They were promoting a fan vote for the top 500 songs in the history of the genre. They do this every year around this time, as they do the countdown for the 4th of july weekend. It's a bit of a pointless exercise, as the top 10+ songs are always the same (maybe a different order) with Led Zepplin's Stairway To Heaven being the top song, always. This got me thinking......if a jazz radio station were to do something similar and have listeners vote for the top 500 songs in jazz history, would the results be as predictable? Is there a consensus among jazz connoisseurs as to what the 'best' jazz song of all time is? (Or even a top 10?)

From my fairly outsiders perspective my guess would be no, as it seems artists (and perhaps albums) are the bigger deal in jazz than individual songs (even standards), but perhaps I'm just too outside. 

Which one is the favorite can be determined by which one gets recorded the most and played the most, and for my money I would say Monk's "Round Midnight' is probably the most popular song in jazz. Other top contenders would include "All the Things You Are" and "My Funny Valentine".

Of the more modern set, Ornette's "Lonely Woman" does pretty well.