Pink Floyd’s top 10 most popular songs ranked – No. 2 is an all-time c | Music | Entertainment

Few bands have left a legacy as deep and enduring as Pink Floyd. With a catalogue full of psychedelic roots, progressive epics and concept albums that rewired what rock could be, the band’s tracks continue to gain streams and new fans every year.

Here, we rank their 10 most-streamed songs on Spotify – including legendary hits and some deep, emotional cuts that helped shape the band’s identity across decades.

10 – ‘Brain Damage’

219,019,738 streams

Placed near the end of the Dark Side of the Moon album, ‘Brain Damage’ is the track that introduces the final sequence of the 1973 album. It was originally titled ‘Lunatic’, and deals with themes of madness and psychological collapse – topics that had grown increasingly personal to the band, especially in light of founding member Syd Barrett’s tragic mental decline.

The lyrics reference “the paper holds their folded faces to the floor,” evoking images of media and conformity, while the famous line “the lunatic is on the grass” is said to have originated from Roger Waters seeing a sign on the lawn of King’s College, Cambridge, warning people to stay off the grass – a metaphor for stepping outside of societal boundaries. The song bleeds directly into the album’s closer, ‘Eclipse’.

9 – ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’

249,584,637 streams

‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ was written about and dedicated to founding member Syd Barrett, who was gradually removed from the band in 1968 while battling LSD addiction and a deteriorating mental health.

During the recording process, in 1975, a radically changed Barrett – bigger and sporting a bald head and eyebrows – walked into the studio and watched the band’s session without them realising. When they eventually realised the identity of the unexpected visitor, Roger Waters reportedly became so distressed that he was reduced to tears.

8 – ‘Hey You’

304,124,946 streams

Part of Pink Floyd’s The Wall double album, – which tells the story of an increasingly alienated young rock star – ‘Hey You’ serves as the moment of realisation for the main character, Pink. The song shows him realising how shunning away from society was a mistake, and starting to integrate himself back into his community – only to realise he is unable to see or hear beyond the wall.

Its film version, which ended up not making it into the Pink Floyd–The Wall feature, shows Pink trying to escape from behind the wall, then inside a hospital, and at a riot, before finally giving up on finding a way out.

7 – ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’

354,338,699 streams

One of only three Pink Floyd songs that features lead vocals from artists that are not in the band, ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ includes ad libs by singer Clare Torry. During its composition phase, the song started as a simple organ instrumental piece, set as background to spoken words from the Bible and Malcolm Muggeridge speeches.

The organ then switched to a piano, with no accompanying speech, before the band finally decided to bring a female singer into the track. After release, ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ was considered by Rolling Stone magazine to be the second best vocal performance of all time, only behind ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

6 – ‘Time’

422,561,074 streams

With lyrics that touch on the theme of the passage of time, ‘Time’ was born out of Waters’ realisation (at around 28 years old) that he was no longer looking forward to anything in life, or waiting for anything – having reached the middle of it.

The song features sounds of clocks and alarms, to symbolise the passage of time, all previously recorded by audio engineer Alan Parsons inside an antique store as a quadrophonic test.

5 – ‘Breathe (In the Air)’

436,087,156 streams

A key track on The Dark Side of the Moon, ‘Breathe (In the Air)’ opens up the philosophical and sonic world of the album. It introduces the album’s themes of existential dread, routine, and conformity, paired with Gilmour’s famously laid-back slide guitar and the layered harmonies that would come to define the band’s sound during this era.

Roger Waters wrote the lyrics with a message about the dangers of simply following life’s routines without questioning them. “Run, rabbit, run / Dig that hole, forget the sun,” the lyrics say, bringing up the idea of wasting your life digging into work, only to realise it’s too late to enjoy anything. Despite its melancholy tone, the song has a dreamlike quality that’s become a favourite among fans. 

4 – ‘Money’

561,831,809 streams

‘Money’ is one of the band’s most instantly recognisable songs, partly due to its use of cash registers, coin jingles, and irregular 7/4 time signature that made it both musically complex and commercially successful.

It was released as the lead single from The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973 and became Pink Floyd’s first U.S. hit, reaching number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lyrically, the song critiques capitalism and greed – themes that remain relevant and have helped the song maintain its popularity over decades.

3 – ‘Comfortably Numb’

703,675,353 streams

Written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, ‘Comfortably Numb’ features one of the most iconic guitar solos in rock history. The track appears on The Wall and is centred around a dialogue between a rock star (Pink) and a doctor who is medicating him before a performance.

Its emotional weight, orchestral arrangements, and contrasting vocal sections – with Waters handling the detached verses and Gilmour singing the soaring chorus – have made it one of Pink Floy’d signature songs, and a fan favourite.

2 – ‘Wish You Were Here’

853,993,842 streams

The title track from the band’s 1975 album, ‘Wish You Were Here’ is a bittersweet, acoustic-led tribute to Syd Barrett, who had drifted away from the band due to mental health struggles.

The song starts with a simulated radio sound effect and a 12-string guitar riff that fades into full stereo. Its mournful lyrics and emotional delivery strike a chord with listeners around themes of absence, nostalgia, and the cost of fame.

It has since become one of Pink Floyd’s most beloved songs, often performed live and praised as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

1 – ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2’

1,045,227,063 streams

Pink Floyd’s only No. 1 single in both the US and UK, ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2’ became a cultural phenomenon upon its release in 1979. Featuring a children’s choir singing the famous chorus “We don’t need no education,” the song blends disco-inspired bass with political protest, targeting authoritarian schooling systems and societal conformity.

The track’s success was helped by its memorable music video and its presence in the band’s film adaptation of The Wall. Despite internal disagreements in the band regarding the song’s commercial direction – which resulted in the children’s choir being recorded in secret while the band was away -, it remains their most streamed track, and one of the most famous protest songs of the 20th century. It also won Waters the 1983 British Academy Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group Grammy Award.