How The List Was Made
There were many things that we considered when building this definitive playlist of the the top 100 funk songs ever.
The first and most important of the criteria was that they had to be great songs. There is no point in compiling a 'best of' list with mediocre songs!
Next we considered how well the songs fared when they were released and if relevant, on subsequent re-releases. Many of the songs you'll find here were chart hits.
When we say charts we are often referring to the Billboard R&B music chart of the day. This chart underwent a series of name changes over the years. We refer to the same chart whether it was named 'Best Selling Soul Singles', 'Hot Soul Singles' or 'Hot Black Singles'.
We also considered how well they fared on the main Billboard chart. Some songs may not have been number 1's on the 'Soul Singles' chart but charted highly on the main Billboard chart. Many of the songs in this chart made an impact on both charts.
Factored into this is how the songs did if re-released. Some songs do better in another year or when covered by another artist.
Also important in this list is how the songs are viewed today. We all know of songs that sounded okay in the year they were released but sound naff 20 years later. We have tried to avoid songs without lasting appeal.
A lot of the songs here continue to be played by radio stations, DJ's, at club nights and on television. Even non funk-fans will be able to recognize many of these songs.
We also consider any 'new lives' the song has had. Sometimes a song becomes very popular once exposed to more people perhaps when it is part of a movie soundtrack or due to an advert placement.
Or the song may have been sampled many times by hip-hop artists and artists of other genres. The impact a song has had on the future is also an important factor in this list.
So there you have a glimpse of how the decisions for this list were made. There are some really good songs not on here, but I think you'll agree that most of the choices are top songs! Hope you enjoy the list!