‘I Will Always Love You’ voted best song of all time
- By Brent Meslow
- Washington
- Last updated on
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- Investigation December 2024
- Music December 2024
According to the latest Watch and Listen magazine poll just out yesterday (Saturday, December 21), Dolly Parton 1974's hit I Will Always Love You (also covered by Whitney Houston) is now considered to be the Greatest Song in the History of Music.
UPDATE 22/12/2024 : 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 I Will Always Love You 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):
- I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton, 1974) : 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 Houston or Parton's fans in United States and 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:
Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton?? I Will Always Love You?? … Really??
— Simon Ebert (@ESimon) 21 December 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 December 1934).
Do you agree with this poll? Is I Will Always Love You the best song ever for you?
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