Irish folk songs are filled with wonderful, often sad, stories and tales of drinking and carousing. We've pulled together a Spotify playlist of the most popular as chosen by the public.
From ancient airs to 1970s folk classics this playlist of Irish folk songs includes some amazing artists, including The Dubliners and Sinead O'Connor, some rousing and some touching wonderful tunes.
Of course, with most things, the Irish punch above their weight when it comes to music. So to actually choose what songs would appear on our Spotify playlist we turned to the folks at Ranker. Voted on by thousands of people the songs below are officially the "people's favorites".
The most popular Irish folk songs playlist via IrishCentral's Spotify:
It's no surprise that The Dubliners won the top spot, with Whiskey in the Jar. This band has been playing music for over 50 years and during their incredible career have been in the chart on over 20 occasions. Of course, the song itself has been made famous over and over again to different audiences with covers performed by everyone from Thin Lizzy to Metalica.
Other famous songs among the top Irish folk songs are Danny Boy (certainly a favorite with Irish Americans, The Rocky Road to Dublin, Molly Malone, and of course, The Fields of Athenry. In fact, the Fields of Athenry had become a kind of de facto Irish national anthem, sung loudly at most sporting events.
Here's a full list of the most popular Irish folk songs:
- Whiskey in the Jar, The Dubliners
- The Fields of Athenry, David Arkenstone
- Rocky Road to Dublin, Luke Kelly
- The Wild Rover, The Pogues
- Galway Girl, Steve Earle
- The Irish Rover, The Dubliners
- Dirty Old Town, The Pogues
- Molly Malone, Sinéad O'Connor
- Danny Boy, Frank Patterson
- Grace, Jim McCann
Did we miss out on your favorite Irish folk song? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Originally published in May 2020. Updated in August 2024.
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