Metallica Popular Song Rankings [2025]

Screaming SuicideMetallica22rank/position

Metallica: Screaming Suicide (Official Music Video)

Metallica, beloved by music fans around the world as one of the quintessential heavy metal bands, released “Screaming Suicide” in 2023.

The song emphasizes the importance of confronting sensitive topics that are often treated as taboos in society.

Its weighty band performance and strongly messaged lyrics speak to the darker emotions people carry and can serve as a source of support.

Sometimes expressing feelings of loneliness, emptiness, or frustration with raw emotion can bring a sense of relief.

This track offers encouragement to those who feel life is tough or who are struggling to get by within society.

The UnforgivenMetallica23rank/position

Metallica – The Unforgiven (Official Music Video)

Metallica’s masterpiece “The Unforgiven” expresses deep emotion and inner conflict.

Released as a single from the early ’90s album “Metallica,” it portrays personal struggle and resistance against control.

The lyrics, born from James Hetfield’s childhood experiences, carry a universal message that resonates with many.

The song achieved high positions on the Billboard charts and earned widespread acclaim worldwide.

It’s a track I highly recommend to anyone questioning their life or carrying a heavy burden in their heart.

I DisappearMetallica24rank/position

I Disappear

Big-budget action movies and heavy metal really are a natural fit, aren’t they? Metallica, the world’s most famous and record-breakingly successful four-piece, contributed “I Disappear” to the 2000 film Mission: Impossible 2, releasing it as both a soundtrack cut and a single.

It’s fascinating to consider where this song sits in their career: throughout the 1990s they released massively successful albums worldwide, yet stirred controversy by shifting from traditional thrash metal toward midtempo rhythms and gritty, ground-crawling riffs influenced by grunge and alternative rock.

It also stands out as the only truly new, standalone track released between their alternative-leaning 1997 album Reload and 2003’s St.

Anger, notable for its raw, abrasive production.

Listening to its vibe—which seems to carry forward the sound they were making in the ’90s—you’d hardly have imagined they would go on to make something like St.

Anger.

As an aside, it was also the last recording to feature their second bassist, Jason Newsted.

Mama SaidMetallica25rank/position

Mama Said

Even when tasked with crafting a simple American ballad anchored by acoustic guitar, Metallica are top-tier.

Released in 1996, this song appears on the acclaimed album Load, which stepped away from a heavy metal sound and moved closer to alternative rock.

James Hetfield’s vocals, appealingly conveying introspective and complex emotions as he addresses his mother with a measured intensity, along with the country-tinged arrangement, are richly expressive and showcase the band’s remarkable range.

Metal MilitiaMetallica26rank/position

Metal Militia (Remastered)

Metallica’s indispensable track “Metal Militia,” essential to any discussion of thrash metal, is an energetic song themed around loyalty to the metal community and a spirit of rebellion.

While it boasts some of the fastest tempos on the album, it also has the surprising background of being crafted as a gesture of gratitude to the fans.

The repeated guitar riff, reminiscent of a military march, is exhilarating to hear.

Since this section isn’t overly complex, you can fully savor the overwhelming power of the riff.

If you tune in to the unifying chorus, you’ll experience the unbridled fervor that defines early thrash in all its glory.

Moth Into FlameMetallica27rank/position

Metallica: Moth Into Flame (Official Music Video)

A fiercely exhilarating track that blasts away the morning blues! This heavy metal number from the album “Hardwired.

.

.

to Self-Destruct” features striking lyrics about a moth diving into the flames of fame.

Released in September 2016, it made its debut on The Howard Stern Show.

With its crushing guitar riffs and powerful drums layered under James Hetfield’s vocals, it’s guaranteed to shake off your sleepiness.

A perfect wake-up song that energizes your morning routine—irresistible for fans of Western music!

The Day That Never ComesMetallica28rank/position

Metallica – The Day That Never Comes (Official Music Video)

It’s a song by a hugely popular metal band, one of the “Big Four” of American thrash metal.

Although this track isn’t very popular, the backing guitar riffs are incredibly cool, making it a metal classic that really gets you pumped.

I think it’s relatively easy to listen to even for high school students who haven’t listened to much metal, so I recommend it.