Dave's Music Database: Song of the Year

DMDB Song of the Year: 1890-2022

These are the best songs for each year from 1900 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. 2022: Harry Styles “As It Was” 2021: Olivia Rodrigo “Drivers License” 2020: Glass Animals “Heat Waves” 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: Adele “Hello” 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: Mariah Carey “We Belong Together” 2004: Usher, Lil Jon & Ludacris “Yeah!” 2003: OutKast “Hey Ya!” 2002: Eminem “Lose Yourself” 2001: Nickelback “How You Remind Me” 2000: Madonna “Music” 1999: Santana with Rob Thomas “Smooth” 1998: Britney Spears “Baby One More Time” 1997: Elton John “Candle in the Wind 1997 (Goodbye England’s Rose)” 1996: Spice Girls “Wannabe” 1995: Los Del Rio “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)” 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: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “I Love Rock and Roll” 1980: Blondie “Call Me” 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: Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly with His Song” 1972: Stevie Wonder “Superstition” 1971: John Lennon “Imagine” 1970: Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water” 1969: Elvis Presley “Suspicious Minds” 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 Animals “The House of the Rising Sun” 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: Chubby Checker “The Twist” 1959: Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” 1958: Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode” 1957: Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock” 1956: Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” 1955: Little Richard “Tutti Frutti” 1954: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” 1953: Les Paul & Mary Ford “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)” 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: Dinah Shore & Her Harper Valley Boys “Buttons and Bows” 1947: : Francis Craig with Bob Lamm “Near You” 1946: Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” 1945: Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” 1944: Bing Crosby “Swinging on a Star” 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: Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra “I’ll Never Smile Again” 1939: Judy Garland “Over the Rainbow” 1938: Artie Shaw Begin the Beguine 1937: Fred Astaire “They Can't Take That Away from Me” 1936: Fred Astaire “The Way You Look Tonight” 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: Ben Selvin “Happy Days Are Here Again” 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: Al Jolson “April Showers” 1921: Van & Schenck “Ain’t We Got Fun?” 1920: Al Jolson “Swanee” 1919: Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again” 1918: Al Jolson “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” 1917: American Quartet “Over There” 1916: Henry Burr “M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me)” 1915: John McCormack “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” 1914: Arthur Collins and Bryon G. Harlan “The Aba Daba Honeymoon” 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: Haydn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” 1903: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime” 1902: Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” 1901: Harry MacDonough & Grace Spencer “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” 1900: Vess Ossman “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)” 1899: Arthur Collins “Hello Ma Baby” 1898: Edison Male Quartette “My Old Kentucky Home” 1897: John Philip Sousa “The Stars and Stripes Forever” 1896: Dan Quinn “A Hot Time in the Old Town” 1895: Dan Quinn “The Band Played On” 1894: Vess Ossman “Yankee Doodle” 1893: George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” 1892: Len Spencer “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” 1891: John Yorke Atlee “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)” 1890: U.S. Marine Band “Semper Fidelis” Resources: Dave’s Music Database: Top Songs and Albums by Year lists Dave’s Music Database: Songs of the Year lists Dave’s Music Database: “Songs-of-the-Decade Lists First posted 3/31/2019; last updated 12/31/2022.