thoughts

Top 100 Songs

My selection of the greatest songs of all time—based on songwriting, performance, emotion, originality, cultural impact and replay value. Naturally, the list is limited by the music I’ve personally heard. The numbering identifies the 100 selections not in order; it is not yet a strict ranking.

• Bee Gees — To Love Somebody
• Céline Dion — My Heart Will Go On
• U2 — City of Blinding Lights
• The Verve — Bitter Sweet Symphony
• Fleetwood Mac — Silver Springs
• Linkin Park — In the End
• Linkin Park — Numb
• Jon Secada — Just Another Day
• Peter Gabriel — In Your Eyes
• Rod Stewart — Forever Young
• U2 — Beautiful Day
• Coldplay — The Scientist
• Coldplay — Clocks
• Tom Odell — Another Love
• John Denver — Take Me Home, Country Roads
• Goo Goo Dolls — Iris
• Survivor — Eye of the Tiger
• Linkin Park — Somewhere I Belong
• Aerosmith — Dream On
• Fort Minor — Remember the Name
• Europe — The Final Countdown
• Phil Collins — In the Air Tonight
• Linkin Park — Faint
• Journey — Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
• The Alan Parsons Project — Sirius
• Eddie Money — Take Me Home Tonight
• Fleetwood Mac — Go Your Own Way
• Queens of the Stone Age — No One Knows
• Chaka Khan — Ain’t Nobody
• Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean — No Church in the Wild
• Bruce Springsteen — Hungry Heart
• Guns N’ Roses — Welcome to the Jungle
• Metallica — Enter Sandman
• Van Halen — Jump
• Sia — Elastic Heart
• Elton John and Dua Lipa — Cold Heart
• The Righteous Brothers — Unchained Melody
• Simon & Garfunkel — The Sound of Silence
• Eric Clapton — Tears in Heaven
• Berlin — Take My Breath Away
• Frank Sinatra — Summer Wind
• Michael Bublé — Feeling Good
• U2 — With or Without You
• Bread — Everything I Own
• Derek and the Dominos — Layla
• Groove Armada — Hands of Time
• Bee Gees — How Deep Is Your Love
• Air Supply — All Out of Love
• Bob Dylan — Shelter from the Storm
• Bee Gees — Stayin’ Alive
• Sting featuring Cheb Mami — Desert Rose
• Duran Duran — Come Undone
• Bryan Adams — Run to You
• Bryan Adams — Summer of ’69
• Bruce Springsteen — Born in the U.S.A.
• Creedence Clearwater Revival — Fortunate Son
• The xx — Intro
• Lana Del Rey — Young and Beautiful
• Savage Garden — Truly Madly Deeply
• Enrique Iglesias — Hero
• Céline Dion — If You Asked Me To
• Ben E. King — Stand by Me
• Céline Dion — The Power of Love
• Kanye West — Heartless
• Bryan Adams — (Everything I Do) I Do It for You
• Enrique Iglesias — Bailamos
• Rob Dougan — Clubbed to Death
• Bobby Darin — Beyond the Sea
• Eminem — Sing for the Moment
• Eminem — Lose Yourself
• Elvis Presley — Can’t Help Falling in Love
• U2 — Where the Streets Have No Name
• Journey — Don’t Stop Believin’
• Toto — Africa
• Tears for Fears — Everybody Wants to Rule the World
• Bon Jovi — Livin’ on a Prayer
• Eiffel 65 — Blue (Da Ba Dee)
• Chris Isaak — Wicked Game
• R.E.M. — Losing My Religion
• Aerosmith — I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
• Phil Collins — Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)
• Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys — Empire State of Mind
• Frank Sinatra — My Way
• Elton John — I’m Still Standing
• Billy Joel — We Didn’t Start the Fire
• The Beatles — Let It Be
• The Beatles — Hey Jude
• The Beatles — Here Comes the Sun
• Billy Joel — Piano Man
• Fleetwood Mac — The Chain
• The Rolling Stones — Gimme Shelter
• Whitney Houston — I Have Nothing
• Eagles — Hotel California
• Bob Dylan — Like a Rolling Stone
• Queen — Bohemian Rhapsody
• John Lennon — Imagine
• Michael Jackson — Billie Jean
• Led Zeppelin — Stairway to Heaven
• Whitney Houston — I Will Always Love You
• Jimi Hendrix — All Along the Watchtower

 

JG’s Top 100 Replay Songs

The songs I find myself listening to repeatedly—not necessarily the “greatest” songs ever, but songs that I find fun, energizing, nostalgic, emotional or cinematic. This list is not ranked in order.

