'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'' Tops BMI List

12/14/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(12/14/99, 4 p.m. ET) - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" has topped performing-rights organization BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century. The list reflects the most-played songs on American radio and television.

The song, written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector and Cynthia Weil, and recorded by the Righteous Brothers, recently passed the historic 8 millionth airplay performance in history. If played continually, with the average length of a song at three minutes, 1 million airplay performances calculates to 5.7 years of continuous airplay. That means the 8 million plays of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" comes out to more than 45 years of continuous back-to-back airplay.

Pulling in the second, third, and fourth places with 7 million plays each are "Never My Love," written by Donald and Richard Addrisi; "Yesterday," written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; and "Stand By Me," penned by Ben E. King, Jerry Lieber, and Mike Stoller.

The rest of the top 10 songs includes 6 million plays by each of the following; ""Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio; Otis Redding and Steve Cropper's "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay"; Paul Simon's "Mrs. Robinson"; "Baby I Need Your Loving" by legendary Motown writing team Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland; "Rhythm Of The Rain," penned by John Gummoe; and "Georgia On My Mind," by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell.

Tied for the most songs appearing on the list are Lennon and Simon, with four songs each. Lennon's include "Yesterday," "Michelle," and "Let It Be," which were all co-written with McCartney, and "Imagine." Simon's "Mrs. Robinson" is followed by "The Sound Of Silence," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Scarborough Fair," which was co-written with Art Garfunkel.

Most of the songs on the list became hits several times, having been covered by various artists over the years. As performers of the Top 100 list, the Beatles and Paul Simon scored the highest with four original versions of songs. Coming in with three spots on the list were the Association with "Never My Love," "Cherish," and "Windy"; the Drifters with "On Broadway," "Save The Last Dance For Me" and "Up On The Roof"; Elton John with "Your Song," "Daniel," and "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"; and Roy Orbison with "Oh Pretty Woman," "Crying," and "Blue Bayou."

No plans are in the works to put out a compilation of the Top 100 Songs of the Century; a BMI spokesperson said "just getting clearances and acquiring all of the rights would be a bear of a job." However, she added, "but, you never say never."

-- Sue Falco, New York

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