Song · Three Dog Night
“Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night
From the album Naturally (1970)
“Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night appears on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2001 and 2025. It was first released in 1970 on the album Naturally. Its best result is #52 on the WFPK Top 100 Party Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,657 indie & aaa song of all time.
Hoyt Axton wrote "Joy to the World", but Three Dog Night made it famous: it first turned up on Naturally, the group's fourth album, in November 1970, with an edited single following in February 1971. It was a happy accident of a song. Axton had a new melody he wanted his producers to hear, they told him to sing any old words over it, and some of what came out is pure nonsense; in an early version its Jeremiah was a prophet rather than a bullfrog, and nobody liked that.
Two of the band's three lead singers, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells, turned it down flat, but Chuck Negron figured a silly song was just what the band needed to start pulling together again. The public sided with Negron: the goofy singalong topped the charts across North America and went gold.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 525 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2005 | 52 | WFPK | WFPK Top 100 Party Songs | 100 |
| 2021 | 664 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) | 1043 |
| 2025 | 308 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
Also listed as: Joy to the World.
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