Music makes you feel something; it causes actual reactions to happen in your body and can change your mood instantly. Another good thing about music is that you can sing along—no matter how terribly—to any track you want.
But what makes an excellent sing-along song? Is it because a track is well known, an epic ride, or simply infectious in nature? All of those can be traits that make a song amazing to sing along to, and some of the best have it all.
Here are the 35 best tracks out there to showcase your singing voice.
1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is something of a magnum opus for the band. The track is a masterpiece, weaving a torrid tale and running the full gamut of emotions and tunes in a six-minute package. It hits on everything we love in music, from classical sections to parts of hard rock, giving everyone out there one part of it that will tickle their fancy.
What makes it a great sing-along song though are the numerous parts you can play, quick tone changes in vocals, and rather easy lyrics. It doesn’t take itself too seriously or go at a pace that’s hard to keep up with, allowing anyone to sing and let the drama of the track flow through them. Bonus points for acting out the song with some friends and everyone taking on different parts.
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2. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
I don’t necessarily sit here and listen to songs as I write these articles. I frankly couldn’t tell you any of the words from this track without listening, at least where the verses are concerned. But that lack of knowledge isn’t going to keep me—or anyone—from seeing how this is one of the best sing-along songs out there. The chorus is frankly all you need for that.
From the moment Neil Diamond loads up the anticipation for the belting “Sweet Caroline… bum bum bum,” know everyone listening is inhaling as they get ready to sing along. It’s become an iconic track in music history on that fact alone forget how great the rest of it is, and this also makes it a great sing-along song in our book.
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3. Stand By Me – Ben E. King
Ben E. King’s Stand By Me is a soulful update of a classic hymn that’s gone on to become one of the best sing-along songs out there. It’s got all the 50s-esque finger-snapping you could ask for along with his lovely singing voice. In all honesty, it’s got memorable lyrics that are perfect for reminding a friend how much they mean to you.
But, it can also work well as a nice love track thanks to the emotional chorus full of power. In the end, it’s just a good song and one that almost everyone has heard, something important for a sing-along entry on our list.
4. YMCA – Village People
Most people learn this song at a very young age. Whether you’re forced to do it in school P.E. classes or you get peer pressured into it at a sporting event, everyone knows YMCA by the Village People. It’s super simplistic lyrically, which is a good thing. But unlike many of the great sing-along songs, this one comes with its own dance.
You won’t just feel forced to sing the words for this one, you’ll be twisting your body into shapes to form letters and jumping up and down with what will likely be a sizable crowd. It’s great for singing, but it also works well for flash mods, TikToks in famous places, and ad-libbing jokes with paintings as you spell out words. The last one you’ll only get if you saw the dudes at the Louvre spell YMCA with a crucified Jesus painting, but that’s fine.
5. Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi
Livin’ On A Prayer is an epic song from Bon Jovi and a legendary entry into the rock pantheon. That alone makes it hard not to sing along to, but the chorus of it really pushes it to that next level. It also went viral a few years ago, as the lyrics in the chorus can easily be replaced—the part of “livin’ on a prayer”—because of the disjointed way they’re sung in the original version.
There are a lot of examples, from ‘lemon on a pear’ to ‘lizard in a chair” and ‘chicken on a bear’ to ‘wizard at the fair.’ “Lemon on a pear” was the most popular one for obvious reasons: It sounds almost exactly the same if you sing it that way. Don’t believe me? Try it out. Look, sing-along songs should have some level of fun to them, and this track—plus that trend—definitely does.
6. I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor’s empowering masterpiece I Will Survive is going to be around a lot longer than any of us. It’s got power, emotion, presence, and frankly pretty easy lyrics to get behind. I remember singing along to this one as a young kid. It’s not a track that takes a while to learn, and it’s an all-time classic. Easily one of the top sing-along songs out there.
7. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
The song famously dubbed by the internet as ‘the one to get the white girls turnt,’ Don’t Stop Believin’ is Journey’s best option for this chart. You can find all kinds of versions out there of this midnight train track thanks to its enduring legacy, and it helped cement their place as one of the best bands of all time.
8. Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
John Denver’s classic track about going back to West(ern) Virginia saw a resurgence in recent years as it became a viral TikTok trend, but it has always been a great sing-along song. Also, the bit in the first sentence is because it probably isn’t about the state of West Virginia because the Blue Ridge Mountains aren’t over there. That debate will rage on till the end of time though, so sorry if you disagree with that sentiment.
