PEAS: JIM COOPER/AP IMAGES. LORDE: PAUL R. GIUNTA/GETTY IMAGES. ROSS: R
ICHARD CORKERY/NY DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES. RONSO
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(4): STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE. SIGN: COURTESY OF ARISTA. O’CONNOR: COURTESY OF CHRYSALIS. WARREN: VALERIE MACON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES.94
Say You, Say Me
1985
LIONEL RICHIE95
My Sharona 1979
THE KNACK
“Everything goes together to
make this iconic riff: these
crazy guitar tones, the
drums are super boxy,
and having come out of
the warm ’70s sound, it stood
out so much,” says Ronson.
“It’s one of the greatest one-
hit wonders ever.”96
All Night Long (All
Night) 198
LIONEL RICHIE97
Nothing Compares
2 U 1990
SINÉAD O’CONNOR
“Everything
about it is pop
perfection,” says
Warren. “I usually like the
version by the artist whowrote it, but you know what?
She outdid [Prince]. It’s all
in the performance, in those
words and that melody and
what it makes you feel. You
don’t need all the bells and
whistles.”98
I Swear 1994
ALL-4-ONE99
Family Affair 2001
MARY J. BLIGE100
Waiting for a
Girl Like You
1981
FOREIGNER
Foreigner’s lush ballad (co-
written by Ronson’s stepdad,
guitarist Mick Jones)
zoomed to No. 2,
then stayed there
for 10 weeks. “He tries to say
he wrote it for my mom, and
she’s like, ‘Dude, it came out
three years before we met,’ ”
says Ronson with a laugh. To
date, only one other song has
peaked at No. 2 for that long:
Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” in
2002 and 2003.
Methodology Billboard Hot 100 Songs and Artists rankings are based The Greatest of All-Time 60th Anniversary
on weekly performance on the Hot 100 (from its inception on Aug. 4, 1958, through July 21, 2018). Songs are ranked
based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots
earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account
for chart turnover rates during various periods. Artists are ranked based on a formula blending performance, as
outlined above, of all of their Hot 100 chart entries.In Ace of Base’s 1994 hit “The Sign,”
vocalists Jenny and Linn Berggren sing
about rebounding from a bad relationship so
dramatically that their lives are practically
cleaved in two: pre-breakup and post-breakup,
before and after they saw the sign. The song
itself had a similar bisecting effect on music
history. “The Sign” led pop into a new era,
putting Sweden on the map as a credible
hitmaking hub, pushing electronic production
closer to the forefront of popular music and
helping ignite a collaborative approach to
songwriting that has become
an industry standard.
According to writer John
Seabrook, whose The
Song Machine chronicles
the history of the modern
pop songwriting system,
“The Sign” crucially linked
three people: Denniz Pop,
the track’s producer and
the co-founder of Sweden’s
legendary Cheiron Studios;
Clive Davis, who broke
Ace of Base stateside
and helped make “The Sign”
a chart-topper here; and Clive Calder, the Jive
Records founder who later sent some of his
acts, like Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears,
to Stockholm to work with Denniz Pop’s crew.
“A Swedish hit factory for U.S. and British
artists had never happened before,” says
Seabrook. “ ‘The Sign’ really was the sign that
that could happen.”
One of Denniz Pop’s protégés at Cheiron
was Max Martin. “When ‘The Sign’ was being
produced, Max was a gopher, getting coffee,”
says Seabrook. Martin would go on to write and
produce 22 No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 —the third-most in history after Paul McCartney
and John Lennon — and his career trajectory
would have a ripple effect on the rest of pop.
While Martin himself isn’t credited on any of the
Hot 100’s all-time top 100 songs, his track record
as a hitmaker means that several artists on the
list (Usher, Bryan Adams, Adele) have worked
with him at some point. He’s also responsible for
career-defining smashes from Taylor Swift and
Katy Perry, respectively Nos. 24 and 25 on the list
of the 100 biggest artists of all time.
He’s present, too, through the writer-
producers he mentored, including fellow
Swede Shellback, who
co-produced Maroon 5’s
“Moves Like Jagger”
featuring Christina
Aguilera (No. 75 on the
songs list) and Dr. Luke,
who co-produced Kesha’s
“TiK ToK” (No. 61). In
the mid- to late 2000s,
Martin and Luke ushered
in a wave of guitar-driven
anthems for P!nk (No. 49
on the artists list) and Kelly
Clarkson (No. 81).
Listening to “The Sign” now, there’s nothing
that hints at what was to come — no musical
trail of bread crumbs connecting a goofy
quartet to today’s top pop stars. Denniz Pop
died in 1998 at the age of 35 from stomach
cancer; following a few more top 20 hits, Ace
of Base dropped off the Hot 100 that year. Yet
the impact of what “The Sign” set in motion is
undeniable. “That’s what hits often are,” says
Seabrook. “Certain combinations of people
come together almost accidentally and also at
the right time.” The Berggren sisters told us as
much: “The Sign” works in mysterious ways.‘Sign’ Of Times To Come
Ace of Base’s enigmatic tune, No. 65 on the list, signaled a collaborative and
Sweden-centric future for pop’s hitmakers BY NOLAN FEENEYFrequently Spotted In The Top Songs’ Titles...82 LINDA RONSTADT • 83 RICHARD MARX • 84 STARSHIP • 85 DESTINY’S CHILD • 86 KANYE WEST • 87 CÉLINE DION • 88 JAY-Z • 89 THE MIRACLES • 90 BOB SEGER • 91 FLEETWOOD MAC • 92 NEIL SEDAKA •
93 JUSTIN BIEBER • 94 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN • 95 THE POINTER SISTERS • 96 JOHN DENVER • 97 FOUR TOPS • 98 TONY ORLANDO & DAWN • 99 50 CENT • 100 THE 5th DIMENSIONSisters Linn (left) and
Jenny Berggren in
the video for Ace of
Base’s “The Sign.” FUNK/FUNKYAUGUST 4, 2018 WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 53LOVE9
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