A number of these songs land very high on just about every all-time song list (and with good reason): “What’s Going On,” “Imagine” and “Stairway to Heaven.” I heard the live version of “Maggot Brain” on the One Nation Under a Groove EP before the original album cut, and in some ways, I’m more fond of the former. Still, I thought it was only fair to allow a song from the album proper to make the 1978 list. Picking a song off of David Bowie’s Hunky Dory is a bit difficult because I feel the songs all go together so well, and the individual track don’t stand out in quite the same way. Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” would have been a lock on this list a few years back, and in fact it was my all-time number one for a while. Maybe I listened to it too much?
10. Marvin Gaye- What’s Going On (Listen)
9. Al Green- Tired of Being Alone (Listen)
8. John Lennon- Imagine (Listen)
7. Funkadelic- Maggot Brain (Listen)
6. David Bowie- Quicksand (Listen)
5. Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells a Story (Listen)
4. Led Zeppelin- Stairway to Heaven (Listen)
3. Joni Mitchell- River (Listen)
2. The Who- Baba O’Riley (Listen)
1. The Rolling Stones- Wild Horses (Listen)
See Also: Top 10 Albums of 1971
