If you had to define the 90s in music in a few songs, what would be the songs you would think of? "Smells Like Teen Spirit," is my first answer, "Hypnotize" my second, and "Semi-Charmed Life" my third. Now we all define our experiences differently, so mine won't be the same as yours.

But what if I asked you what are the most timeless songs of the 90s? Or the most timeless songs of the past decades since the 1950s? Well, the answer (sort of - you may have your own opinion of using Spotify plays per song for an entire population to be a skewed data set, but just go with it and enjoy) is here!

Poly-graph put together an amazingly interactive article which graphs songs and years and their success now. It's certainly no surprise to see that in many years, the biggest Billboard hits will not be timeless. I just heard Joe Jonas' "Levels" for the first time yesterday - that's on the Billboard chart and that song is TERRIBLE.

On the other end, there are songs that were not huge Billboard hits that have shown to be timeless. For example, "Juicy" by Biggie was #110 of 337 in 1994's Billboard ranking, yet it easily the most timeless from the year track today, racking up 25 million plays. "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls ended #57 of 314, yet it's the 3rd most played track of the 90s with almost 36 million plays!

Here are the top 3 songs from each decade (with the somewhat large caveat that Spotify doesn't have The Beatles and a few other bands):

00s:
Lose Yourself - Eminem,
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Numb - Linkin Park

90s:
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

80s:
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Billie Jean - MJ
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

70s:
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits

60s:
Paint It Black - Rolling Stones
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye

50s:
Jailhouse Rock - Elvis
I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry

Check this out, you'll go down the deep end, clicking and amazing yourself with all this stuff!

Shoutout to my buddy Parker for emailing me this link!