Cover Songs / Standards

The Great American Songbook – Top 10 Most Covered Songs

randydafoe24 Comments

Based on statistics gathered from Secondhandsongs.com in March 2024.

  1. “Summertime” Covered 2773 times1. The music was written by George Gershwin with original lyrics written by DuBose Heyward and a credit given to Ira Gershwin. It was from the opera Porgy and Bess. The first recorded version was in 1935 by Abbie Mitchell under the direction of George Gershwin but not released until 1974. The first recorded version released was by Helen Jepson in 1935.
  2. “Over the Rainbow” Covered 1768 times. The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. The recording for the movie The Wizard of Oz was October 7, 1938 by Judy Garland, the movie came out in August of 1939. The first record was released by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra – Vocal Refrain by Bea Wain, on March 1, 1939. Judy Garland’s recording was with Victor Young and His Orchestra, released in September of 1939, and was of course the hit song most will remember.
  3. “Body and Soul” Covered 1553 times. The music was written by Johnny Green and the lyrics by Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, and Robert Sour. The first recording was by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra – Vocal Refrain by Pat O’Malley released in 1930.
  4. “All the Things You Are” Covered 1551 times. The music was written by Jerome Kern and the lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. The first recording release was by Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra – Vocal Chorus by Stanley Worth. It was written for the 1939 musical Very Warm for May.
  5. “My Funny Valentine” Covered 1489 times. The music was written by Richard Rodgers and the lyrics were written by Lorenz Hart. The first recording was by Hal McIntyre and His Orchestra – Vocal Refrain by Ruth Gaylor in December of 1944 and released in January 1945. The first vocal performance was by Mitzi Green for the stage musical Babes in Arms in 1937.
  6. “Stardust” Covered 1202 times. The music was written by Hoagy Carmichael. First released as an instrumental by Hoagy Carmichael and His Pals in 1928. Included in this number there are about 220 plus Vocal versions, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish, first released by Chester Leighton & His Sophomores – Vocal Chorus by Chester Leighton in 1931.
  7. “Night and Day” Covered 1072 times. The music and lyric’s written by Cole Porter. The first recording was by Leo Reisman and His Orchestra – Vocal Refrain by Fred Astaire, released in 1933. First performed by Fred Astaire and Claire Luce for the stage production of Gay Divorce. It was Ginger Rogers with Fred Astaire for the 1934 film version, which was retitled The Gay Divorcee.
  8. “Sweet Georgia Brown” Covered 1052 times. The music and words written by Ben Bernie, Kenneth Casey and Maceo Pinkard, first released in 1925 by Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra. There about 220 plus Vocal versions the first by Ethel Waters and Her Ebony Four.
  9. “Moon River” Covered 1048 times. The music was written by Henry Mancini and lyrics written by Johnny Mercer. The first recording was in 1960 and released in 1961 by Henry Mancini and His Orchestra and Chorus. The first theatrical release was by Audrey Hepburn October 5, 1961. Her recording was not released until 1993.
  10. ‘Georgia on My Mind” Covered 1031 times. The music was written by Hoagy Carmichael and the lyrics were written by Stuart Gorrell. First released by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra in 1930.

  1. I am aware that other sources quote numbers of covers of various songs, and there has been special attention paid to “Summertime”. I believe the latest from the Guinness Book (2017) for 67,591 cover versions. I use Secondhandsongs.com to provide a more level look at verified covers from a database of over 145,000 songs. I like to think it’s a more balanced or “apples-to-apples” comparison. Therefore they cannot commit the resources to investigate just one song. Albeit their data shows it at #1 regardless of the number of versions. ↩︎

24 thoughts on “The Great American Songbook – Top 10 Most Covered Songs”

  1. Wow, 1935 recording. Great find! “Summertime” is a longtime favourite. I’ll always remember many years ago, walking into a hall where a coffee house rehearsal was going on, and seeing a young woman of about 14 or 15 singing it while playing piano. While performing she adopted such a mature, expressive and bluesy tone that made the song sound magnificent, like the best kind of rendition. As soon as she finished playing, she went back to being awkward and seeming to lack confidence. What a transformation while performing.

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    • Let me continue now before I was rudely interupted…by getting sleepy…these are flat out standards of course. Thinking like an American…it’s no telling how much money these songs have generated through the years.

      I had no clue that Georgia on my Mind was that old. For my ears it’s a Ray Charles song. The top song suprises me…yes it’s a classic but I wouldn’t have guessed that many. Hoagy Carmichael deserves to be on here…Keith Richards tells a story of Hoagy Carmichael calling him after Keith did a version of The Nearness of You that he really liked right before he died…he really liked it.

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      • Welcome back Max, how dare you sleep! Id never thought about the money making end but the royalties must be astronomical! I know it’s sometimes hard to imagine earlier versions of some songs. I thought Hoagy was a pretty down to earth guy despite his fame. I hadn’t heard that story, great stuff!

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      • Irving Berlin also…those songs had to bring in a lot.
        Keith said he treasured that call…he couldn’t believe he called him. He said someone gave Hoagie a tape of Keith doing it with a certain piano style and he said that is exactly the way he wrote it.

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      • I just checked and he did it with the Stones as late as 2003… oh have you ever heard Keith’s version…he was just fooling with it…but his version of Please Please Me? It’s just a short snippet but it was the way that John originally wrote it…very slow.

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  4. Another interesting list, Randy. I don’t know all of these songs, based on their titles. It’s hard to believe “Summertime” by Abbie Mitchell is the same song Janis Joplin covered in 1968! Ray Charles’ rendition of “Georgia On My Mind” is one of my all-time favorites!

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  5. Nice! I didn’t know ‘all the things you are’, but the others are indeed classics. Gershwin, Porter, they wrote some timeless music. Good thing! If you have a GREAT American Songbook, you don’t want too many Disco Ducks or Muskrat Loves in there.

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