Criteria: - Songs listed are from Rock 'n' Roll and related sub-genres. Rankings are
based on initial and lasting popularity and on acclaim received from critics and musicians.
Last Updated 12-20-07
Newly added names are in RED
Edited By: Brian
Click buttons below for Top 100 lists.
1970 1. Layla - Derek and the Dominos 2. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel 3. Let It Be - The Beatles 4. Your Song - Elton John 5. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine - James Brown 6. Lola - The Kinks 7. Who'll Stop the Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival 8. Fire and Rain - James Taylor 9. Paranoid - Black Sabbath 10. All Right Now - Free
1971 1. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin 2. Imagine - John Lennon 3. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye 4. Let's Stay Together - Al Green 5. Maggie May - Rod Stewart 6. American Pie - Don McLean 7. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who 8. Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones 9. Just My Imagination - The Temptations 10. Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone
1972 1. Superstition - Stevie Wonder 2. Papa Was a Rollin' Stone - The Temptations 3. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple 4. Lean on Me - Bill Withers 5. Heart of Gold - Neil Young 6. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed 7. You Are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder 8. If You Don't Know Me by Now - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes 9. I'll Take You There - The Staple Singers 10. Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones
1973 1. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd 2. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye 3. Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight and the Pips 4. Dream On - Aerosmith 5. Living for the City - Stevie Wonder 6. Money - Pink Floyd 7. Piano Man - Billy Joel 8. Killing Me Softly with His Song - Roberta Flack 9. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John 10. That Lady - Isley Brothers
1974 1. No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley and the Wailers 2. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd 3. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 4. Rock Your Baby - George McCrae 5. Lady Marmalade - LaBelle 6. Autobahn - Kraftwerk 7. Help Me - Joni Mitchell 8. Waterloo - Abba 9. Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe - Barry White 10. Tell Me Something Good - Rufus
1975 1. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen 2. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen 3. Walk This Way - Aerosmith 4. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin 5. Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan 6. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 7. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen 8. One of These Nights - Eagles 9. Low Rider - War 10. I'm Not in Love - 10cc
1976 1. Hotel California - The Eagles 2. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac 3. More Than a Feeling - Boston 4. Anarchy in the UK - The Sex Pistols 5. Dancing Queen - Abba 6. (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult 7. Night Moves - Bob Seger 8. Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones 9. The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy 10. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
1977 1. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees 2. We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions - Queen 3. Heroes - David Bowie 4. Best of My Love - The Emotions 5. God Save the Queen - The Sex Pistols 6. Brick House - The Commodores 7. Dreams - Fleetwood Mac 8. Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf 9. I Feel Love - Donna Summer 10. Jamming - Bob Marley and the Wailers
1978 1. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor 2. Roxanne - The Police 3. Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits 4. Heart of Glass - Blondie 5. One Nation Under a Groove - Funkadelic 6. I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones 7. Miss You - The Rolling Stones 8. Le Freak - Chic 9. Old Time Rock and Roll - Bob Seger 10. Rock Lobster - The B-52's
1979 1. Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 - Pink Floyd 2. London Calling - The Clash 3. Rapper's Delight - The Sugarhill Gang 4. Good Times - Chic 5. Dont Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson 6. We Are Family - Sister Sledge 7. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd 8. Hot Stuff - Donna Summer 9. Brass in Pocket - The Pretenders 10. Message in a Bottle - The Police
Disclaimer: There is nothing 'Official' about these lists. They are compiled by the 'editor' using the
stated criteria, and revised considering the competent suggestions of visitors to this website only.
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correction: that should read "Spirit of Radio."
J.B. Trance
- Saturday, November 03, 2007 at 21:41:48 (EST)Brian,
Rateyourmusic, like Allmusic, has several errors. For
instance, on the 1980 list, they list "Comfortably Numb" and
Blondie's "Atomic" as being released that year. They do the
same thing for lesser known recordings as well such as The
Clash's "Clampdown."
Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" was definitely released in
1980. Rush's Permanent Waves LP was released in January
1980, and the single "Radio" was released the following
month. Rateyourmusic even has the picture of the 45 where it
says 1980 on the record. I think they need to check more
carefully with their sources.
J.B. Trance
- Saturday, November 03, 2007 at 21:41:05 (EST)I'd say "Lonely Boy" seems like the right choice. I don't
like it, but I did hear it a lot over the years on the
radio.
Bruce
- Saturday, November 03, 2007 at 17:31:29 (EST)JB, I think that's right. Rateyourmusic is accurate most
of the time, but I think they made a mistake on this one.
BTW, they list Rush' "Spirit of the Radio", which is on
your 1980 list, as being released in January 1979, but
they might be mistaken about that too.
