Criteria: These hard rock songs are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity. For songs which are only partially hard rock, only their hard rock parts are factored into their ranking.
See Definition below list.
Edited By: Tim
List Begun: 2021-09-16
Greatest Hard Rock Songs
1. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix Experience 2. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream 3. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin 4. All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix Experience 5. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who 6. I Love Rock 'N' Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts 7. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses 8. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC 9. More Than a Feeling - Boston 10. We Will Rock You - Queen 11. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple 12. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf 13. Highway to Hell - AC/DC 14. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd 15. Walk This Way - Aerosmith 16. White Room - Cream 17. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin 18. Baba O'Riley - The Who 19. Dazed And Confused - Led Zeppelin 20. Back In Black - AC/DC 21. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin 22. All Right Now - Free 23. Aqualung - Jethro Tull 24. Revolution - Beatles 25. Livin On a Prayer - Bon Jovi 26. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 27. I Can See For Miles - The Who 28. Rock And Roll - Led Zeppelin 29. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard 30. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin 31. School's Out - Alice Cooper 32. Rock and Roll All Nite - KISS 33. Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T. Rex 34. Welcome To the Jungle - Guns N' Roses 35. The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy 36. Dream On - Aerosmith 37. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen 38. Pinball Wizard - The Who 39. Paradise By the Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf 40. American Woman - The Guess Who 41. Helter Skelter - Beatles 42. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly 43. Beat It - Michael Jackson 44. Radar Love - Golden Earring 45. Highway Star - Deep Purple 46. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith 47. You Keep Me Hangin' On - Vanilla Fudge 48. The Final Countdown - Europe 49. Eye of the Tiger - Survivor 50. We're an American Band - Grand Funk 51. Runnin' with the Devil - Van Halen 52. Who Are You - The Who 53. November Rain - Guns N' Roses 54. Behind Blue Eyes - The Who 55. Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas 56. Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz 57. Surrender - Cheap Trick 58. Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) - Neil Young 59. Summertime Blues - Blue Cheer 60. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix Experience 61. Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin 62. You Really Got Me - Van Halen 63. Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin 64. Photograph - Def Leppard 65. Cryin' - Aerosmith 66. Thunderstruck - AC/DC 67. Love Bites - Def Leppard 68. Here I Go Again - Whitesnake 69. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses 70. Cult of Personality - Living Colour 71. Tom Sawyer - Rush 72. Hard to Handle - Black Crowes 73. Child in Time - Deep Purple 74. Crossroads - Cream 75. You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi 76. Rockin' In the Free World - Neil Young 77. Can't Get Enough - Bad Company 78. Long Time - Boston 79. Barracuda - Heart 80. Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC 81. Fox On the Run - Sweet 82. La Grange - ZZ Top 83. Bad Medicine - Bon Jovi 84. Break On Through (To the Other Side) - Doors 85. Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin 86. Bad Company - Bad Company 87. Crazy On You - Heart 88. Slow Ride - Foghat 89. Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull 90. Black Betty - Ram Jam 91. Foxey Lady - Jimi Hendrix Experience 92. Dude (Looks Like a Lady) - Aerosmith 93. We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister 94. Hot for Teacher - Van Halen 95. The Spirit of Radio - Rush 96. Detroit Rock City - KISS 97. Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions 98. The Show Must Go On - Queen 99. Working for the Weekend - Loverboy 100. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
