Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 100 Songs

image from myfonts.com

Rolling Stone magazine has published numerous best-of lists over the years. Below is an exclusive Dave’s Music Database in which various lists from Rolling Stone have been consolidated into an aggregate list.

1. Aretha Franklin…Respect (1967)
2. Eagles…Hotel California (1977)
3. The Police…Every Breath You Take (1983)
4. Prince…Little Red Corvette (1983)
5. Marvin Gaye…What’s Going On (1971)
6. Bruce Springsteen…Born to Run (1975)
7. Michael Jackson…Billie Jean (1983)
8. Prince…When Doves Cry (1984)
9. Nirvana…Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
10. The Beatles…Hey Jude (1968)

11. John Lennon…Imagine (1971)
12. The Beach Boys…Good Vibrations (1966)
13. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five…The Message (1982)
14. The Miracles…The Tracks of My Tears (1965)
15. The Jackson 5…I Want You Back (1969)
16. Al Green…Let’s Stay Together (1971)
17. Fleetwood Mac…Go Your Own Way (1977)
18. Elton John…Your Song (1970)
19. Marvin Gaye…I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1968)
20. Sinead O’Connor…Nothing Compares 2 U (1990)

21. Creedence Clearwater Revival…Proud Mary (1969)
22. Bee Gees…Stayin’ Alive (1977)
23. Joy Division…Love Will Tear Us Apart (1980)
24. Rod Stewart…Maggie May (1971)
25. Chic…Good Times (1979)
26. The Rolling Stones…Brown Sugar (1971)
27. The Rolling Stones…(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (1965)
28. Bob Dylan…Like a Rolling Stone (1965)
29. The Beatles…I Want to Hold Your Hand (1963)
30. The Who…My Generation (1966)

31. Otis Redding…(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (1968)
32. Bob Dylan…Tangled Up in Blue (1975)
33. Stevie Wonder…Superstition (1972)
34. The Doors…Light My Fire (1967)
35. The Ronettes…Be My Baby (1963)
36. Ike & Tina Turner…River Deep, Mountain High (1966)
37. U2…With Or Without You (1987)
38. Van Morrison…Brown-Eyed Girl (1967)
39. The Rolling Stones…Honky Tonk Women (1969)
40. Sex Pistols…Anarchy in the U.K. (1976)

41. The Clash…London Calling (1980)
42. Buffalo Springfield…For What It’s Worth (1967)
43. R.E.M….Losing My Religion (1991)
44. The Jimi Hendrix Experience…All Along the Watchtower (1968)
45. The Beatles…Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)
46. OutKast…Hey Ya! (2003)
47. Elvis Presley…Suspicious Minds (1969)
48. Wilson Pickett…In the Midnight Hour (1965)
49. David Bowie…Changes (1972)
50. The Who…Won’t Get Fooled Again (1971)

51. The Rolling Stones…Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1968)
52. Guns N’ Roses…Sweet Child O’ Mine (1988)
53. Roy Orbison…Oh, Pretty Woman (1964)
54. Tom Petty…Free Fallin’ (1989)
55. Four Tops…Reach Out (I’ll Be There) (1966)
56. Ramones…I Wanna Be Sedated (1978)
57. The B-52’s…Love Shack (1989)
58. Michael Jackson…Beat It (1983)
59. Jefferson Airplane…Somebody to Love (1967)
60. Aretha Franklin…Chain of Fools (1967)

61. Run-D.M.C. with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler & Joe Perry…Walk This Way (1986)
62. U2…Pride (In the Name of Love) (1984)
63. The Rolling Stones…Miss You (1978)
64. Blue Oyster Cult…Don’t Fear the Reaper (1976)
65. Eric Clapton…Tears in Heaven (1992)
66. Foreigner…I Want to Know What Love Is (1984)
67. Al Green…Tired of Being Alone (1971)
68. The Temptations…Just My Imagination Running Away with Me (1971)
69. The Beatles…Yesterday (1965)
70. The Rolling Stones…Sympathy for the Devil (1968)

71. The Beatles…In My Life (1965)
72. The Rolling Stones…Gimme Shelter (1968)
73. U2…One (1992)
74. The Righteous Brothers…You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (1964)
75. The Beatles…A Day in the Life (1967)
76. Van Halen…Jump (1984)
77. Gnarls Barkley…Crazy (2006)
78. The Beatles…Help! (1965)
79. The Band…The Weight (1968)
80. The Kingsmen…Louie Louie (1963)

81. Percy Sledge…When a Man Loves a Woman (1966)
82. The Impressions…People Get Ready (1965)
83. Derek and the Dominos…Layla (1971)
84. Simon & Garfunkel…Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
85. Beyonce with Jay-Z…Crazy in Love (2003)
86. The Kinks…You Really Got Me (1964)
87. Chuck Berry…Johnny B. Goode (1958)
88. Procol Harum…A Whiter Shade of Pale (1967)
89. Sam Cooke…A Change Is Gonna Come (1965)
90. The Temptations…My Girl (1965)

91. Creedence Clearwater Revival…Fortunate Son (1969)
92. James Brown…Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag (1965)
93. Jay-Z…99 Problems (2003)
94. The Mamas & the Papas…California Dreamin’ (1966)
95. The Byrds…Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
96. U2…Moment of Surrender (2009)
97. Led Zeppelin…Whole Lotta Love (1969)
98. The Kinks…Waterloo Sunset (1967)
99. Elvis Presley…Heartbreak Hotel (1956)
100. Eminem…Lose Yourself (2002)

---

Resources and Related Links:

• The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years. New York, NY; Straight Arrow Publishing Company. (9/8/88; issue 534)
• The Best Records of 5 Decades (8/97)
• MTV’s “Pop 100” (12/7/00) – see MTV
• The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (12/04)
• Songs of the Decade (2000-2009) (?)
• 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (4/10)
• Rolling Stone Top 500: Critics and Reader Polls, 1967-2012 (5/7/13). Compiled by Steve Sullivan.

---