From RateYourMusic.com: “In 2000, National Public Radio assembled a list of the 300 most significant American recordings and compositions of the 20th century. The 300 works were selected by a panel of NPR music contributors, musicians, music historians, and music critics…The list features everything from jazz, gospel, and show tunes to punk, hip hop, and techno. They later narrowed the list to 100 as based on listener votes.”
The list was mostly songs, but oddly included some albums as well. This page focuses just on the songs. The original list was unranked, but they have been listed here based on their overall DMDB rank.
Click here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.
Here are the 80 songs which ranked in the top 100:
1. Bing Crosby “White Christmas” (1942)
2. Bill Haley & the Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” (1954)
3. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
4. Aretha Franklin “Respect” (1967)
5. The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” (1966)
6. Arthur Collins with Byron Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
7. Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965)
8. Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” (1959)
9. Otis Redding “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (1968)
10. Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” (1956)
11. Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” (1956)
12. Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Night and Day” (1932)
13. Glenn Miller Orchestra “In the Mood” (1939)
14. Artie Shaw “Stardust” (1941)
15. Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” (1925)
16. The Doors “Light My Fire” (1967)
17. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)
18. The Temptations “My Girl” (1965)
19. Billy Murray “Give My Regards to Broadway” (1905)
20. Ray Charles “What’d I Say” (1959)
21. Al Green “Let’s Stay Together” (1971)
22. Dooley Wilson “As Time Goes By” (1942)
23. The Weavers “Goodnight Irene” (1950)
24. Coleman Hawkins Orchestra “Body and Soul” (1940)
25. Patsy Cline “Crazy” (1961)
26. Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo” (1931)
27. Carl Perkins “Blue Suede Shoes” (1956)
28. Jerry Lee Lewis “Great Balls of Fire” (1957)
29. Red Nichols “I Got Rhythm” (1930)
30. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Purple Haze” (1967)
31. Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924)
32. Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)
33. Ritchie Valens “La Bamba” (1958)
34. Buddy Holly & the Crickets “Peggy Sue” (1957)
35. Johnny Cash “I Walk the Line” (1956)
36. Harry James Orchestra with Frank Sinatra “All or Nothing at All” (1939)
37. Bob Dylan “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963)
38. The Kingston Trio “Tom Dooley” (1958)
39. Chuck Berry “Maybellene” (1955)
40. James Taylor “Fire and Rain” (1970)
41. Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” (1940)
42. Isaac Hayes “Theme from Shaft” (1971)
43. The Sugarhill Gang “Rapper’s Delight” (1979)
44. James Brown “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (1965)
45. Benny Goodman Orchestra “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)
46. Fats Domino “Ain't That a Shame” (1955)
47. Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime” (1980)
48. Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (1949)
49. Louis Armstrong “West End Blues” (1928)
50. Count Basie Orchestra “One O’Clock Jump” (1937)
51. Wayne King with Ernie Birchill “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (1931)
52. Louis Armstrong “Hello, Dolly!” (1964)
53. Dave Brubeck Quartet “Take Five” (1959)
54. The Carter Family “Wildwood Flower” (1928)
55. Tammy Wynette “Stand by Your Man” (1968)
56. Hal McIntyre with Ruth Gaylor “My Funny Valentine” (1937)
57. Ramones “I Wanna Be Sedated” (1978)
58. Thelonious Monk “Round Midnight” (1947)
59. Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954)
60. Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (1947)
61. Nat “King” Cole “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” (1946)
62. Santana “Oye Como Va” (1970)
63. Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1970)
64. Robert Johnson “Hellhound on My Trail” (1937)
65. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1950)
66. Jelly Roll Morton “King Porter Stomp” (1923)
67. Charlie Parker with Miles Davis & Dizzy Gillespie “Ko-Ko” (1945)
68. Thomas A. Dorsey “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” (1932)
69. Dizzy Gillespie “A Night in Tunisia” (1946)
70. Gene Autry “Back in the Saddle Again” (1939)
71. Pete Seeger “We Shall Overcome” (1963)
72. Aaron Copland “Appalachian Spring” (1944)
73. Count Basie “Lester Leaps In” (1939)
74. Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton “Grand Canyon Suite” (1932)
75. The Modern Jazz Quartet “Django” (1954)
76. Billie Holiday “Fine and Mellow” (1957)
77. Mahalia Jackson “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (1951)
78. Samuel Barber “Adagio for Strings” (1938)
79. Igor Stravinsky “Symphony of Psalms” (1948)
80. John Cage “4:33 (Cage Against the Machine Version)” (2010)
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First posted 3/31/2021. | 
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