The Colonel Bogey March?
“Feels So Good” (Chuck Mangione) hasn’t been mentioned and doesn’t appear in the OP’s link.
Yes, that is absolutely correct. I don’t see the problem. (Besides, at any rate, almost all the songs mentioned in this thread are “pure” instrumentals by your definition.)
Just to throw in another definition of “pop” Maurice Ravel wrote Bolero in 1928, and the first recording of it was released in 1930. No lyrics.
The most famous instrumental no one can name? Might be Powerhouse.
Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep within the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of the distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand …
Echos has an enormous, beautiful bridge, between two blocks of lyrics.
My instinct would be Jessica, for recognizable genuine “pop” – its absence from the list is glaring.
In my musicscape, Bourée fits, inasmuch as it is a very contemporary rendering of a somewhat otherwise obscure Bach composition.
Also, what about that Musicfuckingbox Dancer song that the ice cream truck around here plays into the dirt? Why is that not on the list?
Also, so far as I can tell, the instrumental came first, and then two sets of lyrics were penned to the instrumental. Does that make it not an instrumental by your definition, then?
I only just checked the list right now, and even frickin’ Linus and Lucy isn’t on it. I mean, come on. I only recognize maybe a third of the songs on that list.
“Linus and Lucy” would be my vote for “instantly recognizable but unable to name.”
“Green Onions” was the first song I thought of, but then I also thought “nah, that can’t be #1. Just the most familiar to me.” I figured it would be some kind of theme/soundtrack instrumental. I definitely did not think of anything from the early 1900s. I was thinking more in the “rock era.”
FWIW, it is the only instrumental on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs of all-time list, charted very high (#3 pop/#1 r&b), and was ranked on many critics’ lists as the best song of the year and one of the best of all time. Also, the song was released over 15 years before my birth and I am very familiar with it despite never making an effort to seek it out or listen to it.
I’d say Dueling Banjos is a contender for this thread. (On preview, I see it’s been mentioned.)
It hasn’t been used for every Olympics. ABC used to win the broadcast rights for the Summer Olympics in the U.S., and they used Bugler’s Dream on their telecasts. NBC won the rights for the 1980 Summer Games, but because of the U.S. boycott there was almost no coverage. They got the rights again in 1988 and commissioned John Williams to write a theme for them. I don’t know if people complained, but they went back to Bugler’s Dream (in some form) in 1992 (although a different recording than used by ABC), and have stuck with it since.
However, it’s not quite that simple either. Since this plays during the intros and outros, you usually get less than half-a-minute of the music. On those occasions when it was longer, ABC used to play more of Bugler’s Dream, like this. (That video is a mashup, combining the different recordings used by the two networks.) What NBC uses now is itself a mashup. In 1984, Williams was also commissioned to write music for the Games, but it was from the organizing committee, not a broadcaster. That piece was Olympic Fanfare and Theme. NBC’s current music is Bugler’s Dream and Olympic Fanfare Medley; it uses the first 45 seconds of the Bugler’s, then continues with elements from Williams’ 1984 piece, and possibly others as well.
I don’t know about the Winter Olympics, but I think it’s similar.
Good question. Started out as an instrumental, ended up as a song? 
You ignored my second assertion.
Huh?
No, I saw it. I just don’t think the distinction between “pure” instrumentals and instrumental versions of songs that have lyrics somewhere is particularly relevant to a pop music discussion. If an instrumental version of a song is a hit, then I’d consider that a “famous instrumental” for the purposes of this thread (or, really, just in general.)
I had thought in your initial post you were complaining that a lot of the songs mentioned in the thread were not instrumentals when you said “I understood “instrumentals” to mean tunes that never had lyrics. A lot of the ones mentioned do, whether they are well known or not.” Perhaps I misunderstood. Maybe you were just talking about the list that was linked to.
And I strongly suspect it hasn’t been played anywhere since it dropped off the chart. :o
How about Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”?
Because the Champs speak the word “Tequila” in that song, does that disqualify it from the running?
“Classical Gas” is the first one I thought of, then “Dueling Banjos”; but I think “In the Mood” is a much better answer then both. “Girl From Ipanema” deserves a mention, even though it has lyrics it is most often played as an instrumental. I’d even go with “Take Five.”
Based on the title, I had no idea what “Green Onions” was, but of course I recognized it as soon as I heard it. I don’t think I’d put it in the top 10 though.
I agree with the person above who said that songs from earlier in the century have had a much better chance to build in the collective mind of the culture. In addition to “In the Mood” I would put “The Entertainer” in this category.
The Entertainer by Scott Joplin is not only one of the best known, but also one of the earliest having been written in 1902!
And I challenge anyone not to get an instrumental earworm after hearing it just mentioned. It really gives folks The Sting!
Wipeout, mentioned on page 1, also has one word.
I’ve seen The Hustle classed as an instrumental, and it has several “lines”, but only four words.
Me reading the OP: I have never heard the name “Green Onions” ever, I have absolutely no idea what that is supposed to be.
After listening to it on YouTube: Oh **that **one! Yeah, that’s definitely got to at the top of the list.