Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
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March 17, 2017
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! If you’re celebrating Ireland today, chances are good you’re turning to killer Irish music instead of soda bread and steamed cabbage. And if you’re making an Irish pride playlist, there’s a high probability one of these songs is on it.
But don’t take our word for it. According to YouTube, the 25 songs below are the tunes that appear most frequently on St. Paddy’s Day playlists worldwide.
As you can see, they’re a mix of new songs, throwback jams and material that dates back before any living person was born.
Unsurprisingly, U2 — who aren’t just Ireland’s biggest band, but one of the biggest bands in the world — are on this list with three separate songs. One of those is “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” their moving, angry meditation on the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident where 26 unarmed civilians were shot by British soldiers in Northern Ireland.
Also appearing with three songs are Dropkick Murphys, the Boston punk band that proudly flaunts their Irish heritage. The Pogues, another raucous Celtic rock outfit, appear here twice, as do the more soothing sounds of Ireland’s own The Cranberries (who are here with “Linger” and “Zombie,” a favorite on Halloween playlists, too). Another welcome ’90s pop throwback? B*Witched, although the Irish girl group’s most played St. Paddy’s Day song, “C’est la Vie,” ironically has a French title.
The Dubliners are also doublin’ up on this list, cropping up with their Pogues collab “The Irish Rover” as well as “Molly Malone,” a generations-old Irish tune.
That’s not the only modern version of a decades-old ditty, though. Celtic Woman’s version of the immortal “Danny Boy” is here, as well as Metallica’s take on “Whiskey in the Jar.”
One entry that might give you pause is House of Pain’s 1992 hip-hop hit “Jump Around” — that is, unless you know the video. Yes, the group hails from California, and no, their signature hit has nothing to do with Ireland, but the music video was shot during the ’92 New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Similarly, while Great Big Sea are Canadian, their folk sound draws on hundreds of years of Irish heritage in Newfoundland and Labrador, thus their inclusion.
Check out the 25 most playlisted St. Paddy’s Day songs on YouTube below.
1. Flogging Molly – “Drunken Lullabies”
2. Dropkick Murphys – “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”
3. The Cranberries – “Zombie”
4. The Rumjacks – “An Irish Pub Song”
5. B*Witched – “C’est la vie”
6. U2 – “Beautiful Day”
7. The Dubliners & The Pogues – “The Irish Rover”
8. Metallica – “Whiskey In The Jar”
9. Dropkick Murphys – “The Spicy McHaggis Jig”
10. The Pogues – “Dirty Old Town”
11. Celtic Woman – “Danny Boy”
12. U2 – “With Or Without You”
13. The Cranberries – “Linger”
14. Great Big Sea – “Ordinary Day”
15. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – “Irish Celebration”
16. The Script – “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”
17. Van Morrison – “Brown Eyed Girl”
18. The Dubliners feat. Ronnie Drew – “Molly Malone”
19. Dropkick Murphys – “Going Out In Style”
20. Snow Patrol – “Chasing Cars”
21. U2 – “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
22. Hozier – “Take Me To Church”
23. House Of Pain – “Jump Around”
24. Damien Rice – “The Blower’s Daughter”
25. Kodaline – “High Hopes”
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This article is a re-post, with small modifications, of “These Are the 25 Most Popular St. Patrick’s Day Songs on YouTube: Exclusive” an article published on billboard.com by Joe Lynch.
Click here to visit the original content.
