Fleetwood Mac, Solo & More – Billboard

As she was releasing her third solo album, In the Meantime, back in 2004, Christine McVie — then on hiatus from Fleetwood Mac — mused on what she liked most about making music.

“Songwriting has always been the favorite thing to do for me,” McVie told Billboard. “Traveling and touring and living out of a suitcase, I don’t like that nomadic life. But writing songs, absolutely. I wouldn’t want to stop that.”

And McVie did it very well.

She was, perhaps, Fleetwood Mac’s most consistent songwriter — which is not to denigrate Lindsey Buckingham and his quirks or Stevie Nicks and her ethereal whimsy. McVie was simply solid — “the pop songwriter” as Nicks once called her; when you heard one of her tunes you knew you’d get a solid melody, some undeniable hooks and easily relatable lyrics, maybe dressed up sonically by Buckingham.

There was more to McVie than Fleetwood Mac, of course. She started as Christine Perfect in the band Chicken Shack before joining the Mac, then went on to record three of her own albums and one in 2017 with Buckingham.

McVie — who received a Gold Badge of Merit from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 2006 — leaves behind a wealth of outstanding material and a body of work that runs deep. We’re confident the 10 songs selected here, in alphabetical order, comprise the best representation of her considerable craft and her indelible impact on the Billboard charts (not to mention a certain presidential campaign).