My 100 Favorite Popular Songs

A short while ago, your friend and mine Chris Sligh posted his Top 100 Favorite songs. It was a fascinating list, not entirely surprising if you know his music. One of the side-effects of the list is that I sought out some music that he liked that I hadn't yet heard. Another side-effect was that it inspired me to put together my own list.

A few comments:
1. I've only considered popular songs for this list. So if you're expecting to find hymns, art songs or arias on this list, you won't find them.
2. The normal rules apply. These are favorites, not my judgment on the best songs of all time. That would be quite a feat.
3. I know that I haven't heard all the music known to mankind. And when I listen to a new CD next week, I may immediately re-evaluate the list I've made here. That's the nature of listmaking. But it's sure fun to make them anyway.
4. I noticed some common themes when I came to narrowing down songs for the list. I tend to like songs that have one or more of these characteristics: soulful, smooth, lyrical, profound, able to sustain multiple listens, layered musically, virtuosic, and so on. You may notice your own themes.
5. I've tried to put these in order the best I could. But I'm going to have to call this a "general descending order." It's not an exact science comparing apples to appaloosas.

With all that being said, here's the list. I've given you the top 10 tracks to listen to. Enjoy!

1.    Trouble (Lizz Wright)
2.    A Prayer for the Dying (Seal)
3.    Fix You (Coldplay)
4.    The Hamburg Song (Keane)
5.    Holy, Holy, Holy (Sufjan Stevens)
6.    A Case of You (Joni Mitchell)
7.    Love’s Divine (Seal)
8.    Stall Out (MuteMath)
9.    Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)
10.    Untitled 4 (Sigur Rós)
11.    Everything’s Not Lost (Coldplay)
12.    Waiting for You (Seal)
13.    Yesterday (The Beatles)
14.    Silence (Lizz Wright)
15.    Wise Up (Aimee Mann)
16.    Miracle Drug (U2)
17.    Wheel (John Mayer)
18.    Casimir Pulaski Day (Sufjan Stevens)
19.    The Sounds of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)
20.    What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)
21.    Don’t Cry (Seal)
22.    Night and Day (Frank Sinatra)
23.    Salt (Lizz Wright)
24.    Last Goodbye (Jeff Buckley)
25.    You are Mine (MuteMath)
26.    My Stupid Mouth (John Mayer)
27.    Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own (U2)
28.    John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (Sufjan Stevens)
29.    Blue Rose (Lizz Wright)
30.    Kiss from a Rose (Seal)
31.    What If (Coldplay)
32.    Trouble (Ray LaMontagne)
33.    Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)
34.    Joy to the World (Sufjan Stevens)
35.    New Deep (John Mayer)
36.    I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2)
37.    I Get a Kick Out of You (Frank Sinatra)
38.    Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
39.    Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
40.    So What (Miles Davis)
41.    Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? (Bryan Adams)
42.    God Bless the Child (Billie Holliday)
43.    With Imagination (Harry Connick Jr)
44.    I Got a Woman (Ray Charles)
45.    Yellow (Coldplay)
46.    I Loves You, Porgy (Bill Evans)
47.    With or Without You (U2)
48.    I am the Walrus (The Beatles)
49.    Respect (Aretha Franklin)
50.    Something’s Missing (John Mayer)
51.    Speed of Sound (Coldplay)
52.    Crystal Ball (Keane)
53.    Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin)
54.    Let Go (Frou Frou)
55.    Goodnight and Go (Imogen Heap)
56.    Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel)
57.    Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers)
58.    At Last (Joni Mitchell)
59.    Something (The Beatles)
60.    In a Moment (Chris Sligh)
61.    Lilac Wine (Jeff Buckley)
62.    Get Together (Lizz Wright)
63.    I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Billie Holliday)
64.    If God Made You (Five for Fighting)
65.    Devil May Care (Diana Krall)
66.    I Don’t Know What It Is (Rufus Wainwright)
67.    Typical (MuteMath)
68.    3X5 (John Mayer)
69.    You Don’t Know Me (Ray Charles & Diana Krall)
70.    Warning Sign (Coldplay)
71.    Layla (Derek & the Dominoes)
72.    Know (Chris Sligh)
73.    Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles)
74.    Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
75.    We’re Going to the Country (Sufjan Stevens)
76.    Dummy Song (Louis Armstrong)
77.    Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap)
78.    Breathe In (Frou Frou)
79.    The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! (Sufjan Stevens)
80.    A Day in the Life (The Beatles)
81.    Corpus Christi Carol (Jeff Buckley)
82.    Bridge over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
83.    It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing (Duke Ellington)
84.    When a Man is Wrong (Seal)
85.    Fields of Gold (Sting)
86.    I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)
87.    The Frog Prince (Keane)
88.    Israel (Bill Evans)
89.    Downtown Lights (Annie Lennox)
90.    Chicago (Sufjan Stevens)
91.    The Fool on the Hill (The Beatles)
92.    Stare at the Sun (MuteMath)
93.    Tears in Heaven (Eric Clapton)
94.    The Moment I Said It (Imogen Heap)
95.    Sentimental Guy (Ben Folds)
96.    Mojo Pin (Jeff Buckley)
97.    A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)
98.    Wonder (Natalie Merchant)
99.    Waiting on the World to Change (John Mayer)
100.    Still Love Remains (Seal)

Comments

[jsligh]

ever heard regina spektor? i think you would like her. if yer interested check out "fidelity," "on the radio," "better," and "that time," all from her newest album.

[Mandi]

Yeah, seriously, Will, I don't think I know the names and artist for 100 songs. I'm the one that is always saying, " You know that song where part of it goes..."

[Jeff]

Awww... where's "One" by U2? No list is complete without it! (Even a list of Bach's Most Notable Chorale Compositions.) ;)

Amazing list, though. I'm not sure I could even name 100 popular songs, let alone have 100 favorites! If I did, the list would have a bunch of differences, of course... heavily slanted toward the soul category. "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King; "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder; "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding...

I'd probably have few current artists on my list since I've pretty much dropped out of the music scene. Everything would be oldies and rock/alt. music from 1993-1999.