101. Ballroom Blitz - Sweet 102. Dr. Feelgood - Mötley Crüe 103. Rebel Yell - Billy Idol 104. Twilight Zone - Golden Earring 105. Janie's Got a Gun - Aerosmith 106. T.N.T. - AC/DC 107. Tush - ZZ Top 108. Girls, Girls, Girls - Mötley Crüe 109. Hocus Pocus - Focus 110. Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group 111. Peace Of Mind - Boston 112. White Wedding - Billy Idol 113. The Stroke - Billy Squier 114. Magic Man - Heart 115. We're Not Gonna Take It - The Who 116. Hush - Deep Purple 117. Some Kind Of Wonderful - Grand Funk 118. 18 and Life - Skid Row 119. Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood 120. Round and Round - Ratt 121. Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top 122. Nothin' But a Good Time - Poison 123. Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top 124. Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd 125. Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin 126. I Hate Myself For Loving You - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts 127. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin 128. Panama - Van Halen 129. Eighteen - Alice Cooper 130. Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young 131. Hot Blooded - Foreigner 132. Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy 133. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen 134. Youth Gone Wild - Skid Row 135. Blaze of Glory - Jon Bon Jovi 136. Why Can't This Be Love? - Van Halen 137. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness 138. Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Guns N' Roses 139. Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet 140. Still of the Night - Whitesnake 141. Unskinny Bop - Poison 142. Innuendo - Queen 143. Hells Bells - AC/DC 144. Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen 145. Down Down - Status Quo 146. Stay with Me - Faces 147. Feel Like Makin' Love - Bad Company 148. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) - AC/DC 149. Limelight - Rush 150. Wheel In the Sky - Journey 151. The Loco-Motion - Grand Funk 152. You Could Be Mine - Guns N' Roses 153. Don't Look Back - Boston 154. It's a Long Way to the Top - AC/DC 155. Stranglehold - Ted Nugent 156. Cherry Bomb - Runaways 157. Burn - Deep Purple 158. Mississippi Queen - Mountain 159. Let There Be Rock - AC/DC 160. Feels Like the First Time - Foreigner 161. Free Ride - Edgar Winter Group 162. Everything About You - Ugly Kid Joe 163. Eruption - Van Halen 164. No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper 165. Cum On Feel the Noize - Quiet Riot 166. Communication Breakdown - Led Zeppelin 167. Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar 168. Dance the Night Away - Van Halen 169. Party Hard - Andrew W.K. 170. Right Now - Van Halen 171. Life Is a Highway - Tom Cochrane 172. I'll Wait - Van Halen 173. Dreams - Van Halen 174. Children of the Revolution - T. Rex 175. Cum On Feel the Noize - Slade 176. Rock of Ages - Def Leppard 177. Hysteria - Def Leppard 178. Poison - Alice Cooper 179. Rag Doll - Aerosmith 180. Keep the Faith - Bon Jovi 181. Armageddon It - Def Leppard 182. Sister Christian - Night Ranger 183. Rocket - Def Leppard 184. Bad Time - Grand Funk 185. Love Reign O'er Me - The Who 186. Same Old Song and Dance - Aerosmith 187. Back In the Saddle - Aerosmith 188. Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin 189. Hair Of the Dog - Nazareth 190. Seven Seas of Rhye - Queen 191. Love in an Elevator - Aerosmith 192. Kickstart My Heart - Mötley Crüe 193. Animal - Def Leppard 194. Love Removal Machine - Cult 195. And the Cradle Will Rock - Van Halen 196. Burning Heart - Survivor 197. Burnin' For You - Blue Öyster Cult 198. I Can't Drive '55 - Sammy Hagar 199. Smokin' - Boston 200. Bang Your Head (Metal Health) - Quiet Riot
Definition 1 (what is hard rock):
Hard rock is a genre of rock music with special emphasis on distorted electric guitars. It is often described as "aggressive", "heavy" and "anthemic". Its harmonic structure is usually based on power chords played over a blues scale. Hard rock originated in late 1966 with the first recordings by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Its stylistic origins lie primarily in the garage rock of the first half of the 1960s.
Definition 2 (what isn't hard rock):
For the purposes of the list, songs from the following genres were not considered for this list, even though they may suit the definition given above: garage rock (e.g. The Sonics, The Kinks, Monks), heavy metal/proto-metal (e.g. Black Sabbath, Budgie, Sir Lord Baltimore), punk/proto-punk (e.g. The Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls), alternative rock/grunge (e.g. Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana) and stoner rock (e.g. Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Monster Magnet). The reason for this is that punk, metal and alt-rock already have their own lists, and thus it would be redundant to list them again. Also, they represent different branches of the rock tree with different stylistic features (for example, they're often not as clearly rooted in blues). Garage rock on the other hand is a sort of proto-'hard rock' with a more amateurish approach. Stoner rock is an almagam of influences from different styles (mainly hard rock, metal and alt-rock) that has really developed into something singular.
Definition 3 (what is hard rock anyway):
Even though metal songs were not considered for this list, glam metal was treated as a subgenre of hard rock as it's not really metal anyway. Other than that, songs from the following genres were often allowed if they rocked hard enough: blues rock, AOR, arena rock, southern rock, boogie rock, progressive rock, glam rock, psychedelic rock.