17 Years ago, Rolling Stone released a list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. This week, they put out a new version of the list.
How did Rolling Stone come up with the new list? According to the magazine, "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."
Here are the Top 25 from the new list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time:
1. Aretha Franklin, 'Respect'
2. Public Enemy, 'Fight the Power'
3. Sam Cooke, 'A Change Is Gonna Come
4. Bob Dylan, 'Like a Rolling Stone'
5. Nirvana, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
6. Marvin Gaye, 'What’s Going On'
7. The Beatles, 'Strawberry Fields Forever'
8. Missy Elliott, 'Get Ur Freak On'
9. Fleetwood Mac, 'Dreams'
10. Outkast, 'Hey Ya!'
11. The Beach Boys, 'God Only Knows'
12. Stevie Wonder, 'Superstition'
13. The Rolling Stones, 'Gimme Shelter'
14. The Kinks, 'Waterloo Sunset'
15. The Beatles, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'
16. Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z, 'Crazy in Love'
17. Queen, 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
18. Prince and the Revolution, 'Purple Rain'
19. John Lennon, 'Imagine'
20. Robyn, 'Dancing on My Own'
21. Billie Holiday, 'Strange Fruit'
22. The Ronettes, 'Be My Baby'
23. David Bowie, 'Heroes'
24. The Beatles, 'A Day in the Life'
25. Kanye West feat. Pusha T, 'Runaway'
To see the rest of the list, CLICK HERE.
And if you want to see how the updated list compares to 2004's, CLICK HERE.
