Showing posts with label Leonard Cohen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leonard Cohen. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Top 100 Folk/Folk Rock Acts

Folk/Folk Rock:

Top 100 Acts

Folk music is characterized as traditional music that often deals with themes of life's daily struggles. It passed from generation to generation via oral tradition. Typically the composers were unknown and the music was played on traditional, acoustic instruments. A folk revival in the 20th century led to the popularization of the art through socially-conscious singer/songwriters who worked within the folk form and also expanded it in the rock era, especially in the 1960s, with more electric instruments. Another wave occurred in the 21st century with artists who found audiences at adult alternative radio.

17 lists focused on the best folk and/or folk-rock acts of all time were aggregated to create this list.

See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre.


Bob Dylan

14 lists:

1. Bob Dylan
2. Simon & Garfunkel

13 lists:

3. Joni Mitchell
4. Joan Baez
5. Pete Seeger

12 lists:

6. Woody Guthrie

10 lists:

7. Neil Young
8. James Taylor
9. Leonard Cohen
10. Peter, Paul, & Mary

9 lists:

11. Gordon Lightfoot

8 lists:

12. Cat Stevens
13. Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter
14. The Kingston Trio
15. Judy Collins

7 lists:

16. The Byrds
17. John Prine
18. Odetta
19. Bon Iver
20. Arlo Guthrie

6 lists:

21. Crosby, Stills & Nash
22. Grateful Dead
23. John Denver
24. The Carter Family
25. Mumford & Sons
26. The Mamas & the Papas
27. Nick Drake
28. Don McLean
29. Donovan
30. Sufjan Stevens

31. Harry Chapin
32. Ani DiFranco
33. Phil Ochs

5 lists:

34. Paul Simon
35. Carole King
36. Harry Belafonte
37. Tracy Chapman
38. Buffalo Springfield
39. The Weavers
40. Jim Croce

41. The Decemberists
42. Fairport Convention
43. Fleet Foxes
44. Joan Armatrading
45. Doc Watson
46. Ramblin' Jack Elliott

4 lists:

47. Johnny Cash
48. Jethro Tull
49. The Band
50. David Crosby

51. Indigo Girls
52. The Lumineers
53. America
54. Richard Thompson
55. Suzanne Vega
56. Lovin’ Spoonful
57. Ben Harper
58. Dan Fogelberg
59. Elliott Smith
60. Bright Eyes

61. Bert Jansch
62. Neutral Milk Hotel
63. Joanna Newsom
64. Townes Van Zandt
65. Billy Bragg
66. Elizabeth Cotten
67. Steeleye Span
68. Janis Ian
69. Buffy Sainte-Marie

3 lists:

70. Van Morrison

71. Tom Waits
72. Jackson Browne
73. Melissa Etheridge
74. Emmylou Harris
75. Violent Femmes
76. Graham Nash
77. Jimmie Rodgers
78. Love
79. Shawn Colvin
80. Jewel

81. Roger McGuinn
82. The Pogues
83. Of Monsters & Men
84. Mississippi John Hurt
85. Tim Buckley
86. Bruce Cockburn
87. Al Stewart
88. Gillian Welch
89. Patty Griffin
90. The Incredible String Band

91. Iron & Wine
92. The Highwaymen
93. Tom Paxton
94. Michelle Shocked
95. Dave Van Ronk
96. Loudon Wainwright III
97. Ian & Sylvia
98. Ewan MacColl
99. Pentangle

2 lists:

100. The Everly Brothers

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First posted 6/30/2026.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Leonard Cohen: Top 50 Songs

Leonard Cohen

Top 50 Songs

Leonard Cohen is a folk-rock singer/songwriter and guitarist born 9/21/1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He died 11/7/2016. He also wrote the novels The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers, six volumes of poetry, several documentaries. His album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, ranks as one of the top 1000 of all time and Jeff Buckley’s cover of “Hallelujah” is one of the top 1000 songs of all time.

He has been covered my numerous artists, as evidenced by at least three four albums – I’m Your Fan (1991), Tower of Song (1995), the soundtrack to I’m Your Fan (2006), and Here It Is (2022). Those collections alone feature Tori Amos, Peter Gabriel, Don Henley, Elton John, Billy Joel, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Willie Nelson, the Pixes, Iggy Pop, R.E.M., Sting, James Taylor, U2, Trisha Yearwood, and more.

For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

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, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.)

