Wednesday, January 17, 2024

The Top Songs of All Time

Dave’s Music Database – Songs:

The Top 1 and 2%

This is the granddaddy of song lists. It has been created by aggregating hundreds of best-of song lists alongside chart figures, radio and video airplay, sales data, and various honors and awards. While individual lists have idiosyncrasies because of the publiciations or institutions behind them, this list aims to represent as many genres and eras as possible in the history of recorded music.

To call this “the top songs of all time” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s primarily a list of the top songs in the history of recorded music: from 1890 to the present. Still, that’s a much wider swath than most supposedly “best of all time” lists cover.

Songs are listed in chronological order; dates in parentheses are for the song’s first chart appearance unless noted otherwise. Click on a song title to see its DMDB page with more details such as general information about the song, videos, lyrics, links to buy songs, chart stats, sales figures, and awards.

Note: this was originally a top 1000 list, but has been expanded to two categories – the top 1% and top 2% – each with more than 1000 songs. Originally these were listed as two separate posts, but now they’ve been consolidated into one page. Each year from 1890 to present has been listed with the top 1% songs first and then the top 2% songs after that. Prior to 1890 and the pre-recorded music era, songs are listed by songwriters (m=music, w=words) and publishing years.

Quick Links:

You can navigate quickly to different points on this list by clicking on any of the below:

Pre- 1800

1800-1889

1890-1899

1900-1909

1910-1919

1920-1929

1930-1939

1940-1949

1950-1959

1960-1969

1970-1979

1980-1989

1990-1999

2000-2009

2010-2019

2020-2029

Pre-1800


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • writer(s) unknown “Greensleeves” (1580)
  • anonymous “A Froggie Went A-Courtin’” (1700)
  • Thomas D'Urfey (m), Frederick Thomas Nettingham (w) “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (1706)
  • writer(s) unknown “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” (1709)
  • writer(s) unknown “Baa Baa Black Sheep” (1744)
  • writer(s) unknown “London Bridge is Falling Down” (1744)
  • Dr. Richard Schukburgh (w), traditional (m) “Yankee Doodle” (aka “Yankee Doodle Went to Town”) (1754)
  • traditional “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” (1760)
  • Charles Bradlee (w), unknown (m) “The Alphabet Song” (1761)
  • Augustus Montague Toplady (w), Thomas Hastings (m) “Rock of Ages” (1763)
  • John Dickinson (w), William Boyce (m) “The Liberty Song (In Freedom We’re Born)” (1768)
  • unknown “Frère Jacques (Are You Sleeping?)” (1780)
  • Frederic Austin, traditional “Twelve Days of Christmas” (1780)

1800-1889


Top 1%

  • Jane Taylor (w), unknown (m) “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (1806)
  • Francis Scott Key (w), John Stafford Smith (m) “The Star-Spangled Banner” (1814)
  • Joseph Mohr (w), Franz Gruber (m), John Freeman Young (English translation) “Silent Night, Holy Night (Stille Nacht, Heilge Nacht)” (12/24/1818)
  • Franz Schubert (m), Walter Scott (w) “Ave Maria” (1825), Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Gounod (m) “Ave Maria” (1859)
  • Davies Gilbert “The First Noel” (1823)
  • Samuel Francis Smith (w), traditional (m) “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” (1831)
  • Stephen Foster (m/w) “Oh! Susanna” (1847)
  • Adolphe Adam and John Sullivan Dwight (composers) “O Holy Night (Minuit, Chrétiens)” (1847)
  • Stephen Foster (m/w) “Camptown Races (Gwine to Run All Night)” (1850)
  • Felix Mendelssohn (m), Charles Wesley (w) “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (1855)
  • James S. Pierpont (m/w) “Jingle Bells” (1857)
  • Daniel Decatur Emmett (m/w) “Dixie” (1859)
  • Julia Ward Howe (w) and William Steffe (m) “The Battle Hymn of the Republic (aka ‘Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!’)” (1861)
  • Louis Lambert as Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (m/w) “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” (1863)
  • Wallace Willis, Henry Thacker Burleigh (arranged by) “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (1872)
  • Dr. Brewster M. Higley (w), Daniel E. Kelly (m) “Home on the Range” (1873)
  • traditional “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” (1881)
  • James Ramsey Murray (m) and Charles H. Gabriel (w) “Away in a Manger” (1882)

Top 2%

  • James Sanderson (m), Albert Gamse (w) “Hail to the Chief” (1810)
  • writer(s) unknown “Au Clair de la Lune” (1811)
  • John Howard Payne (w), Sir Henry Rowley Bishop (m) “Home Sweet Home” (1823)
  • Gioacchino Rossini “William Tell Overture” (1829)
  • Lowell Mason (m), Sarah Josepha Hale (w) “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (1830)
  • Carl Sandburg “Skip to My Lou” (1832)
  • traditional “On Top of Old Smoky” (1841)
  • traditional “This Old Man (Nick Nack Paddiwak)” (1841)
  • Thomas Haynes Bayly (m/w) “Long Long Ago” (1843)
  • Daniel Decatur Emmett “Old Dan Tucker” (1843)
  • Daniel Decatur Emmett “Polly Wolly Doodle (All the Day)” (1843)
  • Cool White (w) “Buffalo Gals Will You Come Out Tonight” (1844)
  • unknown (w/m) “Vive la Compagnie (Vive l’Amour)” (1844)
  • Edwin Pearce Christy “Goodnight Ladies” (1847)
  • traditional “Jimmy Crack Corn (The Blue Tail Fly)” (1848)
  • Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears (w) and Richard Storrs Willis (m) “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” (1850)
  • Stephen Foster (m/w) “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)” (1851)
  • John Mason Neale (w), traditional (m) “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (1851)
  • Eugene Raymond (adapted) “Pop Goes the Weasel” (1852)
  • Eliphalet Oram Lyte “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (1852)
  • Stephen Foster (m/w) “My Old Kentucky Home” (1853)
  • John Kelly, later adapted by Don George “The Yellow Rose of Texas” (1853)
  • Stephen Foster (m/w) “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” (1854)
  • Richard Milburn (m), Septimus Winner as Alice Hawthorne (w) “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)” (1856)
  • John Henry Hopkins Jr. (m/w) “We Three Kings of Orient Are” (1857)
  • Felix Mendelssohn (composer) “Wedding March from Midsummer’s Night Dream” (1858)
  • John Mason Neale (w) “Good King Wenceslas” (1860)
  • George F. Root (composer) “The Battle Cry of Freedom” (1862)
  • Percy Montrose “Clementine” (1863)
  • Septimus Winner (m/w) “O Where, O Where Has My Little Dog Gone” (1864)
  • Stephen Foster (m/w) “Beautiful Dreamer” (1864)
  • Robert Lowry (composer) “Shall We Gather at the River?” (aka “Beautiful River” and “Hanson Place”) (1864)
  • William Chatterton Dix (w), “Greensleeves” (m) “What Child Is This?” (1865)
  • John Wesley Work (composer) “Go Tell It on the Mountain” (1865)
  • traditional “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” (1867)
  • Lewis Redner (m), Phillips Brooks (w) “O Little Town of Bethlehem” (1868)
  • Johannes Brahms (composer) “Brahms’ Lullaby (Wiegenleid) (aka “Cradle Song”) (1868)
  • George Leybourne & Alfred Lee “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” (1868)
  • Sanford F. Bennett (w), Joseph Philbrick Webster (m) “In the Sweet By-and-By” (1868)
  • Billy Reeves (w), Frank Campbell (m), and Rollin Howard (arranger) “Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me” (1869)
  • Joseph Eastburn Winner as R.A. Eastburn (m/w) “The Little Brown Jug” (1869)
  • traditional “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” (1870)
  • Sabine Baring-Gould (w) and Sir Arthur Sullivan (m) “Onward Christian Soldiers” (1871)
  • Thomas P. Westendorf (m/w) “I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” (1875)
  • Hartius Bonar (w), Charles Crozat Converse (m) (1876)
  • Henry C. Work (m/w) “Grandfather’s Clock” (1876)
  • Euphemia Allen as Arthur de Lulli “Chopsticks” (1877)
  • traditional “Alouette” (1879)
  • Luiji Denza (m) “Funicili Funicula” (1880)
  • Charles E. Pratt “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” (1881)
  • Effie I. Canning (m/w) “Rock-a-Bye Baby” (1884)
  • Carl Boberg (w) “How Great Thou Art” (1885)


1890


Top 1%

  • none

Top 2%

  • U.S. Marine Band “Semper Fidelis” (8/2/1890)
  • U.S. Marine Band “The Washington Post March” (9/13/1890)
  • U.S. Marine Band “The Thunderer” (10/25/1890)

1891


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • George Washington Johnson “The Laughing Song” (4/4/1891)
  • George J. Gaskin “Drill, Ye Terriers, Drill” (12/5/1891)

1892


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Manhansett Quartett “Sally in Our Alley” (5/7/1892)
  • Gilmore’s Band “The Star-Spangled Banner” (7/2/1892)
  • Thomas Bott “Love’s Old Sweet Song” (12/13/1892)
  • Dan Quinn “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow Wow” (12/31/1892)

1893


Top 1%

  • George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” (4/29/1893)
  • Dan Quinn “Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)” (9/16/1893)
  • Patty S. Hill & Mildred J. Hill (songwriters) “Happy Birthday to You” (1893)

Top 2%

  • George J. Gaskin “Oh Promise Me” (3/4/1893)
  • John Yorke Atlee “After the Ball” (7/8/1893)
  • Jules Levy “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” (7/8/1893)
  • George J. Gaskin “The Fatal Wedding” (11/18/1893)

1894


Top 1%

  • Vess Ossman “Yankee Doodle” (6/2/1894)

Top 2%

  • United States Marine Band “The Liberty Bell” (3/10/1894)
  • Edward M. Favor “Say Au Revoir, But Not Goodbye” (4/14/1894)
  • Silas Leachman “Dem Golden Slippers” (6/30/1894)

1895


Top 1%

  • Dan Quinn “The Sidewalks of New York” (2/8/1895)
  • Dan Quinn “The Band Played On” (8/24/1895)
  • Katherine Lee Bates (m) & Samuel A. Ward (w) “America the Beautiful” (1895)

Top 2%

  • John Philip Sousa’s Band “El Capitan March” (1/15/1895)
  • George J. Gaskin “The Sidewalks of New York” (3/2/1895)
  • J.W. Myers “The Sidewalks of New York” (4/13/1895)

1896


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • George J. Gaskin “The Sunshine of Paradise Alley” (1/4/1896)
  • James M. Black & Katharine E. Purvis (composers) “When the Saints Go Marching In” (1896)

1897


Top 1%

  • John Philip Sousa “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (7/3/1897)
  • George J. Gaskin “On the Banks of the Wabash” (11/6/1897)

Top 2%

  • Goerge J. Gaskin “A Hot Time in the Old Time” (1/2/1897)
  • Len Spencer “A Hot Time in the Old Town” (1/23/1897)
  • Len Spencer “My Gal Is a High-Born Lady” (2/20/1897)
  • George J. Gaskin “Sweet Rosie O’Grady” (4/10/1897)
  • J. W. Myers “Goodbye Dolly Gray” (6/5/1897)

1898


Top 1%

  • Edison Male Quartet “My Old Kentucky Home” (1/22/1898)
  • Dan Quinn “At a Georgia Camp Meeting” (11/5/1898)

Top 2%

  • Steve Porter “On the Banks of the Wabash” (1/8/1898)
  • George J. Gaskin “My Old New Hampshire Home” (12/3/1898)

1899


Top 1%

  • Arthur Collins “Hello Ma Baby” (4/15/1899)
  • George J. Gaskin “My Wild Irish Rose” (5/6/1899)
  • Scott Joplin “Maple Leaf Rag” (published 8/10/1899)

Top 2%

  • Len Spencer “Hello Ma Baby” (4/29/1899)
  • Albert Campbell “My Wild Irish Rose” (6/17/1899)
  • Arthur Collins “I’d Leave My Happy Home for You” (12/2/1899)


1900


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Arthur Collins “Mandy Lee” (2/3/1900)
  • Arthur Collins “Ma Tiger Lily” (8/4/1900)
  • Albert Campbell “Ma Blushin’ Rosie” (12/29/1900)

1901


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Big Four Quartet “Goodbye Dolly Gray” (3/30/1901)
  • Harry MacDonough “The Tale of a Bumble Bee” (10/5/1901)
  • Harry MacDonough “Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder” (10/12/1901)
  • Will Denny “Any Old Place I Hang My Hat Is ‘Home Sweet Home’” (12/14/1901)

1902


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Bert Williams with George Walker “Good Morning, Carrie” (1/4/1902)
  • J.W. Myers “Way Down in Old Indiana” (5/17/1902)
  • Harry MacDonough “The Mansion of Aching Hearts” (9/13/1902)
  • J.W. Myers “In the Good Old Summertime” (10/25/1902)

