Most Popular St. Patrick's Day Songs

Top Requested Irish Pop Hits Include The Unicorn & Beautiful Day

Feb 23, 2009 Daniel Workman

This playlist of popular and novelty Irish songs are a tribute to St. Patrick's Day, Ireland's national holiday on March 17.

Both Irish and non-Irish people celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with parades, green costumes, mischievous leprechauns, Irish dishes and songs performed by fine Irish singers.

Based in Canada, the Irish Rovers had one of the first major Irish pop hits with The Unicorn in 1968 – a song that is still number 35 among the most requested tunes for that year according to the current Pop Culture Madness database.

Novelty Songs For St. Patrick’s Day

Popular Irish songs include Sir Paul McCartney’s Give Ireland Back To The Irish, a protest anthem that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quickly banned in 1972.

Paddy’s Revenge by Steve Macstarted an Irish-led dance craze in 2008, with thousands of fans dancing to the song in unlikely public places then uploading the results to YouTube.

Brian McFadden’s Irish Son from 2004 has a much more somber theme. His lyrics lash out at the warped education that bad apple priests inflicted on McFadden at a Catholic school in Dublin.

Most Requested St. Patrick’s Day Songs

For uplifting and more popular Irish songs, Bono and U2 lead the way with inspirational lyrics backed by powerful melodies.

1. Pride In The Name Of Love (U2) … Number 6 most-requested song from 1984
2. All I Want Is You (U2) … Number 7 from 1989
3. With Or Without You (U2) … Number 10 from 1987
4. Mysterious Ways (U2) … Number 12 from 1982
5. Angel of Harlem (U2) … Number 13 from 1989
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2) … Number 17 from 1987
7. I Will Follow (U2) … Number 21 from 1984
8. One (U2) … Number 23 from 1992
9. New Year's Day (U2) … Number 25 from 1983
10. All I Want Is You (U2) … Number 28 from 1994.

Other Popular Hits For St. Paddy’s Day

Irish pop singer Sinead O’Connor had a number one hit in 17 countries with Nothing Compares 2 U, a song written by Minnesota’s Prince.

Though he was born in London, Boy George is known as the Irish singer for the pop group Culture Club. Below are Culture Club’s most requested hits.

1. Karma Chameleon (Culture Club) … Number 15 most-requested song from 1984
2. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (Culture Club) … Number 20 from 1983
3. Miss Me Blind (Culture Club) … Number 22 from 1984
4. I'll Tumble 4 Ya (Culture Club) … Number 39 from 1983.

Author’s Choice For Best St. Patrick’s Day Song

Few songs are as spirited in their celebration of life as U2’s Beautiful Day, the number 25 most requested song from 2000. Bono’s soaring lyrics went to the top of UK pop charts while approaching the top 20 in the U.S.

Author’s Choice For Funniest St. Paddy’s Day Song

Tongue firmly in cheek, Bono recently paid tribute to the U.S. president’s Irish-sounding name. The Corrigan Brothers released There’s No One As Irish As Barack Obama. Irish-American Democrats showed an Irish sense of humor by inviting The Corrigan Brothers to play that song at Barack Obama’s inauguration party back in January.

Sources for this Article

This article presents independent calculations and insights based on Pop Music Charts song data presented by Pop Culture Madness and songfacts.com.

The copyright of the article Most Popular St. Patrick's Day Songs in Pop Music is owned by Daniel Workman. Permission to republish Most Popular St. Patrick's Day Songs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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