(as voted by site visitors 10/04/05 through 12/11/05)
It's the eighth annual Musicradio77.com Top 77 All-Time Favorite list as
voted by you!
For a "countdown" version of the results, click here
The response to this yearly event really has become rather incredible, and of course I
have to first and foremost thank fellow "Survey Guy" Tom Natoli for his help in
putting this together. Tom jumped on board in earnest last year, and now handles the bulk
of the actual compilations involved in the survey. With the technical help of Chad Olszyk
and especially Craig Harris on our Excel program, we've managed to come up with what we
feel is the most accurate list to date.
I also have to send out "thank you's" to Ron Kovacs, Allan Sniffen and Bob
Shannon for making this countdown come alive on Ron's RadioMaxMusic.com site. With so many
programmers restricting the choices listeners have, it's a pleasure to have someone like
Ron available to offer those who enjoy this countdown and shows like it an opportunity to
listen. It is nearly impossible to find people like Tom, Ron, Allan and Bob willing to
make the time and effort to put this project together.
As far as the survey itself goes, we got votes for almost 1,900 songs from nearly 800
voters. This year, just under 18% of voters were ladies, which is up from 13.7% last year.
So it's good to see the ladies participating more this year.
Once again, we got lots of votes from lots of places this year, with votes coming from
40 states and the District of Columbia. We heard from every state but Alaska, Hawaii,
Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. So
am I trying to shame these residents into voting next year? Why, of course! Thanks to our
foreign country voters, as this year we heard from Australia, Bahrain, Bermuda, Brazil,
Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the
Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Puerto Rico and Sweden. That's 16 countries outside of
the U.S.A. that signed onto the cause this year. That's amazing!
Our voters gave us some great comments as they voiced their choices this year. Matt
Vandermast from New Jersey actually gave us the positions last year for the songs he voted
for. New York's Dave Freeman gave us all the years of his favorites and site friend
William Brown from NYC gave us the label numbers for the songs he voted for! How's that
for being meticulous? And Massachusetts' Jim Fraas sent me his prediction of the entire
Top 77! Now THAT'S getting into it, Jim. Love to hear from you.
New York's Mark Barrett quoted some WABC one-liners and then voted for D.J. Herb Oscar
Anderson's "Hello Again". Dan Ingram's "free clinic" one-liner
inspired Big Ed Edwards from Florida to vote for "Burning Love". Pennsauken, New
Jersey's John Reilly gave us the "77 WABC...Daaaan Ingraaaaam!" jingle after his
vote. Vince Dementri from Washington Township, New Jersey voted for "Let's Hang
On" by the "Four Squeezings"! Eastport, New York's Kim Brandner also
included her favorite Dan Ingram lines for each of the songs she voted for.
Malcolm Spence from Dublin, Ohio recognized "American Pie" as "a pop
music history lesson and a dj's favorite friend". Minnesota's Dick Mackley voted for
the Stones AND "Bob Zimmerman" (as he put it) with "Everybody Must Get
Stoned" ("Rainy Day Women"). New Jersey's Paul Herman gave us all the
details on his favorites and even told us his all-time favorite survey WEEK! Walla Walla,
Washington and Nancy LaClair voted for Diana's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
(ain't there no mountains in Walla Walla?). And Terri Mazza from Sanford, Florida voted
for "Born Too Late" and commented that it was "The Story of My Life".
Ah, Terri, how many of us feel THAT way, too?
Site friend and historian Fred Clemens gave us some very interesting historical facts
about each song he voted for. Huey Mills from New York voted for FIVE songs by the FOUR
Seasons as did Mario Matamoros from Flushing, New York. Amsterdam's Martin Marcus voted
for Rock and Roll founders Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and Elvis. Nice
choices!
Ah...and Steve Green from Allantown, Pennsylvania sent us his usual erudite (look it
up) comments. Hmmm, which shall I use this year? How about the comment for his NUMBER ONE
choice, "Young at Heart" by Jimmy Durante! (Huh?). Steve sez..."Clutch a
hat on your head and half-laugh at/half salute that accent..."Ferry Tells Can Come
Troooo". Yes, and goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!
Towcester, England's David Oliver loved the idea of voting for five songs instead of
three, and then voted for a favorite of his that he heard right here at the site.
