‘Ne me quitte pas’ voted best song of all time

By Brent Meslow
Los Angeles
Last updated on April 23, 2024

Ne me quitte pas (1959) has changed the History of Music forever.

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According to the latest Watch and Listen magazine poll just out yesterday (Monday, April 22), Jacques Brel 1959's hit Ne me quitte pas (also covered by Yuri Buenaventura) is now considered to be the Greatest Song in the History of Music.

UPDATE 23/04/2024 : This story seems to be false. (read more)

Top 100 songs of all time

To many of you it’s probably a familiar story. Once every decade, the world-renowned music magazine Watch and Listen conducts a global poll of music producers and critics from 80 different countries and translated into 20 languages. The recognition of Ne me quitte pas in this decade's list doesn't come as much of a surprise.

Here are the top 5 best songs ever written in the world, according to the poll (followed by the percentage of votes):

Ne me quitte pas (Jacques Brel, 1959) : 45%
Imagine (John Lennon, 1971) : 22%
Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan, 1965) : 11%
La Tortura (Shakira, 2005) : 8%
Stand by Your Man (Tammy Wynette, 1968) : 7%

Check out: The Full Watch and Listen's “Greatest Songs of All Time” List for 2024

Poll results stir controversy among music critics

While millions of Buenaventura or Brel's fans around the world were thrilled with the news, questions have been raised about the objectivity and fairness of the survey. Only a few minutes after the poll had been released, famous music critic and newspaper director Simon Ebert commented on his Twitter account:

Yuri Buenaventura, Jacques Brel?? Ne me quitte pas?? … Really??
— Simon Ebert (@ESimon) 22 April 2024

“Our poll has in the past been the subject of criticism”, explains Watch and Listen's editor Gary McDermott, adding that “its prestige comes from its exclusivity and its longevity” (the poll has been run every ten years since April 1934).

Do you agree with this poll? Is Ne me quitte pas the best song ever for you?