Top 100 Songs from 1950-1959

First posted 5/3/2011; last updated 10/26/2020.

Top 100 Songs of the Decade: 1950-1959

These are the top 100 songs from the 1950s according to Dave’s Music Database. Rankings are figured by combining sales figures, chart data, radio airplay, video airplay, streaming figures, awards, and appearances on best-of lists. Check out other “songs of the decade” lists here. 1. “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” Bill Haley & His Comets (1954) 2. “Mack the Knife” Bobby Darin (1959) 3. “Don’t Be Cruel” Elvis Presley (1956) 4. “Heartbreak Hotel” Elvis Presley (1956) 5. “Hound Dog” Elvis Presley (1956) 6. “Jailhouse Rock” Elvis Presley (1957) 7. “Johnny B. Goode” Chuck Berry (1958) 8. “Tennessee Waltz” Patti Page (1950) 9. “All Shook Up” Elvis Presley (1957) 10. “What’d I Say” Ray Charles (1959) 11. “All I Have to Do Is Dream” The Everly Brothers (1958) 12. “That’ll Be the Day” Buddy Holly & the Crickets (1957) 13. “How High the Moon” Les Paul & Mary Ford (1951) 14. “Goodnight Irene” The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra (1950) 15. “I Only Have Eyes for You” The Flamingos (1959) 16. “Great Balls of Fire” Jerry Lee Lewis (1957) 17. “Blue Suede Shoes” Carl Perkins (1956) 18. “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” Jerry Lee Lewis (1957) 19. “You Belong to Me” Jo Stafford (1952) 20. “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” The Penguins (1954) 21. “Love Me Tender” Elvis Presley (1956) 22. “Mona Lisa” Nat “King” Cole (1950) 23. “Tutti Frutti” Little Richard (1955) 24. “Sixteen Tons” Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955) 25. “At the Hop” Danny & the Juniors (1957) 26. “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1956) 27. “Blueberry Hill” Fats Domino (1956) 28. “You Send Me” Sam Cooke (1957) 29. “La Bamba” Ritchie Valens (1958) 30. “Peggy Sue” Buddy Holly & the Crickets (1957) 31. “The Battle of New Orleans” Johnny Horton (1959) 32. “The Great Pretender” The Platters (1955) 33. “I Walk the Line” Johnny Cash (1956) 34. “Diana” Paul Anka (1957) 35. “Wake Up Little Susie” The Everly Brothers (1957) 36. “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blue)” Domenico Modugno (1958) 37. “Maybellene” Chuck Berry (1955) 38. “Tom Dooley” The Kingston Trio (1958) 39. “In the Still of the Nite” The Five Satins (1956) 40. “The Little Drummer Boy” Harry Simeone Chorale (1958) 41. “Cry” Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads (1951) 42. “Only You (And You Alone)” The Platters (1955) 43. “Bye Bye Love” The Everly Brothers (1957) 44. “Tequila” The Champs (1958) 45. “Singing the Blues” Guy Mitchell (1956) 46. “Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear” Elvis Presley (1957) 47. “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)” Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953) 48. “Summertime Blues” Eddie Cochran (1958) 49. “The Yellow Rose of Texas” Mitch Miller Chorus (1955) 50. “That’s All Right, Mama” Elvis Presley (1954) 51. “Secret Love” Doris Day (1954) 52. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” The Platters (1958) 53. “It’s All in the Game” Tommy Edwards (1951) 54. “The Third Man Theme” Anton Karas (1950) 55. Sh-Boom” The Chords (1954) 56. “Shout (Parts 1 and 2)” The Isley Brothers (1959) 57. “Mr. Sandman” The Chordettes (1954) 58. “April in Paris” Count Basie (1955) 59. “Where Is Your Heart (Song from ‘Moulin Rouge’)” Percy Faith with Felicia Sanders (1953) 60. “Love Letters in the Sand” Pat Boone (1957) 61. “Shake, Rattle and Roll” Big Joe Turner (1954) 62. “Be-Bop-A-Lula” Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps (1958) 63. “Ain’t That a Shame” Fats Domino (1955) 64. “Your Cheatin’ Heart” Hank Williams (1953) 65. “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” Bill Snyder (1950) 66. “Long Tall Sally” Little Richard (1956) 67. “Sincerely” The McGuire Sisters (1954) 68. “Too Young” Nat “King” Cole (1951) 69. “Bo Diddley” Bo Diddley (1955) 70. “Little Things Mean a Lot” Kitty Kallen (1954) 71. “Because of You” Tony Bennett (1951) 72. “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” Perez “Prez” Prado (1955) 73. “Kansas City” Wibert Harrison (1959) 74. “El Paso” Marty Robbins (1959) 75. “Crying in the Chapel” The Orioles (1953) 76. “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” Doris Day (1956) 77. “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” The Four Aces (1955) 78. “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” Vera Lynn (1952) 79. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” Jimmy Boyd (1952) 80. “He’ll Have to Go” Jim Reeves (1959) 81. “Wheel of Fortune” Kay Starr (1952) 82. “Take Five” Dave Brubeck (1959) 83. “Autumn Leaves” Roger Williams (1955) 84. “The Ballad of Davy Crocket” Bill Hayes (1955) 85. “Tenderly” Rosemary Clooney (1952) 86. “The Doggie in the Window” Patti Page (1953) 87. “Young Love” Sonny James (1956) 88. “Cold, Cold Heart” Hank Williams (1951) 89. “Donna” Ritchie Valens (1958) 90. “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” The Chipmunks (1958) 91. “Come Go with Me” The Dell-Vikings (1957) 92. “Hey There” Rosemary Clooney (1954) 93. “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” Red Foley (1950) 94. “Good Golly Miss Molly” Little Richard (1958) 95. “Roll Over Beethoven” Chuck Berry (1956) 96. “Wanted” Perry Como (1954) 97. “Rocket 88” Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats (1951) 98. “My Prayer (Avant de Mourir)” The Platters (1956) 99. “Venus” Frankie Avalon (1959) 100. “Who’s Sorry Now?” Connie Francis (1958)

