10 Best Pearl Jam Songs

Pearl Jam have sold over 60 million albums worldwide and are considered one of the most influential rock bands ever. With an enormous back-catalogue of music, we've put together a list of the 10 best Pearl Jam songs based on the highest listener-rated tracks on AOL's All Pearl Jam radio station.

'Corduroy'

'Corduroy' was never released as a single but still managed to reach No. 13 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. The song is about the pressures of fame, and the name refers to an incident where a replica of lead singer Eddie Vedder's brown corduroy jacket was put up for sale at $650. Vedder bought his original for $12.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Nothingman'

The song took only an hour for the band to write. Vedder said that he believes when he can finish a song that quickly he somehow captures the mood of the moment.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Last Kiss'

The song reached the No. 2 position on the Billboard Hot 100, which is Pearl Jam's highest position on the chart. According to bassist Jeff Ament it only took a couple thousand dollars to record the song and it was "the most minimalist recording" the band had ever done.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Even Flow'

All the members of the band have commented on the excessive number of takes 'Even Flow' took to record. For a great live version of the song, check out the 'Live At The Garden' DVD where guitarist Mike McCready does an improv within the song that lasts almost 5 minutes.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Given to Fly'

In 2005, Pearl Jam performed the song at a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert. The band transitioned into Led Zeppelin's 'Going To California' with Robert Plant joining in onstage.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Yellow Ledbetter'

The song is named after Eddie Vedder's friend Tim Ledbetter who received a "yellow letter" during the Gulf War and found out his brother had died. Vedder has said the song is anti-patriotic, though fans have a tough time deciphering the lyrics.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Jeremy'

The music video for this classic Pearl Jam song was made by photographer Chris Cuffaro at the insistence of Vedder. Being allowed to choose any song off the album 'Ten,' Cuffaro chose 'Jeremy' even though it was not meant to be a single. However, Pearl Jam's record label refused to fund the video so Cuffaro paid for it by taking out a loan, selling all of his furniture and half his guitar collection.

iTunes | Lyrics

'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town'

The length of the song's title is a response to Pearl Jam's realization that the majority of their songs have very short titles. Vedder said that the song took him 20 minutes to conceptualize and write.

iTunes | Lyrics

Pearl Jam Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

'Better Man'

Eddie Vedder wrote this song while he was in high school. The Pearl Jam song was originally recorded for the album 'Vs.,' but the band decided to take it off the album because of its commercial appeal. In fact, the band wanted to give the song away and have someone else sing the lyrics. Vedder eventually became comfortable enough with it to include on the following album, 'Vitalogy.'

iTunes | Lyrics

'Black'

The song was originally an instrumental demo known as 'E Ballad,' written by guitarist Stone Gossard. It was one of five songs circulating in 1991 in hopes to find a lead singer and drummer for Pearl Jam. Vedder caught wind of the tape, recorded three songs off the demo and the band immediately asked him to come to Seattle. On his way he wrote lyrics for 'E Ballad,' which would become 'Black.'

iTunes | Lyrics

Listen to All Pearl Jam Radio

Filed under: Best Songs, Top 10 Lists

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Completely agree. Pearl Jam is such a great band, and I believe Black is all about it. This might be a list, that will not get fans arguing, though there´s no Alive . . .

Posted at 9:26AM on Sep 17th 2009 by Diego Ardon

2. nothing from no code ??? really top ten radio hits maybe, though any pj is better then no pj. Keep on rocking in the free world

Posted at 11:54AM on Sep 22nd 2009 by jude herron

3. Top 5 PJ albums
5. Pearljam
4. Vs
3. Yield
2. Ten
1. Vitalogy

top ten songs
10 Rats
9 hail hail
8 grievance
7 Alive
6 given to fly
5 rearviewmirror
4 whipping
3 immortality
2 porch
1 evenflow

Posted at 11:53PM on Oct 7th 2009 by Ryan

4. As for the songs...Better Man is just not that great of a song. Sounds good on the radio and lyrics are good but PJ has so many songs that are much better, I wouldn't know where to begin. Last Kiss is top 10 if you're someone that only knows PJ's radio songs. Again, Courdoroy make the list due to commercial success but not because it's truly a top 10 PJ song...good tune though. I'm very pleased to see Nothingman and Given To Fly in the top 10, strongly agree. When the dust settles, I feel that Backspacer might not have any that get in the top 10 but pound for pound is one of their best albums period. For those not paying attention, PJ is officially THE Band of this era. They keep putting out great material. The last 2 albums are the best consecutive albums (combined) in PJ history.