1903


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Mina Hickman “Come Down, Ma Evening Star” (1/17/1903)
  • Sousa’s Band with Harry MacDonough & S.H. Dudley “In the Good Old Summertime” (3/28/1903)
  • Harry MacDonough with John Bieling “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” (4/25/1903)
  • Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Hurrah for Baffin’s Bay” (4/25/1903)
  • Arthur Collins “Goodbye Eliza Jane” (10/31/1903)
  • Byron G. Harlan “Always in the Way” (11/14/1903)
  • Arthur Collins “Any Rags?” (12/5/1903)
  • George Alexander “Mighty Like a Rose (aka "Mighty Lak a Rose")” (12/19/1903)

1904


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Billy Murray “Under the Anheuser Busch” (2/20/1904)
  • Billy Murray “Navajo” (3/12/1904)
  • Bryon G. Harlan with Frank Stanley “Blue Bell” (5/14/1904)
  • Frank Stanley with Corinne Morgan “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)” (8/27/1904)
  • Billy Murray “Alexander (Don’t You Love Your Baby No More?)” (9/10/1904)

1905


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Billy Murray “Come Take a Trip in My Airship” (1/4/1905)
  • Haydn Quartet “Grandfather’s Clock” (10/28/1905)
  • Billy Murray “Everybody Works But Father” (12/23/1905)

1906


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Corinne Morgan with Haydn Quartet “How’d You Like to Spoon with Me?” (1/6/1906)
  • Corinne Morgan “So Long Mary” (4/14/1906)
  • Henry Burr “Love Me and the World Is Mine” (8/30/1906)
  • Bryon G. Harlan “The Good Old U.S.A.” (9/15/1906)

1907


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Bert Williams “He’s a Cousin of Mine” (1/19/1907)
  • Ada Jones “I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave” (4/6/1907)
  • Haydn Quartet with Harry MacDonough “My Wild Irish Rose” (8/3/1907)
  • Enrico Caruso “Pagliacci, Act I: Vesti La Giubba (On with the Play) (LEONCAVALLO)” (8/10/1907)
  • Frank Stanley & Henry Burr “Red Wing (An Indian Fable)” (9/7/1907)
  • Harry Lauder “I Love a Lassie (My Scotch Bluebell)” (11/9/1907)
  • Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Let’s Take an Old-Fashioned Walk” (11/9/1907)

1908


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Billy Murray “Under Any Old Flag at All” (2/1/1908)
  • Alan Turner “As Long As the World Rolls On” (2/8/1908)
  • Elise Stevenson “Are You Sincere?” (7/11/1908)
  • Ada Jones & Billy Murray “When We Are M-A-R-R-I-E-D” (8/1/1908)
  • Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine” (9/12/1908)
  • Edward Meeker “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (10/17/1908)
  • Haydn Quartet “Sunbonnet Sue” (10/31/1908)
  • Harvey Hindermeyer “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (11/21/1908)

1909


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Frank Stanley & Elise Stevenson “Good Evening, Caroline” (1/2/1909)
  • Arthur Collins with Bryon G. Harlan “The Right Church But the Wrong Pew” (2/6/1909)
  • Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Shine on, Harvest Moon” (5/15/1909)
  • Ada Jones & the Victor Light Orchestra Co. “The Yama Yama Man” (7/31/1909)
  • Ada Jones “I’ve Got Rings on My Fingers” (11/6/1909)  


1910


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Harry MacDonough “Where the River Shannon Flows” (2/12/1910)
  • Harry MacDonough & Lucy Isabelle Marsh “Every Little Movement” (9/3/1910)
  • Henry Burr “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland” (11/12/1910)
  • Bert Williams “Play That Barber-Shop Chord” (12/24/1910)

1911


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Under the Yum Yum Tree” (2/4/1911)
  • John McCormack “Mother Machree” (2/11/1911)
  • John McCormack “I’m Falling in Love with Someone” (6/3/1911)
  • Cecil Fanning “A Perfect Day” (9/16/1911)
  • Arthur Clough & Brunswick Quartet “Down by the Old Mill Stream” (10/28/1911)
  • Billy Murray “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (11/11/1911)
  • Billy Murray “Camptown Races (Gwine to Run All Night” (11/11/1911)

1912


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Everybody’s Doing It Now” (2/3/1912)
  • Al Jolson “That Haunting Melody” (3/16/1912)
  • Henry Burr & Albert Campbell “When I Was Twenty-One and You Were Sweet Sixteen” (511/1912)
  • Al Jolson & Walter B. Rogers Orchestra “Ragging the Baby to Sleep” (7/6/1912)

1913


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Ada Jones “Row Row Row!” (1/4/1913)
  • Al Jolson “The Spaniard That Blighted My Life” (5/24/1913)
  • Henry Burr “Last Night Was the End of the World” (8/16/1913)
  • Charles Harrison “Peg O’ My Heart” (11/8/1913)

1914


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “I’m on My Way to Mandalay” (2/14/1914)
  • American Quartet “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (3/21/1914)
  • Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “I Love the Ladies” (5/16/1914)
  • Peerless Quartet “If I Had My Way I’d Live Among the Gypsies” (5/23/1914)
  • Joe Hayman “Cohen on the Telephone” (8/8/1914)
  • American Quartet “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (11/28/1914)
  • American Quartet “When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose” (12/26/1914)

1915


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • American Quartet “Chinatown, My Chinatown” (2/20/1915)
  • Alice Nielsen “Home Sweet Home” (7/3/1915)
  • Olive Kline (as Alice Green) & Edward Hamilton “Hello Frisco!” (9/8/1915)
  • James Harrison & James Reed “There’s a Long, Long Trail” (12/18/1915)
  • James F. Harrison (as Frederick J. Wheeler) “Keep the Home Fires Burning” (12/18/1915)

1916


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • John McCormack “Somewhere a Voice Is Calling” (1/22/1916)
  • Billy Murray “I Love a Piano” (4/8/1916)
  • Prince’s Orchestra “Hello Hawaii, How Are You?” (4/8/1916)
  • Henry Burr “Goodbye, Good Luck, God Bless You (Is All That I Can Say)” (6/10/1916)
  • Henry Burr & Albert Campbell “There’s a Quaker Down in Quaker Town” (7/22/1916)
  • Billy Murray & Edna Brown “Play a Simple Melody” (8/19/1916)
  • Marguerite Farrell “If I Knock the ‘L’ Out of Kelly, It Would Still Be Kelly to Me” (9/23/1916)
  • Charles Harrison “Ireland Must Be Heaven for My Mother Came from There” (10/21/1916)
  • Walter Van Brunt “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” (12/9/1916)

1917


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Van & Schenck “For Me and My Gal” (5/26/1917)
  • American Quartet “Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!” (6/23/1917)
  • American Quartet “Goodbye Broadway, Hello France!” (9/26/1917)
  • Peerless Quartet “Over There” (10/13/1917)
  • Nora Bayes with Joseph Pasternach’s Orchestra “Over There” (11/3/1917)

1918


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Irving Kaufman & the Columbia Quartet “Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here” (3/2/1918)
  • Al Jolson with Prince’s Orchestra “I'm All Bound Round with the Mason Dixon Line” (3/23/1918)
  • Arthur Collins with Bryon G. Harlan “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” (3/30/1918)
  • Billy Murray “K-K-K-Katy (The Stammering Song)” (6/1/1918)
  • Henry Burr “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry” (6/15/1918)
  • Al Jolson & Charles Prince’s Orchestra “Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land” (7/13/1918)

1919


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Arthur Fields “Ja Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing Jing Jing)” (3/8/1919)
  • Al Jolson “I’ll Say She Does” (8/9/1919)
  • Van & Schenck “Mandy” (12/6/1919)  


1920


Top 1%

  • Ben Selvin “Dardanella” (1/24/1920)
  • Al Jolson “Swanee” (5/8/1920)
  • Ted Lewis “When My Baby Smiles at Me” (5/29/1920)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Whispering” (10/30/1920)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “The Japanese Sandman” (11/13/1920)
  • Charles Harrison “I’ll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time” (11/13/1920)
  • Al Jolson & Charles Prince’s Orchestra “Avalon” (11/27/1920)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Wang-Wang Blues” (12/4/1920)
  • Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds “Crazy Blues” (12/11/1920)

Top 2%

  • Elizabeth Spencer & Charles Hart “Let the Rest of the World Go By” (2/28/1920)
  • Edith Day “Alice Blue Gown” (4/17/1920)
  • John Steel “The Love Nest” (8/21/1920)
  • Marion Harris “St. Louis Blues” (8/28/1920)

1921


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • U.S. Naval Academy Band “Anchors Aweigh” (2/26/1921)
  • Marion Harris “I Ain’t Got Nobody” (6/4/1921)
  • Paul Whiteman “Song of India” (8/27/1921)
  • Vernon Dalhart “Tuck Me to Sleep in My Old ‘Tucky Home” (12/10/1921)

1922


Top 1%

  • Al Jolson “April Showers” (1/28/1922)
  • Fanny Brice “My Man (Mon Homme)” (2/11/1922)
  • Fanny Brice “Second Hand Rose” (2/18/1922)
  • Ed Gallagher & Al Shean “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean” (10/28/1922)
  • Henry Burr “My Buddy” (11/4/1922)
  • Ben Selvin “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” (11/11/1922)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Three O’Clock in the Morning” (11/18/1922)
  • Peerless Quartet “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” (12/16/1922)
  • Al Jolson “Toot, Toot, Tootsie! (Goo’bye)” (12/23/1922)

Top 2%

  • Al Jolson & Charles Prince’s Orchestra “Angel Child” (5/6/1922)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Do It Again” (6/3/1922)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Stumbling” (7/1/1922)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Hot Lips (He’s Got Hot Lips When He Plays Jazz)” (9/2/1922)
  • Marion Harris “I’m Just Wild about Harry” (10/21/1922)
  • Isham Jones “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” (11/11/1922)
  • Lambert Murphy “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” (11/25/1922)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” (12/9/1922)

1923


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Paul Whiteman “Crinoline Days” (3/17/1923)
  • Paul Whiteman “Bambalina” (6/2/1923)
  • Isham Jones “Swingin’ Down the Lane” (8/4/1923)
  • Bessie Smith “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home” (9/1/1923)
  • Billy Murray with Ed Smalle “That Old Gang of Mine” (9/23/1923)
  • Benny Krueger “I Cried for You” (9/29/1923)

1924


Top 1%

  • Arthur Gibbs & His Gang “Charleston” (1/5/1924)
  • Al Jolson with Isham Jones Orchestra “California Here I Come” (5/3/1924)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “What’ll I Do?” (7/5/1924)
  • Isham Jones “It Had to Be You” (7/19/1924)
  • Vernon Dalhart “The Prisoner’s Song” (10/3/1924)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra /George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (10/18/1924)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Somebody Loves Me” (11/1/1924)

Top 2%

  • Ted Weems Orchestra “Somebody Stole My Gal” (2/16/1924)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra “Linger Awhile” (2/16/1924)
  • Al Jolson “I Wonder What’s Become of Sally?” (10/18/1924)
  • Vincent Lopez “I Want to Be Happy” (12/13/1924)

1925


Top 1%

  • Al Jolson “All Alone” (1/3/1925)
  • Marion Harris “Tea for Two” (1/24/1925)
  • Aileen Stanley “Everybody Loves My Baby” (2/7/1925)
  • Isham Jones with Ray Miller & Frank Bessinger “I’ll See You in My Dreams” (3/14/1925)
  • Paul Whiteman “Oh, Lady Be Good” (4/4/1925)
  • Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” (6/13/1925)
  • Ben Bernie “Sweet Georgia Brown” (6/27/1925)
  • Eddie Cantor “If You Knew Susie Like I Know Susie” (7/18/1925)
  • Gene Austin with Billy Carpenter “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” (8/1/1925)
  • Ben Selvin “Manhattan” (10/24/1925)

Top 2%

  • Cliff Edwards “Fascinating Rhythm” (4/11/1925)
  • Blossom Seeley “Alabamy Bound” (5/16/1925)
  • Fred Waring “Collegiate” (7/25/1925)
  • Isham Jones “Remember” (12/12/1925)

1926


Top 1%

  • George Olsen and His Orchestra “Who?” (1/30/1926)
  • Al Jolson “I’m Sitting on Top of the World” (3/13/1926)
  • Gene Austin with Nat Shilkret “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” (3/27/1926)
  • George Olsen “Always” (4/24/1926)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Franklyn Baur “Valencia (A Song of Spain)” (6/26/1926)
  • Gene Austin “Bye Bye, Blackbird” (7/31/1926)
  • Jan Garber with Benny Davis “Baby Face” (9/25/1926)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, & Austin Young “The Birth of the Blues” (11/20/1926)

Top 2%

  • Ben Bernie with Arthur Fields “Sleepy Time Gal” (2/20/1926)
  • “Whispering” Jack Smith “Gimme a Little Kiss (Will Ya? Huh?)” (6/26/1926)
  • Al Jolson “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along” (9/18/1926)
  • Johnny Marvin “Breezin’ Along with the Breeze” (10/9/1926)
  • Johnny Hamp “Black Bottom” (12/4/1926)