Pittsburgh's Douglas Schwabe goes a step further, requesting that we let people vote for
TEN songs next year. YIKES! Take it easy, Doug!
And we have questions, too. Like how come New York's John Toomey didn't vote for Mitch
Ryder's "Sock It to Me, Baby!" (or is it "Sock It Toomey, Baby!"). And
Springfield, Illinois' Will Burpee, how come you didn't vote for the Seeds? How come Dr.
Johnny P. Love Train from Tampa, Florida did not vote for the obvious "Love
Train"? I think that Massachusett's Alan Bull should have voted for "The Lonely
Bull" or at least "Wooly Bully". Luiz Mendez from Kissammee should have
voted for "Kiss Me", no? Or at least "Kiss Me Sailor". And Maine's
Thomas Lovejoy should have titled his favorite "The Way of Lovejoy", right? Not
just "The Way of Love".
Oh, and the names of our voters never cease to amaze! Like "More Music Melvin'
from New Jersey, or Louis A. Roman from Florida (and Me? An American). Or a tasty name
from Cape Coral's Tony Pizza, Can anyone pronounce North Carolina's Philip Van Lidth de
Jeude's name? To LA's Dave Mucha...mucho thanks for voting! "Muggy Z" from
Connecticut just LOVES the Chipmunks. Don Larsen from New Jersey pitched a near perfect
top five as two of his favorites made the cut. Dave Crockett from Massachusetts likes
Elvis, but Davy, I thought you were from Tennessee!
Hi to new voters Matthew Lanke and Tarica Lesley out of Columbus, Mississippi. Richard
from Wisconsin celebrates his vote for "MacArthur Park", which is in its 37th
year as his favorite! Luiz Amorim from San Paolo, Brazil added international flavor with
votes for artists around the world.
Regulars checking in included Michael Judge from Brooklyn, who couldn't believe it was
time to vote again, and then quoted Casey Kasem to "keep reaching for the
stars". Jersey's Ralph Hahn is still pulling for Harry Chapin. And we also heard from
New York's Chip Ordway and Mary Shaw, Jersey's biggest Yankees fan - Tony Nardini along
with Spencer Morasch and Tom Smith, Mississippi's Wayne Scott Sandifer, Pennsylvania's
Dave Scott, Scottsdale's Gary Pfeifer, and dozens of others who take time to vote every
year.
Tennessee's favorite New Yorker and music lover "Pink Lady Patty" loves
"My Special Angel". Linda Cohen from Pleasantville, New York helped put
"Palisades Park" into the Top 77. Tennessee's Mike Gallant loved the idea of
voting for five songs and added some new entries while sticking with Ms. Ross'
"...Mountain..." as #1. New Jersey-ite Allan Ross loves the Cookies and fellow
New Jersey regular John Porcaro, the #1 WMCA fan around, took time to vote for the Stones
as his favorite (hey John, no "Sneaky Sue"???). Rewound contributor
extraordinaire Peter Kanze from North White Plains voted for "Gloria" by the
Shadows of Knight as his favorite.
Oh, and to friend and music/radio savant Rich Appel from New Jersey who complained
about not knowing where his songs ended up...Rich...just for you..."Fooled Around and
Fell in Love" came in at #434, "Refugee" was #493, "A Lover's
Question" checked in at #1016, "Angel of the Morning" finished #1275, and
"One Thing" was #1719. NOW will you promise to vote again next year?
Hi to Randy Price from good ol' New York, New York who voted for the Animals as #1. And
Phil DeGasperis from New York ("U-S-A!" as he puts it), do you really mean the
Five Satans or the Five Satins? There's a HUGE difference!
"Da Bronx's" Jeff S. feels for sure that "Hey Jude" will be #1, so
he asks if next year, we can exclude that Beatles' song to see what #1 would be.
(Errr...Jeff, then #2 would be our #1 song...). James Abernathy from Knoxville voted for
both the Stevie Wonder AND Peter Frampton versions of "Signed, Sealed,
Delivered". And...but OF COURSE...Liverpool's Greg Deyoe voted for the Beatles
("Hey Jude") as his #1.
We heard from some of our favorite radio friends, too. Like Don Tandler, Bill Danning,
Mike Fitzgerald, Big Jay Sorensen, Pat St. John, Johnny Dark, Mike McCann, Jim Douglas,
Dennis Elsas, Jim Kerr, Tim Downs, reporter David Hinckley and of course, Bob Shannon and
Ron Kovacs.
