Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop: Top 10 Singles by Year, 1979–2017
by The Editors
1. Ian Dury & the Blockheads: “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”/”Reasons to Be Cheerful, Pt. 3”
2. M: “Pop Musik”
3. Donna Summer: “Hot Stuff”
4. (Tie) Sister Sledge: “We Are Family”/”He’s the Greatest Dancer”
The Pretenders: “Stop Your Sobbing”/”The Wait”
6. (Tie) Fleetwood Mac: “Tusk”
The Knack: “My Sharona”
8. Blondie: “Dreaming”
9. (Tie) The Brains: “Money Changes Everything”
The Flying Lizards: “Money”
1. Kurtis Blow: “The Breaks”
2. Joy Division: “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
3. Blondie: “Call Me”
4. (Tie) The Clash: “Train in Vain”/”London Calling”
Pretenders: “Brass in Pocket”
6. Stevie Wonder: “Master Blaster (Jammin’)”
7. John Lennon: “(Just Like) Starting Over”/Yoko Ono: “Kiss Kiss Kiss”
8. The Vapors: “Turning Japanese”
9. Lipps, Inc.: “Funkytown”
10 (Tie) Diana Ross: “Upside Down”
Bruce Springsteen: “Hungry Heart”
1. (Tie) Laurie Anderson: “O Superman”/”Walk the Dog”
Rolling Stones: “Start Me Up”
3. Grandmaster Flash: “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel”
4. (Tie) Kim Carnes: “Bette Davis Eyes”
Yoko Ono: “Walking on Thin Ice”
6. Tom Tom Club: “Genius of Love”
7. (Tie) Pete Shelley: “Homosapien”
Soft Cell: “Tainted Love”/”Where Did Our Love Go?”
9. Funky Four Plus One: “That’s the Joint”
10. Prince: “Controversy”
1. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: “The Message”
2. Marvin Gaye: “Sexual Healing”
3. The Clash: “Rock the Casbah”
4. Prince: “1999”/”How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?”
5. Soft Cell: “Tainted Love”/”Where Did Our Love Go?”
6. Musical Youth: “Pass the Dutchie”
7. Pretenders: “Back On the Chain Gang”/”My City Was Gone”
8. Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force: “Planet Rock”
9. (Tie) ABC: “The Look Of Love”
Aretha Franklin: “Jump To It”
The Human League: “Don’t You Want Me”
1. Michael Jackson: “Billie Jean”
2. The Police: “Every Breath You Take”
3. The Pretenders: “Back on the Chain Gang”/”My City Was Gone”
4. (Tie) Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force: “Looking for the Perfect Beat”
Prince: “Little Red Corvette”
6. Eddy Grant: “Electric Avenue”
7. Michael Jackson: “Beat It”
8. Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel: “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)”
9. Run-D.M.C.: “It’s Like That”/”Sucker M.C.s”
10. Talking Heads: “Burning Down the House”
1. Prince: “When Doves Cry”/”17 Days”
2. Bruce Springsteen: “Dancing in the Dark”/”Pink Cadillac”
3. Tina Turner: “What’s Love Got to Do With It”
4. Hüsker Dü: “Eight Miles High”
5. Van Halen: “Jump”
6. Prince: “Let’s Go Crazy”/”Erotic City”
7. (Tie) Afrika Bambaataa & the Godfather of Soul James Brown: “Unity”
Run-D.M.C.: “Rock Box”
9. Chaka Khan: “I Feel for You”
10. (Tie) Cyndi Lauper: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
Cyndi Lauper: “Time After Time”
