www.rollingstone.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
151.101.192.69
Public Scan
URL:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/?utm_source=Cool+Material+Main&utm_campaign=22a...
Submission: On October 27 via api from US — Scanned from DE
Submission: On October 27 via api from US — Scanned from DE
Form analysis 2 forms found in the DOM
POST https://pages.email.rollingstone.com/signup-api/
<form class="c-form c-form--footer" action="https://pages.email.rollingstone.com/signup-api/" method="POST">
<div class="c-form__group">
<div class="c-form__field t-semibold">
<input type="hidden" name="Editorial_RollingStone_Opted_In" value="Yes">
<input type="hidden" name="Editorial_RollingStone_Source" value="rs site">
<input name="__contextName" value="FormPost" type="hidden">
<input name="__executionContext" value="POST" type="hidden">
<input name="__successPage" class="js-newsletter-successpage" data-base-url="/signup?signup=success" value="/signup?signup=success" type="hidden">
<input type="email" name="EmailAddress" class="js-newsletter-email c-form__input js-bound" placeholder="Your email" required="">
<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
// Validate email will return true if valid and false if invalid.
function validate_email(email) {
const expr = /^([\w.+-]+)@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.)|(([\w-]+\.)+))([a-zA-Z]{2,4}|[0-9]{1,3})(\]?)$/;
return expr.test(email);
}
$email_field = jQuery('.js-newsletter-email')
$success_page_field = jQuery('.js-newsletter-successpage');
if (0 === $email_field.length || 0 === $success_page_field.length) {
return;
}
success_page_base_url = $success_page_field.data('base-url');
$email_field.on('keyup blur', (e) => {
// validate email and check for empty value.
if ('' === $(e.target).val() || validate_email($(e.target).val())) {
$(e.target).removeClass('invalid');
}
var email_address = encodeURIComponent($(e.target).val());
$success_page_field.val(success_page_base_url + '&email=' + email_address);
});
});
</script>
</div><!-- .c-form__field -->
<button class="c-form__button c-form__button--black--bg">
<span class="t-bold t-bold--upper"> Submit </span>
</button>
</div><!-- .c-form__group -->
</form>POST https://pages.email.rollingstone.com/signup-api/
<form class="c-form c-form--faded" action="https://pages.email.rollingstone.com/signup-api/" method="POST">
<div class="c-form__group">
<div class="c-form__field t-semibold">
<input type="hidden" name="Editorial_RollingStone_Opted_In" value="Yes">
<input type="hidden" name="Editorial_RollingStone_Source" value="rs site">
<input name="__contextName" value="FormPost" type="hidden">
<input name="__executionContext" value="POST" type="hidden">
<input name="__successPage" class="js-newsletter-successpage" data-base-url="/signup?signup=success" value="/signup?signup=success" type="hidden">
<input type="email" name="EmailAddress" class="js-newsletter-email c-form__input js-bound" placeholder="Your email" required="">
<script>
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
// Validate email will return true if valid and false if invalid.
function validate_email(email) {
const expr = /^([\w.+-]+)@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.)|(([\w-]+\.)+))([a-zA-Z]{2,4}|[0-9]{1,3})(\]?)$/;
return expr.test(email);
}
$email_field = jQuery('.js-newsletter-email')
$success_page_field = jQuery('.js-newsletter-successpage');
if (0 === $email_field.length || 0 === $success_page_field.length) {
return;
}
success_page_base_url = $success_page_field.data('base-url');
$email_field.on('keyup blur', (e) => {
// validate email and check for empty value.
if ('' === $(e.target).val() || validate_email($(e.target).val())) {
$(e.target).removeClass('invalid');
}
var email_address = encodeURIComponent($(e.target).val());
$success_page_field.val(success_page_base_url + '&email=' + email_address);
});
});
</script>
</div><!-- .c-form__field -->
<button class="c-form__button">
<span class="t-bold t-bold--upper"> Sign Up </span>
</button>
</div><!-- .c-form__group -->
</form>Text Content
×
ROLLING STONE
Send a Tip
Log In Subscribe
Menu
Close the menu
* Music
* TV
* Movies
* Politics
* Culture
* Charts
* Pro
* Newsletters
* Shop
Menu
Close the menu
Read Next Democrats’ Betrayals Are Jeopardizing American Democracy
Log In Subscribe
Send a Tip
500 - 451450 - 401400 - 351350 - 301300 - 251250 - 201200 - 151150 - 101100 -
5150 - 1
Content
Account
* Welcome,
* Get Digital Access
* Manage Digital Account
* Manage Print Account
* Logout
Journalism That Matters. Music That Inspires.
Subscriptions from just $7.99 a month.
SEE MY OPTIONS
Photo Illustration by Sean McCabe. Photographs used within illustration by Jack
Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images, 3;
Paul Natkin/WireImage; Val Wilmer/Redferns/Getty Images; Theo Wargo/Getty
Images; Jack Mitchell/Getty Images; C Flanigan/Getty Images; Scott
Dudelson/Getty Images; Gie Knaeps/Getty Images; Emma McIntyre/Getty Images;
Steven Nunez; STILLZ
Home Music Music Lists
September 15, 2021 8:43AM ET
THE 500 GREATEST SONGS OF ALL TIME
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 17 YEARS, WE’VE COMPLETELY REMADE OUR LIST OF THE BEST
SONGS EVER. MORE THAN 250 ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND INDUSTRY FIGURES HELPED US
CHOOSE A BRAND-NEW LIST FULL OF HISTORIC FAVORITES, WORLD-CHANGING ANTHEMS, AND
NEW CLASSICS
By
Rolling Stone
ROLLING STONE
Reporter
ROLLING STONE'S MOST RECENT STORIES
* Johnny Marr Announces New Double Album ‘Fever Dreams Pts 1-4’
* Listen to First Episode of Rolling Stone’s New Podcast ‘Don’t Let This Flop:
This Week in TikTok’
* Earth, Wind & Fire Bring ‘September’ to NYC ‘Homecoming’ Concert
View All
* Facebook
* Twitter
* Reddit
* Email
* Show more sharing options
* Tumblr
* Pin It
* LinkedIn
* WhatsApp
* Print
In 2004, Rolling Stone published its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
It’s one of the most widely read stories in our history, viewed hundreds of
millions of times on this site. But a lot has changed since 2004; back then the
iPod was relatively new, and Billie Eilish was three years old. So we’ve decided
to give the list a total reboot. To create the new version of the RS 500 we
convened a poll of more than 250 artists, musicians, and producers — from
Angelique Kidjo to Zedd, Sam Smith to Megan Thee Stallion, M. Ward to Bill Ward
— as well as figures from the music industry and leading critics and
journalists. They each sent in a ranked list of their top 50 songs, and we
tabulated the results.
