Lennon and McCartney top songwriters poll

Lennon and McCartney have topped a poll of the world’s best-ever songwriters.

MusicRadar ran the survey as part of their Songwriting Week, celebrating the “most crucial – and potentially the most lucrative – music-making discipline of them all.”

 And while the Beatles icons hitting the number one position might be regarded as a foregone conclusion, things get less predictable further down the list.

 Bob Dylan is second, followed by Queen, Neil Young and Kurt Cobain. But Oasis’ Noel Gallagher is at number eight and Radiohead are at nine, ahead of David Bowie (10), Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (12) and Joni Mitchell (15).

MusicRadar say of Lennon and McCartney: “The remarkable thing isn’t how well their songs have aged – it’s that they haven’t aged at all. Born of collaboration and ending as competition, their catalogue is the indisputable and indispensable songbook of the modern era; a staggering collection of compositions that, one by one, changed, challenged and defined the times with a beauty that still feels endless.”

 Fellow Beatle George Harrison is placed at number 27 in the poll, which features 46 artists in total including James Hetfield at 17, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at 21, Pete Townsend at 34, Chuck Berry at 43, Don Henley and Glenn Frey at 47, and Jeff Lynne at 49.

MusicRadar’s top 15 songwriters

1. John Lennon & Paul McCartney

2. Bob Dylan

3. Queen

4. Neil Young

5. Kurt Cobain

6. Bruce Springsteen

7. Roger Waters & David Gilmour

8. Noel Gallagher

9. Radiohead

10. David Bowie

11. Paul Simon

12. Jimmy Page & Robert Plant

13. Brian Wilson

14. Morrissey & Johnny Marr

15. Joni Mitchell                 πηγή: Classic rock magazine