Bottoms Up: 30 Biggest Drinking Songs (2024)

• Adele, “I Drink Wine”

  Release: 2021
  Chart Peak: No. 18 on Hot 100

  Pour a glass of your favorite red or white. Adele reflects on changed priorities and getting over a big ego in her piano-driven 30 track (that, according to Rolling Stone, was originally 15 minutes long. Cheers to hoping that an “Adele’s Version” is on the way.). Listen here.

• Don Toliver, “After Party”

  Release: 2020
  Chart Peak: No. 57 on Hot 100, No. 10 on Rhythmic Airplay

  It sounds like Toliver’s afterparties are nothing if not lit. Whether you’re planning on sippin’ Hennessy, Bacardi or Don Julio 1942, come through! Listen here.

• Taylor Swift, “champagne problems”

  Release: 2020
  Chart Peak: No. 21 on Hot 100

  Swift narrates a longtime love affair that becomes one-sided and comes to an end in an affecting piano ballad. So pop a bottle of Dom Pérignon to that. Listen here.

• Miranda Lambert and Elle King, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”

  Release: 2021
  Chart Peak: No. 41 on Hot 100, No. 3 on Country Airplay

  Lambert and King’s flirty number pays tribute to the wildest of nights out. Like, the ones that have you way too intoxicated to drive home. Listen here.

• Bad Bunny, “Moscow Mule”

  

  Release: 2022

  Chart Peak: No. 4 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs

  “Two drinks and you know I get horny,” Bad Bunny sings (in Spanish) on this midtempo reggaetón smash named after the vodka/lime/ginger beer cocktail, which finds Benito as a merman in the music video. Listen here.

• Sam Hunt, “House Party”

  Release: 2014
  Chart Peak: No. 26 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot Country Songs

  We all know that person who’d rather have a Netflix night in than go out on a Saturday night. Hunt promises to bring the party to you in his upbeat country banger. Listen here.

• Luke Bryan, “One Margarita”

  Release: 2020
  Chart Peak: No. 19 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Country Airplay

  Why think about tomorrow’s worries when you can have between one and three margaritas (and a shot)? Bryan says to go for the latter in his carefree country charter. Listen here.

• Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey”

  Release: 2015
  Chart Peak: No. 20 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot Country Songs

  Stapleton sings an R&B-influenced cover of the track (originally recorded by David Allan Coe in 1981) for his debut album, Traveller. Listen here.

• Luke Bryan, “Drunk On You”

  Release: 2012
  Chart Peak: No. 16 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot Country Songs

  “Pour a little Crown in a Dixie cup,” sings Bryan in his tipsy love song. “Get the party started.” You heard the man. Listen here.

• Ingrid Andress with Sam Hunt, “Wishful Drinking”

  Release: 2021

  Chart Peak: No. 47 on Hot 100, No. 4 on Country Airplay

  Andress’ sweet, sad country ballad finds her duetting with Hunt and longing “for another round of me and you” as she gets a bit tipsy.

• Toby Keith, “Red Solo Cup”

  

  Release: 2011
  Chart Peak: No. 15 on Hot 100, No. 9 on Hot Country Songs

  Keith questions the manhood of anyone who doesn’t drink from plastic cups in this stumbling drinker’s cut. Listen here.

• UB40, “Red Red Wine”

  Release: 1983
  Chark Peak: No. 1 on Hot 100

  UB40 doesn’t have much to celebrate here after a bad breakup with an unforgettable lady. So red wine becomes the remedy, or at least the tool to push thoughts of her away, on this Neil Diamond cover. Listen here.

• Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping”

  Release: 1997
  Chart Peak: No. 6 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Alternative Airplay

  Danny, the character this cut opens with, is a sad man. And what is he chugging? A whiskey drink, a vodka drink, and we assume more. Listen here.

• Busta Rhymes feat. Diddy and Pharrell, “Pass the Courvoisier, Part II”

  Release: 2002
  Chart Peak: No. 11 on Hot 100, No. 4 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

  When Busta performed this song with Pharrell Williams at the 2014 NBA All Star game, they changed the liquor shoutout to Ciroc vodka. Diddy (who is also on the track) owns the lux spirit. But back in the day when this cut first dropped, they were all hoping a glass (or bottle for that matter) of the choice cognac would come their way. Listen here.

• Eric Burdon and War, “Spill the Wine”

  Release: 1970
  Chart Peak: No. 3 on Hot 100

  This woozy story wraps with wine bottles emptied and figurative pearls taken. Listen here.

• Luke Combs, “Beer Never Broke My Heart”

  

  Release: 2019

  Chart Peak: No. 21 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Country Airplay

  Combs bemoans trucks that break down, girls who say goodbye and football teams who lose while celebrating those “long-necked, ice-cold beers” that never let you down. Listen here.

• The Champs, “Tequila”

  Release: 1958

  Chart Peak: Pre-Hot 100, No. 1 on Best Sellers in Stores chart

  The pioneering Latino rockers’ mostly instrumental number is the oldest recording on this list by a mile, but chances are high that your ears have done a shot of the Champs’ “Tequila” at some point. Listen here.

• Metallica, “Whiskey in the Jar”

  Release: 1998

  Chart Peak: No. 4 on Mainstream Rock Airplay

  If “Tequila” is the oldest recording on this list, “Whiskey in the Jar” is easily the oldest composition – it’s an Irish traditional folk song that dates back to the 17th century. Metallica’s 1998 version followed a similar rendition by Thin Lizzy in 1972. Listen here.

• Post Malone, “Wow.”

  Release: 2019
  Chart Peak: No. 2 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

  Posty flaunts his success with fancy cars and lots of liquor in his first single off his third studio album, Hollywood’s Bleeding. Listen here.

• LMFAO feat. Lil Jon, “Shots”

  

  Release: 2009
  Chart Peak: No. 68 on Hot 100, No. 2 on Heatseekers Songs

  Shots! Everybody! LMFAO and Lil Jon shout out “all of the alcoholics” in their bass-heavy party track. Listen here.

• Rihanna, “Cheers (Drink to That)”

  Release: 2010
  Chart Peak: No. 7 on Hot 100

  Rihanna says cheers to the freakin’ weekend on this single. We’ll drink to that. Listen here.

• Rupert Holmes, “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”

  Release: 1979
  Chart Peak: No. 1 on Hot 100

  Holmes is bored with his lady and is looking elsewhere. Then he sees an ad in the paper. There’s a woman saying, “If you like piña coladas… Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for / Write to me and escape.” The adventure begins from there. Listen here.

• Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, “Crack a Bottle”

  Release: 2009
  Chart Peak: No. 1 on Hot 100, No. 4 on Hot Rap Songs

  Em encourages all to get loose. Hopefully no one waddles too much like he suggests. Listen here.

• Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z, “Drunk in Love”

  

  Release: 2013
  Chart Peak: No. 2 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

  Bey says she’s tipsy off the love she’s got for hubby Jay-Z, but trust: The first couple of lines in the song make it known that she will “get filthy when liquor get into me.” Listen here.

• Snoop Dogg, “Gin and Juice”

  Release: 1994
  Chart Peak: No. 8 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs.

  Not only is Snoop Doggy Dogg smoking weed (well before the days of legalization), but he’s taking swigs of gin as well while figuring out his finances: “With my mind on my money / And my money on my mind.” Who says you can’t multitask?Listen here.

• Kendrick Lamar, “Swimming Pools (Drank)”

  Release: 2012
  Chart Peak: No. 17 on Hot 100, No. 3 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

  This song shows the darker side of drinking, as Kendrick dives into a pool of liquor and contemplates the pressure around alcohol and the dangers of alcoholism. Listen here.

• J-Kwon, “Tipsy”

  Release: 2004
  Chart Peak: No. 2 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs

  This is one of hip-hop’s simpler jams. “Errybody in the club getting tipsy,” J-Kwon raps on the hook. That’s all you need to know. Listen here.

• T-Pain feat. Yung Joc, “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)”

  Release: 2007
  Chart Peak: No. 1 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

  T-Pain starts at square one with a lady he meets at the bar, first offering her a drink after asking her what her name is. “Let’s get drunk and forget what we did,” he says later. Clearly, he’s not bashful. Listen here.

• Kesha, “TiK ToK”

  

  Release: 2009
  Chart Peak: No. 1 on Hot 100

  Party ‘till you see the sunlight and blow your speakers up to Kesha’s smash debut solo single. Then pass out, wake up, brush your teeth with Jack Daniel’s and do it all over again. Listen here.

• Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain, “Blame It (On the Alcohol)”

  Release: 2009
  Chart Peak: No. 2 on Hot 100, No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

  Grey Goose will get you loose. Patrón will get you gone. Those are just some of the many lessons learned on Foxx’s club banger. Listen here.

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