Nearly 4,000 songs received votes. Where the 2004 version of the list was
dominated by early rock and soul, the new edition contains more hip-hop, modern
country, indie rock, Latin pop, reggae, and R&B. More than half the songs here —
254 in all — weren’t present on the old list, including a third of the Top 100.
The result is a more expansive, inclusive vision of pop, music that keeps
rewriting its history with every beat.
MORE ON HOW WE MADE THE LIST AND WHO VOTED
Written By
Jonathan Bernstein, Jon Blistein, David Browne, Jayson Buford, Nick Catucci,
Mankaprr Conteh, Bill Crandall, Jon Dolan, Gavin Edwards, Jenny Eliscu, Brenna
Ehrlich, Jon Freeman, David Fricke, Andy Greene, Joe Gross, Kory Grow, Keith
Harris, Will Hermes, Brian Hiatt, Christian Hoard, Joseph Hudak, Jeff Ihaza, Rob
Kemp, Greg Kot, Elias Leight, Rob Levine, Alan Light, Julyssa Lopez, Angie
Martoccio, Michaelangelo Matos, Tom Moon, Tom Nawrocki, Jon Pareles, Parke
Puterbaugh, Mosi Reeves, Jody Rosen, Robert Santelli, Austin Scaggs, Claire
Shaffer, Bud Scoppa, Rob Sheffield, Hank Shteamer, LC Smith, Brittany Spanos,
Rob Tannenbaum, Simon Vozick-Levinson, Barry Walters, Alison Weinflash, Douglas
Wolk
Share
500
KANYE WEST, 'STRONGER'
2007
Writer(s):Mike Dean, Edwin Birdsong, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Kanye West,
Thomas Banghalter
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Explaining the tighter, broader-reaching songs on his third album, Graduation,
Kanye West said, “I applied a lot of the things I learned on tour [in 2006] with
U2 and the Rolling Stones, about songs that rock stadiums. And they worked!”
West found the inspiration for his most grandiose statement to date from Daft
Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” which he sampled and reshaped. West
is a big fan of the French duo: “These guys really stick with the whole
not-showing-their-faces thing. Just amazing discipline — that’s straight
martial-arts status.”
Share
499
THE SUPREMES, 'BABY LOVE'
1964
Writer(s):Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Diana Ross wasn’t the strongest vocalist in the Supremes, but as the Motown
production team discovered, when she sang in a lower register, her voice worked
its sultry magic. Berry Gordy instructed the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting
team to come up with something that replicated “Where Did Our Love Go,” the
Supremes’ first Number One single. He thought the result wasn’t catchy enough
and sent the group back into the studio. The result: the smoky “Oooooh” at the
start. “Baby Love” went to Number One too, the first time a Motown group had
topped the charts twice.
Share
498
TOWNES VAN ZANDT, 'PANCHO AND LEFTY'
1972
Writer(s):Townes Van Zandt
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
An epic story-song about a bandit and the friend who betrays him, “Pancho and
Lefty” became a country hit thanks to Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s 1983
duet. But it’s the songwriter’s own forlorn reading, on 1972’s The Late Great
Townes Van Zandt, that best conveys the doomed fates of the main characters. It
begins with what might be one of the most descriptive opening verses in the
country-folk canon: “Living on the road my friend/was gonna keep you free and
clean/now you wear your skin like iron/your breath as hard as kerosene.” “It’s
hard to take credit for the writing,” Van Zandt said in 1984, “because it came
from out of the blue.”
Share
497
LIZZO, 'TRUTH HURTS'
2017
Writer(s):Eric Frederic, Amina Patrice, Bogle-Barriteau, Melissa Jefferson,
Steven Cheungjesse Saint John
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
“That song is my life and its words are my truth,” Lizzo wrote at the time. She
had to tack on a writing credit to British singer Mina Lioness, who had tweeted
its iconic line “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100 percent that bitch,”
but the power of this gale-force breakup banger was pure Lizzo, uproariously
swaggering and endearingly soulful. “Truth Hurts” was originally released in
2017, but the song got a big boost two years later, when Gina Rodriguez
day-drunkenly sang it in the Netflix show Someone Great, and it became Lizzo’s
signature hit.
Share
496
HARRY NILSSON, 'WITHOUT YOU'
1971
Writer(s):Peter Ham, Tom Evans
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
“We did it because my career was on the wane and we wanted something to make a
hit,” Harry Nilsson bluntly told an interviewer when asked why he covered
Badfinger’s near-despondent ballad: “I heard it and searched through every
Beatles album for two and a half weeks, trying to find out which one of their
tunes it was.” Producer Richard Perry agreed, piling on the strings to showcase
Nilsson’s desperate lunge of a vocal. Both were right — the song went to Number
One and earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year.
Share
495
CARLY SIMON, 'YOU'RE SO VAIN'
1972
Writer(s):Carly Simon
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The holy mother of all diss tracks, “You’re So Vain” contains one of the most
enduring musical mysteries of all time. Just who is so vain that he probably
thinks the song is about him? Simon previously revealed that actor Warren Beatty
inspired the second verse of the song (“Oh, you had me several years ago/When I
was still naive”), but speculation abounds regarding the other man (or men)
behind the ire. Either way, the track — boasting omnipresent Seventies arranger
Paul Buckmaster’s orchestration and Mick Jagger’s background vocals — is pure
soft-rock fire.
Share
494
CYNDI LAUPER, 'TIME AFTER TIME'
1983
Writer(s):Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Cyndi Lauper was nervous about “Time After Time” — the aching ballad she wrote
in the studio with keyboardist Rob Hyman to finish off her blockbuster solo
debut, She’s So Unusual. “I asked them to please not put ‘Time After Time’ out
as the first single,” Lauper said. “People would never have accepted me. If you
do a ballad first, and then a rocker, that doesn’t work.” Her instincts were
right: Following the jaunty “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time” became her
first Number One.
Share
493
THE PIXIES, 'WHERE IS MY MIND?'
