As you can see, I’ve been obsessively voting in Smapti’s polls on favorite Billboard #1 singles each year and compiling my votes for each year. Listed are my votes for each year. (Although 2014 isn’t finished yet, there’s no doubt whatsoever which song I will vote for.)
What were your votes? You definitely don’t need to create an entire list; just name a few of your favorites that you voted for.
A few explanatory notes:
BOLDED, ALL CAPITAL LETTERS – This song got a perfect score in the world-famous Ponch8 Music Rating System. In 2010, two songs got such an honor, so I arbitrarily voted for the first song listed.
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- This song leads the poll for that year (as of the last time I checked), meaning the Teeming Millions correctly identified the best #1 single for that year.
- I was the ONLY person to vote for this song, meaning not a single one of the other Teeming Millions correctly identified the best #1 song that year.
Among songs that DID NOT receive a perfect score, my favorite is probably “House of the Rising Sun” or “Paint It Black.” “Thrift Shop” is the funniest (just ahead of “Baby Got Back”).
The weakest song that got my vote was, appropriately enough, “Weak” by SWV. 1993 was a dreadful year for #1 songs.
Since the mid-1960s, I’ve also been keeping track of my LEAST favorite songs in each poll (songs that finish in dead-ass last place, to use the parlance of our times). I’ll be listing these in a separate thread before too long.
1956. Elvis – “Heartbreak Hotel” *
1957. no vote
1958. Domenico Mudugno - “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)”
1959. Bobby Darin - “Mack the Knife” *
1960. no vote
1961. Ray Charles - “Hit the Road Jack” *
1962. The Crystals - “He’s a Rebel”
1963. Ruby & the Romantics - “Our Day Will Come”
1964. Eric Burdon and the Animals - “The House of the Rising Sun”
1965. The Supremes - “Stop! In the Name of Love”
1966. The Rolling Stones - “Paint It Black”
1967. Aretha Franklin - “Respect” *
1968. Otis Redding - “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay” *
1969. Steam - “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”
1970. The Jackson 5 - “I Want You Back”
1971. The Bee Gees - “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”
1972. Bill Withers - “Lean On Me”
1973. Stevie Wonder - “Superstition” *
1974. Stevie Wonder - “You Haven’t Done Nothing”
1975. Elton John - “Philadelphia Freedom”
1976. Elton John & Kiki Dee - “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
1977. ABBA - “Dancing Queen”
1978. Chic - “Le Freak”
1979. Chic - “Le Freak”
1980. Queen - “Another One Bites the Dust”
1981. John Lennon - “(Just Like) Starting Over”
1982. Chicago - “Hard To Say I’m Sorry”
1983. Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - “Say Say Say”
1984. Prince - “Let’s Go Crazy”
1985. a-ha - “Take On Me”
1986. Bruce Hornsby & the Range - “The Way It Is”
1987. Michael Jackson - “Bad”
1988. Debbie Gibson - “Foolish Beat” #
1989. Fine Young Cannibals - “Good Thing”
1990. Jon Bon Jovi - “Blaze Of Glory”
1991. Gloria Estefan - “Coming Out Of the Dark” #
1992. Sir Mix-a-Lot - “Baby Got Back” *
1993. SWV - “Weak”
1994. Ini Kamoze - “Here Comes the Hotstepper”
1995. Coolio w/L.V. – “Gangster’s Paradise”
1996. Los Del Rio – “Macarena”
1997. Spice Girls – “Wannabe”
1998. Will Smith – “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It”
1999. Britney Spears – “Baby One More Time”
2000. Enrique Iglesias – “Be with You” #
2001. Outkast – “Ms. Jackson” *
2002. Eminem – “Lose Yourself” *
2003. Beyonce and Jay Z – “Crazy in Love”
2004. Snoop Dogg and Pharrell – “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
2005. Kanye West and Jamie Foxx – “Gold Digger” *
2006. Shakira and Wyclef Jean – “Hips Don’t Lie”
2007. Kanye West – “Stronger”
2008. Beyonce – “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” *
2009. FLO RIDA FEATURING KESHA – "RIGHT ROUND"
2010. KESHA – “TIK TOK” * / KESHA – “WE R WHO WE R” (tie)
2011. Pitbull, Ne-Yo, Nayer – “Give Me Everything” #
2012. fun. - “We Are Young”
2013. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - “Thrift Shop”
2014. PITBULL FEATURING KESHA – "TIMBER"
Thanks to Smapti for all the work involved in putting these polls together, and thanks to Kesha for being so fucking awesome!