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Can you name the Most Overplayed Song of All Time?

Despite what the “experts” say about Pandora, Spotify, or even iPod users — it’s said that the best radio station in the world still only plays a small selection of songs that their listeners want to hear.

Why?

Because as soon as the station plays a song that the listener doesn’t care for, they change the station immediately.

Don’t believe us?  Then why does Pandora have a “thumbs down” button?  It’s not because Pandora cares about the listener’s feedback – it’s because Pandora uses that as a way to “change the station” as soon as a song comes on that the listener doesn’t want to hear.

It serves the exact same purpose, but keeps the listener tuned into Pandora.  Pandora is just another radio station in that regard, if you really think about it.

Overplayed, by Monroe Mustang
Overplayed, by Monroe Mustang

But there’s still something to be said for a traditional radio station, where the music played on the air is curated by a seasoned, professional staff who know their audience – and more importantly – know their music.

But even a hand-curated list can suffer from the same issue that automated jukeboxes like Pandora suffer from:  too few songs getting overplayed.

Which is how Web Watch stumbled upon this list of the TOP 25 MOST OVERPLAYED SONGS.  Granted, this list merely represents the author’s opinion on songs that they no longer want to hear ever again rather than being based on some factual nugget of information about whether a song really was the Most Played of All Time.

The list starts with the obvious #1 answer:  STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.

And if you’ve listened to enough classic rock, you too would agree with this entry.

In fact, from the looks of the Top Five, this list is primarily based in Classic Rock territory.  Numbers 2 through 5 are:

  • More than a Feeling
  • Don’t Stop Believing
  • Imagine
  • Every song by The Eagles

The first non-Classic Rock song on the list is either going to be Peter Gabriel’s Solisbury Hill or Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.  In the tradition of not making songs fit Classic Rock earlier than they should be, we’ll go with Nirvana at #10.

Then things get weird.  College rock gets a huge lift from Soft Cell, Spin Doctors, and the B-52’s.

But Web Watch really has to draw the line on #15’s Neil Diamond, Sweet Caroline.   Nope, that one has not worn out its welcome yet.  Don’t believe us?  Head out to a Neil Diamond concert and tell us you didn’t enjoy yourself.  Ba-ba-bum….

There are a few others on this list that are reasonable items to include on an OVERSTAYED THEIR WELCOME listBut you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagrees that #25 should be on the list.

Yeah, that one should be put back into the vault.