Rateyourmusic top singles Part 2 - 1938 to 1981

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The middle section - quite a variety here but this is definitely the most predictable third, containing most of the rock and jazz canon.

1938 - Count Basie Orchestra - Jumpin' at the Woodside - 3.83
1939 - Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra - Strange Fruit - 4.26
1940 - Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore - 3.77
1941 - Billie Holiday - Gloomy Sunday (The Famous Hungarian Suicide Song) - 3.92
1942 - Lead Belly - Rock Island Line (Railroad Song) - 3.76
1943 - Lead Belly - Irene -3.71
1944 - Lead Belly - (Black Gal) Where Did You Sleep Last Night? - 3.97
1945 - Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts - 3.84
1946 - Charlie Parker Septet - A Night in Tunisia - 3.87
1947 - Édith Piaf - La vie en rose - 3.85
1948 - Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - I Saw the Light - 3.89
1949 - Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - 3.88
1950 - Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boy - Foggy Mountain Breakdown - 3.85
1951 - The Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' at Midnight - 3.97
1952 - Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive - 3.81
1953 - Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton - Hound Dog - 3.90
1954 - Elvis Presley - That's All Right - 3.90
1955 - Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Two - Folsom Prison Blues - 4.08
1956 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You - 4.08
1957 - Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue - 3.96
1958 - Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode - 4.12
1959 - Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five - 4.26
1960 - The Miles Davis Quartet - It Never Entered My Mind (Parts 1 & 2) - 4.27
1961 - John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (Parts I & II) - 4.22
1962 - Dick Dale and The Del-Tones - Miserlou - 4.18
1963 - The Ronettes - Be My Baby - 4.36
1964 - The Beach Boys - I Get Around - 4.20
1965 - Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone - 4.26
1966 - The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice - 4.48
1967 - The Beatles - Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever - 4.45
1968 - Nina Simone - Sinnerman (Parts One & Two) - 4.48
1969 - King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King - 4.35
1970 - Black Sabbath - Paranoid - 4.24
1971 - Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - 4.34
1972 - David Bowie - Starman - 4.38
1973 - David Bowie - Life on Mars? - 4.45
1974 - Pink Floyd - Time - 4.31
1975 - Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run - 4.20
1976 - David Bowie - Station to Station - 4.26
1977 - David Bowie - "Heroes" - 4.46
1978 - Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights - 4.37
1979 - Joy Division - Transmission - 4.21
1980 - Talking Heads - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) - 4.36
1981 - Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime - 4.44

Previously - Rateyourmusic top singles Part 1 - 1888 to 1937

Poll Results

OptionVotes
1978 - Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights 4
1976 - David Bowie - Station to Station 3
1967 - The Beatles - Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever 3
1963 - The Ronettes - Be My Baby 3
1969 - King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King 2
1961 - John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (Parts I & II) 2
1977 - David Bowie - "Heroes" 2
1968 - Nina Simone - Sinnerman (Parts One & Two) 2
1965 - Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone 2
1956 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You 2
1954 - Elvis Presley - That's All Right 1
1957 - Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue 1
1962 - Dick Dale and The Del-Tones - Miserlou 1
1964 - The Beach Boys - I Get Around 1
1970 - Black Sabbath - Paranoid 1
1966 - The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice 1
1939 - Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra - Strange Fruit 1
1950 - Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boy - Foggy Mountain Breakdown 1
1974 - Pink Floyd - Time 1
1941 - Billie Holiday - Gloomy Sunday (The Famous Hungarian Suicide Song) 1
1945 - Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts 1
1980 - Talking Heads - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) 0
1979 - Joy Division - Transmission 0
1971 - Marvin Gaye - What's Going On 0
1975 - Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run 0
1973 - David Bowie - Life on Mars? 0
1972 - David Bowie - Starman 0
1981 - Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime 0
1955 - Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Two - Folsom Prison Blues 0
1940 - Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore 0
1942 - Lead Belly - Rock Island Line (Railroad Song) 0
1943 - Lead Belly - Irene 0
1944 - Lead Belly - (Black Gal) Where Did You Sleep Last Night? 0
1946 - Charlie Parker Septet - A Night in Tunisia 0
1947 - Édith Piaf - La vie en rose 0
1948 - Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - I Saw the Light 0
1949 - Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry 0
1951 - The Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' at Midnight 0
1952 - Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys - I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive 0
1953 - Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton - Hound Dog 0
1958 - Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode 0
1959 - Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five 0
1960 - The Miles Davis Quartet - It Never Entered My Mind (Parts 1 & 2) 0
1938 - Count Basie Orchestra - Jumpin' at the Woodside 0


Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 5 September 2025 08:58 (one month ago)

Voted for the best drum intro of all time, natch!

(Ronettes' Be My Baby, without which neither the Beach Boys nor Bowie would exist)

Etherwave, Friday, 5 September 2025 09:08 (one month ago)

Rateyourmusic is so shit

glug (Noodle Vague), Friday, 5 September 2025 09:46 (one month ago)

Something which is more fun than the regular album and singles charts from the rock era: the 1890s-1940s "EP" chart, for releases which don't really present as singles to modern eyes.

No. 1 single of 1979 is Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight. Poor old Joy Division - they thought they'd released Single of the Year but then the Beatles come along and issue a small section of a ten-year old medley in the Philippines and ruin everything.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 5 September 2025 11:36 (one month ago)

yeah I excluded archival releases because that really messes everything up, still got a posthumous release from Hank Williams in there though.

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 5 September 2025 11:50 (one month ago)

Poor lonely predictable middle bit, nobody cares. Don't worry, there are some very odd picks in part 3.

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 8 September 2025 17:33 (one month ago)

Rateyourmusic is so shit

― glug (Noodle Vague), Friday, September 5, 2025 2:46 AM

nv otm

free speech hating fascists, too. some of the most dangerous modern propaganda imo. xpost/word to as understanding that art informs societal change. #onethread

abstaining here in protest. nothing against you, cam.

austinato (Austin), Monday, 8 September 2025 18:21 (one month ago)

I haven't logged in in five years or so, and have never left a review, so no idea about the politics of it.

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 8 September 2025 18:32 (one month ago)

sinnerman

gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Monday, 8 September 2025 20:40 (one month ago)

Why did that one guy with all the great big lists get banned?

brimstead, Tuesday, 9 September 2025 00:48 (one month ago)

(From RYM)

brimstead, Tuesday, 9 September 2025 00:48 (one month ago)

I also voted Sinnerman, had no idea it was released as a single (only in Lebanon!).

Gavin, Leeds, Tuesday, 9 September 2025 08:26 (one month ago)

No. 1 single of 1979 is Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight. Poor old Joy Division - they thought they'd released Single of the Year but then the Beatles come along and issue a small section of a ten-year old medley in the Philippines and ruin everything.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, September 5, 2025 6:36 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

blows my mind this was only 10 years apart

frogbs, Tuesday, 9 September 2025 15:00 (one month ago)

Simultaneously a list of some great songs, and a boring list. I’m going with the possibly boring choice of Dylan.

cryptosicko, Tuesday, 9 September 2025 15:32 (one month ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Thursday, 11 September 2025 00:01 (one month ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Friday, 12 September 2025 00:01 (one month ago)


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