Most popular songs of all time

"Most Popular Songs of All Time: Ultimate Playlist" that concludes it. the largest of all time. You've discussed which bands are the finest, viewed the top 10 vocalists, and mentally prepared tirades about how soon they'll be in our mailbox.

One of the best things about music is that. It's not only about lip-syncing the lyrics in front of the bathroom mirror or listening to it. Perfecting your dancing routines and reading the liner notes of your favorite albums might be quite enjoyable, but where does music really pay off? The arguments!

However, we prefer not to leave these issues up to personal preference. We have thus ran the figures. We started by examining some of the all-time best-selling musicians, and then we selected the song from their most popular album that we believe is the most important. That's what we're here for, so take a seat back, relax, make sure you have your own thoughts ready to correct us, and listen to the best ten songs ever recorded.

The Evolution of the Most Popular Songs of All Time

1. U2: In Your Presence or Not

We alerted you. This list is not something we play about with. There's too much on the line! This is the reason "With or Without You" sits at the bottom of the list even though it is the lead single from U2's incredible 1987 album The Joshua Tree.

The album itself is an absolute masterpiece, having sold an astounding 25 million copies worldwide, topping charts everywhere, and being recognized by the BBC as the record that defined the '80s and 'eighties', thereby solidifying the Irish band's status as global superstars. To put it plainly, records don't get much larger.

The song is huge on its own and earned the band's first US #1. Greater than its size. Should E.T. If you were to come on Earth tomorrow and had an insatiable curiosity for its culture, you could definitely utilize this song as the model for stadium rock. It's U2 down to its most basic form, with Bono delivering a particularly captivating song about, of all things, a complex love tale, all the while alternating between his equally unique scream and his trademark croon. The band is playing in widescreen mode, their deceptively basic staccato style covering your eardrums, whichever room you happen to be in, and perhaps the horizon as well.

Notable appearances: The song may also be found in the strangely popular television comedies "Friends" and "The Office" (US).

2. Elton John - Jets and Bennie

We choose to highlight "Bennie and the Jets" from the album, which has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame since 2003. Other notable hits from the album include "Candle in the Wind" and "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)". Seen through the lens of Elton John, it's a large, glittering chunk of glam-rock. If it were in the hands of anybody else, the song would sound inane and unimportant. However, it is not the case when Sir Elton speaks. Respect from the industry as a whole supports its financial success; Lady Gaga, A Tribe Called Quest, and Axl Rose have all mentioned it as major inspirations. Not bad for a tune supposedly inspired by Orwellian science fiction and a drug-fueled watching of 2001: A Space Odyssey, according to longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. Really, no.

Interesting fact: The noises of the audience that you hear all throughout are taken from two concerts: one by Jimi Hendrix and one by Elton John.

3. The Rolling Stones - Black Paint

First question: Are the Rolling Stones the best band ever to release a single? With albums like Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, and Let it Bleed to their credit, it seems inconsiderate to even ask such a question of a band, but given the popularity of their collections, maybe it's not such a silly one after all. The album Hot Rocks 1964-1971, which was released in 1971, is their best-selling compilation and includes songs like "Brown Sugar" and "Sympathy for the Devil." But even among this exclusive group of songs, "Paint It, Black" is unique.

Second question: Was Charlie Watt ever more musical than this? Most likely not. Mick Jagger begs everyone to share his suffering as the song gallops and rattles around. The effect is a strange but noticeable tone difference between the voices and the accompaniment. The song is well recognized and can be heard in anything from Full Metal Jacket to Westworld, which has an amazing instrumental version of the song by Ramin Djawadi.

Fact: Before his drug abuse caused him to be kicked out of the band and eventually die young, Brian Jones made one of his last major contributions to the group—the sitar on this song. In retrospect, the tune takes on a funereal tinge because of his destiny.