DMDB Top 5%:

1. Suzanne (1967)
2. Hallelujah (1984)

DMDB Top 10%:

3. You Want It Darker (2016)

DMDB Top 20%:

4. Bird on the Wire (1969)
5. Everybody Knows (1988)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

6. Famous Blue Raincoat (1971)
7. So Long, Marianne (1967)
8. Tower of Song (1988)
9. Chelsea Hotel #2 (1974)
10. First We Take Manhattan (1988)

11. I’m Your Man (1988)
12. Dance Me to the End of Love (1984)
13. Sisters of Mercy (1967)
14. Who by Fire (1974)
15. Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye (1967)
16. The Future (1992)
17. Closing Time (1992)
18. The Partisan (1969)
19. Anthem (1992)
20. The Stranger Song (1967)

21. The Story of Isaac (1969)
22. Lover, Lover, Lover (1974)
23. If It Be Your Will (1984)
24. Memories (1977)
25. Avalanche (1971)
26. Take This Waltz (1986)
27. Democracy (1992)
28. Diamonds in the Mine (1971)
29. Joan of Arc (1971)
30. Tonight Will Be Fine (1969)

31. The Guests (1979)
32. Don’t Go Home with Your Hard-On (1977)
33. Dress Rehearsal Rag (1971)
34. Winter Lady (1967)
35. Light As the Breeze (1992)
36. Ain’t No Cure for Love (1988)
37. In My Secret Life (2001)
38. Waiting for the Miracle (1992)
39. A Thousand Kisses Deep (2001)
40. Take This Longing (1974)

41. Master Song (1967)
42. Darkness (2012)
43. I Can’t Forget (1988)
44. Lady Midnight (1969)
45. Last Year’s Man (1971)
46. Never Any Good (1997)
47. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy (1969)
48. True Love Leaves No Traces (1977)
49. Passing Through (1973)
50. One of Us Cannot Be Wrong (1967)

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First posted 11/8/2022.

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Friday, September 16, 2022

Top 100 Modern Folk Songs: 1980-2022

Modern Folk Songs, 1980-2022:

Top 100 Songs

Songs on this list fall under various banners including folk, folk-rock, modern folk, alt-country, and Americana. Most genre lists at Dave’s Music Database are created by aggregating best-of lists from multiple sources. In this case, it was difficult to find lists focused on modern folk. As such, this list was compiled by pulling together any acts from 1980 forward who appeared on any best-of folk or folk rock song lists and folk/Americana album lists. Those applicable songs were then listed in order of overall ranking on Dave’s Music Database.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” (1988)
2. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2003)
3. The Lumineers “Ho Hey” (2012)
4. Jeff Buckley “Hallelujah” (1994)
5. Passenger “Let Her Go” (2012)
6. Suzanne Vega “Luka” (1987)
7. Tracy Chapman “Give Me One Reason” (1995)
8. Shawn Colvin “Sunny Came Home” (1996)
9. Mumford & Sons “I Will Wait” (2012)
10. k.d. lang “Constant Craving” (1992)

11. Kacey Musgraves “Follow Your Arrow” (2013)
12. Grateful Dead “Touch of Grey” (1987)
13. Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” (1984)
14. Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” (1989)
15. Neil Young “Harvest Moon” (1992)
16. Jeff Buckley “Last Goodbye” (1994)
17. Tracy Chapman “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution” (1988)
18. Mumford & Sons “Little Lion Man” (2009)
19. Ray LaMontagne “You Are the Best Thing” (2008)
20. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as The Swell Season “Falling Slowly” (2007)

21. Brandi Carlile “The Joke” (2017)
22. The Soggy Bottom Boys “Man of Constant Sorrow” (2001)
23. Bruce Springsteen “Atlantic City” (1982)
24. The Lumineers “Ophelia” (2016)
25. Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard “Pancho and Lefty” (1983)
26. Leonard Cohen “You Want It Darker” (2016)
27. Shawn Colvin “I Don’t Know Why” (1992)
28. The Lumineers “Stubborn Love” (2012)
29. Mumford & Sons “Believe” (2015)
30. Chris Stapleton “Tennessee Whiskey” (2015)

31. Bob Dylan “Things Have Changed” (2000)
32. Mumford & Sons “Guiding Light” (2018)
33. Bruce Cockburn “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” (1984)
34. Mumford & Sons “The Cave” (2009)
35. Beck “Lost Cause” (2002)
36. Tracy Chapman “Crossroads” (1989)
37. Indigo Girls “Galileo” (1992)
38. Tracy Chapman “Baby Can I Hold You” (1988)
39. Brandi Carlile “The Story (I Was Made for You)” (2007)
40. Loreena McKennitt “The Mummer’s Dance” (1997)

