Planet Rock - Top 500 - Interesting listeners votes

[rwillett]

I'm listening to Planet Rock's top 500 songs of all time. Very interesting as some songs would be far higher up my top 500, Chuck Berry "Johhny B Goode" for one and whilst I like Halestorm, somewhat surprised it's in the top 500 at all. Led Zepp - No quarter is also way down the list. 

 

At the time of writing we're down to number 420 or so.

 

I'm going to have a think and before Thursday predict my top 10. Not my top 10, but what I think will be the top 10.

Rob

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

The major problem with these Top <insert number here> things is that they're so subjective.  

 

Thing is, you're almost definitely going to get the same turgid 50-year old stuff because that's pretty much the listening demographic is of the station.  Add to this that the demographic in question are generally somewhat blinkered and unwilling to step out of their comfort zone, hence the same old song choices.  Believe me, I know plenty if people who would prefer to listen to Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple rather than even considering anything from this decade.

 

Mark my words.  The top 20 will be peppered with Stairway To Heaven.  Freebird.  Smoke on the Water, Whole Lotta Rosie, Sweet Child of Mine, Bohemian Rhapsody, Alright Now, Enter Sandman, Ace of Spades.

[tauzero]

The ongoing chart: https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/the-500-greatest-rock-songs-of-all-time

 

Up (or down) to number 368 as I type.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I stopped listening to that station in covid times 😷.

I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘White Rabbit ‘ is in there , which is as dull as the prime minister 🤢🤮

Does Paul Ross still advertise Mac Donald’s cheeseburgers 🍔 ?? 

 

[SteveXFR]

There will be nothing post 1995 in the top 20. Not because music before then was better but because the average listener is old and suspicious of anything modern. 

[Supernaut]

Knowing Planet Rock, it will be Cadillac Three, Black Stone Cherry, Gun and Joe Bonamassa... plus some obscure 80s hair metal. 

[EdLib-3]

There's bound to be some Motley Crue and Whitesnake coming up too. Both Planet Rock playlist staples 😜

[steantval]

9 hours ago, tauzero said:

The ongoing chart: https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/the-500-greatest-rock-songs-of-all-time

 

Up (or down) to number 368 as I type.

Yuk, that dreadful Joan Jett shite at number 390, that is one of my most hated songs, the radio goes off every time it comes on. 🤮

[rwillett]

Just crunched the first 256 songs.

 

The average year is 1983 (so far)

 

The band with the most is Queen with 13,

 

 

 

followed by Black Sabbath with 8

 

 

and AC/DC with 8

 

 

Rob

[Rosie C]

On 05/01/2026 at 14:34, rwillett said:

whilst I like Halestorm, somewhat surprised it's in the top 500 at all.

 

I used to think the same about Classic FM's 'Hall of Fame' 300. Then I joined a Facebook group for choir members and as the Hall of Fame voting came around there they were - deciding which obscure piece they would all vote for this year and congratulating themselves at last year's success at getting an obscure piece in as a new entry at 180 or something.

 

[rwillett]

And here's the list to date based on tracks per year. As previously suggested the 70's and 80's dominate

 

 

and by decade

 

 

Rob

 

Edited yesterday at 12:09 by rwillett

[rwillett]

On 06/01/2026 at 12:17, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘White Rabbit ‘ is in there , which is as dull as the prime minister 🤢🤮

Its at 189 according to Darren... I thought you'd want to know.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

1 hour ago, rwillett said:

Its at 189 according to Darren... I thought you'd want to know.

That is very sad 😂 

I assume the doors light my fire ,Alice cooper schools out/ elected ,Aerosmith dream on , Thin Lizzy whisky in the jar etc are in there somewhere.

 

So, Paul Ross’s  Mac Donald’s cheeseburgers ..still advertised every 10 mins ?

