User:Frickative/List of songs in Glee (season 1)

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series produced by Fox. It focuses on the glee club New Directions, at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. The show was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and features many cover versions of songs sung on-screen by the characters. Murphy is responsible for selecting all of the songs used, and strives to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits, as he wants there to be "something for everybody in every episode." Once Murphy selects a song, rights are cleared with its publishers by music supervisor P.J. Bloom, and music producer Adam Anders rearranges it for the Glee cast. Numbers are pre-recorded by the cast, while choreographer Zach Woodlee constructs the accompanying dance moves, which are then taught to the cast and filmed. Studio recordings of tracks are then made. The process begins six to eight weeks before each episode is filmed, and can end as late as the day before filming begins.

At the beginning of the season, Murphy intended for the performances to remain reality-based, as opposed to having the characters spontaneously burst into song. As the season progressed, however, Glee began to utilize fantasy sequences, with paraplegic character Artie imagining himself dancing to "The Safety Dance", and six separate characters performing a fantasy version of "Like a Virgin". The first thirteen episodes of the season averaged five songs per episode. For the final nine episodes, the number of performances increased to eight.

Murphy was surprised at the ease with which use of songs was approved by the record labels approached. Composer and musician Billy Joel offered many of his songs for use on the show, singer Rihanna offered her single "Take a Bow" for use at a reduced licensing rate, and other artists have offered use of their songs for free. Madonna granted the show rights to her entire catalogue, and the 2010 episode "The Power of Madonna" featured Madonna performances exclusively. A series of Glee albums have been released through Columbia Records. Accompanying the first season were the albums Glee: The Music, Volume 1, Glee: The Music, Volume 2 and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers, and extended plays (EP) Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna and Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals. Songs featured on the show are available for digital download through iTunes up to two weeks before new episodes air, and through other digital outlets and mobile carriers a week later.

Performers
The majority of songs are performed by New Directions, which is composed of Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), Brittany (Heather Morris), Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr), Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer), Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Puck (Mark Salling) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton). Club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) also performs several songs, and in the episode "Acafellas" forms an all-male a capella group of the same name, encompassing Ken Tanaka (Patrick Gallagher), Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky), Henri St. Pierre (John Lloyd Young), Howard Bamboo (Kent Avenido), Finn and Puck. The season features some performances by rival glee clubs Vocal Adrenaline, lead by Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff), Jane Addams Girls Choir, Haverbrook Deaf Choir and Aural Intensity, as well as McKinley High's football team and cheerleaders, the Cheerios.

Guest stars who gave vocal performances during the season were Ben Bledsoe as former glee club member Hank Saunders, Jerry Phillips as a younger Finn, and Aaron Hendry as Darren in the pilot episode, Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris as former glee club members April Rhodes and Bryan Ryan, Zack Weinstein as Sean Fretthold, Olivia Newton-John, Wendy Worthington as an auditionee for Les Misérables in "Dream On", and Idina Menzel as Vocal Adrenaline director Shelby Corcoran.