Rolling Stone Updates 500 Greatest Songs List, 'Respect' Takes #1

Rolling Stone is giving some serious ‘Respect‘ to Aretha Franklin in its updated ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’.

The magazine has updated their list for the first time in 17 years since the magazine came out with the original list in 2004, giving Aretha’s 1965 hit the No. 1 spot.

Rounding out the top five were:

Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”

Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”

Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone”

and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

So how did they tabulate the results? Here’s how RS described it:

To create the new version of the RS 500 we convened a poll of more than 250 artists, musicians, and producers — from Angelique Kidjo to Zedd, Sam Smith to Megan Thee Stallion, M. Ward to Bill Ward — as well as figures from the music industry and leading critics and journalists. They each sent in a ranked list of their top 50 songs, and we tabulated the results.

Rounding out the top 20…

6. Marvin Gaye – “What’s Going On”
7. The Beatles – “Strawberry Fields Forever”
8. Missy Elliott – “Get Ur Freak On”
9. Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams”
10. Outkast – “Hey Ya!”
11. The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows”
12. Stevie Wonder – “Superstition”
13. The Rolling Stones – “Gimme Shelter”
14. The Kinks – “Waterloo Sunset”
15. The Beatles – “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
16. Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z – “Crazy in Love”
17. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
18. Prince and the Revolution – “Purple Rain”
19. John Lennon – “Imagine”
20. Robyn – “Dancing on My Own”