I can’t help it. I love lists and I love music. Put them together, and you can keep me busy for hours. A stray link in a pathology listserve (yes, there are still listserves out there,) led me to The 100 Absolute Best Songs in History, a list put together by website 24/7 Wall Street based on “sales, Billboard performance, number of cover versions and recognition among music fans.” It’s a mixture of stats and opinions made to be disagreed with. I’ve reproduced the rankings below. Here are my comments on the all-time Hot 100.

Artists With Most Songs Listed

Nine acts plated more than one song. The Beatles dominated with 19 songs (20 if you coount John Lennon’s Imagine) including #1 Yesterday. Michael Jackson, Simon and Garfunkel and The Rolling Stones tied for second place with 3 apiece. The biggest surprise of the acts with 2 mentions? Bill Withers, whose pair of hits Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean on Me both cracked the Top 50. No surprise that Paul Simon, in addition to his trio of hits with Artie, also had a solo outing on the list. But 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover? That’s one he could have written on a napkin in a bar.

Female Artists

Fifteen female acts cracked the list, led by the Supremes with a double of Stop! In the Name of Love and Baby Love (no love for Love Child, though.) The songs varied in quality from Adele’s awesome Rolling in the Deep at #3 to the dreadful Brand New Key by Melanie. Girl groups The Shirelles and The Marveletes hit the chart as did mixed gender performing acts Sonny and Cher, Fleetwood Mac, Sixpence None the Richer, and Blondie. The Debbie Harry fronted band made it twice with Call Me and Heart of Glass.

Sickly Sweet

The list had its share of overwrought, tear inducing love songs. Jim Croce measured Time in a Bottle, John Denver worshipped Annie, and John Legend gave Chrissy Teigen All of Me. Olivia Newton-John represented the ladies in this category with I Honestly Love You, while the Association’s Cherish said it for the bands. Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, blasting in at #61 would probably not qualify as a tear-jerker.

The Magic’s in the Movies

At least 13 songs had strong movie ties, from Isaac Hayes hot -buttered  Theme from Shaft to The Beatles psychedelic Yellow Submarine.  Lulu’s To Sir With Love made the cut as did Georgy Girl by the Seekers. Born to be Wild wasn’t a title tune, but would there have been an Easy Rider without Steppenwolf roaring through?

We’ll Never be Royal

Oh yes, we will. We have the King of Rock’n’Roll (Elvis swiveling with Can’t Help Falling in Love,) the King of Pop (Michael Jackson was crowned with Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller,) a pair of Queens (Bohemian Rhapsody and Another One Bites the Dust,) and Ben E. King asking you to Stand By Me. But the list forgot to coronate Prince. No mention of the Purple One.

One Hit Wonders-Blink and they are Gone

• ? and the Mysterions-96 Tears
• Norman Greenbaum-Spirit in the Sky
• Arthur Connely-Sweet Soul Music

Odds and Sods

• Most Hated Artist: Nickelback (How You Remind Me)
• Gratuitous Neil Diamond Shout Out:  Writing I’m a Believer for the Monkees.
• Surprise, Surprise: These Boots are Made for Walkin’-Nancy Sinatra, but nothing by Papa Frank.
• Missing in Action 2: (Like a Rolling Stone-Bob Dylan)
• Missing in Action 3: (Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For-U2)
• Missing in Action 4: (Won’t Get Fooled Again-The Who)

What did I leave out? Lots and lots. Here’s the full list (warning, you may need to view this in landscape mode on your phone.)

What are your thoughts?

