This comprehensive, long-gestating project of yours truly was sourced and complied from dozens and dozens of lists of the greatest songs, albums, and artists of all time. The sources ranged from noted magazines, websites, radio stations, industry polls, and aficionado surveys; an emphasis was placed on variety of perspective, genre, and time period. The end result is a wide-ranging cross-section of the well-known and the less-so, derived from as close to an objective consensus as possible (with a few editor's choices).
The idea is thus: that by working their way through these songs one by one, any eager and open-minded individual would come away with an understanding of the full scope of the art form of English-language popular song (20th century to present day), been exposed to the work of almost every major performer and songwriter, and enjoyed themselves immensely in the process. The "source" link under the description leads to a playlist with which you can begin to do just that.