“A great song doesn’t attempt to be anything — it just is.” – Jay-Z
It tooks a while since we first started discussing a special project to select The Greatest Song of All Time. Sure, there were lists before, many of them, some more notable than others, but no list, no project has ever attempted to clearly determine what song is the greatest. And it should be easy, as the greatest song is just is.
So we assembled a team of music experts – artists, audiopheles, music journalists, bloggers – and asked them to compile a list of songs worthy of the title. Then we analyzed millions of posts on social media to deteremine what song really had an impact on our culture, which song has a timeless appeal, which song can truly become “the one”.
“You are the one, Neo!” - Morpheus
And so we started with a list of 10,000 songs, and narrowed it down to a 100. Then 50. Then 20. Then it was time to select the one, and by the time we got to analyzing the results the answer was clear. And what an answer it was.
So without further adieu, we give you THE GREATEST SONG OF ALL TIME:
Yes! “Never Gonna Give You Up“, a 1987 song by British singer Rick Astley, written and produced by legendary writers-producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman, is the greatest song of all time (and you know it!).
“We’re no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment’s what I’m thinking of
You wouldn’t get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling
Gotta make you understand…”
The song was released as the first single from Astley’s multi-million selling debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody. The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer’s native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at #1 for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year. It eventually topped the charts in 25 countries, including the US and West Germany. The song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards.
In 2004, NGGYU was voted #28 in 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs … Ever by VH1. In 2008, Rick Astley won the MTV EMA awards for “Best Act Ever” with the song, as a result of collective voting from thousands of people on the internet.
“Never Gonna Give You Up is a song that forever changed humanity. It will live as long as humanity lives.” – No One, Ever.
