Bob Dylan is often acclaimed as the greatest songwriter ever; it's no surprise that he's in the top two on Ranker's list of greatest songwriters. These are the best Bob Dylan songs ever, ranked in order of musical importance. Dylan wrote so many great songs that Top 10 lists don't do him any justices, so this long, crowdsourced ranking is the perfect format for a proper examination of his songwriting output. Even a Top 100 best Dylan songs list is going to leave someone's fave out.
Dylan started as a 'folk' musician but he branched out into many genres over the course of his fifty+ year career, giving us protest songs like "Blowin' in the Wind", surrealistic trips like "Mr. Tambourine Man", pure rock in "All Along the Watchtower", even spiritual songs like "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". This ranking allows you to compare classic-era tracks from his thin wild mercury burning 60s period alongside 70s classics from Blood On The Tracks and Desire next to the religious years and other 80s output which actually does have its moments before the later-period comebacks of Oh Mercy, Love And Theft, and Time Out Of Mind. He is truly an inspiring man (no surprise there's an extensive collection of Bob Dylan quotes) who spoke to and for generations through his songs.
President Obama recently awarded Mr. Dylan the Medal of Freedom as yet another a cap on a diverse career that included music, poetry, books (Tarantula = bad; Chronicles = amazing), and even an assortment of
movies starring Bob Dylan (watch at your own peril). With his prolific work and distinctive voice, it's no wonder he ranks so high on the list of
the best musicians of all time.
Over 2.0K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Bob Dylan Songs
1Bob Dylan
2Bob Dylan
3Bob Dylan
5Bob Dylan
7Bob Dylan
8Bob Dylan
11Bob Dylan
14Bob Dylan
16Bob Dylan
17Bob Dylan
18Bob Dylan
22Bob Dylan
26
29Bob Dylan
30Bob Dylan