1988
Writer(s):Black Francis
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
No song typifies the freakish pop instincts that made the Pixies stand out in a
sea of gloomy Reagan-era bands better than “Where Is My Mind?” Joey Santiago’s
lead guitar is catchier than most Top 40 hooks, and by the time Fight Club made
this song iconic a decade after its release, it had already formed part of the
DNA of countless alternative-radio hits in the years between, from Nirvana to
Korn. When an interviewer in 1988 asked about his unique ability to crank out
great songs, Black Francis’ answer was typically cryptic: “It’s nice to have
space. How much can one brain deal with?”
Share
492
MILES DAVIS, 'SO WHAT'
1959
Writer(s):Miles Davis
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
It’s likely that no song on this list has soundtracked more dinner parties than
Kind of Blue’s warm, welcoming first track. But at the time it was a jarring
departure, trading bebop chord changes for a more open-ended modal style.
According to pianist Bill Evans, the trumpeter worked up his material just hours
before recording dates, but the all-star band here sounds like it’s been living
with “So What” for years: Saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley
turn in solos that have since become as iconic as any in jazz history, and the
rhythm section of Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb swings
like it’s dancing on air.
Share
491
GUNS N' ROSES, 'WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE'
1987
Writer(s):Duff McKagan, Jeffrey Isbell, Saul Hudson, Steven Adler, W. Axl Rose
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Released as the first single from Appetite for Destruction, “Welcome to the
Jungle” stiffed at first — it took the massive crossover success of “Sweet Child
o’ Mine” to ready radio for GN’R at their most unvarnished. The song’s
inspiration, according to Axl Rose, was a hitchhiking trip that landed him in
the Bronx, where a stranger approached him and said, “You know were you are?
You’re gonna die, you’re in the jungle, baby!” Rose took this mockery and turned
it into an anthem.
Share
490
LIL NAS X, 'OLD TOWN ROAD'
2019
Writer(s):Atticus Matthew Ross, Kiowa Roukema, Michael Trent Reznor, Montero
Lamar Hill
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Montero Hill was an Atlanta college dropout sleeping on his sister’s couch and
looking to break into music when he came across a track he liked by a Dutch
19-year-old called YoungKio that was based around a banjo sample from a Nine
Inch Nails track. “I was picturing, like, a loner cowboy runaway,” he told
Rolling Stone. Within a year “Old Town Road” was the longest-running Number One
song of all time, seeming to sum up eons of American cross-cultural love and
theft in just one minute and 53 seconds.
Share
489
THE BREEDERS, 'CANNONBALL'
1993
Writer(s):Kim Deal
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Notified by fax that her services in the Pixies were no longer required, Kim
Deal called up her twin sister, Kelley, to be her new guitarist (never mind that
she didn’t know how to play guitar) and had the last laugh when this absurdist
gem became an MTV phenomenon in 1993. “When people were talking about the
Breeders being a one-off,” Kelley told Rolling Stone, “I was like ‘No, actually
… the Pixies are a side project.'” A little over a year later, the Breeders were
on an extended break of their own, but the effortlessly fun trampoline bounce of
“Cannonball” is one for all time.
Share
488
THE WEEKND, 'HOUSE OF BALLOONS'
2011
Writer(s):Abel Tesfaye, Carlo Montagnese, Dom McKinney, John Martin, Peter
Clarke, Steven Severin, Susan Ballion
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Far from the international superstar he’d become, Toronto singer-songwriter Abel
Tesfaye didn’t even send out photos or do any interviews when he released the
first Weeknd album. “The whole ‘enigmatic artist’ thing, I just ran with it,” he
said. “No one could find pictures of me. It reminded me of some villain shit.”
But the title track of House of Balloons nevertheless set the course for his
career, both thematically — drugs and sex, meet depression — and musically, with
its sample of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Happy House” announcing a new
direction for R&B.
Share
487
SOLANGE, 'CRANES IN THE SKY'
2016
Writer(s):Raphael Saadiq, Solange Knowles
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
In an interview with her sister Beyoncé, R&B innovator Solange Knowles described
how this song was inspired, in part, by overzealous real estate development she
noticed around Miami: “This idea of building up, up, up that was going on in our
country at the time, all of this excessive building, and not really dealing with
what was in front of us.” She turned the metaphor inward to examine her own
feelings about change, self-doubt, and aspiration, finishing the song years
after it was originally conceived with producer Raphael Saadiq to create a
lavish moment of neo-soul introspection.
Share
486
LIL WAYNE, 'A MILLI'
2009
Writer(s):Ali Shaheed Jones-Muhammad, Dwayne Carter, Kamaal Fareed, Shondrae
Crawford
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Producer Bangladesh looped the opening chords from Gladys Knight and the Pips’
“Don’t Burn Down the Bridge,” then segued to a drill-like volley of trap drums.
He gave the beat to his friend Shanell — a onetime R&B singer on Wayne’s Young
Money Entertainment — to pass along. Wayne initially had grand plans for “A
Milli”: He wanted to use the instrumental as skits for rappers like Tyga,
Hurricane Chris, Corey Gunz, and Lil Mama. In the end, though, “A Milli” is just
Weezy solo, blacking out in the booth and dazzling everyone who hears him.
Share
485
AZEALIA BANKS, '212'
2011
Writer(s):Azealia Banks, Jef Martens
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
In 2011, Azealia Banks was a teenage rapper-singer whose clear talent yielded a
development deal with XL Recordings but little else. “She had been working on a
collection of tracks and there was one Dutch house-sounding one that was just
absolutely insane,” producer Jacques Greene recalled. Banks freestyled
ferociously about her New York hometown and, uh, cunnilingus over the jittery
beats of Belgian house duo’s Lazy Jay’s “Float My Boat.” Initially released in
2011 as a viral track, “212” was a hip-house banger that earned Banks a deal
with Interscope and served notice that this uninhibited provocateur would not be
constrained.
Share
484
WEEZER, 'BUDDY HOLLY'
1994
Writer(s):Rivers Cuomo
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Never has geek been so chic as in Weezer’s 1994 breakout single, “Buddy Holly.”
Written for frontman Rivers Cuomo’s girlfriend, the poppy ode to nerdy romance
was almost left off the band’s self-titled debut, also known as the Blue Album,
due to Cuomo and now-ex-member Matt Sharp’s reticence. “We had the sense that it
could be taken as a novelty song, and people aren’t going to take the album
seriously,” Sharp told Rolling Stone. After producer Ric Ocasek heard the
receptionist at the recording studio humming it, he insisted they keep it in.
