Steve Sullivan: Songs of the Year, 1889-2025

Steve Sullivan: Songs of the Year, 1889-2025

To my delight, Steve Sullivan was one of my early fans on my Dave’s Music Database Facebook page. He did vital research for the Pop Memories 1890-1954 Record Research book, which has become one of my chart bibles. He has since published some of his own lists and several volumes of his Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. By tapping into those sources (see bottom of page) and his own posts on his personal Facebook page, I’ve assembled his picks for song of the year from 1889 to present. Check out other “songs of the year” lists here. 2025: Lady Gaga “Abracadabra” 2024: Chappell Roan “ Good Luck, Babe!” 2023: Billie Eilish “What Was I Made For?” 2022: Harry Styles “As It Was” 2021: Taylor Swift “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” 2020: John Prine “I Remember Everything” 2019: Keb’ Mo’ “This Is My Home” 2018: Brandi Carlile “The Joke” 2017: Drive-By Truckers “The Perilous Night” 2016: Leonard Cohen “You Want It Darker” 2015: Adele “Hello” 2014: Rosanne Cash “The Long Way Home” 2013: Marc Anthony “Vivir mi Vida” 2012: Adele “Skyfall” 2011: Adele “Someone Like You” 2010: Adele “Rolling in the Deep” 2009: Jay-Z with Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind” 2008: Duffy “Mercy” 2007: Rihanna with Jay-Z “Umbrella” 2006: Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” 2005: James McMurtry “We Can’t Make It” 2004: Green Day “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” 2003: Black Eyed Peas with Justin Timberlake “Where Is the Love?” 2002: Eminem “Lose Yourself” 2001: Atomic Kitten “Whole Again” 2000: Bruce Springsteen “American Skin (41 Shots)” 1999: Gary Allan “Smoke Rings in the Dark” 1998: Cher “Believe” 1997: Elton John “Candle in the Wind 1997 (Goodbye England’s Rose)” 1996: Spice Girls “Wannabe” 1995: PJ Harvey “Down by the Water” 1994: Wet Wet Wet “Love Is All Around” 1993: Meat Loaf “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” 1992: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” 1991: Bryan Adams “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” 1990: Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U” 1989: Black Box “Ride on Time” 1988: Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” 1987: Rick Atley “Never Gonna Give You Up” 1986: Robert Cray “Smoking Gun” 1985: Jennifer Rush “The Power of Love” 1984: Whitney Houston “The Greatest Love of All” 1983: Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax” 1982: Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” 1981: Soft Cell “Tainted Love” 1980: Frank Sinatra “New York, New York (Theme from)” 1979: Art Garfunkel “Bright Eyes” 1978: Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta “You’re the One That I Want” 1977: John Williams “Star Wars” 1976: Eagles “Hotel California” 1975: Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody” 1974: Charles Aznavour “She” 1973: Barbra Streisand “The Way We Were” 1972: Ray Charles “America the Beautiful” 1971: John Lennon “Imagine” 1970: Judy Collins “Amazing Grace” 1969: Frank Sinatra “My Way” 1968: The Beatles “Hey Jude” 1967: Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” 1966: Tom Jones “The Green, Green Grass of Home” 1965: Frank Sinatra “It Was a Very Good Year” 1964: Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto “The Girl from Ipanema” 1963: The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” 1962: Tony Bennett “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” 1961: Henry Mancini with Audrey Hepburn “Moon River” 1960: Ray Charles “Georgia on My Mind” 1959: Johnny Mathis “Misty” 1958: Frank Sinatra “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” 1957: Nat “King” Cole “Stardust” 1956: Frank Sinatra “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” 1955: Count Basie with Joe Williams “Everyday I Have the Blues” 1954: Frank Sinatra “I Get a Kick Out of You” 1953: Hank Williams “Your Cheatin’ Heart” 1952: Rosemary Clooney “Tenderly” 1951: Les Paul & Mary Ford “How High the Moon” 1950: “Goodnight Irene” 1949: Vaughn Monroe “Ghost Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)” 1948: T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” 1947: Harry Choates “Jole Blon” 1946: Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” 1945: Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” 1944: Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” 1943: Nat “King” Cole “Embraceable You” 1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers & the John Scott Trotter Orchestra “White Christmas” 1941: Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” 1940: Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” 1939: Glenn Miller “In the Mood” 1938: Artie Shaw “Begin the Beguine” 1937: Robert Johnson “Hell Hound on My Trail” 1936: Billie Holiday “Summertime” 1935: Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers & Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Cheek to Cheek” 1934: Duke Ellington “Solitude” 1933: Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” 1932: Bing Crosby “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” 1931: Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo” 1930: Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” 1929: Louis Armstrong “Ain’t Misbehavin’” 1928: Marion Harris “The Man I Love” 1927: Paul Robeson “Ol’ Man River” 1926: Bessie Smith “Lost Your Head Blues” 1925: Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” 1924: Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” 1923: Bessie Smith “Down Hearted Blues” 1922: Al Jolson “April Showers” 1921: Eubie Blake “Sounds of Africa” 1920: Paul Whiteman “Whispering” 1919: Marion Harris “After You’ve Gone” 1918: Original Dixieland Jazz Band “Tiger Rag” 1917: American Quartet “Over There” 1916: Billy Murray “I Love a Piano” 1915: Harry MacDonough & Olive Kline (as Alice Green) “They Didn't Believe Me” 1914: American Quartet “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” 1913: Al Jolson “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)” 1912: Heidelberg Quintet “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” 1911: Arthur Collins and Bryon G. Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” 1910: American Quartet with Billy Murray “Casey Jones” 1909: Ada Jones with Billy Murray “Shine on Harvest Moon” 1908: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” 1907: Vess Ossman “Maple Leaf Rag” 1906: Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” 1905: Billy Murray “Yankee Doodle Boy” 1904: Haydn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” 1903: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime” 1902: Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” 1901: Columbia Orchestra “Creole Belles” 1900: Vess Ossman “A Coon Band Contest” 1899: Vess Ossman “A Bunch of Rags” 1898: Edison Male Quartet “My Old Kentucky Home” 1897: John Philip Sousa “The Stars and Stripes Forever” 1896: -- 1895: John Philip Sousa “The Washington Post March” 1894: Edward M. Favor “Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)” 1893: George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” 1892: -- 1891: Voss’ 1st Regiment Band “One Minute Too Late” 1890: U.S. Marine Band “The Washington Post March” 1889: Issler’s Orchestra “Electric Light Quadrille” Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “‘Songs of the Year’ lists” Steve Sullivan Song Lists: “His Personal Top 100 Songs” (8/14/2022) “Songs of the Year, 1889-2021” (1/1/2022) “Top 100 Songs, 1897-1956” (2/7/2018) “Greatest Popular Song Recordings: 2010-2017” (2/7/2018) Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland (2013). “Traditional Pop: The All-Time 200+ Classic Performances” (9/17/2012). “Top 200+ British Hits, 1945-2011” (7/20/2012). “The 200 Greatest Song Recordings: 1889-1953” (6/26/2012). “Country Music’s All-Time Classics According to the Classic Pop Yahoo Group” (6/1/2012). First posted 4/14/2019; last updated 2/3/2026.

Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves debut at #1 with “I Remember Everything”

I Remember Everything Zach Bryan with Kacey Musgraves

Writer(s): Zach Bryan, Kacey Musgraves (see lyrics here) Released: September 8, 2023 First Charted: September 9, 2023 Peak: 11 BB, 14 ST, 22 A40, 18 AA, 117 CW, 19 UK, 2 CN, 19 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK, 3.13 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 86.04 video, 838.58 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Country singer/songwriter Zach Bryan was born in 1996 in Okinawa, Japan while his family was with the Navy overseas and then he grew up in Oologah, Oklahoma. He started writing songs at 14 years old and began uploading his music to YouTube in 2017. He released his first album, DeAnn, in 2019 and followed up the next year with Elisabeth. After signing a deal with Warner Records, he released his first major label debut, American Heartbreak, in 2022. It reached #5 on the Billboard album chart, #1 on the country album chart, and was certified platinum. The album was supported by six singles, including the #1 country song “Something in the Orange.” In 2023, Bryan released a self-titled follow-up album. It debuted atop the Billboard album chart, preceded by the single “I Remember Everything,” which had debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song understandably topped the country charts as well but, strangely, also managed to reach #1 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. The song paired him with country singer Kacey Musgraves, best known for winning the Grammy for Album of the Year for her 2018 Golden Hour album. The song is a stripped-bare ballad which jumps back and forth between the perspective of a man and a woman who used to be in a relationship. Songfacts.com described it as a “love story unfolded beneath the intoxicating haze of spirits, a dreamy tangle of emotions.” SF The male leans toward positive reminiscing while the female remembers some of the pain, including his problems with alcohol. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Zach Bryan DMDB encyclopedia entry for Kacey Musgraves SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 1/4/2024; last updated 10/16/2024.