| 100% | LEANONME | 8 | Bill Withers hit that begins, "Sometimes in our lives / We all have pain" |
| 90% | LEANONME | 8 | Bill Withers hit song that begins, "Sometimes in our lives we all have pain / We all have sorrow" (3 wds.) |
| 82% | LEAN | 4 | With 51-Across, Bill Withers hit song that begins, "Sometimes in our lives / We all have pain" |
| 40% | SADSONGS | 8 | Elton John hit that begins "Guess there are times when we all need to share a little pain" |
| 33% | DIDNT | 5 | "___ We Almost Have It All," number-one hit by Whitney Houston that received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year in 1988 |
| 33% | LEAR | 4 | "Know that we have divided in three our kingdom" speaker |
| 32% | BTS | 3 | South Korean group that has had six #1 hits in the US |
| 30% | ABOVE | 5 | ___ & Beyond, an EDM group that has hit songs like "Sun & Moon" and "We're All We Need" |
| 30% | GOINGGOINGGONE | 14 | 2022 Luke Combs No. 1 country hit that begins, "Some things in life are meant to fly / And others, they were born to run" (3 wds.) |
| 29% | JUMPAROUND | 10 | House of Pain hit that begins "Pack it up, pack it in," and a description of each set of circled letters |
| 28% | EXS | 3 | All My ___ Live in Texas (country hit) |
| 28% | ANT | 3 | Lives in a colony that has a queen |
| 27% | RATS | 4 | Rodents that sometimes live in attics |
| 27% | LOLA | 4 | 1970 Kinks hit that begins "I met her in a club down in old Soho" |
| 27% | HOMEWARDBOUND | 13 | 1966 Simon & Garfunkel hit that begins "I'm sittin' in the railway station ...": 2 wds. |
| 27% | LOVELY | 6 | "___ Day," 1977 hit by Bill Withers that was featured in "127 Hours" |
| 27% | HEATHROW | 8 | London airport that began life in 1929 as the Great West Aerodrome |
| 27% | BELLYACHE | 9 | Hit song by 30-Across that begins "Sittin' all alone / Mouth full of gum / In the driveway" |
| 27% | ANTIHERO | 8 | Taylor Swift hit that begins, "I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser" |
| 26% | VERBS | 5 | What Bill Withers, Tyra Banks and Britney Spears's names have in common |
| 26% | HEARTLESS | 9 | 2019 The Weeknd hit that was his fourth #1 single in the US |
| 26% | AREA | 4 | ___ code (three digits that begin a phone number in the US or Canada) |
| 26% | TOUCHE | 6 | In fencing, an acknowledgement that a scoring hit has been made |
| 26% | EMU | 3 | Bird that lives in all Australian states except Tasmania |
| 26% | ACHE | 4 | "The __ for home lives in all of us": Angelou |
| 26% | OAK | 3 | Wood that all US bourbon must be aged in |
| 26% | CXI | 3 | Year that in Arabic numerals has all repeated digits |
| 26% | KISSME | 6 | Sixpence None the Richer hit in She's All That |
| 26% | NONE | 4 | Number of US presidents that have been born in Maine |
| 26% | STYX | 4 | Band that had a #1 hit in 1979 with "Babe" |