Share
483
THE FOUR TOPS, 'I CAN'T HELP MYSELF (SUGAR PIE, HONEY BUNCH)'
1965
Writer(s):Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
One of Motown’s most rousing anthems, “I Can’t Help Myself” was inspired by
songwriter Lamont Dozier’s grandfather, who’d call the women his hairdresser
wife fixed up “sugar pie” and “honey bunch.” During the recording, engineer
Harold Taylor recalled, “People were banging on the door of the studio; they
were so ecstatic about what they heard.” Nevertheless, Levi Stubbs asked Brian
Holland if he could do another take. Holland promised him they’d do it soon —
and Stubbs’ first pass hit Number One.
Share
482
LADY GAGA, 'BAD ROMANCE'
2009
Writer(s):Stefani Germanotta, Nadir Khayat
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Shortly after Gaga had established herself as a star, she catapulted to a next
level of weirdness with this Nadir “RedOne” Khayat production, which drew upon
the electronic music Gaga had been inundated with while touring Europe. “I want
the deepest, darkest, sickest parts of you that you are afraid to share with
anyone because I love you that much” is how she summed up the idea behind the
song. Fittingly, she debuted the hit-to-be at Alexander McQueen’s show at Paris
Fashion Week.
Share
481
ROBERT JOHNSON, 'CROSS ROAD BLUES'
1937
Writer(s):Robert Johnson
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The primal terror in the Mississippi bluesman’s voice, and his mystifying slide
guitar playing, transfixed the Sixties generation of British rockers: “I could
take the music only in very small measures because it was so intense,” said Eric
Clapton. Recorded during a session at a San Antonio hotel room in 1936, two
years before Johnson was murdered at 27, “Cross Road Blues” is a mythmaking
statement of spiritual desolation and scorched-earth betrayal — even if the
legend that it’s about Johnson selling his soul to the devil in exchange for his
monster guitar chops is, as far as we know, apocryphal.
Share
480
BIZ MARKIE, 'JUST A FRIEND'
1989
Writer(s):Marcell Hall, Marley Marl
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Nobody beats the Biz (1964-2021), an impossibly good-natured DJ, rapper,
producer, human beatboxer, and hip-hop personality who broke big with this ode
to the friend zone off his second album. Built on a fat beat, plinking piano,
and his charmingly off-key singing, “Just a Friend” interpolates Freddie Scott’s
1968 song “(You) Got What I Need” as Biz warbles about a love that will never
come to pass. It was based on real life. As he told Rolling Stone in 2000, “I
was talking to this girl from L.A., and every time I called her, this dude was
at her house, and she’d say, ‘Oh, he’s just a friend.’ I hated that.”
Share
479
SANTANA, 'OYE COMO VA'
1970
Writer(s):Tito Puente
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Growing up in San Francisco, Carlos Santana was shaped by the city’s psychedelic
explosion. “You cannot take LSD and not find your voice,” he once claimed,
“because there is nowhere to hide.” And while his early heroes were bluesmen, he
changed history with this foundational Latin-rock reworking of a 1962 salsa
number by Cuban percussionist Tito Puente. Santana kept the original’s cha-cha
pulse but replaced its horns with Greg Rolie’s organ and Carlos’ lysergic guitar
flares. Said Puente years later, “He put our music, Latin rock, around the
world, man.”
Share
478
JUVENILE FEAT. LIL WAYNE AND MANNIE FRESH, 'BACK THAT AZZ UP'
1998
Writer(s):Byron Thomas, Terius Gray
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
In the late Nineties, Mannie Fresh’s diamond-sharp productions for Cash Money
Records helped put New Orleans in the center of the hip-hop map. The title of
this hit was so reminiscent of local artist DJ Jubilee’s single “Back That Thang
Up” that Jubilee sued (unsuccessfully) for infringement, and the beat rode the
“Triggerman” rhythm that is foundational to New Orleans bounce. Juvenile
freestyled his best shit-talking bounce rhymes, and Lil Wayne shut it down with
a “drop it like it’s hot” hook. As Mannie said, “[He] immediately was just like,
‘Shit, I’m getting a piece of this.’”
Share
477
THE GO-GOS, 'OUR LIPS ARE SEALED'
1981
Writer(s):Jane Wiedlin, Terence Edward Hall
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The radiant first hit of the Go-Go’s was influenced, according to writer Jane
Wiedlin, by “the Buzzcocks and Sixties girl-group stuff.” It was also inspired
by a clandestine relationship she was having with Terry Hall, of U.K. ska group
the Specials, who got a co-writing credit because Wiedlin based the lyrics on
some poetry he’d written her in a letter. “It was pretty personal,” Wiedlin
recalled. “I mean he had a fiancee at the time — nowadays I wouldn’t touch that
with a 10-foot pole, but I was 19, and I was like ‘fiancee shmiancee.’”
Share
476
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, 'SUNDAY MORNIN' COMIN' DOWN'
1970
Writer(s):Kris Kristofferson
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The desolation of spirit in Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” is
so heavy, so apparent, that it’s almost hard to listen to. But that despair is
exactly what drew Johnny Cash to sing it on his TV variety show in 1970.
Kristofferson cut his own stunning studio version that same year for his debut
album, Kristofferson. Cash’s interpretation, more shuffling and accessible, is
the one most listeners turn to, but listen to them back-to-back if you can, and
marvel at how Kristofferson’s lyrics about being hung over, alone, and desperate
shake your soul.
Share
475
JANET JACKSON, 'RHYTHM NATION'
1989
Writer(s):James Harris, Janet Jackson, Sly Stone, Terry Lewis
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Jackson’s socially conscious Number Two hit came together late in the sessions
for her blockbuster LP Rhythm Nation 1814. Co-producer Jimmy Jam recalled being
in the studio and “switching between MTV and CNN. Watching music videos on one
side and watching atrocities on the other. Somehow they all merged together. The
idea for ‘Rhythm Nation’ was you can dance, but we can also do something more
intelligent.” When Jam heard Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme
Be Mice Elf Agin)” at a restaurant, he raced to the studio to sample it.
Share
474
CURTIS MAYFIELD, 'MOVE ON UP'
1970
Writer(s):Curtis Mayfield
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Mayfield’s irresistible “Move On Up” was politically empowering, morally
demanding, and effortlessly propulsive, powered by swinging horns and tangy
congas — the nine-minute LP version, with its powerful drum break, laid a
foundation for disco and hip-hop alike. Mayfield’s message was just as
steadfast: that pride and dignity were paramount for Black America to rise. “I’m
not trying to say anything to make you think, ‘Well, this is the way, this is
the only way,'” Mayfield said. “I’m trying to cover the whole subject.”