4. Leading Zeppelin: The Path to Paradise

A band like Led Zeppelin makes nearly as much money off of their mystique as they do from their music. They cast a wide shadow, from the Olympian—and heavily refuted—tales put to ink in the lurid (and extremely addictive) 1985 book Hammer of the Gods to the numerous and enthusiastic allusions to them in TV and cinema, notably This is Spinal Tap, Almost Famous, and Wayne's World.

With the release of their fourth album, IV, or Four Symbols, all that anticipation began in earnest. Jimmy Page, the band's guitarist, produced it. The cover has a mysterious symbol for each band member instead of a name or other identification. The band purposefully made themselves mysterious in order to draw criticism from the music elite, whose opinion of them had been, at best, ambivalent. But this time, Page and company would have to pay attention—they had a masterpiece on their hands.

"Stairway" embodies everything that made the band so alluring in the beginning. On later albums, John Paul Jones' piano and bass lines would become more common, but here is Page and vocalist Robert Plant at their most majestic. The song is divided into two sections: the first is a folky, mystical ode to an unidentified wise woman, and the second is Plant's winking collaboration and cosmic narrator shift, introduced by an unusually subdued drum fill by John Bonham, before Page blows the roof off the thing. This tune, a staple of rock music, is the bane of guitar instructors and music professionals worldwide.

5. Money by Pink Floyd

With its almost unbelievable 50 million copies sold, Dark Side of the Moon is the epitome of a classic record and the best-selling album of the 1970s. The existence of high quality sound systems is due to this.

The album's debut song, "Money," is an incredible piece of work that features a six-minute funk exercise, repeated sound effects, guitar lines, and interviews with the band's staff and crew members. It's a satire on unquenchable greed. On paper, it sounds confusing at best, incomprehensible at worst. However, it succeeds, even becoming as approachable as pop music. It seems to be telling its listeners, "Come in." "Welcome to the high life. Just groove out and don't worry about all that ruckus in the background. Baby, it's only money.

6. Madonna - Don't Preach, Papa

With the release of her third album, True Blue, Madonna ascended to superstar status and became the next big thing in pop culture, alongside Michael Jackson and Prince. All nine songs on the album were co-written and co-produced by her, and five of them, including three #1s, made it into the Billboard top five, demonstrating to the world that the Material Girl was more than just a passing fad. After selling 25 million copies, the record marked the beginning of a new chapter in her career.

"Papa Don't Preach" is the epitome of '80s pop, with its captivating opening strings, Prince-esque bass line, bone-dry drum, and Latin-inspired guitar lines. When Madonna tells the tale of a "daughter in difficulty," disclosing her pregnancy to her traditional father, her vocal range is also at its broadest. Similar to what Madonna was accomplishing with her own career, the poignant lyrics and weighty subject matter turn what was already a groovy pop gem into something much more substantial.

7. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Thus, were the Rolling Stones the best band ever to release a single? No. Queen is deserving of the distinction. Released in 1981, the band's first (of many) "Greatest Hits" compilation CD is among the all-time top 50 bestselling records and sounds like it belongs on a jukebox in paradise. With songs like "Another One Bites the Dust," "We Are the Champions," "Killer Queen," and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," among others, it's a magnificent—and sometimes ridiculous—compendium of rock from the 1970s.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is the large gem in the crown, proudly taking center stage. The song, which lasts for six minutes, is pure sonic excess, so uniquely imagined by bandleader and potential extraterrestrial Freddie Mercury that the other members of the band called it simply "Fred's Thing" during practice. And what a thing it is. We won't spend your time attempting to give this music any justice by trying to put it into words. However, we will state unequivocally that it is among the artworks with the best titles that we are aware of:

A bohemian is a person who leads an unusual life, generally in a colony with others (such as an artist or writer).
An epic poetry meant for recitation is called Rhapsody.
See When it's all in the name, why would we need to tell you anything?

Interesting fact: Due to disagreements over replacing the music from the now-iconic vehicle sequence in Wayne's World with one from the more modern Guns N' Roses, star Mike Myers threatened to leave the film's production.

