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Top Karaokes of All Time
A little over a week ago, the US Karaoke Alliance released their Top 500 Karaoke Songs of All Time. Using information gathered over the last couple of years from over 1000 karaoke shows at over 30 bars, the USKA made this rather substantial list that ranges from classics like Johnny Cash´s Folsom Prison Blues (#21) to more recent sensations like Estelle´s American Boy (#313). Here´s a little review of what the USKA considers the Top 10 and what Red Karaoke thinks.
According to the USKA, Picture, a duet and the first country effort ever released by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow in 2001, is the number one song people are singing in karaoke bars all over the US. While I admit I´ve never been able to escape any karaoke venue without hearing some couple croon this sappy, country *ahem* hit, let´s just say I wouldn´t make it my number one. And Picture, with only 13 recordings of the single, wouldn´t be Red Karaoke´s number one karaoke either. Still, the fact is the song was Kid ´s biggest hit before All Summer Long dominated the charts last summer, and it still remains Crow´s second biggest US hit to date behind All I Wanna Do (a song I´d much rather hear). With a CMA award and several crowning glories on the Billboard Charts, whether I like it or not, I guess it makes some kind of sense that Picture is the most popular song people are choosing to torture unsuspecting audiences with.
Second place was also won by a country song, American Idol winner Carrie Underwood´s massive hit, Before he cheats. The single, more or less one of the best glorifications of revenge on a cheating boyfriend in existence, is Underwood´s most successful release to date as the third longest running top single of the Billboard Hot 100 and holding the CMA´s crown as 2007 Single of the Year. And while the lyrics alone make this a fun song to sing along with a group of your closest gal pals under the lights of a karaoke stage, it´s also a great showcase for anyone lucky enough to have vocal talent like Carrie Underwood.
Oh oh, those Summer Nights. Yes, the third ranking top karaoke song of the USA belongs to a duet I am only just a bit happier to hear than Picture. I really don´t have much against the popular Summer Nights, originally performed in the musical Grease by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. It´s a lighthearted group song (yay for group karaokes!), making it an obvious choice for karaoke parties, though it´s popularity on Red Karaoke doesn´t scream the third best karaoke in the US with only 17 recordings.
The #4 spot on the USKA´s Top 500 finally goes to a song I really feel deserves a top spot. Journey´s signature power ballad Don´t Stop believing has got to be one of the all time greatest karaoke songs. Maybe I´m biased since hearing this song causes me to become absorbed in nostalgic memories of my old favorite karaoke bar just walking distance from my university and my closest group of buddies bellowing into the microphone with stupid happy grins on their faces. But it just can´t be denied that by the time anyone has gotten through the first lyric ¨Just a small town girl…¨, no matter how awful their voice is, the whole crowd is belting out every word of this 80´s hit. Here on Red Karaoke, Don´t stop believing has been recorded 25 times, making it more popular on our site than any of the other top 10 karaokes selected by USKA, showing just what good taste our Red Karaoke users have.
Black Velvet, another song you can always expect to hear in any venue with a microphone up for grabs, is #5 on the list. The 1990 single is, in truth, a really fantastic and equally challenging song. While failed by most who attempt it in a karaoke bar, Black Velvet can be a true pleasure to hear when a person actually owns the sexy style of Alannah Myles. It´s been tried only 13 times on Red Karaoke, with a few successes well worth listening to.
Sixth place goes to the Redneck anthem of all time, known and loved by anyone who knows how to use ¨ya´ll¨ in a sentence, Garth Brook´s signature country hit, Friends in low places. There must be more karaoke bars in the South, because I can´t think of any other reason so many country songs are in the Top 10 of the Top Karaoke Songs of all time, and I sure can´t imagine walking into a karaoke club in New York City expecting to hear a bunch of suits singing along to ¨I´ve got friends in low places, where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away…¨
The USKA switches it up a little with their 7th most popular karaoke song, rock/reggae single Santeria by Sublime. I´m a little surprised by this choice, only recorded here on Red Karaoke 5 times in total. Not that I don´t love the song, or the equally entertaining video in the style of a western. It´s just that, I´ve been to my fair share of karaoke parties and clubs, and I am pretty sure the only time I ever heard Santeria was when some bleach blonde surfer type with a thousand yard stare and a way of uttering every sentence as slowly as humanly possible, then ending it with Dude, happened to wander into the karaoke bar looking for a lighter… needless to say, not very often. Maybe there are lots of karaoke bars on the west coast too?
Okay, the last three spots of the top 10 were allotted to songs almost as deserving as Don´t Stop Believing. Finally I feel like the USKA´s polling of karaoke venues around the nation gave me some results I could wrap my head around. Number 8 is Neil Diamond´s Sweet Caroline, another one of those karaokes that, no matter how grating the singer´s voice is, gets the whole audience clapping and singing in unison, and kinda makes me wish my name was Caroline too.
The number 9 top karaoke spot belongs to Love Shack, the B-52´s biggest hit and another one of my personal favorites. But it´s not just a popular karaoke tune. Love Shack was named as one of the 365 Songs of the Century in 2001 and as one of Rolling Stone´s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
And last but not least, the 10th top karaoke song of all time, according to the USKA of course, is the rock anthem I love Rock and Roll, made oh so famous by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. It also happens to be a hit on Red Karaoke, as the second most popular of all the aforementioned karaokes with 20 total renditions (if you include the recordings under Britney Spears´ cover). The single I love Rock and Roll also won a spot on Rolling Stone´s 500 Greatest, along with a spot on Billboard´s Greatest. Another fun, well deserving karaoke of the Top 10.
So there you have the top 10 karaokes of all time, as collected by the US Karaoke Alliance based on people like you singing in clubs and bars all over the nation. Is your list any different? Mine sure would´ve been. Tell us what you would´ve chosen or share your own renditions of these top 10, here in Red Karaoke´s forum.
