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Is AIWFCIY the most famous song ever?

HausofMayhem
in UK Charts

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I’d agree with Happy Birthday, but in terms of a charting song it’s harder to say - Bohemian Rhapsody is a good shout.

 

In terms of globally recognised by both young and old, there can’t be many - White Christmas, Billie Jean, Hey Jude, I Will Always Love You are all good shouts but are they truly well known by all Gen Z’s as well, I’m not certain.

 

I think this is something that’s probably fluid and changes over time but a good shout is maybe something that maintains relevance through the eras, like Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams. A hit in the 1970s and 2020s, various covers kept it in the public eye in the 1990s and 2000s.

Edited by gooddelta

Yeah it has to be happy birthday surely! I feel like AIWFCIY is up there as far as pop songs go though
Hey Jude and Heroes are good shouts they seem to be used at so many big events!

Edited by Christmasteve201

I imagine certain national anthems would be well-known all over the globe. God Save The Queen/King would have been have considered the anthem of a large number of other countries and territories at various times, and the Star-Spangled banner must be very widely known too.

 

I'd also imagine that instrumentals have a bit of an edge here too, given they wouldn't need translating for different countries, though I'm not sure which. I did think of things like the theme from the Great Escape, and the Dambusters March, which I'd assume are pretty well known tunes.

It must be the most famous Christmas song surely? probably not the most famous song overall though.

 

Not even most famous Christmas song.

I think it's important to note that music as an interest is *relatively* niche compared to things like sports, film & such. Which is to say that there are probably TV Themes that could make a good shout though I would be just chipping in with my age if I could decide the best suggestion there.

 

Or it could just be something like Macarena idk.

 

Edit: Also there are a lot of extremely famous classical compositions that make the best shout for 'everyone has heard this but doesn't necessarily know what it's called'

Edited by Dircadirca

Or it could just be something like Macarena idk.

 

“Macarena” has had surprisingly little endurance beyond the 1990s. The most enduring hits of the 1990s (in order) are the aforementioned “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, “Iris”, “Wonderwall” and “Under The Bridge”. “Under The Bridge” is interesting because it was never a Top 10 hit in the UK. “Iris” originally flopped in the UK (#50) and then was a modest hit the following year on re-release but kept threatening to resurge through the 2000s before finally doing so spectacularly in 2011, not even a higher charting ropey Ronan Keating cover could knock it down apparently.

 

There's an argument for “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers which definitely has had enduring popularity..

 

“Mr. Brightside” by The Killers has been on Top Songs United Kingdom the longest, at 258 weeks straight.

 

But if you wanted something universal across the world then it's probably “Happy Birthday”, which is the most licensed song of all-time, just ahead of “White Christmas”.

“Macarena” has had surprisingly little endurance beyond the 1990s.

Oh that doesn't surprise me but we're talking about how known songs are which doesn't necessarily correlate to how much people go out of their way to listen to them, very different situations!

 

I'll also say regarding Mr. Brightside that it has very little notable traction outside of countries where English is the only official language. It never even cracks the global top 100 on Spotify because UK/US/AU/CA/NZ/IE can only do so much.

If we are talking "pop music" exclusively rather than anything ever composed to music (national anthems etc...) it has to be Bohemian Rhapsody, at least in the UK. Of course younger audiences are aware of it, it is one of the most streamed songs released pre-2000. I would be astonished if I were to play it to someone and they didn't recognise it.

 

Yes AIWFCIY is ubiquitous too but so are a few of the Christmas songs. Bit of a tangent but there was actually a discussion last week about how the most popular of all the regular Christmas favourites seems to change slowly over time, an older person's first answer to "name a Christmas song" might not be Mariah Carey even if they are aware of it and in 20 years time it might not be the average teenagers first answer either.

I wish the most known Christmas song was “I Was Born On Christmas Day” by Saint Etienne, but I'm content to hear it catch me off guard at some point whilst Christmas shopping and think 'never thought I'd hear that outside my iTunes (or BBC 6Music) ever again'. :lol:

Just looked up Macarena to see how well regarded it really is now and surprisingly the original version has now far eclipsed the remix that was the UK/US hit single, by 156m:34m, and their top listeners are from Spanish speaking countries Mexico, Chile and Spain - clearly they never considered it as much as a novelty song as we did.

 

Then there was also a Tyga interpolation of the song not too long ago that was also big in Spanish speaking countries but not much of a US hit and did nothing here.

No.... and AIWFCIY is not even the most famous Christmas song - it may have been for a time that, but fashions come and go - and it's popularity seems to be waning a little now. For years the worlds best selling single was 'White Christmas', so that was probably the most famous Christmas song for many years - and for me, Last Christmas is starting to take that mantle.

 

So it's a big no from me.

Edited by Dante77

I genuinely have no idea what the most famous song ever is or even how you'd go about finding out. You'd maybe have to do some sort of poll across a wide demographic of people, present them with a list of famous songs and ask them which ones they know?

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