Classical Countdown

An annual WETA Classical tradition. Listeners vote for their favorite classical music pieces and we play back the top 100 pieces during Thanksgiving week.

A Thanksgiving Tradition on WETA Classical

WETA Classical's annual listeners' choice competition lets YOU determine the most popular classical pieces in the DC area. The power is in your hands to curate an exciting Classical Countdown that represents your favorite works. Here's to an exciting race this year, and be sure to tune in Thanksgiving week to hear the results!

The 2025 Classical Countdown

  1. Ludwig van Beethoven | Für Elise
  2. Emmanuel Chabrier | España
  3. Johann Sebastian Bach | Brandenburg Concerto #3
  4. Leonard Bernstein | Candide Overture
  5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Eine kleine Nachtmusik
  6. Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov | Symphony #1
  7. George Frideric Handel | Music for the Royal Fireworks
  8. Johannes Brahms | Piano Concerto #2
  9. Aaron Copland | Hoedown
  10. Max Bruch | Scottish Fantasy
  11. Johannes Brahms | Symphony #3
  12. Johannes Brahms | Symphony #1
  13. Franz Schubert | Symphony #8 "Unfinished"
  14. Franz Schubert | String Quintet
  15. Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata #21 "Waldstein"
  16. Johann Sebastian Bach | Brandenburg Concerto #2
  17. Ludwig van Beethoven | Symphony #3 "Eroica"
  18. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Piano Concerto #21
  19. Ralph Vaughan Williams | Serenade to Music
  20. Franz Liszt | Hungarian Rhapsody #2
  21. Frédéric Chopin | Scherzo #2 in B-flat Minor
  22. Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Trio, Op. 97 "Archduke"
  23. Remo Giazotto | Adagio after Tomaso Albinoni
  24. Gustav Mahler | Symphony #1 "Titan"
  25. Alexander Borodin | Polovtsian Dances
  26. Florence Price | Symphony #1
  27. Maurice Ravel | Daphnis and Chloe Suite
  28. Frédéric Chopin | Piano Sonata #3
  29. Johann Sebastian Bach | Sheep may safely graze
  30. Johann Strauss Jr. | On the Beautiful Blue Danube
  31. Ludwig van Beethoven | Violin Concerto
  32. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
  33. Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata #8 "Pathétique"
  34. Sergei Rachmaninoff | Symphony #2
  35. Sergei Rachmaninoff | Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
  36. Modest Mussorgsky | Night on Bald Mountain
  37. Johannes Brahms | Violin Concerto
  38. Edvard Grieg | Holberg Suite
  39. Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Sonata #14 "Moonlight"
  40. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Symphony #5
  41. Felix Mendelssohn | Violin Concerto
  42. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Clarinet Concerto
  43. Georges Bizet | Carmen Suite
  44. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Violin Concerto
  45. Ralph Vaughan Williams | Fantasia on Greensleeves
  46. Gustav Mahler | Symphony #5
  47. Sergei Prokofiev | Romeo and Juliet
  48. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Sleeping Beauty Suite
  49. Igor Stravinsky | Firebird Suite
  50. Johann Sebastian Bach | Brandenburg Concerto #5
  51. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Symphony #41 "Jupiter"
  52. Maurice Ravel | Boléro
  53. George Frideric Handel | Water Music
  54. Richard Addinsell | Warsaw Concerto
  55. Edvard Grieg | Peer Gynt Suite
  56. Hector Berlioz | Symphonie fantastique
  57. Ralph Vaughan Williams | Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis
  58. Claude Debussy | Clair de lune
  59. Franz Schubert | Symphony #9 "Great"
  60. Richard Wagner | Tannhäuser: Overture
  61. Sir Edward Elgar | Enigma Variations
  62. Antonín Dvořák | Symphony #8
  63. Samuel Barber | Adagio for Strings
  64. Frédéric Chopin | Ballade #3 in A-flat Major
  65. Johann Sebastian Bach | Toccata & Fugue, BWV 565
  66. Gustav Holst | The Planets
  67. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 1812 Overture
  68. Johann Sebastian Bach | Double Violin Concerto, BWV 1043
  69. Sergei Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto #3
  70. Aaron Copland | Fanfare for the Common Man
  71. Johann Sebastian Bach | Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
  72. Ludwig van Beethoven | Piano Concerto #5 "Emperor"
  73. Richard Wagner | The Flying Dutchman: Overture
  74. Richard Wagner | Ride of the Valkyries
  75. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto #1
  76. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Swan Lake Suite
  77. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | The Nutcracker Suite
  78. Frédéric Chopin | Fantasie-Impromptu
  79. Max Bruch | Violin Concerto #1
  80. Johann Pachelbel | Canon
  81. Frédéric Chopin | Heroic Polonaise
  82. Bedřich Smetana | The Moldau
  83. Jean Sibelius | Finlandia
  84. Edvard Grieg | Piano Concerto
  85. Ludwig van Beethoven | Symphony #5
  86. Modest Mussorgsky | Pictures at an Exhibition
  87. Antonín Dvořák | Cello Concerto
  88. Aaron Copland | Appalachian Spring
  89. Ludwig van Beethoven | Symphony #6 "Pastoral"
  90. Ludwig van Beethoven | Symphony #7
  91. Camille Saint-Saëns | Symphony #3 "Organ"
  92. Frédéric Chopin | Piano Concerto #2
  93. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherazade
  94. Sergei Rachmaninoff | Piano Concerto #2
  95. Antonio Vivaldi | The Four Seasons
  96. Frédéric Chopin | Piano Concerto #1
  97. George Gershwin | Rhapsody in Blue
  98. Antonín Dvořák | Symphony #9 "From the New World"
  99. Ludwig van Beethoven | Symphony #9 "Choral"
  100. Ralph Vaughan Williams | The Lark Ascending