Best of the Rest of the Top 40: The 1950s

The time has come to begin the second round of finals in our grand musical retrospective. Since the Hot 100 era didn’t begin until the second half of the '50s, we have only four songs for you to choose from in this best-of-the-decade poll. These are your picks as the best of their respective years.

What’s your favorite?

Previous polls: 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Best #1 single polls: 1955-56 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-time

Proud to say that mine’s the first vote for “That’ll Be the Day”. “Hound Dog” is terrific, but the Big Mama Thornton version is the definitive version, at least to my ear.

Four terrific songs. Buddy Holly wins by a whisker.

Great Balls in a walk. The howling, screaming, piano-pounding Lewis was something never before seen in a white musician. The guy personified rock and roll.

“Great Balls of Fire” is the only one of these songs that got my vote the first time around, and it gets my vote again. “Teenager in Love” is dead-ass last.

I voted for Jerry but now that I have seen the results I almost wish I voted or teenager in love.

With the exception of 1956 where I voted for a Bill Haley and His Comets song, I abstained from the 50’s charts. I know very little songs from that decade due to my age, though I’m good starting with the Sixties on out.

The only one I know and like is “Teenager in Love”. So I proudly voted for that. The other artists are legends and I know them, but I feel those songs sucked and they had better songs, especially Elvis. Don’t care for Lewis or Holly.
Glad I missed this decade.

That’ll Be the Day.

I don’t care much for the other songs, legendary as they are.

Gotta go with That’ll Be The Day on this one. It’s the only one of these that still brings a tear to my eye (I’m not at all familiar with the last one on the list).

Four very fine songs to choose between. I’m going with Dion and the Belmonts, but really could have picked any of them.