All-TIME 100 Songs

Our critics pick the most extraordinary English-language pop recordings since the beginning of TIME magazine in 1923.

Here are 100 (unranked) songs of enduring beauty, power and inventiveness







1920s:

'My Mammy' by Al Jolson (1924)

'St. Louis Blues' by Bessie Smith (1925)

'Ol' Man River' by Paul Robeson (1927)

'Wildwood Flower' by The Carter Family (1928)









1930s:

'I Got Rhythm' by Ethel Merman (1930)

'Minnie the Moocher' by Cab Calloway (1931)

'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)' by Duke Ellington (1931)

'Star Dust' by Louis Armstrong (1931)

'Cheek to Cheek' by Fred Astaire (1935)

'Where or When' by Ray Heatherton (1937)

'Over the Rainbow' by Judy Garland (1939)

'Strange Fruit' by Billie Holiday (1939)









1940s:

'This Land is Your Land' by Woodie Guthrie (1940)

'Stormy Weather' by Lena Horne (1941)

'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' by The Andrews Sisters (1941)

'Der Fuehrer's Face' by Spike Jones (1942)

'White Christmas' by Bing Crosby (1944)

'Sentimental Journey' by Doris Day (1944)

'It Had To Be You' by Bettie Hutton (1944)

'Move On Up a Little Higher' by Mahalia Jackson (1948)

'Cold, Cold Heart' by Hank Williams (1949)

'Baby, It's Cold Outside' by Ella Fitzgerald (1949)









1950s:

'How High the Moon' by Les Paul and Mary Ford (1951)

'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels' by Kitty Wells (1952)

'Folsom Prison Blues' by Johnny Cash (1955)

'Take This Hammer' by Odetta (1955)

'Tutti Frutti' by Little Richard (1956)

'I've Got You Under My Skin' by Frank Sinatra (1956)

'Jailhouse Rock' by Elvis Presley (1957)

'That'll Be The Day' by Buddy Holly (1957)

'Johnny B. Goode' by Chuck Berry (1958)

'What'd I Say' by Ray Charles (1959)









1960s:

'Crazy' by Patsy Cline (1961)

'Crying' by Ray Orbison (1961)

'Be My Baby' by The Ronettes (1963)

'I Want To Hold Your Hand' by The Beatles (1963)

'The Girl from Ipanema' by Astrud Gilberto (1964)

'Where Did Our Love Go?' by The Supremes (1964)

'Subterranean Homesick Blues' by Bob Dylan (1965)

'I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)' by Otis Redding (1965)

'God Only Knows' by The Beach Boys (1966)

'I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)' by Aretha Franklin (1967)

'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' by Marvin Gaye (1968)

'Ball 'n' Chain' by Big Mama Thornton (1968)

'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' by The Band (1969)

'I Want You Back' by The Jackson 5 (1969)

'Gimme Shelter' by The Rolling Stones (1969)

'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes' by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (1969)









1970s:

'Coal Miner's Daughter' by Loretta Lynn (1970)

'Rock & Roll' by Velvet Underground (1970)

'Rivers of Babylon' by The Melodians (1970)

'Get Up (I Feel like Being a) Sex Machine' by James Brown (1970)

'Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin (1971)

'Iron Man' by Black Sabbath (1971)

'A Case of You' by Joni Mitchell (1971)

'Baba O' Riley' by The Who (1971)

'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder (1972)

'Jolene' by Dolly Parton (1973)

'September Gurls' by Big Star (1974)

'Angel from Montgomery' by Bonnie Raitt (1974)

'Zombie' by Fela Kuti (1975)

'Thunder Road' by Bruce Springsteen (1975)

'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen (1975)

'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer (1977)

'Stayin' Alive' by The Bee Gees (1977)

'Heroes' by David Bowie (1977)

'I Wanna Be Sedated' by The Ramones (1977)

'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac (1977)

'Equal Rights' by Peter Tosh (1977)

'One Nation Under a Groove' by Parliament/Funkadelic (1978)









1980s:

'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division (1980)

'He Stopped Loving Her Today' by George Jones (1980)

'Billie Jean' by Michael Jackson (1982)

'Blue Monday' by New Order (1983)

'Borderline' by Madonna (1984)

'Kiss' by Prince (1986)

'Master of Puppets' by Metallica (1986)

'It's The End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine) by REM (1987)

'Fight the Power' by Public Enemy (1989)









1990s:

'Nothing Compares 2 U' by Sinead O'Connor (1990)

'Being Boring' by Pet Shop Boys (1990)

'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana (1991)

'1952 Vincent Black Lightning' by Richard Thompson (1991)

'Scenario' by A Tribe Called Quest (1991)

'C.R.E.A.M.' by Wu-Tang Clan (1992)

'Pineola' by Lucinda Williams (1992)

'Juicy' by The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)

'California Love [Remix]' by 2 Pac (1995)

'Common People' by Pulp (1995)

'Paranoid Android' by Radiohead (1997)









2000s:

'Get Ur Freak On' by Missy Elliot (2001)

'Hey Ya!' by Outkast (2003)

'99 Problems' by Jay-Z (2004)

'Wake Up' by Arcade Fire (2004)

'Gold Digger' by Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx (2005)

'Georgia... Bush' by Lil Wayne (2006)

'All My Friends' by LCD Soundsystem (2007)

Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) by Beyoncé (2008)

'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga (2009)









2010s:

'Tightrope' by Janelle Monáe (2010)


http://entertainment.time.com/2011/10/24/the-all-time-100-songs/slide/rivers-of-babylon-the-melodians/#tightrope-janelle-monae-featuring-big-boi

I can agree with a few of these but overall it's another joke of a list.

With a list of 100 I would have expected to have heard most of them. Quite the opposite was true. More of these songs than not, I have never heard of regardless of how old or how new they are.

"Immigrant Song" is not even close to being Led Zeppelin's best song.

"Immigrant Song" is not even close to being Led Zeppelin's best song.

Neither is "Stairway to Heaven" which gets my vote as the single most overplayed rock song ever recorded.