Best Big Band Songs of All Time

Last Updated on 29 November 2023

The following list is the Official Definitive List of the 300 best Big Band songs of all time.

I found 7 different ranked lists online of “best Big Band songs of all time,” and pulled them all into Excel and merged them all to get this definitive compilation. See my Methodology page for the research process that was used, including links to all 7 lists that were averaged.

Sing, Sing, Sing
In the Mood
Begin the Beguine
Chattanooga Choo Choo
String of Pearls
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
Mack the Knife
Take the “A” Train
I’ll Never Smile Again
One O’Clock Jump
White Christmas
Sentimental Journey
At the Woodchopper’s Ball
Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
Flying Home
Stardust
On the Sunny Side of the Street
Tenderly
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Bei Mir Bist Du Schön
I’ll Be Seeing You
Perdido
Skyliner
A Night in Tunisia
Summertime
Over the Rainbow
Stompin’ at the Savoy
Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)
Tangerine
Tuxedo Junction
God Bless the Child
I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo
(Hep-Hep!) The Jumpin’ Jive
Opus One
I Can’t Get Started
All of Me
Moonglow
Song of India
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
Why Don’t You Do Right?
Sometimes I’m Happy
Cherokee (Indian Love Song)
The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me
Night and Day
Where or When
The Man I Love
Satin Doll
Don’t Be That Way
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Deep Purple
Frenesi
September Song
You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want to Do It)
Solitude
Rum and Coca-Cola
Body and Soul
Oh, Lady Be Good!
It Might As Well Be Spring
Nature Boy
Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)
Moonlight Serenade
I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Green Eyes
The Trolley Song
Get Your Kicks on Route 66
Manteca
Let’s Get Away from It All
Straighten Up and Fly Right
Yes Indeed!
Marie
Jumpin’ at the Woodside
Nuages
Glow-Worm
Black & Tan Fantasy
Sinatra & Pied Pipers (1940)
If I Loved You
One for My Baby and One More for the Road
Oh! Look at Me Now
Skylark
Sweet Lorraine
All or Nothing at All
All the Things You Are
It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe
Artistry in Rhythm
Pennsylvania 6-5000
And the Angels Sing
Candy
Taking a Chance on Love
Perfidia
Choo-Choo Ch’Boogie
As Time Goes By
I’ve Heard That Song Before
Rhapsody in Blue
I’ve Got a Heart Full of Rhythm
A Tisket, a Tasket
Fools Rush in (Where Angels Fear to Tread)
It’s Only a Paper Moon
Stormy Monday Blues
Stormy Weather
You Make Me Feel So Young
Cheek to Cheek
Lady Day
Solo Flight
Long Ago and Far Away
The Last Time I Saw Paris
Celery Stalks at Midnight
I’m in the Mood for Love
Minnie the Moocher
King Porter Stomp
Don’t Git Sassy
Dancing in the Dark
Caravan
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
Invitation
The Gypsy
Personality
It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie
Sophisticated Lady
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Swinging on a Star
With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair
The House of Blue Lights
Salt Peanuts
With a Song in My Heart
The Way You Look Tonight
Moonlight in Vermont
The Mole
Jump Jive an’ Wail
Paper Doll
Tabu
Mood Indigo
The Man With a Horn
This Nearly Was Mine
These Foolish Things
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Tampico
You Always Hurt the One You Love
The White Cliffs of Dover
Going to Chicago
Besame Mucho
Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)
When It’s Sleepytime Down South
They Can’t Take That Away from Me
If I Didn’t Care
I’ll Walk Alone
Polka Dots & Moonbeams
Jukebox Saturday Night
Strange Fruit
April in Paris
Loch Lomond
My Reverie
Sent for You Yesterday and Here You Come Today
Brazil
Love Walked In
Cotton Tail
Rockin’ in Rhythm
I Cover the Waterfront
Our Love is Here to Stay
Not So Quiet, Please
After You’ve Gone
I’ll Get By
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Little John Special
For Me and My Gal
Under an Orange-Colored Sky
Any Old Time
My Blue Heaven
Early Autumn
Heaven Can Wait
Some Enchanted Evening
Prisoner of Love
Eager Beaver
Ramona
If I Had You
Let Me Off Uptown
Harbour Lights
Sunrise Serenade
Don’t Take Your Love From Me
The Song Is You
The Maid with the Flaccid Air
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
Night Train
The Coffee Song
Dear Old Southland
Getting Some Fun Out of Life
Sand in My Shoes
My Funny Valentine
Flamingo
Basin Street Blues
Leap Frog
Across the Alley From the Alamo
Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?)
Jeep’s Blues
The World Is Waiting for a Sunrise
Intermission Riff
Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet
The Northwest Passage
Daddy
Diga Diga Doo
I’ve Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good
Let’s Dance
Four Brothers
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Thanks for the Memories
Honeysuckle Rose
I Didn’t Know What Time It Is
Laura
You’ll Never Know
East of the Sun
I Got Rhythm
Accentuate the Positive
Tippin’ In
American Patrol
Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?
Corner Pocket
I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen
I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning
Avalon
Splanky
All God’s Chillin’ Got Rhythm
What a Difference a Day Made
Get on Board, Little Children
Flat Foot Floogie
Harlem Nocturne
Rock Me to Sleep
Sunday Kind of Love
Harlem Congo
Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart
In the Still of the Night
It Had to Be You
Jingle Jangle Jingle
Snowfall
We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)
Tempo and Swing
The Music Goes Round and Round
The Blues (Part 1 & Part 2)
You Go to My Head
Jungle Drums
Fascinating Rhythm
This Year’s Kisses
Pennsylvania Polka
Just a Gigolo
You’ll Never Walk Alone
Rusty Dusty Blues
I’m Glad There Is You
Lover Come Back to Me
Are You Hep to the Jive?
Darn That Dream
Cross Your Heart
He’s Funny That Way
I Get Along Without You Very Well
Ya Gotta Try
My Heart Stood Still
It All Comes Back to Me Now
It Could Happen to You
Drum Boogie
Without a Song
Blue Skies
I Remember You
Jersey Bounce
Pompton Turnpike
Big Noise From Winnetka
Groovin’ High
Puttin’ on the Ritz
Five By Five
Lullaby of Birdland
Mr. Five By Five
Steppin’ Out
After Hours
Autumn In New York
Blue Moon
I Had The Craziest Dream
I Got a Right to Sing the Blues
Lester Leaps In
More Than You Know
There’ll Come a Time (Wait And See)
That’s the Way It Is
The Man from Mars
Exactly Like You
Younger Than Springtime
Yours (Quierme Mucho)
I Love You for Sentimental Reasons
Cow Cow Boogie
I Only Have Eyes for You
Relaxin’ At The Touro
Singin’ the Blues
Hit the Road to Dreamland
New San Antonio Rose
Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
Jump for Joy
Serenade of the Bells
St. James Infirmary
Bizet Has His Day
The Very Thought of You
Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
Time on My Hands
Well, Git It!
You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To