Doo-wop emerged in the 1950s as an integral force in the shaping of early rock and roll. The genre was marked by vocal groups, predominantly male and black.
This list was originally a top 20 list posted on the DMDB Facebook page in 2010 after I stumbled across a Doo Wop Hall of Fame (which looks like someone’s personal site). The list has since been revised, aggregating more than 25 best-of lists of doo-wops songs (see sources at the bottom of the page). Those songs appearing on three or more lists were then ranked based on their overall status in Dave’s Music Database.
You can check out an older version of this list here which was used by Stuart Weiss, a DJ with MemoryLaneOldies.com, to do a top 100 countdown his Sunday Night Doo Wop Party radio show in March 2021.
Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.
The DMDB Top 1%
1. The Penguins “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” (1954)
2. The Flamingos “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1959)
3. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (1956)
4. Danny & The Juniors “At the Hop” (1957)
5. The Platters “The Great Pretender” (1955)
6. The Platters “Only You (And You Alone)” (1955)
7. The Five Satins “In the Still of the Nite (I’ll Remember)” (1956)
8. The Chords “Sh-Boom” (1954)
9. The Drifters “Save the Last Dance for Me” (1960)
10. The Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)” (1961)
11. The Platters “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1958)
12. The Orioles “Crying in the Chapel” (1953)
13. The Four Seasons “Sherry” (1962)
14. Gene Chandler “Duke of Earl” (1962)
15. The Four Seasons “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (1962)
16. The Dell-Vikings “Come Go with Me” (1957)
17. The Platters “My Prayer (Avant de Mourir)” (1956)
18. The Diamonds “Little Darlin’” (1957)
The DMDB Top 2%
19. The Marcels “Blue Moon” (1961)
20. The Coasters “Yakety Yak” (1958)
21. The Platters “Twilight Time” (1958)
22. The Shirelles “Soldier Boy” (1962)
23. The Dominoes “Sixty Minute Man” (1951)
24. The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (1959)
25. Dion & the Belmonts “A Teenager in Love” (1959)
26. The Drifters “Up on the Roof” (1962)
27. The Monotones “Book of Love” (1958)
28. The Crests “Sixteen Candles” (1958)
29. The Chantels “Maybe” (1958)
30. The Skyliners “Since I Don’t Have You” (1959)
31. The Drifters “Money Honey” (1953)
32. Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs “Stay” (1960)
33. The Elegants “Little Star” (1958)
34. The Impressions featuring Jerry Butler “For Your Precious Love” (1958)
35. The Silhouettes “Get a Job” (1958)
36. The Coasters “Searchin’” (1957)
37. The Shirelles “Dedicated to the One I Love” (1959)
38. The Bobbettes “Mr. Lee” (1957)
39. The Rays “Silhouettes” (1957)
40. The Dominoes with Billy Ward “Stardust” (1957)
41. The Spaniels “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight” (1954)
42. The Fleetwoods “Come Softly to Me” (1959)
43. Dion & the Belmonts “I Wonder Why” (1958)
44. The Clovers “Love Potion No. 9” (1959)
45. The Chordettes “Lollipop” (1958)
The DMDB Top 5%
46. The Crows “Gee” (1954)
47. Little Anthony & the Imperials “Tears on My Pillow” (1958)
48. The Capris “There’s a Moon Out Tonight” (1960)
49. The Dells “Oh What a Nite” (1956)
50. The Coasters “Charlie Brown” (1959)
51. The Cadillacs “Speedoo” (1955)
52. The Coasters “Young Blood” (1957)
53. Shep & the Limelites “Daddy’s Home” (1961)
54. The Moonglows “Sincerely” (1955)
55. The Coasters “Poison Ivy” (1959)
56. The Orioles “It’s Too Soon to Know” (1948)
57. The Duprees “You Belong to Me” (1962)
58. The Danleers “One Summer Night” (1958)
59. The Jive Five “My True Story” (1961)
60. The Heartbeats “A Thousand Miles Away” (1956)
61. The Harptones “A Sunday Kind of Love” (1953)
62. Curtis Lee & the Halos “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” (1961)
