Number ten is Mel Torme's 1944 hit, 'The Christmas song.' Written by Torme when he was just 19, the song has since been covered by many renowned artists including Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and Michel Buble. Torme wrote over 250 songs during his career but ‘The Christmas Song’ was his greatest financial success, estimated earnings being $19 million.
Number nine is the 1964 track by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees, ‘Oh Pretty Woman.’ The song had great success when released, but 25 years later a major Hollywood movie took its name from the song. The Julia Roberts film ‘Pretty Woman’ clearly contributed to the songs lasting success. Before his death in 2012, Bill Dees told a reporter that he was still earning 100 to 200 thousand dollars per year in Royalties off the song. It has estimated earnings of roughly $19.75 million to date.
Number eight is Sting’s 1983 hit ‘Every Breath You Take.’ One of the biggest hits of that year, it spent eight weeks at number one on the Billboard top 100. The songs popularity was boosted greatly in 1997 when Puff Daddy covered the song as a tribute to the late rapper, Notorious BIG. It has estimated earnings of $20.5 million.
Number seven is Haven Gillespie and Fred J Coots’ 1983 song ‘Santa Clause is Coming to Town.’ The day after its debut 100, 000 people purchased copies of the sheet music. It has been covered by a variety of artists since it was written including The Jackson 5, Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey and Justin Beiber. It has estimated earnings of 25 million dollars to date.
Number six is the 1961 song ‘Stand By Me,’ written by Ben E King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. This song was successful in its own right at the time of its release, but its popularity was boosted by 1886 movie of the same name. Its estimated earnings to date are roughly 27 million dollars.
Number five is the 1955 song by Alex North and Hy Zaret, ‘Unchained melody.’ Originally written as the theme song for a prison movie called ‘Unchained,’ the song later become one of the most frequently covered songs of all time, and since 1955 ‘Unchained Melody’ has been covered by more than 650 different artists. This songs popularity was boosted when The Righteous Brothers’ 1965 version was used in the Oscar winning 1990 film ‘Ghost.’ Its estimated earnings are 27.5 million dollars.
Number four is ‘Yesterday,’ the 1965 song by Paul McCartney. Despite being written entirely by Paul, the song is credited to ‘Lennon-McCartney’ because of an agreement between the two early in their careers. It went on to be the second most played song in the history of radio, and since its release the song has been covered by countless different musicians. Its estimated earnings are $30 million.
Number three is the 1964 song, ‘you’ve lost that Lovin’ Feelin’’ written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Phil Specter. Like number five on the list, this songs popularity received a boost after it was covered by The Righteous Brothers. The songs popularity was also increased when it was used as part of the soundtrack to the 1986 movie, ‘Top Gun.’ It has become the most played song on radio, and has been covered by thousands of musicians around the world. Estimated earnings from ‘you’ve lost that Lovin’ Feelin’’ are about 32 million dollars.
Number two is the 1940 song by Irving Berlin, ‘White Christmas.’ Bing Crosby’s version of the song is one of the best selling pieces of music in history with over 100 million copies sold world-wide. The song has been covered by countless other artists, and has estimated earnings of $36 million.
The number one richest song of all time is of course, ‘Happy Birthday.’ The song was written by school teachers known as the Hill sisters, in 1893. The Warner Chappell music holding company paid $15 million for the rights to the song in 1990, and today it earns $2 million a year in royalties. The current copyright holder is the Warner Music Group, owned by a corporate conglomerate called Access Industries and its estimated earnings to date are $50 million.