These are the best songs for each year from 1800 to present, according to Dave’s Music Database. Rankings are determined by aggregating multiple best-of lists along with chart data, sales figures, radio and video airplay, and streams.
Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
- 2024: Shaboozey “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
- 2023: Miley Cyrus “Flowers”
- 2022: Harry Styles “As It Was”
- 2021: The Kid Laroi with Justin Bieber “Stay”
- 2020: Dua Lipa with DaBaby “Levitating”
- 2019: The Weeknd “Blinding Lights”
- 2018: Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road”
- 2017: Ed Sheeran “Shape of You”
- 2016: The Chainsmokers with Halsey “Closer”
- 2015: Wiz Khalifa with Charlie Puth “See You Again”
- 2014: Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk!”
- 2013: Pharrell Williams “Happy”
- 2012: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Wanz “Thrift Shop”
- 2011: Gotye with Kimbra “Somebody That I Used to Know”
- 2010: Adele “Rolling in the Deep”
- 2009: Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling”
- 2008: Beyoncé “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
- 2007: Rihanna with Jay-Z “Umbrella”
- 2006: Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
- 2005: Kanye West & Jamie Foxx “Gold Digger”
- 2004: Usher, Lil Jon & Ludacris “Yeah!”
- 2003: OutKast “Hey Ya!”
- 2002: Eminem “Lose Yourself”
- 2001: Nickelback “How You Remind Me”
- 2000: U2 “Beautiful Day”
- 1999: Santana with Rob Thomas “Smooth”
- 1998: Britney Spears “Baby One More Time”
- 1997: Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On”
- 1996: Spice Girls “Wannabe”
- 1995: Oasis “Wonderwall”
- 1994: Boyz II Men “I’ll Make Love to You”
- 1993: Beck “Loser”
- 1992: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”
- 1991: Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
- 1990: Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”
- 1989: Madonna “Like a Prayer”
- 1988: Tracy Chapman “Fast Car”
- 1987: Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
- 1986: Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer”
- 1985: USA for Africa “We Are the World”
- 1984: Prince “When Doves Cry”
- 1983: The Police “Every Breath You Take”
- 1982: Michael Jackson “Billie Jean”
- 1981: Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’”
- 1980: AC/DC “You Shook Me All Night Long”
- 1979: Pink Floyd “Another Brick in the Wall Part II”
- 1978: Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”
- 1977: Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive”
- 1976: Eagles “Hotel California”
- 1975: Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”
- 1974: Lynyrd Skynyrd “Sweet Home Alabama”
- 1973: Lynyrd Skynyrd “Free Bird”
- 1972: Stevie Wonder “Superstition”
- 1971: John Lennon “Imagine”
- 1970: Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
- 1969: The Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Women”
- 1968: The Beatles “Hey Jude”
- 1967: Aretha Franklin “Respect”
- 1966: The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”
- 1965: The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
- 1964: The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
- 1963: The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
- 1962: Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
- 1961: Ben E. King “Stand by Me”
- 1960: Ray Charles “Georgia on My Mind”
- 1959: Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife”
- 1958: The Platters “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
- 1957: Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock”
- 1956: Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel”
- 1955: Mitch Miller “The Yellow Rose of Texas”
- 1954: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock”
- 1953: Hank Williams “Your Cheatin’ Heart”
- 1952: Jo Stafford “You Belong to Me”
- 1951: Les Paul & Mary Ford “How High the Moon”
- 1950: Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz”
- 1949: Gene Autry & the Pinafores “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
- 1948: Pee Wee Hunt “Twelfth Street Rag”
- 1947: The Harmonicats “Peg O’ My Heart”
- 1946: Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”
- 1945: Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey”
- 1944: Bing Crosby “I’ll Be Seeing You”
- 1943: Harry James with Helen Forrest “I’ve Heard That Song Before”
- 1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers & the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “White Christmas”
- 1941: Artie Shaw “Stardust”
- 1940: Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul”
- 1939: Judy Garland “Over the Rainbow”
- 1938: Artie Shaw Begin the Beguine
- 1937: Fred Astaire “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”
- 1936: Billie Holiday “Summertime”
- 1935: Fred Astaire “Cheek to Cheek”
- 1934: Guy Lombardo “Winter Wonderland”
- 1933: Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)”
- 1932: Fred Astaire “Night and Day”
- 1931: Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo”
- 1930: Ted Lewis “On the Sunny Side of the Street”
- 1929: Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’”
- 1928: Cliff Edwards “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”
- 1927: Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven”
- 1926: George Olsen with Fran Frey, Bob Rice, & Edward Joyce “Always”
- 1925: Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues”
