With The List, American Songwriter details the best, the brightest, the most enduring, the worst, the most hated, and the most surprising songs ever–among many other qualifiers. If you’re looking for our definitive rankings on music, you’ll find them below.
American singer and guitarist Jimi Hendrix performs on stage on May 24, 1967 at Grona Lund in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by – / various sources / AFP) (Photo by -/Svenska Dagbladet/AFP via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA – APRIL 26: George Strait performs as part of the George Strait Music Festival at the Oakland Coliseum on April 26, 1998 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
Shirley Jones, US actress and singer, Brian Forster, US actor, Suzanne Crough, US actress, Susan Dey, US actress, Danny Bonaduce, US actor, and David Cassidy, US actor and singer, pose leaning out of the windows of a bus in a group portrait issued as publicity for the US television series, 'The Partridge Family', USA, circa 1973. The sitcom starred Jones as 'Shirley Renfrew Partridge', Forster as 'Chris Partridge', Crough as 'Tracy Partridge', Dey as 'Laurie Partridge', Bonaduce as 'Danny Partridge', and Cassidy as 'Keith Douglas Partridge'. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
L – R: Musicians Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, and Gene Simmons of American rock band Kiss attend the 38th Annual Grammy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, 28th February 1996. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – NOVEMBER 19: EDITORIAL USE ONLY Kenny Chesney performs onstage during the 59th Annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on November 19, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Singer/songwriter Paul Simon (right) and singer Art Garfunkel of the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel in a Columbia Records publicity still circa 1967 1966 in New York, New York. (Photo by Columbia Records/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