63. The Dell-Vikings “Whispering Bells” (1957)
64. The Impalas “Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)” (1959)
65. The Cleftones “Little Girl of Mine” (1956)
66. The Earls “Remember Then” (1962)
67. The Coasters (as The Robins) “Smokey Joe’s Café” (1955)
68. The El Dorados “At My Front Door” (1955)
69. The Cleftones “Heart and Soul” (1961)
The DMDB Top 10%
70. The Clovers “Devil or Angel” (1955)
71. The Mello-Kings “Tonite Tonite” (1957)
72. The Five Satins “To the Aisle” (1957)
73. The Flamingos “Lovers Never Say Goodbye” (1958)
74. The Skyliners “This I Swear” (1959)
75. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Teardrops” (1957)
76. Dion & the Belmonts “Where or When” (1959)
77. Randy & the Rainbows “Denise” (1963)
78. The Olympics “Western Movies” (1958)
79. The Spaniels “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1958)
80. The Jaguars “The Way You Look Tonight” (1956)
81. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Long Lonely Nights” (1957)
82. The Falcons “You’re So Fine” (1959)
83. The Turbans “When You Dance” (1955)
84. The Chimes “Once in Awhile” (1960)
85. The Willows “Church Bells May Ring” (1956)
86. The Dubs “Could This Be Magic” (1957)
87. Little Caesar & the Romans “Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me of You” (1961)
88. The Blue Jays “Lover’s Island” (1961)
89. Danny & the Juniors “Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay” (1958)
90. The Shirelles “Tonight’s the Night” (1960)
91. The Shields “You Cheated” (1958)
92. The Mystics “Hushabye” (1959)
93. The Nutmegs “Story Untold” (1955)
94. The Cadillacs “Gloria” (1954)
The DMDB Top 20%
95. The Clovers “Blue Velvet” (1955)
96. The Crests “The Angels Listened In” (1959)
97. The Regents “Barbara-Ann” (1961)
98. The Classics “Till Then” (1963)
99. The Safaris “Image of a Girl” (1960)
100. The Crests “Step by Step” (1960)
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Number eleven on your list of top 100 doo-wop songs is "Big Girls Don't Cry" by the Four Tops. Shouldn't that be the Four Seasons? You seem to have a typo that needs to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the catch. It has been corrected.
Deleteyes but what about the rare doo wop which was never heard I have kept the rare oldies alive for 35 years www.dustybagoldies.com
ReplyDeleteI can send you my list of fantastic doowop of all time. if you like.
ReplyDeleteSorry, this comment managed to escape my attention but I welcome your list and can factor it in with the others.
DeleteWhere is Blueberry Hill and Ain't that a Shame?
ReplyDeleteBoth appear on the Dave's Music Database of rock-n-roll origin songs. Check out the list here: https://davesmusicdatabase.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-birth-of-rock-and-roll-top-100-songs.html
DeleteSome of these groups were not Doo Wop, eg Skyliners, Four Seasons, Platters, Tokens, Danny and the Juniors. And others. Groups that best exemplify classic Doo Wop (little or no instruments), Chords, Harptones, Orioles, Moonglows, Dominoes, Clovers, Five Satins, Nutmegs, Cadillacs, and The Students (not mentioned but maybe the best ever), and The High Keys, a later group but pure Doo Wop.
ReplyDeleteAs noted at the beginning of the page, this list was created by aggregating multiple lists of doo-wop songs. If enough lists referenced a song as a doo-wop classic, it made the list.
DeleteI'm sorry but I don't agree with listing "Little Darlin" by the Diamonds when the Gladiolas version was real doo-wop.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about which songs showed up on the most lists.
DeleteWhat about Billy Joel longest time
ReplyDeleteSorry, it just doesn't show up on the lists, which are pretty focused on the doo-wop of the 1950s. "The Longest Time" is a pretty decent homage to the genre, though.
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