"Rolling Stone" put together a list of the 100 greatest debut singles. They did NOT count solo debuts by already well-known artists, but singles by new bands that happened to include established artists WERE fair game.
They also stuck to MAINSTREAM releases . . . so they gave artists a pass if they had previously released local or promotional songs that no one had heard and were not available commercially.
Here's the Top 15:
1. ". . . Baby One More Time", Britney Spears
2. "I Want You Back", The Jackson 5
3. "Anarchy in the U.K.", The Sex Pistols
4. "Sucker M.C.'s / It's Like That", Run-DMC
5. "Maybellene", Chuck Berry
6. "Radio Free Europe", R.E.M.
7. "Good Times Bad Times", Led Zeppelin
8. "That's All Right", Elvis Presley
9. "Blitzkrieg Bop", The Ramones
10. "Hand in Glove", The Smiths
11. "Tim McGraw", Taylor Swift
12. "Old Town Road", Lil Nas X
13. "White Riot", The Clash
14. "Through the Wire", Kanye West
15. "Rock Lobster", The B-52's
Some other notable songs include:
16. "Creep", Radiohead
21. "Love Me Do", The Beatles
25. "Suzie Q", Creedence Clearwater Revival
33. "Alive", Pearl Jam
26. "Take It Easy", Eagles
43. "Everybody", Madonna
50. "My Sharona", The Knack
56. "MMMBop", Hanson
65. "My Church", Maren Morris
66. "Ocean Eyes", Billie Eilish
85. "Undone - The Sweater Song", Weezer
90. "It's Raining Men", The Weather Girls
100. "Achy Breaky Heart", Billy Ray Cyrus
RollingStone.com has the Top 100. Here's the direct link to the Top 10.
