Brill Building Songwriters: Top 20

Brill Building Songwriters: Top 20

The Brill Building is in Manhattan, New York, at 1619 Broadway in the historic Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. In the early 1960s, it was considered the center of the American music industry with 165 music businesses contained there by 1962. The “Brill Building sound” was significant in shaping music after rock and roll’s first wave. It was a throwback to the pre-rock era when the song was more important than the singer. In fact, a specific singer could generally be easily replaced with another singer. Of the famous songwriters who emerged from there, Carole King said, “Every day we squeezed into our respective cubby holes with just enough room for a piano, a bench, and maybe a chair for the lyricist if you were lucky. You’d sit there and write and you could hear someone in the next cubby hole composing a song exactly like yours.” WK See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories. Gerry Goffin & Carole King 1. Carole King: Top 50 2. Barry Mann: Top 30 3. Cynthia Weil: Top 30 4. Gerry Goffin: Top 50 5. Jeff Barry 6. Ellie Greenwich 7. Doc Pomus 8. Jerry Leiber: Top 50 9. Mike Stoller: Top 50 10. Mort Shuman 11. Howard Greenfield 12. Neil Sedaka 13. Burt Bacharach 14. Hal David 15. Bobby Darin 16. Gene Pitney 17. Phil Spector 18. Paul Anka 19. Otis Blackwell 20. Laura Nyro Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories WK Wikipedia: Brill Building First posted 6/24/2026.

 

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller: Top 50 Songs

l to r: Mike Stoller, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Leiber; image from rollingstone.com

Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller Top 50 Songs

Songwriter and record producer Jerry Leiber was born Jerome Leiber on 4/25/1933 in Baltimore, MD. He died on 8/22/2011. Mike Stoller, his songwriting partner and also a producer, was born 3/13/1933 in Belle Harbor, New York City, NY. They were one of the songwriting teams to work in the legendary Brill Building, known for housing some of pop music history’s most famous songwriters and publishers in the 1950s and ‘60s. Three of their songs – “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Stand by Me” – are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999. For a complete list of their DMDB honors, check out the separate DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia pages for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Many of these songs have been recorded multiple times. Only the highest-ranked version in Dave’s Music Database is included in this list. The recording artist is noted in parentheses. Songs which hit #1 on these charts are noted: United States Billboard Hot 100 pop chart (US), Cashbox (CB), Hit Records (HR), Radio & Records (RR), Billboard adult contemporary (AC), Billboard R&B chart (RB), Billboard country chart (CW), UK pop chart (UK), Canadian pop chart (CN). DMDB Top 1%: 1. Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” (1956) #1 US, CB, RB 2. Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock” (1957) #1 US, CB, RB, CW, UK, CN 3. Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961) #1 RB, UK, CN 4. Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City” (1959) #1 US, CB, HR, RB, CN DMDB Top 5%: 5. The Drifters “On Broadway” (1963) 6. The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (1959) #1 CB, RB 7. The Coasters “Yakety Yak” (1958) #1 US, CB, HR, RB 8. Elvis Presley “Don’t” (1957) #1 US, CB, CN 9. Sean Kingston “Beautiful Girls” (2007) * #1 US, UK, CN, AU 10. The Coasters “Searchin’” (1957) #1 RB 11. Ben E. King “Spanish Harlem” (written by Leiber with Phil Spector, 1960) 12. The Coasters “Charlie Brown” (1959) #1 CN 13. Warren G with Nate Dogg “Regulate” (1994) ** 14. The Coasters “Young Blood” (1957) #1 RB 15. The Clovers “Love Potion No. 9” (1959) 16. The Coasters “Poison Ivy” (1959) #1 RB DMDB Top 10%: 17. The Coasters “Along Came Jones” (1959) 18. Elvis Presley “She’s Not You” (1962) #1 UK 19. Peggy Lee “Is That All There Is?” (1969) #1 AC 20. The Coasters (as the Robins) “Smokey Joe’s Café” (1955) 21. Michael McDonald “I Keep Forgettin’” (1982) #1 RR DMDB Top 20%: 22. The Drifters “Dance with Me” (1959) 23. Elvis Presley “Loving You” (1957) 24. Elvis Presley “Treat Me Nice” (1957) 25. Ruth Brown “Lucky Lips” (1957) 26. Elvis Presley “Bossa Nova Baby” (1963) 27. Elvis Presley “Love Me” (1956) 28. Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash “Jackson” (Leiber – credited to his wife Gaby Rogers – with Billy Edd Wheeler, 1967) 29. The Shangri-Las “Past, Present and Future” (by 1966) 30. The Monkees “D.W. Washburn” (1968) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 31. The Coasters “Run Red Run” (1959) 32. The Coasters “One Kiss Led to Another” (1956) 33. The Coasters “What About Us” (1959) 34. Elvis Presley “Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello” (1962) 35. Maria Muldaur “I’m a Woman” (1974) 36. Cheech & Chong “Framed” (1976) 37. Ruth Brown “Jack O’ Diamonds” (1959) 38. The Coasters “Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)” (1961) 39. The Drifters “Fools Fall in Love” (1957) 40. LaVern Baker “Saved” (1961) 41. Elvis Presley “King Creole” (1958) 42. LaVern Baker with Jimmy Ricks “You’re the Boss” (1961) 43. Elvis Presley “You’re So Square, Baby I Don’t Care” (1957) 44. Jay & the Americans “Only in America” (1963) 45. Ben E. King “I Who Have Nothing” (1963) 46. The Coasters “The Idol with the Golden Head” (1957) 47. The Coasters “Down in Mexico” (1956) 48. The Coasters “Shoppin’ for Clothes” (1960) 49. Brook Benton “Do Your Own Thing” (1968) 50. The Boys in the Band “How ‘Bout a Little Hand for the Boys in the Band” (1970) * contains sample of “Stand by Me” ** contains sample of “I Keep Forgettin’” Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jerry Leiber DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Mike Stoller Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” Paste Magazine Jerry Leiber: 1933-2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s bio for Leiber and Stoller Rolling Stone Songwriter Jerry Leiber Dies at 78 First posted 8/23/2011; updated 8/8/2023.