Music VF: Songs of the Year, 1900-2018

Music VF: Songs of the Year, 1900-2022

Music VF is an online database of more than 120,000 U.S. and UK chart hits. One can search for top songs and artists by year and by decade. Here are the top songs of each year according to Music VF: Check out other “songs of the year” lists here. 2022: Sam Smith with Kim Petras “Unholy” 2021: Adele “Easy on Me” 2020: Doja Cat “Say So” 2019: Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road” 2018: Ariana Grande “Thank U, Next” 2017: DJ Khaled “I’m the One” 2016: Rihanna with Drake “Work” 2015: Adele “Hello” 2014: Meghan Trainor “All About That Bass” 2013: Robin Thicke with T.I. & Pharrell Williams “Blurred Lines” 2012: Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe” 2011: Gotye with Kimbra “Somebody That I Used to Know” 2010: Adele “Rolling in the Deep” 2009: Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow” 2008: Coldplay “Viva La Vida” 2007: Rihanna with Jay-Z “Umbrella” 2006: Beyoncé “Irreplaceable” 2005: Mariah Carey “We Belong Together” 2004: Mario “Let Me Love You” 2003: Beyoncé with Jay-Z “Crazy in Love” 2002: Eminem “Lose Yourself” 2001: Nickelback “How You Remind Me” 2000: Destiny’s Child “Independent Women” 1999: Santana with Rob Thomas “Smooth” 1998: Cher “Believe” 1997: Elton John “Candle in the Wind 1997 (Goodbye England’s Rose)” 1996: No Doubt “Don’t Speak” 1995: Mariah Carey with Boyz II Men “One Sweet Day” 1994: Boyz II Men “I’ll Make Love to You” 1993: Janet Jackson “That’s the Way Love Goes” 1992: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” 1991: Bryan Adams > “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” 1990: Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” 1989: Madonna “Like a Prayer” 1988: Phil Collins “A Groovy Kind of Love” 1987: Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me” 1986: Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald “On My Own” 1985: U.S.A. for Africa “We Are the World” 1984: Stevie Wonder “I Just Called to Say I Love You” 1983: The Police “Every Breath You Take” 1982: Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1981: The Human League “Don’t You Want Me?” 1980: Diana Ross “Upside Down” 1979: Anita Ward “Ring My Bell” 1978: Bee Gees “Night Fever” 1977: Bee Gees “How Deep Is Your Love” 1976: Elton John & Kiki Dee “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” 1975: The Four Seasons “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” 1974: Terry Jacks “Seasons in the Sun” 1973: Tony Orlando & Dawn “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree” 1972: Gilbert O’Sullivan “Alone Again (Naturally)” 1971: Harry Nilsson “Without You” 1970: Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water” 1969: The Archies “Sugar, Sugar” 1968: Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” 1967: Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra “Somethin’ Stupid” 1966: The Monkees “I’m a Believer” 1965: The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” 1964: The Supremes “Baby Love” 1963: The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” 1962: Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” 1961: Del Shannon “Runaway” 1960: Elvis Presley “It’s Now or Never” 1959: Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” 1958: The Everly Brothers “All I Have to Do Is Dream” 1957: Elvis Presley “All Shook Up” 1956: Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” 1955: Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” 1954: Kitty Kallen “Little Things Mean a Lot” 1953: Frankie Laine “I Believe” 1952: Al Martino “Here in My Heart” 1951: Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads “Cry” 1950: Red Foley “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” 1949: Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely “Slipping Around” 1948: Pee Wee Hunt “Twelfth Street Rag” 1947: Tex Williams “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)” 1946: The Ink Spots “The Gypsy” 1945: The Andrews Sisters “Rum and Coca Cola” 1944: The Mills Brothers “You Always Hurt the One You Love” 1943: Al Dexter & His Troopers “Pistol Packin’ Mama” 1942: Glenn Miller with Ray Eberle & The Modernaires “Moonlight Cocktail” 1941: Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & the Four Modernaires…Chattanooga Choo Choo 1940: Glenn Miller “Tuxedo Junction” 1939: Glenn Miller “In the Mood” 1938: Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” 1937: Bing Crosby with Lani McIntyre & His Hawaiians “Sweet Leilani” 1936: Bing Crosby “Pennies from Heaven” 1935: Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers & Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Cheek to Cheek” 1934: Ray Noble with Al Bowlly “Isle of Capri” 1933: George Olsen with Joe Morrison “The Last Round-Up” 1932: Ted Lewis “In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town” 1931: Wayne King “Goodnight Sweetheart” 1930: Rudy Vallee “Stein Song (University of Maine)” 1929: Nick Lucas “Tip Toe Through the Tulips” 1928: Al Jolson “Sonny Boy” 1927: Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven” 1926: Paul Whiteman with Franklyn Baur “Valencia (A Song of Spain)” 1925: Gene Austin with Billy Carpenter “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby” 1924: Wendell Hall “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’” 1923: Paul Whiteman “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” 1922: Al Jolson “April Showers” 1921: Isham Jones “Wabash Blues” 1920: Paul Whiteman “Whispering” 1919: Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again” 1918: Henry Burr “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight” 1917: American Quartet “Over There” 1916: Henry Burr “M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me)” 1915: George MacFarlane “A Little Bit of Heaven (Shure, They Call It Ireland)” 1914: Joe Hayman “Cohen on the Telephone” 1913: Chauncey Olcott “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” 1912: American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” 1911: Arthur Collins and Bryon G. Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” 1910: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” 1909: Haydn Quartet “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet” 1908: Alan Turner “As Long As the World Rolls On” 1907: Bryon G. Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” 1906: Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” 1905: Arthur Collins “The Preacher and the Bear” 1904: Haydyn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” 1903: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime” 1902: Len Spencer “The Arkansaw Traveler” 1901: Harry MacDonough & Grace Spencer “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” 1900: George J. Gaskin “When You Were Sweet Sixteen” Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “‘Songs of the Year’ lists” MusicVF.com First posted 4/8/2019; last updated 1/7/2023.