1927


Top 1%

  • Gertrude Lawrence “Someone to Watch Over Me” (2/5/1927)
  • Ben Selvin “Blue Skies” (4/9/1927)
  • Bernie with Scrappy Lambert & Billy Hillpot “Ain’t She Sweet?” Ben (4/30/1927)
  • Whisperin’ Jack Smith “Me and My Shadow” (7/16/1927)
  • Paul Whiteman with the Rhythm Boys “Side by Side” (7/30/1927)
  • Guy Lombardo with Weston Vaughan “Charmaine!” (9/10/1927)
  • Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven” (12/3/1927)

Top 2%

  • Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton “In a Little Spanish Town (T’was on a Night Like This)” (1/1/1927)
  • Gene Austin & Nat Shilkret’s Orchestra “Tonight You Belong to Me” (2/26/1927)
  • Nat Shilkret “I Know That You Know” (4/23/1927)
  • George Olsen with Bob Borger, Fran Frey, & Bob Rice “At Sundown When Love Is Calling Me Home” (5/14/1927)
  • Roger Wolfe Kahn “Sometimes I’m Happy” (7/9/1927)
  • Roger Wolfe Kahn & Henry Garden “Russian Lullaby” (7/16/1927)
  • Sophie Tucker “I Ain’t Got Nobody” (9/3/1927)
  • Hoagy Carmichael & His Pals “Stardust” (recorded 10/31/1927)
  • George Olsen with Bob Borger “The Best Things in Life Are Free” (10/29/1927)
  • Red Nichols “Ida! Sweet As Apple Cider” (11/12/1927)

1928


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, & Austin Young “Among My Souvenirs” (2/4/1928)
  • Bix Beiderbecke “In a Mist” (2/11/1928)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Jack Fulton “Together” (3/10/1928)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, & Al Rinker “My Angel (Angela Mia)” (6/30/1928)
  • Fred Waring & Tom Waring “Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life” (7/21/1928)
  • Ben Pollack with Franklyn Baur “Sweet Sue, Just You” (7/28/1928)
  • Helen Kane with Leonard Joy “I Wanna Be Loved by You” (11/17/1928)
  • Seger Ellis “When You're Smiling, the Whole World Smiles with You” (11/24/1928)
  • Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo “Sweethearts on Parade” (12/29/1928)

1929


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Irving Aaronson & His Commanders with Jack Armstrong “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love” (1/5/1929)
  • Clarence “Pine Top” Smith “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” (2/9/1929)
  • Gene Austin with Nat Shilkret “Carolina Moon” (2/9/1929)
  • Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees “Honey” (3/30/1929)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Jack Fulton “Lover, Come Back to Me” (4/13/1929)
  • Leo Reisman with Ran Weeks “With a Song in My Heart” (5/25/1929)
  • Leo Reisman & Lew Conrad “The Wedding of the Painted Doll” (525/1929)
  • Maurice Chevalier & Leonard Joy’s Orchestra “Louise” (6/8/1929)
  • Bob Haring & the Copley Plaza Orchestra “Pagan Love Song” (6/22/1929)
  • Bessie Smith & Jimmie Cox “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” (8/31/1929)
  • Paul Whiteman with Bing Crosby “Great Day” (12/14/1929)  


1930


Top 1%

  • Harry Richman “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (2/15/1930)
  • Leo Reisman & His Orchestra “What Is This Thing Called Love?” (2/15/1930)
  • Ben Selvin “Happy Days Are Here Again” (3/1/1930)
  • Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees “Stein Song (University of Maine)” (3/15/1930)
  • Ted Lewis & His Band “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (4/5/1930)
  • Don Azpiazu with Antonio Machin “The Peanut Vendor (El Manisero)” (11/8/1930)
  • Red Nichols “I Got Rhythm” (12/6/1930)

Top 2%

  • Ruth Etting “Exactly Like You” (5/3/1930)
  • Nat Shilkret & Lewis James “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” (6/21/1930)
  • McKinney’s Cotton Pickers & George Thomas “If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight” (8/16/1930)
  • Fred Waring with Clare Hanlon “Little White Lies” (8/16/1930)
  • Isham Jones “Stardust” (9/13/1930)
  • Ted Weems “My Baby Just Cares for Me” (10/4/1930)
  • Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Jack Fulton “Body and Soul” (10/11/1930)
  • Duke Ellington with the Rhythm Boys “Three Little Words” (10/18/1930)
  • Red Nichols with Dick Robertson “Embraceable You” (11/22/1930)
  • Guy Lombardo & Carmen Lombardo “You’re Driving Me Crazy! (What Did I Do?)” (11/29/1930)

1931


Top 1%

  • Duke Ellington & His Orchestra “Mood Indigo” (2/14/1931)
  • Libby Holman “Love for Sale” (2/21/1931)
  • Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher” (3/21/1931)
  • Wayne King with Ernie Birchill “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (4/4/1931)
  • Wayne King with Ernie Birchill “Goodnight, Sweetheart” (10/17/1931)

Top 2%

  • Ted Lewis “Just a Gigolo” (1/31/1931)
  • Bing Crosby with the Victor Young Orchestra “Out of Nowhere” (4/25/1931)
  • Fred Waring & Clare Hanlon “I Found a Million-Dollar Baby in a Five-and-Ten-Cent Store” (7/4/1931)
  • Gus Arnheim with Donald Novis “Sweet and Lovely” (7/25/1931)
  • Kate Smith “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain” (9/12/1931)
  • Rudy Vallee “As Time Goes By” (9/19/1931)
  • Louis Armstrong “Stardust” (12/19/1931)

1932


Top 1%

  • Bing Crosby with the Mills Brothers “Dinah” (1/9/1932)
  • Louis Armstrong “All of Me” (2/20/1932)
  • Duke Ellington “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” (2/27/1932)
  • Ted Lewis & His Band “In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town” (6/4/1932)
  • Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo “How Deep Is the Ocean?” (10/29/1932)
  • Rudy Vallee “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (11/26/1932)
  • Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Night and Day” (12/17/1932)

Top 2%

  • Bing Crosby “Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day” (1/16/1932)
  • Leo Reisman with Frances Maddux “Paradise” (1/23/1932)
  • George Olsen & Paul Small “Say It Isn’t So” (9/17/1932)
  • Bing Crosby & Anson Weeks Orchestra “Please” (10/8/1932)
  • Bing Crosby “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (11/19/1932)
  • Cab Calloway “I’ve Got the World on a String” (11/19/1932)
  • Paul Whiteman with Irene Taylor “Willow Weep for Me” (12/17/1932)

1933


Top 1%

  • Don Bestor with Dudley Mecum “Forty-Second (42nd) Street” (3/18/1933)
  • Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton “Lover” (4/22/1933)
  • Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (5/20/1933)
  • Duke Ellington & His Orchestra “Sophisticated Lady” (5/27/1933)
  • Ted Lewis “Lazy Bones” (7/15/1933)
  • George Olsen with Joe Morrison “The Last Round-Up” (7/29/1933)

Top 2%

  • Bing Crosby with Guy Lombardo’s Orchestra “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me” (2/11/1933)
  • Leo Reisman with Harold Arlen “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (3/25/1933)
  • Bing Crosby with the Jimmy Grier Orchestra “Shadow Waltz” (7/1/1933)
  • Ray Noble & Al Bowlly “Love Is the Sweetest Thing” (7/15/1933)
  • Ray Noble with Al Bowlly “The Old Spinning Wheel” (10/21/1933)
  • Leo Reisman & His Orchestra with Clifton Webb “Easter Parade” (10/28/1933)
  • Don Bestor & His Orchestra with Florence Case, Frank Sherryl, & Charles Yontz “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” (10/28/1933)
  • Bing Crosby with Lennie Hayton’s Orchestra “Home on the Range” (11/4/1933)
  • Leo Reisman with Frank Luther “Yesterdays” (11/25/1933)
  • Paul Whiteman with Bob Lawrence “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (12/9/1933)

1934


Top 1%

  • Eddy Duchin with Lew Sherwood “Let’s Fall in Love” (2/10/1934)
  • Benny Goodman “Moonglow” (6/16/1934)
  • Ray Noble Orchestra with Al Bowlly “The Very Thought of You” (7/7/1934)
  • Leo Reisman & His Orchestra “The Continental (You Kiss While You’re Dancing)” (10/6/1934)
  • Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo “Stars Fell on Alabama” (10/27/1934)
  • Guy Lombardo “Winter Wonderland” (12/1/1934)
  • Sons of the Pioneers “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” (12/15/1934)

Top 2%

  • Walter O’Keefe “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” (1/6/1934)
  • Enric Madriguera with Patricia Gillmore “The Carioca” (2/24/1934)
  • Duke Ellington & His Orchestra “Cocktails for Two” (5/5/1934)
  • Ted Fio Rito with Muzzy Marcellino “I’ll String Along with You” (5/12/1934)
  • Jan Garber & Fritz Heibron “All I Do Is Dream of You” (6/2/1934)
  • Bing Crosby & Irving Aaronson “Love in Bloom” (8/4/1934)
  • J. Fred Coots & Haven Gillespie (writers) “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (first recorded: 10/24/1934)
  • Duke Ellington “Solitude” (10/27/1934)
  • Paul Whiteman with Peggy Healy & John Hauser “You’re the Top” (11/24/1934)
  • Bing Crosby with the George Stoll Orchestra “June in January” (11/24/1934)
  • Ray Noble with Al Bowlly “Isle of Capri” (12/29/1934)

1935


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Glen Gray with Kenny Sargent “Blue Moon” (1/5/1935)
  • Glen Gray with Kenny Sargent “When I Grow Too Old to Dream” (2/9/1935)
  • Eddy Duchin & Lew Sherwood “Lovely to Look At” (3/9/1935)
  • Eddy Duchin & Lew Sherwood “I Won’t Dance” (3/9/1935)
  • Tom Coakley & Carl Ravazza “East of the Sun and the West of the Moon” (6/29/1935)
  • Fred Astaire with Johnny Greer’s Orchestra “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails” (8/10/1935)
  • Eddy Duchin with Lew Sherwood “You Are My Lucky Star” (10/12/1935)
  • Teddy Wilson “Sweet Lorraine” (10/19/1935)
  • Guy & Carmen Lombardo “Red Sails in the Sunset” (10/26/1935)
  • Richard Himber & Stuart Allen “Just One of Those Things” (11/30/1935)
  • Tommy Dorsey with Edythe Wright “The Music Goes ‘Round and ‘Round” (12/21/1935)

1936


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Tommy Dorsey with Cliff Weston “Alone” (1/11/1936)
  • Eddy Duchin with Lew Sherwood “Moon Over Miami” (1/11/1936)
  • Tommy Dorsey “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” (2/29/1936)
  • Benny Goodman with Helen Ward “Goody Goody” (2/29/1936)
  • Hal Kemp with Maxine Grey “There’s a Small Hotel” (4/18/1936)
  • Benny Goodman with Helen Ward “The Glory of Love” (5/25/1936)
  • Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly “Is It True What They Say About Dixie” (5/30/1936)
  • Thomas “Fats” Waller “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” (6/27/1936)
  • Benny Goodman “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (7/11/1936)
  • Shep Fields & Charles Chester “Did I Remember?” (8/22/1936)
  • Fred Astaire with Johnny Green & His Orchestra “A Fine Romance (A Sarcastic Love Song)” (8/29/1936)
  • Eddy Duchin with Jerry Cooper “It’s De-Lovely” (11/14/1936)

1937


Top 1%

  • Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Jack Leonard “Marie” (3/13/1937)
  • Bing Crosby with Lani McIntire & His Hawaiians “Sweet Leilani” (4/3/1937)
  • Fred Astaire with Johnny Green & His Orchestra “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (4/17/1937)
  • Hal Kemp with Bob Allen “Where or When” (5/15/1937)
  • Shep Fields with Bob Goday “That Old Feeling” (8/7/1937)
  • Count Basie “One O’Clock Jump” (9/18/1937)
  • Tommy Dorsey “Once in a While” (10/23/1937)
  • Shep Fields with Bob Goday “Thanks for the Memory” (12/25/1937)

Top 2%

  • Benny Goodman with Ella Fitzgerald “Goodnight My Love” (1/16/1937)
  • Guy Lombardo “Boo Hoo” (3/13/1937)
  • Bing Crosby with Jimmy Dorsey’s Orchestra “Too Marvelous for Words” (4/3/1937)
  • Guy & Carmen Lombardo “September in the Rain” (4/10/1937)
  • Guy Lombardo & Lebert Lombardo “It Looks Like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane” (5/15/1937)
  • Robert Johnson “Hell Hound on My Trail” (recorded 6/20/1937)
  • Duke Ellington “Caravan” (7/3/1937)
  • Fred Astaire & Ray Noble’s Orchestra “Nice Work if You Can Get It” (11/13/1937)