1. Artists United Against Apartheid: “Sun City”
2. Aretha Franklin: “Freeway of Love”
3. John Fogerty: “The Old Man Down the Road”/”Big Train (From Memphis)”
4. Hüsker Dü: “Makes No Sense at All”/”Love Is All Around”
5. Ramones: “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”
6. Don Henley: “The Boys of Summer”/”A Month of Sundays”
7. Eurythmics: “Would I Lie to You?”
8. Lisa-Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force: “I Wonder If I Take You Home”
9. Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew: “The Show”/”La-Di-Da-Di”
10. Kate Bush: “Running Up That Hill”
1. Run-D.M.C.: “Walk This Way”
2. Cameo: “Word Up”
3. Prince & the Revolution: “Kiss”/”Love or Money”
4. Peter Gabriel: “Sledgehammer”
5 (tie). Billy Bragg: “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”
R.E.M.: “Fall on Me”
Timbuk 3: “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”
8. Steve Winwood: “Higher Love”
9 (tie). Public Image Ltd.: “Rise”
Talking Heads: “Wild Wild Life”
1. Prince: “Sign ‘O’ the Times”
2. Suzanne Vega: “Luka”
3. Los Lobos: “La Bamba”
4. Prince: “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man”/”Hot Thing”
5. M/A/R/R/S: “Pump Up the Volume”
6 (tie). Grateful Dead: “Touch of Grey”
Bruce Springsteen: “Brilliant Disguise”/”Lucky Man”
R.E.M.: “The One I Love”
9. Prince: “U Got the Look”/”Housequake”
10 (tie). Bruce Springsteen: “Tunnel of Love”
X: “Fourth of July”/”Positively Fourth Street”
1. Tracy Chapman: “Fast Car”
2. Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock: “It Takes Two”
3. Guns N’ Roses: “Sweet Child o’ Mine”
4. Prince: “Alphabet St.”
5. Midnight Oil: “Beds Are Burning”/”The Dead Heart”
6 (tie). Public Enemy: “Don’t Believe the Hype”/”Prophets of Rage”
Traveling Wilburys: “Handle With Care”
8. Bobby Brown: “My Prerogative”
9 (tie). Eric B. & Rakim: “Follow the Leader”
D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince: “Parents Just Don’t Understand”
The Primitives: “Crash”
1. Public Enemy: “Fight the Power”
2. Neneh Cherry: “Buffalo Stance”
3. Soul II Soul: “Keep On Movin’ ”
4. Fine Young Cannibals: “She Drives Me Crazy”
5. Tone-Loc: “Wild Thing”
6. Young M.C.: “Bust a Move”
7. Madonna: “Like a Prayer”
8. The B-52s: “Love Shack”
9. Tom Petty: “Free Fallin’ ”
10. Rolling Stones: “Mixed Emotions”
1. Deee-Lite: “Groove Is in the Heart”/”What Is Love”
2. Sinéad O’Connor: “Nothing Compares 2 U”
3. Digital Underground: “The Humpty Dance”
4. Madonna: “Vogue”
5 (tie). Faith No More: “Epic”
Lisa Stansfield: “All Around the World”
