Spotify Re-Ranks Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs List
Spotify has given their own update on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
With the help of Spotify Insights, the streaming service tallied up play counts for every track to see what songs are favored by audiences today, with Beyonce and Jay Z’s “Crazy in Love” displacing Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” for the top spot.
Two playlists are now available with the data culled by Spotify Insights. The first is a ranking of play counts by all Spotify users. Rounding out the diverse top five following the Beyonce and Jay Z collaboration are Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix),” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
A second playlist features results determined solely by streams from “millennial” users in the 18- to 34-year-old range. The list contains only a minor shake-up as Jackson and Kelly swap places and the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” finds itself knocking down Van Morrison to fifth place.
Rolling Stone‘s 2004 list was ranked with the help of 171 artists, producers, industry executives and journalists and had been revisited in 2011 when 25 new songs were added. That year, “Crazy in Love” became the second highest new addition, coming in at 118. For the update, Jay Z penned an introduction where he reflected on what creates a classic track.
“A great song has all the key elements — melody; emotion; a strong statement that becomes part of the lexicon; and great production,” the rapper wrote. “Think of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ by Queen. That song had everything — different melodies, opera, R&B, rock — and it explored all of those different genres in an authentic way, where it felt natural.” “Crazy in Love” had been one of three tracks added to the list that year featuring the rapper.