41. Kacey Musgraves “Justified” (2021)
42. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit “If We Were Vampires” (2017)
43. The Lumineers “Gloria” (2019)
44. Chris Stapleton “Broken Halos” (2017)
45. Bon Iver “Holocene” (2011)
46. Bruce Cockburn “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” (1984)
47. The Head and the Heart “All We Ever Knew” (2016)
48. Suzanne Vega & Joe Jackson “Left of Center” (1986)
49. Kacey Musgraves “Rainbow” (2018)
50. Indigo Girls “Power of Two” (1994)

51. Fleet Foxes “White Winter Hymnal” (2008)
52. Bright Eyes “First Day of My Life” (2005)
53. Bruce Springsteen “The Ghost of Tom Joad” (1995)
54. The Highwomen “Crowded Table” (2019)
55. Kacey Musgraves “Space Cowboy” (2018)
56. Lucinda Williams “Righteously” (2003)
57. Bon Iver “Skinny Love” (2007)
58. Indigo Girls “Hammer and a Nail” (1990)
59. Tracy Chapman “Telling Stories (There Is Friction in the Space Between)” (2000)
60. Bruce Springsteen “Devils & Dust” (2005)

61. The Avett Brothers “Ain’t No Man” (2016)
62. Chris Stapleton “Starting Over” (2020)
63. The Head and the Heart “Missed Connection” (2019)
64. The Lumineers “Life in the City” (2019)
65. Sharon Van Etten “Seventeen” (2019)
66. Mumford & Sons “The Wolf” (2015)
67. Neko Case, k.d. lang, & Laura Veirs “Atomic Number” (2016)
68. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Please Read the Letter” (2007)
69. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” (2007)
70. Sufjan Stevens “Chicago” (2005)

71. Bob Dylan “Everything Is Broken” (1989)
72. Leonard Cohen “Everybody Knows” (1988)
73. Bruce Springsteen “We Shall Overcome” (1998)
74. Suzanne Vega “Solitude Standing” (1987)
75. Bob Dylan “Mississippi” (2001)
76. Suzanne Vega “Tom’s Diner” (1987)
77. Sturgill Simpson “In Bloom” (2016)
78. Neko Case “Hold on Hold On” (2006)
79. The Head and the Heart “Lost in My Mind” (2011)
80. Neil Young “Philadelphia” (1994)

81. Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs “Beg, Steal or Borrow” (2010)
82. Shawn Colvin “Steady On” (1989)
83. Brandi Carlile “Right on Time” (2021)
84. Tracy Chapman “All That You Have Is Your Soul” (1989)
85. Indigo Girls “Get Together” (1987)
86. Bob Dylan “Dignity” (1994)
87. Shawn Colvin “Round of Blues” (1992)
88. Shawn Colvin “Diamond in the Rough” (1989)
89. The Avett Brothers “Kick Drum Heart” (2009)
90. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues” (2011)

91. The Lumineers “Cleopatra” (2016)
92. Mumford & Sons “Lover of the Light” (2012)
93. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen “Like I Used To” (2021)
94. The Head and the Heart “Rhythm & Blues” (2016)
95. Willie Nelson “City of New Orleans” (1984)
96. Ray LaMontagne “Strong Enough” (2020)
97. Neko Case “Last Lion of Albion” (2018)
98. Jason Isbell “24 Frames’ (2015)
99. Josh Ritter “Getting Ready to Get Down” (2015)
100. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Can’t Let Go” (2021)

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First posted 9/11/2022; last updated 9/16/2022.

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Friday, February 12, 2021

Canadian Songs: Top 100

First posted 2/4/2021; updated 2/14/2021.

Canada:

Top 100 Songs

These are the top songs by Canadian artists, as determined by an aggregate of 19 best-of lists. Songs which were only considered which were by artists born in Canada or groups which originated in Canada.

Note: click here to see other genre-specific song lists. You can also check out the DMDB’s rating of Canada’s Biggest #1 Songs, most of which are not actually by Canadian artists.