Bruce, I don't think the Beach Boys version of "Rock 'n'
Roll" version has endured. I'm not sure heard it in the
last 30 years, even though I sometimes listen to oldies
stations, where it fits into their format perfectly. It's
not on any of my oldies surveys, though versions by Chuck
Berry and especially the Beatles are, and of course a lot
of other Beach Boys songs also are. It also wasn't a very
big hit outside the US, peaking at #36 in the UK. I'm
thinking the addition should be one of these songs:
Lonely Boy - Andrew Gold
Love Me - Yvonne Elliman
Hard Luck Woman - Kiss
Calling Dr. Love - Kiss
All were top 20 hits in the US, and "Lonely Boy" and "Love
Me" peaked at #11 and #6 in the UK. The Kiss songs are
from a big album that is currently not represented on the
list, and because in addition to these songs there was
another Kiss hit from that year, "Shout It Out Loud", it
might be appropriate to include one of them so that the
list will better reflect how big they were that year. But
I'm leaning toward "Lonely Boy" as the addition, because
it was the biggest American hit of these songs, and as
Andrew Gold's first hit, it was not helped to that
position by any pre-existing artist popularity, as all of
these other songs, with the possible exception of "Love
Me", may have been.
However Bruce, if one of the other songs mentioned in this
post was a frequently requested song when you were DJing,
I'll reconsider, because otherwise, I don't see a big
difference between these songs.
Brian
- Saturday, November 03, 2007 at 12:57:57 (EST)Brian,
On "I Want You," I think it best if you stick with the
official Motown discography which has the single and album
released in March and April of 1976, respectively.
J.B. Trance
- Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at 21:38:01 (EST)Brian, how about "Rock And Roll Music" by the Beach Boys as
a possible extra for 1976 to repalce "Movin'?"
Big single from a big album. I like "It's OK" better, but
it wasn't all that big.
Bruce
- Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 11:03:21 (EST)I meant good extras for the 1974 list, not 1975.
Bruce
- Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 10:57:58 (EST)Brian, good extras in 1975. Glad to see these get in:
112 # 9 Dream John Lennon
113 Doctor's Orders Carol Douglas
Plus two of my favorites from the year sqeaked in too:
115 The South's Gonna Do It Charlie Daniels Band
117 Promised Land Elvis Presley
Bruce
- Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 10:56:58 (EST)Hi Jorge. If any Cohen could have made the '71 list,
it's "Famous Blue Raincoat". It is an acclaimed song,
since it's not a popular song, i thought it didn't quite
have enough acclaim to make the list in a strong year
like '71.
I've sent the revised '74 list to Lew, so I'm ready to
move on to '75. I recently discovered that there's at
least one song on the '76 list that is from '75 - "Movin'"
by Brass Construction is from an album released in '75.
According to rateyourmusic, Marvin Gaye's "I Want You"
single was also released in '75. I'm not sure I believe
that. It entered the top 40 the week of 5/8/76, and it
seems unlikely to me that a Marvin gaye single from that
time would have taken more than 4 months after its release
to make the top 40. If anyone has any definite info on
that, please share it. But at least "Movin'" will now be
a candidate for addition to the '75 list, and I will need
to add 1 or 2 songs to the '76 list.
Brian
- Monday, October 29, 2007 at 22:18:06 (EST)Hi, i think, maybe "Famous Blue Raincoat" of Leonard Cohen
should be included in the 1971 list... or another song of
him.
bye
Jorge
- Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 15:08:31 (EST)mark, JB Trance who compiles the 80s lists has been very
slow and is about a month behind with the 1981 list which
he claimed would be up already by the beginning of October.
Bruce
- Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 08:46:19 (EDT)"bruce springsteen-secret garden"
was on his greatest hits released in 1995.
when are the expanded lists from 74 & 75
going to be posted so we can get on to the 1977 list?
what happened to the 1981 list??
mark
- Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 08:09:58 (EDT)John, I don't know of a Springsteen song called "Secret Garden".
Bruce, I heard "Must of Got Lost" quite a bit when it was a
hit, but I haven't heard either Geils song much in recent
years. Good point about "Give It to Me" being from a bigger
album than "Must of Got Lost". If "Give It to Me" had been
from '74, maybe it would have been able to make that list.
I saw a post on this page that is no longer here asking
about why there's no Bob Seger on DDD's all-time greatest
songs list. Actually, "Old Time Rock and Roll" is on that
list, in the 2nd hundred.
Brian
- Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 14:09:28 (EDT)What year was Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen become
popular?
