| 100% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (Don McLean classic) |
| 82% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (classic Don McLean song) |
| 77% | PIE | 3 | Don McLean's "American ___" |
| 70% | PIE | 3 | “Bye-bye, Miss American ___” (Don McLean lyric) |
| 69% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (1971 Don McLean hit) |
| 69% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (1971 Don McLean song) |
| 65% | CASTLESINTHEAIR | 15 | Don McLean song |
| 65% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (#1 hit for Don McLean) |
| 64% | PIE | 3 | "American ___," Don McLean's song referring a popular baked dish in the eponymous album |
| 64% | AMERICANPIE | 11 | Don McLean, 1971 (+28) |
| 62% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (Don McLean song) |
| 62% | AGO | 3 | "A long, long time ___ " (first line of Don McLean's "American Pie") |
| 61% | PIE | 3 | "American ___" (1971 hit song by Don McLean) |
| 61% | AMERICANPIE | 11 | 1971 Don McLean hit |
| 60% | THESCARLETLETTER | 16 | *1850 American literature classic |
| 59% | ELGIN | 5 | Classic American watchmaker |
| 59% | APPLEPIE | 8 | Classic American dessert |
| 59% | CHEVROLET | 9 | Classic American car |
| 57% | HARLEY | 6 | Classic american bike brand |
| 56% | LEVEE | 5 | What Don McLean drove his Chevy to |
| 56% | GTO | 3 | American classic muscle car: Abbr. |
| 53% | IONA | 4 | NY college where Don McLean went to night school |
| 53% | IMET | 4 | "__ a girl who sang the blues": Don McLean lyric |
| 53% | AHABPEQUOD | 10 | Example from classic American literature |
| 53% | IMUS | 4 | Former American radio host Don ___ |
| 51% | THESUNALSORISES | 15 | Classic American novel set in France and Spain |
| 50% | PIE | 3 | "American ___," song by Don McLean that a chef might sing while whipping up a lemon meringue dessert |
| 50% | IMUS | 4 | American former radio personality and TV show host, Don |
| 49% | AMECHE | 6 | Mustachioed Don of classic films |
| 49% | AMERICAN | 8 | "___ Pie," 1971 song by Don McLean about "the day the music died" |