JG’s Top 100 Replay Songs

Songs I repeatedly return to because they are fun, motivating, nostalgic, emotional or cinematic—not necessarily ranked as the greatest songs ever.

1. Goo Goo Dolls — Boxes
2. Busta Rhymes featuring Linkin Park — We Made It
3. OneRepublic — Counting Stars
4. Robin S. — Show Me Love
5. Scatman John — Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)
6. Haddaway — What Is Love
7. The Script featuring will.i.am — Hall of Fame
8. U2 — Sweetest Thing
9. Backstreet Boys — The Perfect Fan
10. Jess Glynne — Hold My Hand
11. Nico & Vinz — Am I Wrong
12. Loren Allred — Never Enough
13. OneRepublic — Good Life
14. Benson Boone — Beautiful Things
15. Roxette — It Must Have Been Love
16. George Michael — Careless Whisper
17. Eric Carmen — Hungry Eyes
18. Bonnie Tyler — Total Eclipse of the Heart
19. Foreigner — I Want to Know What Love Is
20. Frank Sinatra – My Way
21. Oasis — Wonderwall
22. U2 – Beautiful Day
23. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – New York State of Mind
24. The Animals — The House of the Rising Sun
25. Madonna — Like a Prayer
26. Cyndi Lauper — Time After Time
27. Tracy Chapman — Fast Car
28. Lady Gaga – Shape of a Woman
29. Adele — Rolling in the Deep
30. The Killers — Mr. Brightside
31. The Weeknd — Blinding Lights
32. Ed Sheeran — Perfect
33. 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre — California Love
34. The Notorious B.I.G. — Hypnotize
35. Marlena Shaw — California Soul
36. Taylor Swift — Opalite
37. Roy Jones Jr. — Can’t Be Touched
38. D12 — Fight Music
39. Jay-Z and Linkin Park — Numb/Encore
40. Eminem — Till I Collapse
41. Eminem — Not Afraid
42. U2 — I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
43. Eminem featuring Dido — Stan
44. Eminem — Mockingbird
45. Eminem — Soldier
46. Linkin Park — What I’ve Done
47. Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding — I Need Your Love
48. Linkin Park — Breaking the Habit
49. Linkin Park — One Step Closer
50. Linkin Park — Crawling
51. Linkin Park — Papercut
52. Linkin Park — Somewhere I Belong
53. Linkin Park — Faint
54. Tiësto — Adagio for Strings
55. Tom Odell — Another Love (Tiësto Remix)
56. Tiësto — Lay Low
57. Black Box — Strike It Up
58. Calvin Harris and Disciples — How Deep Is Your Love
59. U2 — Beautiful Day
60. Jetta — I’d Love to Change the World (Matstubs Remix)
61. Snap! — Rhythm Is a Dancer
62. La Bouche — Be My Lover
63. Bob Dylan – Times Are a Changing
64. Rob Thomas — Paper Dolls
65. Method Man and Redman — Da Rockwilder
66. Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg — Still D.R.E.
67. Mobb Deep — Shook Ones, Pt. II
68. DMX — Ruff Ryders’ Anthem
69. The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Jay-Z and Angela Winbush — I Love the Dough
70. Dr. Dre featuring Eminem — Forgot About Dre
71. Paul Hertzog — Kumite (Bloodsport)
72. Hans Zimmer — Chevaliers de Sangreal (The Da Vinci Code)
73. Moby — Extreme Ways (The Bourne Identity)
74. Moby — Anthem (Cinematic Version) (Miami Vice)
75. Christopher Young — The Apple (Rounders)
76. Hans Zimmer — Time (Inception)
77. Hans Zimmer — Cornfield Chase (Interstellar)
78. Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard — Now We Are Free (Gladiator)
79. Klaus Badelt — He’s a Pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean)
80. Trevor Rabin — Launch (Armageddon)
81. Hans Zimmer — Lost but Won (Rush)
82. Bill Conti — Gonna Fly Now (Rocky)
83. Vince DiCola — Training Montage (Rocky IV)
84. Lady Gaga — Hold My Hand (Top Gun: Maverick)
85. U2 — City of Blinding Lights
86. The Verve — Bitter Sweet Symphony
87. Linkin Park — In the End
88. Linkin Park — Numb
89. Rod Stewart — Forever Young
90. Goo Goo Dolls — Iris
91. Survivor — Eye of the Tiger
92. Europe — The Final Countdown
93. Phil Collins — In the Air Tonight
94. Journey — Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
95. The Alan Parsons Project — Sirius
96. Creedence Clearwater Revival — Fortunate Son
97. Guns N’ Roses — Welcome to the Jungle
98. Metallica — Enter Sandman
99. Bee Gees – To Love Somebody
100. Billy Joel – New York State of Mind