(Credits: Far Out / Samuel Regan-Asante)
All good rock and roll is meant to cross all international boundaries. Music has always brought people together at the end of the day, and being able to chant along to a song regardless of what country an artist comes from is half why people can relate to one another in a stadium show. While many artists have been able to reach the global stage, some of the mainstays of classic rock have been able to dominate sections of Europe.
But what about classic rock songs that keep people coming back for more? As much as classic rock bands started off with blues traditions, sometimes it’s the relatable songs about how artists were either done wrong or celebrating life that make them resonate with people worldwide.
Everyone has felt the pain of having to take shit from someone in their daily lives, and who better to give a voice to that lifestyle than AC/DC? Outside of being one of the ultimate classic rock bands to come out of Australia, the band have managed to become the most popular act in countries like Switzerland, Germany and Sweden, all with a combined total of 1.33 billion YouTube listens every month.
Even if you’re not listening to AC/DC, you’re more than likely listening to a band inspired by them. You might not know it, but whenever you listen to the sounds of any glam metal band or hear a singer with a bit too much gravel in their throat, chances are they stole something from the Young Brothers’ band of merry men, including Metallica, who have themselves become the biggest band in Bulgaria.
When talking about the most celebrated bands in the world, it usually comes down to the golden age of the British invasion, though. From the dawn of The Beatles to The Rolling Stones, most people would think that the dominant force of all classic rock bands would be someone like them, right? Wrong.
Broken into raw data, 1970s rockers Queen have dominated the cultural conversation for years, with their songs accounting for nearly two billion YouTube listens. It’s no real surprise that someone like Queen would top a list like this, either. Along with creating the greatest 1970s rock songs like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, they became mainstays in the 1980s, trading in their rock chops for pop star spurs on ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.
While most of this data tends to come from how many people have been clicking on various music videos from any one band, it’s all about how they kill onstage, and Queen approached the live show like it was second nature. It may have been hard to decipher every word if you didn’t speak the language, but you didn’t need to when Freddie Mercury engaged in a vocal battle with the crowd whenever they played live.
A good live show can go a long way, as evidenced by Bruce Springsteen’s ability to squeak into the conversation as well. But outside of their classic songs, is there really an X factor that defines these bands as the true cream of the crop?
Well, outside of the anthemic nature of the songs, each band knows how to write lyrics that are about universal topics, from Queen talking about wanting to break free to AC/DC singing about beer drinking and hell-raising with the best of them. Popularity doesn’t necessarily mean having the most in-depth lyrics, but if you find something universal in a song, you will have entire arenas chanting along with you.
The most popular rock bands in Europe:
- Norway – Bruce Springsteen
- Sweden – AC/DC
- Finland – Metallica
- Estonia – Queen
- Latvia – Queen
- Lithuania – AC/DC
- Poland – Queen
- Belarus – Queen
- Austria – AC/DC
- Slovakia – Queen
- Hungary – Queen
- Ukraine – Queen
- Moldova – Queen
- Romania – Queen
- Bosnia – AC/DC
- Herzegovina – AC/DC
- Bulgaria – Metallica
- Serbia – AC/DC
- Macedonia – Queen
- Cyprus – Queen
- Greece – Queen
- Albania – Metallica
- Montenegro – AC/DC
- Croatia – Queen
- Malta – Queen
- Italy – Queen
- Iceland – AC/DC
- Slovenia – Queen
- Portugal – Queen
- Spain – Queen
- Switzerland – AC/DC
- France – Queen
- Luxembourg – Queen
- United Kingdom – Queen
- Ireland – Queen
- Belgium – Queen
- Netherlands – Queen
- Denmark – Queen
- Czech Republic – Queen
- Germany – AC/DC