Share
473
TAMMY WYNETTE, 'STAND BY YOUR MAN'
1968
Writer(s):Billy Sherrill, Tammy Wynette
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
From the start, this pledge of wifely devotion, the first song Wynette ever
co-wrote, was a cultural lightning rod. Feminists recoiled from its pledge of
unquestioning fidelity in the Seventies, and Hillary Clinton defined herself a
modern woman by slamming the song during Bill Clinton’s first presidential run.
But the recording itself steamrolls over ideological objections, as the catch in
Wynette’s voice on the verses gives way to a vocal swell that rises to meet the
epic sweep of Billy Sherrill’s production.
Share
472
PETER GABRIEL, 'SOLSBURY HILL'
1977
Writer(s):Peter Gabriel
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Shortly after Gabriel quit Genesis in 1975, he climbed to the top of Little
Solsbury Hill in Somerset, England, to reflect on his life-changing decision. It
inspired his debut solo song, in which he explained to fans why he felt the need
to go out on his own. Musically, it was a departure too, a pastoral tune with a
12-string acoustic guitar lead that was pointedly different from Genesis’
prog-rock. The song has since become ubiquitous in movies and film trailers.
“Maybe I’ve let it go too much,” he admitted to Rolling Stone in 2011.
Share
471
THE ANIMALS, 'THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN'
1964
Writer(s):Alan Price
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
“We were looking for a song that would grab people’s attention,” said Animals
singer Eric Burdon. They found it with the old American folk ballad “The House
of the Rising Sun.” In 1962, Bob Dylan had sung this grim tale of a Southern
girl trapped in a New Orleans whorehouse. The Animals, from the English coal
town of Newcastle, changed the gender in the lyrics, and keyboardist Alan Price
created the new arrangement (and grabbed a composer’s credit). Price also added
an organ solo inspired by Jimmy Smith’s hit “Walk on the Wild Side.”
Share
470
GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS, 'MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA'
1973
Writer(s):Jim Weatherly
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Songwriter Jim Weatherly originally composed this as “Midnight Plane to
Houston,” only to change it for Cissy Houston (Whitney’s mom) to something “more
R&B … in order to get it onto Black radio.” Weatherly had already penned
“Neither One of Us,” Knight and the Pips’ Number Two hit, and when they heard
“Midnight Train,” they took it to the top. “I never really imagined writing R&B
songs,” Weatherly admitted. “I really thought I was writing country songs.” It
reflected the times; the 1970s were the first decade since after World War I in
which more African Americans were moving to the South than leaving it.
Share
469
DIXIE CHICKS, 'GOODBYE EARL'
2000
Writer(s):Dennis Linde
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
A murder ballad with a modern, feminist twist, this jaunty song about poisoning
an abusive husband spawned disparate reactions. Some stations banned it,
apparently concerned that it would spawn a rash of hubby offings; others shared
the number for domestic-abuse hotlines. When the label reps listened to the
Chicks’ Fly album, though, they were more concerned with another song: “Sin
Wagon,” with its reference to “mattress dancing.” “You can’t say [that],”
Natalie Maines recalls their manager’s relayed message from the execs, “but they
love the song about premeditated first-degree murder.”
Share
468
MAZZY STAR, 'FADE INTO YOU'
1993
Writer(s):David Roback, Hope Sandoval
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Singer Hope Sandoval and guitarist Dave Roback, the prime movers behind Mazzy
Star, were active in the 1980s neo-psychedelic Paisley Underground scene in Los
Angeles. After Sandoval replaced singer Kendra Smith in the band Opal, David
Roback and Sandoval reconstituted the band under the name Mazzy Star. Their
second album yielded this spaced-out hit, perhaps dream pop’s ultimate statement
of blurry desire. “We’re not so concerned about the outside world,” said Roback.
“[Each song] is its own world unto itself.”
Share
467
NIRVANA, 'COME AS YOU ARE'
1991
Writer(s):Kurt Cobain
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
“It’s just about people and what they’re expected to act like,” Kurt Cobain
said. “The lines in the song are really contradictory. They’re kind of a
rebuttal to each other.” The song is driven by a simple riff that Butch Vig
goosed with a flanged, subaquatic guitar effect. Cobain apparently lifted it
from a 1984 song by U.K. art-metal band Killing Joke, who Dave Grohl paid back
12 years later by drumming on their 2003 album. In the wake of Cobain’s suicide,
though, the most haunting lyric would become, “And I swear that I don’t have a
gun.”
Share
466
LUTHER VANDROSS, 'NEVER TOO MUCH'
1981
Writer(s):Luther Vandross
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The Eighties’ major male R&B balladeer’s solo debut was financed in part from
money he made singing jingles for KFC and 7UP. Vandross had been pushed to do
his own thing by Roberta Flack, for whom he’d sung background. Said Vandross:
“She said, ‘Luther, you’re too comfortable sitting on that stool singing “ooh
and aaah.”‘ Roberta was single-handedly responsible for me starting my own
career.” What pushed her was hearing the demo of “Never Too Much” — one of the
most buoyant love songs of the Eighties, with Vandross’ high notes as delicate
as soap bubbles.
Share
465
DAFT PUNK FEAT. PHARRELL WILLIAMS, 'GET LUCKY'
2013
Writer(s):Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell
Williams
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
When Pharrell Williams volunteered to appear on Daft Punk’s fourth album, he
told them he’d been thinking about Chic legend Nile Rodgers musically;
fortuitously, the French dance producers could play him a track they had on hand
that they’d made with Rodgers himself. The result was “Get Lucky,” which, as the
lead single from their disco-flavored album Random Access Memories, rose like a
phoenix to become the song that defined its year. “I think the robots are
leading,” Williams told Rolling Stone. “Daft Punk, they’re definitely leading.”
Share
464
JONI MITCHELL, 'HELP ME'
1974
Writer(s):Joni Mitchell
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Mitchell’s 1974 album, Court and Spark, her biggest-selling ever, was also the
one that she held the tightest amount of musical control over to date. “I guided
everything into place on Court and Spark — even though I didn’t play it, I sang
it, and then they played it from that, and it was pretty much as writ,” she
said. (Her next album, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, was looser and more
jazz-oriented.) “Help Me,” recorded with the jazz group Tom Scott’s L.A.