 

1	Yesterday	The Beatles
2	Bridge Over Trouble Waters	Simon and Garfukel
3	Rolling in the Deep	Adele
4	Hey Jude	The Beatles
5	All of Me	John Legend
6	Bad Romance	Lady Gaga
7	(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction	The Rolling Stones
8	Bohemian Rhapsody	Queen
9	Let it Be	The Beatles
10	Ain’t No Sunshine	Bill Withers
11	Can’t Help Falling In Love	Elvis Presley
12	I Want to Hold Your Hand	The Beatles
13	The Sound of Silence	Simon and Garfukel
14	Happy	Pharrell Williams
15	Eleanor Rigby	The Beatles
16	Something	The Beatles
17	Help!	The Beatles
18	Stand By Me	Ben E. King
19	Wichita Lineman	Glen Campbell
20	Can’t Buy Me Love	The Beatles
21	These Boots are Made for Walkin’	Nancy Sinatra
22	Come Together	The Beatles
23	Just the Way You Are	Billy Joel
24	Time after Time	Cyndi Lauper
25	Eye of the Tiger	Survivor
26	The Letter	The Box Tops
27	Lose Yourself	Eminem
28	I Can See Clearly Now	Johny Nash
29	When a Man Loves a Woman	Percy Sledge
30	Downtown	Petula Clark
31	Imagine	John Lennon
32	Mrs. Robinson	Simon and Garfukel
33	We Can Work it Out	The Beatles
34	Oh, Pretty Woman	Roy Orbison
35	What a Wonderful World	Louis Armstrong
36	I’m a Believer	The Monkees
37	Will You Love Me Tomorrow	The Shirelles
38	Pumped up Kicks	Foster the People
39	The Rose	Bette Midler
40	Billie Jean	Michael Jackson
41	Penny Lane	The Beatles
42	King of the Road	Roger Miller
43	Honky Tonk Woman	The Rolling Stones
44	Lean on Me	Bill Withers
45	Light My Fire	The Doors
46	I Feel Fine	The Beatles
47	Yellow Submarine	The Beatles
48	Please Mr. Postman	The Marvelettes
49	A Hard Days Night	The Beatles
50	Born to Be Wild	Steppenworlf
51	Wooly Bully	Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
52	How To Save a Life	The Fray
53	Proud Mary	Creedence Clearwater Revival
54	To Sir With Love	Lulu
55	Call Me	Blondie
56	Hello	Lionel Richie
57	Annie’s Song	John Denver
58	50 Ways to Leave Your Lover	Paul Simon
59	Stop! In the Name of Love	The Supremes
60	Gold Digger	Kanye West
61	Whole Lotta Love	Led Zeppelin
62	I Get Around	The Beach Boys
63	96 Tears	? And the Mysterians
64	Nowhere Man	The Beatles
65	Heart of Glass	Blondie
66	How You Remind Me	Nickelback
67	Time in a Bottle	Jim Croce
68	And I Love Her	The Beatles
69	Heart of Gold	Neil Young
70	Let’s Dance	David Bowie
71	Georgy Girl	The Seekers
72	Beat It	Michael Jackson
73	Chain of Fools	Aretha Franklin
74	Theme From Shaft	Isaac Hayes
75	Angie	The Rolling Stones
76	Paperback Writer	The Beatles
77	Green Onions	Booker T and the MGs
78	Baby Love	The Supremes
79	Got to Get You Into My Life	The Beatles
80	Get Back	The Beatles
81	Thriller	Michael Jackson
82	Like a Virgin	Madonna
83	Another One Bites the Dust	Queen
84	Cherish	The Association
85	Fame	David Bowie
86	Crazy	Gnarls Barkley
87	I Got You Babe	Sonny and Cher
88	Dreams	Fleetwood Mac
89	My Girl	Temptations
90	Brand New Key	Melanie
91	Dizzy	Tommy Roe
92	Sweet Soul Music	Arthur Conley
93	I Honestly Love You	Olivia Newton John
94	Band of Gold	Freda Payne
95	Kiss Me	Sixpence None the Richer
96	Africa	Toto
97	Jump	Van Halen
98	Everyday People	Sly and the Family Stone
99	Spirit in the Sky	Norman Greenbaum
100	Kung Fu Fighting	Carl Douglas

 

____
Like what you read here? Add your name to our subscription list below. No spam, I promise!
___

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */

//s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.mailchimp.com/js/mc-validate.js(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]=’EMAIL’;ftypes[0]=’email’;fnames[1]=’FNAME’;ftypes[1]=’text’;fnames[2]=’LNAME’;ftypes[2]=’text’;}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);