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.
Foreigner (mit Sänger Lou Gramm) on 21.01.1985 in Köln / Cologne. (Photo by Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture alliance via Getty Images)
View of British Pop, Rock, & World musician Peter Gabriel during an interview on MTV at Teletronic Studios, New York, New York, September 23, 1982. (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)
UNITED KINGDOM – JUNE 01: Photo of Andy SUMMERS and Stewart COPELAND and POLICE and STING; L-R: Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland, Sting – posed, group shot (Photo by John Rodgers/Redferns)
Motown R&B group Smokey Robinson and The Miracles pose for a portrait circa 1964 in New York City, New York. (Photo by James Kriegsmann/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Portrait of American R&B & Disco singer Minnie Riperton (1947 – 1979), Los Angeles, California, 1975. (Photo by Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI – NOVEMBER 4: American singer Prince (1958-2016) performs onstage during the 1984 Purple Rain Tour on November 4, 1984, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Ross Marino/Getty Images)
Michael Mike Score von "A Flock of Seagulls", britische New Wave Band, in Deutschland, 1983. Michael Mike Score of British New Wave band "A Flock of Seagulls" at Germany, 1983 (Photo by Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Portrait of English Pop musicians Curt Smith (left) and Roland Orzabal, of the group Tears For Fears, Los Angeles, California, 1985. (Photo by John Kisch Archive/Getty Images)
