Top 20 Songs 1997 _best_ May 2026

However, lurking at #2 was something alien: . Three blonde brothers aged 11, 14, and 16. A bubblegum pop song with a nonsensical chorus ("MMMBop, ba duba dop") and a guitar riff that sounded like a sugar rush. Critics called it a one-hit wonder. Instead, it became the most optimistic earworm of the decade.

Then there was the outlier. At #19 was —a mopey alt-rock ballad about suicide and regret. It was the anti-Puff. No samples. No swagger. Just a singer staring at his shoes. It had no business being next to Mase and Busta Rhymes, yet there it was. Battle 3: The Teenage Mutant Girl Power At #13 was "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls . The song that introduced "zig-a-zig-ah" to the English language. It was chaos: shouting, laughing, a rap break from Mel B, and a key change that felt like a sugar explosion. Record labels had spent years trying to manufacture girl groups. The Spice Girls accidentally did it while being openly rude to their managers.

But the real war was for #1. The top song of 1997 was —a rewritten ode to Princess Diana that sold 33 million copies. It was funereal, orchestral, and inescapable. top 20 songs 1997

If you look at the , you won’t find a theme. You’ll find a nervous breakdown. Here is the story of that year, told through five unlikely battles. Battle 1: The Diva vs. The Spaceman At #4 was "You Were Meant for Me" by Jewel —a folk singer with a $20 guitar and a poem about loneliness. At #3 was "Foolish Games" also by Jewel . Yes, she occupied two spots in the top five, beating everyone except Puff Daddy and Elton John. Her music was quiet, acoustic, and vulnerable. It was the sound of a girl in a coffee shop.

Tension: 1997 couldn’t decide if it wanted to mourn or dance. At #6 was "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans . A eulogy for The Notorious B.I.G. (murdered that March) set to the sample of The Police’s "Every Breath You Take." It was grief as a Billboard hit. However, lurking at #2 was something alien:

But Puff Daddy wasn’t done. At #8 was (sampling Grandmaster Flash). At #12 was "Mo Money Mo Problems" (sampling Diana Ross). Puff Daddy had figured out the cheat code of 1997: if you sample a beloved 80s song, you automatically win.

But 1997 also gave us the anti-Spice Girl. At #20 was . A rock song with the chorus: "I’m a bitch, I’m a lover, I’m a child, I’m a mother." Radio played it constantly, often bleeping the title while playing the song. The cognitive dissonance was perfect. Battle 4: The One-Hit Wonder Graveyard This is where the chart gets weird. #10: "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" by Paula Cole . A feminist anti-cowboy song with a kazoo solo. #14: "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind . A bouncy, doo-doo-doo-doo’d pop hit that was secretly about meth addiction. #16: "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Sheik . A song so quiet you had to turn your car stereo to max to hear it. Critics called it a one-hit wonder

1997 was the last year the music industry had no idea what to do. So it just played everything. And somehow, that was glorious.