Originally this was a list of the top top folk and folk rock songs. However, I’ve now split it into two lists – one focused on folk and traditional songs and this one focused on folk rock songs. These lists were generated by aggregating multiple lists that focused on folk and folk rock and then reordering the songs based on their overall status in Dave’s Music Database.
Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.
1. Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970)
2. Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965)
3. The Animals “The House of the Rising Sun” (1964)
4. Rod Stewart “Maggie May” (1971)
5. Simon & Garfunkel “The Sounds of Silence” (1965)
6. The Byrds (1965), Bob Dylan (1965) “Mr. Tambourine Man”
7. Buffalo Springfield “For What It’s Worth” (1966)
8. The Mamas & the Papas “California Dreamin’” (1966)
9. Neil Young “Heart of Gold” (1972)
10. Simon & Garfunkel “Mrs. Robinson” (1968)
11. James Taylor “Fire and Rain” (1970)
12. Bob Dylan (1963), Peter, Paul & Mary (1963) “Blowin’ in the Wind”
13. The Turtles “Happy Together” (1967)
14. Carole King “It’s Too Late” (1971)
15. The Byrds (1965), Judy Collins (1963), Pete Seeger (1959) “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)”
16. Sonny & Cher “I Got You Babe” (1965)
17. America “A Horse with No Name” (1971)
18. Crosby, Stills & Nash “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (1969)
19. Bob Dylan “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964)
20. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975)
21. Joni Mitchell “Big Yellow Taxi” (1970)
22. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Ohio” (1970)
23. The Mamas & the Papas “Monday Monday” (1966)
24. The Beatles “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” (1965)
25. The Lovin’ Spoonful “Summer in the City” (1966)
26. The Youngbloods “Get Together” (1967)
27. Simon & Garfunkel “The Boxer” (1969)
28. Scott McKenzie “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)” (1967)
29. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Teach Your Children” (1970)
30. Bob Dylan “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1965)
31. America “Ventura Highway” (1972)
32. Donovan “Sunshine Superman” (1966)
33. Cat Stevens “Morning Has Broken” (1971)
34. Gordon Lightfoot “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (1976)
35. Simon & Garfunkel “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” (1966)
36. Neil Young “Cinnamon Girl” (1969)
37. Leonard Cohen “Suzanne” (1967)
38. Harry Nilsson “Everybody’s Talkin’” (1968)
39. Barry McGuire “Eve of Destruction” (1965)
40. Joni Mitchell “A Case of You” (1971)
41. The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe in Magic?” (1965)
42. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Our House” (1970)
43. Neil Young “Old Man” (1972)
44. Love “Alone Again Or” (1967)
45. The Searchers “Needles and Pins” (1964)
46. Bob Dylan “Hurricane” (1975)
47. Bob Dylan “Positively 4th Street” (1965)
48. Joni Mitchell (1970), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970), Matthews’ Southern Comfort (1970), Assembled Multitude (1970) “Woodstock”
49. Janis Ian “At Seventeen” (1975)
50. Pete Seeger (1963), Joan Baez (1963) “We Shall Overcome”
51. Donovan “Mellow Yellow” (1966)
52. Cat Stevens “Wild World” (1970)
53. Crosby, Stills & Nash “Marrakesh Express” (1969)
54. Simon & Garfunkel “Homeward Bound” (1966)
55. Bob Dylan (1963), Peter, Paul & Mary (1963) “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
56. Bob Dylan “Just Like a Woman” (1966)
57. Bob Dylan “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (1966)
58. The Rooftop Singers “Walk Right In” (1962)
59. The Byrds “So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star” (1967)
60. Neil Young “Southern Man” (1970)
61. The Lovin’ Spoonful “Daydream” (1966)
62. Judy Collins (1968), Joni Mitchell (1969), Dave Van Ronk (1969) “Both Sides Now”
63. Peter, Paul & Mary “Puff the Magic Dragon” (1963)
64. Bob Dylan (1964, The Byrds (1967) “My Back Pages”
65. Simon & Garfunkel “I Am a Rock” (1966)
66. Donovan “Catch the Wind” (1965)
67. Buffalo Springfield “Mr. Soul” (1967)
68. Pete Seeger (1963), Peter, Paul & Mary (1962), Trini Lopez (1963) “If I Had a Hammer”
69. The Mamas & the Papas “Creeque Alley” (1967)
70. Bob Dylan “I Want You” (1966)
71. Arlo Guthrie “Alice’s Restaurant” (1967)
72. Crosby, Stills & Nash “Wooden Ships” (1969)
73. Peter, Paul & Mary (1969), John Denver (1969) “Leaving on a Jet Plane”
74. The Byrds “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” (1965)
75. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Helplessly Hoping” (1969)
76. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (1965)
77. The Grass Roots “Let’s Live for Today” (1967)
78. Neil Young “Down by the River” (1969)
79. The Turtles “It Ain't Me Babe” (1965)
80. The Mamas & the Papas “Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)” (1967)
81. Country Joe & the Fish “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” (1967)
82. Led Zeppelin “Gallows Pole” (1970)
83. Hedy West (1961), Bobby Bare (1963), Peter, Paul & Mary (1963), Joan Baez (1965) “500 Miles”
84. The Brothers Four “Greenfields” (1960)
85. Joan Baez “Diamonds and Rust” (1975)
86. The Association “Along Comes Mary” (1966)
87. The Lovin’ Spoonful “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” (1965)
88. Bob Dylan “Masters of War” (1963)
89. Joni Mitchell “The Circle Game” (1970)
90. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Helpless” (1970)
91. Simon & Garfunkel “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” (1966)
92. Leonard Cohen “Famous Blue Raincoat” (1971)
93. Pete Seeger (1962), The Kingston Trio (1962), Joan Baez (1965) “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”
94. Gale Garnett “We'll Sing in the Sunshine” (1964)
95. Neil Young “After the Gold Rush” (1970)
96. Tim Hardin (1967), Bobby Darin (1966) “If I Were a Carpenter”
97. Buffy Sainte-Marie (1964), Donovan (1965) “Universal Soldier”
98. Janis Ian “Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking)” (1967)
99. The Mamas & the Papas “I Saw Her Again” (1966)
100. Phil Ochs “I Ain't Marchin’ Anymore” (1965)
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First posted 4/19/2020; last updated 11/18/2025. | 
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