John
Brockton, MA United States - Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 16:50:38 (EDT)Brian, I think that "Give It To Me" was on that rock club
survey that I sent you of the top 100 songs of the 70s. It
was a huge party record when I used to DJ. I never even
heard of "Must Have Got Lost" until years later. "Give It
To Me" was the main track on a big album "Bloodshot," a
much bigger album than the one that "Must Have Got Lost"
came from. I used to hear it on the radio a lot in the 70s
and 80s, but I guess not anymore these days.
Bruce
- Monday, October 08, 2007 at 13:51:42 (EDT)Bruce, it's both of the things you mentioned. "Must of Got
Lost" was a bigger hit than "Give It To Me", and while I
haven't seen MOGL on many current surveys, I haven't seen
GITM on any. So I consider MOGL bigger. But MOGL wouldn't
have made it onto the '73 list. In fact I don't think any
of the "bubbling under" songs on the '74 list could have
appeared on the '73 list.
Brian
- Monday, October 08, 2007 at 10:25:30 (EDT)Brian, all good things for 1974 except I never heard of the
Supertramp song.
Do you think that "Must Have Got Lost" ie bigger than "Give
It To Me" or is it just that 1974 is that much weaker than
1973? I would think it's much weaker considering how much
lower "When Will I See You Again" is in 1973 compared to #
11 in 1974.
Glad to see you're dumping "Please Mr. Postman," I
suggested that back when you first did the list.
Bruce
- Sunday, October 07, 2007 at 22:46:53 (EDT)I talked to Trance about "Machine Gun", and he said that
he had 1 source that listed in '73, but that he now
believes that source is wrong, and agrees that it should
be considered a '74 song.
As there are quite a few songs that would make good
additions to the list, I believe the thing to do is to
drop "Please Mr. Postman" so that there will be room for
one more addition. So that means there will be 12
additions. I've now pretty well settled on adding these 9
songs:
School | Supertramp
Tonight Is the Night | Betty Wright
The Wall Street Shuffle | 10cc
Wishing You Were Here | Chicago
Train Kept a-Rollin' | Aerosmith
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway | Genesis
I've Got The Music In Me | Kiki Dee Band
Doctor's Orders | Carol Douglas
The South's Gonna Do It | Charlie Daniels Band
Then I think the remaining positions should be filled with
3 of the following 4 songs:
Machine Gun | Commodores
Must Of Got Lost | J. Geils Band
Bad Time | Grand Funk
Sha La La | Al Green
Any 3 of these would be OK, but I'm leaning toward "Sha La
La" as the one that doesn't make it.
I'm taking another look at the '74 list, as I now think
the order can be improved. So it will take me a little
longer to finalize this list and move on to '75 than it
did for for the other years.
Brian
- Saturday, October 06, 2007 at 14:43:28 (EDT)Gordon,
As far as I can tell, the only reason for including "I Go
Crazy" on the '77 list is for it's initial popularity. It
had a lot of that, and might make the list on the strength
of that alone, but if so, I expect it will be near the
bottom.
Brian
- Saturday, October 06, 2007 at 14:23:09 (EDT)"""All but the DC5, Chic and Mellencamp are first time
nominees."""
It's about time Dave Clark Five are inducted. Definitely
one of the most underrated bands of the '60s.
Bill Grundy
- Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 09:46:06 (EDT)Brian,
Will "I go crazy" by Paul Davis be on the '77 list, and
around where do you think it will be?
Gordon
- Monday, October 01, 2007 at 21:36:59 (EDT)Brian, "Doctor's Orders" was pretty big with the classic
disco crowd in the 1980s. Occasionally someone would ask
for "Bad Time" early in the night. Don't think I ever
played any of the others.
"Machine Gun" looks like '74 to me, maybe Trance will
provide us with his reason for thinking that it was '73.
Here's two disco records from 1974 that were humongous all
through the 80s:
Where Do We Go From Here - Trammps
Sugar Pie Guy - Joneses
The Joneses record even got remixed and re-released as a
12" at one point.
Bruce
- Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 23:17:18 (EDT)Madonna should be a shoo-in, and I think the Beastie Boys
and Donna Summer should make it too, although I wonder why
Donna has never been on the ballot before. It might be a
sign that the Hall is ambivalent about her for some
reason. If I had to pick 2 others, I guess I'd go with
Chic and Mellencamp.
Bruce, let me ask you this: what about the songs that are
at 9-15 on the list from my previous post - when you were
DJing was there significant interest in any of them?
And a question for anybody. I was looking at some old
posts in this thread, and I found one where JB Trance
recommended "Machine Gun" by the Commodores for the '74
list, then a slightly later post when he said never mind,
it's from '73. I've looked at rateyourmusic and
allmusic.com, and both single and album are listed as
being from '74. In my Cashbox R & B charts book, it shows
the song entering the R & B charts in May, 1974. Can
anyone find any evidence of the song being from '73?
Brian
- Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 18:00:48 (EDT)
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