And what about the rather strange combinations that were voted for? Charles Cumella's
favorites include both the Pet Shop Boys and the Singing Nun! Sara Storck voted for both
Def Leppard and Frank Sinatra songs. Alabama's Mattie voted for Luther Vandross as #1.
Ironically, it came right after a vote from Mississippi's Ginger Sparks for "Only the
Good Die Young". In this case, Billy was right about Luther. Justin Griffin of
Knoxville voted for songs by the Steve Miller Band, Johnny Cash and Beethoven!
Pennsylvania's Hilary voted for the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand and Willhelminia
Wiggins Fernandez, plus "Por Una Cabeza" by William Schimmel.
And let's not forget the oddball titles that got voted for, like South Carolina
resident Clarence Jones Sr.'s choice "Don't Wait Up on the Shrimp Boat 'Cause I'm
Coming Home with Crabs" and everyone's favorite "Meet Me with Your Black Drawers
On". "God Was in the Water" is Lynda Vinsun's fave from New York, New York.
"Chew's Next" voted for five bubblegum songs and then commented that
"that just about 'wraps it up'" (rim shot). Umm, Chew, please, give us your name
next time or your votes won't count. Robert Caruso from New Jersey was very negative this
year, voting for "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Ain't No Way",
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", and
"It Ain't Me Babe". Wow, now ain't that peculiar!
Some wonderful, forgotten hits were voted for, too, like R. Conrad's vote for "The
Magnificant Seven" out of Phoenix. And New Jersey's Bill Hollis remembered
"Gimme Dat Ding" by the Pipkins. I love the #1 vote for "Pepino, the
Italian Mouse" from Brazil's Sandra Helena. Knoxville, Tennessee's Abby Watson said
of her #1 choice, "Bang! Bang!" by Joe Cuba, "What a fun dance hall
song!"
So, thanks to all of you for voting. Now let's get to the results, already! Once again,
here's a reminder of how this list was compiled. Voters were asked to choose their five
all-time favorite songs from any era, not just the years that WABC was a music station.
Songs received five points if they were voted as a number one favorite, four points as a
number two favorite, or three points as a number three favorite, two points as a number
four favorite and one point as a number five favorite. Points were tallied and those songs
with the most votes were ranked highest. The number of people who voted for each song was
also factored in with a variably weighted system for the final ranking. Ties were broken
based on the number of voters for each song, then by the number of #1, #2 and #3 votes,
etc. for the song, and finally, if still tied, by the higher ranking song on the WABC and
national surveys.
SO let's get down to it, this year's all-time faves!
THE WABC
MUSICRADIO77 WEB SITE ALL TIME TOP 77
2005 edition
98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 Title Artist
11 19 -- 50 -- -- -- 77 *It's Too Late Carole King 1971
-- -- -- 36 -- 68 54 76 *Honky Tonk Women Rolling Stones 1969
-- 31 -- -- -- -- -- 75 *Rock the Boat Hues Corporation 1974
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 74 Earth Angel Penguins 1955
-- -- 63 -- -- -- -- 73 Hello It's Me Todd Rundgren 1973
-- -- -- -- 18 51 43 72 Day After Day Badfinger 1972
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 71 We Belong Together Mariah Carey 2005
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 70 Those Were The Days Mary Hopkin 1968
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 69 Nowhere Man Beatles 1966
-- -- -- -- -- 67 -- 68 *Get Back Beatles (with Billy Preston) 1969
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 67 All The Young Dudes Mott the Hoople 1972
-- -- -- -- -- -- 72 66 You Were on My Mind We Five 1965
-- -- -- -- -- 46 64 65 *Crimson and Clover
Tommy James & the Shondells 1969
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 64 Walk Away Renee Left Banke 1966
-- -- -- 31 24 31 -- 63 *Maggie May Rod Stewart 1971
52 -- -- -- -- -- 22 62 *Sherry Four Seasons 1962
