Song · Megadeth
“Peace Sells” by Megadeth
From the album Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying? (1986)
“Peace Sells” by Megadeth appears on 7 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1990 and 2013. It was first released in 1986 on the album Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?. Its best result is #78 on the Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #335 hard rock song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (megadethvevo). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Peace Sells" came snarling off Megadeth's 1986 album Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, a thrash protest song and the one that broke them. Dave Mustaine wrote every note and word, sings it and plays guitar alongside Chris Poland, with Gar Samuelson on drums and David Ellefson on bass and backing vocals; Mustaine co-produced with Randy Burns. Ellefson gets the opening, a bass intro so distinctive that MTV News borrowed it as its own lead-in, though Mustaine has said the band never saw a royalty for it.
They had been playing it live since 1985, and Ellefson said it was plain on stage, before the album was even cut, that they had a hit. It went out as their second single, the video became an MTV staple, and the lists came later: 11th on VH1's 2006 rundown of the greatest metal songs, 19th on Rolling Stone's in 2023.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 78 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 1994 | 406 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) | 1000 |
| 1995 | 247 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) | 1000 |
| 1996 | 603 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) | 1000 |
| 1998 | 595 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 491 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) | 998 |
| 2013 | 106 | KBPI | KBPI Top 200 Songs of All Time | 200 |
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