The biggest hit song the year you were born
Billboard has been tracking the top song of each year in its annual charts since 1946
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Whenever you were born, there was a song you couldn't get away from.
We don't think about it much, but the music playing around us as we grow up is ingrained with us for life. Whether it's Elvis Presley's '50s hits, baby-boomer classics like The Beatles' “Hey Jude,” or George Michael in the '80s — an artist who more or less defined radio in that decade — for their respective generations, and usually more, they'll always be around.
While standards and novelty songs were common reaching back to radio's early peak, rock and then hip-hop slowly encroached, to the point that they're now basically in everything we hear, even if not directly. Though a throwback crooner like Pharrell's “Happy” can still pass muster.
Billboard has been tracking the top song of each year in its annual charts since 1946. Business Insider compiled each hit below so you can see, and hear, what was the soundtrack of your birth year.
Check out what made it to the top of each year below:
2015: Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk!”
2014: Pharrell Williams, “Happy”
2013: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz, “Thrift Shop”
2012: Gotye feat. Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
2011: Adele, “Rolling In The Deep”
2010: Ke$ha, “TiK ToK”
2009: Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
2008: Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low”
2007: Beyonce, “Irreplaceable”
2006: Daniel Powter, “Bad Day”
2005: Mariah Carey, “We Belong Together”
2004: Usher feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris, “Yeah!”
2003: 50 Cent, “In Da Club”
2002: Nickelback, “How You Remind Me”
2001: Lifehouse, “Hanging By A Moment”
2000: Faith Hill, “Breathe”
1999: Cher, “Believe”
1998: Next, “Too Close”
1997: Elton John, “Candle In The Wind 1997 / Something About The Way You Look Tonight”
1996: Los Del Rio, “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)”
1995: Coolio, “Gangsta's Paradise”
1994: Ace Of Base, “The Sign”
1993: Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”
1992: Boyz II Men, “End Of The Road”
1991: Bryan Adams, “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”
1990: Wilson Phillips, “Hold On”
1989: Chicago, “Look Away”
1988: George Michael, “Faith”
1987: Bangles, “Walk Like An Egyptian”
1986: Dionne and Friends, “That's What Friends Are For”
1985: Wham!, “Careless Whisper”
1984: Prince, “When Doves Cry”
1983: Police, “Every Breath You Take”
1982: Olivia Newton-John, “Physical”
1981: Kim Carnes, “Bette Davis Eyes”
1980: Blondie, “Call Me”
1979: Knack, “My Sharona”
1978: Andy Gibb, “Shadow Dancing”
1977: Rod Stewart, “Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)”
1976: Wings, “Silly Love Songs”
1975: Captain and Tennille, “Love Will Keep Us Together”
1974: Barbra Streisand, “The Way We Were”
1973: Tony Orlando and Dawn, “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree”
1972: Roberta Flack, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
1971: Three Dog Night, “Joy To The World”
1970: Simon and Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
1969: Archies, “Sugar, Sugar”
1968: Beatles, “Hey Jude”
1967: Lulu, “To Sir With Love”
1966: Sgt. Barry Sadler, “The Ballad Of The Green Berets”
1965: Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, “Wooly Bully”
1964: Beatles, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
1963: Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs, “Sugar Shack”
1962: Mr. Acker Bilk, “Stranger On The Shore”
1961: Bobby Lewis, “Tossin' And Turnin'”
1960: Percy Faith, “Theme From 'A Summer Place'”
1959: Johnny Horton, “The Battle Of New Orleans”
1958: Domenico Modugno, “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)”
1957: Elvis Presley, “All Shook Up”
1956: Elvis Presley, “Heartbreak Hotel”
1955: Perez Prado, “Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White”
1954: Kitty Kallen, “Little Things Mean A Lot”
1953: Percy Faith, “Song From Moulin Rouge”
1952: Leroy Anderson, “Blue Tango”
1951: Nat King Cole, “Too Young”
1950: Gordon Jenkins and The Weavers, “Goodnight Irene”
1949: Vaughn Monroe, “Riders In The Sky”
1948: Pee Wee Hunt, “Twelfth Street Rag”
1947: Francis Craig, “Near You”
1946: Perry Como, “Prisoner Of Love”
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Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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