Polls Apart: Rolling Stone vs. Billboard – The Singles

We all love a good poll.

It’s an entirely uncontroversial and scientifically unimpeachable method of deciding things. 

So having previously looked at the 100 biggest singles and albums of all htime based on sales and Billboard chart metrics, let’s see how the critics choices compare. 

The metric that I’m using is that bastion of rock orthodoxy: Rolling Stone:

They could have dropped the reference to ‘all time’ as it turns out that the furthest we go back is 1937. Never mind that several millennia of songs are instantly disposed of, just feel the hyperbole. I’m sure that Greensleeves was just outside the 500.

The current list was compiled in 2021. By polling over 250 artists, musicians producers, critics and journalists – too important a task to let the public have their say – and having them all pick their top 50. The original list was created in 2004 and as Rolling Stone notes, the updated version is much more inclusive with far wider representation from hip-hop, modern country, indie rock, Latin pop, reggae, and R&B. 

Let’s see how the numbers stack up and compare to Billboard’s Greatest of All Time Hot 100 songs.

LMFAO fans may want to look away now. It’s like the critics don’t see the toil and earnest craftsmanship that went into making Party Rocking so…err…rocking. 

Starting off with the top 10;

• 10. Outkast – Hey Ya!
• 9. Fleetwood Mac – Dreams 
• 8. Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
• 7. The Beatles – Strawberry Fields Forever 
• 6. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
• 5. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit 
• 4. Bob Dylan – Like A Rolling Stone
• 3. Sam Cooke – A Change Is Gonna Come
• 2. Public Enemy – Fight The Power
• 1. Aretha Franklin – Respect

Turns out that critical success doesn’t necessarily stack up with commercial success.

Only 14 of the Billboard list appear on the RS list. 

The metric of greatest song allows for greater choice than Billboard’s which is confined by what made the charts. 

There is still an obvious trend towards big hits:

• 314 of these were top 40 hits with 225 of those making the top 10 and 117 reaching top spot.

• There are still 139 that didn’t make the Hot 100, whether due to flopping on release, being album tracks and in a few cases pre-dating the Hot 100. 

The question of what era produced the greatest songs shows a marked difference to Billboard.

Look further into the individual years, and the golden era is even more pronounced.

There are 19 years which gift 10 or more songs to the list.

1964 was the first year into double figures and every year after through to 1982 achieved the same feat – apart from two. For whatever reason, slap bang in the peak period 1974 is left slacking, only providing five entries. Theories as to why are welcome. 

• After 1982 only two more years supply 10 or more entries; 1992 and 1994. 
• While the updated 2021 list does go some way to rectifying the imbalances of the original list the mid 90s onwards are still underrepresented. 
• The peak individual years are 1971 with 21 contributions and 1967 and 1970 with 20. 
• Every year from 1953 to 2020 is represented.

One advantage the Rolling Stone list has in comparison to Billboard’s is that it goes much further back, with three songs predating the 50s;

The idea of a canon is brought into focus by the fact there are 91 artists who provide multiple entries which account for over half the list. 

17 artists provide four or more and only two of those: Beyonce and Outkast, post date the mid 80s.

The other big hitters are; Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones and David Bowie, all of whom appear seven times. Which makes up for the fact that none of them appeared in the 100 biggest selling singles or albums on either side of the Atlantic. 

They aren’t the only ones to achieve this: It’s appropriate that the others are their partners in pushing the boundaries in the mid 60s; The Beach Boys. 

Whereas Soundtracks, with their inbuilt advertising were a big deal on the Hot 100: they aren’t such a factor here.

In a much bigger sample, the number drops from 14 to 8:

The Respect demanded by Aretha proves the original isn’t always the best. That’s one of 20 cover versions present, with a good portion of those being late 60s soul songs. 

There are four instances of both the original and a cover appearing, only of which has the cover as the pre-eminent version:

• – Mr Tambourine Man: Bob Dylan #164 / The Byrds #230 
• – Killing Me Softly: Roberta Flack #273 / The Fugees #359  
• – Walk On By: Dionne Warwick #51 / Isaac Hayes #312
• – Gloria: Them #413 – Patti Smith #97

One factor that remains the same as the Billboard 100 is that there’s no shortage of white men. 

• Male group = 196
• Male solo = 155
• Female solo = 89
• Mixed group = 44
• Female group = 16

Things are shifting, as shown by the 71 songs featured that have been released since 2000: only 21 are by groups. 

Since RS first compiled their list in 2004 rap has made inroads into the hallowed selection.

Another change from the previous lists is that R Kelly who was present in 2004 with “I Believe I Can Fly” and saw that replaced with Ignition in the 2010 update is now conspicuous by his absence.

And it’ll be interesting to see if Kanye’s commitment to trashing his reputation survives future editions.

So: We’ve got:

Still, there are gaps. Despite going all the way back to the 30s there’s no room for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and other pre-rock n’ roll sensations. 

We don’t have much in the way of instrumentals either. It is a poll of greatest songs which suggests a vocal element but these few make the cut:

• – The Meters – Cissy Strut #158
• – Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown #266
• – John Coltrane – Pt 1 Acknowledgement #315
• – Booker T & The MGs – Green Onions #418
• – Miles Davis – So What #492

After using all my fingers, toes and a calculator: I wondered what I was doing with my life.

I worked out that the idea of the perfect three minute pop song needs to be revised upwards by a minute. Plus one more second.

The average song length is 4:01. Which is skewed upwards by the presence of a few 10 minute plus epics like Desolation Row and the not to be rushed live rendition of Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers weighing in at 22:40. Which is long enough to listen to the shortest song 12 times:

Mention of The Allman Brothers raises a popular naming convention. They join the Brothers; Doobie, Everly, Isley and Righteous. Alternatively, expressing their youth are the Boys from the Backstreet, Beach, Beastie, Geto and Pet Shop. 

“These statistics are all well and good, JJ.”

You want songs in the form of a question? You got it, our artists variously want to know;

• What’d I Say?
• Life on Mars? 
• What’s Love Got To Do With It?
• Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
• Are You That Somebody?
• Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
• Can I Kick It?
• Wouldn’t It Be Nice?
• Could You Be Loved?
• Where Is My Mind?
• How Soon Is Now?

While this lot are so worked up, they just have to exclaim:

• Hey Ya!
• Freedom! 90
• Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
• Yeah!
• Stop! In The Name Of Love
• Help!

Never let it be said I don’t consider the big issues.

Lastly, how does this list tally with the man whose opinion we all defer to?

Tom B has rated 165 of these at time of writing. 

Turns out he largely agrees with the RS cognoscenti, awarding 78 of them the perfect 10 with another 53 scoring a nine. The worst performers get a 4:

• John Lennon – Imagine
• Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes
• Eagles – Hotel California

Next time we move onto consider the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums.

Not much of a spoiler alert: As ever, there’s plenty more Beatles.

And still no LMFAO. 

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