Top Ten Most Overplayed Classic Rock Songs

Despite the volume of incredible classic rock songs, radio stations insist on beating the same tracks into the ground. Over and over and over again. Many are indeed fantastic songs, but grow annoying with overexposure.
The Top Ten
1 Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

Fun Fact: It's the only song that Journey ever made, which is why it's the only Journey song they play. (or so I'm led to believe since they NEVER play any other Journey songs).

This list seems very similar to the list of top ten greatest songs of all time. Except this. This is nowhere to be seen. Worse still it's still overplayed: Today.

Why this 80s pop song instead of any other 80s pop song? It's an OK song (not much more, though) that I probably wouldn't notice if it weren't for being blasted on the radio and included in more T.V. shows and memes than I can count.

All the songs on this list are overplayed, but Don't stop Believin' gets my vote. There are so many better Journey songs than this.

2 Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

I still love this song. It is overplayed for good reason. Excellent musicianship, beautiful imagery. A true rock anthem!

I don't think it is overplayed, I listen to classic rock station but the last time I heard it was about oh, a month ago.

Stairway to Heaven is Led Zeppelin's (a.k.a. the worst band I've listened to) best song, but it is sub-par.

3 Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

I hear Queen everywhere. On my theatre people bring this up, it's played on last day of school, it's played on my hikes with the scouts, on the radio, on lurd if the reings, I just can't escape queen. It's played so much and after a while you don't approciate the music a bit and start to hate it cause you jsut can't understand how people can never get tired of queen. It's like wake me up was great but played so much and then it started to get annoying so people don't listen to it anymore but they can't get tired of queen. If a song is played by everybody 24/7 for 30 years you just get hellishly tired and people think they are so original and fun when they put any song on all the time! Queen is ok but not anymore. Please bring it up once or twice instead of all the damn time.

All these songs are great songs and they were overplayed for that simple reason. We can't blame the songs or the bands. We can only stop listening to the radio. I did it.

4 Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple

Another interesting, well-considered list with observant choices.
As I believe you agree, most of these are/were solid songs worthy of praise, but with all the multitude of possible great songs to pick from - even if one is just picking from popular classics which received significant AirPlay, most of these are definitely "enuff, already" to the point where it's no longer interesting or desirable to hear them.

I agree with IronSabbathPriest - Ritchie Blackmore himself said that his favorite Deep Purple song was Perfect Strangers. My favorite is Highway Star and 2nd fave - maybe Perfect Strangers. However, I still love the intro riff to Smoke On the Water - it instantly gets my blood pumping.
I stopped listening to the radio several years ago when I became a metalhead. Currently I listen to only what I want and when I want to.

I don't think it's their best song. For me it was when I just got into it. But after listening 70-80 songs of theirs, I've found better songs.

I swear, this song is playing every single time I flick on the radio. And that blasted riff is unavoidable.

5 Hotel California - Eagles

Radio has ruined one of the greatest guitar solos ever for me. Alongside Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again", Joan Jett's "I Love Rock And Roll", and "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi, "Hotel California" is undoubted the song I'm the most sick of hearing. I don't even know why people are listing "Stairway To Heaven" on here. I barely ever hear that one on the radio because it's so long. Maybe it's the place I live in.

An absolutely amazing song, but holy crap I do not need to hear it every hour! This is why I stopped listening to classic rock radio stations. They overplay great songs until they are ruined.

This is another song I love. But there are so many Eagles songs you never hear as a result of it being played to death.

OVERPLAYED is an understatement! Boring guitars and stupid lyrics!

6 Who are You - The Who

I love this song personally. But it's on the radio SO MUCH it's been stuck in my head for about an hour now! But I loved the music video. Keith Moon is hilarious!

Every single sports stadium insists on playing this. It's not bad, but there are at least a dozen better songs by The Who.

I had no idea this was overplayed. I never heard it on the radio.

I've heard this about ten million times. Can't they just stop?

7 You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi

This is a good song but I heard it twice in one day!

8 Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

It's not really classic rock and the song itself is good but man I hear it probably like 5 times a week at least and it gets kind of annoying but hey it's better than hearing people in school turn up their rap music disregarding other people and singing along to the songs (hearing sing alongs in public is one of my pet peeves) so I'm not complaining.

Very overplayed, but enter sandman should be up there. That song is overplayed to the max!

