Song · Nine Inch Nails
“March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails
From the album The Downward Spiral (1994)
“March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails appears on 19 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 1994 and 2023. It was first released in 1994 on the album The Downward Spiral. Its best result is #22 on the Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #77 alternative song of 1994 and #2,471 alternative song of all time.
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"March of the Pigs" was the first taste of The Downward Spiral, Nine Inch Nails' second album, arriving in February 1994 a couple of weeks ahead of the record, and it hits like a riot in a stairwell. Trent Reznor wrote, arranged and produced it, and he built it on a lurching meter, three bars of 7/8 followed by one of 8/8, so the beat never lands where your body expects it. Mid-assault it drops into a 4/4 bridge with a bluesy vocal line that ends on a jaunty little piano tune, then an unnerving silence, and the whole thing starts over. Alan Moulder mixed it.
It's done in just under three minutes, one of the band's shortest hits, and its manic energy made it a fixture of the live show. In 2020 Kerrang! ranked it the band's third-greatest song, and Billboard put it sixth.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 85 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1994 | 107 |
| 1994 | 50 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994 | 91 |
| 1994 | 22 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994 | 106 |
| 1994 | 96 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1994 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 258 | Live 105 | Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994) | 500 |
| 1994 | 878 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) | 1000 |
| 1995 | 125 | Live 105 | Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) | 300 |
| 1995 | 791 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 807 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 1999 | 271 | WFNX | WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) | 500 |
| 1999 | 767 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2002 | 1463 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2004 | 333 | 107.7 The End | The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) | 500 |
| 2020 | 399 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) | 420 |
| 2021 | 359 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) | 420 |
| 2022 | 344 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) | 420 |
| 2022 | 453 | KEXP | KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) | 491 |
| 2023 | 250 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
| 2023 | 294 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) | 420 |
Also listed as: March of The Pigs; March Of The Pigs.
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