Public songbooks
I tell people I've only been playing a few weeks. They don't believe me! Despite that I still consider myself very much a beginner. This is my selection of songs I'm learning and hopefully one day will master. Many of them come from an online tutor I'm using called JustinGuitar.com. If you're just starting out as I am, check him out as I think he is an excellent online tutor.
Eric Clapton, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, Oasis, Tom Petty and Led Zeppelin
At present, ~30 or so easy to play songs that I continue to use to learn to play the guitar. I've been learning for about 6 months or so now so all of the songs listed are considered to be 'easy'. Most are open chords only but there are a few requiring Bm, F, F#m which are the barre chords that I have started to learn first. It's a varied mix of artists from R.E.M., The Offspring, some UK 90s indie and an assortment from the 60, 70s and 80s. I grew up in the 80s and after that have favoured sounds influenced by alt folk/country; that should give you a clue without this just being a band list! I like to think they are all good ones to sing (in my case, under my breath!) along to which has helped me developed decent variety in my strumming patterns.
R.E.M, James, Tom Petty, Joni Mitchell, Velvet Underground, Bruce Springsteen, Jon and Vangelis, Billy Joel, Cure, Colin Hay, Honeybrowne, Martha and The Muffins, Smokie...