1938


Top 1%

  • The Andrews Sisters “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon (Means That You’re Grand)” (1/1/1938)
  • Bunny Berigan “I Can’t Get Started” (1/29/1938)
  • Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (4/9/1938)
  • Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (6/18/1938)
  • Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “My Reverie” (8/13/1938)
  • Artie Shaw & His Orchestra “Begin the Beguine” (9/3/1938)
  • Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys “Wabash Cannonball” (11/24/1938)
  • Bing Crosby “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” (12/3/1938)
  • Al Donahue with Paula Kelly “Jeepers Creepers” (12/10/1938)

Top 2%

  • Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “Love Is Here to Stay” (2/5/1938)
  • Seven Dwarfs “Whistle While You Work” (2/12/1938)
  • Horace Heidt with Lysbeth Hughes & Larry Cotton “Ti-Pi-Tin” (3/5/1938)
  • Benny Goodman “Don’t Be That Way” (3/12/1938)
  • Sammy Kaye with Tommy Ryan “Love Walked In” (3/19/1938)
  • Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey “Says My Heart” (6/4/1938)
  • Tommy Dorsey with Edythe Wright “Music, Maestro, Please!” (6/18/1938)
  • Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “You Go to My Head” (7/23/1938)
  • Bing Crosby & John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams” (8/6/1938)
  • Bing Crosby & Connee Boswell with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (8/20/1938)
  • Fred Astaire with Ray Noble’s Orchestra “Change Partners” (8/27/1938)
  • Fats Waller “Two Sleepy People” (11/12/1938)

1939


Top 1%

  • Walter Huston “September Song” (1/28/1939)
  • Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “Deep Purple” (2/4/1939)
  • Louis Armstrong “When the Saints Go Marching In” (4/1/1939)
  • Kate Smith “God Bless America” (4/8/1939)
  • The Ink Spots “If I Didn’t Care” The Ink Spots (4/15/1939)
  • Benny Goodman with Martha Tilton “And the Angels Sing” (4/22/1939)
  • Will Glahe “Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)” (5/6/1939)
  • Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” (7/22/1939)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra “Moonlight Serenade” (7/29/1939)
  • Judy Garland “Over the Rainbow” (9/9/1939)
  • Harry James with Frank Sinatra “All or Nothing at All” (recorded 9/17/1939, charted 6/19/1943)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra “In the Mood” (10/7/1939)
  • Shep Fields with Hal Derwin “South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)” (10/7/1939)
  • Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Jack Leonard “All the Things You Are” (12/16/1939)

Top 2%

  • Glen Gray “Sunrise Serenade” (4/8/1939)
  • Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt, Ginny Simms, Sully Mason, & Ish Kabibble “Three Little Fishies (Itty Bitty Poo)” (5/6/1939)
  • Woody Herman “At the Woodchoppers’ Ball” (5/13/1939)
  • Glenn Miller’s Orchestra with Ray Eberle “Wishing Will Make It So” (5/13/1939)
  • Glenn Miller’s Orchestra with Ray Eberle “Stairway to the Stars” (6/17/1939)
  • Glenn Miller’s Orchestra “The Little Brown Jug” (6/17/1939)
  • Glenn Miller’s Orchestra with Ray Eberle “Over the Rainbow” (8/19/1939)
  • Larry Clinton & Bea Wain “Over the Rainbow” (8/19/1939)
  • Frankie Masters “Scatter-Brain” (10/21/1939)
  • Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard “Indian Summer” (12/9/1939)  


1940


Top 1%

  • Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra “Body and Soul” (1/27/1940)
  • Jimmie Davis “You Are My Sunshine” (recorded 2/5/1940)
  • Cliff Edwards “When You Wish Upon a Star” (2/17/1940)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra “Tuxedo Junction” (2/24/1940)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra “Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread” (6/15/1940)
  • Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers “I’ll Never Smile Again” (6/29/1940)
  • Artie Shaw & His Orchestra “Frenesi” (7/27/1940)
  • Benny Goodman with Helen Forrest “Taking a Chance on Love” (recorded 11/29/40, charted 4/24/1943)

Top 2%

  • Benny Goodman with Mildred Bailey “Darn That Dream” (1/27/1940)
  • Glenn Miller with Marion Hutton “The Woodpecker Song” (4/6/1940)
  • Glenn Miller “Imagination” (5/11/1940)
  • Lionel Hampton “Flying Home” (5/11/1940)
  • Glenn Miller “The Nearness of You” (6/29/1940)
  • Glenn Miller “Pennsylvania 6-5000” (7/6/1940)
  • Bing Crosby “Only Forever” (9/28/1940)
  • Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “New San Antonio Rose” (11/30/1940)

1941


Top 1%

  • Artie Shaw & His Orchestra “Stardust” (1/18/1941)
  • Benny Goodman with Louise Tobin “There’ll Be Some Changes Made” (1/25/1941)
  • The Andrews Sisters “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (3/1/1941)
  • Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)” (3/15/1941)
  • Harry James with Dick Haymes “I’ll Get by As Long As I Have You” (recorded 4/7/1941, charted 4/15/1944)
  • Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes)” (5/17/1941)
  • Duke Ellington & His Orchestra“Take the ‘A’ Train” (7/26/1941)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra with Tex Beneke & the Four Modernaires “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (9/13/1941)
  • Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” (10/18/1941)
  • Woody Herman “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” (12/6/1941)

Top 2%

  • Artie Shaw & His Orchestra “Dancing in the Dark” (3/8/1941)
  • Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly “Maria Elena” (5/17/1941)
  • Sammy Kaye “Daddy” (5/24/1941)
  • Ernest Tubb “Walking the Floor Over You” (8/23/1941)
  • Horace Heidt with Larry Cotton, Donna Wood, & Don Juans “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” (9/13/1941)

1942


Top 1%

  • Glenn Miller Orchestra “A String of Pearls” (1/3/1942)
  • Judy Garland with Gene Kelly “For Me and My Gal” (1/24/1942)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra with Ray Eberle & The Modernaires “Moonlight Cocktail” (2/7/1942)
  • The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Tangerine” (3/28/1942)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra with Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, & The Modernaires “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else But Me” (4/11/1942)
  • Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt & Julie Conway “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle” (7/4/1942)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra with Tex Beneke & Marion Hutton “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” (8/1/1942)
  • Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers “White Christmas” (10/3/1942)
  • The Mills Brothers “Paper Doll” (10/24/1942)
  • Dooley Wilson “As Time Goes By” (11/26/1942)

Top 2%

  • Ray Alvino with Bill Schallen & Skeets Herfurt “Deep in the Heart of Texas” (2/14/1942)
  • Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee “Jersey Bounce” (3/28/1942)
  • Harry James “Sleepy Lagoon” (4/18/1942)
  • Kay Kyser with Glee Club “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” (10/17/1942)
  • Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers “There Are Such Things” (10/24/1942)
  • Harry James with Helen Forrest “I Had the Craziest Dream” (11/21/1942)
  • Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “Moonlight Becomes You” (12/12/1942)

1943


Top 1%

  • Harry James with Helen Forrest “I’ve Heard That Song Before” (1/16/1943)
  • Glenn Miller Orchestra with Skip Nelson “That Old Black Magic” (2/20/1943)
  • Dick Haymes with The Song Spinners “You’ll Never Know” (5/8/1943)
  • Al Dexter & His Troopers “Pistol Packin’ Mama” (6/19/1943)
  • Bing Crosby with Trudy Erwin “People Will Say We’re in Love” (6/19/1943)
  • Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers “Sunday, Monday or Always” (8/21/1943)
  • Bing Crosby with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (12/4/1943)

Top 2%

  • Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee “Why Don’t You Do Right?” (1/2/1943)
  • The Ink Spots “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (1/23/1943)
  • Dinah Shore “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” (1/23/1943)
  • Xavier Cugat “Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)” (1/23/1943)
  • The Song Spinners “Comin’ in on a Wing and a Prayer” (6/19/1943)
  • Bing Crosby with Trudy Erwin & Sportsmen Glee Club “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (10/9/1943)
  • Glen Gray with Eugenie Baird “My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart?)” (11/27/1943)
  • The Andrews Sisters “Shoo-Shoo Baby” (12/25/1943)

1944


Top 1%

  • Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly & Kitty Kallen “Bésame Mucho (Kiss Me Much)” (1/1/1944)
  • Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “I’ll Be Seeing You” (4/22/1944)
  • Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes “Long Ago and Far Away” (4/22/1944)
  • Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” (recorded 4/25/1944)
  • Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra & Williams Brothers Quartet “Swinging on a Star” (5/13/1944)
  • Judy Garland “The Trolley Song” (11/18/1944)
  • Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters “Don’t Fence Me In” (11/25/1944)
  • Judy Garland with Georgie Stoll’s Orchestra “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (12/30/1944)

Top 2%

  • The Merry Macs “Mairzy Doats” (2/5/1944)
  • Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “I Love You” (3/4/1944)
  • Nat “King” Cole “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (4/15/1944)
  • The Mills Brothers “You Always Hurt the One You Love” (6/3/1944)
  • Dinah Shore “I’ll Walk Alone” (7/8/1944)

1945


Top 1%

  • The Andrews Sisters “Rum and Coca Cola” (1/6/1945)
  • Johnny Mercer with the Pied Pipers “Ac-Cent-Tchu-ate the Positive” (1/6/1945)
  • Hal McIntyre with Ruth Gaylor “My Funny Valentine” (2/24/1945)
  • Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” (3/3/1945)
  • Vaughn Monroe Orchestra “There! I’ve Said It Again” (3/17/1945)
  • Johnny Mercer with the Pied Pipers “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” (7/14/1945)
  • Perry Como with the Russell Case Orchestra “Till the End of Time” (8/18/1945)
  • Dick Haymes “It Might As Well Be Spring” (11/17/1945)
  • Vaughn Monroe “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (12/22/1945)

Top 2%

  • Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford & the Pied Pipers “Candy” (2/24/1945)
  • The Pied Pipers with Paul Weston “Dream (When You’re Feeling Blue)” (3/10/1945)
  • Les Brown with Doris Day “My Dreams Are Getting Bigger All the Time” (3/17/1945)
  • Woody Herman “Laura” (4/14/1945)
  • Billie Holiday with Camarata’s Orchestra “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (5/5/1945)
  • Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five “Caldonia Boogie” (5/12/1945)
  • Perry Como with the Russell Case Orchestra “If I Loved You” (7/28/1945)
  • Ella Fitzgerald with the Delta Rhythm Boys “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (8/15/1945)
  • Bing Crosby with the Les Brown Trio “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” (10/13/1945)
  • Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallaro’s Orchestra “I Can’t Begin to Tell You” (10/27/1945)
  • Freddy Martin with Clyde Rogers “Symphony” (12/1/1945)

1946


Top 1%

  • Frankie Carle with Marjorie Hughes “Oh! What It Seemed to Be” (1/26/1946)
  • The Ink Spots “The Gypsy” (5/4/1946)
  • Eddy Howard “To Each His Own” (6/29/1946)
  • Louis Jordan “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” (8/17/1946)
  • Nat “King” Cole Trio “I Love You for Sentimental Reasons” (10/9/1946)
  • Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song” (11/23/1946)

Top 2%

  • Dizzy Gillespie “A Night in Tunisia” (2/22/1946)
  • Perry Como “Prisoner of Love” (3/30/1946)
  • Nat “King” Cole “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” (6/8/1946)
  • Margaret Whiting with Paul Weston’s Orchestra “Come Rain or Come Shine” (6/15/1946)
  • Frank Sinatra “Five Minutes More” (8/3/1946)
  • Kay Kyser with Michael Douglas “Ole Buttermilk Sky” (9/21/1946)
  • Ethel Merman “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (9/30/1946)
  • Sammy Kaye with Billy Williams “The Old Lamplighter” (11/2/1946)
  • James Baskett “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (movie release: 11/12/1946)
  • Tino Rossi “Petit Papa Noël” (1946)

1947


Top 1%

  • Ted Weems with Elmo Tanner “Heartaches” (3/1/1947)
  • The Harmonicats “Peg O’ My Heart” (4/26/1947)
  • Tex Williams “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette” (7/5/1947)
  • Francis Craig with Bob Lamm “Near You” (8/9/1947)
  • Vaughn Monroe Orchestra “Ballerina” (11/8/1947)
  • Thelonious Monk “Round Midnight” (recorded 11/21/1947)
  • T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” (11/30/1947)

Top 2%

  • Ray Noble with Buddy Clark “Linda” (2/15/1947)
  • Frankie Laine “That’s My Desire” (3/22/1947)
  • Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (9/22/1947)