50 years ago: Ray Charles charted with “What’d I Say”

What’d I Say Ray Charles

Writer(s): Ray Charles (see lyrics here) First Charted: July 6, 1959 Peak: 6 US, 6 CB, 6 GR, 7 HR, 11 RB, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3.49 video, 42.35 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Ray Charles is one of those performers who transcend categories and remain uniquely themselves.” LW “He survived racial prejudice, drug addiction and jail to become a national treasure.” LW He “made his own choices about material…never bowing to fashion or commercial considerations.” LW “What’d I Say,” the song which “cracked the mainstream pop charts,” LW originated in a small town outside Pittsburgh at a marathon dance show. Needing to flesh out a second set, Charles improvised, telling his female backup singers, the Raeletts, “Whatever I say, just repeat after me.” RS500 Afterward, people rushed to Charles asking where they could buy the record. RS500 Charles went into the Atlantic studio in New York on February 18, 1959, to record it. Engineer Tom Dowd edited and re-sequenced the song into a “six-and-a-half-minute rave-up” RS500 which replicated the mix of the “call-and response structure of the church with the sexually charged message of the blues” NRR transforming “the sound of Sunday morning to the sound of Saturday night. TM “Charles’ grunt-’n’-groan exchanges with the Raeletts were the closest you could get to the sound of orgasm on Top Forty radio during the Eisenhower era.” RS500 Charles said the song is really “about nothing” and that the lyrics “don’t make sense,” NPR but “the people just went crazy, and they loved that little ummmmh, unnnnh…People said it was vulgar…But, hell, let’s face it, everybody knows about the ummmmh, unnnnh. That’s how we all got here.’” RS500 He considered the song “straightforward R&B” LW but it became one of “the first pop-soul classics to feature in the white dominated national charts.” LW Rolling Stone called it “the greatest feel-good song in rock & roll” RS500 and it became what Charles considered his trademark song; years later he still played at as an encore at most of his concerts. NPR Resources: LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 110. NPR National Public Radio web site (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” NRR National Recording Registry RS500 Rolling Stone (2011). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” TM Time magazine (10/24/2011). “All Time 100 Songs” Related Links: Last updated 11/23/2022.