“We Will Rock You” by Queen

Brian May wrote "We Will Rock You" for Queen's 1977 album News of the World, and it's rock and roll stripped down to bone: all four of them stamping and clapping, Freddie Mercury barking out the verses, and nothing else at all until May tears in with a guitar solo for the last half minute. It went out paired with "We Are the Champions" as a double-sided hit, and radio stations quickly took to playing the two back to back without a break.

The band produced it with Mike Stone, and the stomp-stomp-clap turned out to be the simplest, stickiest rhythm in the arena. It became a sports-stadium chant the world over, and in 2009 the Grammy Hall of Fame took it in.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.