Top 10 most played along songs

Guest blogger Teo Lazarov from Chordify looked at the most-played songs on their music education platform since 2013. Let the cherry picking from the all-time play-along favorites begin!

Top 10 of 2019

10. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
9. Somewhere over the Rainbow – Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole
8. Cranberries – Zombie
7. Eagles – Hotel California
6. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
5. Metallica – Nothing Else Matters
4. Ed Sheeran – Perfect
3. Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello – Señorita
2. Passenger – Let Her Go
1. Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper – Shallow (A Star Is Born)

Top 10 (all-time)

#10. Californication – Red Hot Chili Peppers

The Peppers … what’s not to love?! It’s likely that you don’t instantly think of chords when you think of Californication, because the bass riff and guitar melody are so perfectly interwoven. However, I’ll show you that the song’s structure and feeling don’t suffer by bringing them back to just chords. Take a look at the chord progression of Californication. It consists of basic chords like Am, E, C, G, and F. With some more challenging detours to the Dmaj7 and Fmaj7. Easy peasy lemon squeezy right?

#9. Wonderwall – Oasis

Ha! At number 9 we have Wonderwall by Oasis. Personally, I would have expected this one higher on the list. It is the perfect track to play when your a beginning guitarist. Even though the chord progression of Wonderwall doesn’t look that easy at first sight. Be that as it may, you really don’t have to be scared of chord symbols like F#maj7. Just check the diagram to see the fingering of the chord and I promise it will be alright.

#8. Shallow – Lady Gaga en Bradley Cooper

It’s always nice to see remakes of old films. In the seventies Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson stole the show in this duet flick. Now Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are doing their thing in a A Star Is Born. Playing along with Shallow can be a challenge, which makes it fun for novices and advanced guitarists. Basic chords like G, C, and Am are played in quick succession with Em7 and D/F# (this is known as a slash chord, in this case it’s a D chord with the F# played as a bass note on the lower E string).

#7. Despacito – Luis Fonsi en Daddy Yankee

There it is, a totally unexpected entry. I wasn’t thinking of this one when I was asked to cover a play-along list of all-time favorites. Are you ready to confront the mariachi in you? Check out this song. Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee can be approached in two ways. You can get technical and practice the delicate fingering or you can play it cool and and stick to the basis of Bm, G, D, and A. “Only four chords?!” Yup.

#6. What I Got – Sublime

You must be bonkers if you don’t try out this song immediately after reading this blog. Two chords, that’s all it takes! You only have to be able to play a G and a D. After that, all you need to do is keep the tempo, and stick to the rhythm to play “What I Got” by Sublime.

#5. Let Her Go – Passenger

Playing guitar is great way to impress a new lover. And this is the track to do it with. Who doesn’t want to stare into the campfire flames with a passionate look and sing from the top of their lungs “and you let her gooohohooo”? That’s what I thought. Let Her Go by Passenger has it all in only six chords.

#4. Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran

Ah Ed Sheeran, I can confidently state that this guy is one of the most-played artists on Chordify. And why is that? Well, he writes beautiful songs that are easy to listen to and have accessible guitar playing. So they’re perfect for jamming along. Don’t believe me? Just check out the chords from Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran.

#3. Best Part – Daniel Caesar en H.E.R.

Now things are getting interesting. Best Part by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R. is not a song that I would have expected in the top three of this list. To my mind this soulful R&B song is really niche, yet the numbers don’t lie. It’s really popular – especially in the US. Apparently there are a lot of musicians that don’t shy away from a nice soulful touch to their jam. Lovely. In the same way as before there are some basic chord in this one, with a few challenges.

#2. Home Again – Kensington

Huh?! Kensington at number 2, what’s this? Chordify is a world-wide platform, with users from all over the world; so how did a Dutch band climb so high in the rankings? I’m just as baffled as you… After asking around at the office I got an explanation. In 2014 this song occupied a prominent place on our homepage for a while – that will get the streams going. Nevertheless this is still a quality song, and a nice addition to your jam. It has six chords. The most challenging of which is the F#m. Jam along with Home Again by Kensington.

#1. Perfect – Ed Sheeran

There he is again. The public’s favorite and all-round master of the six string, Ed Sheeran. I couldn’t have thought of a more ‘perfect’ song to top this list, which has been full of surprises overall. The most striking part of this song is the difficulty of the chord progression of Perfect. The song doesn’t look like the most easy one to jam along, with chord symbols like Fmaj7, Db, Ab, and Eb. But then you put a capo on the first fret. BOOM! Prepare for your mind to be blown. Happy jamming!