U2 is currently playing at the Sphere commemorating their 1991 album, Achtung Baby.

These shows mark the first time ever that the album has been played in full. While I grew up a Joshua Tree fan, I believe that Achtung Baby is U2's best album through-and-through. Each track is un-skippable,  but just remember — this is my list. You reading this is unlikely to agree with me on every selection. This is what my gut says.

The song rankings

“Love is Blindness”

This has always been my least favorite track from Achtung Baby. The Sphere shows gave me a new appreciation and love for The Edge's haunting guitar solo. It's got a gothic energy that U2 rarely taps into. Still, out of the tracks on the album, it just doesn't hit the heights of the other 11 tracks.

“Until the End of the World”

It already gets significantly harder. Any song that's chosen as “second-worst” sounds bad, but I honestly adore all of these songs. Hot take, but I'm not in love with the album version of “Until the End of the World.” In a live setting, it's a show-stopper, but I'll always favor an “iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE” tour live rendition over the studio version.

“Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World”

Another case of a song I fell back in love with during the Sphere shows, “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World” has a classic Adam Clayton groovy bass line. It's under-appreciated and hearing U2 play it at the Sphere was a treat. Though, the swing bit is an odd replacement for the champagne bit from the “ZooTV” tour.

“Even Better Than the Real Thing” 

I thought that the arrangement U2 had played of “Even Better Than the Real Thing” since around 2011 or so was great. But the Sphere, where U2 broke out the Achtung Baby arrangement, was even better (pun intended).

“Acrobat” 

Lyrically, this is one of Bono's best works. Talking about hypocrisy and moral compromise is another one of U2's most haunting songs. The Edge really put his best foot forward when it came to solos, as “Acrobat's” is one of his best ever. It's a shame that the band didn't attempt it live until 2018, but it was worth the hype.

“Zoo Station”

If you were a U2 fan in the 80s, it's easy to see why Achtung Baby was a harsh adjustment. The sharp, distorted guitar opens the song and introduces you to the new U2. Hearing it makes it nearly impossible to not move like Bono during the “ZooTV” tours.

“Mysterious Ways”

This is where it gets pretty easy. The top six are pretty set in stone for my money. “Mysterious Ways” is an iconic song that nearly any non-U2 fan knows. Adam Clayton once again drives the song, with The Edge's signature wah-wah guitar riff in tow. There's something seriously wrong if “Mysterious Ways” can't get you to move (or at least tap your foot).

“Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” 

Right up there with “With or Without You,” “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” is one of the best U2 twisted love songs. The song's middle eight that begins with “I remember when we could sleep on stones” is sublime. Live performances never disappoint, as Bono delivers an impassioned rendition every time. But it's not the last twisted love song on this list…

“So Cruel”

Just like “Ultraviolet (Light My Way),” “So Cruel” is far from a straightforward love song. It's more of a heartbreak song, if anything, as Bono contemplates the difference between love and lust. It's the kind of love that's one-sided, not mutual. Vocally, it's also one of Bono's best performances — using his newly-found falsetto in the choruses.

“The Fly”

“It's no secret” that “The Fly” is one of the best U2 songs ever. Again, The Edge is the MVP, with his solo here being up there with the likes of “Bullet the Blue Sky,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and other Achtung Baby tracks. The guitar does sound like a nagging bug in your ear, as Bono spews out aphorisms. The code-breaking effects used at the Sphere were as suffocating as the guitar's effects.

“One”

Perhaps “One” is the greatest U2 song ever. But it's not my favorite from the album. While “One” can be used as an anthem to rally any group of people together, it was written as an anthem to bring U2 back together. The band was falling apart in Hansa Studios in Berlin during the Achtung Baby recording sessions. “One” was the song they needed to hear, and that the world does on a daily basis.

“So, we wrote this in Germany after the [Berlin] Wall came down. And 30 years later, we're singing it as walls are going up… ‘One,'” Bono introduced the song during their 2017 Abbey Road show. This line proves the timelessness of the song. It's just as timely now as it was 30 years ago. A true classic.

“Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses”

The first U2 song I was introduced to was “Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.” I was hooked. There's a vulnerability to Bono's voice when he shrieks, “Come on now, love — don't you look back!” at the end. Taylor Swift might write the quintessential breakup songs for this generation, Bono wrote the quintessential breakup song from the 90s.

It's a shame that U2 didn't come around to the song until recent years. While it was the final single from Achtung Baby, the band hardly played it live on the “ZooTV” and following tours. 2018-onward has seen a revival of sorts for the song. And even the Songs of Surrender version is great.