Did you ever wonder what are 11 Most Popular Songs About Drugs? Well, if you didn’t, start wondering now, because soon you will have your answer. When we look at the music world, the drugs are almost a common thing, since some musicians not only do drugs, but also make songs about them.
The drugs are guilty of some of the biggest tragedies in music and life in general. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse are all gone because of drugs abuse. On the other hand, many artists claim that they have written their best song under the drug influence. But we will leave those things for some other time. Let’s now focus on finding our most popular songs about drugs.
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There was a large amount of drug references in the songs through music history. Some were well hidden, some you have to think a little to figure them out, and some were there laid without any shame. We decided to count them all in. For our first destination in search for drug filled music, we chose SongfFact’s category of songs about drugs. They have organized the songs neatly, and we dived them to find a mainstream artists on the list. After that, we took two most important criteria for ranking the songs popularity, YouTube and the album (on which the song has appeared) chart performance on US Billboard 200. After checking it all out and summing up the scores, we got what we searched for. Every song got 1 point for every million YouTube clicks and 100 points if the album was number one, losing 10 points for every position downwards. If you like music and would like to strum some strings, you should also check out our 10 Easiest Acoustic Guitar Songs to Play as well.
11. Alice In Chains – Would?
Most of the Alice In Chains songs are revolved around drug abuse of their frontman. This song tells the story about the rehab process and is dedicated to Andrew Wood, who himself died from heroin overdose.
YouTube views: 15,208,513
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 6
Overall score: 55
10. Afroman – Because I Got High
Although this song was written as a joke, it’s popularity wasn’t a joke at all. In this song, Afroman describes his experience while taking marijuana.
YouTube views: 60,075,854
Chart Performance: US Billboard 200 – 10
Overall score: 70
9. NIN – Hurt
This song is about NIN’s frontman Trent Reznor and his struggles with heroin addiction. The song was covered by Johnny Cash, and became a massive hit.
YouTube views: 7,320,736
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 2
Overall score: 77
8. Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
This is one of the ultimate odes to drugs. It was written after Grace Slick took LSD for hours to get inspiration. The lyrics are based on Alice in Wonderland, in which there are many references to drugs.
YouTube views: 30,761,795
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 3
Overall score: 100
7. Guns N Roses – Mr. Brownstone
The band members don’t even try to hide their addiction in this song. The song is about their heroin abuse.
YouTube views: 5,150,473
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 1
Overall score: 105
6. Neil Young – Needle and the Damage Done
The inspiration for the song about heroin came from one of the Crazy Horses band members, who was addicted to heroin, and ended up dead because his addiction. So basically, this song is about what will happen at the end of the drug abuse.
YouTube views: 6,944,982
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 1
Overall score: 107
5. Curtis Mayfield – Pusherman
The core of this song is drug dealing. In American slang, the drug dealer is called the pusherman. The song was first released on the soundtrack for the movie Superfly.
YouTube views: 7,477,674
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 1
Overall score: 108
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge
One of the RHCP’s most famous songs, it tells the story about RHCP’s frontman Antony Kiedis and his times as a drug addict. His drug of choice was heroin. The title of the song refers to the bridge where Kiedis went to buy and consume drugs.
YouTube views: 32,606,889
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 3
Overall score: 112
3. D-12 – Purple Hills/Pills
Eminem and the co. recorded this song for their first album, glorifying the purple pills, ecstasy. Subsequently they had to modify the title and the lyrics to give the song a more radio-friendly tone.
YouTube views: 18,401,938
Chart Performance: Billboard 200 – 1
Overall score: 118
2. Ed Sheeran – The A Team
This shouldn’t come up as a surprise, since Ed Sheeran is on his course to become one of the most popular musicians today. The song is about crack cocaine also known as an A class drug, and about the girl addicted to it.
YouTube views: 140,122,224
Chart Performance: US Billboard 200 – 5
Overall score: 190
1. System Of A Down – Chop Suey!
Most people don’t know it, but this is also a song about drugs and drug addiction. Guitarist Daron Malakian explained it in one if his interviews: “If I were to die from a drug overdose, everyone would say I deserved it because I abused drugs, hence the line ‘Angels deserve to die’.” Taking it all into consideration, this song is ultimately at the top of our 11 Most Popular Songs About Drugs.
YouTube views: 333,872,154
Chart Performance: US Billboard 200 – 1
Overall score: 433
