Bob Dylan: Top 100 Songs

Bob Dylan Top 100 Songs

Folk-rock singer/songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player born Robert Allen Zimmerman on 5/24/1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Took stage name from poet Dylan Thomas. Gained a reputation as one of rock music’s greatest lyricists with his political and socially-conscious songs, even winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his lyrics. He went to New York City in 1960 and worked in folk clubs in Greenwich Village. He signed to Columbia Records in October 1961. Retired briefly following a motorcycle accident on 7/29/1966. He was born into a Jewish family, but became a born-again Christian in the late ‘70s and released several gospel-oriented albums from 1979-81 before returning to more folk-rock oriented fare. He has steadily toured since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. Member of the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys (88-91). Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower” are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era 1954-1999. Three of his albums – Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde (1966), and Blood on the Tracks (1975) – are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of All Time. Click here to see other best-of lists from performers and here to see other best-of lists from songwriters and/or producers.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Written and/or Performed by Bob Dylan Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. DMDB Top 1%: 1. Like a Rolling Stone (1965) 2. All Along the Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968) 3. Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds, 1965) 4. Blowin’ in the Wind (1963) DMDB Top 2%: 5. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964) 6. Tangled Up in Blue (1975) 7. Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965) 8. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (1973) DMDB Top 5%: 9. Positively 4th Street (1965) 10. Hurricane (1975) 11. Just Like a Woman (1966) 12. Blowin’ in the Wind (Peter, Paul & Mary; 1963) 13. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (1966) 14. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (1963) 15. Lay Lady Lay (1969) 16. I Want You (1966) 17. Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) DMDB Top 10%: 18. To Make You Feel My Love (Adele, 2008) 19. Visions of Johanna (1966) 20. Blowin’ in the Wind (Stevie Wonder, 1966) 21. My Back Pages (The Byrds, 1967) 22. If Not for You (Olivia Newton-John, 1971) 23. The Mighty Quinn (Manfred Mann, 1968) 24. Gotta Serve Somebody (1979) 25. Masters of War (1963) 26. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Guns N’ Roses, 1987) 27. Handle with Care (Traveling Wilburys, 1988) 28. The House of the Rising Sun (1962) 29. All Along the Watchtower (1967) 30. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (1965) DMDB Top 20%: 31. Forever Young (1974) 32. Desolation Row (1965) 33. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (1963) 34. Things Have Changed (2000) 35. Like a Rolling Stone (The Rolling Stones, 1995) 36. Maggie’s Farm (1965) 37. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Eric Clapton, 1975) 38. Ballad of a Thin Man (1965) 39. I Threw It All Away (1969) 40. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (1966) 41. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) 42. Steel Bars (Michael Bolton, 1991) 43. Can You Please Crawl Out My Window? (1966) 44. Like a Rolling Stone (John Mellencamp, 1992) 45. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (The Byrds, 1968) 46. End of the Line (Traveling Wilburys, 1988) 47. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bryan Ferry, 1973) 48. My Back Pages (1964) 49. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (1966) 50. If Not for You (1970) 51. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine (live with the Band, 1974) 52. Girl from the North Country (1963) 53. Like a Rolling Stone (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1967) 54. On a Night Like This (with the Band, 1974) 55. I Shall Be Released (1967) 56. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (1967) 57. It Ain’t Me, Babe (The Turtles, 1965) 58. Blowin’ in the Wind (U2, 1984) 59. My Back Pages (live with Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, & George Harrison, 1992) 60. Not Dark Yet (1997) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 61. Shelter from the Storm (1975) 62. Wigwam (1970) 63. Mississippi (2001) 64. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Robert Palmer with UB40, 1990) 65. The Mighty Quinn (with the Band, 1967) 66. Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You (1969) 67. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (with the Band, 1967) 68. All Along the Watchtower (Indigo Girls, 1990) 69. Dignity (1994) 70. Isis (1976) 71. It Ain’t Me, Babe (Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash, 1964) 72. Everything Is Broken (1989) 73. It Ain’t Me, Babe (1964) 74. Masters of War (Eddie Vedder & Mike McCready live, 1992) 75. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) (1966) 76. Blind Willie McTell (1983) 77. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Randy Crawford with Eric Clapton & David Sanborn, 1989) 78. To Make You Feel My Love (Garth Brooks, 1998) 79. You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go (1975) 80. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (The Four Seasons, 1965) 81. All Along the Watchtower (U2 live, 1987) 82. I Believe in You (1979) 83. George Jackson (1971) 84. Silvio (1988) 85. A Fool Such As I (1969) 86. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands (1966) 87. She’s My Baby (Traveling Wilburys, 1990) 88. All I Really Want to Do (1964) 89. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, 1990) 90. Idiot Wind (1975) 91. I Shall Be Released (The Band, 1968) 92. Every Grain of Sand (1981) 93. Like a Rolling Stone (Flatt & Scruggs, 1968) 94. Mozambique (1976) 95. Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (1964) 96. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Tracy Chapman, 1992) 97. Mr. Tambourine Man (Crowded House with Roger McGuinn as Byrdhouse, 1989) 98. Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts (1967) 99. I Shall Be Released (The Box Tops, 1969) 100. Love Sick (1997) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Bob Dylan Dave’s Music Database: “Best-of Lists for Performers” Dave’s Music Database: “Best-of Lists for Songwriters and/or Producers First posted 5/24/2013; last updated 5/27/2021.