Experts Determine the Most Popular Drinking Songs
Experts have analyzed music data to determine the most popular drinking songs of all time. – Author Charles Ken, AC/DC courtesy photo via Sony Music
Drinking and rock music go together pretty well. Not that you have to drink to enjoy rock music. I don’t drink, but I sure love my hard rock and heavy metal music. With that in mind, experts have analyzed music data to determine the most popular drinking songs of all time.
The Most Popular Drinking Songs, According to Experts
I, personally, would think Motorhead would be a band with some great rock drinking songs. Lemmy Kilmister was known to love bars, and a jack and coke was one of his signature drinks. Not to spoil the fun, but I’ll let you know now that Motorhead didn’t make the top five of the most popular rock drinking songs. But, I still love you, Lemmy, and rest in peace.
Whiskey retailer Flask & Barrel recently analyzed 23,425 Spotify playlists that referred to drinking or partying in their titles. They also categorized the results by genre. “The research team created a list of over 700 queries targeting playlists with titles indicating they were ‘drinking’ or ‘party’ playlists,” they explain. “This was done through manual research to identify common playlist naming patterns and appending relevant terms related to alcohol, drinks, genres and sub-genres.”
The experts at Flask & Barrel add that, “The research findings, including key insights, top songs, artists, genres, and drinking song trends by decade, were compiled and presented in the final report.” Now, let’s get into the most popular drinking songs of the moment.
According to the research, the most popular genre to drink to is actually hip-hop, not rock, with Usher’s “Yeah!” featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris the No. 1 song on the tally. I love that song and remember when it came out, but I wouldn’t associate it with drinking. Maybe with clubbing.
Classic rock was the next most popular genre of music for drinkers. In the rock category, the No. 1 most popular drinking song was AC/DC with “Thunderstruck,” which totally makes sense, although I would have picked AC/DC, “Have a Drink on Me.” No. 2 was AC/DC with “Highway to Hell,” No. 3 was Lynyrd Skynyrd with “Sweet Home Alabama,” No. 4 was AC/DC and “Back in Black” and No. 5 was The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” Those are all great songs and, I would say, good songs for drinking at home.
Looking further into the study, the No. 1 favorite artist for drinking was Drake with 27,643 playlist inclusions. He was followed by Kanye West, Travis Scott, Rihanna, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Future, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Uzi Vert. So, obviously, the top artists to drink to are all in the hip-hop and rap area. For rock artists, No. 1 was, of course, AC/D with 4,143 playlist appearances, followed by Queen, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Guns N’ Roses and Green Day. Flask & Barrel also has a study just on drinking songs, not artists.
So, there are the most popular drinking songs, according to experts. I would recommend listening to my Spotify playlists to get your drink on, because they both feature independent artists making amazing music. Listen to and follow Audio Ink Radio’s rock and metal playlist and pop and hip-hop playlist.
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