9. We Are The Champions – Queen
This might be one of the most-played sports songs in all of history. We Are The Champions by Queen is one of the most celebratory tracks ever and singing along to it will make you feel like you just won a huge trophy. They helped make arena rock a thing, with massive crowds singing along to their music, so it’s no surprise a few of their songs are on here.
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10. Hotel California – Eagles
Hotel California by the Eagles is honestly a bit spooky, but it’s still one of the best road-trip sing-along songs that have ever been written. Slight Spanish guitar influences, a good story, and a chorus that’s super easy to learn helped land them one of their biggest hits with a track that could almost feel lifted from a Stephen King novel.
11. Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
I admit, I’m one of the people who used to love singing along to Taylor Swift’s music, especially her early stuff. It’s catchy, what can I say? Shake It Off sees her go in more of a pop direction but winds up only making it more infectious and fun to sing along to. I mean it’s hard to not sing when this comes on—plus shake your shoulders a bit—so it easily makes it onto our list.
12. Say My Name – Destiny’s Child
This one is more for the kids who grew up in the 90s than anybody else. Destiny’s Child was huge back then and put out a ton of hits. Say My Name is one of the catchiest songs they ever released and one of the most empowering. The chorus of them asking you to say their names will probably make you do it, which is close enough to singing along.
13. Born This Way – Lady Gaga
Born This Way has become an anthem for some communities of people, and it was meant to be. The song is empowering, all about accepting yourself as you are and loving the unique things about yourself in the process. It helps that Lady Gaga delivered a catchy track with an infectious beat as well, making this an excellent sing-along song for the pop lovers out there.
14. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Some things are only understood by the people who live in certain places, but this isn’t one of those times. Sweet Home Alabama is a track that can make entire stadiums in the Southern US break into song, but it’s so legendary that it will even make people from California and New York long for Alabama. It’s one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s most popular tracks for a reason.
15. We Will Rock You – Queen
Okay, after this I’ll leave Queen alone. Even compared to the other songs we listed from them, We Will Rock You might be more ubiquitous. It’s so easy to sing along to and the clapping and stomping rhythm sends it over the top. It’s been sung by millions of people in stadiums worldwide over the years, which is alone enough to make it one of the best songs to sing along to.
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16. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepson
I will leave it up to you whether you sing along to this song seriously or you’re mocking it the whole time. Call Me Maybe is a track that you either love or desperately hate, but either way, you have to admit it was one of the biggest one-hit songs of the year when it came out. It’s a track that will, for better or worse, get stuck in your head, so add it to the playlist with caution.
17. Friends In Low Places – Garth Brooks
Out of all of Garth Brooks’ incredible discography, there might not be a better sing-along song than Friends In Low Places. For the simple, plain-dressed people out there and all those who would rather sit around a bonfire than go to a fancy party, it doesn’t get better than this. You’ll get the whole honky-tonk howling with this sing-along song.
18. Lean On Me – Bill Withers
Lean On Me is another one of those soulful classics about supporting each other. We sang it in our youth group to end all of our activities, and plenty of other people have used it for the same purposes. It’s a song that will help you bond as you sing along to it and the beautiful sentimentality of the track is more than enough to make it a good idea to do so.
19. Party In The U.S.A. – Miley Cyrus
Party In The U.S.A. is another one of those songs that blew up and then faded away, but anyone who lived through it can sing along to it. It helped secure Miley Cyrus a place in the music industry. A massive summer hit, everyone was singing this track when it came out and still could today if you played it in front of them.
20. Free Fallin’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
You only need two words to sing along to this song from Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, and with just that you can do a pretty good job keeping up with it. The free-falling of the chorus is enough to make it one of the best-known tracks in history and easily one of the best sing-along songs out there.
21. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers absolutely nailed sing-along music with this hit song. It’s simple, it’s catchy, and it’s got some meaningful lyrics. The track has always been used quite a lot in films and other media, meaning everybody and their mom has heard this one and can sing along to the chorus even if they don’t know the actual verses of the song.
22. Say It Ain’t So – Weezer
Weezer is another band that wrote a lot of great songs to sing along to. Say It Ain’t So is a pretty great example, thanks to both its tempo and interesting lyrics. One of their best pieces of work wound up also being a track that still gets played on the radio today and one that’s super hard to avoid singing along to when it comes on.
