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:

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:

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

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

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

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

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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