| 100% | IDIE | 4 | "This'll be the day that ___" (final words in the song "American Pie") |
| 57% | HERO | 4 | *Person who saves the day... and a word you may use to describe those being celebrated in this puzzle |
| 54% | OLDIE | 5 | Song that was popular back in the day |
| 52% | BUDDY | 5 | That'll Be the Day singer Holly, died in a plane |
| 52% | IDIE | 4 | "This'll be the day that ___..." |
| 50% | STARR | 5 | Ringo —, musician and actor who starred in That'll Be the Day |
| 49% | THOSE | 5 | "___ Were the Days" ("All in the Family" theme song) |
| 49% | WOMAN | 5 | Kesha song that features in the final scene of this year's film "Birds of Prey" |
| 48% | TIMES | 5 | "___ Like These," 2003 song by Foo Fighters that was featured in the TV series "One Tree Hill" |
| 47% | MACARONI | 8 | Pasta that's a word in the song "Yankee Doodle" |
| 47% | WERE | 4 | Sing along to this classic ABBA song! "There was something in the air that night, the stars ___ bright, Fernando..." |
| 47% | JOURNEY | 7 | American rock band that was formed in California which had the hit song "Don't Stop Believin'" |
| 47% | LIVES | 5 | "These Are the Days of Our ___," 1991 song by Queen that reminisces the days gone by |
| 47% | ESSEX | 5 | David —, singer and actor who starred as Jim MacLaine in 1973 film drama That’ll Be the Day |
| 46% | BYE | 3 | Word repeated to Miss American Pie in a popular song |
| 46% | TIMES | 5 | Square where the words in this puzzle's dropping balls may be heard at the end of a song's first verse |
| 46% | YMCA | 4 | Song that was a hit for a spell in the 1970s? |
| 45% | PET | 3 | "___ Sematary," 1989 song by the Ramones that was featured in the titular film adaptation |
| 45% | TRE | 3 | Final album in the Green Day trilogy that includes "¡Uno!" and "¡Dos!" |
| 45% | DEER | 4 | Animal that "do" is, in the song "Do-Re-Mi" |
| 45% | HOLLY | 5 | "Buddy ___," 1994 song by Weezer about the "That'll Be The Day" singer |
| 44% | MALIBU | 6 | Hit song by American artist Miley Cyrus which depicts a city in California that is known for its celebrity homes and the sandy Zuma Beach |
| 44% | MAMASAEGO/ID | 12 | Title lyric that precedes "There'll be days like this" in a Shirelles classic |
| 44% | MICHELLE | 8 | 1965 song with the lyric "These are words that go together well" |
| 44% | SOS | 3 | ABBA song that was the A-side of "Man in the Middle" |
| 44% | MODEM | 5 | Computer accessory that was "dial-up" in the early days |
| 44% | RYE | 3 | Rhyme for “dry” in the song “American Pie” |
| 44% | LEVEE | 5 | Rhyme for “Chevy” in the song “American Pie” |
| 44% | MOIST | 5 | Adjective that's been called "possibly the worst word in the English dictionary" |