Express, features one of Mitchell’s sultriest vocals and most brocaded
arrangements, inspiring Prince, 13 years later, to pay the song lyrical tribute
in his “Ballad of Dorothy Parker.”
Share
463
JOHN LEE HOOKER, 'BOOM BOOM'
1962
Writer(s):John Lee Hooker
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Hooker, whose canny blues boogie became a root integer for early rock & roll,
said this swinging, swaggering bit of primal thump was inspired by his inability
to get to a regular gig on time. “There was a young lady named Luilla,” Hooker
said. “She was a bartender [at the Apex Bar in Detroit]. I’d always be late, and
whenever I’d come in she’d point at me and say, ‘Boom Boom, you’re late again.’
One night she said, ‘Boom boom, I’m gonna shoot you down.’ She gave me a song,
but she didn’t know it.” Keith Richards said of Hooker, “Even Muddy Waters was
sophisticated next to him.” That was a compliment.
Share
462
VAN MORRISON, 'INTO THE MYSTIC'
1970
Writer(s):Van Morrison
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Delectably arranged, transportingly sung, this may be the definitive Morrison
song — an evocation of “the days of old” that feels like a lover’s whisper. The
highlight of 1970’s classic Moondance, “Into the Mystic” benefited from a new,
more organic way of recording for him: “It was more like working with an actual
band rather than a bunch of session guys,” Morrison said. As for the lyrics,
he’d admit, “So many of my songs from that Seventies period, I haven’t a clue
what they’re about. A lot of the time, I was just picking up on a vibe.”
Share
461
ROY ORBISON, 'CRYING'
1962
Writer(s):Joe Melson, Roy Orbison
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Orbison said he wrote this lush, dreamy ballad after an encounter with an old
flame: “Whether I was physically crying or just crying inside is the same
thing.” His near-operatic performance culminated in a high, wailing note, which
Orbison never lost the capacity to hit before his death, in 1988. “He sounded
like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop and he meant business,” Bob
Dylan wrote in Chronicles. “He was now singing his compositions in three or four
octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a
professional criminal.”
Share
460
STEEL PULSE, 'KU KLUX KLAN'
1978
Writer(s):David Hinds
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The first great British reggae band — and some of the style’s finest songwriters
— made their Island Records debut with this incendiary look at the rising tide
of racist violence in late-Seventies Britain: “The Ku Klux Klan/Here to stamp
out Black man.” They underlined the lyric by actually performing the song live —
including a memorable BBC appearance — wearing white Klan headgear. “The hoods
seemed extreme at the time, but that’s what we are in a way,” vocalist Michael
Riley said. “When we wore them, people started questioning what the song was
about instead of just dancing to it.”
Share
459
SADE, 'NO ORDINARY LOVE'
1992
Writer(s):Helen Adu, Stuart Matthewman
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Helen Adu’s small but fully inhabited range has been her secret weapon from the
beginning. “I decided that if I was gonna sing, I would sing how I speak,
because it’s important to be yourself,” she said. Her voice cracks before she
reaches the first chorus of this 1992 hit, playing up the romantic drama of the
lyric. Even better, so does Stuart Matthewman’s guitar; in the middle of this
otherwise mellow groove, he overdubs a seriously moody and low-key noisy part
that gives the whole thing a welcome edge. Sade — it’s not just the singer’s
name, it’s also a band.
Share
458
BECK, 'LOSER'
1993
Writer(s):Beck Hansen, Karl F. Stephenson
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
In 1992, 22-year-old Beck Hansen was scraping by as a video-store clerk while
performing bizarro folk songs at L.A. coffeehouses. After friends offered to
record some songs, Beck cut “Loser” in his producer’s kitchen. It became the
centerpiece of the album Mellow Gold. At first people took “Loser” to be a mere
novelty hit, but Beck knew better. “You’d have to be a total idiot to say, ‘I’m
the slacker-generation guy. This is my generation.… we’re not gonna fuckin’ show
up,'” he said. “I’d be laughed out of the room in an instant.”
Share
457
BON JOVI, 'LIVIN' ON A PRAYER'
1986
Writer(s):Desmond Child, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Like his New Jersey model Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi concentrates on
working-class heroes and heroines. “Livin’ on a Prayer,” co-written with
guitarist Richie Sambora, pumped the everyday struggles of Tommy and Gina full
of grandeur — guitar-pick slides, dramatic pauses, the inevitable key change —
and continues to resonate today. “It’s great that we wrote songs so long ago
that people can still relate to,” Bon Jovi said in 2005. “When I hear ‘Livin’ on
a Prayer,’ I think to myself, ‘We wrote that. That song has really made its
mark. I guess that works.'”
Share
456
LANA DEL REY, 'SUMMERTIME SADNESS'
2012
Writer(s):Elizabeth Grant, Rick Nowels
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
For her second album, Del Rey went for a sound even more lush than on her debut,
and the relentless strings of “Summertime Sadness” recall the soundtracks Angelo
Badalamenti composed for David Lynch’s films. She wrote the song in Santa
Monica. “I would sit under the telephone wires and listen to them sizzle in the
warm air,” she recalled. “I felt happy in the warm weather, and started writing
about how sad and gorgeous the summertime felt to me.” A year after its first
release, Cedric Gervais’ dance remix turned the song into a Top 10 hit.
Share
455
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, 'WHITE RABBIT'
1967
Writer(s):Grace Slick
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
The song that brought acid rock to Middle America was a heady rock bolero
written by vocalist Slick, reportedly after taking LSD and listening to Miles
Davis’ Sketches of Spain. She first recorded it with her earlier band, the Great
Society, before rebooting it with the Airplane. “Our parents read us stories
like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz,” Slick said. “They
all have a place where children get drugs, and are able to fly or see an Emerald
City or experience extraordinary animals and people.… And our parents are
suddenly saying, ‘Why are you taking drugs?’ Well, hello!”
Share
454
SISTER NANCY, 'BAM BAM'
1982
Writer(s):Ophlin Russell
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
Nancy (a.k.a. Ophlin Russell) was the DJ (mic controller) for Kingston’s
Stereophonic sound system when she met reggae producer Winston Riley in the late
Seventies. “I really admired how he took recording serious,” Nancy said. “You
couldn’t go into his studio and do any foolishness.” Their peak, “Bam Bam,” is
one of the great early dancehall anthems, booming but bright, tough but playful
— and it’s been sampled extensively by everyone from Lauryn Hill to Kanye West.
