Peak Singalong: A Playlist

Everyone loves singing songs they know. Blasting the perfect song through your car speakers can bring a group of people together in elation and may even result in seatbelt constrained dancing and/or smiles–a sure sign the people with you are having fun. The following playlist is designed to bring you to that point of elation, to make you the coolest person in your car, and ultimately to help you reach peak singalong.

Before diving in, we must go over a few rules that helped to create this, the most perfect collection of songs to sing to; these are listed below:

  1. It has to be a song that everybody knows. My senior year of high school a bunch of my friends went to Chilis to celebrate my friend’s birthday. On the way home we played mewithoutYou’s “January 1979”, all of us yelled along to Aaron Weiss’ manic vocal delivery and had an amazing time doing so. But, how many of you could sing lyrics from that song right now? Thus, not acceptable—most people with you must know the song.
  2. It has to be foolish. There are great songs that people like to sing a long to, The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” is a great example of this— the most acclaimed band of all time singing a song that people enjoy singing along to; however, adding “Hello, Goodbye” to a singalong playlist does not help one reach peak singalong. Peak singalong involves each person in the car screaming their lungs out in foolishness, not caring what they look like or who sees them. To reach this state, the song must inspire foolishness and must have some level of kitschiness. The Beatles are just too good of a band to bring about the cheesiness required, but one hit wonders and momentary pop stars are perfect for this.
  3. It must be good. Rule #3 is an amendment to Rule #2. While the song has to have a kitsch level to it, it must also be a good song. There are certain songs that are very foolish and may inspire some level of singalong, but won’t get you to peak singalong. Baja Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out” or “The Macarena” are both examples of this—they’re funny to play but one can only keep up the I’m ironically having fun bit for so long (usually not the length of one of these songs). Thus the song must actually be enjoyable to listen to in order to fully bring about singalong-ness.

Songs on any singalong playlist will reflect personal tastes which will naturally be based on upbringing and the era of music each person grew up in, that being said, this is the definitive peak singalong playlist for every person.

You can follow along on the embedded Spotify playlist (or here) (sorry Tidal subscribers)

Peak Singalong: A Playlist:

  1. “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton
  2. “Everywhere” by Michelle Branch
  3. “My Immortal” by Evanescence
  4. “Behind These Hazel Eyes” by Kelly Clarkson
  5. “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne
  6. “Numb” by Linkin Park
  7. “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” by Fall Out Boy
  8. “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard
  9. “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson
  10. “Perfect” by Simple Plan
  11. “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls
  12. “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers
  13. “Take On Me” by a-ha
  14. “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer
  15. “My Boo” by Usher w/Alicia Keys
  16. “Big Girls Don’t Cry (Personal)” by Fergie
  17. “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen


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