The best singles. Billboard's Greatest Singles of All Time

One of the most authoritative and respected cultural magazines in the world, Rolling Stone, in 2004 published a list of the 500 best songs of all time. The list was compiled on the basis of a survey of 172 famous musicians and music critics. In May 2010 and again in April 2011 the lists were updated.

Skipping through 490 undoubtedly great songs, let's take a quick look at the top ten best songs of all time.

10. Opens the "top ten" song by the American rhythm and blues artist Ray Charles, released by him as a single in 1959.

Ray Charles What'd I Say, 1959

Once at one of the performances in 1958, Ray Charles and the orchestra needed to fill the remaining time with something before the end of the concert. So, as a result of improvisation, this musical composition was born. It is she who is now considered the ancestor of a new sub-genre of rhythm and blues, later called soul.

9. Ninth place musicians and music critics given to the song American group Nirvana from the Nevermind album.

Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit", 1991

The song, written by Kurt Cobain, Chris Novoselic and Dave Grohl, became incredibly popular: first places in the charts, inclusion in the top lists of the best songs of various versions, as well as two awards at the MTV Video Music Awards for his video clip, which was very popular on television .

In a January 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain admitted that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was an attempt to write a song in the style of the Pixies, a band he greatly respected.

“I wanted to write the perfect pop song. Basically, I tried to replay the Pixies. I am forced to admit it. When I first heard the Pixies, I connected with the band so much that I should have been in the band itself. Or at least the Pixies cover band. We adopted from them a sense of dynamics, alternating soft, quiet sound with loud and hard.

The Beatles Hey Jude, 1968

This song was composed by Paul McCartney to console John Lennon's son Julian during his parents' divorce. On the way to Weybridge in his Aston Martin to see Cynthia Lennon and her son.

« As a friend of the family, I felt it was my duty to go to Weybridge and cheer them up, tell them everything was going to be all right, and just visit. It was about an hour drive from my house to them. I always turned off the radio and while driving I tried to compose songs. And somehow I started to sing: “Hey Jule, don't worry, take a sad song and make it better…” These were optimistic, hopeful words of encouragement for Julian: “Yeah, buddy, your parents are divorced. I understand how you feel, but over time you will feel better.

7. It's time to remember the good old rock and roll. Since the seventh place in the ranking is the song of one of its founders - American musician Chuck Berry.

Chuck Berry, Johnny B. Goode, 1958

A short story about an illiterate but talented village boy who enchanted everyone with his guitar playing, in turn fascinated not only ordinary listeners, but also the musicians themselves. Over time, "Johnny B. Goode" became a classic rock standard: it was performed by many musicians from Elvis Presley and The Beatles to the Sex Pistols, Judas Priest and Green Day.

6. The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations", 1966

The composition is several musical themes, created from small disparate fragments of recordings made in different studios.

"Good Vibrations" was released as a single on October 10, 1966 with "Let's Go Away for Awhile" (from Pet Sounds) on reverse side. The single peaked at number 1 in the US, UK and Southern Rhodesia.

"Good Vibrations" exists in two versions: the first - the most famous - was released on a single with lyrics by Mike Love. The second option includes original words Tony Asher.

5.Aretha Franklin "Respect", 1965

This rhythm and blues song is calling card"Queens of Soul"

Aretha Franklin changed the lyrics of the original version of the song and shifted the emphasis, turning it into a monologue strong woman demanding respect.

The song, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, became Franklin's first international hit, hitting the top ten British charts. Over time, the song turned into a kind of anthem for the movement for gender equality and sounded in dozens of feature films.

The song "What's Going On" is included in the eleventh studio album American musician Marvin Gaye. This album is a concept album and consists of nine songs, most of which continue into the next track. The lyrics are narrated from the point of view of a Vietnam War veteran who returned to the country he fought for and saw nothing but injustice, suffering and hatred.

3. The top three is opened by a person who invites us to imagine that:

there's no heaven,

It's easy if you try,

no hell below us

above us only sky

Imagine all the people

living for today”…

John Lennon Imagine, 1971

In this song, Lennon outlined his views on how the world should be. It was she who became Lennon's calling card. Former US President Jimmy Carter once said that "in many countries around the world - my wife and I were almost 125 - you can hear John Lennon's "Imagine" almost as often as the national anthems."

