Naya Rivera Remembered: Top 10 Glee Performances Worth Revisiting

As fans across the world grapple with the loss of Naya Rivera — the 33-year-old actress was confirmed dead on Monday after a multi-day investigation into her disappearance — TVLine is reflecting on the music she left behind.

Though she played nearly two dozen roles throughout her career, Rivera will be remembered most for her iconic portrayal of Glee's Santana Lopez, an unapologetic powerhouse with a voice even bigger than her heart. From high-energy Tina Turner numbers to heartbreaking power ballads, Rivera elevated every song she was tasked with performing.

She also had a knack for putting her own stamp on familiar songs, giving the originals a run for their money. (Few would dare to do what she did with a timeless classic like "Don't Rain on My Parade," and even fewer could actually pull it off.)

As a tribute to all that Rivera gave us during her time on Glee, TVLine has compiled 10 of Santana's top performances from the show's run. Though by no means the only Santana songs worth revisiting, they're certainly a good place to start.

(For the record, we excluded that performance — you know the one — from Glee's Cory Monteith tribute episode. Some things are just too difficult to revisit.)

Scroll down to relive 10 of Santana's biggest moments, then drop a comment with your picks. Which of Rivera's performances will you always remember? 

A talent as big as Rivera's belongs under a spotlight, and Glee did just that by casting Santana as Anita in Lima High School's production of West Side Story. (She later returned to play Rizzo in Grease, resulting in a performance of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" that's also worth a rewatch.)

With absolutely no respect to Jesse St. James, we completely disagree with his assessment that Santana's performance of this Amy Winehouse ballad lacked emotional depth. (Rivera's take on Cilla Black's "Alfie" is also similarly, criminally underrated.)

It would have been enough to simply tell Rachel that her new boyfriend was secretly a gigolo, but what fun would that have been? Santana used this Paula Abdul jam to make Brody sweat a little first, giving Rivera a chance to remind everyone of her triple-threat status in the process.

Our jaws were on the floor — as was Rachel's, albeit for very different reasons — when Santana sauntered into that Broadway theater, commanding the director's attention with her unconventional, undeniable take on this Funny Girl anthem.

Santana's relationship with Dani may have been short-lived, but at least it gave us this memorable duet. There's something so sweet and simple about the way Rivera and Demi Lovato's voices blend together in this feel-good Beatles tune.

The idea of Santana breaking up with Brittany was difficult enough for fans to accept — and that was before Glee paired it with this devastating performance. Taylor Swift may have written the words, but Rivera provided the raw emotion, wrecking every last Gleek in the process.

Rivera has never met a Tina Turner jam she couldn't absolutely destroy, beginning with Santana and Mercedes' high-energy duet of "River Deep, Mountain High." (For another one of Rivera and Amber Riley's impressive team-ups, be sure to check out "The Boy Is Mine." And for a second example of Rivera crushing Turner, might we suggest "Nutbush City Limits"?)

As demonstrated numerous times already on this list, Rivera was the queen of taking iconic songs and making them her own. So how could we possibly overlook this chilling duet between Rivera and Grant Gustin (aka Sebastian), a confrontational remix of a Michael Jackson classic?

Santana's deepest feelings for Brittany were often expressed in song, beginning with Rivera's stunning Fleetwood Mac performance — one of countless emotional moments shared by "Brittana" throughout the series' run.

Our list may not be ranked, but we're certainly ending on a high note. This sectionals performance finally gave Santana a chance to shine in front of an audience, and she wasn't about to squander the opportunity. In fact, "Valerie" became so closely associated with Rivera's character that Santana performed it again — this time as a duet with Brittany — in the show's 100th episode.