-- -- -- -- -- 43 44 61 *Runaround Sue Dion 1961
-- -- -- -- -- -- 71 60 Baker Street Gerry Rafferty 1978
-- -- -- 43 -- -- -- 59 *California Dreamin' Mamas & the Papas 1966
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 58 Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell 1967
-- -- -- 75 -- 49 47 57 *House of the Rising Sun Animals 1964
-- -- -- 71 -- 70 -- 56 Midnight Confessions Grass Roots 1968
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 55 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me Mel Carter 1965
-- 23 26 52 12 37 24 54 *Incense and Peppermints
Strawberry Alarm Clock 1967
-- -- -- -- 72 -- -- 53 *Daydream Believer Monkees 1967
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 52 Long Cool Woman Hollies 1972
-- -- -- 24 26 21 34 51 My Sweet Lord George Harrison 1970
-- -- -- -- -- 44 -- 50 You Belong to Me Duprees 1962
-- 63 -- -- 35 -- 58 49 My Way Frank Sinatra 1969
-- -- 40 17 -- 71 41 48 God Only Knows Beach Boys 1966
20 -- 60 -- -- -- -- 47 *Runaway Del Shannon 1961
-- 4 18 -- 21 58 20 46 Beyond the Sea Bobby Darin 1960
55 -- -- -- -- -- -- 45 Time Won't Let Me Outsiders 1966
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 44 Palisades Park Freddy Cannon 1962
-- 62 -- -- -- -- -- 43 *Alone Again (Naturally)
Gilbert O'Sullivan 1972
-- 40 39 -- -- 77 -- 42 *A Hard Day's Night Beatles 1964
-- 34 -- 28 -- 34 35 41 Born to Run Bruce Springsteen 1975
27 25 24 34 71 28 37 40 *Nights in White Satin Moody Blues 1972
-- 30 -- -- -- 19 28 39 Strawberry Fields Forever Beatles 1967
53 -- -- 26 76 73 -- 38 *Twist Chubby Checker 1960/1962
21 72 -- 62 54 -- -- 37 Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) Looking Glass 1972
40 -- 30 -- -- 59 31 36 *Cherish Association 1966
-- 56 61 -- -- 69 -- 35 Hotel California Eagles 1977
60 -- -- -- -- 53 -- 34 Dawn (Go Away) Four Seasons 1964
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 33 *Band Of Gold Freda Payne 1970
24 -- 44 53 62 36 51 32 Layla Derek & the Dominos 1971/1972
36 -- 37 40 20 27 40 31 Taxi Harry Chapin 1972
-- -- -- -- 60 20 75 30 Something Beatles 1969
48 -- -- 33 43 26 38 29 In My Life (from "Rubber Soul") Beatles 1966
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 28 *What's Going On Marvin Gaye 1971
-- -- 69 -- 48 35 70 27 *Crystal Blue Persuasion
Tommy James & the Shondells 1969
49 2 15 -- -- 39 25 26 Mack the Knife Bobby Darin 1959
-- -- 46 -- -- 52 16 25 *Oh, Pretty Woman Roy Orbison 1964
-- 60 -- 22 30 40 26 24 *You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
Righteous Brothers 1965
-- 14 35 13 37 54 11 23 Because Dave Clark Five 1964
31 -- -- -- -- -- 49 22 Suspicious Minds Elvis Presley 1969
35 28 19 51 -- -- 66 21 Since I Don't Have You Skyliners 1959
3 12 62 72 -- 25 29 20 My Girl Temptations 1965
19 52 59 64 47 17 14 19 *Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel 1970
-- 20 27 21 17 16 15 18 Unchained Melody Righteous Brothers 1965/1990
-- 32 21 59 16 23 19 17 Like a Rolling Stone Bob Dylan 1965
23 7 13 18 23 14 13 16 Good Vibrations Beach Boys 1966
56 36 53 19 14 4 17 15 *Let It Be Beatles 1970
8 8 10 12 13 11 12 14 Stairway to Heaven ("Led Zeppelin IV")
Led Zeppelin 1972
-- 65 36 -- 69 -- -- 13 Can't Help Falling in Love Elvis Presley 1962
4 9 14 20 19 13 23 12 *She Loves You Beatles 1964
-- 58 34 56 22 33 10 11 *Rag Doll Four Seasons 1964
25 61 12 9 10 12 18 10 Imagine John Lennon 1971
15 5 3 10 5 10 9 9 *American Pie Don McLean 1972
14 17 4 5 3 3 8 8 MacArthur Park Richard Harris 1968
16 18 11 6 8 7 5 7 *A Horse with No Name America 1972
10 10 7 14 15 5 6 6 *I Want to Hold Your Hand Beatles 1964
17 11 2 2 6 8 7 5 In the Still of the Nite Five Satins 1956
2 3 9 15 11 9 4 4 *Light My Fire Doors 1967
5 16 8 4 2 6 3 3 *(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Rolling Stones 1965
6 6 5 3 7 2 2 2 *Ain't No Mountain High Enough Diana Ross 1970
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 *Hey Jude Beatles 1968
(EIGHTH straight year at #1)
Asterisks (*) indicate a former #1 song on the WABC weekly survey.