2. The Rolling Stones(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, 1965

Single allowed The Rolling The Stones climb to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

1. Bob Dylan Like A Rolling Stone, 1965

Number one on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs. is a song by Bob Dylan from his album Highway 61 Revisited. By the way, the name of the magazine "Rolling Stone" is often associated with it, but in fact, it was named after the song "Rollin" Stone" by Muddy Waters.

The song was first released as a single on July 20, 1965. She managed to stay on the US chart for three months and reach number two (after the single "Help!" by The Beatles). The first live performance of "Like a Rolling Stone" took place at the Newport Folk Festival.

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be without a home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

Bicycles for Afghanistan - "Foam of the Days"

The new album of the main punk-romantics of the Moscow scene, the tag "punk-rock" almost does not stick to it. There are dream-pop, post-punk, and lively pop songs about love and youth. Such music takes the listener back a certain number of years, making you feel young, naive and in love again. "Foam of Days" is one of the most important Russian-language albums of the year and the best choice for those who miss the actual and well-recorded guitar music.

Paul McCartney - Egypt Station

Paul McCartney is an artist about whom later work it's hard to judge. On the one hand, historically important songs have not been found in his discography for a couple of decades. On the other hand, he issued himself such a credit of trust early work that any of his releases will be perceived as bright and long-awaited. Egypt Station is no exception, especially since there are still a couple of strong hits in the album. We recommend that you read the release. And then with our best Paul McCartney songs.

Metric - Art of Doubt

Metric is a great indie rock music with female vocals, referring to The Raveonettes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blood Red Shoes. The concentration of cool songs is over the top, there are almost no passing songs in the album. And they are all quite different - from the danceable Dark Saturday with a lively chorus to the melancholic Seven Rules, suitable for the role of audio accompaniment slow dances or reflections on life in .

"WE" - "Closer Part2"

The next release of the group "" - the duet of Daniel Sheik and Eva Krause. The new album is about the same as before: delicate, a little naive, sad and Beautiful music about love. True, the concentration of hits this time is lower, and the strongest tracks were released a few months ago in the form of singles. But we still recommend: there is not much such romantic and tender music on our stage.

