Rolling Stone unveiled its 250 greatest songs of the 21st century this week, and it sparked a lot of conversation. Rolling Stone's Executive Music Editor Christian Hoard joins "CBS Mornings Plus" breaks down how the list came together.

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Rolling Stone has released its list of the 250 greatest songs of the 21st century, featuring a diverse range of artists and genres. The top five songs are Missy Elliott's 'Get Your Freak On,' Taylor Swift's 'All Too Well,' Beyoncé's 'Crazy in Love,' The White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army,' and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Maps.'

The selection process involved Rolling Stone's music staff submitting their top 50 songs, which were then debated and narrowed down. The list aims to reflect significant musical impact across genres and regions, though some viewers noted limited representation for country music. The choices, especially the top spot, have generated lively debate among music fans and critics.

Rolling Stone's 'Greatest Songs of the 21st Century' list

Yesterday, CBS Mornings unveiled Rolling Stone's 250 Greatest Songs of the Century. So far, we're 25 years in, and people have thoughts. By the way, since the reveal, the list has been getting hot, hot, hot attention, both online and even here in our studio. Apparently, in our newsroom yesterday, people were really divided over Taylor Swift. We'll get into that. I wasn't there, but I heard. A quick refresher on the top five. Taylor Swift's all too well. My personal favorite, Beyonce's Crazy in Love, which totally deserves to be there. The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's Maps. I had a whole Maps phase. I listened to that song a gazillion times. And claiming the top spot, Missy Elliott's Get Your Freak On. So to help shine some light on how these picks came together, we are joined by Rolling Stone's executive music editor, Christian Ford. And how could we do this without our resident music enthusiasts? Mr. Dutier. Dutier in the house. I got a lot to say. Go. We're ready to go. You take it away, Black, go ahead. So we were talking in the green room, right? And I was like, look, on whether the side of the bed I get up on, I think Crazy in Love is a great choice for as high as it is. It could be number one in my book. On Monday, it could be number one. On Tuesday, I would have number one, Mr. Brightside by The Killers. I just think that those two songs define, I think, so far the 21st century. You can play those songs at a wedding full of old people, young people, our two-year-olds. Everybody's going to dance to those two songs. I wouldn't run out to The Killers like I went to Beyonce. You what? Yeah, no. No, no, everyone's violent. Giselle is not too bad. OK, so but Christian, let's ask you, how did this even come together? And how loud did the room get when you guys were arguing at all? Yeah, so this list came from the music staff at Rolling Stone. We have a brilliant team of writers and editors. The process was everyone on the team submitted their top 50 songs of the 21st century. That gave us a list of like 500, 600 songs to choose from. And then we got in the room and we argued. We had a bunch of meetings. We whittled the list down from there. And we were arguing up until we posted it on Wednesday morning. Wow. Is there video of you guys arguing? Yeah. That would be great. We should have made some. Yeah, I wish we had. Yeah. It was kind of like this, though, honestly. Just debates. I have a lot of thoughts on here. It seems like, I mean, it's songs, not pop songs. So I'm actually surprised that country music doesn't have a stronger showing. What's that about? We tried to make a list that reflected the staff and reflected the way we cover music, which is to try and cover everything that's kind of big and making an impact. The list is all over the map. Literally, there are songs from France, from Puerto Rico, from Spain. And it hits genres from Afro beats to Latin pop to hip hop. And so we tried to make sure country had a moment on there, too. I'm actually curious who you think we missed country-wise. I think Tim McGraw, I think Red Ragtop, 2002, is a great song. It has some social significance, as well. It's a really amazing tune. Stapleton's on there, which I love Tennessee whiskey. It's probably from the top 10. Tennessee. It was in the late 70s, though. I know. That's too low. So I agree. I think it's such an eclectic mix. And I have my qualms. Like Mark Anthony, I'm not seeing anywhere near the top. But we'll discuss that later. But talk about Get Your Freak On. Why that? Because that, I think, was a surprise. Even Gayle was like, when I announced here's the number one, Gayle was like, OK. Everyone was like, we love Missy. We love Missy Elliott. Yeah. We'll go back to 2001, when this song came out. I can remember what it was like to hear that song on the radio. It was a hit. It was a banger. It's a song about freedom and free expression. And it sounded like nothing else on pop radio at the time. It was this incredibly innovative song, had elements of Bhangra on it. It sounded like nothing at the time. It still sounds like nothing on pop radio now. So it's this mix of, I think, awesomeness and innovation that we felt really good about. And you say this, that it's not the most popular song. It's not the one that got the most airplay. It's one that is culturally significant and musically incredible. You got All Too Well on there. You got not the 10-minute version. How did you decide which version of All Too Well? And one was Love Story. Why not Love Story? Exactly. Why not Love Story? Love Story's on the list. All Too Well. All Too Well. All Too Well, I have no quibbles with. It's a great thing. It's a great tune. It's a nice song. I couldn't pull All Too Well out of a lineup. Come on. I had to play it. I had to play it. And I was like, oh, that song. All Too Well is interesting. He has her scarf still today. Is that a lyric? We were talking about Adele, the highest song for Adele. Oh, I know. And we were like, what's wrong with the key? At 19? The tears. I've cried to that song. That is totally. A lot of the hottest debates we had internally was like, which song is highest by which artist? And we actually had that debate on Adele. It was hard to pick the highest Adele song. It was hard to pick the highest Beyonce song, too. Yes. Yeah. Can't go wrong with Crazy in the House. Christian Horde, coming out, defending the choice. Really appreciate it. Thank you very much. And Vlad, thank you for the backup on the musical expertise. And that was today's By the Way.

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