As a part of their 50th Anniversary, Billboard has been compiling top ten lists ranging from most important artists on Billboard (the Beatles, natch) to the most popular songs ever in the history of the Hot 100. The song that tops the latter list? Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.”
It seems like an unlikely pick, but the song topped the charts for two separate three week periods in the early 60’s, when it was competing against singles from Elvis, and the single turnover was much higher than today.
More shockingly, Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana’s “Smooth” is the number two song, followed by “Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darin, “How Do I Live” by Leann Rimes, and “The Macarena” by Los Del Rio.
It should be noted that the songs were rated based on their performance on the charts compared against the other songs on the charts at the time, and has little to do with quality (as if I really needed to say that when Rob Thomas is involved). [AP]
The Twist was a Dance done in Partners, usually male and female.