"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine Rolling Stone. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in a special issue of the magazine, issue number 963, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[1] In 2010, Rolling Stone published a revised edition, drawing on the original and a later survey of songs released up until the early 2000s.[2]

Another updated edition of the list was published in 2021, with more than half the entries not having appeared on either of the two previous editions; it was based on a new survey and does not factor in the surveys that were conducted for the previous lists. The 2021 list was based on a poll of more than 250 artists, musicians, producers, critics, journalists, and industry figures. They each sent in a ranked list of their top 50 songs, and Rolling Stone tabulated the results.[3]

Top 10 songs

2004
RankArtistSongYear
1Bob Dylan"Like A Rolling Stone" 1965
2The Rolling Stones"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" 1965
3John Lennon"Imagine" 1971
4Marvin Gaye"What's Going On" 1971
5Aretha Franklin"Respect" 1967
6The Beach Boys"Good Vibrations" 1966
7Chuck Berry"Johnny B. Goode" 1958
8The Beatles"Hey Jude" 1968
9Nirvana"Smells Like Teen Spirit" 1991
10Ray Charles"What'd I Say" 1959
2021
RankArtistSongYear
1Aretha Franklin"Respect" 1967
2Public Enemy"Fight the Power" 1989
3 Sam Cooke"A Change Is Gonna Come" 1964
4 Bob Dylan"Like a Rolling Stone" 1965
5 Nirvana"Smells Like Teen Spirit" 1991
6 Marvin Gaye"What's Going On" 1971
7 The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” 1967
8 Missy Elliott"Get Ur Freak On" 2001
9 Fleetwood Mac"Dreams" 1977
10 Outkast"Hey Ya!" 2003

Statistics

2004 list

DecadeSongsPercentage
1940s10.2%
1950s7214%
1960s20341%
1970s14228%
1980s5711%
1990s224.4%
2000s30.6%

2010 list

In May 2010, Rolling Stone compiled an update, published in a special issue and in digital form for the iPod and iPad. The list differs from the 2004 version, with 26 songs added, all of which are songs from the 2000s except "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G., released in 1994. The top 25 remained unchanged, but many songs down the list were given different rankings as a result of the inclusion of new songs, causing consecutive shifts among the songs listed in 2004. The highest-ranked new entry was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" (number 100).

The number of songs from each decade in the updated version is as follows:

DecadeSongsPercentage
1940s10.2%
1950s6814%
1960s19639%
1970s13126%
1980s5511%
1990s224.4%
2000s275.4%

2021 list

DecadeSongsPercentage
1930s30.4%
1940s40.2%
1950s245%
1960s10822%
1970s14429%
1980s8016%
1990s7014%
2000s388%
2010s306%
2020s30.6%

Artists with multiple songs (2021 edition)

12 songs

7 songs

6 songs

5 songs

4 songs

3 songs

2 songs

See also

References

  1. "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2004-12-09. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  2. "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2010-05-28. Archived from the original on 2011-05-30. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  3. "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  4. "Pete Seeger – American Favorite Ballads" (PDF). Volume 2, pp. 11–12. Smithsonian Folkways. 2009. pp. 27–28. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
  5. Palmer, Robert (1993). Blues Masters Volume 8: Mississippi Delta Blues. Rhino Records. p. 8. R2 71130.
    1. 1 #14 #59 #68 #107 #187 #192 #206 #232 #260 #340 #373 #413
  6. "Sex and drugs and Rock'n'roll: Analysing the lyrics of the Rolling Stone 500 greatest songs of all time". 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
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