The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time
The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time is a book by Martin Popoff who is the editor in chief and writer of the Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine as well as the senior editor of bravewords.com. He also wrote The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time.
Popoff put together this book by requesting thousands of heavy metal fans, musicians, and journalists to send in their favourite metal songs. Almost 18,000 individual votes were tallied and entered into a database from which the final rankings were derived.
Martin Popoff then began interviewing the bands that made the final grade, reviewing each track and digging into the history of each song that made the final list.
Additionally, some of the top metal performers were polled and their lists displayed in the book. It also contains hundreds of quotes from dozens of well-known artists as well as several underground who have made a mark on the metal scene.
List
The Top 100 Songs in the book are as follows
- 100.Ratt- "Round and Round"
- 99.Judas Priest- "Living After Midnight"
- 98.Quiet Riot- "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)"
- 97.Rush- "2112"
- 96.UFO- "Rock Bottom"
- 95.Iron Maiden- "Revelations"
- 94.Motley Crue- "Live Wire"
- 93.Scorpions- "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
- 92.W.A.S.P.- "I Wanna Be Somebody"
- 91.Black Sabbath- "N.I.B."
- 90.Led Zeppelin- "Rock & Roll"
- 89.Pantera- "Cemetary Gates"
- 88.Black Sabbath- "Neon Knights"
- 87.Def Leppard- "Photograph"
- 86.Judas Priest- "Screaming for Vengeance"
- 85.Sepultura- "Roots Bloody Roots
- 84.Queensryche- "Take Hold of the Flame"
- 83.Savatage- "Hall of the Mountain King"
- 82.Iron Maiden- "Powerslave"
- 81.Slayer- "War Ensemble"
- 80.Ozzy Osbourne- "Mr. Crowley"
- 79.Iron Maiden- "Killers"
- 78.Led Zeppelin- "Kashmir"
- 77.Led Zeppelin- "Immigrant Song"
- 76.Ozzy Osbourne- "Bark at the Moon"
- 75.Venom- "Black Metal"
- 74.Iron Maiden- "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
- 73.AC/DC- "You Shook Me All Night Long"
- 72.AC/DC- "For Those About to Rock, We Salute You"
- 71.Metallica- "Fight Fire with Fire"
- 70.Led Zeppelin- "Black Dog"
- 69.Black Sabbath- "Into the Void"
- 68.Rainbow- "Kill the King"
- 67.Metallica- "Battery"
- 66.Megadeth- "Hangar 18"
- 65.Dream Theater- "Pull Me Under"
- 64.Metallica- "The Four Horsemen"
- 63.UFO- "Lights Out"
- 62.Slayer- "Hell Awaits"
- 61.Iron Maiden- "2 Minutes to Midnight"
- 60.Kiss- "Rock and Roll All Nite"
- 59.Van Halen- "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love"
- 58.Whitesnake- "Still of the Night"
- 57.Judas Priest- "Breaking the Law"
- 56.Led Zeppelin- "Whole Lotta Love"
- 55.Iron Maiden- "Aces High"
- 54.Ozzy Osbourne- "Diary of a Madman"
- 53.Black Sabbath- "Children of the Grave"
- 52.Ozzy Osbourne- "Over the Mountain"
- 51.Van Halen- "Runnin' With the Devil"
- 50.Metallica- "Seek & Destroy"
- 49.Deep Purple- "Child in Time"
- 48.Pantera- "Walk"
- 47.Kiss- "Detroit Rock City"
- 46.Dio- "Rainbow in the Dark"
- 45.Slayer- "South of Heaven"
- 44.Black Sabbath- "Symptom of the Universe"
- 43.Judas Priest- "Beyond the Realms of Death"
- 42.Pantera- "Cowboys from Hell"
- 41.Deep Purple- "Burn"
- 40.Slayer- "Seasons in the Abyss"
- 39.Dio- "The Last in Line"
- 38.AC/DC- "Hells Bells"
- 37.Rainbow- "Stargazer"
- 36.Metallica- "Enter Sandman"
- 35.Led Zeppelin- "Stairway to Heaven"
- 34.Black Sabbath- "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
- 33.Accept- "Fast as a Shark"
- 32.Mötley Crüe- "Shout at the Devil"
- 31.Metallica- "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
- 30.Dio- "Holy Diver"
- 29.Judas Priest- "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"
- 28.Iron Maiden- "Run to the Hills"
- 27.Megadeth- "Peace Sells"
- 26.Accept- "Balls to the Wall"
- 25.Deep Purple- "Smoke On The Water"
- 24.Iron Maiden- "The Trooper"
- 23.AC/DC- "Highway to Hell"
- 22.Metallica- "Fade to Black"
- 21.Metallica- "Creeping Death"
- 20.Slayer- "Raining Blood"
- 19.Guns N' Roses- "Welcome to the Jungle"
- 18.Judas Priest- "Electric Eye"
- 17.Judas Priest- "Victim of Changes"
- 16.Megadeth- "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due"
- 15.Black Sabbath- "Black Sabbath"
- 14.Deep Purple- "Highway Star"
- 13.Metallica- "One"
- 12.Judas Priest- "Painkiller"
- 11.Black Sabbath- "Heaven and Hell"
- 10.Black Sabbath- "Iron Man"
- 09.AC/DC- "Back in Black"
- 08.Black Sabbath- "War Pigs"
- 07.Iron Maiden- "Hallowed Be Thy Name"
- 06.Iron Maiden- "The Number of the Beast"
- 05.Slayer- "Angel of Death"
- 04.Ozzy Osbourne- "Crazy Train"
- 03.Motörhead- "Ace of Spades"
- 02.Metallica- "Master of Puppets"
- 01.Black Sabbath- "Paranoid"