Digital Dream Door: Songs of the Year (1920-2023)

Digital Dream Door: Songs of the year, 1920-2023

Digital Dream Door offers multiple best-of music lists, including song-of-the-year lists from 1940 to present. Here are the best songs from each year: Check out other “songs of the year” lists here. 2023: Miley Cyrus “Flowers” 2022: Harry Styles “As It Was” 2021: Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” 2020: Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion “WAP” 2019: Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road” 2018: Lady Gaga with Bradley Cooper “Shallow” 2017: Ed Sheeran “Shape of You” 2016: The Weeknd with Daft Punk “Starboy” 2015: Adele “Hello” 2014: Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk!” 2013: Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams “Get Lucky” 2012: Psy “Gangnam Style” 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: M.I.A. “Paper Planes” 2006: Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” 2005: Gorillaz with De La Soul “Feel Good Inc.” 2004: Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out” 2003: OutKast “Hey Ya!” 2002: Eminem “Lose Yourself” 2001: The Strokes “Last Nite” 2000: Radiohead “Idioteque” 1999: Eminem “My Name Is…” 1998: Lauryn Hill “Doo Wop (That Thing)” 1997: The Verve “Bitter Sweet Symphony” 1996: Fugees “Killing Me Softly” 1995: Coolio with L.V. “Gangsta’s Paradise” 1994: TLC “Waterfalls” 1993: Beck “Loser” 1992: Dr. Dre with Snoop Doggy Dogg “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” 1991: Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” 1990: Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” 1989: Public Enemy “Fight the Power” 1988: Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” 1987: Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” 1986: Run-D.M.C. with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler & Joe Perry “Walk This Way” 1985: Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” 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: Bruce Springsteen…Born to Run 1974: Bob Marley & the Wailers “No Woman, No Cry” 1973: Lynyrd Skynyrd “Free Bird” 1972: Stevie Wonder “Superstition” 1971: Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” 1970: Derek & the Dominos “Layla” 1969: Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love” 1968: Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” 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 Kingsmen “Louie Louie” 1962: Booker T. & the MG’s “Green Onions” 1961: Ben E. King “Stand by Me” 1960: The Shirelles “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” 1959: Ray Charles “What’d I Say” 1958: Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode” 1957: Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock” 1956: Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” 1955: Little Richard “Tutti Frutti” 1954: Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” 1953: The Drifters “Money Honey” 1952: Lloyd Price “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” 1951: The Dominoes “Sixty Minute Man” 1950: Fats Domino “The Fat Man” 1949: Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” 1948: Wynonie Harris “Good Rockin’ Tonight” 1947: T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” 1946: Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” 1945: Louis Jordan “Caldonia” 1944: The Mills Brothers “You Always Hurt the One You Love” 1943: Al Dexter & His Troopers “Pistol Packin’ Mama” 1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers & the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “White Christmas” 1941: Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” 1940: Artie Shaw “Stardust” 1939: Glenn Miller “In the Mood” 1938: Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” 1937: Count Basie “One O’Clock Jump” 1936: Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues (aka ‘Crossroads’)” 1935: Bing Crosby “Silent Night” 1934: Duke Ellington “Cocktails for Two” 1933: Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” 1932: Duke Ellington with Ivie Anderson “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” 1931: Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher” 1930: Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton “Body and Soul” 1929: Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’” 1928: Louis Armstrong “West End Blues” 1927: Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven” 1926: Gene Austin “Bye Bye Blackbird” 1925: Vernon Dalhart “The Prisoner’s Song” 1924: Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” 1923: Bessie Smith “Down Hearted Blues” 1922: Fanny Brice “My Man (Mon Homme)” 1921: Paul Whiteman “My Mammy” 1920: Al Jolson “Swanee” Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “‘Songs of the Year’ lists” Digital Dream Door First posted 4/6/2019; last updated 1/3/2025.