s hope the group can recapture the magic of this landmark release.

As always, ranking songs on a great album is bound to invite some disagreement, and that is part of the fun. Classic albums tend to inspire strong opinions, especially when the gap between the best song and the weakest one is not that wide, so let us know in the comments how you would rank the tracks on this album. Check back soon as this Live Music Blog series continues with more track-by-track rankings of important albums across music history.

^{Header Photo Courtesy Warner Music Sweden/Wikimedia Commons}