Here's my top 5 Albums

1. Pearl Jam
2. Ten
3. Backspacer
4. Yield
5. No Code

Posted at 8:41AM on Oct 18th 2009 by Big Fan

5. About Better Man well.. once i saw them playing this song on a concert and it was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! all of the people in there sing along with him. was so damn perfect!
my top 5 musics:
1.better man
2.yellow ledbetter
3.soldier of love
4.man of the hour
5.black

Posted at 11:11AM on Oct 19th 2009 by Maria

6. i love you metallica

Posted at 12:53AM on Nov 10th 2009 by daniel

7. Top 5 PJ albums
5. Pearljam
4. binaural
3. VS
2. Ten
1. Vitalogy

top ten songs
10 nothing at the seems
9 black
8 garden
7 Alive
6 save you
5 do the evolution
4 whipping
3 spin the black circle
2 go
1 porch

Nothingman, Last Kiss, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town ... sucks

Posted at 11:47PM on Nov 24th 2009 by inge

8. how about "let me sleep"(it's christmas time) from "lost dogs" why? because the hollidays are here.

Posted at 12:57AM on Dec 2nd 2009 by mary novak

9. This list has to many songs that are "radio played". Some of the best have only been heard by the TRUE PJ fans:
10) Yellow Ledbetter
9) Even Flow
8) Smile
7) Blood
6) Porch
5) Do the evolution
4) Black
3) In my tree
2) Alive
1) Given to Fly - If you have ever seen this song in sign language you'll agree, it is the most eye-pleasing song you'll ever see/hear!!

Posted at 8:48AM on Dec 17th 2009 by Matt

10. when you stop and think about it, is there any such thing as a bad pearl jam top 10 list? didn't think so. lots of different opinions, thats the beauty of it.bottom line is this,one of the greatest bands ever!

Posted at 3:23AM on Jan 24th 2010 by greg

11. Can't Come Up With A Top Ten, But I'll Give You Ten Songs.

10.Green Disease
9.Lukin
8.Grievance
7.Rearviewmirror
6.In My Tree
5.Present Tense
4.Immortality
3.Given To Fly
2.Garden
1.Alive

Posted at 4:15PM on Jan 12th 2010 by d

12. Here's my Pearl Jam top ten:

10. Save You
9. Severed Hand
8. Black
7. Alive
6. Hail, Hail
5. Go
4. Got Some
3. Evenflow
2. In My Tree
1. Rearviewmirror

Posted at 8:16PM on Feb 3rd 2010 by William Ebert

13. My top 10;

10. Alive
9. Indifference
8. Even Flow
7. Ghost
6. Betterman
5. Just Breathe
4. Sad
3. Given to fly
2. State of love and trust
1. Black

Posted at 10:19AM on Feb 7th 2010 by Erik

14. Why the hell isn't Alive on the top ten? - it is hands down one of the best guitar solos of ALL TIME and its not even in the bands top ten best songs?!

Posted at 6:10PM on Apr 7th 2010 by Jack

15. I cant understand how coud no one have mentioned "Once" and "I am mine"! I also cannot understand how can "yellow ledbetter" and "elderly woman..",even "Better man" be better songs than "Even Flow"...My humble oppinion
6)Do the evolution
5)Last Kiss
4)Once
3)I am mine
2)Even flow
1)Black
1)Alive
Everything else comes after....

Posted at 8:52AM on Apr 20th 2010 by filip

16. and yeah,Jeremy of course,somewhere with Even flow...

Posted at 8:59AM on Apr 20th 2010 by filip

17. alive is the best PJ song - this list is wrong

Posted at 3:42PM on Jul 8th 2010 by einstein

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