# The Girl from Ipanema, is the second most popular song in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978 "2016-08-06T20:48:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/21 "2016-08-07T15:44:52Z")
So how high does “Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland” rank? (The B-52s, if you’re curious.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/22 "2016-08-07T16:05:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > . I recognize the tune, but i had no idea it had lyrics. I knew it had lyrics but aside from the words in the title I have no idea what they are even though I’ve heard them many times. Now for me that’s typical of songs, but in this case people have heard that sequence of notes from the song time and again without lyrics on elevators, in lobbies, in movie and TV shows. I don’t know how many people even know the name of the song or its lyrics, and until I went to Ipanema where it came up frequently I don’t think I had the tune and the name of the song associated yet. I didn’t know until that point that Ee-puh-nee-muh was an actual place, or how it was spelled, or even upon first learning of the beach that it was the place from the song. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/23 "2016-08-07T16:18:46Z")
I hate that song. The only time I can stand to listen to it is in the elevator of the Cook County Court House. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/24 "2016-08-08T12:31:34Z")
A beautiful song made all the better by Stan Getz. They even renamed their airport in honor of the song’s author. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > I hate that song. The only time I can stand to listen to it is in the elevator of the Cook County Court House. Didn’t know they played it there too. The elevator by the assessor’s office, yes. That one I have heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/25 "2016-08-08T12:53:54Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > I find it hard to believe that “Girl From Ipanema” is more “popular” than songs such as “Amazing Grace”, “Londonderry Air”, “Auld Lang Syne” or “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. Amazing Grace is very popular… in English-speaking countries. Londonderry Air, youtube… oh, ok, I know it as Danny Boy. Again, popular in English-speaking countries. Auld Lang Syne, I’ve told before the story of how when my team got to Scotland everybody expected us to know the work of Robert Burns and specifically Auld Lang Syne. Youtube came to the rescue, helping us to identify Burns as a foremost Scottish poet of the Romantic period (sorry folks, but Walter Scott is much more popular in Spain, what with having written a lot or prose which happens to be easier to translate) and Auld Lang Syne as “a song they are always playing in American movies in banquets”. Wikipedia told us it’s specifically played in New Year’s Eve banquets; we’d never made the association. Old MacDonald, youtube… ah, ok, _en la granja de mi abuelo_, aka _en la granja de Pepito_, aka _en la granja de mi tío_. It’s the only one of the four for which I know a Spanish version. I’m guessing the other farmers are regional variations. _La chica de Ipanema_ on the other hand, I’ve heard it in half a dozen languages. I’m not sure it beats the most popular Christmas Carols (say, Silent Night), but the thing is, those are limited… does anybody know if the girl from Ipanema has a version in Urdu? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/26 "2016-08-08T13:56:59Z")
As **Blake** mentioned in post #4, you really need to specify the criterion for “popular” to get a defensible answer – in this case, the most recorded, according to **jtur88’s** link in post #18. If the criterion were [sold the most singles](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles_worldwide), Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the runaway leader with Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind 1997”/“Something About the Way You Look Tonight” coming in a rather distant second. Interestingly, the linked list has a fair number of Christmas songs but does not include “Ipanema.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/27 "2016-08-08T13:59:35Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies last night on Canadian television, I swear the announcer said (during the playing of “The Girl from Ipanema”) that it was the second most popular song ever. > > Did I hear that correctly? > > What’s first: “Yesterday?” It was just somebody saying something that people in the host country would like to hear. No more big deal than that. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/28 "2016-08-08T14:02:28Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > I think you’re vastly overestimating how popular these last four songs are outside of the English-speaking world. I only know the melodies of the last two. Just the melodies, mind you, not the lyrics. “Amazing Grace” and “Londonderry Air” are titles that I recognize but I have absolutely no idea of what they sound like…) “Londonderry Air,” more properly “London Derrière,” is probably better known as “Danny Boy,” if that helps. Agreed that it’s most likely not well known outside the English speaking world. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/29 "2016-08-08T14:57:41Z")
My favorite rendition is [Amy Farrah Fowler’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYr_nx6y9uE). ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/30 "2016-08-08T15:07:41Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > It was just somebody saying something that people in the host country would like to hear. No more big deal than that. That’s how I took it. Just a social convention where a guest says something obliging to the host. Kinda like saying ‘oh your baby is just the cutest baby in the world’ and not intended to be taken literally. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/31 "2016-08-08T15:29:24Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > It was just somebody saying something that people in the host country would like to hear. No more big deal than that. > [@Cardigan](#): > > That’s how I took it. Just a social convention where a guest says something obliging to the host. Kinda like saying ‘oh your baby is just the cutest baby in the world’ and not intended to be taken literally. Yet in this case it’s not just some manufactured compliment, and it can be taken literally. [Here’s the source](http://performingsongwriter.com/girl-from-ipanema/) at “Performing Songwriter.” Scroll down to the tenth paragraph, below the video with Stan and Astrud. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978/32 "2016-08-08T18:41:24Z")
Is there a list of top ten most recorded popular songs? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-girl-from-ipanema-is-the-second-most-popular-song-in-the-world/761978.md?page=1)