Top 100 songs of 20th century

Top 100 Songs of the 20th Century
This list is one of the Century Classics series.
All songs are in English or translated into English with both words and music.
No instrumentas are included.
The songs include classical, folk, jazz, pop, theater, movie, country, and rock categories.
They were chosen because they are representative of a musical style, for their originality and their popularity.
This survey list is not based on any survey, but the excellent reference books by Joel Whitburn were used as sources and are indicated where appropriate.

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Top 100 Songs of the 20th Century
Selected by Roger Hall, music preservationist and lecturer

+ = Top 100 hits (8 or more weeks at No. 1) in Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories, 1890 - 1954.

* = Top 100 Singles, 1955-1995 (3 or more weeks at No. 1) in The Billboard Top 100 Singles, 1955-1995, compiled by Joel Whitburn.

Note: Songs are arranged by date, not by popularity or Billboard listing, and emphasis is given to songs written before 1960 due to their historical importance.
w= words/ m = music
I. 1900-1909:
1. "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1900) - w: James W. Johnson/ m: J. Rosamond Johnson
2. +"Sweet Adeline" (1903) - w: Richard H. Gerard/ m: Harry Armstrong
3. "Toyland" (1903) - words: Glen McDonough/ music: Victor Herbert
4. +"Meet Me in St. Louis" (1904) - w: Arthur B. Sterling/ m: Kerry Mills
5. "Give My Regards To Broadway" (1904) - words & music: George M. Cohan
6. "I Love You Truly" (1906) - w & m: Carrie Jacobs-Bond
7. +"You're a Grand Old Flag" (1906) - words & music: George M. Cohan
8. +"My Gal Sal"(1907) - w & m: Paul Dresser
9.  "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (1908) - words: Jack Norwoth/ m: Albert von Tilzer
10. +"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1909) - w: Edward Madden/ m: Gus Edwards

II. 1910-1919:
11. +"Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911) - w & m: Irving Berlin
12. "My Melancholy Baby" (1912) - w: George A. Norton/ m: Ernie Burnett
13. +"On Moonlight Bay" (1912) - w: Edward Madden/ m: Percy Weinrich
14. "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven" (1914) - w: Vachel Lindsay/ m: Charles Ives
15.    "St. Louis Blues" (1914) - w & m: W.C. Handy
16. "They Didn't Believe Me?" (1914) - w: Michael E. Rourke/ m: Jerome Kern
17. +"Over There" (1917) - w & m: George M. Cohan
18. "The Lament of Ian the Proud" (1918) - w: Fiona MacLeod/m: Charles Tomlinson Griffes
19. +"Rock-a-Bye Your Baby" (1918) - w: Sam Lewis & Joe Young/ m: Jean Schwartz
20. +"Swanee" (1919) - w: Irving Caesar/ m: George Gershwin

III. 1920-1929:
21. +"Whispering" (1920) - w & m: John Schonberger, Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose
22. "Ain't We Got Fun?" (1921) - w & m: Richard A. Whiting, Raymond B. Egan, Gus Kahn
23. +"April Showers" (1921) - w: Buddy De Sylva/ m: Louis Silvers
24. "Manhattan" (1925) - w: Lorenz Hart/ m: Richard Rodgers
25. "Someone to Watch Over Me" (1926) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: George Gershwin
26. +"My Blue Heaven" (1927) - w: George Whiting/ m: Walter Donaldson
27. "Ol' Man River" (1927) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/ m: Jerome Kern
28. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love"(1928) - w: Dorothy Fields/ m: Jimmy McHugh
29. "Star Dust" (1929) - w: Mitchell Parrish/ m: Hoagy Carmichael
30. "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929) - w: Andy Razaf/ m: Fats Waller

IV. 1930-1938:
31. "I Got Rhythm" (1930) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: George Gershwin
32. "Mood Indigo" (1931) - w & m: Edward "Duke" Ellington and Irving Mills
33. "Brother Can You Spare A Dime?" (1932) - w: E.Y. Harburg/ m: Jay Gorney
34. +"Night and Day" (1932) - w & m: Cole Porter
35. +"The Last Round-Up" (1933) - w & m: Billy Hill
36. "Sophisticated Lady" (1933) - w: Mitchell Parrish, Irving Mills/m: Duke Ellington
37. +"Stormy Weather" (1933) - w: Ted Koehler/ m: Harold Arlen
38. "Solitude" (1934) - w: Eddie DeLange, Irving Mills/m: Duke Ellington
39. "Begin the Beguine" (1935) - w & m: Cole Porter
40. +"Cheek to Cheek" (1935) - w & m: Irving Berlin
41. "I've Got You Under My Skin" (1935) - w & m: Cole Porter
42. "Summertime" (1935) - w: DuBose Heyward/ m: George Gershwin
43. "The Way You Look Tonight" (1936) - w: Dorothy Fields/m: Jerome Kern
44. "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (1937) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: G. Gershwi
45. "God Bless America" (1938) - w & m: Irving Berlin