1948


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Mahalia Jackson “Move on Up a Little Higher” (1/24/1948)
  • Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers “Now Is the Hour (Maori Farewell Song)” (1/31/1948)
  • Perry Como “Because” (3/13/1948)
  • Ken Griffin with Jerry Wayne “You Can’t Be True, Dear” (4/10/1948)
  • Kay Kyser with Gloria Wood “Woody Woodpecker” (6/5/1948)
  • Al Trace with Bob Vincent “You Call Everybody Darlin’” (6/19/1948)
  • Margaret Whiting “A Tree in the Meadow” (7/14/1948)
  • Doris Day “It’s Magic” (7/17/1948)
  • Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt and Gloria Wood “On a Slow Boat to China” (10/23/1948)
  • Evelyn Knight “A Little Bird Told Me” (11/20/1948)
  • Spike Jones & His City Slickers with George Rock “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” (11/27/48)
  • Les Brown “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” (12/25/1948)

1949


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Hank Williams “Lovesick Blues” (3/5/1949)
  • Perry Como with the Fontane Sisters and the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra “A – You’re Adorable (The Alphabet Song)” (4/9/1949)
  • Vic Damone “You’re Breaking My Heart” (6/18/1949)
  • Frank Sinatra “One for My Baby and One More for the Road” (album cut: 6/20/1949; re-recorded: 6/25/1958)
  • Margaret Whiting with Jimmy Wakely “Slipping Around” (9/10/1949)
  • The Andrews Sisters with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” (9/24/1949)
  • Frankie Laine & the Muleskinners “Mule Train” (11/12/1949)
  • Leroy Anderson & His “Pops” Concert Orchestra “Sleigh Ride” (12/24/1949)  


1950


Top 1%

  • Anton Karas “The Third Man Theme” (1/28/1950)
  • Nat “King” Cole “Mona Lisa” (6/10/1950)
  • Goodnight Irene” The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra (7/1/1950)
  • Tennessee Waltz” Patti Page (11/18/1950)

Top 2%

  • Red Foley “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” (1/21/1950)
  • Teresa Brewer “Music! Music! Music!” (2/4/1950)
  • Gordon Jenkins Orchestra with Eileen Wilson “My Foolish Heart” (2/18/1950)
  • Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (March 1950)
  • Bill Snyder “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (4/22/1950)
  • The Andrews Sisters “I Wanna Be Loved by You” (5/13/1950)
  • Hank Snow “I’m Movin’ On” (7/1/1950)
  • Edith Piaf “La Vie En Rose” (10/21/1950)
  • Gene Autry & the Cass County Boys with Carl Cotner’s Orchestra “Frosty the Snowman” (12/9/1950)

1951


Top 1%

  • Hank Williams “Cold, Cold Heart” (2/2/1951)
  • Les Paul & Mary Ford “How High the Moon” (3/31/1951)
  • Nat “King” Cole “Too Young” (4/14/1951)
  • Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats “Rocket 88” (5/12/1951)
  • Tony Bennett “Because of You” (6/23/1951)
  • Tommy Edwards “It’s All in the Game” (9/15/1951)
  • Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads “Cry” (11/24/1951)

Top 2%

  • The Dominoes “Sixty Minute Man” (8/25/1951)

1952


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Kay Starr “Wheel of Fortune” (2/16/1952)
  • Lloyd Price “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” (5/17/1952)
  • Al Martino “Here in My Heart” (5/17/1952)
  • Vera Lynn “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” (6/14/1952)
  • Hank Williams “Jambalaya on the Bayou” (8/16/1952)
  • Perry Como & the Ramblers with Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes” (12/6/1952)

1953


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Frankie Laine “I Believe” (2/21/1953)
  • Duke Ellington “Satin Doll” (6/13/1953)
  • The Drifters “Money Honey” (10/31/1953)
  • Dean Martin “That’s Amore” (11/14/1953)

1954


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Perry Como “Wanted” (3/6/1954)
  • Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” (3/13/1954)
  • Rosemary Clooney “Hey There” (7/17/1954)
  • Erroll Garner Trio “Misty” (10/23/1954)

1955


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Ray Charles “I Gotta Woman” (1/22/1955)
  • Bill Hayes “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” (2/14/1955)
  • Bo Diddley “I’m a Man” (5/7/1955)
  • Elvis Presley “Mystery Train” (7/21/1955)
  • Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy” (7/30/1955)
  • Dean Martin “Memories Are Made of This” (11/21/1955)
  • Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues” (studio version) (12/15/1955)

1956


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Howlin’ Wolf “Smokestack Lightning” (3/17/1956)
  • Gogi Grant “The Wayward Wind” (4/28/1956)
  • Chuck Berry “Roll Over Beethoven” (6/9/1956)
  • Sonny James “Young Love” (12/22/1956)

1957


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Harry Belafonte “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” (1/12/1957)
  • The Dell-Vikings “Come Go with Me” (2/16/1957)
  • The Diamonds “Little Darlin’” (3/16/1957)
  • The Coasters “Searchin’” (5/6/1957)
  • Debbie Reynolds “Tammy” (7/20/1957)
  • Johnny Mathis “Chances Are” (8/12/1957)
  • Chuck Berry “Rock and Roll Music” (11/4/1957)
  • Elvis Presley “Blue Christmas” (album cut: 10/15/1957, single: 12/5/1964)
  • Peggy Lee “Fever” (12/21/1957)

1958


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Chantels “Maybe” (1/6/1958)
  • The Silhouettes “Get a Job” (1/6/1958)
  • Little Richard “Good Golly Miss Molly” (1/31/1958)
  • Connie Francis “Who’s Sorry Now?” (2/3/1958)
  • Chuck Berry “Sweet Little Sixteen” (2/15/1958)
  • The Monotones “Book of Love” (3/22/1958)
  • The Platters “Twilight Time” (3/24/1958)
  • Sheb Wooley “The Purple People Eater” (5/19/1958)
  • The Coasters “Yakety Yak” 5/31/1958)
  • The Elegants “Little Star” (6/30/1958)
  • The Everly Brothers “Bird Dog” (7/28/1958)
  • The Big Bopper “Chantilly Lace” (8/4/1958)
  • Conway Twitty “It’s Only Make Believe” (9/8/1958)
  • The Teddy Bears “To Know Him Is to Love Him” (9/22/1958)
  • Jackie Wilson “Lonely Teardrops” (11/17/1958)
  • Ritchie Valens “Donna” (11/24/1958)
  • The Crests “Sixteen Candles” (11/24/1958)
  • Lloyd Price “Stagger Lee” (11/24/1958)
  • David Seville & the Chipmunks “The Chipmunk Song” (12/1/1958)

1959


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Frankie Avalon “Venus” (2/9/1959)
  • The Skyliners “Since I Don’t Have You” (2/14/1959)
  • Dion & the Belmonts “A Teenager in Love” (4/18/1959)
  • Dinah Washington “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” (5/9/1959)
  • The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (6/1/1959)
  • Ella Fitzgerald “But Not for Me” (10/16/1959)  


1960


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Barrett Strong “Money (That’s What I Want)” (1/25/1960)
  • Elvis Presley “Stuck on You” (3/23/1960)
  • Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs “Stay” (9/17/1960)
  • The Miracles “Shop Around” (9/27/1960)

1961


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Patsy Cline “I Fall to Pieces” (4/3/1961)
  • Ray Charles “Hit the Road Jack” (9/4/61)
  • Mr. Acker Bilk “Stranger on the Shore” (11/30/1961)
  • Dion “The Wanderer” (12/4/1961)

1962


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Shirelles “Soldier Boy” (3/19/1962)
  • John Lee Hooker “Boom Boom” (5/26/1962)
  • Bobby Vinton “Roses Are Red My Love” (6/2/1962)
  • Neil Sedaka “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (fast version) (6/22/1962)
  • The Tornadoes “Telstar” (8/30/1962)
  • The Crystals “He’s a Rebel” (9/8/1962)
  • The Beatles “Love Me Do” (10/5/1962)
  • The Drifters “Up on the Roof” (11/3/1962)
  • The Miracles “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” (11/9/1962)

1963


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Beatles “Please Please Me” (1/11/1963)
  • The Drifters “On Broadway” (3/16/1963)
  • The Beach Boys “Surfin’ U.S.A.” (3/23/1963)
  • The Crystals “Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” (4/20/1963)
  • Kyu Sakamoto “Sukiyaki” (5/4/1963)
  • Lesley Gore “It’s My Party” (5/4/1963)
  • Little Stevie Wonder “Fingertips (Part 2)” (5/21/1963)
  • The Angels “My Boyfriend’s Back” (8/3/1963)
  • Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs “Sugar Shack” (9/21/1963)

1964


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There” (1/13/1964)
  • The Beatles “All My Loving” (3/28/1964)
  • The Beach Boys “Don’t Worry Baby” (5/23/1964)
  • The Drifters “Under the Boardwalk” (6/27/1964)
  • Manfred Mann “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” (7/18/1964)
  • The Beatles “And I Love Her” (7/20/1964)
  • The Zombies “She’s Not There” (7/31/1964)
  • The Four Tops “Baby, I Need Your Loving” (8/15/1964)
  • The Shangri-La’s “Leader of the Pack” (10/10/1964)
  • The Kinks “All Day and All of the Night” (10/23/1964)
  • Marvin Gaye “How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You” (11/4/1964)

1965


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Who “I Can’t Explain” (1/15/1965)
  • Martha & the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” (2/2/1965)
  • Jr. Walker & the All Stars “Shotgun” (2/13/1965)
  • The Beatles “Eight Days a Week” (2/15/1965)
  • The Yardbirds “For Your Love” (2/28/1965)
  • Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs “Wooly Bully” (4/2/1965)
  • Bob Dylan “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (4/3/1965)
  • The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe in Magic?” (8/21/1965)
  • Barry McGuire “Eve of Destruction” (8/21/1965)
  • The Beatles “Day Tripper” (12/3/1965)
  • The Beatles “Michelle” (album cut: 12/3/1965)
  • The Beatles “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” (album cut: 12/3/1965)
  • Stevie Wonder “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” (12/11/1965)

1966


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Bobby Fuller Four “I Fought the Law” (1/14/1966)
  • Nancy Sinatra “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” (1/22/1966)
  • SSgt Barry Sadler “The Ballad of the Green Berets” (2/5/1966)
  • The Isley Brothers “This Old Heart of Mine” (2/19/1966)
  • The Beatles “Nowhere Man” (2/21/1966)
  • The Mamas & the Papas “Monday Monday” (4/9/1966)
  • The Lovin’ Spoonful “Summer in the City” (7/14/1966)
  • The Beach Boys “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (7/18/1966)
  • Donovan “Sunshine Superman” (7/30/1966)
  • The Beatles “Yellow Submarine” (8/5/1966)
  • Jimmy Ruffin “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” (8/6/1966)
  • The Association “Cherish” (8/27/1966)
  • ? & the Mysterians “96 Tears” (8/27/1966)
  • The Count Five “Psychotic Reaction” (9/2/1966)
  • The Supremes “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (10/29/1966)
  • Wilson Pickett “Mustang Sally” (11/19/1966)
  • Otis Redding “Try a Little Tenderness” (12/3/1966)

1967


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Doors “The End” (album cut: 1/4/1967)
  • The Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday” (1/13/1967)
  • Engelbert Humperdinck “Release Me” (1/26/1967)
  • The Velvet Underground & Nico “I’m Waiting for the Man” (album cut: 3/12/1967)
  • Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra “Somethin’ Stupid” (3/18/1967)
  • The Young Rascals “Groovin’” (4/22/1967)
  • Frankie Valli “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” (5/13/1967)
  • The Association “Windy” (5/27/1967)
  • Scott McKenzie “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” (5/27/1967)
  • Pink Floyd “See Emily Play” (6/16/1967)
  • Glen Campbell “Gentle on My Mind” (7/8/1967)
  • The Small Faces “Itchycoo Park” (8/9/1967)
  • Lulu “To Sir with Love” (9/2/1967)
  • The Youngbloods “Get Together” (9/2/1967)
  • Sam & Dave “Soul Man” (9/9/1967)
  • Strawberry Alarm Clock “Incense and Peppermints” (9/29/1967)
  • The Who “I Can See for Miles” (10/7/1967)
  • Glen Campbell “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” (10/21/1967)
  • The Beatles “Hello Goodbye” (11/24/1967)
  • The Beatles “I Am the Walrus” (11/24/1967)
  • Aretha Franklin “Chain of Fools” (12/9/1967)
  • Paul Mauriat “Love Is Blue” (12/16/1967)
  • Leonard Cohen “Suzanne” (album cut: 12/27/1967)

1968


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Sly & the Family Stone “Dance to the Music” (2/10/1968)
  • Simon & Garfunkel “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” (2/23/1968)
  • The Beatles “Lady Madonna” (3/15/1968)
  • Bobby Goldsboro “Honey” (3/23/1968)
  • Herb Alpert “This Guy’s in Love with You” (5/11/1968)
  • Aretha Franklin “I Say a Little Prayer” (7/26/1968)
  • Merle Haggard “Mama Tried” (7/27/1968)
  • Harry Nilsson “Everybody’s Talkin’” (8/3/1968)
  • Iron Butterfly “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (8/24/1968)
  • Cream “White Room” (9/28/1968)
  • The Supremes “Love Child” (9/30/1968)
  • Joe Cocker “With a Little Help from My Friends” (10/2/1968)
  • Steppenwolf “Magic Carpet Ride” (10/5/1968)
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” (album cut: 10/16/1968, released 10/23/1970)
  • Dusty Springfield “Son of a Preacher Man” (11/23/1968)
  • The Beatles “Blackbird” (album cut: 11/25/1968)
  • Tommy James & The Shondells “Crimson and Clover” (12/14/1968)
  • The Foundations “Build Me Up Buttercup” (12/21/1968)

