The 22 Greatest Pop Songwriters of All Time

Folk poets, Motown craftsmen, Swedish hit machines and confessional pianists, all judged on the songs they put on paper. Some of these names never sang a note on the charts.

1. 1
   Bob Dylan

   Nobel Prize-winning songwriter whose 1960s lyrics redefined what a pop song could say.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Kate Bush

   English songwriter who wrote Wuthering Heights as a teenager and Running Up That Hill.
   760pts
3. 3
   Lionel Richie

   Commodores and solo hitmaker who co-wrote We Are the World.
   669pts
4. 4
   Jimmy Webb

   Writer of Wichita Lineman and MacArthur Park, a songwriter's songwriter.
   598pts
5. 5
   Stevie Wonder

   Motown prodigy who wrote and produced a run of 1970s albums like Songs in the Key of Life.
   542pts
6. 6
   Leonard Cohen

   Poet-turned-singer whose Hallelujah has been covered hundreds of times.
   542pts
7. 7
   Neil Diamond

   Brill Building writer of I'm a Believer and Sweet Caroline.
   542pts
8. 8
   Paul McCartney

   Beatles co-writer behind Yesterday, Hey Jude and more charted songs than almost anyone.
   542pts
9. 9
   Brian Wilson

   Beach Boys leader who wrote and arranged Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations.
   478pts
10. 10
    Taylor Swift

    Writer or co-writer of every song on her albums, inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2026.
    478pts
11. 11
    Bruce Springsteen

    New Jersey storyteller behind Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A.
    478pts
12. 12
    Max Martin

    Swedish writer-producer with more US number-one singles than anyone except Lennon and McCartney.
    405pts
13. 13
    Joni Mitchell

    Canadian songwriter whose confessional 1971 album Blue set the template for personal pop.
    404pts
14. 14
    Prince

    Minneapolis multi-instrumentalist who wrote Purple Rain and hits for other artists under pseudonyms.
    404pts
15. 15
    Diane Warren

    Power-ballad specialist behind I Don't Want to Miss a Thing and Because You Loved Me.
    404pts
16. 16
    John Lennon

    Beatles co-founder who wrote Strawberry Fields Forever and, solo, Imagine.
    319pts
17. 17
    Paul Simon

    Writer of The Sound of Silence, Bridge over Troubled Water and the album Graceland.
    217pts
18. 18
    Dolly Parton

    Country star who wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same day, she says.
    217pts
19. 19
    Bill Withers

    Late-starting songwriter of Ain't No Sunshine, Lean on Me and Lovely Day.
    217pts
20. 20
    Smokey Robinson

    Motown writer of My Girl and The Tracks of My Tears, once called America's greatest living poet by Dylan.
    217pts
21. 21
    Carole King

    Brill Building hitmaker who went on to write and sing the record-setting Tapestry.
    0pts
22. 22
    Burt Bacharach

    Composer of sophisticated 1960s pop such as Walk On By and Close to You.
    0pts

Comments 1