MADONNA PLANTS TREE TO LAUNCH MALAWI SCHOOL PROJECT

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MADONNA PLANTS TREE TO LAUNCH MALAWI SCHOOL PROJECT

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WASHINGTON - Legendary singer Aretha Franklin has topped a list of the ‘Hottest 100 Female Singers’ for her signature song ‘Respect’.

Franklin ruled the Hummingbird100, which was created after the Triple J Hottest 100 of all time this year contained no songs by female artists.

Originally written and released in 1965 by Stax, featuring Otis Redding, Respect was recorded by Aretha Franklin two years later, with her sisters on backing vocals.

Launched in October, the Hummingbird100 poll recorded 62,000 votes in seven weeks, covering 5500 songs.

Pink came in second with ‘So What’, followed by Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’.

At number four was Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’, while Madonna rounded up at the fifth position with ‘Like a Prayer’.

Franklin also grabbed the 72nd spot with (You make me feel like) ‘A Natural Woman’.

Matthew Coyte, editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, was surprised with the number of the recent songs that made it to the list.

“It’s interesting there’s such a high percentage of songs from the past five years in the list,” the Herald Sun quoted him as saying.

“It shows that when it comes to female musicians, the voters are more willing to let new acts into their top 10 rather than looking to the classics,” he said.

“Aretha Franklin taking out number one isn’t a surprise to me, as she also topped our Rolling Stone Greatest Singers Of All Time list as well.

“Respect remains one of the most enduring ‘girl power’ songs,” he added.

The Top 10 singers in the Hummingbird100 list are:

1. Aretha Franklin - Respect

2. Pink - So What

3. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

4. Abba - Dancing Queen

5. Madonna - Like a Prayer

6. Lady Gaga - PokerFace

7. Bangles - Eternal Flame

8. Fergie - Big Girls Dont Cry

9. Blondie - Heart of Glass

10. Madonna - Like a Virgin (ANI)