V. 1939-1949:
46. "All the Things You Are" (1939) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/ m: Jerome Kern
47. "Over the Rainbow" (1939) - w: E.Y. Harburg/ m: Harold Arlen
48. +"In the Mood" (1939) - w: Andy Razaf/ m: Joe Garland
49. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" (1940) - w: Lorenz Hart/ m: R. Rodgers
50. "When You Wish Upon a Star" (1940) - w: Ned Washington/ m: Leigh Harline
51. +"I'll Never Smile Again" (1940) - w & m: Ruth Lowe
52. "Blues in the Night" (1941) - w: Johnny Mercer/ m: Harold Arlen
53. +"Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (1941) - w: Mack Gordon/ m: Harry Warren
54. +"White Christmas" (1942) - w & m: Irving Berlin
55. "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" (1943) - w: O. Hammerstein II/m: Richard Rodgers
56. "Ac-cent-tchuate the Positive" (1945) - w: Johnny Mercer/
m: Harold Arlen
57. "It Might As Well Be Spring" (1945) - w: O. Hammerstein II/ m: Richard Rodgers
58. "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1946) - w & m: Irving Berlin
59. +"Near You" (1947) - w: Kermit Goell/m: Francis Craig
60. +"Ghost Riders in the Sky" (1949) w & m: Stan Jones

VI. 1950-1959:
61. +"Goodnight Irene" (1950) - w & m: Huddie Ledbetter & Alan Lomax
62. "High Noon" (1952) - w: Ned Washington/ m: Dimitri Tiomkin
63. +"You Belong to Me" (1952) - w & m: Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, Chilton Price
64. "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1952) - w & m: Hank Williams
65. "Earth Angel" (1954) - w & m: Curtis Williams
66. *"Rock Around the Clock" (1955) - w & m: Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight
67. *"Sincerely" (1955) - w & m: Harvey Fuqua & Alan Freed
68. *"Don't Be Cruel" (1956) - w & m: Otis Blackwell (not co-written by Elvis Presley)
69. "On the Street Where You Live" (1956) - w: Alan Jay Lerner/m: F. Loewe
70.   "This Land is Your Land" (published 1956) - w & m: Woody Guthrie
71.   "True Love" (1956) - w & m: Cole Porter
72.   "All the Way" (1957) - w: Sammy Cahn/ m: James Van Heusen
73.   "Maria" (1957) - w: Stephen Sondheim/ m: Leonard Bernstein
74. *"Mack the Knife" (1955/1959) - w: Bertold Brecht (trans. by Marc Blitzstein)/m: Kurt Weill
75.   "Small World" (1959) - w: Stephen Sondheim/ m: Jule Styne

VII. 1960-1969:
76. "Camelot" (1960) - w: Alan Jay Lerner/ m: Frederick Loewe
77. "Crazy (1961) - w & m: Willie Nelson
78. "Moon River" (1961) - w: Johnny Mercer/ m: Henry Mancini
79. "Blowin' in the Wind" (1962) - w & m: Bob Dylan
80. "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) - w: Sammy Cahn/ m: James Van Heusen
81. *"I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1964) - w & m: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
82. "The Shadow of Your Smile" (1965) - w: Paul Francis Webster/m: Johnny Mandel
83. *"Yesterday" (1965) - w & m: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
84. "What the World Needs Now is Love" (1965) - w: Hal David/m: Burt Bacharach
85. "Mrs. Robinson" (1967) - w & m: Paul Simon
86. *"Hey Jude" (1968) - w & m: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
87. "My Way" (1969) - w: Paul Anka/ m: Jacques Reveaux and Claude Francois

VIII. 1970-1979:
88. *"Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970) - w & m: Paul Simon
89. *"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1972) - w & m: Ewan MacColl
90. "And I Love You So (1973) - w & m: Don McLean
91. "The Way We Were" (1973) - w: Alan & Marilyn Bergman/m: Marvin Hamlisch
92. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (1973) - w & m: Stevie Wonder
93. *"Just the Way You Are" (1978) - w & m: Billy Joel
94. *"Night Fever" (1978) - w & m: Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb

IX. 1980-1989:
95. *"We Are The World" (1985) - w & m: Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
96. *"That's What Friends Are For" (1986) - w & m: Carole Bayer Sager & Burt Bacharach

X. 1990-1999:
97. "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) - w: Howard Ashman/m: Alan Menken
98. *"I Will Always Love You" (1974/1992) - w & m: Dolly Parton/ arr. Whitney Houston
99. "Candle in the Wind" (1973/1997) -w & m: Bernie Taupin & Elton John/arr.E. John
100. "My Heart Will Go On" (1997) - w: Will Jennings/ m: James Horner

For a listing of anniversraies, go to:
American Songwriters & Singers

Songwriters with 2 or more songs on the Top 100:
Harold Arlen = 4 [1933, 1939, 1941, 1945]
Burt Bacharach = 2 [1965, 1986]
Irving Berlin = 4 [1911, 1938, 1942, 1946]
Sammy Cahn = 2 [1957, 1963]
George M. Cohan = 3 [1904, 1906,1917]
Duke Ellington = 3 [1931, 1933, 1934]
Dorothy Fields = 2 [1928, 1936]
George Gershwin = 5 [1919, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1937]
Ira Gershwin = 3 [1926, 1930, 1937]
Oscar Hammerstein II = 4 [1927, 1939, 1943, 1945]
E.Y. Harburg = 2 [1932, 1939]
Lorenz Hart = 2 [1925, 1941]
Jerome Kern = 4 [1921, 1927, 1936, 1940]
John Lennon & Paul McCartney = 3 [1964,1965, 1968]
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe = 2 [ 1956, 1960]
Johnny Mercer = 3 [1941, 1945, 1961]
Mitchell Parrish = 2 [1929, 1933]
Cole Porter = 4 [1932, 1935 (2), 1956]
Richard Rodgers = 4 [1925, 1941, 1943, 1945]
Paul Simon = 2 [1967, 1970]
Stephen Sondheim = 2 [1956, 1959]
James Van Heusen = 2 [1957, 1963]
Ned Washington = 2 [1940, 1952]
TOTAL = 66 songs by the above 25 songwriters in the Top 100 list

For more see

Popular Songwriters and Songs

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