Oct 18, 2018 - Here are the hits of the past 25 years that we’ll be listening to for the next 100.
What makes a song last? The history of popular music tells us that many masterpieces of songcraft—and even the most world-conquering smashes—are quickly forgotten.
Meanwhile, many earworms burrow deep into the collective consciousness, where they take root, whether we like it or not.
Which of today’s hits will be tomorrow’s classics?
Who could have predicted that “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”—which was, upon its release in 1981, a commercial disappointment from a critically derided band—would become the 20th century’s best-selling digital download?* Or that it would be a “novelty” dance single, of all song varieties, that would become Billboard’s pick for the greatest single of all time?
Separating the most durable tunes from the millions of other would-be classics is no easy task. So we asked critics, musicians, and industry professionals to predict which tracks from the past 25 years we’ll still be dancing and singing along to for the next 100 years. Some of these songs our children will belt in sports arenas. Others our grandchildren will dance to at their weddings.
The New American Songbook is emphatically not a list of the best songs of the past quarter-century, although many of these tracks would make that list, too. As predicted by our panel, tomorrow’s oldies, like tomorrow’s America, will be a lot less male-dominated, and a lot more diverse. Less than a third of the songs on our list are fronted by white men, and no artists are featured more frequently than pop music’s first couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Classic rock will soon be rivaled by classic rap, and the Cole Porter of the next American songbook may be Max Martin.
Below, find the Top 30 songs, in order, all of which were nominated by at least two of our panelists. You can also read the individual ballots of everyone from Chuck Klosterman to NPR’s Ann Powers to Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood. Which of today’s hits will endure as tomorrow’s golden oldies? Here’s our best guess.
30. Idina Menzel – “Let It Go”
Producers: Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
Songwriters: Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
Year: 2013
29. Liz Phair – “Fuck and Run”
Producers: Liz Phair, Brad Wood
Songwriter: Liz Phair
Year: 1993
28. Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers – “Get Lucky”
Producers: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Songwriters: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams
Year: 2013
27. Alanis Morissette – “You Oughta Know”
Producer: Glen Ballard
Songwriters: Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard
Year: 1995
26. Old Crow Medicine Show – “Wagon Wheel”
Producer: David Rawlings
Songwriters: Bob Dylan, Ketch Secor
Year: 2004
25. Destiny’s Child – “Say My Name”
Producer: Darkchild
Songwriters: LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Beyoncé, LeToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson, Kelly Rowland
Year: 1999
24. Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”
Producers: Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, Jon de Mello
Songwriters: Edgar Yipsel Harburg, Bob Thiele, George David Weiss
Year: 1993
23. Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z – “Crazy in Love”
Producers: Rich Harrison, Beyoncé
Songwriters: Beyoncé, Rich Harrison, Eugene Record, Shawn Carter
Year: 2003
22. Nine Inch Nails – “Hurt”
Producer: Trent Reznor
Songwriter: Trent Reznor
Year: 1994
Producers: Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo
Songwriters: Curtis Jackson, Andre Young, Mike Elizondo
Year: 2003
20. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”
Producer: Paul Epworth
Songwriters: Adele Adkins, Paul Epworth
Year: 2010
19. Oasis – “Wonderwall”
Producers: Owen Morris, Noel Gallagher
Songwriter: Noel Gallagher
Year: 1995
18. Backstreet Boys – “I Want It That Way”
Producers: Kristian Lundin, Max Martin
Songwriters: Andreas Carlsson, Max Martin
Year: 1999
17. Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – “We Found Love”
Producer: Calvin Harris
Songwriter: Calvin Harris
Year: 2011
16. The Killers – “Mr. Brightside”
Producer: The Killers
Songwriters: Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer, Ronnie Vannucci Jr.
Year: 2003
15. Céline Dion – “My Heart Will Go On”
Producers: Walter Afanasieff, James Horner, Simon Franglen
Songwriters: Will Jennings, James Horner
Year: 1997
14. Santana ft. Rob Thomas – “Smooth”
Producer: Matt Serletic
Songwriters: Itaal Shur, Rob Thomas
Year: 1999
13. Lauryn Hill – “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Producer: Lauryn Hill
Songwriter: Lauryn Hill
Year: 1998
12. Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Producer: Nineteen85
Songwriters: Aubrey Graham, Paul Jefferies, Timmy Thomas
Year: 2015
11. Eminem – “Lose Yourself”
Producers: Eminem, Jeff Bass, Luis Resto
Songwriter: Marshall Mathers
Year: 2002
10. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
Producer: Josh Ramsay
Songwriters: Carly Rae Jepsen, Josh Ramsay, Tavish Crowe
Year: 2012
9. TLC – “Waterfalls”
Producer: Organized Noize
Songwriters: Marqueze Etheridge, Lisa Lopes, Organized Noize
Year: 1994
8. The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
Producer: Jack White
Songwriter: Jack White
Year: 2003
7. Mariah Carey – “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
Producers: Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
Songwriters: Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
Year: 1994
6. Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Producers: Mark Ronson, Jeff Bhasker, Bruno Mars
Songwriters: Jeff Bhasker, Philip Lawrence, Peter Hernandez, Mark Ronson, Nicholas Williams, Devon Gallaspy, Lonnie Simmons, Charles Wilson, Ronnie Wilson, Robert Wilson, Rudolph Taylor
Year: 2014
5. The Notorious B.I.G. – “Juicy”
Producers: Poke of Trackmasters, Pete Rock
Songwriters: Christopher Wallace, Hunter McIntosh, Sean Combs, Pete Rock, Jean-Claude Olivier, Samuel Barnes
Year: 1994
4. Kelly Clarkson – “Since U Been Gone”
Producers: Max Martin, Dr. Luke
Songwriters: Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald
Year: 2004
3. Beyoncé – “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
Producers: Christopher Stewart, Terius Nash, Beyoncé
Songwriters: Christopher Stewart, Terius Nash, Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé
Year: 2008
2. Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
Producer: Al Shux
Songwriters: Angela Hunte, Alicia Keys, Alexander Shuckburgh, Bert Keyes, Janet Sewell-Ulepic, Shawn Carter, Sylvia Robinson
Year: 2009
1. Outkast – “Hey Ya”
Producer: André 3000
Songwriter: André 3000
Year: 2003
This future standard has the “best hook in history,” writes Powers. And it’s perhaps the strongest testament to Outkast’s world-conquering, genre-bending hit that you can’t help but mentally scroll through this perennial list-topper’s many catchy bits and respond, “Wait—which one?” Of course there’s the titular chorus, at once triumphant and melancholy. (While some panelists referred to it as “an expression of pure pop joy,” the lyrics find the singer worrying that all love is transient.) But there are also the hand claps putting three exclamation points on each couplet, the call-and-response section that lets the audience deliver the cooler-than-cool punchline, the “shake it like a Polaroid picture” bridge that people will be singing long after they’ve forgotten the purpose of shaking Polaroids, even the repetition of 14 straight “all rights” that embodies this song’s perfect combination of pop universality and André 3000 weirdness. (See also the time signature, which is either a standard 4/4 or a downright bizarre 11/4, depending on whom you ask.)
And these hooks have already sunk themselves into subsequent generations. As Kois writes, “The first time I played this song for my kids it was as if they’d already heard it 1,000 times.” If what they say is “Nothing is forever,” “Hey Ya” might be the exception.
