Top 100 Songs of the 20th Century

This list is one of the Century Classics series.

The 100 songs are merely my choices for the best of the 20th century.

All songs are in English or translated into English with both words and music.

No instrumental songs are included.

The songs include classical, folk, jazz, pop, theater, movie, country, and rock categories.

They were chosen because of their originality, importance and/or popularity.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1900) - w: James W. Johnson/ m: J. Rosamond Johnson

"Sweet Adeline" (1903) - w: Richard H. Gerard/ m: Harry Armstrong

"Toyland" (1903) - words: Glen McDonough/ music: Victor Herbert

"Meet Me in St. Louis" (1904) - w: Arthur B. Sterling/ m: Kerry Mills

"Give My Regards To Broadway" (1904) - words & music: George M. Cohan

"I Love You Truly" (1906) - w & m: Carrie Jacobs-Bond

"You're a Grand Old Flag" (1906) - words & music: George M. Cohan

"My Gal Sal"(1907) - w & m: Paul Dresser

"Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (1908) - words: Jack Norwoth/ m: Albert von Tilzer

"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1909) - w: Edward Madden/ m: Gus Edwards

"Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911) - w & m: Irving Berlin

"My Melancholy Baby" (1912) - w: George A. Norton/ m: Ernie Burnett

"On Moonlight Bay" (1912) - w: Edward Madden/ m: Percy Weinrich

"General William Booth Enters Into Heaven" (1914) - w: Vachel Lindsay/ m: Charles Ives

"St. Louis Blues" (1914) - w & m: W.C. Handy

"They Didn't Believe Me?" (1914) - w: Michael E. Rourke/ m: Jerome Kern

"Over There" (1917) - w & m: George M. Cohan

"The Lament of Ian the Proud" (1918) - w: Fiona MacLeod/m: Charles T. Griffes

"Rock-a-Bye Your Baby" (1918) - w: Sam Lewis & Joe Young/ m: Jean Schwartz

"Swanee" (1919) - w: Irving Caesar/ m: George Gershwin

"Whispering" (1920) - w & m: John Schonberger, Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose

"Ain't We Got Fun?" (1921) - w & m: Richard A. Whiting, Raymond B. Egan, Gus Kahn

"April Showers" (1921) - w: Buddy De Sylva/ m: Louis Silvers

"Manhattan" (1925) - w: Lorenz Hart/ m: Richard Rodgers

"Someone to Watch Over Me" (1926) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: George Gershwin

"My Blue Heaven" (1927) - w: George Whiting/ m: Walter Donaldson

"Ol' Man River" (1927) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/ m: Jerome Kern

"Star Dust" - w: Mitchell Parrish, 1929/ m: Hoagy Carmichael, 1927

"I Can't Give You Anything But Love"(1928) - w: Dorothy Fields/ m: Jimmy McHugh

"Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929) - w: Andy Razaf/ m: Fats Waller

"I Got Rhythm" (1930) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: George Gershwin

"Mood Indigo" (1931) - w & m: Edward "Duke" Ellington and Irving Mills

"Brother Can You Spare A Dime?" (1932) - w: E.Y. Harburg/ m: Jay Gorney

"Night and Day" (1932) - w & m: Cole Porter

"The Last Round-Up" (1933) - w & m: Billy Hill

"Sophisticated Lady" (1933) - w: Mitchell Parrish, Irving Mills/m: Duke Ellington

"Stormy Weather" (1933) - w: Ted Koehler/ m: Harold Arlen

"Solitude" (1934) - w: Eddie DeLange, Irving Mills/m: Duke Ellington

"Begin the Beguine" (1935) - w & m: Cole Porter

"Cheek to Cheek" (1935) - w & m: Irving Berlin

"I've Got You Under My Skin" (1935) - w & m: Cole Porter

"Summertime" (1935) - w: DuBose Heyward/ m: George Gershwin

"The Way You Look Tonight" (1936) - w: Dorothy Fields/m: Jerome Kern

"They Can't Take That Away From Me" (1937) - w: Ira Gershwin/ m: G. Gershwin

"God Bless America" (1938) - w & m: Irving Berlin

"All the Things You Are" (1939) - w: Oscar Hammerstein II/ m: Jerome Kern

"Over the Rainbow" (1939) - w: E.Y. Harburg/ m: Harold Arlen

"In the Mood" (1939) - w: Andy Razaf/ m: Joe Garland

"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" (1940) - w: Lorenz Hart/ m: R. Rodgers

