INTRODUCTION

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Welcome to the iPod Improvement Project!

Should you choose to join (okay, "read"), you'll be adding up to 100 new songs to your iPod, which will hopefully make it better.

Here's the idea: I've sifted through the Billboard Top 100 (end-of-year) chart for each of the last 50 years, and picked out the very best 100 songs. All you have to do is go to your favorite *legal* site and go download them. I've gone to great lengths NOT to include "Seasons In The Sun," Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Macarena," "Achey Breaky Heart," and "Hollaback Girl," since I expect you already have these.

I've broken my list up into five year "eras" and given each a theme (just for some historical context), but oddly, the songs don't seem care what I named the era.

To qualify for my list, songs need to have appeared on the Billboard POP chart for the YEAR. This means lots of great songs you can think of don't qualify. Here's where I've found the charts: http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php (my sincerest thanks to Pedro, for maintaining this list - there's no way I could make do any of this without his chart).

The songs are not all "Pop". Many are R&B, Rock, Punk, Country, etc. However, they MUST be on the pop chart to qualify. The songs are not ranked; I'm not going to compare a song from 1963 to one from 2005 - go make your own list if you want that.

All the other qualifications are subjective. But what I looked for are the best blending of melody, lyrics, rhythm, structure, "hooks" and creativity.

Why these criteria? Because songs that are both great and a huge hit are special. They fought their way through so much garbage and demanded to be heard. In other words, before you can "stand the test of time," you had to stand out in the first place.

What are my qualifications? Err, none. I do have deep love for great songs and a "near" impartiality over genre. I did take classes in college on songwriting, and I have written a few songs in my life (none any good, sadly).

If you're under 30, and you haven't delved much into 60s and 70s music, or if you're over 40, and you stopped paying attention some time in the 90s, this is a chance to seek out great new (and old) music for your collection.

There are better songs than these (because too many of you were buying copies of "I Got You Babe," apparently), but this list is not about that eleventh track on the original vinyl of The Velvet Underground you have in your attic. It's about HITS that happen to also be great songs. Now shut up and start downloading!

May your iPod once again smell as fresh as your first download.

-Talf

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