7. Black Box: “Everybody Everybody”
8. Madonna: “Justify My Love”
9. Soho: “Hippychick”
10. Public Enemy: “Welcome to the Terrordome”
1. Nirvana: “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
2. R.E.M.: “Losing My Religion”
3. Naughty by Nature: “O.P.P.”
4. Geto Boys: “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”
5. Metallica: “Enter Sandman”
6 (tie). P.M. Dawn: “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss”
Crystal Waters: “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”
8 (tie). Public Enemy: “Can’t Truss It”
Seal: “Crazy”
10. EMF: “Unbelievable”
1. Arrested Development: “Tennessee”
2. House of Pain: “Jump Around”
3. Kris Kross: “Jump”
4. En Vogue: “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)”
5 (tie). Arrested Development: “People Everyday”
Cypress Hill: “How I Could Just Kill a Man”/”The Phuncky Feel One”
7. Sir Mix-a-Lot: “Baby Got Back”
8. U2: “One”
9. The KLF: “Justified and Ancient”
10. Sophie B. Hawkins: “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”
1. The Breeders: “Cannonball”
2 (tie). Digable Planets: “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”
Nirvana: “Heart-Shaped Box”
4. Dr. Dre: “Nuthin’ but ‘
G’ Thang”
5. Salt-N-Pepa: “Shoop”
6 (tie). Radiohead: “Creep”
Soul Asylum: “Runaway Train”
8. The Juliana Hatfield Three: “My Sister”
9. Urge Overkill: “Sister Havana”
10 (tie). Ice Cube: “It Was a Good Day”/”Check Yo Self”
Tony! Toni! Toné!: “If I Had No Loot”
1. Beck: “Loser”
2. Veruca Salt: “Seether”
3. Coolio: “Fantastic Voyage”
4. Warren G: “Regulate”
5. Beastie Boys: “Sabotage”
6. R.E.M.: “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”
7. Pavement: “Cut Your Hair”
8 (tie). Hole: “Doll Parts”
Liz Phair: “Supernova”
10. Offspring: “Come Out and Play”
1. Coolio: “Gangsta’s Paradise”
2. Edwyn Collins: “A Girl Like You”
Alanis Morissette: “You Oughta Know”
4. Elastica: “Connection”
5. TLC: “Waterfalls”
6. Joan Osborne: “One of Us”
7. PJ Harvey: “Down by the Water”
8. TLC: “Creep”
9 (tie). Dionne Farris: “I Know”
Shaggy: “Boombastic”
1. Quad City DJs: “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)”
2 (tie). Beck: “Where It’s At”
Smashing Pumpkins: “1979”
4 (tie). Oasis: “Wonderwall”
Pulp: “Common People”
6. Busta Rhymes: “Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check”
7. The Chemical Brothers: “Setting Sun”
8 (tie). Beck: “Devils Haircut”
Blackstreet: “No Diggity”
Primitive Radio Gods: “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand”
1. Hanson: “MMMBop”
2. Chumbawamba: “Tubthumping”
3. The Verve: “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
4. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott: “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”
5. Blur: “Song 2”
6. Cornershop: “Brimful of Asha”
7. The Chemical Brothers: “Block Rockin’ Beats”
8 (tie). Erykah Badu: “On and On”
Smash Mouth: “Walkin’ on the Sun”
10. The Notorious B.I.G. (featuring Puff Daddy and Mase): “Mo Money Mo Problems”
1. Fatboy Slim: “The Rockafeller Skank”
2. Lauryn Hill: “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
3. Beastie Boys: “Intergalactic”
4. Madonna: “Ray of Light”
5. Aaliyah: “Are You That Somebody?”
6. OutKast: “Rosa Parks”
7. Hole: “Celebrity Skin”
8. Fastball: “The Way”
9. Jay-Z: “Hard Knock Life”
10. Natalie Imbruglia: “Torn”
1999
1. TLC: “No Scrubs”
2. Eminem: “My Name Is”
3. Len: “Steal My Sunshine”
4. Madonna: “Beautiful Stranger”
5. Backstreet Boys: “I Want It That Way”
6. Cher: “Believe”
7. Smash Mouth: “All Star”
8 (tie). Ricky Martin: “Livin’ La Vida Loca”
The Roots: “You Got Me”
10. Santana featuring Rob Thomas: “Smooth”
2000
1. OutKast: “Ms. Jackson”
2. Eminem featuring Dido: “Stan”
3. OutKast: “B.O.B.”
4. U2: “Beautiful Day”
5. Madonna: “Music”
6. Nelly: “(Hot S**t) Country Grammar”
7. Eminem: “The Real Slim Shady”
8. Mystikal: “Shake Ya Ass”
9. Destiny’s Child: “Say My Name”
10 (tie). Aaliyah: “Try Again”
Macy Gray: “I Try”
2001
1. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott: “Get Ur Freak On”
2. Gorillaz: “Clint Eastwood”
3. Jay-Z: “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”
4. Alicia Keys: “Fallin’ ”
5 (tie). Coldplay: “Yellow”
Pink: “Get the Party Started”
7. Eve feat. Gwen Stefani: “Let Me Blow Ya Mind”
8. Mary J. Blige: “Family Affair”
9. Weezer: “Hash Pipe”
10 (tie). Ryan Adams: “New York, New York”
Daft Punk: “One More Time”
2002
1. Missy Elliott: “Work It”
2. Eminem: “Lose Yourself”
3. Nelly: “Hot in Herre”
4. The Hives: “Hate to Say I Told You So”
5. Eminem: “Without Me”
6. The White Stripes: “Fell in Love With a
Girl”
