Top 10 Songs that Were Sampled in Hits

The Top Ten
1 Dream On - Aerosmith

This list isn't about plagiarism - all songs were legally sampled by the newer artists, except for Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie, whose bassline was ripped off by Vanilla Ice for his hit "Ice Ice Baby". Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline illegally so to say.

Great choice for number one also you forgot an important reason the sample works really well in "Sing For The Moment".

2 Under Pressure - Queen ft David Bowie

The hit song of 1990 "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice is a more complicated case of sampling because the story started as a rip off case.
Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline but initially he denied the accusation of plagiarism and said he had modified it. So he did not originally pay songwriting credit or royalties to Queen and Bowie.
A lawsuit gave songwriting credit for the sample to Queen and Bowie. Vanilla Ice later claimed to have purchased the publishing rights to "Under Pressure" because buying the song made more financial sense than paying out royalties.

They're both really good songs though...

3 Tutti Frutti - Little Richard

It was sampled in a 1956 novelty hit "The Flying Saucer", by Buchanan & Goodman

4 Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

Ned964, there's no problem with Kashmir and its sampling in Puff Daddy song - Puff Daddy didn't rip off Kashmir. Everything was legal and Jimmy Page was even featured in the song.
Also, as far as I know Kashmir is plagiarism-free unlike many famous Led Zeppelin songs.
This list doesn't focus on plagiarism - all songs were legally sampled except for Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie (Vanilla Ice ripped it off).

In "Come With Me" by Puff Daddy ft. Jimmy Page.
I love Kashmir but I have mixed opinions about this collaboration (Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page).

5 Pastime Paradise - Stevie Wonder

Sampled in both Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" and Blue's "Curtain Falls". The latter was a top ten hit in several European countries in 2004, the other song was a worldwide chart topping song.

6 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - ABBA

In Madonna's Hung Up

7 Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan
8 Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

I'm gonna make a list of songs this was sampled in one day. Not now, I'm bored.

9 Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
10 Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
The Contenders
11 Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-A-lot

It was totally sampled in Anaconda by Nicki Minaj as she turned to the dark side.

12 The Stroke - Billy Squier

Sampled in Eminem's Berzerk (2013)

Pretty good, so was berzerk

13 Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone
14 Maria Maria - Santana
15 I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
16 Super Freak - Rick James

Sample on you can't touch this

17 Tiny Dancer - Elton John
18 Thank You - Dido

Sampled in Eminem's "Stan". While acclaimed, it wasn't such a big hit in the US, peaking only at number 51, but it managed to top the charts in eleven other countries, so I guess it counts as a hit.

19 Children - Robert Miles

Heavily sampled in many songs, proving he was without a doubt the best solo 1 hit wonder in trance music along with EDM in general. R.I.P. Robert too soon.

20 Nessaja - Peter Maffay

Sampled in the Scooter song of the same name, which entered the top ten in many countries and topped the German charts. The chorus of the Scooter song uses the first verse of Maffay's song, translated into English and re-recorded by a female singer, then pitched much higher. I don't know if that counts as a sample or only if the original recording is interpolated into the beat or used as part of the song.
Peter Maffay's 2010 re-recording was also sampled in "Erwachsen sein" by rappers Bushido & Sido, where the first verse was used as the chorus, and an instrumental string segment in the middle of the original song was used in the outro of the hip hop song. This undeniably counts as a sample, and the song has 20 million views on YouTube (an averagely successful German hip hop song has between 1 and 10 million), although it only peaked at number 29 on both the German and Austrian charts. I don't know if that counts as a hit song.

21 The Last Time - Rolling Stones

Orchestral version sampled in Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve

22 Marias Lied - Ilona Schulz

Sampled in Sido's "Hey Du", which peaked at number 4 on the German charts in 2009. It uses the first verse of the song as the chorus.

"Marias Lied" is a song from the West German musical "Linie 1", the sample is from its 1988 movie adaption. The movie is about a train that drives through all of Berlin, with all kinds of social groups from all classes entering. The verse of the song is about the heroine telling a stranger that appears to be sad a story about her life to help him. Sido's song is about his family escaping from East Germany to West Germany when he was little. Before the Berlin Wall was torn down and the countries reunited, Sido had to fight with bullying due to his origin, that's why he kept it secret for years, but in the 21st century, the country was so reunited that West and East Germans didn't have aby conflict anymore. In the end he concludes that even though he was once down, fate wanted him to succeed in the end, and that's what will eventually happen to the ...more

23 Smooth - Santana
24 What is Love - Haddaway
25 Whoomp! There It Is - Tag Team
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