Top 10 Non-Classical Songs Containing Samples or Renditions of Classical Songs

Whether it is a looped sample of a classical symphony, lyrics sung to the tune of a classical rhapsody, or modern instruments playing the melodies of a classical composition, everything is allowed here as long as it isn't a straightforward rendition of a classical piece in its original classical style.

You know, a composition by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Orff, van Beethoven, and others, played the way it was initially meant to be. That shouldn't be here.

What also doesn't count is original music with a classical touch, as is common in symphonic metal music (except, of course, if it does contain a recitation of a classical symphony) or in scores. Pop songs sampling movie scores can be added if the original song that is sampled is entirely orchestral. I won't add them, though.

The Top Ten

  1. The Real Thing - 2 Unlimited

    Throughout this classic '90s jam (really, this is what Central Europe sounded like in the '90s. Rave culture became a huge movement), a short loop of "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach is repeated as the post-chorus and intro.

  2. I Can - Nas

    This conscious rap song about how Black youth can be and achieve anything they want is based around a sample of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Für Elise."

  3. Alejandro - Lady Gaga

  4. How It's Got to Be - Jeanette

    The bridge and chorus of this pop song by German 2000s singing star Jeanette Biedermann are sung to the tune of "Act 2, Scene 10: Moderato" from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake." The song is pure early 2000s guilty pleasure pop bliss.

  5. Per Elisa - Alice

    The background singers of this song, which is appropriately titled, sing the tune of "Für Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven. The actual titular line of the song has a completely different melody, though.

  6. Mitternacht - Kollegah & Farid Bang

    A loop of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Four Little Swans" from "Swan Lake" plays throughout the entire song. By the way, it's an awesome and lyrically great song by great rappers from a great album.

  7. Roll Over Beethoven - Electric Light Orchestra

    Unlike the original version by Chuck Berry, this song begins with an interpolation of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony."

    That was very creative. The song is about Beethoven, after all!

  8. Das Omen, Pt. 1 - Mysterious Art

    The full 7-minute version of this chart-topping dark wave hit has a long intro that begins with a recitation of a monologue from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Faust," by far the most famous piece of classic German literature. It is followed by a rendition of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" before the actual song begins. The same sample is later interpolated into the beat after the second chorus, even though it's slightly offbeat. But that was in the '80s. Sampling was entirely new, at least in Germany.

  9. Zeig dich - Eko Fresh & Summer Cem

    The chorus of this lighthearted German party hip-hop song is sung to the tune of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from "Peer Gynt." It is occasionally whistled in the beat as well. Although this piece is usually used in a dark and macabre context (especially when whistled, as we've heard it in the movie "M"), here it manages to sound bright and fun.

  10. All by Myself - Eric Carmen

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    This Night - Billy Joel

  12. ?

    Justin Bieber vs Beethoven - Epic Rap Battles of History

    13. The Contenders

  13. Poison Apple - Blood on the Dance Floor & Jeffree Star

    I know what you think, but really, at this stage in their career, they were a professional electropop group, and this entire album is fun.

    The intro, bridge, and outro of this song are sung to the tune of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from "Peer Gynt." Unlike on Eko's song, here it's more unsettling.

  14. Diary of a Madman - Ozzy Osbourne

  15. Lacrymosa - Evanescence

  16. Classico - Tenacious D

  17. Metal Heart - Accept

  18. Majesty - Blind Guardian

  19. Gorgar - Helloween

  20. Black Black Heart - David Usher

  21. Graduation (Friends Forever) - Vitamin C

  22. Nutrocker - Emerson, Lake and Palmer

  23. Lemon Incest - Serge & Charlotte Gainsbourg

  24. Mitternacht 2 - Kollegah & Farid Bang

  25. For the Damaged Coda - Blonde Redhead

  26. A Lover's Concerto - The Toys

    The melody from "A Lover's Concerto" is based on the melodic line from the "Minuet in G Major" from Johann Sebastian Bach's Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. Although unconfirmed, the piece is believed to have been written by Christian Petzold, as the notebook contained several compositions not written by Bach himself.

PSearch List