7. Kylie Minogue: “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”
8. Nirvana: “You Know You’re Right”
9. Rapture: “House of Jealous Lovers”
10. Tweet: “Oops (Oh My)”
2003
1. OutKast: “Hey Ya!”
2. Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z: “Crazy in Love”
3. The White Stripes: “Seven Nation Army”
4. Kelis: “Milkshake”
5. 50 Cent: “In Da Club”
6. Johnny Cash: “Hurt”
7. Fountains of Wayne: “Stacy’s Mom”
8. R. Kelly: “Ignition — Remix”
9. Junior Senior: “Move Your Feet”
10. Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z: “Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)”
2004
1. Franz Ferdinand: “Take Me Out”
2. Jay-Z: “99 Problems”
3. Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris: “Yeah!”
4. Modest Mouse: “Float On”
5. Britney Spears: “Toxic”
6. Kanye West: “Jesus Walks”
7. Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell: “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
8. M.I.A.: “Galang”
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Maps”
10. U2: “Vertigo”
2005
1. Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx: “Gold Digger”
2. Amerie: “1 Thing”
3. Kelly Clarkson: “Since U Been Gone”
4. Gorillaz/De La Soul: “Feel Good Inc.”
5 (tie).Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley: “Welcome to Jamrock”
Gwen Stefani: “Hollaback Girl”
7 (tie). Franz Ferdinand: “Do You Want To”
Madonna: “Hung Up”
9. The White Stripes: “My Doorbell”
10. Three 6 Mafia featuring Young Buck & Eightball & MJG: “Stay Fly”
2006
1. Gnarls Barkley: “Crazy”
2. T.I.: “What You Know”
3. Christina Aguilera: “Ain’t No Other Man”
4. Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.: “My Love”
5. The Raconteurs: “Steady, As She Goes”
6. Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland: “Promiscuous”
7. Justin Timberlake: “Sexyback”
8. Dixie Chicks: “Not Ready to Make Nice”
9 (tie). Lupe Fiasco: “Kick, Push”
Arctic Monkeys: “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”
2007
1. Amy Winehouse: “Rehab”
2. Rihanna featuring Jay-Z: “Umbrella”
3. LCD Soundsystem: “All My Friends”
4. Feist: “1234”
5. Justice: “D.A.N.C.E.”
6. M.I.A.: “Paper Planes”
7. Kanye West: “Stronger”
8. UGK featuring Outkast: “International Players Anthem”
9. Peter Bjorn & John: “Young Folks”
10. Battles: “Atlas”
2008
1. MIA: “Paper Planes”
2. Estelle featuring Kanye West: “American Boy”
3. Beyoncé: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”
4. MGMT: “Time to Pretend”
5. Lil Wayne: “A Milli”
6. Santogold: “LES Artistes”
7. Hercules & Love Affair: “Blind”
8. Coldplay: “Viva la Vida”
9. Kanye West: “Love Lockdown”
10. Fleet Foxes: “White Winter Hymnal”
2009
1. Jay-Z (featuring Alicia Keys): “Empire State of Mind”
2. Phoenix: “1901”
3. Animal Collective: “My Girls”
4. Grizzly Bear: “Two Weeks”
5. Dirty Projectors: “Stillness Is the Move”
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Zero”
