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One of the best parts of getting plastered in public is being at a bar that blasts good music. Now, by good music, I obviously don’t mean good music. Bar singalong songs are not necessarily the best songs — they’re just the catchy songs that get every drunk individual in the bar singing. Personally, I might listen to three or four of these bar songs while sober and hanging out, but that’s about it. That being said, let’s look at the top twenty-five best bar singalong songs.
1. Don’t Stop Believing – Journey: Everybody knows the song, everyone knows the words, and if it plays in the bar at 1 a.m., I dare you to resist singing along. Way overplayed to be sure, but it’s a bar all-timer and deserves the number one spot.
2. Friends In Low Places – Garth Brooks: Even those who dislike country music cannot resist singing along to this song when it starts to play. It’s a stone-cold classic, and when a song can get everyone in a bar to drop everything and sing along, that’s a number two song.
3. Family Tradition – Hank Williams, Jr.: This is a big one in the southeast, but I’ve heard it in bars around the country. It’s also overplayed, but after five whiskeys, it’s the greatest song on the planet.
4. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond: Nothing will get a room full of basic white girls singing at the top of their lungs like Sweet Caroline. Not even a Taylor Swift song. Yeah, I said it.
5. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd: Another classic that’s been around for decades, Sweet Home Alabama is a bar staple, even in states nowhere near the state of Alabama. Longevity alone makes this a top fiver.
6. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC: No song I’ve heard has gotten girls from eighteen to thirty-eight to do the same hair-swinging, white girl rock and roll dance quite like You Shook Me All Night Long.
7. American Girl – Tom Petty: Walk into any college bar while this song is playing and watch every sorority girl and recent grad belt out this song in unison. And hell, it has “American” in the title. Gotta be in the top ten.
8. Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi: Guaranteed to make you almost lose your voice.
9. Rock And Roll All Night (And Every Day) – Kiss: I don’t care if it is a one-hit wonder, it’s a rock classic and has been primarily sung along to by drunk people for decades.
10. Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show: I was reluctant to put Wagon Wheel on here as an all-timer, but the fact of the matter is that although many have grown sick of this song, they still sing along. One of the primary attributes of the songs on this list is staying power, and I have a feeling drunk college students and recent postgrads alike will be singing this song in a bar ten years from now.
11. Piano Man – Billy Joel: There are a ton of great Billy Joel songs out there, but Piano Man, more of a northeastern bar classic, is a solid bar song to which everyone knows the refrain.
12. Wonderwall – Oasis: Bring out your inner ’90s child and sing along to the most melancholy of the classic bar singalong songs.
13. Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver: I’ve never been to West Virginia, but put several drinks in me and I’ll sing about it. It’s one of the better singalong country songs and it definitely has the longevity for the top fifteen.
14. Tubthumping – Chumbawamba: Another great ’90s song about…getting drunk. This song is a natural for this list and will have the whole bar singing along and pissing the night away.
15. Your Love – Outfield: A classic last call song, Your Love shamelessly encourages a one-night stand and no one gives a damn. And you’re damn right you’ll sing along.
16. Take Me Home Tonight – Eddie Money: Another great last call song that deserves to be lumped in with Your Love. You’ll sing about one-night stands, even if you are going home alone to make love to a frozen pizza.
17. Closing Time – Semisonic: Another piece of the last call ensemble, Closing Time is a classic that pairs with Take Me Home Tonight and Your Love like a cigar and a fine scotch.
18. Nuthin’ But A G Thang – Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg: In this episode of “White People Rapping in Public,” we bring you one of the catchiest old-school rap songs of all time.
19. California Love – Dr. Dre and 2Pac: Another school bus hip hop classic that will be rapped along to by the drunk masses.
20. Sittin’ At A Bar – Rehab: Probably the most depressing song to which you’ll sing along to, Sittin’ At A Bar will bring out a surprising singalong in people who are sitting at a bar getting drunk. (But hopefully not driving.)
21. Scotty Doesn’t Know – Lustra: This might be the most underrated singalong bar song of all time, but if you go to any bar with a live band and it starts playing this, the crowd erupts.
22. All The Small Things – Blink-182: This definitely deserves a mention. All the ’90s children in the bar will bust out to this old pop/punk classic, although personally I prefer Dammit.
23. Basket Case – Green Day: Great if played by a live band, Basket Case is one of those upbeat songs everyone will get into.
24. (Hey Leonardo) She Likes Me For Me – Blessid Union Of Souls: No, I wasn’t listening to my NOW CD when I wrote this. Another underrated bar singalong song, this song is guaranteed to get all the drunk asses singing along and reliving their pubescent years.
25. We Are the Champions – Queen: There’s nothing like being at a bar when the home team wins and this gem comes on. You’re just conscious enough to remember the words but drunk enough to have Mighty Ducks flashbacks. Since this is pigeonholed to, usually, football season, it gets the number twenty-five spot..
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@5OClockShadow_
Shout- Otis Day and the Knights
I don’t think I’ll ever grow sick of Wagon Wheel. Unless it’s the Darius Rucker version, because that shit sucked
Darius Rucker ruined a perfectly good song.
I’d like to submit some Third Eye Blind recognition
For your consideration, I’d like to submit “Dixieland Delight,” but that might just be a thing down South.
Dude, Kiss is not a one-hit wonder.
Even the most quiet or self conscious people will shout the “BUM BUM BUMMMMMM” in Sweet Carolina. Great list, the only thing I would say is missing is “Build Me Up Buttercup.” Everyone hates themselves for singing along but they can’t help it.
God, now I really want to be at a bar where they play Scotty Doesn’t Know. Solid list.
Glaring omissions:
Blackstreet – No Diggity
Montell Jordan – This Is How We Do It
Warren G and Nate Dogg – Regulate
No diggity no doubt.
I haven’t heard any of these songs played in the South.
Did you really just call KISS a one hit wonder band?
500 Miles by The Proclaimers for Honorable Mention