DrogeMiester's Top 20 FAVORITE Hits of All-Time

My first post on this blog for this Billboard project of mine was on May 18, 2015. That's when I posted the top 10 most popular songs of 1958. Since I have a thing for numbers and dates, I thought it would be fitting to reveal the final post in this project on the exact two year anniversary of when I started, May 18, 2017.

If you missed my all-time countdown from this project that I posted during the past two weeks, here's the link to start that countdown. You can also browse through the blog archive on the right to view any post that I've done as a part of this project. After I finished posting the top songs of each decade during this project, I made sure to post of list of my personal favorite songs from that decade. So it's only fitting that after posting my list of the most popular songs of all-time that I would top it off with a list of my favorite songs of all time. Again, I'll still be maintaining this blog moving forward with my weekly Billboard analysis and any other projects that I come up with, but this post is the absolute grand finale of this specific two-year Billboard project.

In the title of this post, I use the word "hits" because my one parameter for this list is that the song had to make the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in order to be considered. That narrows my pool from every song ever written to a list of 4,718 songs that have made the top 10 from 1958 to 2016. Being that I already created lists of my favorite hits from each decade, I simply took those lists and combined them together, giving me a very manageable pool of about 120 songs considered. Thus this list was a lot less daunting to make than it sounds. While it would be fun to create a list that's more inclusive of every song written or any song that made the Hot 100 at all, that's just too many songs to sift through, thus I wouldn't be comfortable with the final result because of the fear of missing something. That's the same reason I haven't made a list of my all-time favorite movies on my main blog. I haven't seen every movie ever made or even got close to seeing all the movies I want to see.

I have actually created a list like this before. I quickly threw together a list of my favorite songs in March 2012, which was long before this blog existed and towards the beginning of my main blog when I was still experimenting and new to blogging. I was inspired to do that list after creating a list of my favorite Disney songs in February 2012. Just like I recently updated my favorite Disney songs list ahead of the release of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" remake earlier this year, it's definitely time for an update of my favorite songs, too. My big mistake with my list five years ago was assuming that all my favorite songs were already a part of my iTunes library, which was very small back then. I also didn't put a whole ton of thought into it. Not as much as this time around, anyways, which I have the huge advantage of having just completed this Billboard project. Here's my initial 2012 list if you are curious enough to compare. There is some crossover, actually. But not much. And yes, part of that is due to my current parameters that the songs had to make the top 10.

My final comment before we dive into this list is a quick note that in the parentheses after each song is the year it entered the top 10 followed by the spot it peaked at in the top 10. That being just for fun. Now with all of that out of the way, let's begin!

20- "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" - Eiffel 65 (2000 - No. 6)


19- "Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls (1998 - No. 9)


18- "In the End" - Linkin Park (2002 - No. 2)


17- "Another Night" - Real McCoy (1994 - No. 3) 


16- "Gangsta's Paradise" - Coolio featuring L.V. (1995 - No. 1)


15- "Lose Yourself" - Eminem (2002 - No. 1)


14- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana (1992 - No. 6)


13- "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" - Journey (1983 - No. 8)


12- "Take on Me" - a-ha (1985 - No. 1)


11- "99 Luftballons" - Nena (1984 - No. 2)


10- "Bring Me to Life" - Evanescence featuring Paul McCoy (2003 - No. 5)


9 - "Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees (1978 - No. 1)


8- "The Boxer" - Simon & Garfunkel (1969 - No. 7)


7- "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" - Eurythmics (1983 - No. 1)


6- "Titanium" - David Guetta featuring Sia (2012 - No. 7)


5- "Chandelier" - Sia (2014 - No. 8)


4- "Dream On" - Aerosmith (1976 - No. 6)


3- "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkle (1970 - No. 1)


2- "Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey (1981 - No. 9)


1- "My Immortal" - Evanescence (2004 - No. 7)


Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1960's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1970's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1980's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1990's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 2000's

