Steve Sullivan is a music historian who has authored four volumes of his own Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings and contributed to Joel Whitburn’s Pop Memories 1890-1954. He maintains a Facebook page called Classic Pop. This page focuses on his personal top 100 favorite songs. Links other Steve Sullivan lists are at the bottom of the page.
Click here to see other lists from critics and individuals and here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations
1. Bruce Springsteen “Born to Run” (1975)
2. Louis Armstrong “West End Blues” (1928)
3. Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode” (1958)
4. Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924)
5. Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (1970)
6. Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” (1940)
7. Sam Cooke “A Change Is Gonna Come” (1964)
8. U2 “Pride (In the Name of Love)” (1984)
9. Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” (1944)
10. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)
11. Glenn Miller Orchestra “In the Mood” (1939)
12. Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965)
13. Bing Crosby “White Christmas” (1942)
14. Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968)
15. Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” (1925)
16. Ray Charles “What’d I Say” (1959)
17. Judy Garland “Over the Rainbow” (1939)
18. Aretha Franklin “Respect” (1967)
19. Patsy Cline “Crazy” (1961)
20. Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)
21. The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (1964)
22. Victor Symphony Orchestra with Nat Shilkret & George Gerswhin “An American in Paris” (1929)
23. Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)
24. The Temptations “My Girl” (1964)
25. Don McLean “American Pie” (1971)
26. Artie Shaw & His Orchestra “Stardust” (1940)
27. The Animals “The House of the Rising Sun” (1964)
28. Artie Shaw “Begin the Beguine” (1938)
29. The Beatles “Hey Jude” (1968)
30. Martha Reeves & the Vandellas “Dancing in the Street” (1964)
31. Simon & Garfunkel “The Sound of Silence” (1965)
32. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
33. Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” (1939)
34. Duke Ellington “Ko-Ko” (1940)
35. Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” (1971)
36. The Beatles “A Day in the Life” (1967)
38. The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (1971)
39. Charlie Parker “Parker’s Mood” (1948)
40. Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956)
41. Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” (1988)
42. The Beatles “Yesterday” (1965)
43. Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961)
44. Frank Sinatra “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (1956)
45. Lena Horne “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1941)
46. Paul Robeson with Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra “Ol’ Man River” (1928)
47. Derek & the Dominos “Layla” (1970)
48. Charlie Parker’s Re-Boppers “Ko Ko” (1945)
49. Judy Garland “The Man That Got Away” (1954)
50. Creedence Clearwater Revival “Who’ll Stop the Rain” (1970)
51. Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo” (1931)
52. Bing Crosby “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (1932)
53. R.E.M. “Losing My Religion” (1991)
54. T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” (1947)
55. Les Paul with Mary Ford “How High the Moon” (1951)
56. Miles Davis “‘Round Midnight” (1956)
57. John Coltrane “Giant Steps” (1959)
58. Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys “Wabash Cannonball” (1938)
59. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1949)
60. Eminem “Lose Yourself” (2002)
61. Bobbie Gentry “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967)
62. U.S.A. for Africa “We Are the World” (1985)
63. Bessie Smith “Down Hearted Blues” (1923)
64. Bill Haley & His Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” (1954)
65. Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” (1946)
66. Judy Collins “Amazing Grace” (1970)
67. Johnny Cash “I Walk the Line” (1956)
68. Otis Redding “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” (1968)
69. Eagles “Hotel California” (1976)
70. Foreigner “I Want to Know What Love Is” (1984)
71. Swan Silvertones “Mary Don’t You Weep” (1959)
72. American Quartet with Billy Murray “Casey Jones” (1910)
73. Bob Dylan “Blind Willie McTell” (1991)
74. Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” (1955)
75. Clarence Tom Ashley “The Coo Coo Bird” (1929)
76. The Carter Family “Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)” (1935)
77. Jimmie Rodgers “Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)” (1928)
78. Bo Diddley “Who Do You Love” (1956)
79. Howlin’ Wolf “Smokestack Lightning” (1956)
80. Bruce Springsteen “Streets of Philadelphia” (1994)
81. B.B. King “The Thrill Is Gone” (1969)
82. The Police “Every Breath You Take” (1983)
83. Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds “Crazy Blues” (1920)
84. Prince “When Doves Cry” (1984)
85. Robert Johnson “Crossoads” (aka “Cross Road Blues”) (1936)
86. Sophie Tucker “Some of These Days” (1911)
87. Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
88. Blind Willie Johnson “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” (1927)
89. Adele “Rolling in the Deep” (2010)
90. Vess L. Ossman “Maple Leaf Rag” (1907)
91. Marion Harris “The Man I Love” (1928)
92. James Brown “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” (1965)
93. Count Basie “One O’Clock Jump” (1937)
94. Simon & Garfunkel “The Boxer” (1969)
95. Harry Chapin “Taxi” (1972)
96. Leonard Cohen “You Want It Darker” (2016)
97. Gary Allan “Smoke Rings in the Dark” (1999)
98. The Gipsy Kings “Bamboleo” (1988)
99. Geeshie Wiley “Last Kind Word Blues” (1930)
100. Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers “Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn” (1929)
Steve Sullivan Song Lists:
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 8/14/2022. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment