Top 10 Paul Anka Songs

Photo: U. A. Saarinen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In tribute to Paul Anka’s newest album, Making Memories, just released in August of 2021, we thought it was time to celebrate the music of Paul Anka and choose our ten favorite Paul Anka songs. Of course, picking just ten is not easy because we probably have close to fifty favorite Paul Anka songs, as we are big fans of this amazing artist. Paul Anka has been releasing music for sixty-five years. His career took off as a 15-year-old teen idol when he had a number-one single in 1957 titled “Diana.” In the late 1950s, he had a series of huge hits, making him one of the biggest stars in the music business.

As Paul Anka grew into his 20s, his career would continue to flourish as he made all the right moves and some pretty good friends along the way. Paul Anka would celebrate success as both a performing artist, becoming a big draw on the concert scene, and as an amazing songwriter, with songs he composed turned into major hits by artists such as Tom Jones and the great Frank Sinatra. In the mid-1970s, between 1974 and 1978, Paul Anka enjoyed more success on the pop charts with a series of hit albums and singles, including one that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Paul Anka has never stopped working since his first single, “Confess,” in 1956. Just two weeks ago, on August 13, 2021, Paul Anka released a brand-new album, which we mentioned at the beginning of this article. Since 1958, Paul Anka has released twenty-nine studio albums. He has released hundreds of singles, and lord knows how many songs he has written. He is a priceless musical treasure and a one-of-a-kind talent that has brought millions of people great joy in their lives. Here are ten of our favourite Paul Anka songs… well, maybe a couple more, as we kind of stuffed in a few extras we just could not leave out.

# 10 -“Johnny’s Theme” (Tonight Show Theme)

We open up our top 10 Paul Anka songs list with a song that some may be surprised by. Yes, Paul Anka composed the theme from The Tonight Show for the Johnny Carson era, known as “Johnny’s Theme.” The great theme performed by Doc Severinsen and his band every night would become one of the most popular musical themes in television history. The theme was used every night from 1962 to 1992, when Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show. The theme was retired when Jay Leno took over the show and hired Branford Marsalis to write a new theme.

The song’s origins lie in an instrumental titled “Toot Sweet,” which Paul Anka originally composed in 1959. Later on, Paul Anka added lyrics to the instrumental and changed the song’s title to “It’s Really Love,” which was recorded by singer Annette Funicello. When Johnny came calling, Paul Anka once again worked on the tune and told Johnny Carson that if he wrote some lyrics to the tune, Carson would get fifty percent of the royalties from the song. That seemed like a pretty good deal for everyone, as the song would be played every night for the next thirty years, making everyone a lot of money. Paul Anka was only twenty years old when he handed “Johnny’s Theme” to Carson.

# 9 – Papa

Continuing with our top 10 Paul Anka songs list, we take a listen to the heartwarming song entitled “Papa.” The song was never released as a single, but it would become one of those dearly loved album tracks that all of Paul Anka’s fans would hold close to their heart. It’s a hard song to listen to, but quite beautiful at the same time. The song was released on the album entitled Anka. The album was released in 1974.

The Anka album would become Paul Anka’s highest charting album of his career and his only studio album to break into the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 albums charts. Much of the album’s success was due to its number-one single, “Having My Baby.” It was also Paul Anka’s first Gold album. The song “Papa” was recently released as a new version on Paul Anka’s new album Making Memories, which was just released this month of August 2021.

# 8 – Hold Me ‘Til The Morning Comes

In the number eight spot on our top 10 Paul Anka songs list, we present the song entitled “Hold Me Till The Morning Comes.” Eleven years after hitting number one with “Having My Baby,” Paul Anka returned to the top 40 with one of the most slick modern pop songs of his career. The song featured Chicago’s great vocalist, Peter Cetera, in its astonishing chorus. This was a great pop gem, proving that Paul Anka remained one of the most professional and successful songwriters of the 20th century. The song was released on the fantastic album Walk A Fine Line. The album was released in 1983. It was the first single released from the album. The song was a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number forty. It would be the last top 40 hit of Paul Anka’s career. So far…..

# 7 – She’s A Lady

There is nothing more flattering for a songwriter than having their song recorded by one of the biggest artists in music history. Of course, Paul Anka was already a huge star on his own, but a songwriter’s bank account can become much happier when their songs are recorded by mega artists who can pretty much guarantee a gold record when they record one of Paul Anka’s great songs. In this case, that man was the phenomenal pop star, Tom Jones. The star that girls threw their panties at on stage on a nightly basis recorded Paul Anka’s “She’s A Lady” in 1971. The song reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, making it Tom Jones’ biggest hit single in the United States.

# 6 – Do I Love You

Landing in the number six spot on our top 10 Paul Anka songs list, we present the song ” Do I Love You.” This was another fan favorite and probably one of Paul Anka’s most underrated songs. Both the verse and chorus on this one are stunning. The song was released on the album entitled The Painter. This is our favorite Paul Anka album of all time. It went out of print a long time ago and is very hard to find anywhere. I do not believe it was ever released on CD in the US. You can’t even find the album on Apple Music or any other streaming service. I still have the 8-track and vinyl, which may have been the only formats it was ever released on. It may have been independently released on CD by the Paul Anka website or a fan club website at one time, but it is no longer available.

# 5 -Having My Baby

At the halfway point on our top 10 Paul Anka songs list is the song entitled “Having My Baby.” You remember this one. There was a lot of controversy over the song’s lyrics, which we won’t get into here. The song was issued on the album entitled Anka. The album was released in 1974. It was the first single released from the album. The song was a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number one. The song was also a number one hit in Canada. The song was recorded as a duet between Paul Anka and Odia Coates.

# 4 -Times Of Your Life

At the number four spot on our top 10 Paul Anka songs list, we present the song entitled “Times of Your Life.” You either heard this one at a wedding as a parent dance in the 80s or 90s when bands still played weddings, or you remember it being used as a Kodak commercial in the 70s, for which the song was originally written. Nonetheless, at its core is a marvelous song. Paul Anka did not write this one, but his recording of the song is just so splendid. It remains one of our favorites. The song was composed by Roger Nichols and Bill Lane.

# 3 – Diana

Moving along on our top 10 Paul Anka songs list, we present the song entitled “Diana.” This was a big one for Paul Anka. “Diana” was Paul Anka’s first hit record and his first single to chart. It was also his first number-one record, as it topped multiple charts in the United States and around the world. The song was actually written about a girl named “Diana.” It was a girl named Diana Ayoub whom Paul Anka had met in the neighborhood and really liked. It must have been some spell because “Diana” is the song that turned Paul Anka into a teen idol.

# 2 – Tie – Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Puppy Love, Lonely Boy

Well, we just couldn’t decide which one to pick out of the next three golden hit records of Paul Anka, so we picked all three of them. All three define Paul Anka’s success as a teen idol between 1959 and 1960, which we just could not leave out. The song “Lonely Boy” would also become Paul Anka’s first number-one hit single on the Billboard Hot 100. The other two came very close, each hitting number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Paul Anka would not have another single on the Hot 100 until 1974 with “Having My Baby.” These three songs are just such classic hits that help tell the story of classic rock’s transition from the 1950s to the 1960s.

# 1 – My Way

We close out our top 10 Paul Anka songs list with one of the all-time greatest songs ever released. Paul Anka took the melody of an old French song called “Comme d’habitude,” composed by songwriters Claude François and Jacques Revaux, added new English lyrics, and came up with a masterpiece. Paul Anka supposedly called Frank Sinatra up and told him that he had written something very special for him. Frank Sinatra would record the song, and it would eventually become his most loved song by fans. Although we have heard that Frank Sinatra would grow tired of the song, it was one that he always had to do from that point on. Nonetheless, “My Way” would become one of the all-time greats, and even Paul Anka said recently that you just can’t ever write another song like “My Way.”