7. Lady Gaga: “Bad Romance”
8. Girls: “Lust for Life”
9. Phoenix: “Lisztomania”
10. Taylor Swift: “You Belong With Me *”
2010
1. Cee Lo Green: “Fuck You!”
2. Janelle Monáe (featuring Big Boi): “Tightrope”
3. Robyn: “Dancing on My Own”
4. Kanye West (featuring Pusha T): “Runaway”
5. Kanye West (featuring Dwele): “Power”
6. Kanye West (featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver): “Monster”
7. Big Boi (featuring Cutty): “Shutterbugg”
8. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti: “Round and Round”
9. The National: “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
10. Sleigh Bells: “Rill Rill”
2011
1. Adele: “Rolling in the Deep”
2. Beyoncé: “Countdown”
3. Nicki Minaj: “Super Bass”
4. M83: “Midnight City”
5. Jay-Z and Kanye West: “Niggas in Paris”
6. Azealia Banks: “212”
7 (tie). Britney Spears: “Till the World Ends”
Lana Del Rey: “Video Games”
9. Adele: “Someone Like You”
10 (tie). Tyler, the Creator: “Yonkers”
Foster the People: “Pumped Up Kicks”
2012
1. Carly Rae Jepsen: “Call Me Maybe”
2. Miguel: “Adorn”
3. Usher: “Climax”
4. Frank Ocean: “Thinkin’ ’Bout You”
5. Japandroids: “The House That Heaven Built”
6. Taylor Swift: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
7. Solange: “Losing You”
8. Gotye (featuring Kimbra.): “Somebody That I Used to Know”
9. Kanye West (featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz): “Mercy”
10. Frank Ocean: “Pyramids”
2013
1. Daft Punk (featuring Pharrell Williams): “Get Lucky”
2. Lorde: “Royals”
3. Haim: “The Wire”
4 (tie). Kanye West: “New Slaves”
Robin Thicke (featuring T.I. and Pharrell): “Blurred Lines”
6. Drake (featuring Majid Jordan): “Hold On — We’re Going Home”
7. Kanye West: “Black Skinhead”
8. Icona Pop (featuring Charli XCX): “I Love It”
9. Miley Cyrus: “We Can’t Stop”
10. Kanye West: “Bound 2”
2014
1. Future Islands: “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
2. FKA Twigs: “Two Weeks”
3. Taylor Swift: “Blank Space”
4 (tie). Taylor Swift: “Shake It Off”
Kendrick Lamar: “I”
6. ILoveMakonnen (featuring Drake): “Tuesday”
7. Sia: “Chandelier”
8. Charli XCX: “Boom Clap”
9 (tie). Beyoncé (featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie): “****Flawless”
DJ Snake (featuring Lil Jon): “Turn Down for What”
2015
1. Drake: “Hotline Bling”
2. Kendrick Lamar: “King Kunta”
3. The Weeknd: “Can’t Feel My Face”
4. Kendrick Lamar: “Alright”
5. Courtney Barnett: “Pedestrian at Best”
6. Missy Elliott (featuring Pharrell Williams): “WTF (Where They From)”
7. Fetty Wap: “Trap Queen”
8. Mark Ronson (featuring Bruno Mars): “Uptown Funk”
9. Adele: “Hello”
10. Jamie xx (featuring Young Thug & Popcaan): “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)”
2016
1. Beyoncé: “Formation”
2. Kanye West: “Ultralight Beam”
3. Solange: “Cranes in the Sky”
4. Rae Sremmurd (featuring Gucci Mane): “Black Beatles”
5 (tie). A Tribe Called Quest: “We the People”
Mitski: “Your Best American Girl”
7. Leonard Cohen: “You Want It Darker”
8. David Bowie: “Lazarus”
9 (tie). David Bowie: “Blackstar”
Rihanna (featuring Drake): “Work”
2017
1. Cardi B: “Bodak Yellow”
2. Kendrick Lamar: “HUMBLE”
3. Carly Rae Jepsen: “Cut to the Feeling”
4. Lorde: “Green Light”
5. Kendrick Lamar: “DNA”
6. Lil Uzi Vert: “XO TOUR Llif3”
7. St. Vincent: “New York”
8. Charli XCX: “Boys”
9 (tie). Future: “Mask Off”
Selena Gomez: “Bad Liar”
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