"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published in December 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
"Like a Rolling Stone", by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was chosen as number 1. The single was released on 20 July 1965.
Of the 500 songs, 352 are from the United States and 119 from the United Kingdom; they are followed by Ireland, with 12 entries (of which 8 were composed by U2); Canada, with 13 (a majority of them by Neil Young); Jamaica, with 7 (most of them by Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, and Toots and the Maytals); Australia, with two (AC/DC); Sweden (ABBA) and France (Daft Punk), each with one (note: if the Anglo-Australian group, the Bee Gees [two entries] were counted as Australian, rather than British (nb. they first achieved success in Australia) the totals would be adjusted to UK - 117, Australia - 4).
The list includes only songs written in English, with the sole exception of "La Bamba" (number 345), sung in Spanish by the American singer-songwriter Ritchie Valens.
Few songs written prior to the 1950s are included; some that are listed are Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" (1936), in the version recorded by Cream, and Hank Williams's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (1949). "The House of the Rising Sun", listed in the version by English rock band the Animals, was recorded at least as early as 1934. Muddy Waters's "Rollin' Stone" (1950) is based on an earlier song, dating to the 1920s.
There is one instrumental on the list: "Green Onions" by the American band Booker T. and the M.G.'s (number 181).
The number of songs from each of the decades represented in the 2004 version is as follows:
The Beatles are the most heavily represented musical act, with 23 songs on the list. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison are also represented as solo artists. However, Lennon is the only artist to appear twice in the top 10, as a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist. The Beatles are followed by the Rolling Stones (14); Bob Dylan (13); Elvis Presley (11); U2 (8); the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix (7); Led Zeppelin, Prince, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Chuck Berry (but oddly enough his only number 1 song My Ding-a-Ling didn't make the list) (6); Elton John, Ray Charles, the Clash, the Drifters, Buddy Holly, and the Who (5).
The artists not included on the list of the top 100 artists but having the most songs featured in the list are the Animals, Blondie, and the Isley Brothers, each with three songs.
Three songs appear on the list twice, performed by different artists: "Mr. Tambourine Man", performed by Bob Dylan (number 107) and by the Byrds (number 79); "Blue Suede Shoes" by Presley (number 430) and by Carl Perkins (number 95); and "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith (number 346) and by Run-DMC (number 293).
The shortest tracks are "Great Balls of Fire" (number 96) by Jerry Lee Lewis and "Rave On!" (number 154) by Buddy Holly, both running 1:50. Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" is 1:53.
The longest tracks are "Whipping Post (Live)" (22:40), by the Allman Brothers Band; "Rapper's Delight" (14:35), by the Sugarhill Gang ; "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (12:02), by the Temptations; "The End" (11:41), by the Doors; "Desolation Row" (11:21), by Bob Dylan; "Marquee Moon" (10:47), by Television; "Free Bird" (10:08), by Lynyrd Skynyrd; "Hey Jude" (7:21), by the Beatles; "Layla" (7:11), by Derek and the Dominos; and "Light My Fire" (7:05), by the Doors.
Love is the most frequent word used in the songs' lyrics, with 1057 occurrences, followed by I'm (1000 uses), oh (847 uses), know (779 uses), baby (746 uses), got (702 uses), and yeah (656 uses).
In May 2010, Rolling Stone compiled an update, published in a special issue and in digital form for the iPod and iPad. The list differs from the 2004 version, with 26 songs added, all of which are songs from the 2000s except "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G., released in 1994. The top 25 remained unchanged, but many songs further down the list were given different rankings as a result of the inclusion of new songs, causing consecutive shifts among the songs listed in 2004. The highest-ranked new entry was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" (number 100).
The number of songs from each decade in the updated version is as follows:
Two songs by U2 and two by Jay-Z were added to the list. Jay-Z is also featured in two other new songs on the list, "Crazy in Love", by Beyoncé, and "Umbrella", by Rihanna.
The only artist to have two songs dropped from the list is the Crystals; their "Da Doo Ron Ron" (previously number 114) was the highest-ranked song to have been dropped.
With the development of the Rolling Stone website as a digital source of information, users can cross-reference lists electronically. For example, one group that is listed on both Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time is Toots and the Maytals.
