Best Songs on Chuck Berry's Chuck Berry is on Top

Chuck Berry Is on Top is the third album by rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry. It was recorded between 1958 and 1959 in Chicago, Illinois, and released in July 1959 through Chess Records. With the exception of one track, "Blues for Hawaiians," all selections had been previously released on 45 rpm singles.

In his review of the album for AllMusic, Cub Koda described it as "almost a mini-greatest-hits package in and of itself" and the most perfectly realized collection of Berry's career. In 2008, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissued the album with St. Louis to Liverpool on an Ultradisc II Gold compact disc. In 2012, Hoodoo Records reissued the album with One Dozen Berrys on the same CD.

This album is one of the most important in rock history, as it contains "Johnny B. Goode," considered one of the most recognizable songs in the history of popular music. Credited as "the first rock and roll hit about rock and roll stardom," it has been recorded by many other artists and has received several honors and accolades. The song is ranked seventh on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (2021 update).

In The Guardian, Joe Queenan wrote that "Johnny B. Goode" is "probably the first song ever written about how much money a musician could make by playing the guitar," and argued that "no song in the history of rock 'n' roll more jubilantly celebrates the downmarket socioeconomic roots of the genre." In Billboard, Jason Lipshutz stated that the song was "the first rock-star origin story" and that it featured "a swagger and showmanship that had not yet invaded radio."

This album also contains "Roll Over Beethoven," another one of Berry's most famous songs.

Genre: Rock and Roll

Personnel:
Chuck Berry, vocals and guitars
Bo Diddley, electric guitar
Johnnie Johnson, Lafayette Leake, piano
Willie Dixon, bass
George Smith, bass

The Top Ten