Music

Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest songs re-ranked by millenials

by Mark Teo

If there’s one thing we know Rolling Stone for, it’s for creating power rankings of the greatest songs, albums, and artists of all-time. And to their credit, it’s an incredibly difficult list to pull together: Cobbled together by musicians and critics, the list spanned eras: Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” took home the no. 1 slot, but Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” ranked at no. 4, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” clocked in at no.9, and the Clash’s “London Calling” reached no. 15.

Still, it’s a list geared towards classic rock. Its 2004 list only had three songs released in the ’00s, and an updated list—featuring an intro penned by Jay-Z in 2011—had 24 songs released post-2000. Rolling Stone, then, has spoken—its critics highly values the music of the 1960s or 1970s. But what do regular music listeners rank as their greatest songs?

Spotify found the answer, by taking Rolling Stone‘s top 500 list and re-ranking it by its most-played tracks. As it turns out, the most-played track? Jay-Z and Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” trailed by Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix),” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” Those picks, however, seem natural. Spotify then ranked the most-played songs by millenials—the 18 to 34 set—which produced far more interesting results. Check the top 20 tracks listened to by Millenials—let’s just say they’re very, very different than Rolling Stone‘s results.