Rumor has it from some of the Echo Nest gang that went to Stockholm last week for new employee orientation that there is some sort of mandatory Karaoke requirement. Now for some, I’m sure this is great fun, but for others, like myself, not so much. I thought it would be best to prepare for my own mandatory Karaoke by finding some very short songs in order to minimize my time on stage. To do this I went through a database of the top Billboard songs of the last 60 years to find the shortest songs. Here are some of the top shortest popular songs of the last 60 years:
| Length(Seconds) | Artist/Title | Date |
| 76 | Anna Kendrick Cups | 2013-01-14 |
| 78 | Zac Efron What I’ve Been Looking For (Reprise) | 2006-02-13 |
| 83 | Buchanan & Goodman Santa And The Satellite (Part I) | 1957-12-25 |
| 92 | Audrey Dear Elvis (Page 1) | 1956-09-24 |
| 96 | Fats Domino Whole Lotta Loving | 1958-11-19 |
| 98 | Glee Cast Isn’t She Lovely | 2011-05-30 |
| 99 | Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs Stay | 1960-10-05 |
| 101 | Swinging Blue Jeans, The Hippy Hippy Shake | 1964-03-09 |
| 103 | Peter, Paul & Mary Settle Down (Goin’ Down That Highway) | 1963-01-21 |
| 105 | Four Tops Ain’t That Love | 1965-08-02 |
| 105 | Fats Domino Shu Rah | 1961-03-22 |
| 105 | Chuck Berry Let It Rock | 1960-02-03 |
| 107 | Lucas Gabreel & Ashley Tisdale Bop To The Top | 2006-02-13 |
| 107 | Beach Boys, The Little Deuce Coupe | 1963-08-19 |
| 107 | Clyde McPhatter Lover Please | 1962-03-05 |
| 108 | Ventures, The Hawaii Five-O | 1969-03-10 |
| 110 | Glee Cast Sing! | 2010-11-01 |
| 110 | Glee Cast It’s My Life / Confessions Part II | 2009-10-26 |
| 110 | Ricky Nelson If You Can’t Rock Me | 1963-04-22 |
So it looks like my minimum possible karaoke pain will be 76 seconds if I go with Anna Kendrick’s Cups. Certainly better than Gun’s in Roses November Rain at 8:57 seconds or Don Mclean’s American Pie at 6:49. But better yet, I can go with Hawaii Five-O . That song is not only short, but has no vocals. With that song I’m sure to be pitch perfect!
Music Machinery 
#1 by Brian Whitman (@bwhitman) on May 10, 2014 - 8:18 am
I was hoping we could do Siberian Khatru together :(
#2 by Travis Bickle on May 10, 2014 - 8:20 am
You’re gonna’ karaoke Hawaii Five-0 ???
#3 by davedesro99 on May 10, 2014 - 9:11 am
Paul, you’d be great on The Hippy Hippy Shake. And it’d be over in under two minutes.
#4 by fran on May 10, 2014 - 2:26 pm
Maybe “Cups” isn’t a good option. You will have to play the jugglish drums… .
#5 by streetcarts on May 13, 2014 - 3:26 am
As a fellow digital music analyst, I recommend screwing the data-centric approach and thinking of the most screeching vocals you can — no pitch required! You’d be surprised how many karaoke lists internationally include “God Save The Queen”, for example.
#6 by Ray on May 14, 2014 - 3:02 pm
I happened to notice one glowing omission, Shel Silverstein’s “26 second song”