Analysis by Mike Riccio
www.musicradio77.com |
There you have it!
The official WABC Musicradio77 Web Site Top Hit List -
2005 Edition - As voted by you!
The columns above to the left of the Top 77 numbers indicate past
year's' position so that you can
see the entire history of each song on our Top 77.
What a tremendous response to our Top 77 this year. as we had the most participation to
date. Once again, the sixties decade led the way as you voted for 47 songs from that
decade into the Top 77. Next up came the 70's with 25 songs making the Top 77, then the
50's with four representatives. It's interesting to note that although more songs from the
80's through the 00's got votes, the only ones to make the Top 77 were "Unchained
Melody", which of course was a re-release of a 1965 hit, and a current hit - in fact
the #1 national hit of 2005, "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. 34 songs on
the Top 77 were former #1 hits on WABC.
As to the actual songs on the list, the continued popularity of "Hey Jude" is
absolutely amazing. In getting to the top of our survey for the eighth straight year, it
had no real challengers this time. Diana Ross and "Ain't No Mountain..." posed a
minor threat to the Fab Four towards the end of the voting period, but in effect "
Hey Jude" led from the starting gate right to the end. In fact, it ended up with at
least three times more voting points than any song outside of the top seven. The guys
continue to keep "Hey Jude" on top, with approximately 86% of its votes coming
from men as opposed to nearly one-third of the votes for runner-up Diana Ross coming from
the women. The Beatles wound up with 10 songs in the Top 77 as a group and two making the
list as solo efforts. Of all songs voted for, 65 or nearly one of every 28 songs were
Beatles songs. Last year, only 41 Beatles songs got votes. So it's evident that the Fab
Four remain fab with our voters, even some 41 years after they first hit U.S. soil.
Ms. Ross at #2 is interesting in that ours is one of the few lists in which her song
excels year after year. She comes in at #2 for the third straight year and has never
finished lower than #7, even though "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" received
next to no votes at the beginning of this year's tally. Another song that's similar in
that it consistently finishes higher on our survey than most others is America's "A
Horse with No Name". It's never come in lower than #18, and this year finished in the
top 10 for the fifth time.
It was interesting to see the consistency on the top of the list this year as compared
to last year. The entire top four remained unchanged, there were NO new entries in the top
nine, and only three new songs entered the top 20. The biggest drop off the list is
"Glad All Over" by the Dave Clark Five. It was #21 last year, yet this year
dropped down to #222. Elvis at #13 is the highest new entry to the list, and Marvin Gaye's
"What's Going On" (#28)comes in as the highest Top 77 entry never to make the
survey before.
It was interesting to see "My Girl" come back so strong at #20, yet it's
still surprising that overall only four Motown hits are represented on the Top 77,
especially considering how many songs were voted for by the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and
the Temptations. What that actually indicates is that site voters love Motown, but have a
wide choice of favorites from the huge catalogue of Motor City hits. Otherwise, the Four
Seasons, the Beach Boys and Elton John had especially strong showings this year overall.
Mariah Carey's current re-birth on the charts carried over to our list, as "We
Belong Together" comes in as the most recent song on the Top 77. It finished three
position higher (#71) than the oldest song on our Top 77, "Earth Angel" (#74).
There were 30 new entries to the list this year, and we must continue to congratulate the
elite 16 songs that have made the Top 77 in each of our eight years.
This year's "Missed It By THAT Much" award goes to "Be My Baby" by
the Ronettes (GREAT song at #78). And the "Missed It by TOO Much" award? I guess
that would have to go to 1958's "You" by Eddie Holland, finishing at the very
bottom of our list, at #1856.
Now, let's move on to some interesting specific breakdowns based on ALL votes, not just
the Top 77 portion of the survey.
WABC Musicradio 77