The Top 50 Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Acts

Heavy Metal/Hard Rock: Top 50 Acts

This list was created by aggregating 25 lists focused on the best heavy metal and/or hard rock acts of all time. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre. Metallica 1. Metallica 2. Iron Maiden 3. Black Sabbath 4. Judas Priest 5. Megadeth 6. Slayer 7. Pantera 8. Tool 9. Motörhead 10. Led Zeppelin 11. Mötley Crüe 12. Guns N’ Roses 13. Van Halen 14. AC/DC 15. Ozzy Osbourne 16. Anthrax 17. Aerosmith 18. Kiss 19. Korn 20. Slipknot 21. Deep Purple 22. System of a Down 23. Jimi Hendrix 24. Bon Jovi 25. Def Leppard 26. Alice Cooper 27. Ronnie James Dio 28. Scorpions 29. Avenged Sevenfold 30. Queensrÿche 31. Alice in Chains 32. Marilyn Manson 33. Deftones 34. Rammstein 35. Queen 36. Nirvana 37. Rush 38. Linkin Park 39. Rage Against the Machine 40. Faith No More 41. Whitesnake 42. Ratt 43. Foo Fighters 44. Disturbed 45. Evanescence 46. Rainbow 47. Thin Lizzy 48. Five Finger Death Punch 49. Cinderella 50. Twisted Sister Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Albums Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Heavy Metal Songs Dave’s Music Database: Top 50 Hair Band/Glam Metal Songs Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre First posted 7/1/2026.

The Top 50 Heavy Metal Songs

Heavy Metal: Top 50 Songs

Heavy metal is rooted in the hard rock of the late ‘60s and ‘70s, most often attributed to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin, who all got their start in England in 1968. Distortion, extended guitar solos, and overall loudness characterized the genre and the lyrics are often stereotyped as having Satanic themes. However one defines the genre, here are the top 50 heavy metal songs as determined by aggregating 32 best-of lists. Those songs appearing on 7 or more lists were then re-ranked based on overall points in Dave’s Music Database. Click here to see other genre-specific song lists. 1. Black Sabbath “Paranoid” (1970) 2. AC/DC “Back in Black” (1980) 3. Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” (1987) 4. Metallica “Enter Sandman” (1991) 5. Deep Purple “Smoke on the Water” (1973) 6. Metallica “One” (1988) 7. AC/DC “Highway to Hell” (1979) 8. Kiss “Rock and Roll All Nite” (1975) 9. Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train” (1980) 10. Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” (1987) 11. Black Sabbath “Iron Man” (1970) 12. Scorpions “Rock You Like a Hurricane” (1984) 13. Van Halen “Runnin’ with the Devil” (1978) 14. Motörhead “Ace of Spades” (1980) 15. Metallica “Master of Puppets” (1988) 16. Black Sabbath “War Pigs” (1970) 17. Judas Priest “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” (1982) 18. Judas Priest “Breaking the Law” (1980) 19. Iron Maiden “Run to the Hills” (1982) 20. Kiss “Detroit Rock City” (1976) 21. AC/DC “Hells Bells” (1980) 22. Iron Maiden “Hallowed Be Thy Name” (1982) 23. Quiet Riot “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)” (1983) 24. Whitesnake “Still of the Night” (1987) 25. Iron Maiden “The Number of the Beast” (1982) 26. Dio “Holy Diver” (1983) 27. Black Sabbath “Black Sabbath” (1970) 28. Iron Maiden “The Trooper” (1983) 29. Deep Purple “Highway Star” (1972) 30. Megadeth “Symphony of Destruction” (1992) 31. Dio “Rainbow in the Dark” (1983) 32. Ozzy Osbourne “Mr. Crowley” (1980) 33. Megadeth “Peace Sells” (1986) 34. Metallica “Fade to Black” (1984) 35. Judas Priest “Painkiller” (1990) 36. Pantera “Walk” (1992) 37. Megadeth “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due” (1990) 38. Slayer “Raining Blood” (1986) 39. Megadeth “Hangar 18” (1990) 40. Metallica “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (1984) 41. Pantera “Cowboys from Hell” (1990) 42. Judas Priest “The Hellion/Electric Eye” (1982) 43. Black Sabbath “Heaven and Hell” (1980) 44. Black Sabbath “Children of the Grave” (1971) 45. Rainbow “Stargazer” (1976) 46. Slayer “Angel of Death” (1986) 47. Accept “Balls to the Wall” (1983) 48. Iron Maiden “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1984) 49. Iron Maiden “Fear of the Dark” (1992) 50. Diamond Head “Am I Evil?” (1980) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists” First posted 1/24/2018; last updated 5/11/2021.