Top 20 Songs 1997 -

Then, 1997 happened. And it was the strangest, most chaotic, most beautiful car crash of genres ever assembled on a single year-end chart.

If you look at the , you won’t find a theme. You’ll find a nervous breakdown. Here is the story of that year, told through five unlikely battles. Battle 1: The Diva vs. The Spaceman At #4 was "You Were Meant for Me" by Jewel —a folk singer with a $20 guitar and a poem about loneliness. At #3 was "Foolish Games" also by Jewel . Yes, she occupied two spots in the top five, beating everyone except Puff Daddy and Elton John. Her music was quiet, acoustic, and vulnerable. It was the sound of a girl in a coffee shop.

But the real war was for #1. The top song of 1997 was —a rewritten ode to Princess Diana that sold 33 million copies. It was funereal, orchestral, and inescapable.