It’s 20 years since his band NERD released their debut album – but the rapper-producer-singer-songwriter has been responsible for an avalanche of hits. As he and co-pilot Chad Hugo get inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, we count down Williams’s 30 greatest bangers

30 Child Rebel Soldier – Us Placer (2007)

Pharrell Williams’s career has thrown up several curveballs – a homage to XTC’s Andy Partridge on the Despicable Me 3 soundtrack, a Metallica remix that sounds like 90s hardcore rave – but this might be the most intriguing: Pharrell, Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco rhyming over The Eraser by Thom Yorke. Alas, the supergroup idea didn’t last long: a fascinating what if?

29 Kelis – Popular Thug (2001)

A lost classic from Kelis’s second album, which wasn’t released in the US: guest rap from Pusha T, slapping beats, reedy organ, great hook (“Make my record skip, make my record skip”) fantastic chorus. It was repurposed – with Nas replacing Pusha T – for the Neptunes’ Clones album, but the original still wins.