Share
453
MISSY ELLIOT, 'THE RAIN (SUPA DUPA FLY)'
1997
Writer(s):Melissa Elliott, Ann Peebles, Bernard Miller, Don Bryant, Timothy
Mosley, William Hart
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
As producers, Elliott and Timbaland had already made their rhythmic impact on
hip-hop and R&B before Missy’s first single. And some high-profile features had
even introduced Elliott’s bobbing, whizzing rap style to audiences. But still,
no one could have predicted “The Rain,” with its ghostly sample of Ann Peebles’
“I Can’t Stand the Rain,” memorable Beenie Man misquote (“Who got the keys to
the jeep?”), and twitchy yet sleek beat. It made Elliott a star, and she and Tim
the producers to beat.
Share
452
TOTO, 'AFRICA'
1982
Writer(s):David Paich, Jeffrey Porcaro
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
“It’s funny,” Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro said in 1985. “We thought ‘Africa’ was
bold, and it did pretty good, but lyrically it didn’t make a dime of sense.” No
matter — that instantly calming synthesizer riff, played on a Yamaha GS-1
“dialed in [to] those kalimba, marimba kind of sounds,” as Porcaro described it,
does most of the talking, along with that soaring chorus. It hit Number One and
has lived on as a yacht-rock touchstone; in 2019, Weezer’s affectionate cover
made it ubiquitous all over again — a favor Toto returned by covering Weezer’s
“Hash Pipe.”
Share
451
MIGOS FEAT. LIL UZI VERT, 'BAD AND BOUJEE'
2016
Writer(s):Robert Mandell, Kiari Cephus, Kirsnick Ball, Leland Wayne, Quavious
Marshall, Symere Woods
PlayLoadingPowered byPlay the Full Song
If cellphones gave rise to ringtone rap, social media gave us meme rap. The
Atlanta trio Migos’ opus “Bad and Boujee” has become the latter’s keynote
anthem, its “Raindrop, drop-top” hook inspiring scores of Twitter memes and Vine
clips, and even showing up at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, D.C. The
trio’s Offset wrote the song’s hook, he told Rolling Stone, while “I had some
little situations going on with life, family stuff going down, so I went
downstairs to record. Sometimes that’s the best time to get music off — you
might be mad, make some crazy shit.”
Load More
In This Article: direct, long reads, RS500Songs
Want more Rolling Stone? Sign up for our newsletter.
SPONSORED STORIES
*
Playmate Daniella Chavez zeigt sich offenherzig auf Instagram freenet.de
*
Top Reisetipps für Winterurlaub in Österreichs Wanderdörfern austria.info
*
Sorgenfreier Ruhestand: 99 Tipps für Anleger mit einem Portfolio ab 250.000
€. Grüner Fisher
*
5+ Fahrzeuge? Neue GPS Fahrzeugüberwachungstechnik erobert Deutschland Expert
Market
*
Total transparent: Mathilde Tantot zeigt auf Instagram alles COMPUTER BILD
*
Unglaublich, was HelloFresh abliefert: Tausende gehen jetzt nicht mehr in den
Supermarkt Superfood Blog
Recommended by
Sponsored Stories
* Playmate Daniella Chavez zeigt sich offenherzig auf Instagram freenet.de
* Das 4* Hotel zum Gourmet im Langlaufparadies Seefeld in Österreich
austria.info
* Total transparent: Mathilde Tantot zeigt auf Instagram alles COMPUTER BILD
* Sorgenfreier Ruhestand: 99 Tipps für Anleger mit einem Portfolio ab 250.000
€. Grüner Fisher
* Unglaublich, was HelloFresh abliefert: Tausende gehen jetzt nicht mehr in den
Supermarkt Superfood Blog
* Mann sammelt 45 Jahre lang Centstücke: Als er damit zur Bank geht, folgt eine
Riesenüberraschung! Gentside
More From Rolling Stone
* GOP Senator Dunks on Trump for Being a Loser, Says He Won't Vote for Him in
2024
* Epstein Ties, Alleged Fat-Shaming, and Billions Lost: Inside the Fall of
Victoria's Secret
* EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in 'Dozens' of
Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff
* Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly Ask America: How Horny Is Too Horny?
* Neil Young and Crazy Horse Detail New Album 'Barn'
* No, Paul McCartney Will Not Sign Your Wrinkled Receipt
Recommended by
TRENDING
1.
NBA YOUNGBOY RELEASED FROM JAIL IN LOUISIANA
2.
EXCLUSIVE: JAN. 6 PROTEST ORGANIZERS SAY THEY PARTICIPATED IN ‘DOZENS’ OF
PLANNING MEETINGS WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND WHITE HOUSE STAFF
3.
DAVE CHAPPELLE, WHO’S DEFINITELY ‘CANCELED,’ TO SCREEN NEW DOCUMENTARY IN
ARENAS
4.
DRUG DEALER ACCEPTS PLEA DEAL WITH 17 YEARS PRISON TIME IN MAC MILLER’S OD
DEATH
5.
FLASHBACK: ROD STEWART AND THE FACES PERFORM ‘MAGGIE MAY’ IN 1973
Journalism That Matters. Music That Inspires.
Subscriptions from just $7.99 a month.
See My Options
NEWSWIRE
Powered by
* ‘SWAGGER’ TURNS KEVIN DURANT’S LIFE STORY INTO A MODERN-DAY BASKETBALL DRAMA
WITH HEART: TV REVIEW
Posted on: Variety
* WWD HONORS: KIM JONES AND TRAVIS SCOTT, MEN’S WEAR DESIGNERS OF THE YEAR
Posted on: WWD
* BILLIONAIRE SAMSUNG HEIR BUYS $19.2 MILLION BEVERLY HILLS MANSION
Posted on: Dirt
* ‘THE SPINE OF NIGHT’ REVIEW: A GNARLY THROWBACK TO THE RALPH BAKSHI GLORY
DAYS OF ADULT ANIMATION
Posted on: Indiewire
* PFL CAPS SEASON OF GROWTH WITH SIX $1 MILLION TITLE FIGHTS
Posted on: Sportico
* Rolling Stone
* Music
* TV
* Movies
* Politics
* Culture
* RS Pro
* Advertise
* Contact
* Live Media Events
* Accessibility Statement
* Legal
* Privacy Policy
* Terms of Use
* AdChoices
* PMC Entertainment
* EU Privacy Preferences
* Connect With Us
* Facebook
* Twitter
* YouTube
* Subscriptions
* GET THE MAGAZINE
* GET DIGITAL ACCESS
* GIVE A GIFT
* CUSTOMER SERVICE
*
Newsletter Signup
Submit
Have a Tip?
