DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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 | Music VF:Songs of the Year, 1900-2025 |
Music VF is an online database of more than 120,000 U.S. and UK chart hits. One can search for top songs and artists by year and by decade. Here are the top songs of each year according to Music VF: Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 4/8/2019; last updated 12/31/2025. |
 | Digital Dream Door:Songs of the year, 1920-2024 |
Digital Dream Door offers multiple best-of music lists, including song-of-the-year lists from 1940 to present. Here are the best songs from each year: Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 4/6/2019; last updated 12/31/2025. |
 | One-Hit Wonders:Top 100 Songs |
I am consistently annoyed by lists of supposed one-hit wonders. Inevitably, there are acts that are definitely NOT one-hit wonders. Some of the most glaring examples I’ve seen in different articles are Survivor (“Eye of the Tiger” #1, “Burning Heart” #2, top ten hits with “The Search Is Over,” “High on You,” and “Is This Love”), Toto (“Africa” #1, “Rosanna” #2, top tens with “Hold the Line” and “I Won’t Hold You Back”), and Sugarloaf (top ten hits with “Green-Eyed Lady” and “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You”). There are also a couple of acts who certainly are best known for certain songs, but did have other hits. Aha (“Take on Me” #1, “The Sun Always Shines on TV” top 20) and The Knack (“My Sharona” #1, “Good Girls Don’t” #11) are the first two that come to mind. It begs the question – how does one even definte a “hit”? For the purposes of this post, the focus is exclusively on the U.S. Billboard pop charts from 1890 to present. One could argue that a true one-hit wonder has only graced the Hot 100 once. However, this post will focus on acts which have only hit the top 40 once since songs lower than that arguably didn’t achieve familiarity with a general audience. This leaves more than 2400 eligible songs with some definite surprises. Jimi Hendrix, Carl Perkins, Lou Reed (all on this list), and Dr. John (“Right Place Wrong Time”), Grateful Dead (“Touch of Grey”), Public Enemy (“Give It Up”), Roxy Music (“Love Is the Drug”), Rush (“New World Man”), The Small Faces (“Itchycoo Park”), and Frank Zappa (“Valley Girl”) only had one top 40 hit each despite the legendary status which got them inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Other acts like Beck; Oasis; and T-Rex (all on this list); along with Garth Brooks (“Lost in You”); Kate Bush “Running Up That Hill”); Emerson, Lake & Palmer (“From the Beginning”); Lefty Frizzell (“I Want to Be with You Always”); Merle Haggard (“If We Make It Through December”); Iggy Pop (“Candy”); Method Man (“I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need to Get By”); Shinedown (“Second Chance”); Weezer (“Beverly Hills”); The White Stripes (“Icky Thump”); and Warren Zevon (“Werewolves of London”) have plenty of success, but multiple chart hits on the top 40 eluded them. Finally, there are some acts who have plenty of chart experience yet still qualify as one-hit wonders. For example, U.S.A. for Africa (“We Are the World”) and Band Aid (“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”) were one-time collaborations of multiple artists with plenty of chart experience. There are also artists like Bill Medley (“I’ve Had the Time of My Life”) who had plenty of chart experience as part of the Righteous Brothers, but had never charted as a solo act. If a song is marked with an asterisk (*), that indicates that the song is the only top 40 hit for the lead act, but that the supporting act has other top 40 hits. Check other lists based on charts, sales, and airplay here.
1. Mark Ronson “Uptown Funk!” (with Bruno Mars, #1, 2014) *
11. Soft Cell “Tainted Love” (#8, 1981)
21. Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax” (#10, 1983)
31. Daniel Powter “Bad Day” (#1, 2005)
41. Snow Patrol “Chasing Cars” (#5, 2006)
51. Jimmy Boyd “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (#1, 1952)
61. House of Pain “Jump Around” (#3, 1992)
71. Ed Gallagher & Al Shean “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean” (#1, 1922)
81. U.S. Naval Academy Band “Anchors Aweigh” (#13, 1906)
91. Lynn Anderson “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” (#3, 1970) Resources/Related Links:
First posted 9/8/2019; last updated 10/22/2022. |
 | Book:The Top 100 Songs of the Digital Era, 2000-2019 |
 This is the third in a series, following The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953 and The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999. Combined the three books cover 300 songs representing 130 years in the history of recorded music! Here are the top 100 as they appear in The Top 100 Songs of the Digital Era, 2000-2019:
1. Uptown Funk!… Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars (2014)
11. Hello…Adele (2015)
21. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)… Beyoncé (2008)
31. Love the Way You Lie…Eminem with Rihanna (2010)
41. God’s Plan…Drake (2018)
51. Firework…Katy Perry (2010)
61. Blank Space…Taylor Swift (2014)
71. Apologize…One Republic with Timbaland (2007)
81. Fuck You (aka “Forget You”)…Cee-Lo Green (2010)
91. Seven Nation Army…The White Stripes (2003)
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 2/17/2020; updated 4/3/2021. |
 | Somebody That I Used to KnowGotye with Kimbra |
Writer(s): Wally de Backer (see lyrics here) Released: July 5, 2011 First Charted: August 15, 2011 Peak: 18 US, 16 BA, 14 DG, 13 RR, 119 AC, 16 A40, 113 AA, 112 MR, 15 UK, 16 CN, 18 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 14.0 US, 1.8 UK, 17.31 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2071.7 video, 1450.11 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details.
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About the Song:In 2012, Gotye exploded on the music scene with his multi-format #1 smash, “Somebody That I Used to Know.” However, the Belgian-Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist born Wouter (“Wally”) De Backer wasn’t a complete newbie. He’d been releasing albums for ten years as both a solo artist and as a member of the rock trio The Basics. Originally released in July 2011, “Somebody” didn’t take hold in the U.S. until six months later. In April 2012, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States; it hit #1 in 25 other countries as well, WK selling more than 10 million copies worldwide along the way. WK Gotye wrote the mid-tempo, indie-pop ballad about his experiences with relationships. As he said, the song deals with “the memory of those different relationships and what they were and how they broke up and what’s going on in everyone’s minds.” WK Allmusic’s Jon O’Brien described it as “an oddball break-up song whose stuttering rhythms, reggae hooks, and hushed vocals sound like The Police as remixed by the XX.” AMG It samples the 1967 instrumental “Seville” by Brazilian jazz guitarist Luiz Bonfá. He used New Zealand singer Kimbra for the female vocal on the song after a higher profile singer dropped out. The video, which has nabbed well north of 300 million views, showed a naked Gotye and Kimbra slowly being covered in a paint pattern thanks to stop motion animation. It was an MTV Video of the Year nominee. In a true sign of the video’s viral quality, it has been covered by Walk Off the Earth, featuring all five group members playing the song on one guitar. It has received 143 million hits. About.com’s Bill Lamb said of the song, “Pop perfection does not come along often, but Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ is flawless.” WK Click Music’s Martin Davies said it is “that rare example of a track that hits you squarely between the eyes.” WK Resources:
Last updated 7/25/2023. |
