1. Lennon and McCartney

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As a song writing force, this one half of The Beatles changed the face of music forever. Pop came to the masses the world over. "Yesterday" is the most recorded song ever with over 1,600 cover versions whilst "Imagine" is one of the world’s most iconic tunes. Paul McCartney is still writing today.

2. Bacharach and David

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There are plenty of brilliant songwriters who never really get into the limelight because they write for others rather than record themselves. Although Burt Bacharach has had hits, his writing partner Hal David is not a recording artist. Bacharach and David are amongst the most prolific of brilliant songwriters. They have been responsible for hits for over 50 years with their first chart entry being in 1957. They have written songs for music industry royalty and many of their songs have reached anthemic status including "Walk On By", "The Look of Love", "I Say a Little Prayer", "What The World Needs Now", "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "Make It Easy On Yourself".

3. Paul Simon

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Although much credit goes to his partner of many years, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon deserves his solo place on the list of brilliant songwriters because after their partnership ended Simon continues to write. As a duo they gave us "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" whilst Simon’s solo album Graceland should be in everyone’s CD collection.

4. Bob Dylan

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An absolute musical genius, Bob Dylan is not only one of the most brilliant songwriters of all time but many musicians claim to have been influenced by him. He works within any genre, writing songs that reflect the times and scream with emotion. If you look on Wikipedia for the list of people who have recorded a Bob Dylan song, pour yourself a cup of coffee and be prepared for a very, very long read.

5. David Bowie

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A rather enigmatic and intellectual character, David Bowie has been writing terrific songs for over 50 years and has been nominated among the Top 50 Rock Artists of all time. Having gone through various carnations throughout his career, David has given us songs like "A Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes."

6. Carol King

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Considered by many to be the best of the female brilliant songwriters, Carol King had her first hit with the self-sung "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and up to 1999 had already written or co-written 118 hits on the Billboard 100. You’ve still got some way to go, Lady Gaga!

7. Sting

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The former lead singer of The Police would seem to have little time for songwriting these days with all of his environmental campaigning but he wrote all the songs for the aforementioned group and continued writing chartbusters after they split.

It was really difficult to choose just 7 brilliant songwriters. I had to leave out people like Smokey Robinson, the guys from Abba, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell. No doubt I missed out your favorite too. Who is it?

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