 Rolling Stone described " Imagine " as Lennon 's " greatest musical gift to the world " , praising " the serene melody ; the <unk> chord progression ; [ and ] that <unk> , four @-@ note [ piano ] figure " . Included in several song polls , in 1999 , BMI named it one of the top 100 most @-@ performed songs of the 20th century . Also that year , it received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 's 500 Songs that <unk> Rock and Roll . " Imagine " ranked number 23 in the list of best @-@ selling singles of all time in the UK , in 2000 . In 2002 , a UK survey conducted by the Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book ranked it the second best single of all time behind Queen 's " Bohemian <unk> " . Gold Radio ranked the song number three on its " Gold 's greatest 1000 hits " list . 
