Best Top 40 Single Of All Time: #1s vs. the Rest

Cafe Society
1

So last year we ran the best #1 singles poll, where we surveyed every year, then the best of the decade, and then put them up against each other to pick the SDMB’s official Greatest #1 Single of all time - “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones.

And this year, we used the year-end Hot 100 charts to look at the songs that didn’t quite make it to #1, in the same way, and after enduring a tiebreaker, picked Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the winner of that series.

Both songs are by British bands of the classic rock era, but one could say they’re almost on opposite ends of the rock spectrum - visceral vs. cerebral, raw vs. orchestrated. The time has come to conclude this musical retrospective and find out once and for all which one is objectively better.

It’ll be at least a little bit before I start a new poll series after this one, though I’ve got a few ideas in mind. So until next time, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

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 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-Time (Tiebreaker)

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

2

There are three songs that I can accept being named the “best rock song ever.” Satisfaction, Layla, and Brown Sugar.

3

Queen gets my vote. I preferred Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” over “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but I do love me some Queen. Never much cared for “Satisfaction.”

4

Satisfaction. Not even close.

Though I’d have voted for either “Layla” or “Born to Run” over either of them.

5

I have voted for “Bohemian Rhapsody” three times, time for a change. I fairly like “Satisfaction” and so I voted for the Rolling Stones. Never voted for that song or the band, and I do prefer Queen as a band to the Rolling Stones.

Queen were better at stepping out of their artistic comfort zone and experimenting.

But I decided for a change and Rolling Stones here is your vote!

“Satisfaction” as “Greatest Hit of All Time”.

6

I don’t think either song would be in my top 100 of “favorite” r&r songs, but my vote goes for Satisfaction.

7

Satisfaction for the pure raw energy and the driving riff that apparently came to Keith in a dream.

It also has a message of anti-commercialism that appeals to me, whereas Bohemian Rhapsody is just all over the place. It appears to be about a man who committed a murder and will soon be on death row, but nothing really matters.

8

I have to go with “Satisfaction” here. I voted for Queen in the last poll (sorry, I’ve just never gotten into Dylan–one of my musical black spots), but “Satisfaction” is just such a cool number, and I’m not even much of a Stones fan.

9

I’ve got to go with one of Kesha’s favorite bands, the Rolling Stones. I didn’t vote for “Satisfaction” in any of the previous polls, but it’s an easy choice for me here.

10

Sorry guys. Satisfaction does have a catchy riff, but that’s, what… ten seconds of goodness? (And if we’re voting on catchy riff, Smoke on the Water all day long.)

Bohemian Rhapsody, though… every time you think it’s peaked, they throw some entirely new kind of awesome at you. It’s like five songs in one, and they’re all better than anything the Stones put out.

11

I hated the fact that Satisfaction was called the best single of all time, so this is an easy vote for me. Queen.

12

Bohemian Rhapsody over one of the most overrated songs by the most overrated band in history.

If Dylan had made it to the final showdown, I wouldn’t have bothered to vote, for the same reason as mentioned above.

13

Queen is the better band in my view.

14

When I’m in the mood for a puerile opera parody, I go with Elmer Fudd’s “Kill da Wabbit.”

So, I picked the signature song by a great rock band: Satisfaction.

15

And the winner is Queen!

16

No, no, no.

This is how you announce that the winner is Queen.