Rolling Stone's Top 100 Beatles Songs

[pasag]

1. A Day in the Life
2. I Want to Hold Your Hand
3. Strawberry Fields Forever
4. Yesterday
5. In My Life
6. Something
7. Hey Jude
8. Let It Be
9. Come Together
10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
11. A Hard Day's Night
12. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
13. Revolution
14. She Loves You
15. Help!
16. I Saw Her Standing There
17. Ticket to Ride
18. Tomorrow Never Knows
19. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
20. Please Please Me
21. All You Need Is Love
22. Eleanor Rigby
23. Abbey Road Medley
24. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
25. Here, There and Everywhere
26. If I Fell
27. You're Going to Lose That Girl
28. Here Comes the Sun
29. Can't Buy Me Love
30. We Can Work It Out
31. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
32. Penny Lane
33. I Am the Walrus
34. Eight Days a Week
35. Paperback Writer
36. I Should Have Known Better
37. She Said She Said
38. Blackbird
39. Day Tripper
40. For No One
41. Get Back
42. I Feel Fine
43. Drive My Car
44. All My Loving
45. No Reply
46. Don't Let Me Down
47. Things We Said Today
48. The Ballad of John and Yoko
49. The Night Before
50. Got to Get You Into My Life
51. If I Needed Someone
52. Helter Skelter
53. It Won't Be Long
54. Two of Us
55. Taxman
56. I'm Down
57. I'm Only Sleeping
58. I've Just Seen a Face
59. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
60. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
61. With a Little Help From My Friends
62. Girl
63. Dear Prudence
64. I've Got a Feeling
65. And I Love Her
66. Nowhere Man
67. Oh! Darling
68. Baby, You're a Rich Man
69. Julia
70. You Can't Do That
71. I'm a Loser
72. From Me to You
73. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
74. Yellow Submarine
75. Think for Yourself
76. Yer Blues
77. Because
78. And Your Bird Can Sing
79. I'll Follow the Sun
80. Mother Nature's Son
81. Hey Bulldog
82. She's Leaving Home
83. I'm So Tired
84. Across the Universe
85. Back in the USSR
86. Lady Madonna
87. Love Me Do
88. Rain
89. Good Day Sunshine
90. The Long and Winding Road
91. Every Little Thing
92. Dig a Pony
93. Sexy Sadie
94. You Won't See Me
95. Any Time at All
96. Within You Without You
97. All I've Got to Do
98. Long, Long, Long
99. Yes It Is
100. Hello, Goodbye


Excellent top 10 aside from 2 & 3, pretty good list.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Tomorrow Never Knows badly, badly shafted @ #18. Travesty of a joke of a farce.

Taxman, Penny Lane & I'm Only Sleeping consulting their lawyers too.

 

[Matt79]

Alright, pick the songs above Tomorrow Never Knows that are worse. So many brilliant songs, and very subjective as to which you prefer. I personally would have Across the Universe somewhere in the top dozen, not at 84.

EDIT: People whinge sometimes about the Beatles love in the same way some fans of other batsmen bemoan that "really, Bradman couldn't have been that much better than anyone else could he?", but I'd defy anyone to come up with a list of 100 songs for another band/songwriter/performer that has so much quality and where you could honestly make a case for songs ranked in the 80s to be in the top 20...

 

[BoyBrumby]

I Want to Hold Your Hand, Yesterday, In My Life, Something, Hey Jude, Let It Be, I Saw Her Standing There & Ticket to Ride for my quid.

Obv depends what one looks for in a tune, but the tape loops and backwards guitar were really kicking against the boundaries of the pop song. Plus Bill Hicks used to come on stage to it which makes it infinitely cooler than any song that he didn't.

 

[Matt79]

Can utterly appreciate the brilliance of Tomorrow Never Knows, and also think it's a cracking listen but of those you've listed belonging below it, in my opinion:
I Want to Hold Your Hand - No
Yesterday - No - being covered to death doesn't affect the genius of that song.
In My Life - No - a mind-boggling song for a 25 year old to write and one that deserves the accolades it gets, I can't hear it without getting a bit choked up.
Something - No
Hey Jude - maybe - beautiful song, but would be ok with it being below it, but also ok as it is.
Let It Be - No.
I Saw Her Standing There - Yeah, probably.
Ticket to Ride - maybe

 

[Teja.]

Always felt I Wanna Hold Your Hand was a little overrated tbh.

My top five would be:-

1. Day in the Life
2. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!
3. Strawberry Fields Forever
4. Helter Skelter
5. Elanor Rigby

But yeah, It is The Beatles, we're talking about, They have a hundred songs of the quality, other bands would be proud of having five of.

 

[Ikki]

I can name a different top 10 each time of asking based on mood. The Beatles are incredible.

 

[GIMH]

Matt's comparison to Bradman very apt. Tried to do my own top 100 once, was impossible, just so hard.

Strawberry fields probs my fave if pushed but after that, take your pick

 

[Julian87]

Across the Universe is at the wrong end of that list tbh.

 

[Jono]

Alright, pick the songs above Tomorrow Never Knows that are worse. So many brilliant songs, and very subjective as to which you prefer. I personally would have Across the Universe somewhere in the top dozen, not at 84.

EDIT: People whinge sometimes about the Beatles love in the same way some fans of other batsmen bemoan that "really, Bradman couldn't have been that much better than anyone else could he?", but I'd defy anyone to come up with a list of 100 songs for another band/songwriter/performer that has so much quality and where you could honestly make a case for songs ranked in the 80s to be in the top 20...

The Wiggles?

 

[_Ed_]

Here Comes the Sun a top tenner, for mine. Seeing it languishing down at #28 makes me uncomfortable.

 

[NZTailender]

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band my favourite, ftr. So good to crank up loud.

 

[Ikki]

Here Comes the Sun a top tenner, for mine. Seeing it languishing down at #28 makes me uncomfortable.

Same with Here, There and Everywhere.

 

[Uppercut]

I Want to Hold Your Hand comically too high, surely?

 

[sledger]

Never heard of this band.

 

[pasag]

I Want to Hold Your Hand comically too high, surely?

Not if influence is taken into account.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Know it's a cover, but Twist & Shout the definitive early Fabs tune for my quid.

 

[Uppercut]

Not if influence is taken into account.

Well I thought its inherent crapness might have been considered a more important factor.

 

[pasag]

Well I thought its inherent crapness might have been considered a more important factor.

You're inherently crap, tbh.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Saying it's crap is wrong-headed. It's like saying that the Megadrive is a crap games console; technology has moved on but it was cutting edge at the time.