893 Essential Songs

Thanks for spending time with us during the 893 Essential Songs Countdown! We hope you had as much fun listening as we did putting the countdown together.

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If you want to relive the countdown, we've made a Spotify playlist — and if you want to nerd out, we've got a spreadsheet to crunch some numbers.

1
Purple Rain
Purple Rain
Prince
2
Bohemian Rhapsody
A Night at the Opera
Queen
3
Heroes
Heroes
David Bowie
4
Imagine
Imagine
John Lennon
5
A Day In The Life
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles
6
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nevermind
Nirvana
7
Like a Rolling Stone
Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
8
Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
9
Tangled up in Blue
Blood on the Tracks
Bob Dylan
10
Stairway to Heaven
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
11
Under Pressure
David Bowie & Queen
12
When Doves Cry
Purple Rain
Prince
13
God Only Knows
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
14
Gimme Shelter
Let it Bleed
The Rolling Stones
15
Everlong
The Colour and the Shape
Foo Fighters
16
Hallelujah
Grace
Jeff Buckley
17
Born to Run
Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen
18
Respect
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Aretha Franklin
19
Hey Jude
The Beatles
20
Let's Go Crazy
Purple Rain
Prince
21
What's Goin' On?
What's Goin' On?
Marvin Gaye
22
London Calling
London Calling
The Clash
23
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
Speaking in Tongues
Talking Heads
24
Thunder Road
Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen
25
The Weight
Music from Big Pink
The Band
26
Here Comes the Sun
Abbey Road
The Beatles
27
Space Oddity
David Bowie
David Bowie
28
Sympathy for the Devil
Beggar's Banquet
The Rolling Stones
29
Billie Jean
Thriller
Michael Jackson
30
Let It Be
Let it Be
The Beatles
31
Paranoid Android
OK Computer
Radiohead
32
In My Life
Rubber Soul
The Beatles
33
A Change is Going to Come
Ain't that Good News
Sam Cooke
34
Life On Mars?
Hunky Dory
David Bowie
35
September
Best of Earth Wind and Fire, Vol I
Earth, Wind and Fire
36
Into the Mystic
Moondance
Van Morrison
37
One
Achtung Baby
U2
38
At Last
At Last!
Etta James
39
Sabotage
Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
40
(Sittin' on) The Dock Of The Bay
Dock of the Bay
Otis Redding
41
Hurt
American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
42
The Sounds of Silence
Wednesday Morning, 3 a.m.
Simon & Garfunkel
43
Kiss
Parade
Prince
44
Kashmir
Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin
45
Superstition
Talking Book
Stevie Wonder
46
Somebody to Love
A Day at the Races
Queen
47
What a Wonderful World
Louis Armstrong
48
Where The Streets Have No Name
The Joshua Tree
U2
49
Where is My Mind
Surfer Rosa
Pixies
50
Landslide
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
51
Can't Hardly Wait
Pleased to Meet Me
The Replacements
52
Ramble On
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
53
A Case Of You
Blue
Joni Mitchell
54
Black
Ten
Pearl Jam
55
Creep
Pablo Honey
Radiohead
56
How Soon Is Now?
Hatful of Hollow
The Smiths
57
Folsom Prison Blues
Live at Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
58
The Chain
Rumors
Fleetwood Mac
59
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The Beatles (The White Album)
The Beatles
60
Once in a Lifetime
Remain in Light
Talking Heads
61
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
The Joshua Tree
U2
62
1999
1999
Prince
63
The Story
The Story
Brandi Carlile
64
Tiny Dancer
Madman Across the Water
Elton John
65
Just Like Heaven
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
The Cure
66
Seven Nation Army
Elephant
The White Stripes
67
Wake Up
Funeral
Arcade Fire
68
7
The Love Symbol Album
Prince
69
American Girl
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty
70
All Along the Watchtower
Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
71
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
72
Nightswimming
Automatic for the People
R.E.M.
73
America
Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
74
Skinny Love
For Emma, Forever Ago
Bon Iver
75
Jolene
Jolene
Dolly Parton
76
Hallelujah
Various Positions
Leonard Cohen
77
With or Without You
The Joshua Tree
U2
78
Starman
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie
79
Blackbird
The Beatles (The White Album)
The Beatles
80
Take Five
Time Out
Dave Brubeck Quartet
81
Thriller
Thriller
Michael Jackson
82
Me & Bobby McGee
Pearl
Janis Joplin
83
I Will Dare
Let it Be
The Replacements
84
Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
85
Blue
Tomorrow the Green Grass
The Jayhawks
86
Little Red Corvette
1999
Prince
87
Comfortably Numb
The Wall
Pink Floyd
88
Sir Duke
Songs in the Key of Life
Stevie Wonder
89
Wonderwall
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Oasis
90
Bad
The Unforgettable Fire
U2
91
Baba O'Riley
Who's Next
The Who
92
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Joy Division
93
Hey Ya!
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Outkast
94
When The Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
95
Something
Abbey Road
The Beatles
96
Do You Realize??
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips
97
Dreams
Rumors
Fleetwood Mac
98
Alive
Ten
Pearl Jam
99
Fight the Power
Fear of a Black Planet
Public Enemy