With all the talk of Russia in today's news, I figured it was high time to take a look at "all things Russian" in songs from Billboard's year-end Top 30 charts (1951-2016). Thus, the wordlist* that I ran on the collection including names for the country and its cities, leaders and other famous people hailing from the country, and cultural artifacts, including words. Although the net result of the search wasn't large, songs containing any of the words compiled in my list are presented in the music video essay below.

First up is a song with obvious reference to the capital and most populous city of Russia, Moscow:

Their song made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1962. http://www.youtube.com/user/numberonesongs111 http://www.youtube.com/user/numberonesongs333 http://www.youtube.com/user/numberonesongs4444 http://www.youtube.com/user/numberonesongs555 http://www.youtube.com/user/numberonesongs616 http://www.youtube.com/user/numberonesongs777

Next up is a reference to (or at least a name with a possible interpretation to) one of the most famous people in Russian history, Vladimir Lenin:

American Pie Don McLean 1971/72 Full Length Video This video was created in 1989 by a group of professional video makers, who believed that they could create a video for a fantastic song from the past. Songs that were released and were big hits, BEFORE videos were ever conceived.

Then, there is the fortified city in Moscow that is considered the symbol of the Russian government, the Kremlin:

The Bangles' official music video for 'In Your Room'. Click to listen to The Bangles on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/TheBanglesSpotify?IQid=BanglesWLE As featured on The Bangles: Greatest Hits.

Of course, what would Russia be without the Russian diminutive of voda "water," or vodka:

Jamie Foxx's official music video for 'Blame It' featuring T-Pain. Click to listen to Jamie Foxx on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/JFoxxSpot?IQid=JFoxxBI As featured on Intuition.

© 2012 WMG. "Wild Ones" ft. Sia is off of Flo Rida's new album WILD ONES, available in stores & online now! Download on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/wildones If you've bought the singles off the new album on US iTunes ("Let It Roll", "Good Feeling", "Wild Ones" ft.

Flo Rida's new EP "My House" is available now! Download here: http://smarturl.it/MyHouseEP Stream here: http://smarturl.it/MyHouseSpotify Listen to other tracks from "My House" here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbo88FM1ETaVMxQheq24X-HTwfcIpnCLP Stream "My House" on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/MyHouseSpotify "My House" EP Available Now!

Finally, a "game" attributed to Russians, namely Russian roulette, as mentioned in this song by Lady Gaga:

LADY GAGA / JOANNE NEW ALBUM / OUT NOW iTunes: http://smarturl.it/Joanne Google Play: http://smarturl.it/Joanne.gp Amazon: http://smarturl.it/Joanne.amz LadyGaga.com: http://smarturl.it/GagaStore FOLLOW LADY GAGA: http://www.facebook.com/ladygaga http://www.twitter.com/ladygaga http://www.instagram.com/ladygaga http://www.snapchat.com/add/ladygaga http://smarturl.it/LG.sp EMAIL LIST: http://smarturl.it/LadyGaga.News Music video by Lady Gaga performing Poker Face. YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 26,232,487. (C) 2008 Interscope Records

And now for a few tunes that mention Russia and are not in the Top 30 collection:

Paul McCartney's "Back In The USSR" in Kiev's historic Independence Square 14.06.2008 This RIP was made from NOVY TV Channel (http://www.novy.tv/ )

Another track off of the Final Cut album. Lyrics - Not Now John (Waters) Fuck all that we've got to get on with these Gotta compete with the wily Japanese. There's too many home fires burning And not enough trees. So fuck all that We've go to get on with these.

Click here to see a nearly complete version of the wordlist that I used, in the form of a word search puzzle.

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