Every band has at least one song that they MUST play at concerts . . . or fans would revolt. So someone looked at the setlists for 50 rock bands, crunched the numbers, and found the one song they’ve played the most through the years.
Obviously, there’s more data for the acts that have been around the longest, or who tour the most . . . so we won’t bother ranking them. Here are the 20 biggest names on the list in alphabetical order, and the top song they perform live . . .
- AC/DC, “The Jack” . . . 1,746 times (Seriously? Not the one I’d have guessed).
- Alice in Chains, “Man in the Box” . . . 793.
- Alice Cooper, “School’s Out” . . . 2,784. It’s the most-played song of any band on the list.
- Def Leppard, “Rock of Ages” . . . 1,949. “Photograph” is a close second at 1,939.
- Foo Fighters, “Everlong” . . . 1,044. (#1 for Nirvana is “School” at 292.)
- Green Day, “Longview” . . . 926.
- Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle” . . . 921.
- Kid Rock, “Bawitdaba” . . . 372.
- KISS, “Rock and Roll All Nite” . . . 2,213.
- Linkin Park, “In the End” . . . 747.
- Marilyn Manson, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” . . . 1,262.
- Motley Crue, “Shout at the Devil” . . . 1,375.
- Nickelback, “How You Remind Me” . . . 578.
- Nine Inch Nails, “Head Like a Hole” . . . 939.
- Pearl Jam, “Even Flow” . . . 864.
- Rage Against the Machine, “Killing in the Name” . . . 317.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Give It Away” . . . 948.
- Smashing Pumpkins, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” . . . 828.
- Soundgarden, “Rusty Cage” . . . 393.
- Van Halen, a tie between “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and “You Really Got Me” . . . both 1,224.
(You can check out the full list of 50 bands at Loudwire.com. They used data from Setlist.fm. It’s unclear how comprehensive their information is, but their main claim to fame is documenting bands’ touring histories.)