Not Really Classic Rock But Still Overplayed To An Extent

I prefer Come As You Are and About A Girl. I just do.

9 More Than a Feeling - Boston

It's a great song I've come to dislike because of endless overplaying. There's one song that's worse, that's "Maggie Mae" by Rod Stewart, the only song that makes my lower back hurt.

It's a good song, but it is ridiculously overplayed on classic rock stations (along with Peace of Mind).

I think it's underplayed as of today. But it was a one-hit wonder.

Hear it all of the time. I will like it though!

10 Highway to Hell - AC/DC

This song is complete rubbish. A terrible song by the absolute worst band in history. Most overrated people ever, Angus shoul retire now

Geez @ Big call there! ACDC are still one of the best live acts in the World.

Love AC/DC, love the song, but yeah, it’s played too much. You know what AC/DC song is played more than this? Thunderstruck

The Contenders
11 Tom Sawyer - Rush

No, I hear it much too often in the USA, despite how good it is and despite the relative lack of attention sometimes given Rush.
Again, the primary message is "variety, please". One or 2 songs doesn't and can't define a group and I'd imagine they'd prefer to be acknowledged for body of work.

Id love to hear this on the radio (I never have), along with some others, (La Villa Strangiato, The Trees, Red Barchetta, Fly By Night, Spirit Of Radio, 2112, and the only Rush Song I've heard on the radio, my personal favorite, Limelight.)

This song is four and a half minutes of synthesizer hell. The person who thinks to play this song on the radio all the time should be drug in the street by their hair and shot in the head.

Ugh, I hate this song. Rush is my favorite band, but this song is one of my least favorite by them.

12 Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

It plays on every classic rock radio station on the face of the Earth, every day. Not an exaggeration.

Sweet home Alabama sucks, I'm sorry it just does.

The single most over played song of all time.

13 The Final Countdown - Europe

I hate this song so much. It's just awful. There's no emotion. No passion. Just "the final countdown".
Nobody ever shuts up about it. I can't get away from it. Give Stairway To Heaven some credit, that song is good, at least.

This song is ALWAYS played. Shame really because it is probably one of Europe's worst songs.

I don't hear it that much. Maybe once or twice a week. Probably even less than that.

14 We Are the Champions - Queen

I remember when I first heard it, I thought it was decent. Bohemian was miles ahead of it but it was still good. Then I realized how the radio played this like 7 times a day and I was going nuts. We Are Overplayed should be the new name for this overrated overplayed no longer fun song

And if it wasn't already overplayed on the radio, every sports team plays it about 5 times during a game.

HATE this song! It is Annoying nonsense.

15 House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

Probably the song I'd say least belongs out of Top Ten in my humble opinion, and from what I hear, but maybe my opinion is tainted by my fondness for it (which I see you note of yours as well). I understand it's inclusion, though and for what it's worth I don't argue that or necessarily disagree - both as I'm sure you hear it too often. My primary wish and reason for commenting is that I'd prefer that other covers of this song get some of its percentage of AirPlay. While The Animals did the most popular and successful version, and perhaps the "definitive" one, it was Not an original composition in lyrics or melody and many others had done interesting versions previously.

The Animals are one of, if not THE most underrated rock band. Like Deep Purple, only one of their songs truly hit big. They've had so many more amazing songs, like We Gotta Get Out of This Place, I'm Crying, and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

This song SUCKS! And no, I'm not some millenial moron who has no taste in music. I love Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses, Queen...A lot of 80's music, but the animals' music... It's just crap!

I actually love this song. But it gets enough airplay for the entire British Invasion.

16 You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

I came on this list looking for this song. It's a good tune, but I don't understand why this song gets played more often than most AC/DC songs. Instead of hearing this all the time, maybe we could hear more stuff from the Bon Scott era like "Girls Got Rhythm", "Whole Lotta Rosie", "Let There Be Rock", etc. Again, not a bad song at all, but there's so much more to AC/DC than this.

17 Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N Roses

It gets played pretty frequently where I live, but it's a good song so...

Even if it is overplayed it is still a great song

18 Hotel California - The Eagles
19 Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
20 Thunderstruck - AC/DC

Always playing on my local radio station. Can't stand it anymore.

21 Carry on Wayward Son - Kansas
22 Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses

Still one of the best songs of the century

23 Walk This Way - Aerosmith
24 Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

My brother told me to

25 Crazy - Aerosmith
8Load More
PSearch List