1969


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Zombies “Time of the Season” (2/8/1969)
  • The MC5 “Kick Out the Jams” (2/22/1969)
  • The Who “Pinball Wizard” (3/7/1969)
  • Simon & Garfunkel “The Boxer” (4/5/1969)
  • Elvis Presley “In the Ghetto” (5/3/1969)
  • Stevie Wonder “My Cherie Amour” (5/31/1969)
  • Zager & Evans “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” (6/21/1969)
  • Johnny Cash “A Boy Named Sue (live)” (7/11/1969)
  • Bob Dylan “Lay Lady Lay” (7/12/1969)
  • The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (album cut: 8/5/1969)
  • The Band “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” (9/22/1969)
  • Crosby, Stills & Nash “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (10/4/1969)
  • Merle Haggard “Okie from Muskogee” (10/11/1969)
  • The Band “Up on Cripple Creek” (10/18/1969)
  • The Supremes “Someday We’ll Be Together” (11/1/1969)
  • The Shocking Blue “Venus” (12/13/1969)
  • B.B. King “The Thrill Is Gone” (12/27/1969)  


1970


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Sly & the Family Stone “Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin” (1/3/1970)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival “Who’ll Stop the Rain” (1/24/1970)
  • John Lennon “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” (2/21/1970)
  • Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” (2/21/1970)
  • Van Morrison “Moondance” (3/14/1970)
  • The Temptations “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” (5/7/1970)
  • The Beatles “The Long and Winding Road” (5/11/1970)
  • Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children” (6/5/1970)
  • Joni Mitchell “Big Yellow Taxi” (6/6/1970)
  • Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Ohio” (6/20/1970)
  • Stevie Wonder “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” (6/20/1970)
  • James Brown “Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine” (7/18/1970)
  • Diana Ross “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (8/8/1970)
  • Carpenters “We’ve Only Just Begun” (9/12/1970)
  • Black Sabbath “Iron Man” (album cut: 9/18/1970, charted 1/29/1972)
  • Velvet Underground “Sweet Jane” (album cut: Sept. 1970)
  • Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (10/5/1970)
  • Grateful Dead “Truckin’” (11/1/1970)
  • Lynn Anderson “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” (11/7/1970)
  • Santana “Black Magic Woman” (11/7/1970)
  • Led Zeppelin “Immigrant Song” (11/14/1970)
  • Tony Orlando & Dawn “Knock Three Times” (11/21/1970)

1971


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Cat Stevens “Morning Has Broken” (1/1/1972)
  • Sammi Smith “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (1/16/1971)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” (1/30/1971)
  • Marvin Gaye “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology Song)” (6/10/1971)
  • Bee Gees “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (6/19/1971)
  • The Doors “Riders on the Storm” (7/3/1971)
  • The Who “Behind Blue Eyes” (10/30/1971)
  • Sly & the Family Stone “Family Affair” (11/6/1971)
  • Led Zeppelin “Black Dog” (12/2/1971)

1972


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Yes “Roundabout” (1/4/1972)
  • Gary Glitter Gary Glitter “Rock and Roll Part 2” (3/3/1972)
  • Led Zeppelin “Rock and Roll” (3/11/1972)
  • Todd Rundgren “I Saw the Light” (3/31/1972)
  • The Staple Singers “I’ll Take You There” (4/1/1972)
  • David Bowie “Starman” (4/14/1972)
  • The Rolling Stones “Tumbling Dice” (4/14/1972)
  • Looking Glass “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” (6/2/1972)
  • The Hollies “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” (6/17/1972)
  • Johnny Nash “I Can See Clearly Now” (6/24/1972)
  • Roxy Music “Virginia Plain” (8/19/1972)
  • The Doobie Brothers “Listen to the Music” (9/2/1972)
  • Seals & Croft “Summer Breeze” (9/9/1972)
  • Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (9/30/1972)
  • America “Ventura Highway” (10/13/1972)
  • Elton John “Crocodile Rock” (11/4/1972)
  • Lou Reed “Perfect Day” (11/17/1972)
  • David Bowie “Ziggy Stardust” (11/24/1972)
  • David Bowie “The Jean Genie” (11/24/1972)
  • Todd Rundgren “Hello It’s Me” (11/72)

1973


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The O’Jays “Love Train” (1/13/1973)
  • Elton John “Daniel” (1/20/1973)
  • The Stooges “Search and Destroy” (album cut: 2/7/1973)
  • Charlie Rich “Behind Closed Doors” (2/10/1973)
  • Dobie Gray “Drift Away” (2/17/1973)
  • Stealers Wheel “Stuck in the Middle with You” (3/3/1973)
  • Paul McCartney & Wings “My Love” (3/23/1973)
  • Eagles “Desperado” (album cut: 4/17/1973)
  • Paul McCartney & Wings “Live and Let Die” (6/1/1973)
  • Bob Dylan “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (7/13/1973)
  • Golden Earring “Radar Love” (8/4/1973)
  • Stevie Wonder “Higher Ground” (8/18/1973)
  • Eddie Kendricks “Keep on Truckin’” (8/18/1973)
  • Charlie Rich “The Most Beautiful Girl” (9/22/1973)
  • Sweet “Ballroom Blitz” (9/22/1973)
  • Steve Miller Band “The Joker” (10/20/1973)
  • Stevie Wonder “Living for the City” (11/10/1973)
  • Jim Croce “Time in a Bottle” (11/16/1973)
  • Slade “Merry Xmas Everybody” (12/15/1973)

1974


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Pink Floyd “Time” (2/4/1974)
  • Elton John “Candle in the Wind” (2/4/1974)
  • David Bowie “Rebel Rebel” (2/15/1974)
  • Dolly Parton “I Will Always Love You” (3/11/1974)
  • Gordon Lightfoot “Sundown” (3/29/1974)
  • ZZ Top “La Grange” (3/30/1974)
  • Paul McCartney & Wings “Band on the Run” (4/8/1974)
  • The Hues Corporation “Rock the Boat” (5/4/1974)
  • George McCrae “Rock Your Baby” (5/11/1974)
  • Bachman-Turner Overdrive “Takin’ Care of Business” (5/18/1974)
  • Elton John “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (5/20/1974)
  • Eric Clapton “I Shot the Sheriff” (7/13/1974)
  • Barry White “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” (7/27/1974)
  • Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle” (9/29/1974)
  • Queen “Killer Queen” (10/26/1974)
  • Barry White “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” (11/2/1974)
  • Barry Manilow “Mandy” (11/9/1974)
  • Ace “How Long” (11/9/1974)
  • The Doobie Brothers “Black Water” (11/15/1974)
  • LaBelle “Lady Marmalade” (12/14/1974)
  • Joe Cocker “You Are So Beautiful” (12/28/1974)

1975


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Earth, Wind & Fire “Shining Star” (2/8/1975)
  • David Bowie “Young Americans” (2/21/1975)
  • David Bowie “Fame” (2/21/1975)
  • Elton John “Philadelphia Freedom” (2/24/1975)
  • Kraftwerk “Autobahn” (3/15/1975)
  • KC & the Sunshine Band “Get Down Tonight” (3/29/1975)
  • Bee Gees “Jive Talkin’” (5/24/1975)
  • Eagles “One of These Nights” (5/30/1975)
  • Willie Nelson “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” (7/19/1975)
  • KC & the Sunshine Band “That’s the Way I Like It” (8/2/1975)
  • Aerosmith “Walk This Way” (8/28/1975)
  • War “Low Rider” (9/13/1975)
  • Eagles “Lyin’ Eyes” (9/13/1975)
  • Pink Floyd “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” (album cut: 9/15/1975)
  • Barry Manilow “I Write the Songs” (11/8/1975)
  • Nazareth “Love Hurts” (11/15/1975)
  • Paul Simon “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (12/12/1975)
  • The Four Seasons “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” (12/27/1975)

1976


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Bellamy Brothers “Let Your Love Flow” (1/30/1976)
  • Fleetwood Mac “Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)” (3/5/1976)
  • Elvin Bishop with Mickey Thomas “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” (3/5/1976)
  • Abba “Fernando” (3/27/1976)
  • Diana Ross “Love Hangover” (4/3/1976)
  • Starland Vocal Band “Afternoon Delight” (4/24/1976)
  • Thin Lizzy “The Boys Are Back in Town” (5/15/1976)
  • England Dan & John Ford Coley “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” (6/12/1976)
  • Bee Gees “You Should Be Dancing” (7/2/1976)
  • Manfred Mann’s Earth Band “Blinded by the Light” (8/6/1976)
  • Gordon Lightfoot “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (8/26/1976)
  • Rose Royce “Car Wash” (10/23/1976)
  • Mary MacGregor “Torn Between Two Lovers” (11/20/1976)
  • Queen “Somebody to Love” (11/20/1976)
  • Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band “Night Moves” (12/4/1976)
  • Barbra Streisand “Evergreen (Love Theme from ‘A Star Is Born’)” (12/11/1976)
  • Kansas “Carry on Wayward Son” (12/11/1976)
  • Eagles “New Kid in Town” (12/11/1976)
  • Steve Miller Band “Fly Like an Eagle” (12/11/1976)
  • Al Stewart “Year of the Cat” (12/11/1976)
  • Thelma Houston “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (12/18/1976)

1977


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Kenny Rogers “Lucille” (1/29/1977)
  • The Trammps “Disco Inferno” (3/5/1977)
  • Marvin Gaye “Got to Give It Up” (3/15/1977)
  • Peter Gabriel “Solsbury Hill” (3/21/1977)
  • Jimmy Buffett “Margaritaville” (3/26/1977)
  • Stevie Wonder “Sir Duke” (4/2/1977)
  • Fleetwood Mac “Don’t Stop” (4/30/1977)
  • Elvis Costello “Alison” (5/21/1977)
  • Commodores “Easy” (5/28/1977)
  • Heart “Barracada” (5/28/1977)
  • Crystal Gayle “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” (7/9/1977)
  • Iggy Pop “Lust for Life” (8/29/1977)
  • Linda Ronstadt “Blue Bayou” (9/10/1977)
  • Bing Crosby & David Bowie “Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy” (9/11/1977)
  • Player “Baby Come Back” (10/1/1977)
  • Fleetwood Mac “You Make Loving Fun” (10/7/1977)
  • Paul McCartney & Wings “Mull of Kintyre” (11/11/1977)

1978


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights” (1/6/1978)
  • Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings “Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (1/21/1978)
  • Electric Light Orchestra “Mr. Blue Sky” (1/28/1978)
  • Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” (2/18/1978)
  • The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” (4/30/1978)
  • Van Halen “Runnin’ with the Devil” (5/6/1978)
  • Donna Summer “Last Dance” (5/13/1978)
  • A Taste of Honey “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (5/13/1978)
  • The Undertones “Teenage Kicks” (6/15/1978)
  • The Cars “Just What I Needed” (6/17/1978)
  • Exile “Kiss You All Over” (7/8/1978)
  • The Who “Who Are You?” (7/14/1978)
  • Meat Loaf “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (8/12/1978)
  • Funkadelic “One Nation Under a Groove” (8/19/1978)
  • The Rolling Stones “Beast of Burden” (9/9/1978)
  • The Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen in Love” (9/23/1978)
  • Bee Gees “Too Much Heaven” (11/10/1978)

1979


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Bee Gees “Tragedy” (2/2/1979)
  • Queen “Don’t Stop Me Now” (2/10/1979)
  • Peaches & Herb “Reunited” (3/17/1979)
  • Supertramp “The Logical Song” (3/24/1979)
  • Cheap Trick “I Want You to Want Me (live)” (4/21/1979)
  • Anita Ward “Ring My Bell” (5/12/1979)
  • Donna Summer “Bad Girls” (5/26/1979)
  • The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry” (6/15/1979)
  • The Boomtown Rats “I Don’t Like Mondays” (7/13/1979)
  • Gary Numan “Cars” (8/21/1979)
  • The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star” (9/10/1979)
  • The Police “Message in a Bottle” (9/21/1979)
  • Styx “Babe” (9/28/1979)
  • Little River Band “Cool Change” (10/19/1979)
  • Rupert Holmes “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” (10/20/1979)
  • Kenny Rogers “Coward of the County” (11/17/1979)
  • Paul McCartney “Wonderful Christmastime” (12/1/1979)  


