This is my always-unapologetically-subjective list of the top 100 Canadian songs of all time. Who am I? Just a guy who's listened to a lot of music over the last 30 or 40 years. You can leave a comment here or you can email me.

If you came here looking for the book Top 100 Canadian Singles by Bob Mersereau, click on the link, right -------->

The list (links point to Amazon products or Youtube vids):

  1. New Orleans is Sinking - The Tragically Hip
  2. Heart Of Gold - Neil Young
  3. American Woman – The Guess Who
  4. Takin' Care Of Business – BTO.
  5. Nautical Disaster - the Hip
  6. Hasn't Hit Me Yet – Blue Rodeo
  7. Old Man - Neil Young. Canada’s greatest songwriter, on only a slightly higher echelon than Gord Downie; arguably.
  8. Tom Sawyer - Rush.
  9. Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot
  10. We’re here for a Good time- Trooper. (So have a good time, the sun can’t shine everyday.... And the sun is shinin’ in this crazy city.)
  11. Locked In The Trunk Of A Car (the Hip). A song that had nothing at all to do with Paul Bernardo.
  12. 4am – Our Lady Peace. Everybody has a favorite Our Lady Peace song.
  13. Nothing To Lose – Billy Talent. The best song ever about a kid in high school who gets picked on and keeps a notebook.
  14. Wheat Kings - the Hip.
  15. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
  16. Hand In My Pocket – Alanis Morrissette
  17. Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia
  18. Apparitions – Matthew Good Band
  19. Life – OLP
  20. Fifty-Mission Cap –TTH
  21. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet – BTO
  22. Nobody's Home – Avril Lavigne.
  23. Red Flag – Billy Talent
  24. After The Gold Rush – Neil
  25. Blow At High Dough Tragically Hip
  26. You Oughta Know – Alanis Morrissette
  27. Could Have Been a Lady – April Wine
  28. Load Me Up – Matthew Good Band
  29. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature – The Guess Who
  30. I will give you Everything - Skydiggers
  31. Naveed – OLP. Before they went pop.
  32. Starseed - OLP. I never realized before that these two titles rhyme.
  33. At The Hundredth Meridian – Tragically Hip
  34. One Gun – 5440
  35. Share The Land - The Guess Who
  36. Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald – Gord Lightfoot
  37. Sunday Morning – k-os
  38. All Good Things (Come To An End) – Nelly Furtado
  39. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) – Neil Young
  40. Up On Cripple Creek – The Band
  41. Lager & Ale – Kim Mitchell. How come no one else has a song about beer and beer only?
  42. Home for a Rest - Spirit of the West
  43. Casual Viewin' – 5440
  44. All I Really Want – Alanis
  45. Complicated – Avril
  46. Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep
  47. My life is a Stereo -The Watchmen - the Watchmen*
  48. Springtime In Vienna – Gord! ….and the Hip
  49. Bad Side of the Moon - April Wine
  50. Boys in the Bright White Sportscar – Trooper
  51. Cubically Contained – the Headstones
  52. Bud the Spud – Stompin’ Tom
  53. Bobcaygeon – the Hip
  54. Wake Up – Arcade Fire
  55. Hard Road – Sam Roberts
  56. Use It – New Pornographers
  57. Smile and Wave - Headstones
  58. If I Had $1,000,000 - Barenaked Ladies
  59. Painted Ladies - Ian Thomas Band
  60. Underwhelmed – Sloan
  61. These Eyes - The Guess Who
  62. Everything Is Automatic – Matthew Good Band
  63. Big League - Tom Cochrane and Red Rider
  64. Sugar Mountain - Neil Young
  65. Help I'm Alive -Metric
  66. If I Had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn
  67. Helpless – Neil Young
  68. 38 Years Old - Hip
  69. Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
  70. (Make Me Do) Anything You Want – Foot in Coldwater
  71. Oh What a Feeling! - Crowbar
  72. Goin’ Right Outta my head – Junkhouse
  73. Ahead By A Century
  74. The Spirit Of Radio - Rush
  75. Hey You - BTO
  76. Signs - Five Man Electrical Band
  77. Fallen Leaves – Billy Talent
  78. When The Night Feels My Song - Bedouin Soundclash
  79. Strange Days – Matthew Good Band
  80. Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
  81. Fireworks – The Hip
  82. Fly At Night – Chilliwack
  83. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) – Arcade Fire
  84. I Like To Rock – April Wine
  85. Roller – April Wine
  86. Hollowpoint Sniper Hyperbole - USS
  87. This Suffering - Billy Talent
  88. Symbolistic White Walls – Matthew Good Band
  89. New World Man – Rush
  90. Raise a Little Hell – Trooper
  91. Things I Do For Money – Northern Pikes
  92. Suzanne – Leonard Cohen
  93. Spinning Wheel – Blood Sweat and Tears
  94. One Thing - Finger Eleven
  95. Patio Lanterns - Kim Mitchell
  96. Wavin' Flag - K'Naan
  97. Seasons In The Sun - Terry Jacks
  98. Life Is A Highway - Tom Cochrane
  99. Sleeping Sickness - City and Colour
  100. Surfin’ on Heroin - The Forgotten Rebels

Feedback? Email me!

*Thanks to Sammy Kohn (drummer of the Watchmen) for writing and lamenting my initial negligence of this talented band.

A bit of background & other stuff
This list was a little lark of mine in 2007 that has become (for me, Jim Huinink) a case-in-point of proper SEO. After throwing it up online (see the orginal version's awesome UE) I sent a note to Toronto Mike (famous for "blogging up a storm" over the last several years), suggesting he come up with a list that was not just one guy's opinion and he appealed to friends and readers then came up with another list, ostensively "definitive" although still very subjective. We now battle for number one and two in Google, for the keyphrase "top 100 Canadian songs", "best canadian songs of all time" and a few others. People write me often. You can comment here or you can email me.

If you want to know more about how I did that or enquire about my SEO services, email me at jim@strongwords.ca.

This list contains pretty much all singles. I would be remiss if I did not mention "99% of us is Failure" by Matthew Good, from the album Hospital Music, which has to be one of the most heart-breaking lyrics and vocals of all time. (So this list of top Canadian songs is not obstinately subjective.)

Lists of best Canadian songs
For those creating their own lists, mp3 compilations, etc., you might also want to consult the track list from Oh What a Feeling (a series of box sets, originally put out to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Juno Awards). It contains a lot of nuggets by people like Burton Cummings, The Poppy Family, Gino Vanelli, David Wilcox and many others whom I simply had to neglect (and hey, I kind of like Burton Cummings). A list of best Canadian music should probably be longer than 100 songs.

If you missed the earlier link let me repoint you to Toronto Mike's list.

And one last thing: a list of great Canadians songs should never contain anything by Celine Dion. (She belongs to the world.) (And they can have her.) I'm not sure whether my conscience bothers me in leaving off or would bother me worse in including anything by Bryan Adams, Nickelback, Sarah McLachlan and Corey Hart.