23. All The Small Things – Blink-182
From one ‘say it ain’t so’ to another, All The Small Things is easily one of the best sing-along songs out there. Look, it’s not for everyone. But if it comes on in a bar full of 20 and 30-somethings, almost everyone will stop what they’re doing and sing along. Do we need any more evidence than that of its place as a sing-along song?
24. Man! I Feel Like A Woman – Shania Twain
Okay, hear me out. Shania Twain produced a lot of great songs and a lot of empowering tracks for women when she was at her peak. But this one was different. It was a crossover hit on the charts and a hit that crossed over gender. Men and boys sang along to this one and sashayed around the house just as often as women did back then and that alone points to it being a great sing-along song.
25. Gives You Hell – The All-American Rejects
A few sing-along songs get their place because they’re pretty or because they rock hard. Then there are tracks like Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects. This one has more range than you’d expect because you can either sing along in a good mood about your ex getting crapped on by karma or scream out your emotions to feel better about yourself.
26. Here I Go Again – Whitesnake
You know we have to put more hard arena rock on this list. Here I Go Again is just one of those rock anthems that will always come up if you’re looking for good songs to sing along to. From Monsters Of Rock albums to seeing Whitesnake in concert, this is one of those good ones.
27. The Joker – Steve Miller Band
The Joker is another one of those songs that just about everyone knows, even if they don’t know where they’ve heard it before. Maybe it’s the mention of space cowboys or the track’s place in stoner culture that set it apart. Maybe it was the iconic performance of it on That ’70s Show. Maybe we’ll never know, but it will always be an excellent choice for a sing-along song.
28. Sugar, We’re Goin Down – Fall Out Boy
Did you 2000s emo kids think we forgot about you? This is the first of two songs I know you’re going to enjoy. First off, Sugar, We’re Goin Down is one of the most epic songs Fall Out Boy ever released, and it’s one of the few tracks that you can turn on and have 2000s teens run into the room singing along to. It played the line between emo, pop-punk, and rock so brilliantly that it produced one of the catchiest songs of the era.
29. I Write Sins Not Tragedies – Panic! At The Disco
![Panic! At The Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vc6vs-l5dkc/0.jpg)
Okay, here’s your other one, kids. I Write Sins Not Tragedies is in the exact same vein as Sugar We’re Going Down. Play it. You’ll thank yourself. It’s fun to sing along to and it will forever be etched into the minds of all the kids growing up in the mid-2000s, as both this and our last song were released in 2005. Once you’re done listening, remember to close the goddamn door.
30. Hey There Delilah – Plain White T’s
Hey There Delilah might be one of the most-played songs on acoustic guitar, but it also makes for an excellent sing-along song. Memes about it and alternate lyrics aside, this is a sweet, mellow acoustic track that you can sing around a campfire as you relax under the stars.
31. It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls
Hallelujah, it’s raining men. The Weather Girls dropped one of the most exciting and fun sing-along songs of all time with It’s Raining Men. Now what that looks like, I have no idea, it honestly sounds terrifying. But, it’s a fun time and definitely worth adding to a sing-along playlist. There is one interesting theory about it though. This song and Let The Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pool are the same track from two different perspectives. While not accurate, it does make some sense.
32. Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
Does a song count if only the opening is really remembered? Kansas wound up with a big rock hit in Carry On Wayward Son, and it was largely thanks to its incredible opening lines. This is one you can always sing along to, so it should be on here, even if you can’t remember the middle of the track.
33. Bang The Drum All Day – Todd Rundgren
Ah, a song almost every working person can agree with. With a line like ‘I don’t want to work, I just want to bang on the drum all day,’ it shouldn’t be surprising that this is an awesome sing-along song.
34. Panama – Van Halen
Man, speaking of simple choruses. This is a great rock song and one that has a certain energy and tension to it that is hard for anything else to match up to. But, you only need one word to sing along to the chorus, so it’s an easy sing-along song to pick up.
35. Campfire Song – SpongeBob SquarePants
Look, if you know, you know. If you don’t, you don’t. This was a song that most of us heard growing up and it’s super fun to sing along to. SpongeBob SquarePants lovers out there will get it, the rest of you probably won’t, and that’s okay.
As a contributing writer for Music Grotto, Dakotah writes and produces professional music/media content. He works closely with editorial staff to meet editorial standards and create
quality content for the Music Grotto website. Dakotah is passionate about music in a wide variety of genres, from hip-hop to country and lo-fi to metal, and he enjoys creating music pieces for Music Grotto.