1980


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Split Enz “I Got You” (1/21/1980)
  • Rush “The Spirit of Radio” (2/9/1980)
  • Air Supply “Lost in Love” (2/9/1980)
  • The Clash “Train in Vain (Stand by Me)” (2/12/1980)
  • The Romantics “What I Like About You” (2/16/1980)
  • The Jam “Going Underground” (3/10/1980)
  • Bette Midler “The Rose” (3/22/1980)
  • Paul McCartney & Wings “Coming Up (live)” (4/11/1980)
  • Frank Sinatra “Theme from “New York, New York”“ (5/3/1980)
  • Billy Joel “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (5/13/1980)
  • Olivia Newton-John “Magic” (5/23/1980)
  • Christopher Cross “Sailing” (6/14/1980)
  • David Bowie “Ashes to Ashes” (8/1/1980)
  • Barbra Streisand “Woman in Love” (8/29/1980)
  • Willie Nelson “On the Road Again” (8/30/1980)
  • Pat Benatar “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” (9/15/1980)
  • The Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (9/19/1980)
  • Bruce Springsteen “Hungry Heart” (10/21/1980)
  • Motörhead “Ace of Spaces” (10/27/1980)
  • Blondie “The Tide Is High” (11/8/1980)
  • Daryl Hall & John Oates “Kiss on My List” (11/15/1980)

1981


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • John Lennon “Woman” (1/9/1981)
  • Blondie “Rapture” (1/12/1981)
  • Bill Withers & Grover Washington Jr. “Just the Two of Us” (2/7/1981)
  • Smokey Robinson “Being with You” (2/14/1981)
  • Juice Newton “Angel of the Morning” (2/20/1981)
  • Squeeze “Tempted” (6/20/1981)
  • The Specials “Ghost Town” (6/20/1981)
  • R.E.M. “Radio Free Europe” (7/8/1981)
  • Christopher Cross “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” (8/15/1981)
  • The Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed” (8/15/1981)
  • Depeche Mode “Just Can’t Get Enough” (9/7/1981)
  • Earth, Wind & Fire “Let’s Groove” (10/3/1981)
  • Daryl Hall & John Oates “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” (11/13/1981)

1982


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” (1/23/1982)
  • The Jam “A Town Called Malice” (1/29/1982)
  • Toni Basil “Mickey” (2/6/1982)
  • A Flock of Seagulls “I Ran (So Far Away)” (3/27/1982)
  • Toto “Rosanna” (3/31/1982)
  • John Cougar Mellencamp “Hurts So Good” (4/24/1982)
  • Steve Miller Band “Abracadabra” (5/29/1982)
  • Chicago “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” (6/5/1982)
  • Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force “Planet Rock” (6/12/1982)
  • Alan Parsons Project “Eye in the Sky” (7/3/1982)
  • Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes “Up Where We Belong” (7/22/1982)
  • The Gap Band “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” (8/7/1982)
  • Lionel Richie “Truly” (10/9/1982)
  • Daryl Hall & John Oates “Maneater” (10/16/1982)
  • Billy Idol “White Wedding” (11/27/1982)

1983


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • U2 “New Year’s Day” (1/1/1983)
  • Def Leppard “Photograph” (2/5/1983)
  • Journey “Faithfully” (4/16/1983)
  • Spandau Ballet “True” (4/23/1983)
  • Quiet Riot “Cum on Feel the Noize” (4/23/1983)
  • Violent Femmes “Blister in the Sun” (album cut: April 1983)
  • Men Without Hats “The Safety Dance” (6/25/1983)
  • The Police “King of Pain” (7/9/1983)
  • Talking Heads “Burning Down the House” (7/23/1983)
  • UB40 “Red Red Wine” (8/20/1983)
  • Madonna “Holiday” (9/7/1983)
  • Billy Joel “Uptown Girl” (9/24/1983)
  • John Cougar Mellencamp “Pink Houses” (10/29/1983)
  • The Smiths “This Charming Man” (10/31/1983)
  • Nena “99 Red Balloons” (12/10/1983)

1984


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Bryan Adams “Heaven” (1/28/1984)
  • The Scorpions “Rock You Like a Hurricane” (2/28/1984)
  • Duran Duran “The Reflex” (4/16/1984)
  • Lee Greenwood “God Bless the U.S.A.” (5/26/1984)
  • The Cars “Drive” (6/2/1984)
  • Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (6/2/1984)
  • Ray Parker, Jr. “Ghostbusters” (6/16/1984)
  • Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Two Tribes” (6/18/1984)
  • Prince & the Revolution “Let’s Go Crazy” (7/18/1984)
  • Chicago “You’re the Inspiration” (11/16/1984)
  • Dead or Alive “You Spin Me Around Like a Record” (12/1/1984)
  • REO Speedwagon “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (12/31/1984)

1985


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Madonna “Crazy for You” (3/1/1985)
  • Tears for Fears “Head Over Heels” (6/10/1985)
  • Mr. Mister “Broken Wings” (8/24/1985)
  • John Cougar Mellencamp “Small Town” (9/14/1985)
  • Whitney Houston “How Will I Know” (11/13/1985)

1986


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Whitney Houston “Greatest Love of All” (3/18/1986)
  • Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald “On My Own” (3/22/1986)
  • Madonna “Papa Don’t Preach” (6/11/1986)
  • Steve Winwood “Higher Love” (6/14/1986)
  • Bon Jovi “You Give Love a Bad Name” (8/23/1986)
  • The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” (album cut: 6/16/1986, released 10/12/1992)
  • Metallica “Master of Puppets” (7/2/1986)
  • Europe “The Final Countdown” (11/1/1986)
  • New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle” (11/15/1986)

1987


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Starship “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (1/30/1987)
  • Prince “Sign ‘O’ the Times” (2/18/1987)
  • Randy Travis “Forever and Ever, Amen” (3/25/1987)
  • Heart “Alone” (5/15/1987)
  • Suzanne Vega “Luka” (5/23/1987)
  • Whitesnake “Is This Love” (6/6/1987)
  • Los Lobos “La Bamba” (6/27/1987)
  • New Order “True Faith” (7/20/1987)
  • Billy Idol “Mony Mony (live)” (9/11/1987)
  • The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl “Fairytale of New York” (11/23/1987)

1988


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Midnight Oil “Beds Are Burning” (2/20/1988)
  • Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock “It Takes Two” (4/16/1988)
  • Steve Winwood “Roll with It” (6/10/1988)
  • INXS “Never Tear Us Apart” (6/25/1988)
  • N.W.A. “Straight Outta Compton” (7/10/1988)
  • Def Leppard “Love Bites” (7/16/1988)
  • The Beach Boys “Kokomo” (7/23/1988)
  • N.W.A. “Fuck tha Police” (album cut: 8/9/1988)
  • Bobby Brown “My Prerogative” (8/23/1988)
  • Phil Collins “A Groovy Kind of Love” (9/2/1988)
  • Paula Abdul “Straight Up” (11/30/1988)
  • Tone Loc “Wild Thing” (12/3/1988)
  • Guns N’ Roses “Patience” (12/24/1988)
  • Mike + the Mechanics “The Living Years’ (12/31/1988)

1989


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Fine Young Cannivals “She Drives Me Crazy” (1/1/1989)
  • Metallica “One” (1/10/1989)
  • Bangles “Eternal Flame” (2/3/1989)
  • De La Soul “Me, Myself and I” (4/1/1989)
  • Soul II Soul “Back to Life (How Ever Do You Want Me)” (5/31/1989)
  • Richard Marx “Right Here Waiting” (6/30/1989)
  • Janet Jackson “Miss You Much” (8/25/1989)
  • Depeche Mode “Personal Jesus” (8/29/1989)
  • Billy Joel “We Didn’t Start the Fire” (9/18/1989)
  • Neil Young “Rockin’ in the Free World” (9/23/1989)
  • Technotronic “Pump Up the Jam” (9/30/1989)
  • The Stone Roses “Fools Gold” (11/13/1989)
  • Alannah Myles “Black Velvet” (12/9/1989)
  • Marcia Griffiths “Electric Slide (Electric Boogie)” (12/9/1989)  


1990


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Faith No More “Epic” (1/30/1990)
  • Digital Underground “The Humpty Dance” (2/17/1990)
  • Roxette “It Must Have Been Love” (4/6/1990)
  • Garth Brooks “The Dance” (4/30/1990)
  • Deee-Lite “Groove Is in the Heart” (8/18/1990)
  • The Black Crowes “Hard to Handle” (9/1/1990)
  • AC/DC “Thunderstruck” (9/10/1990)

1991


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Scorpions “Wind of Change” (1/20/1991)
  • Massive Attack “Unfinished Sympathy” (2/11/1991)
  • Extreme “More Than Words” (3/2/1991)
  • Right Said Fred “I’m Too Sexy” (7/27/1991)
  • Naughty by Nature “O.P.P.” (7/27/1991)
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give It Away” (9/4/1991)
  • Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson “Beauty and the Beast” (11/6/1991)

1992


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Michael Jackson “Remember the Time” (1/14/1992)
  • Vanessa Williams “Save the Best for Last” (1/25/1992)
  • Nirvana “Lithium” (2/8/1992)
  • Metallica “Nothing Else Matters” (3/14/1992)
  • Pearl Jam “Even Flow” (4/6/1992)
  • Brooks & Dunn “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” (5/23/1992)
  • Rage Against the Machine “Killing in the Name” (11/2/1992)
  • Pearl Jam “Black” (12/26/1992)

1993


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Snow “Informer” (1/9/1993)
  • Ice Cube “It Was a Good Day” (2/27/1993)
  • Collective Soul “Shine” (3/19/1993)
  • Stone Temple Pilots “Plush” (3/20/1993)
  • UB40 “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (5/1/1993)
  • Soul Asylum “Runaway Train” (5/15/1993)
  • Sting “Fields of Gold” (5/15/1993)
  • Blind Melon “No Rain” (7/24/1993)
  • Nirvana “Heart-Shaped Box” (8/30/1993)
  • Smashing Pumpkins “Today” (9/25/1993)
  • Pearl Jam “Daughter” (10/30/1993)
  • Bryan Adams with Sting & Rod Stewart “All for Love” (11/19/1993)
  • Celine Dion “The Power of Love” (11/27/1993)

1994


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Beastie Boys “Sabotage” (1/28/1994)
  • Green Day “Longview” (2/1/1994)
  • Blur “Girls and Boys” (3/7/1994)
  • Warren G with Nate Dogg “Regulate” (4/15/1994)
  • Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories “Stay (I Missed You)” (4/22/1994)
  • Nine Inch Nails “Closer” (5/7/1994)
  • Elton John “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (5/20/1994)
  • Wet Wet Wet “Love Is All Around” (5/21/1994)
  • The Offspring “Come Out and Play” (5/28/1994)
  • The Notorious B.I.G. “Juicy” (8/20/1994)
  • Stone Temple Pilots “Interstate Love Song” (8/20/1994)
  • Weezer “Buddy Holly” (9/7/1994)
  • Silverchair “Tomorrow” (9/16/1994)
  • Live “Lightning Crashes” (9/24/1994)
  • The Cranberries “Zombie” (10/1/1994)
  • Boyz II Men “On Bended Knee” (11/1/1994)
  • Pearl Jam “Better Man” (12/3/1994)
  • Rednex “Cotton Eye Joe” (12/17/1994)

1995


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Joan Osborne “One of Us” (2/21/1995)
  • Bryan Adams “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” (4/4/1995)
  • The Rembrandts “I’ll Be There for You” (5/1/1995)
  • Underworld “Born Slippy” (5/1/1995)
  • Radiohead “Fake Plastic Trees” (5/9/1995)
  • Everything But the Girl “Missing (dance remix)” (8/28/1995)

1996


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Tracy Chapman “Give Me One Reason” (1/20/1996)
  • Mariah Carey “Always Be My Baby” (2/23/1996)
  • Alanis Morissette “You Learn” (2/24/1996)
  • The Prodigy “Firestarter” (3/18/1996)
  • Fugees “Killing Me Softly” (3/2/1996)
  • Manic Street Preachers “A Design for Life” (4/15/1996)
  • Bone Thugs-N-Harmony “Tha Crossroads” (5/11/1996)
  • Eric Clapton “Change the World” (6/14/1996)
  • Celine Dion “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (7/30/1996)
  • The Wallflowers “One Headlight” (10/5/1996)
  • Jewel “You Were Meant for Me” (11/1/1996)
  • Jewel “Foolish Games” (11/30/1996)

1997


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Shawn Colvin “Sunny Came Home” (2/1/1997)
  • Third Eye Blind “Semi-Charmed Life” (3/29/1997)
  • The Notorious B.I.G. “Hypnotize” (4/26/1997)
  • Tim McGraw & Faith Hill “It’s Your Love” (5/10/1997)
  • Sugar Ray with Super Cat “Fly” (6/17/1997)
  • Sarah McLachlan “Building a Mystery” (7/15/1997)
  • Foo Fighters “Everlong” (8/2/1997)
  • Radiohead “Karma Police” (8/6/1997)
  • Shania Twain “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” (11/15/1997)
  • Robbie Williams “Angels” (12/1/1997)
  • Will Smith “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” (12/12/1997)

