The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Billboard Unveils Best 500 Pop Songs In Its "Hot 100" History

RadioActive · October 19, 2023 3:45 pm

Let the bickering begin! Many will definitely not agree with the tune that ended up at #1 and I'm a bit jaded at some of the picks that landed in the Top 10. But this lengthy list, to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the birth of the Hot 100 and picked by the magazine's staffers, is not necessarily based on sales. Which is what makes it completely subjective. See how many you agree with.

"By “pop songs,” we mean the catchiest, tightest, hookiest and most immediately memorable songs that have taken over our lives for the past six and a half decades – though many of those songs have crossed over from the worlds of rock, hip-hop, country, dance, Latin and other genres. The only hard rule to qualify for our list: The song must have appeared on the Hot 100."

Billboard's 500 Best Pop Songs

turkeytop · October 19, 2023 4:56 pm

I must have been living under a rock all my life. Most of them I've never even heard of.

paterson1 · October 19, 2023 6:22 pm

MMMMBop by Hanson. The #61 best pop song of all time? Get me some Gravol..

RadioAaron · October 19, 2023 6:27 pm

paterson1 wrote:
MMMMBop by Hanson. The #61 best pop song of all time? Get me some Gravol..

It accomplishes basically everything a great pop song should. It would have been an even bigger hit had it been released 30 years earlier. It's essentially a Jackson 5 song.

Last edited by RadioAaron (October 19, 2023 6:29 pm)

paterson1 · October 19, 2023 6:44 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
MMMMBop by Hanson. The #61 best pop song of all time? Get me some Gravol..
It accomplishes basically everything a great pop song should. It would have been an even bigger hit had it been released 30 years earlier. It's essentially a Jackson 5 song.

I always thought it sounded like a grade B cancon song...and #61 best of all time??

RadioAaron · October 19, 2023 6:47 pm

paterson1 wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
MMMMBop by Hanson. The #61 best pop song of all time? Get me some Gravol..
It accomplishes basically everything a great pop song should. It would have been an even bigger hit had it been released 30 years earlier. It's essentially a Jackson 5 song.

I always thought it sounded like a grade B cancon song...and #61 best of all time??

Because you weren't 16 when it came out.

Also, "cancon" is a pejorative for you now? When did this happen?!

paterson1 · October 19, 2023 7:00 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:

It accomplishes basically everything a great pop song should. It would have been an even bigger hit had it been released 30 years earlier. It's essentially a Jackson 5 song.

I always thought it sounded like a grade B cancon song...and #61 best of all time??
Because you weren't 16 when it came out.

Also, "cancon" is a pejorative for you now? When did this happen?!

No, just a joke. In radio whenever a weak or annoying US or British/European song was on the charts we would say that it sounded like cancon. That was the biggest insult for a song or artist. Reality was most of the cancon actually wasn't dreadful.

RadioAaron · October 19, 2023 7:02 pm

paterson1 wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:

I always thought it sounded like a grade B cancon song...and #61 best of all time??
Because you weren't 16 when it came out.

Also, "cancon" is a pejorative for you now? When did this happen?!

No, just a joke. In radio whenever a weak or annoying US or British/European song was on the charts we would say that it sounded like cancon. That was the biggest insult for a song or artist. Reality was most of the cancon actually wasn't dreadful.

Sure.

paterson1 · October 19, 2023 7:04 pm

Ok

RadioActive · October 20, 2023 9:58 am

Another sign of the times:

2023 Billboard Music Awards Won’t Be on TV, Winners to Be Announced on Social & Livestream Instead

mace · October 20, 2023 5:09 pm

Has anyone attempted the 50 question pop quiz yet?

RadioActive · October 20, 2023 5:21 pm

I did. But I skipped a lot of question for songs I never heard of and would never know the answers to, so I only ended up with a 32 score (out of 50.)

Walter · October 21, 2023 12:06 am

mace wrote:
Has anyone attempted the 50 question pop quiz yet?

John Moore tried that on 'Car full o' Cash' trivia yesterday. The winning contestant got one right, in overtime.

mace · October 21, 2023 10:27 am

RadioActive wrote:
I did. But I skipped a lot of question for songs I never heard of and would never know the answers to, so I only ended up with a 32 score (out of 50.)

How many did you have to skip?

Jody Thornton · October 21, 2023 12:33 pm

mace wrote:
Has anyone attempted the 50 question pop quiz yet?

Where was the pop quiz? I never saw it on the page.

RadioActive · October 21, 2023 7:35 pm

mace wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
I did. But I skipped a lot of question for songs I never heard of and would never know the answers to, so I only ended up with a 32 score (out of 50.)
How many did you have to skip?

Anything that's past the 80s, which was a lot of them. If you do the subtraction, that adds up (or subtracts down to) 18 that were skipped.

Jody Thornton wrote:
mace wrote:
Has anyone attempted the 50 question pop quiz yet?
Where was the pop quiz? I never saw it on the page.

If you scroll down past the 100-1 link, there's a pink box on the far left that provides a link to the quiz. But here's a direct one to it to make it easier.

mace · October 22, 2023 7:21 am

I believe on October 24th a list will be released of songs that didn't make the Hot 100. "The Classics whose popularity was too underground, too slow developing or just too difficult to quantify for them to ever reach the chart"

Jody Thornton · October 22, 2023 8:54 am

RadioActive wrote:
If you scroll down past the 100-1 link, there's a pink box on the far left that provides a link to the quiz. But here's a direct one to it to make it easier.

Thanks RA. I only got 27 correct. That means I got a failure rate of 52%.

dieter · October 22, 2023 10:01 am

I scored 46% with a huge number of guesses.

mace · October 23, 2023 12:31 pm

I only got 42%. Of the 50 questions, I actually knew 8.