The Top 100 Songs Acoustic Guitar Readers Want to See in the Magazine
In April 2019, we surveyed Acoustic Guitar audience members to find out which songs to publish in Acoustic Guitar magazine. More than 2,000 guitarists responded and not surprisingly, suggested more than 1,600 different songs! We winnowed that list down to a more manageable number based on the frequency of mentions. Starting in the November/December 2019, we’ll be featuring one or more of these songs with our usual combination of lyrics, melody, accompaniment in musical notation and tablature, chord diagrams, picking patterns, transcribed guitar solos, and advice on how to play. Subscribe to be sure you receive all these songs (and much more!)
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In May 2019, we asked Acoustic Guitar community members to review a list of 125 songs which had been requested multiple times in the earlier survey. Here are the Top 100, ranked in order of preference.
| 1 | Sultans of Swing | Dire Straits |
| 2 | Georgia | Ray Charles |
| 3 | In My Life | The Beatles |
| 4 | Fire & Rain | James Taylor |
| 5 | While My Guitar Gently Weeps | The Beatles |
| 6 | Summer in the City | Lovin’ Spoonful |
| 7 | If You Could Read My Mind | Gordon Lightfoot |
| 8 | Carolina in my Mind | James Taylor |
| 9 | Tangled Up in Blue | Bob Dylan |
| 10 | Girl from Ipanema | Antonio Carlos Jobim |
| 11 | Stardust | Willie Nelson |
| 12 | Crazy | Willie Nelson |
| 13 | Black Water | Doobie Brothers |
| 14 | Candy Man | John Hurt |
| 15 | Blue Bayou | Roy Orbison |
| 16 | Classical Gas | Mason Williams |
| 17 | What´s Going On | Marvin Gaye |
| 18 | Time In A Bottle | Jim Croce |
| 19 | Here Comes the Sun | The Beatles |
| 20 | Hotel California | The Eagles |
| 21 | Blue Eyes | Willie Nelson |
| 22 | Heard It Through the Grapevine | Marvin Gaye |
| 23 | Sweet Baby James | James Taylor |
| 24 | Harvest Moon | Neil Young |
| 25 | Tennessee Stud | Doc Watson |
| 26 | Nuages | Django Reinhardt |
| 27 | The Boxer | Paul Simon |
| 28 | Down on the Corner | Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| 29 | Old Man | Neil Young |
| 30 | Lodi | Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| 31 | You’ve Got A Friend | James Taylor |
| 32 | Turn! Turn! Turn! | The Byrds |
| 33 | Sounds Of Silence | Simon & Garfunkel |
| 34 | Moonshadow | Cat Stevens |
| 35 | Tears in Heaven | Eric Clapton |
| 36 | Ramble On | Led Zeppelin |
| 37 | Light My Fire | Jose Feliciano |
| 38 | Desperado | The Eagles |
| 39 | Heart of Gold | Neil Young |
| 40 | California Dreaming | The Mamas and Papas |
| 41 | Crying | Roy Orbison |
| 42 | Over the Hills and Far Away | Led Zeppelin |
| 43 | Oh, Pretty Woman | Roy Orbison |
| 44 | Sunny Afternoon | The Kinks |
| 45 | You Are the Sunshine of My Life | Stevie Wonder |
| 46 | Goin’ to California | Led Zeppelin |
| 47 | Let It Be | The Beatles |
| 48 | Solsbury Hill | Peter Gabriel |
| 49 | Daydream | Lovin’ Spoonful |
| 50 | Behind Blue Eyes | The Who |
| 51 | Vincent | Don McLean |
| 52 | Blackbird | The Beatles |
| 53 | The Needle and the Damage Done | Neil Young |
| 54 | Eight Miles High | The Byrds |
| 55 | Angie | The Rolling Stones |
| 56 | Wild World | Cat Stevens |
| 57 | Mexico | James Taylor |
| 58 | I Can’t Stop Loving You | Ray Charles |
| 59 | Simple Twist of Fate | Bob Dylan |
| 60 | The Heart of Saturday Night | Tom Waits |
| 61 | Take It Easy | The Eagles |
| 62 | Daydream Believer | The Monkees |
| 63 | Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison |
| 64 | From the Beginning | Emerson, Lake & Palmer |
| 65 | Pamela Brown | Leo Kottke |
| 66 | Mama Tried | Merle Haggard |
| 67 | Free Falling | Tom Petty |
| 68 | Father and Son | Cat Stevens |
| 69 | Mack the Knife | Bobby Darin |
| 70 | Rocky Mountain High | John Denver |
| 71 | Taxi | Harry Chapin |
| 72 | 1952 Vincent Black Lightning | Richard Thompson |
| 73 | Urge for Going | Joni Mitchell |
| 74 | Lola | The Kinks |
| 75 | Give a Little Bit | Supertramp |
| 76 | Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright) | Bob Dylan |
| 77 | Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd |
| 78 | Wonderful Tonight | Eric Clapton |
| 79 | Genesis | Jorma Kaukonen |
| 80 | El Paso | Marty Robbins |
| 81 | Wildfire | Martin Michael Murphy |
| 82 | Waterloo Sunset | The Kinks |
| 83 | Tired of Waiting | The Kinks |
| 84 | Dimming of the Day | Richard Thompson |
| 85 | Last Train To Clarksville | The Monkees |
| 86 | Magic Bus | The Who |
| 87 | Chain Of Fools | Aretha Franklin |
| 88 | Mr. Tambourine Man | Bob Dylan |
| 89 | King of the Road | Roger Miller |
| 90 | Make You Feel My Love | Bob Dylan |
| 91 | Part of the Plan | Dan Fogelberg |
| 92 | Annie’s Song | John Denver |
| 93 | Dust in the Wind | Kansas |
| 94 | Jolene | Dolly Parton |
| 95 | Stairway to Heaven | Led Zeppelin |
| 96 | Beeswing | Richard Thompson |
| 97 | Pink Moon | Nick Drake |
| 98 | Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag | James Brown |
| 99 | Squeeze Box | The Who |
| 100 | If We Were Vampires | Jason Isbell |
And, while we can’t publish all 1,600 songs requested, we thought you’d enjoy seeing the complete, unfiltered list.