DrogeMiester's Top 10 FAVORITE Hits of the 2000's

This past week I have finished revealing my list of the top 100 most popular songs of the 2000's. If you didn't see that list, click here to start the countdown. With this Billboard project, every time that I have finished counting down the top songs of each decade, I have enjoyed topping things off by giving you my list of favorite hits from that decade. Personally I was somewhat displeased with how the 2000's turned out. There was a lot of great music that was written during this decade, but the songs that rose to the top of the Billboard charts overall were a huge dip in quality when compared to every previous decade. Thus this specific list of personal favorites found me digging deeper to find the songs that deserved more attention than they got. However, note the word "hits" in the title of this post. I use that wording because my parameters here are that a song had to make the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in order to be considered. That narrows my pool from every song released to the 590 songs that made the top 10. Still a difficult ranking process, but much simpler than it could've been. Once you've gone through this, I challenge you to create and share your own list of personal favorite songs from this decade, using whatever parameters you choose. Enjoy!

10- "Kryptonite" - 3 Doors Down


9- "Everytime We Touch Touch" - Cascada


8- "It's My Life" - No Doubt


7- "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Green Day


6- "What I've Done" - Linkin Park


5- "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" - Eiffel 65


4- "In the End" - Linkin Park


3- "Lose Yourself" - Eminem


2- "Bring Me to Life" - Evanescence featuring Paul McCoy


1- "My Immortal" - Evanescence



Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1960's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1970's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1980's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1990's
Click here to see my favorite hits of all-time

DrogeMiester's Top 10 FAVORITE Hits of the 1990's

This past week I have finished revealing my list of the top 100 most popular songs of the 1990's. If you didn't see that list, click here to start the countdown. As has been customary with this Billboard project, now that I have finished revealing to you most popular songs of the 90's, it's time to give you my list of personal favorite hits from the 90's! I still sometimes get people who are confused with what this project is. If you're one of these, I'd encourage you to look closely at the title of each post and differentiate between "MOST POPULAR" and "FAVORITE." I don't mean to be condescending with that comment, but this should be a lot simpler of an idea than some have made it out to be. As this title says "FAVORITE," that means I'm revealing my favorite hits from the 90's. I use the word "hits" because I've decided that my parameters for this list is that a song had to make the top 10 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in order to be considered. That narrows my pool to a specific group of songs to choose from instead of choosing from every song ever released in the 90's. Even with that restriction, there was still 681 songs to choose from, meaning that this was still a difficult list to make. Once you've looked at my list, my challenge to you is for you to create your own list of favorite 90's songs, using whatever parameters you choose. Enjoy!

10- "Angel" - Sarah McLachlan


9- "Blaze of Glory" - Jon Bon Jovi


8- "One Week" - Barenaked Ladies


7- "The Sign" - Ace of Base


6- "Livin' La Vida Loca" - Ricky Martin


5- "Believe" - Cher


4- "Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls


3- "Another Night" - Real McCoy


2- "Gangsta's Paradise" - Coolio featuring L.V.


1 - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana

Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1960's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1970's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1980's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 2000's
Click here to see my favorite hits of all-time

DrogeMiester's Top 10 FAVORITE Hits of the 1980's

This past week I have finished revealing my list of the top 100 most popular songs of the 1980's. If you haven't seen any of that, click here to start the countdown. In this ongoing Billboard project, I've noticed that when I post a list of the most popular songs of a certain year or decade, people often get curious to know what my personal favorite songs are from that year or decade. Because I do enjoy creating lists of my personal favorite songs, every time I've wrapped up a decade in this project, I've topped it off by posting a list of my top 10 favorite hits from that decade. As I've now finished revealing the most popular songs from the 1980's, it's now time to give you my personal favorite hits from this decade. I use the word "hits" because I've decided that my parameters for this list is that a song had to make the top 10 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in order to be considered. While that eliminates a lot of great songs, like "Pride" by U2 (peaked at #33 in the U.S.), it makes it easier because there were a lot of songs released in the 80's. But even with that limitation, this was incredibly hard for me. I spent a long time looking at titles, listening to songs, ranking, re-ranking, and listening again before I came up with a group of 10 that I felt comfortable with. But here it is! I hope you enjoy! And feel free to tell me your favorite songs from the 1980's after seeing what mine are!

