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.
English singer Morrissey, of the group the Smiths, Red Wedge Tour, Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle, 1/31/1986. During the latter half of the 1980s, the Red Wedge collective organized a series of music and comedy tours throughout the UK in an attempt to mobilize young fans in opposition to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s then-ruling Conservative Party. (Photo by Steve Rapport/Getty Images)
Musician Dolly Parton Receives The City of Los Angeles Proclamation on September 20, 1979 at Los Angeles City Hall in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Deep Purple photographded at their press launch at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, England in September, 1973. The band worked on material at the Gothic castle for the album 'Burn.'
(Photo By; Armando Gallo/Getty Images )
Portrait of British musician John Lennon (1940 – 1980) (center) and his wife, artist and musician Yoko Ono (extreme left) as they attend an unspecified rally in Hyde Park, London, England, 1975. (Photo by Rowland Scherman/Getty Images)
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 20: (L-R) Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley of band America perform on stage in concert at the Burswood Theatre on April 20, 2007 in Perth, Australia. The folk rock band return to tour Australia for the second time in three years, in support of their new compilation album "Here and Now". (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
