39 Best Meme Songs

14. “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel

Song Year: 2013

Staying with famous Disney princess songs, this one has been used in many videos online. It is funny that only the words “Let it go” are normally used in meme videos. Often, the meme is political and will show a politician or president talking about an issue they have been talking about for years with no changes occurring. This song or pieces of it will play at the end as a plea to the speaker to talk about something else.

15. “The X-Files Theme” by Mark Snow

Song Year: 1996

The theme music from The X-Files is a creepy piece of music. It has an echoing, electronic sound that is almost trance-inducing. It was perfect for the show full of secrets it was paired with. In recent years, it is used in memes and videos when something happens that can not be explained. Many TikTok creators use it for fun “mystery” videos as they ask questions about why we drive on a parkway but park in a driveway.

16. “Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) by Scatman John

Song Year: 1995

Scatman John was a talented performer who could do things with his mouth that an instrument could not. In 1995 he attempted to take scatting to mainstream music and created this single that took over MTV. Now, it is used a lot in videos on TikTok and YouTube when a creator wants something fun to dance to that is different from the current trends.

17. “Jiggle Jiggle” by Louis Theroux and Jason Derulo

Song Year: 2022

Theroux is a comedian who wrote a rap song as part of his routine. It resurfaced in 2022 when someone put the lyrics over a beat, making it sound like an accomplished piece of music. The chorus was used in a song Jason Derulo put together and became this hit. Hundreds of dance videos have surfaced online using this chorus in their routine.

18. “Sandstorm” by Darude

Song Year: 1999

“Sandstorm” has had a long road to becoming a meme. It has been used for years by sports teams for training videos and as a way to work up a crowd. After being featured in a video about one of the Call of Duty video games, it has become popular to use as background music for game footage or in workout videos on social media.

19. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day

Song Year: 2004

When content creators are looking for a song to set a mood for one of their videos, they look for the right tone of voice and music. They also want something that people have heard and will resonate with them. Often when they want something melancholy, they will reach for this song by Green Day. While being part of their “American Idiot” album makes it popular enough, it garnered a long life thanks to memes and comedy videos.

20. “What is Love” by Haddaway

Song Year: 1993

Somehow, this song became an anthem for partying and going to dance clubs. The lyrics have nothing to do with that, but a dance remix appeared in a sketch on Saturday Night Live with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan. That sketch was made into a theatrical film called “A Night at the Roxbury” in 1998. Since then, this song has been synonymous with those sketches.

21. “Fight for Your Right” by Beastie Boys

Song Year: 1987

Possibly one of the best-known songs by the Beastie Boys, “Fight for Your Right” has become a party anthem. In the world of memes, it usually is turned into wordplay or a “dad joke”. Puns using words that rhyme with party or par-tay are popular with this one.

22. “Dueling Banjos” by Arthur Smith

Song Year: 1954

Arthur Smith had no idea he was creating one of the world’s first memes when he strummed this music in the early 1970s. It was a popular piece that involved two banjos playing an increasingly difficult series of notes against one another.

The movie “Deliverance” used it and popularized it in the modern day while also aligning it with backwoods, murderous hillbillies. Smith sued the filmmakers, but the damage was done. Now the music is used in memes to portray crazy mountain people.

23. “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac

Song Year: 1977

Nathan Apodaca did not know he was creating a meme and giving new life to a song when his truck broke down in 2020. He went into a store for some cran-raspberry juice and made a TikTok video as he rode his skateboard home.

It worked out for him since the members of Fleetwood Mac loved it, Ocean Spray bought him a new truck, and he now has a role on the series “Reservation Dogs” on Hulu.

24. “Your Love” by The Outfield

Song Year: 1985

“Your Love” has been used in skits and memes for a long time, but a new trend started a few months ago. TikTok skits play the song with someone lip-syncing the lyrics while another person comes into the background and begins to set up something to use as drums. By the time the chorus comes in, they are ready and they all play together.

25. “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins

Song Year: 1980

There are many ways this song is used in memes and videos online, and they almost always involve the way the drums come in at the end of the first verse. People love to replace the drums with the sound of them slapping their chests, falling down the stairs, or even closing cabinets in just the right combination.

26. “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X

Song Year: 2019

It seemed like Lil Nas X came out of nowhere in 2019. “Old Town Road” climbed to the top of the charts and became a viral phenomenon. But most people do not realize that his climb only seemed sudden because of the spread the song was seeing on social media sites like TikTok. It had garnered a lot of attention before the video and celebrity collaborations took place.