The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

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The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in November 2004. It was chosen based on votes by 172 musicians, critics, and industry figures.

As with similar previous lists from Rolling Stone, such as The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, this new list proved to be controversial. One common criticism is that the list, much as the earlier list of 500 greatest albums did, leans towards the 1960s and 1970s, at the expense of newer artists and even newer genres such as rap, and ignoring all music that existed before the late 1940s.

The list has 202 songs from the 1960s and 144 from the 1970s, yet only 55 songs from the 1980s, 24 songs from the 1990s, and just three songs from the 21st century. The oldest song on the list is Muddy Waters "Rollin' Stone" from 1948 (ranked #459). The only other song from the 1940s is Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" from 1949 (#111). The most recent is OutKast's 2003 hit "Hey Ya!" (#180) — one of only three songs from the new millennium, the other two from Eminem.

The list is formed from a strong British and American point of view, and includes only one song not sung in English: "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens.

With 23 songs on the list, The Beatles are the most represented musical act. They are followed by The Rolling Stones (14 entries); Bob Dylan, who also topped the list with "Like a Rolling Stone", (12 entries); Elvis Presley (11 entries); The Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix (seven entries each); and Chuck Berry, U2, James Brown, Prince, Led Zeppelin, and Sly & The Family Stone (six entries each).