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". The song list was chosen based on votes by 172 musicians, critics, and music-industry figures.

Top 10 songs

#	Song	Artist	Country of origin	Release	Genre
1	"Like a Rolling Stone"	Bob Dylan	United States	1965	Rock
2	"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"	The Rolling Stones	United Kingdom	1965	Rock and roll
3	"Imagine"	John Lennon	United Kingdom	1971	Rock
4	"What's Going On"	Marvin Gaye	United States	1971	Soul
5	"Respect"	Aretha Franklin	United States	1967	Soul
6	"Good Vibrations"	The Beach Boys	United States	1966	Psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop
7	"Johnny B. Goode"	Chuck Berry	United States	1958	Rock and roll
8	"Hey Jude"	The Beatles	United Kingdom	1968	Rock
9	"Smells Like Teen Spirit"	Nirvana	United States	1991	Grunge
10	"What'd I Say"	Ray Charles	United States	1959	Soul, blues, gospel, rock and roll

Statistics

• The list is almost entirely composed of North American and British artists. Of the 500 songs, 352 are from the United States and 117 from the United Kingdom; they are followed by Ireland with 12 entries (U2 with 8), 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 two songs from the 1940s are featured – Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (112) and Muddy Waters "Rollin' Stone"
• The number of songs from each of the decades represented is as follows:

Decade	Number of songs	Percentage
1940s	2	0.4%
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); and The Beach Boys and The Jimi Hendrix Experience (7).

• 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 #106, the latter at #79), "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins (Perkins' version at 95th, Presley's at 423rd) and "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run-DMC (the original 1975 recording at #336, the 1986 cover at #287).
• The shortest tracks are "Summertime Blues" (#73) by Eddie Cochran at 1:45, "Great Balls Of Fire" (#96) by Jerry Lee Lewis and "Rave On" (#154) by Buddy Holly, both with a duration of 1:50.
• The longest tracks are "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang at 14:37, "Papa Was A Rolling 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 songs from the 2000's but the song "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G.. The entire top ten remained unchanged. In the top 100 certain songs had changed their rank, 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	2	0.4%
1950s	69	13.8%
1960s	195	39%
1970s	131	26.2%
1980s	55	11%
1990s	21	4.2%
2000s/2010s	27	5.4%

The songs added in the update are as follows:

• "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley (#100)
• "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z (#118)
• "Moment of Surrender" by U2 (#160)
• "99 Problems" by Jay-Z (#172)
• "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (#194)
• "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. (#236)
• "Mississippi" by Bob Dylan (#260)
• "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West (#273)
• "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes (#286)
• "One More Time" by Daft Punk (#307)
• "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand (#327)
• "Beautiful Day" by U2 (#345)
• "Maps" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (#386)
• "Umbrella" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z (#412)
• "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G. (#424)
• "American Idiot" by Green Day (#432)
• "In da Club" by 50 Cent (#448)
• "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliott (#466)
• "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z featuring UGK (#467)
• "Last Nite" by The Strokes (#478)
• "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson (#482)
• "Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake (#484)
• "Clocks" by Coldplay (#490)
• "Time to Pretend" by MGMT (#493)
• "Ignition (Remix)" by R. Kelly (#494)
• "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen (#497)

See also

• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's selection of "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"

External links

• Rolling Stones Magazine's Top 500 Songs – Metrolyrics
• "Dylan track voted 'greatest song'". BBC NEWS. 2004-11-17. Retrieved 2009-11-08.