1. Neil Young “Heart of Gold” (1972)
2. Bachman-Turner Overdrive “Takin’ Care of Business” (1974)
3. Bryan Adams “Summer of ‘69” (1984)
4. The Guess Who “American Woman” (1970)
5. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” (1995)
6. The Band “The Weight” (1968)
7. Loverboy “Working for the Weekend” (1981)
8. Tom Cochrane “Life Is a Highway” (1992)
9. Gordon Lightfoot “If You Could Read My Mind” (1970)
10. Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah” (1984)

11. Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On” (1997)
12. Joni Mitchell “Big Yellow Taxi” (1970)
13. Corey Hart “Sunglasses at Night” (1984)
14. Nickelback “How You Remind Me” (2001)
15. Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe” (2011)
16. Bachman-Turner Overdrive “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” (1974)
17. Rush “Tom Sawyer” (1981)
18. Barenaked Ladies “If I Had a $1,000,000” (1992)
19. Gordon Lightfoot “Sundown” (1974)
20. Barenaked Ladies “One Week” (1998)

21. The Tragically Hip “Bobcaygeon” (1998)
22. Steppenwolf “Born to Be Wild” (1968)
23. Men Without Hats “The Safety Dance” (1982)
24. Alanis Morissette “Ironic” (1995)
25. The Guess Who “No Sugar Tonight” (1970)
26. Paul Anka “Diana” (1957)
27. Bryan Adams “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (1991)
28. k.d. lang “Constant Craving” (1992)
29. Avril Lavigne “Complicated” (2002)
30. Allanah Myles “Black Velvet” (1989)

31. Anne Murray “Snowbird” (1970)
32. Neil Young “Rockin’ in the Free World” (1989)
33. Trooper “Raise a Little Hell” (1978)
34. Gordon Lightfoot “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (1976)
35. Spirit of the West “Home for a Rest” (1990)
36. Rush “The Spirit of Radio” (1980)
37. The Guess Who “These Eyes” (1969)
38. Glass Tiger “Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone” (1986)
39. Steppenwolf “Magic Carpet Ride” (1968)
40. Justin Bieber “Sorry” (2015)

41. Andy Kim “Rock Me Gently” (1974)
42. Terry Jacks “Seasons in the Sun” (1974)
43. Bryan Adams “Heaven” (1984)
44. The Weeknd “Can’t Feel My Face” (2015)
45. Daniel Powter “Bad Day” (2005)
46. Neil Young “Old Man” (1972)
47. Justin Bieber “Love Yourself” (2015)
48. Arcade Fire “Wake Up” (2004)
49. Bruce Cockburn “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” (1984)
50. Tom Cochrane & Red Rider “Big League” (1988)

51. Rush “Closer to the Heart” (1977)
52. Five Man Electrical Band “Signs” (1971)
53. Celine Dion “Because You Loved Me” (1996)
54. The Weeknd with Daft Punk “Starboy” (2016)
55. Bryan Adams “Run to You” (1984)
56. Snow “Informer” (1993)
57. Celine Dion “The Power of Love” (1993)
58. The Tragically Hip “Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)” (1992)
59. The Weeknd “The Hills” (2015)
60. Martha & the Muffins “Echo Beach” (1980)

61. The Tragically Hip “New Orleans Is Sinking” (1989)
62. Nelly Furtado with Timbaland “Promiscuous” (2006)
63. Blue Rodeo “Lost Together” (1992)
64. Shania Twain “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” (1997)
65. Drake with Wizkid & Kyla “One Dance” (4/5/2016)
66. Magic! “Rude” (2013)
67. Nick Gilder “Hot Child in the City” (1978)
68. Nelly Furtado “Say It Right” (2006)
69. Sheriff “When I’m with You” (1983)
70. The Guess Who “Share the Land” (1970)

71. Paul Anka with Odia Coates “You’re Having My Baby” (1974)
72. Neil Young “My My Hey Hey (Into the Black)” (1979)
73. Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now” (1969)
74. Ian & Sylvia “Four Strong Winds” (1963)
75. Barenaked Ladies “Brian Wilson” (1992)
76. Bryan Adams “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” (1995)
77. Neil Young “Cinnamon Girl” (1969)
78. Anne Murray “You Needed Me” (1978)
79. Bryan Adams with Sting & Rod Stewart “All for Love” (1993)
80. Crash Test Dummies “Superman’s Song” (1991)

81. The Crew-Cuts “Sh-Boom” (1954)
82. Nickelback “Photograph” (2005)
83. Drake “In My Feelings” (2018)
84. Justin Bieber “What Do You Mean?” (2015)
85. The Tragically Hip “Wheat Kings” (1992)
86. Shania Twain “You’re Still the One” (1997)
87. Red Rider “Lunatic Fringe” (1981)
88. The Weeknd “Blinding Lights” (2019)
89. Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” (2007)
90. Shania Twain “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (1997)