Inspired by the rating of the music publication New Musical Express, which chose best song decades, I decided to continue this topic. Now I turned to the music magazine Billboard (on the advice of hellobender) and found " Top Singles of all time". I suggest the "gossip girls" make their rating of their favorite musical compositions, write your opinion, on the basis of which it will be possible to make a final post 1 . Song: THE TWIST Executor: Chubby Checker Label: Parkway Top of the chart dates: 09/19/60 and 01/13/62 Length of time on the chart: 39 weeks The Twist is the only song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to be at number one on two different charts at the same time. She also set a record for the time spent on the hit parade - 39 weeks! He had been around since the 1960s until UB40 beat him with Red Red Wine in 1988. Chubby Checker notes that song Twist brought rhythmic dancing to the beat into the world. The song became Chubby's mascot, making it to the Billboard Hot 100 32 more times. 2. Song: SMOOTH Executor: Santana featuring Rob Thomas Label: Arista No. 1 date: 10/23/1999 Chart length: 12 weeks Smooth, written by Matchbox Twenty lead singer Rob Thomas, was a hit, embellishing the super-successful and stunning Supernatural album. 3. Song: MACK THE KNIFE Executor: Bobby Darin Label: Atco Top date: 10/5/1959 Length of time on the charts: 9 weeks In 1958, Splish Splash made 22-year-old Bobby Darin famous. However, the ambitious Bobby did not want momentary fame, but real recognition. The song Mack the Knife from the album That's All reached the first step of the chart in 1959 - and Bobby received a Grammy for Best New Artist and an award for the best record of the year. 4. Song: HOW DO I LIVE Executor: LeAnn Rimes Label: Curb Date at the top of the chart: 12/13/1997 Length of time on the charts: 2 weeks This is LeAnn Rimes' second Hot 100 entry. the young starlet grew up and became a real star. 5. Song: MACARENA Executor: Los Del Rio Label: RCA Top date: 8/3/1996 Length of time on the chart: 14 weeks Los del Rio's bilingual single Macarena spent 14 weeks on the chart. The song, sweetened with flamenco rhythms, was already a hit in Spain in 1993, as well as a favorite track on cruise ships docked at Miami's South Beach clubs. 6. Song: PHYSICAL Executor: Olivia Newton John Label: MCA Date at the top of the chart: 11/21/1981 Length of time on the chart: 10 weeks Life often imitates art. Here a prime example: Singer and actress Olivia Newton-John in the 1977 film Grease changed the image of Sandy, modest quiet girl, for the role of a vamp woman. After that, her song Physical was charged with unbridled sexual energy. The composition spent 10 weeks on the first line of the hit parade and broke all the previous records of the singer. It also became the anthem of all fans of aerobics, fashionable at that time. 7. Song: YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE Executor: Debby Boone Label: Warner Bros./Curb Date at number one: 10/15/1977 Length of time on the chart: 10 weeks famous singer Pat Boon tried for years to build her own musical career in the Boone Sisters, but without much success. Label executive Mike Courbet decided that one of the "sisters", Debbie, should start a solo career. He chose the perfect song for this - an instrumental theme from the movie You Light Up My Life. He recorded Derby's vocals, and in the end his instincts did not fail him - the song was on the first line of the charts for ten weeks in October 1977. In addition, she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. 8. Song: HEY JUDE Executor: The Beatles Label: Apple Date at the top of the charts: 9/28/1968 Length of time on the charts: 9 weeks This was the first single to The Beatles released on her own label Apple Records. The song was written by Paul McCartney in 1968 to support John Lennon's eldest son Julian, who was upset about his parents' divorce. Hey Jude entered the Hot 100 chart on September 14, 1968 at number 10 and soared to number one in two weeks. In the entire history of the group, this song lasted the longest time on the chart at number one. 9. Song: WE BELONG TOGETHER Executor: Mariah Carey Label: Island/IDJMG Date at the top of the chart: 6/4/2005 Length of time on the chart: 14 weeks When American singer Mariah Carey had 15 songs to her credit that topped the charts, she signed a contract with Virgin for $80 million ... and ... rolled down to the lower steps. However, she managed to release a new album Emancipation of Mimi with a clip of greatest hits on another label, climbing back to the top of the charts, and to the top of the Hot-100 in particular. We Belong Together held on to the 1st place for 14 weeks, and returned to the lost position twice more in a row. And the singer was able to sell 5.9 million copies of her disc. 10. Song: UNBREAK MY HEART Executor: Tony Braxton Label: LaFace/Arista Top Date: 12/7/1996 Length of Time on the Chart: 11 Weeks Three years after winning a Grammy, Toni Braxton released her second album, Secrets. It went multi-platinum. The song Unbreak my heart, which Tony performs with his low velvet viola, became the biggest hit of the singer's entire career, holding out at the top of the Hot -100 chart for 11 weeks.

Top US Singles of 2011 is a list of singles published by Billboard magazine based on an analysis of 2011 music chart data. The final list of 2011 was published on December 8, it included data on songs that were in ... ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1997 is the final list of the most popular singles from Billboard magazine according to sales data for 1997. Contents 1 List of 1997 ... Wikipedia

Top US Singles of 2010 is a list of singles published by Billboard magazine based on an analysis of 2010 music chart data. The final list of 2010 was published on December 8, it included data on songs that were in ... ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1992 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles in 1992 according to sales data. Contents 1 List of 1992 ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1980 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles according to 1980 sales data. Contents 1 List of 1980 2 Notes ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1990 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles in 1990 according to sales data. Contents 1 List of 1990 ... Wikipedia

Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1996 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles in 1996 according to sales data. Contents 1 List of 1996 ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1964 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles in 1964 according to sales data. Contents 1 List of 1964 ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1979 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles according to 1979 sales data. Contents 1 List of 1979 2 Notes ... Wikipedia

The US Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1988 is the final list of Billboard magazine's most popular singles in 1988 according to sales data. Contents 1 List of 1988 2 Notes ... Wikipedia