Best Folk Songs of All Time
25 essential folk songs of all time — Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake and Simon and Garfunkel, each linked to the album. Folk music's modern history is really two overlapping stories: the acoustic, protest-rooted revival of the early-to-mid 60s centred on Greenwich Village and its British equivalents, and the more introspective, confessional singer-songwriter movement that grew out of it through the 70s. What connects both eras is a preference for the voice and the song over production — these are records built to survive being played on a single guitar, which is exactly why so many of them have aged better than the more elaborately produced pop of the same decades.
Reviewed by Callum Ashworth, 247 Album Verdict · Last updated · How we rank
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1BD
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2S&
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3ND
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4JM
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5NY
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6LC
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7CS
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8JT
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9JB
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10FF
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11BI
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12TC
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13BD
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14JM
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15S&
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16ND
River Man
Harry Robinson's string arrangement around Drake's guitar — devastating.
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17JB
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18FC
Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
Sandy Denny's voice against Richard Thompson's guitar: the whole of English folk.
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19JD
Take Me Home, Country Roads
The state song West Virginia never officially voted for.
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20CS
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21S&
The Sound of Silence
Revisited: the electric version that nobody asked for and everyone needed.
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22JM
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23GL
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Six minutes of nautical ballad that earns every second.
Tap the artwork or "Listen" to find the track on Amazon Music; "Watch" opens a YouTube search; the song title or "Album" opens its album page. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases and sign-ups.
What's the difference between this list and the 1970s folk songs list?
This list spans folk's full modern history — the 1960s protest-era revival through 1970s singer-songwriter maturity and beyond — while our 1970s-specific list narrows in on what many critics consider the genre's creative peak decade.
Is folk music always acoustic?
Mostly, though not exclusively — some artists on this list, particularly from the later folk-rock crossover, incorporated electric instrumentation. The defining trait of folk is really its emphasis on melody, lyric and voice over dense production, not a strict instrumentation rule.
Why does Bob Dylan appear so often in folk discussions?
Dylan's early-1960s work is widely credited with elevating folk songwriting's lyrical ambition to a level closer to serious poetry, directly influencing nearly every songwriter who followed in the genre — his presence across folk canon lists reflects that influence rather than any single definitive song.