Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published 9 December 2004,^[1] a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Statistics

• "Like a Rolling Stone" by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was chosen as number one. The single was released on 20 July 1965.
• The list is mostly composed of male North American and British artists and is largely post-mid-20th century. Of the 500 songs, 352 are from the United States and 119 from the United Kingdom; they are followed by Ireland with 12 entries (of which 8 were composed by U2), Canada with 10 (a majority of them by Neil Young of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Jamaica with 7 (most of them by Bob Marley & the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, and Toots & the Maytals), Australia with two (AC/DC), and a lone song from Sweden (ABBA) and France (Daft Punk).
• The list includes just one song entirely not in English: "La Bamba" by American singer-songwriter Ritchie Valens (345).
• Few songs written prior to the 1950s are featured; examples of those that are include Robert Johnson's 1936 "Crossroads", here cited in its Cream version, and Hank Williams' 1949 "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". "The House of the Rising Sun", here cited in the version by English rock band the Animals, was recorded at least as early as 1934.^[2] Muddy Waters' 1950 "Rollin' Stone" is based on an earlier song dating to the 1920s.^[3]
• There is one instrumental featured on this list: "Green Onions" by American band Booker T and the MG's (181).
• The number of songs from each of the decades represented in the 2004 version is as follows:

Decade	Number of songs	Percentage
1940s	1	0.2%
1950s	72	14.4%
1960s	203	40.8%
1970s	142	28.2%
1980s	57	11.4%
1990s	22	4.4%
2000s	3	0.6%

• With 23 songs on the list, the Beatles are the most-represented musical act; John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison are also represented as solo artists. However, Lennon is the only artist to appear twice in the top 10, as a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist. The Beatles are followed by the Rolling Stones (14); Bob Dylan (13); Elvis Presley (11); U2 (8); the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix (7); Led Zeppelin, Prince, Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown, Chuck Berry (6); Elton John, Ray Charles, the Clash, the Drifters, Buddy Holly, and the Who (5).
• The artists who do not appear on the top 100 artists list with the most songs featured in the list are the Animals, Blondie, and the Isley Brothers, each with three songs.
• Three songs appear on the list twice, performed by different artists: "Mr. Tambourine Man", performed by Bob Dylan and the Byrds (Dylan at #107, the Byrds at #79); "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins (Perkins at #95, Presley at #430); and "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run-DMC (Aerosmith at #346, Run-DMC at #293).
• The shortest tracks are "Great Balls of Fire" (#96) by Jerry Lee Lewis and "Rave On" (#154) by Buddy Holly, both running 1:50. Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" is 1:53.
• The longest tracks are "Whipping Post (Live)" by the Allman Brothers Band at 22:40, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang at 14:35, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" by the Temptations at 12:02, "The End" by the Doors at 11:41, "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan at 11:21, "Marquee Moon" by Television at 10:47, and "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd at 10:08.
• "Love" is the most frequent word used in the songs' lyrics, with 1057 occurrences, followed by "I'm" (1,000 uses), "oh" (847 uses), "know" (779 uses), "baby" (746 uses), "got" (702 uses), and "yeah" (656 uses). ^[4]

2010 update

In May 2010, Rolling Stone compiled an updated list which was published in a special issue and in digital form for iPod and iPad applications. The list differs from the 2004 version, with all of the new additions being songs from the 2000s with the exception of "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G. which was released in 1994. A total of 26 new songs were added; the entire top 25 remained unchanged, but many songs further down the list saw their rankings change as a result of new songs being added, causing consecutive shifts among the originally listed songs. The highest ranked new entry was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" at number 100.

The number of songs from each decade in this updated version is as follows:

Decade	Number of songs	Percentage
1940s	1	0.2%
1950s	70	14%
1960s	195	39%
1970s	131	26.2%
1980s	55	11%
1990s	22	4.4%
2000s	26	5.2%

U2 and Jay-Z both have two songs added to the list; however, Jay-Z is also featured in an additional two other new songs on the list, "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé and "Umbrella" by Rihanna. The only artist to have two songs dropped from the list is the Crystals, with their "Da Doo Ron Ron" entry at No. 114 being the highest-ranked song to have been dropped.

See also

• The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, also from Rolling Stone magazine
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's selection of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll

References

1. "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". 2004-12-09. Archived from the original on 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
2. "Pete Seeger - American Favorite Ballads" (PDF). Volume 2 (pages 11–12). Smithsonian Folkways. 2009. pp. 27–28. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
3. Palmer, Robert (1993). Blues Masters Volume 8: Mississippi Delta Blues (liner notes). Rhino Records. p. 8. R2 71130.
4. "Sex and drugs and Rock'n'roll: Analysing the lyrics of the Rolling Stone 500 greatest songs of all time". 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-07-21.

External links

• "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone magazine (updated version of the list)
• "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" 2004 version of the list by archive.org
• "Dylan track voted 'greatest song'". BBC News. 2004-11-17. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
• "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2010 Edition) with lists of additions and dropouts". Last.fm. Archived from the original on July 6, 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-30.