10- "Rock Me Amadeus" - Falco


9- "Shout" - Tears for Fears


8- "Livin' On a Prayer" - Bon Jovi


7- "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor


6- "Lean On Me" - Club Nouveau


5- "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" - Journey


4- "Take On Me" - a-ha


3- "99 Luftballons" - Nena


2- "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" - Eurythmics


1-"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey



Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1960's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1970's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1990's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 2000's

Click here to see my favorite hits of all-time

DrogeMiester's Top 10 FAVORITE Hits of the 1970's

This past week I finished revealing my top 100 most popular songs of the 1970's. I got a good number of views for the posts from 100 - 11, but a surprisingly few amount people looked at the actual top 10 most popular songs of the 1970's, so if you are one of those people who haven't, go check that out! Before I move onto the 1980's next week, it's time to stop for a moment and share my top 10 personal favorite hits from the 1970's. I'm surprised by how many people are still confused with this project. If it says "MOST POPULAR" at the top of the list, that's the most popular songs of that year/decade based on Billboard chart performance. I went through the whole Billboard Hot 100 from 1958 to now to figure those lists out, assigning points to the songs each week. If it says "FAVORITE" at the top, that's my own personal favorite songs. That should be a simple distinction, so don't let yourself get confused. This here is a list of my favorite hits from the 1970's. You'll notice I use the word "hits" with this. That's because, for various reasons, I decided to limit myself to songs that made it into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at some point during the decade. I hope you enjoy!

10- "Popcorn" - Hot Butter

9- "I Will Survive" - Gloria Gaynor

8- "Y.M.C.A." - Village People

7- "American Pie (Parts I & II)" - Don McLean

6- "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen

5- "Gonna Fly Now" - Bill Conti

4- "Star Wars (Main Title)" - London Symphony Orchestra

3- "Stayin' Alive" - Bee Gees

2- "Dream On" - Aerosmith

1- "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkle

Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1960's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1980's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1990's
Click here to see my favorite hits of the 2000's
Click here to see my favorite hits of all-time

DrogeMiester's Top 10 FAVORITE Hits of the 1960's

I have now finished everything I have on the 1960's. I have posted the top 10 songs from each year as well as a huge list of the top 100 songs of the entire decade. I won't post links to those here, but if you want to see them, check out the blog archive on the right. Before I dive into the 1970's, though, I wanted to finish the 1960's off in a fun way. After I post a list of the most popular songs of the year or the decade, a comment question that is presented to me is what are MY favorite songs of the year or decade? So that's what I'm doing here. I gave you the popular songs of the 60's. Now I'm giving you my personal favorites. However, you'll notice the careful wording in the title. I use the wording "Top 10 FAVORITE Hits" instead of "Top 10 FAVORITE Songs." I do so because with this list, I limited myself to songs in the 60's that made it onto the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. My reasoning for this is that I did not look at every song that made it into the whole Hot 100 nor have I listened to every song that was written and released in the 1960's, so I don't consider myself a fair judge of that. Thus is why I'm sticking to the top 10 only for this list. But there were over 1,000 songs that made it into the top 10 in the 60's, so it's still a very large pool to pick from, making it so that this was really hard. I hope you enjoy it! Next week we will be looking at the top songs of 1970, so stay tuned for that.

10- "Monster Mash" - Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

9- "The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)" - The Tokens

8- "Downtown" - Petula Clark

7- "Born to Be Wild" - Steppenwolf

6- "Good Vibrations" - The Beach Boys

5- "The Sound of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel

4- "Hello, I Love You" - The Doors

3- "I'm a Believer" - The Monkees

2- "Happy Together" - The Turtles

1- "The Boxer" - Simon & Garfunkel

Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1970's

Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1980's

Click here to see my favorite hits of the 1990's

Click here to see my favorite hits of the 2000's

Click here to see my favorite hits of all-time