8. Elvis Presley - Doubting Thoughts

Actually, the writer of "Suspicious Minds" is Mark James, a hitmaker from Memphis, Tennessee, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. (James also wrote "Always on My Mind," another of Elvis Presley's hallmark songs.) It was published in 1968 to a lackluster commercial reception. James sang the song for Presley the next year during recordings at the American Sound Studio that produced the album From Elvis in Memphis. Presley believed the song may become a smash and promptly recorded a version of his own. A few weeks later, the song was made available as a single after its premiere at the Las Vegas International Hotel. The ability of Presley to turn a simple melancholic ballad into a true classic is testament to his unique talent as a performer.

9. A Day in the Life by The Beatles

Not only is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band an album, but it's regarded as THE record, one that may not have allowed the whole genre to catch on. At least half of this list wouldn't exist if the Fab Four hadn't set out to demonstrate that songwriters' imaginations are the only things holding popular music back. In addition to being a 32 million copy best-seller, Sgt. Pepper is recognized as a groundbreaking recording in terms of design and recording, as well as a forerunner of concept and prog albums.

Everything that is fantastic about the album and the band is summed up in the song "A Day in the Life." It has a confounding blend of the commonplace and the spectacular, seeming both grandiose and pastoral, nostalgic and forward-thinking. This song could be the Dear John letter where they say goodbye to that world and head for greener, more exotic pastures, if the album is, as many modern commentators (including the band themselves) claim, the moment they left their clean-cut image behind and stepped into the future.

10. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

The Prince from the King. The second single from Michael Jackson's 1982 masterpiece Thriller, which is now the best-selling album in history globally. Resuming his collaboration with production wizard Quincy Jones, Jackson aimed to create an album that included hits on every track, departing from the disco vibe of 1979's Off the Wall. Whatever the genre, he was successful. The Library of Congress claims that this record is a culturally important artifact that almost single-handedly brought back pop music to life in a recession-stricken post-disco/pre-MTV America.

What about the music itself, then? Even if "Billie Jean" isn't his romantic partner, she is just as captivating as any lover the instant the snare activates and starts hardwiring your head to bob wildly. Pop music at its best, enhanced with Jackson's signature vocal tics and flairs that add even another level of instrumentation. After the album's first single, a duet with Paul McCartney titled "The Girl is Mine," failed to become an international hit, the song launched the album's string of hit hits. Even though it wasn't quite a hit song, "Billie Jean" served as the setting for the legendary "moonwalk" performance at Motown 25, which guaranteed its position in pop cultural history.

Information: Similar to Madonna's placement on this list, "Billie Jean" sparked a response, with Lydia Murdock dressing up like Billie Jean for her club-stomping 1983 song "Superstar.

Runner-Up Pick

Whitney Houston's ballad "I Will Always Love You" became one of the all-time best-selling songs and featured Houston's strong and emotional vocal delivery (Streams:Journey's "Don't Stop
Believin," an enduring hit from the 80s rock group (Streams: 1.7 Billion),
The Eagles' "Hotel California" is a genuine 1970s fan favorite with 1.4 billion streams.
It doesn't require an introduction to listen to John Lennon's Imagine (Streams: 579.5 Million).
Respect, a song by Aretha Franklin, is well-known for her soulful vocals. It became a global smash and an anthem for the civil rights struggle (Streams: Million).
One of the greatest hits from the renowned artist is "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan (Streams: 310.8 Million).
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Streams: 1.7 Billion) is a song that helped define a generation in the 1990s.
One of the key songs of the hair metal period is Guns N' Roses' "Sweetheart Child O' Mine," which is well-known for its catchy guitar riff (Streams: 1.6 Billion).
The Beatles' "Let It Be" is a reassuring ballad that people listen to all across the world (594.0 million streams).
Frank Sinatra's "My Way" is a famous song that has been streamed 392.5 million times. Its strong message of independence and personal strength continues to resonate.
Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is still a beloved progressive rock standard among listeners (Streams: 190.6 Million).
According to their fan base, Iron Maiden's song "Hallowed Be Thy Name" has received 149.2 million streams.