Desert Island Songs of Asha Bhosle (Lifetime)
This survey was a culmination of the series of surveys on Asha Bhosle's songs. Before this, we conducted four period-specific surveys that covered her singing career in different periods, loosely organized by decades. Although it may appear to be a survey of those surveys, it was, in fact, a completely independent exercise. This lifetime survey posed the same question as asked in earlier surveys, but not limiting respondents to any particular period. The participants were asked to choose any Asha solo for a 'desert island' scenario. They were allowed to select a maximum of 50 songs (earlier period-specific surveys had a limit of 40 songs).
In a fitting turn of events, the top spot is occupied by three songs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s; composed by O P Nayyar, S D Burman, and R D Burman, respectively. The songs are aaiye meharabaa.N (Howrah Bridge), raat akelii hai (Jewel Thief), and dam maaro dam (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) - three era-defining songs. These songs were in the lists of 64% survey takers. These are closely followed by chain se hamako kabhii from Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye. Only seven songs were in the lists of 50% or more people.
The top favorite albums turn out to be Khayyam's Umraao Jaan and Pancham's Ijaazat, both having four songs each in the top-100 and both having a cumulative score of 64 selections each. Her non-film album Dil Padosi Hai also finds a place in top 10 albums at #10.
The best year for Asha according to our survey responders was 1958. Songs from this year were selected 209 times. The next best - 1966 - was almost 50 points behind at 157. But when it comes to decades, 1960s was clearly in the lead with 765 selections among 129 songs. 1950s follows with 107 songs gathering 440 selections.
Pancham, OPN, and SDB remain the composers who gave Asha the most significant amount of memorable songs. Pancham clearly leads the way with 336 total selections, followed by OPN at 230, and SDB at 174. Among lyricists, Majrooh is ahead by far with 277 selections, on the strength of an amazing span of work that includes associations with both SDB and RDB. Gulzar follows with 177 selections and Sahir, somewhat surprisingly, is the 3rd most popular lyricist with 152 selections. These scores are for the top 100 songs but given the normally higher selections for these songs, I suspect the ranking wouldn't change by much for the complete list.
Perhaps due to the increased maximum limit of 50 songs, and with most participants using the full allowance, a total of 453 songs were chosen as desert island songs. Out of these, 124 songs were chosen by only one participant.
So here we are. We have 450+ desert island songs of Asha, thanks to all those who took time to participate. The entire list is available for you to go through. We invite you to explore this diverse collection and celebrate the enduring legacy of Asha Bhosle's music.
Previous period-specific surveys
- Desert Island Songs of Asha Bhosle (Up to 1959)
- Desert Island Songs of Asha Bhosle (1960s)
- Desert Island Songs of Asha Bhosle (1970s)
- Desert Island Songs of Asha Bhosle (1980 onwards)
Highlights
- Total songs selected by survey participants: 453
- Songs selected by two or more participants: 329
- Songs getting only one vote each: 124
- Unique albums in selections: 326
Top 10 albums (based on cumulative total votes for songs of an album)
| Rank | Album | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ijaazat | 64 |
| 1 | Umrao Jaan | 64 |
| 3 | Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam | 48 |
| 4 | Mere Sanam | 44 |
| 5 | Caravan | 43 |
| 6 | Bandini | 39 |
| 7 | Jewel Thief | 38 |
| 8 | Howrah Bridge | 36 |
| 9 | Lajwanti | 32 |
| 10 | Dil Padosi Hai (Non-Film) | 31 |
Top 10 years (based on cumulative total votes for songs of a year)
| Rank | Year | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1958 | 209 |
| 2 | 1966 | 157 |
| 3 | 1971 | 134 |
| 4 | 1965 | 119 |
| 5 | 1973 | 117 |
| 6 | 1963 | 112 |
| 7 | 1987 | 99 |
| 8 | 1981 | 93 |
| 9 | 1960 | 78 |
| 10 | 1959 | 66 |
Number of songs selected by decade
| Decade | Songs Count (Total Selections) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1950s | 107 (440) |
| 2 | 1960s | 129 (765) |
| 3 | 1970s | 103 (506) |
| 4 | 1980s | 95 (416) |
| 5 | 1990s | 16 (53) |
| 6 | 2000s | 3 (3) |
Most favorite composers among Top-100 songs
| Rank | Composer | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | R D Burman | 336 |
| 2 | O P Nayyar | 230 |
| 3 | S D Burman | 174 |
| 4 | Khayyam | 103 |
| 5 | Ravi | 68 |
| 6 | Hemant Kumar | 59 |
| 7 | Jaidev | 50 |
| 8 | Madan Mohan | 42 |
| 9 | N Dutta | 31 |
| 10 | Roshan | 30 |
| 11 | C Ramchandra | 27 |
| 11 | Salil Chowdhury | 27 |
| 13 | Shankar-Jaikishan | 24 |
| 14 | Kalyanji-Anandji | 20 |
Most favorite lyricists among Top-100 songs
| Rank | Lyricist | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Majrooh | 277 |
| 2 | Gulzar | 171 |
| 3 | Sahir | 152 |
| 4 | Shailendra | 115 |
| 5 | Shakeel | 83 |
| 6 | S H Bihari | 76 |
| 7 | Anand Bakshi | 72 |
| 8 | Shahryar | 62 |
| 9 | Hasrat Jaipuri | 44 |
| 10 | Qamar Jalalabadi | 37 |
| 11 | Raja Mehdi Ali Khan | 35 |
Participants
Aditya Pant, Ajit Rajwade, Akanksha Sharma, Amarendra R Nargundkar, Arun Verma, Asad ur Rahman Kidwai, Ashok M Dhareshwar, Bharathi Ganapathi, Camaal, Gajendra Khanna, K S Shenoy, Ketan Dholakia, Medha, N Sridhar, Narsingh Dev Agnish, Neeru Malhotra, Nishant Shah, Nitin Shitole, Pavan Jha, Preetham Gopalaswamy, Rahul Nahire, Rakesh Parikh, Sandeep, Sanjay Bhowmick, Sanjay Kathuria, Sanjeev Chandran, Sathya Sekar, Shailendra Diwan, Shalini Razdan, Shekhar, Srivathsan Sekar, Sukesh Hoogan, Surajit Bose, Sushma Sahni, Swaraj Mishra, Vaishali Khushalani, Vandana Vidwans, Veena, Vibhendu Tewari, Vikas Dhawan, Vinay Jain, Vipin Nair, Vish Krishnan, Vivek Choraria, Zafar Syed
Participants who selected 50 songs: 89%Participants who selected fewer than 25 songs: 0