1998


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Madonna “Ray of Light” (5/9/1998)
  • Barenaked Ladies “One Week” (6/20/1998)
  • Eminem “My Name Is” (12/27/1998)

1999


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Smash Mouth “All Star” (5/8/1999)
  • Christina Aguilera “Genie in a Bottle” (5/21/1999)
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers “Scar Tissue” (5/25/1999)
  • Savage Garden “I Knew I Loved You” (9/28/1999)
  • Faith Hill “Breathe” (10/9/1999)
  • Santana with the Product G&B “Maria Maria” (12/17/1999)  


2000


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Papa Roach “Last Resort” (3/7/2000)
  • Britney Spears “Oops!...I Did It Again” (3/27/2000)
  • Creed “With Arms Wide Open” (4/8/2000)
  • Matchbox 20 “Bent” (4/21/2000)
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers “Californication” (6/17/2000)
  • Lifehouse “Hanging by a Moment” (8/16/2000)
  • Shaggy with Ricardo “Rik Rok” Ducent “It Wasn’t Me” (10/27/2000)
  • Incubus “Drive” (11/20/2000)
  • Daft Punk “One More Time” (11/30/2000)

2001


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood” (3/5/2001)
  • Janet Jackson “All for You” (3/9/2001)
  • Staind “It’s Been Awhile” (4/7/2001)
  • Mary J. Blige “Family Affair” (6/12/2001)
  • System of a Down “Chop Suey” (8/4/2001)
  • Enrique Iglesias “Hero” (9/14/2001)
  • Pink “Get the Party Started” (10/9/2001)
  • Alan Jackson “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” (11/24/2001)

2002


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Ashanti with Ja Rule “Foolish” (1/19/2002)
  • Vanessa Carlton “A Thousand Miles” (2/22/2002)
  • The White Stripes “Fell in Love with a Girl” (2/25/2002)
  • Norah Jones “Don’t Know Why” (5/25/2002)
  • Miss “Misdemeanor” Elliott “Work It” (9/14/2002)
  • R. Kelly “Ignition (remix)” (11/2/2002)
  • Coldplay “The Scientist” (11/4/2002)
  • Christina Aguilera “Beautiful” (11/15/2002)

2003


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Black Eyed Peas with Justin Timberlake “Where Is the Love?” (5/23/2003)
  • Beyoncé with Sean Paul “Baby Boy” (7/5/2003)
  • 3 Doors Down “Here Without You” (8/8/2003)
  • Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” (8/25/2003)
  • Linkin Park “Numb” (9/8/2003)
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps” (10/31/2003)

2004


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Maroon 5 “This Love” (1/27/2004)
  • Kanye West “Jesus Walks” (2/21/2004)
  • DJ Casper (aka Mr. C the Slide Man) “Cha Cha Slide” (3/27/2004)
  • Jay-Z “99 Problems” (4/24/2004)
  • Tim McGraw “Live Like You Were Dying” (6/5/2004)
  • Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get It Started” (6/22/2004)
  • Maroon 5 “She Will Be Loved” (7/2/2004)
  • Green Day “American Idiot” (8/21/2004)
  • Snoop Dogg with Pharrell Williams “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (9/11/2004)
  • U2 “Vertigo” (10/3/2004)
  • Mario “Let Me Love You” (10/9/2004)

2005


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • 50 Cent with Olivia “Candy Shop” (1/29/2005)
  • The Pussycat Dolls with Busta Rhymes “Don’t Cha” (4/29/2005)
  • Green Day “Wake Me Up When September Ends” (6/13/2005)
  • Black Eyed Peas “My Humps” (8/19/2005)
  • Nickelback “Photograph” (8/20/2005)
  • Madonna “Hung Up” (10/17/2005)

2006


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” (2/18/2006)
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California” (4/4/2006)
  • Hinder “Lips of an Angel” (4/22/2006)
  • Justin Timberlake with T.I. “My Love” (9/3/2006)
  • Nelly Furtado “Say It Right” (11/5/2006)

2007


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” (2/27/2007)
  • Cupid “Cupid Shuffle” (5/26/2007)
  • Timbaland with Keri Hilson & D.O.E. “The Way I Are” (6/10/2007)
  • Sara Bareilles “Love Song” (6/19/2007)
  • Foo Fighters “The Pretender” (8/18/2007)
  • Rihanna “Don’t Stop the Music” (9/7/2007)

2008


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Madonna with Justin Timberlake “4 Minutes” (3/17/2008)
  • Rihanna “Take a Bow” (3/23/2008)
  • Kid Rock “All Summer Long” (4/5/2008)
  • Chris Brown “Forever” (4/27/2008)
  • Katy Perry “Hot N Cold” (7/5/2008)
  • T.I. “Whatever You Like” (7/29/2008)
  • Pink “So What” (8/17/2008)
  • Kings of Leon “Sex on Fire” (9/6/2008)
  • T.I. with Rihanna “Live Your Life” (9/27/2008)

2009


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Beyoncé “Halo” (1/20/2009)
  • Jay Sean with Lil Wayne “Down” (7/18/2009)
  • David Guetta & Akon “Sexy Bitch (aka ‘Sexy Chick’)” (8/15/2009)
  • Owl City “Fireflies” (8/22/2009)  


2010


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Justin Bieber with Ludacris “Baby” (1/18/2010)
  • Usher with will.i.am “OMG” (3/22/2010)
  • Eminem “Not Afraid” (4/29/2010)
  • Katy Perry “Teenage Dream” (7/23/2010)
  • Pink “Raise Your Glass” (10/6/2010)

2011


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Jennifer Lopez with Pitbull “On the Floor” (2/8/2011)
  • Katy Perry with Kanye West “E.T.” (2/16/2011)
  • Adele “Set Fire to the Rain” (3/12/2011)
  • Nicki Minaj “Super Bass” (5/8/2011)
  • Jay-Z with Kanye West “Niggas in Paris” (8/27/2011)
  • One Direction “What Makes You Beautiful” (9/11/2011)
  • Christina Perri “A Thousand Years” (10/18/2011)
  • The Black Keys “Lonely Boy” (10/26/2011)
  • Kelly Clarkson “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” (11/12/2011)

2012


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Maroon 5 with Wiz Khalifa “Payphone” (4/16/2012)
  • Flo Rida “Whistle” (4/24/2012)
  • Maroon 5 “One More Night” (6/19/2012)
  • Mumford & Sons “I Will Wait” (8/7/2012)
  • Taylor Swift “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (8/13/2012)
  • Adele “Skyfall” (10/5/2012)
  • Taylor Swift “I Knew You Were Trouble” (10/8/2012)
  • Bruno Mars “When I Was Your Man” (12/22/2012)
  • Rihanna with Mikky Ekko “Stay” (12/22/2012)

2013


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Imagine Dragons “Demons” (1/26/2013)
  • Justin Timberlake “Mirrors” (2/11/2013)
  • Vance Joy “Riptide” (3/22/2013)

2014


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Ariana Grande with Iggy Azalea “Problem” (4/28/2014)
  • Walk the Moon “Shut Up and Dance” (9/10/2014)
  • Fetty Wap “Trap Queen” (12/15/2014)

2015


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Ellie Goulding “Love Me Like You Do” (1/7/2015)
  • Major Lazer with DJ Snake & MØ “Lean On” (3/2/2015)
  • Shawn Mendes “Stitches” (3/15/2015)
  • Taylor Swift with Kendrick Lamar “Bad Blood” (5/17/2015)
  • Thomas Rhett “Die a Happy Man” (9/28/2015)
  • Desiigner “Panda” (12/15/2015)

2016


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • The Chainsmokers with Daya “Don’t Let Me Down” (2/5/2016)
  • Beyoncé “Formation” (2/6/2016)
  • Calvin Harris & Rihanna “This Is What You Came For” (4/29/2016)
  • Twenty One Pilots “Heathens” (6/16/2016)
  • James Arthur “Say You Won’t Let Go” (9/9/2016)
  • Rae Sremmurd with Gucci Mane “Black Beatles” (9/13/2016)
  • Bruno Mars “24K Magic” (10/7/2016)
  • Migos with Lil Uzi Vert “Bad and Boujee” (10/28/2016)

2017


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Imagine Dragons “Believer” (1/31/2017)
  • Sam Hunt “Body Like a Back Road” (2/18/2017)
  • Portugal. The Man. “Feel It Still” (3/3/2017)
  • Imagine Dragons “Thunder” (4/27/2017)
  • DJ Khaled with Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, & Lil Wayne “I’m the One” (4/28/2017)

2018


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Zedd with Maren Morris & Grey “The Middle” (1/23/2018)
  • Post Malone with Ty Dolla Sign “Psycho” (2/23/2018)
  • XXXtentacion “Sad!” (3/2/2018)
  • Juice Wrld “Lucid Dreams” (3/13/2018)
  • Drake “Nice for What” (4/6/2018)
  • 5 Seconds of Summer “Youngblood” (4/12/2018)
  • Cardi B with Bad Bunny & J. Balvin “I Like It” (4/21/2018)
  • Childish Gambino “This Is America” (5/5/2018)
  • Post Malone “Better Now” (5/12/2018)
  • Panic! At the Disco “High Hopes” (5/23/2018)
  • Marshmello with Bastille “Happier” (8/17/2018)
  • Travis Scott with Drake “Sicko Mode” (8/18/2018)
  • Halsey “Without Me” (10/4/2018)

2019


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Jonas Brothers “Sucker” (3/1/2019)
  • Ed Sheeran with Justin Bieber “I Don’t Care” (5/10/2019)
  • Gabby Barrett with Charlie Puth “I Hope” (7/29/2019)
  • Maroon 5 “Memories” (9/20/2019)
  • Dua Lipa “Don’t Start Now” (10/31/2019)
  • Harry Styles “Watermelon Sugar” (11/30/2019)
  • Roddy Ricch “The Box” (12/6/2019)

2020


Top 1%

  • Xiao Zhan “Spotlight” (4/25/2020)
  • Glass Animals “Heat Waves” (6/29/2020)
  • Cardi B with Megan Thee Stallion “WAP” (8/7/2020)
  • Dua Lipa with DaBaby “Levitating” (10/17/2020)

Top 2%

  • Doja Cat “Say So” (1/17/2020)
  • The Weeknd with Ariana Grande “Save Your Tears” (4/4/2020)
  • DaBaby with Roddy Ricch “Rockstar” (4/17/2020)
  • 24K Goldn with Iann Dior “Mood” (7/24/2020)
  • BTS “Dynamite” (8/21/2020)

2021


Top 1%

Top 2%

  • Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” (3/26/2021)
  • Justin Bieber with Daniel Caesar & Giveon “Peaches” (3/30/2021)
  • Olivia Rodrigo “Good 4 U” (5/14/2021)
  • BTS “Butter” (5/21/2021)
  • Ed Sheeran “Bad Habits” (6/25/2021)
  • Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow “Industry Baby” (7/23/2021)
  • Adele “Easy on Me” (10/15/2021)

2022


Top 1%

Top 2%


2023


Top 1%

  • Miley Cyrus “Flowers” (1/12/2023)

Top 2%


Resources/Related Links:


First posted 4/4/2012; last updated 1/17/2024.

16 comments:

  1. Absolutely my favorite list of songs and is ultimately the granddaddy of song lists!!! Nice work and I wanna keep it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should put what songs were added and removed when you update this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Are you a teeny bopper that works for rolling stone? Because that's what your list makes you look like

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment doesn't make sense on three levels. You say this makes me look like a teeny bopper who works for Rolling Stone.

      1) This isn't a personal best-of list. As I explain in the first paragraph, this is an aggregate of hundreds of best-of lists.

      2) Teeny bopper? Wouldn't a teenager's choices be largely confined to music of the 21st century? That would exclude more than 800 songs on this list from the average teenager's consideration.

      3) Rolling Stone? Considering the magazine debuted in the 1960s and typically doesn't reach back any further than the 1950s in their best-of lists, than that would take 400+ songs off the table from what they would typically consider.

      Delete
  4. It'd be cool to see a list of the top 100 non-english songs of all time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for taking the time to compile this amazing list. I plan on making a playlist and I was hoping that you can create a changelog of any new songs when you update this list in the future so I don't miss out on anything. Again, I really appreciate the work youre doing. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback. That's awesome that you are making a playlist based on this. I know I've been exposed to a lot of music - especially pre-1950s - as a result of compiling lists this this.

      As for a changelog, I definitely understand why it would be helpful. I'm sorry I haven't done that. It might in the future, but this is a bear of a list to maintain as it is!

      Delete
  6. There's a typo on number 276 with 2 songs on the same number

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the catch! I'm grateful to have someone keep me in check. It has been corrected.

      Delete
  7. Why is there 1060 songs now?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Listening to all of these in order, as I am doing, is quite the experience!

    ReplyDelete
  9. There are songs listed twice; Just One of Those Things in 1935, A Boy Named Sue in 1969, and Jack & Diane in 1982. It would be neat if these three spots are replaced with other songs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the catch! I've made the corrections.

      Delete