The USA’s 10 most played songs of the 20th century
Forget what you’re seeing on your timelines, the results are in, and it is official: America is the soppiest nation on Earth. Well, at least they were in the 20th Century.
Nobody swoons for a love song quite like the States, and the stats are out there to prove it. It is a fact that strikes at the heart of wholesome American optimism, a nation young enough not to have dashed hopes ingrained into its spiritual constitution. As Stephen Fry said of the differences between European and American culture: “If you go into an American book shop, by far the biggest section is self help and improvement; the idea that life is refineable and that you can learn a technique for anything. […] There is an unbelievable sense that life is improvable.”
That’s not just a cheap shot at the land of fireworks and prom movies, either. If you’ve ever spent time with American radio, you can feel the national wiring: the belief that heartbreak is a temporary state, that devotion is a virtue, and that the chorus should arrive like a sunrise you can actually trust. There’s a reason their biggest songs tend to sound like they were written for driving with the windows down, even when the subject matter is grim.
What makes that especially revealing is that this isn’t a list built on personal taste or critic mythology. It’s about repetition, about what stations reached for when they needed a mood that would land instantly in a diner, a taxi, a living room, a late-night phone call. In other words, it’s a record of emotional utility, the songs that kept getting chosen because they worked.
This is echoed in the music. The sense of reconciling woe and then building towards an upbeat crescendo is palpable in many of the songs that make up the top ten most played songs of the 20th century on American TV and Radio. ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin”, ‘Never My Love’, ‘Stand By Me’, ‘Baby, I Need Your Loving’, all follow this arc of a touch of struggle followed by a swell of triumph, whether that be romantic pursuit or abiding by God. Many of the tracks that US citizens heard the most over an epic 100 years of monumental change were underpinned by an early trepidation, ultimately being overpowered by a bugle-blowing triumph.
Alas, that is not all that made it to the top ten. No matter where you go in the world, culture is not homogeneous, so trying to define a whole nation by its art is largely facile. This is proven by the presence of ‘Yesterday’ in third place. Amid the other anthemic efforts or peaceful tracks, this Beatles song seems a little too solemn. However, when you consider the revolutionary wave of Beatlemania, it would be impossible for at least one of their songs not to feature a ‘Yesterday’ just happens to be one of the most radio-friendly.
Another element that has defined the list is the impact a cover has on perpetuating the performance of a song. In truth, these days, The Association might be a little-known name; however, their track ‘Never My Love’ soars into second place thanks to the fact that it was covered by the likes of Etta James, Andy Williams, Astrud Gilberto, Donny Hathaway, Booker T & the MG’s and more. The same goes for Ben E King’s ‘Stand By Me’, which was first inspired by a humble gospel choir and then went on to be a US top 100 for nine artists.
The length of these songs was also important. For instance, Bob Dylan, in the early days, was considered a word-of-mouth artist whose record sales far outstripped his coverage, mainly because most of his tracks exceeded the three-minute mark.
Many of the hit songs from the mid-1950s up until the latter half of the ’60s were under two minutes long, and legendary music producer Tony Visconti explains why: “The DJs could talk more, if you had a record that was well into three minutes, it would be the kiss of death, they wouldn’t play it.”
So short, sweet, upswells of triumph over human struggle was the ideal recipe for commercial airtime in the 20th century on the far side of the pond. Or, on the other hand, you could just write a tune as universally beloved as ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’ and allow the world to bask in the bliss of it forevermore. It takes all different strokes.
The data itself comes from BMI, “a performing rights organisation that represents more than 250,000 songwriters, composers and publishers with a repertoire of more than 3million songs and compositions from around the world and in all genres of music.” This organisation monitors TV and radio output to amass relevant information on song usage and protect artists’ rights and royalty entitlements. They claim that You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin” was played more than eight million times, which equates to 45 years of back-to-back play… and a sweet fortune for all those involved with it.
The 10 most played songs of the 20th century:
- ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feelin” – The Righteous Brothers (Barry Mann, Phil Spector, Cynthia Weil)
- ‘Never My Love’ – The Association (Donald & Richard Addrisi)
- ‘Yesterday’ – The Beatles (John Lennon & Paul McCartney)
- ‘Stand By Me’ – Ben E. King (Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)
- ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You’ – Frankie Valli (Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio)
- ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’ – Otis Redding (Steve Cropper & Otis Redding)
- ‘Mrs. Robinson’ – Simon & Garfunkel (Paul Simon)
- ‘Baby, I Need Your Loving’ – Four Tops (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland & Eddie Holland)
- ‘Rhythm of the Rain’ – The Cascades (John Gummoe)
- ‘Georgia on My Mind’ – Ray Charles (Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell)
