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 December 9, 2004, 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 July 20, 1965.
• The list is mostly composed of North American and British artists and, except for a single song, is strictly post mid-twentieth century. Of the 500 songs, 352 are from the United States and 117 from the United Kingdom; they are followed by Ireland with 12 entries (of which 8 were composed by U2), Canada with 10, Jamaica with 7 (most of them by Bob Marley or Jimmy Cliff), Australia with three (AC/DC with two) and a lone song from Sweden (by ABBA).
• The list includes just one song entirely not in English – "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens (345).
• Just one song written prior to the 1950s is featured – Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (112).
• There is one instrumental featured on the list; "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MG's, (ranked 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	204	40.8%
1970s	141	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 is the only artist to place multiple songs 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; The Jimi Hendrix Experience (7), Prince and Led Zeppelin (6) .
• Three songs appear on the list twice, being performed by different artists; "Mr. Tambourine Man" performed by Bob Dylan and The Byrds (the former at #107, the latter at #79), "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins (Perkins' version at 95th, Presley's at 430th) and "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run-DMC (the original 1975 recording at #346, the 1986 cover at #293).
• The shortest tracks are "Summertime Blues" (#73) by Eddie Cochran at 1:45, and, both with a duration of 1:50, "Great Balls of Fire" (#96) by Jerry Lee Lewis and "Rave On" (#154) by Buddy Holly.
• The longest tracks are the live recording of "Whipping Post" by The Allman Brothers Band at 22:56, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang at 14:37, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" by The Temptations at 11:45, "The End" by The Doors at 11:44, "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan at 11:23, and "Marquee Moon" by Television at 10:47.

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 only slightly from the 2004 version, with all of the new additions being songs from the 2000s with the exceptions of "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G. and "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z, which were released in 1994 and 1999, respectively. While a total of 26 new songs were added, the entire top 25 remained unchanged, and although certain songs had changed their rank in the top 100, the only 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 Crystals are the only artists to have had two songs dropped from the list.

See also

• List of songs considered the best
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's selection of "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"

External links

• "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone magazine
• "Dylan track voted 'greatest song'". BBC NEWS. 2004-11-17. Retrieved 2009-11-08.