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Send Us a Tip
© Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC.
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
OUR BRANDS
* Variety
* Deadline
* Rolling Stone
* WWD
* HollywoodLife
* Gold Derby
* Spy
* Robb Report
* Footwear News
* BGR
* IndieWire
* Sourcing Journal
* TVLine
* Fairchild Media
* She Knows
* Our Brands
* Variety
* Deadline
* Rolling Stone
* WWD
* HollywoodLife
* Gold Derby
* Spy
* Robb Report
* Footwear News
* BGR
* IndieWire
* Sourcing Journal
* TVLine
* Fairchild Media
* She Knows
Close the menu
Rolling Stone
Content
Log In
Account Expand the sub menu
* Welcome,
* Get Digital Access
* Manage Digital Account
* Manage Print Account
* Logout
* MusicExpand the sub menu
* News
* Lists
* Album Reviews
* Artist You Need to Know
* Song You Need to Know
* RS Country
* RS Latin
* Pictures
* Features
* Live Reviews
* Videos
* TVExpand the sub menu
* Lists
* News
* Features
* Pictures
* Recaps
* Reviews
* Videos
* MoviesExpand the sub menu
* Lists
* Pictures
* News
* Reviews
* Features
* Videos
* PoliticsExpand the sub menu
* Features
* News
* Lists
* Pictures
* Videos
* RS ProExpand the sub menu
* Music Biz Features
* Music Biz Lists
* Music Biz News
* ChartsExpand the sub menu
* Top 100 Songs
* Top 200 Albums
* Artists 500
* Trending 25
* Breakthrough 25
* CultureExpand the sub menu
* Features
* Lists
* News
* Videos
* Sports
* MoreExpand the sub menu
* Culture Council
* RS Recommends
* Shop
Subscribe Now
Follow Us
* Share onFacebook
* Share onTwitter
* Share onYouTube
Alerts & Newsletters
Sign Up
* Advertise
* Contact
* Customer Service
* Submit a Tip
PMC
© 2021 Penske Media Corporation
ad
RS Live Media Logo Created with Sketch.
Close Try Again
VERIFY IT'S YOU
To help keep your account secure, please log-in again.
Dismiss Log-In
PLEASE LOG IN
You are no longer onsite at your organization. Please log in.
For assistance, contact your corporate administrator.
Dismiss Log-In
Arrow Created with Sketch. Calendar Created with Sketch. Path Created with
Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Plus Created with Sketch. minus Created with
Sketch. rs-charts-logo Created with Sketch.
GDPR
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the
delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our
website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent.
You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at
a partner level in the link under each purpose. These choices will be signaled
to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework. More
information
Allow All
MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES
STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched
off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you
which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy
preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block
or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
PERFORMANCE COOKIES
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and
improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the
most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All
information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you
do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and
will not be able to monitor its performance.
FUNCTIONAL COOKIES
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and
personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose
services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some
or all of these services may not function properly.
TARGETING COOKIES
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal
information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet
device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted
advertising.
STORE AND/OR ACCESS INFORMATION ON A DEVICE
Store and/or access information on a device
Cookies, device identifiers, or other information can be stored or accessed on
your device for the purposes presented to you.
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
PRECISE GEOLOCATION DATA, AND IDENTIFICATION THROUGH DEVICE SCANNING
Precise geolocation data, and identification through device scanning
* USE PRECISE GEOLOCATION DATA
Switch Label
Your precise geolocation data can be used in support of one or more purposes.
This means your location can be accurate to within several meters.
* ACTIVELY SCAN DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS FOR IDENTIFICATION
Switch Label
Your device can be identified based on a scan of your device's unique
combination of characteristics.
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
PERSONALISED ADS AND CONTENT, AD AND CONTENT MEASUREMENT, AUDIENCE INSIGHTS AND
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and
product development
* SELECT BASIC ADS
Switch Label
Ads can be shown to you based on the content you’re viewing, the app you’re
using, your approximate location, or your device type.
* CREATE A PERSONALISED ADS PROFILE
Switch Label
A profile can be built about you and your interests to show you personalised
ads that are relevant to you.
* SELECT PERSONALISED ADS
Switch Label
Personalised ads can be shown to you based on a profile about you.
* CREATE A PERSONALISED CONTENT PROFILE
Switch Label
A profile can be built about you and your interests to show you personalised
content that is relevant to you.
* SELECT PERSONALISED CONTENT
Switch Label
Personalised content can be shown to you based on a profile about you.
* MEASURE AD PERFORMANCE
Switch Label
The performance and effectiveness of ads that you see or interact with can be
measured.
* MEASURE CONTENT PERFORMANCE
Switch Label
The performance and effectiveness of content that you see or interact with
can be measured.
* APPLY MARKET RESEARCH TO GENERATE AUDIENCE INSIGHTS
Switch Label
Market research can be used to learn more about the audiences who visit
sites/apps and view ads.
* DEVELOP AND IMPROVE PRODUCTS
Switch Label
Your data can be used to improve existing systems and software, and to
develop new products
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
ENSURE SECURITY, PREVENT FRAUD, AND DEBUG
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent fraudulent activity, and ensure
systems and processes work properly and securely.
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
TECHNICALLY DELIVER ADS OR CONTENT
Always Active
Your device can receive and send information that allows you to see and interact
with ads and content.
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
MATCH AND COMBINE OFFLINE DATA SOURCES
Always Active
Data from offline data sources can be combined with your online activity in
support of one or more purposes
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
LINK DIFFERENT DEVICES
Always Active
Different devices can be determined as belonging to you or your household in
support of one or more of purposes.
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
RECEIVE AND USE AUTOMATICALLY-SENT DEVICE CHARACTERISTICS FOR IDENTIFICATION
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it
automatically sends, such as IP address or browser type.
List of IAB Vendors | View Full Legal Text Opens in a new Tab
BACK BUTTON PERFORMANCE COOKIES
Vendor Search Search Icon
Filter Icon
Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
Reject All Confirm My Choices
GDPR
We and our partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique
IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices
by clicking below or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will
be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.
WE AND OUR PARTNERS PROCESS DATA TO PROVIDE:
Store and/or access information on a device. Precise geolocation data, and
identification through device scanning. Personalised ads and content, ad and
content measurement, audience insights and product development. List of Partners
(vendors)
Reject All Accept All
Show Purposes