Instrumental Top 20 Songs and Samples EVERY
Instrumental Top 20 Song since 1960 with music samples
Every instrumental
hit with samples, instrumental song links, brief information, instrumental
artist song discographies, etc., here, at the online music encyclopedia.
Choose an instrumental hits date range above. Find instrumental
songs!
In The Mood
was made popular in 1940 by Glenn Miller And His Orchestra.
Ernie Fields followed-up with more instrumental
remakes, but In The Mood was a top 20 one
hit wonder.
Instrumental
song The Theme From A Summer Place won the Grammy Award for Record Of The Year and
became the top
song of the year and the top song of the 1960s.
Percy Faith and others recorded various instrumental and vocal
versions.
Max Steiner wrote the song. The song was from the movie A
Summer Place.
The instrumental
song Tracy's Theme was the only top 20 song for Spencer Ross
and a one
hit wonder. He did not receive mentionable radio
airplay with any other solo song. Robert Ascher wrote the song.
Theme From The
Apartment was originally titled Jealous Lover. The name was
changed when the instrumental
song was used for the movie The Apartment. Charles Williams
wrote the song.
Never On Sunday
was an instrumental
from the movie Never On Sunday. It was a top 20 one
hit wonder. A few weeks earlier, Don Costa had a
top 20 near miss with another instrumental movie score, Theme
From The Unforgiven (The Need For Love).
Number 7 hit
instrumental
song Wheels was a top 20 one
hit wonder for The String-A-Longs. The group followed-up
with other instrumentals that received moderate airplay. Wheels
was written by: Richard Stephens, Jimmy Torres.
In 1960,
The Shadows had a UK number one instrumental
song with Apache. Jordan Ingmann brought the song to the US,
and reached number 2. He became a top 20 one
hit wonder, but followed up with many instrumentals
that received airplay, including Anna. Apache was written by
Jerry Lorden.
Instrumental
song Asia Minor was based on Piano Concerto in A Minor by Edvard
Grieg.
Kokomo was actually Jimmy Wisner, hiding his identity from other
classically trained musicians. Kokomo was a top 20 one
hit wonder, but Jimmy Wisner received some airplay
with other songs as Jimmy Wisner Trio also. The 1970s group Kokomo was unrelated.
Although instrumental
song Mexico was a top 20 one
hit wonder hit for Bob Moore, he received some airplay
in 1963
for another instrumental, Kentucky. Mexico was written by Boudleaux
Bryant.
This instrumental
version of Moon River won the Grammy
Award for Record Of The Year. The song was from the
album Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes, and from
the movie Breakfast At Tiffany's. The writers of this
song were: Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer.
Instrumental
song Percolator (Twist) was a top 20 one
hit wonder for Billy Joe And The Checkmates. He followed-up
with Rocky's Theme, which received slight play.
Billy Joe was actually Lew Bedell, a record producer, a New
York radio and TV star, and comedian. The Checkmates here are
not related to the Emile Ford Checkmates nor to The Checkmates,
Ltd. The writers of this song were: Lou Bideu, Ernie Freeman.
The Stripper
lived for years in Noxema commercials. The song was from the
album The Stripper And Other Fun Songs For The Family.
David Rose wrote the song.
We combed through thousands
of instrumental compilations and found a few that have authentic
instrumental top 20 hits.
Click on the pictures for more details.
15 big instrumentals of
the 1950s and 1960s. 12 of these were top 20 hits. The other
three were US top 40 hits.
18 big instrumentals of
the 1960s. 12 of these are original top 20 hits listed here.
The other 7 were all US top 30 hits.
18 pop-soul instrumental
songs of the 1960s. 15 of these are original top 20 hits listed
here. The other three were US top 40 hits.
18 big instrumentals of
the 1970s. 14 of these are original top 20 hits listed here.
