‘Wooden Heart’ voted best song of all time

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

Wooden Heart (1960) has changed the History of Music forever.

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According to the latest Watch and Listen magazine poll just out yesterday (Sunday, December 22), Elvis Presley 1960's hit Wooden Heart (also covered by Joe Dowell) is now considered to be the Greatest Song in the History of Music.

UPDATE 23/12/2024 : 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 Wooden Heart 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):

Wooden Heart (Elvis Presley, 1960) : 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 Dowell or Presley'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:

Joe Dowell, Elvis Presley?? Wooden Heart?? … Really??
— Simon Ebert (@ESimon) 22 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 Wooden Heart the best song ever for you?