[rwillett]

So far:

 

Alice Cooper - Schools out - No

Aerosmith - Dream On - No

Thin Lizzy has five entries but not Whisky in the Jar (which they hated)

 

 

No adverts for MacDonalds though

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by rwillett

[rwillett]

An updated list based on yesterdays plays.

 

By year

 

 

This is the new one, slightly more in the 1990's than before.

 

 

Queen still has the most entries with 15

 

 

followed by Black Sabbath with 12

 

 

and AC/DC with 11

 

 

and Led Zepp with 10

 

 

The 1970's and 1980's still dominate

 

Rob

[SteveXFR]

They really don't like anything modern. 

It would be interesting to see what percentage of songs post 2000 are by much older bands playing old sounding music rather than modern bands playing modern music. 

[BigRedX]

What would class as a modern band playing modern rock music?

[SteveXFR]

15 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

What would class as a modern band playing modern rock music?

 

Idles, Meryl Streek, Nova Twins, Wet Leg and even older (post 2000) bands like Skindred, Frank Turner, Royal Blood, Bloc Party, Alkaline Trio and Deftones. 

Edited 4 hours ago by SteveXFR

[rwillett]

30 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

They really don't like anything modern. 

It would be interesting to see what percentage of songs post 2000 are by much older bands playing old sounding music rather than modern bands playing modern music. 

 

 

Not sure how Massive Wagons have a song in 2026, but thats the date Planet Rock have put down. Most of these are "newer" than 1970's and 1980's but I am no expert

 

Rob

[SteveXFR]

1 minute ago, rwillett said:

 

 

Not sure how Massive Wagons have a song in 2026, but thats the date Planet Rock have put down. Most of these are "newer" than 1970's and 1980's but I am no expert

 

Rob

 

They're not exactly modern sounding bands. They're mostly old bands playing old music or younger bands playing something sounding like classic rock aimed very much at older audiences.

There's nothing breaking away from the standard rock formula. 

Id have at least expected some Idles and Royal Blood and maybe Frank Turner or Bloc Party.

[BigRedX]

12 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Id have at least expected some Idles and Royal Blood and maybe Frank Turner or Bloc Party.

 

I think they are all too "Indie" for your typical Planet Rock audience.

 

For me "modern rock" would be a band like Bring Me The Horizon who use guitar riffs and electronica, or a more modern version of Young Gods.

[SteveXFR]

Bring Me The Horizon were metalcore but now play pop songs with metal guitar tones. They're not really a rock band. 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, rwillett said:

An updated list based on yesterdays plays.

 

By year

 

 

This is the new one, slightly more in the 1990's than before.

 

 

Queen still has the most entries with 15

 

 

followed by Black Sabbath with 12

 

 

and AC/DC with 11

 

 

and Led Zepp with 10

 

 

The 1970's and 1980's still dominate

 

Rob

Sabbath have made an early assault on Queen’s lead this morning, with Symptom of the Universe, although I see Queen hanging onto the ‘win’ at the end. That said, expect a late surge in LZ songs, Stairway & Kashmir will be near the top, with Whole Lotta Love along the way. I reckon the top ten will take a long time to play, as I reckon Stairway, Kashmir, Bo Rhap, Freebird, Comfortably Numb and Smoke on the Water will all be there, none of which are short. There will also be at least one AC/DC track in there, so who will join them? Maybe The Who will start to get some late love, with Won’t Get Fooled being another top 10 epic.

[NancyJohnson]

It would be interesting to actually know how many people voted for each song, considering there's 'thousands of YOU, our esteemed listeners' voting; also one person, one vote?

 

Even if 10,000 people were remotely bothered enough to vote, potentially some of the tunes here would be getting single digit votes.

 

Also, by observation, there's an awful lot of ballads and questionable song choices there, too.  That Tenacious D scores higher than Black Hole Sun, Seven Seas of Rhye, Little Wing etc. is quite telling how absolute pants these lists are.

[Lozz196]

Agree, one of my completely rational hatreds is Tenacious D