"When You Wish Upon a Star" (1940) - w: Ned Washington/ m: Leigh Harline

"I'll Never Smile Again" (1940) - w & m: Ruth Lowe

"Blues in the Night" (1941) - w: Johnny Mercer/ m: Harold Arlen

"Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (1941) - w: Mack Gordon/ m: Harry Warren

"White Christmas" (1942) - w & m: Irving Berlin

"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" (1943) - w: O. Hammerstein II/m: Richard Rodgers

"Ac-cent-tchuate the Positive" (1945) - w: Johnny Mercer/ m: Harold Arlen

"It Might As Well Be Spring" (1945) - w: O. Hammerstein II/ m: R. Rodgers

"There's No Business Like Show Business" (1946) - w & m: Irving Berlin

"Near You" (1947) - w: Kermit Goell/m: Francis Craig

"Riders in the Sky" (1949) w & m: Stan Jones

"Goodnight Irene" (1950) - w & m: Huddie Ledbetter & Alan Lomax

"Simple Gifts" (1848/1950) - w & m: Joseph Brackett, arr. by Aaron Copland

"You Belong to Me" (1952) - w & m: Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, Chilton Price

"Your Cheatin' Heart" (1952) - w & m: Hank Williams

"Earth Angel" (1954) - w & m: Curtis Williams

"Rock Around the Clock" (1955) - w & m: Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight

"Sincerely" (1955) - w & m: Harvey Fuqua & Alan Freed

"Don't Be Cruel" (1956) - w & m: Otis Blackwell (also credited to Elvis Presley)

"On the Street Where You Live" (1956) - w: Alan Jay Lerner/m: F. Loewe

"This Land is Your Land" (1956) - w & m: Woody Guthrie

"True Love" (1956) - w & m: Cole Porter

"All the Way" (1957) - w: Sammy Cahn/ m: James Van Heusen

"Maria" (1957) - w: Stephen Sondheim/ m: Leonard Bernstein

"Mack the Knife" (1955/1959) - w: Bertold Brecht (trans. by Marc Blitzstein)/m: Kurt Weill

"Small World" (1959) - w: Stephen Sondheim/ m: Jule Styne

"Camelot" (1960) - w: Alan Jay Lerner/ m: Frederick Loewe

"Crazy (1961) - w & m: Willie Nelson

"Moon River" (1961) - w: Johnny Mercer/ m: Henry Mancini

"Blowin' in the Wind" (1962) - w & m: Bob Dylan

"Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) - w: Sammy Cahn/ m: James Van Heusen

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1964) - w & m: John Lennon & Paul McCartney

"The Shadow of Your Smile" (1965) - w: Paul Francis Webster/m: Johnny Mandel

"Yesterday" (1965) - w & m: John Lennon & Paul McCartney

"What a Wonderful World" (1967) - w: George Douglas/m: George David Weiss

"Mrs. Robinson" (1967) - w & m: Paul Simon

"Hey Jude" (1968) - w & m: John Lennon & Paul McCartney

"My Way" (1969) - w: Paul Anka/ m: Jacques Reveaux and Claude Francois

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970) - w & m: Paul Simon

"American Pie" (1971) - w & m: Don McLean

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1972) - w & m: Ewan MacColl

"The Way We Were" (1973) - w: Alan & Marilyn Bergman/m: Marvin Hamlisch

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (1973) - w & m: Stevie Wonder

"Just the Way You Are" (1978) - w & m: Billy Joel

"Night Fever" (1978) - w & m: Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb

"We Are The World" (1985) - w & m: Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie

"That's What Friends Are For" (1986) - w & m: Carole Bayer Sager & Burt Bacharach

"Beauty and the Beast" (1991) - w: Howard Ashman/m: Alan Menken

"I Will Always Love You" (1974/1992) - w & m: Dolly Parton/ arr. Whitney Houston

"Candle in the Wind" (1973/1997) -w & m: Bernie Taupin & Elton John/arr.E. John

"My Heart Will Go On" (1997) - w: Will Jennings/ m: James Horner