91. The Guess Who “No Time” (1969)
92. Sarah McLachlan “Angel” (1997)
93. The Tragically Hip “Ahead by a Century” (1996)
94. Drake “Hotline Bling” (2015)
95. Drake “Nice for What” (2018)
96. Finger Eleven “Paralyzer” (2007)
97. Jeff Healey Band “Angel Eyes” (1988)
98. Celine Dion “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (1996)
99. Neil Young with Crosby, Stills & Nash “Ohio” (1970)
100. Payola$ “Eyes of a Stranger” (1982)

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Tuesday, December 11, 1984

Leonard Cohen released “Hallelujah”

Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen

Writer(s): Leonard Cohen (see lyrics here)

Released: December 11, 1984 (album cut)

First Charted: December 27, 2008

Peak: 59 US, 36 UK, 17 CN, 59 AU (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 0.2 UK

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 269.65 video, 129.26 streaming

Hallelujah

Jeff Buckley

Released: August 23, 1994 (album cut)

First Charted: December 20, 2008

Peak: 2 UK, 70 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK, 3.23 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 293.24 video, 356.38 streaming

Hallelujah

Alexandra Burke

Released: December 17, 2008

First Charted: December 27, 2008

Peak: 13 UK, 53 AU (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.38 UK

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 201.88 video, 103.30 streaming

Awards (Leonard Cohen):

Click on award for more details.

Awards (Jeff Buckley):

Awards (Alexandra Burke):

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Malcolm Gladwell does a podcast on, as he says, “What happens when genius takes its sweet time to emerge?” RH He mentions economist David Galenson’s theory of creativity which divides art into conceptual innovation, marked by artists who work quickly and have immediate impact, and experimental innovation, in which artists don’t necessarily know what they’re trying to say right away and their influence takes time. RH Gladwell holds up Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song “about a love that has soured and gone stale,” SF as a quintessential example of experimental innovation. Rock critic Alan Light wrote an entire book about the song and said Cohen wrote 50 to 70 verses for the song, working on it for five years. RH

It finally emerged on his 1984 album Various Positions and was released in Spain and the Netherlands as a single, SF but it “barely makes a ripple…If you go back to listen to that first ‘Hallelujah,’ the song’s failure makes sense. It’s not there yet.” RH Michael Bartel calls the original version “so hyper-serious that it’s almost satire.” RH Cohen continued tweaking the song live and John Cale, known from the Velvet Underground, saw him perform it and requested the lyrics. Cohen responded with 15 faxed pages. Cale recorded it for the 1991 Leonard Cohen tribute album I’m Your Fan and, according to Light, “cracks the code of ‘Hallelujah.’” RH Cale’s recorded version included lyrics like “I used to live alone before I knew you” and “All I ever learned from love was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you” which Cohen had only performed live. WK

It’s Cale’s version that Jeff Buckley heard and decides to record. Gladwell called it the “definitive one…a cover of John Cale’s cover…only with Cale’s piano swapped out for a guitar.” RH He said “every subsequent cover – and there have been hundreds – are really covers of Buckley covering Cale covering Cohen.” RH

Buckley recorded it for Grace, his only studio album released before his death in 1997. That album achieved gold status in the U.S. in 2002, but the song didn’t even chart until 2006, reaching #7 in Norway. The next year it reached the top 3 in Sweden. In March of 2008 it topped the Billboard digital song chart after Jason Castro performed the song on American Idol. In 2017, The International Observer named Buckley’s version the greatest song of all time. WK Time magazine quoted Buckley’s publisher as saying of the song that it “can be joyous or bittersweet, depending on what part of it you use.” WK

The song surfaced again in the 2001 film Shrek. Rufus Wainwright recorded the song as a tribute to Buckley. It was used on the soundtrack and reached #97 on the UK charts. However, it was Cale’s version which was actually used in the film. There were also successful chart versions by k.d. lang, Justin Timberlake, and Alexandra Burke. Lang first recorded “Hallelujah” in 2004, but it was her 2010 version performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 which gave her chart success, reaching #2 in Canada. That same year, Justin Timberlake reached #13 on the U.S. charts with his duet version with Matt Morris.

Alexandra Burke won the fifth series television talent competition The X Factor in England and her recording of “Hallelujah” became the top-selling song of 2008, reaching #1 in the UK and selling more than a million copies. It set the European record for most singles sold in a 24-hour period. WK Buckley’s version was given a major boost as a result; it reached #2 in the UK (behind Burke’s version) and #1 in France.

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First posted 9/18/2021; last updated 5/2/2024.

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