- 1924: Isham Jones “It Had to Be You”
- 1923: Van & Schenck “Carolina in the Morning”
- 1922: Henry Burr “My Buddy”
- 1921: Al Jolson “April Showers”
- 1920: Al Jolson “Swanee”
- 1919: Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again”
- 1918: Original Dixieland Jazz Band “Tiger Rag”
- 1917: American Quartet “Over There”
- 1916: Billy Murray “Pretty Baby”
- 1915: John McCormack “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary”
- 1914: Prince's Orchestra “Ballin’ the Jack”
- 1913: Al Jolson “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)”
- 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: Harry MacDonough with Elise Stevenson (as Miss Walton) “Shine on, Harvest Moon”
- 1908: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
- 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: Billy Murray “Give My Regards to Broadway”
- 1904: Billy Murray “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis”
- 1903: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime”
- 1902: Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home”
- 1901: Byron G. Harlan “Hello Central, Give Me Heaven”
- 1900: Steve Porter “A Bird in a Gilded Cage”
- 1899: Arthur Collins “Hello Ma Baby”
- 1898: Edison Male Quartette “My Old Kentucky Home”
- 1897: John Philip Sousa “The Stars and Stripes Forever”
- 1896: James Black and Katharine Purvis (writers) “When the Saints Go Marching In”
- 1895: Katherine Lee Bates (m) & Samuel A. Ward (w) “America the Beautiful”
- 1894: traditional “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”
- 1893: George J. Gaskin “After the Ball”
- 1892: Len Spencer “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay”
- 1891: Billy Golden “Turkey in the Straw”
- 1890: John Yorke Atlee “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)”
- 1889: “Little Annie Rooney”
- 1888: “Where Did You Get That Hat”
- 1887: “Away in a Manger”
- 1886: “Johnny Get Your Gun”
- 1885: “How Great Thou Art”
- 1884: “Rock-a-Bye Baby”
- 1883: “The Farmer in the Dell”
- 1882: “Wabash Cannonball” (aka “The Great Rock Island Route”)
- 1881: Charles E. Pratt “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”
- 1880: “Funicili Funicula”
- 1879: “Dem Golden Slippers” (aka “Oh! Dem Golden Slippers”)
- 1878: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
- 1877: “Chopsticks”
- 1876: “Grandfather’s Clock”
- 1875: “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen”
- 1874: “Home on the Range”
- 1873: “Silver Threads Among the Gold”
- 1872: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
- 1871: “Onward Christian Soldiers”
- 1870: “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain”
- 1869: “Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me”
- 1868: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
- 1867: “Michael Row the Boat”
- 1866: “Goober Peas”
- 1865: “What Child Is This?”
- 1864: “O Where, O Where Has My Little Dog Gone”
- 1863: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”
- 1862: “The Battle Cry of Freedom”
- 1861: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”
- 1860: “Good King Wenceslas”
- 1859: “Dixie”
- 1858: “Wedding March from Midsummer’s Night Dream”
- 1857: “Jingle Bells”
- 1856: “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)”
- 1855: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
- 1854: “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair”
- 1853: “The Yellow Rose of Texas”
- 1852: “Pop Goes the Weasel”
- 1851: “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)”
- 1850: “Camptown Races (Gwine to Run All Night)”
- 1849: “Blow the Man Down”
- 1848: “Jimmy Crack Corn (The Blue Tail Fly)”
- 1847: “Oh! Susanna”
- 1846:
- 1845: “Paris Qui Rit”
- 1844: “Buffalo Gals (Buffalo Girls Will You Come Out Tonight)”
- 1843: “Polly Wolly Doodle (All the Day)”
- 1842: “This Old Man (Nick Nack Paddiwak)”
- 1841: “On Top of Old Smoky”
- 1840: “The Pesky Sargent” (aka “Springfield Mountain” and “On Springfield Mountain”)
- 1839: “Near the Lake Where Drooped the Willow”
- 1838: “A Life on the Ocean Wave”
- 1837: “Shenandoah”
- 1836: “Corn Cobs Twist Your Hair”
- 1835: “Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail)”
- 1834: “Turkey in the Straw”
- 1833: “I Saw Three Ships”
- 1832: “Skip to My Lou”
- 1831: “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”
- 1830: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
- 1829: “William Tell Overture”
- 1828: “Jim Crow”
- 1827: “The Coal Black Rose”
- 1826: “Hokey Pokey”
- 1825: “Ave Maria”
- 1824: “O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)”
- 1823: “The First Noel”
- 1822: “The Fortune I Crave”
- 1821: “Invitation to the Dance (Aufforderung Zum Tanze)”
- 1820: --
- 1819: --
- 1818: “Silent Night, Holy Night (Stille Nacht, Heilge Nacht)”
- 1817: “La Gazza Ladra”
- 1816: --
- 1815: “The Blue Bells of Scotland”
- 1814: “The Star-Spangled Banner”
- 1813: “Tis the Last Rose of Summer”
- 1812: “The Battle of the Wabash”
- 1811: “Au Clair de la Lune (By the Light of the Moon)”
- 1810: “Hail to the Thief”
- 1809: --
- 1808: --
- 1807: “The Wayfaring Stranger”
- 1806: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
- 1805: “Little Miss Muffet”
- 1804: “A Foggy, Foggy Dew”
- 1803: “Polly Put the Kettle On”
- 1802: --
- 1801: “Alknomook”
- 1800: “Billy Boy”
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First posted 3/31/2019; last updated 5/12/2025. |
