The Top 5 Songs Hollywood Has Overused In Movies And TV Shows

Few things are as torturous as an overplayed song (besides actual, medieval torture). All of us have lived through some period of time when we heard a song so much that we wanted to strangle someone, like a fellow moviegoer when a hated track pops up in cinema. Sometimes, a song gets popular because of a film and becomes all but inseparable from it, like Aerosmith's massively overplayed "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from 1998's asteroid-based disaster flick "Armageddon." Other times, songs keep getting used again and again until they're totally stripped of their original impact, no matter how good the song. 

There are plenty of overused movie songs to choose from — far more than we have space for — so the reader should take our choices as a sample of the phenomenon in question. Also, in the absence of any truly comprehensive and centralized database that maps out precisely how many times every song ever recorded has been used in every film ever made, it's unlikely that any list will be without errors. Nonetheless, we leaned into sources like IMDb to count the number of times particular songs have been used, which is, of course, the most important criterion in question. 

Each song in this article also has an instantly recognizable melody, bassline, riff, hook, opening, or some other element that no doubt plays a role in why it keeps getting chosen for films. As for what constitutes "overused" or "overplayed," we defaulted to the common, universally shared sentiment of ear fatigue to guide our choices. From Creedence Clearwater Revival's predictable appearance to other, more surprising choices, here are some of the most overused songs ever to grace the big screen.

No matter how many times you've heard Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" in movies and shows, it's probably shown up less than you think. But, show up it has. In keeping with the song's implicit anti-war theme (particularly the disparity between rich and poor heading to war), it's popped up in films including "War Dogs," "Logan Lucky," "Suicide Squad," and "Live Free or Die Hard," and tons of TV shows such as "American Dad," "Space Force," and "What We Do in the Shadows" — roughly 50 instances total, by IMDb's count. In almost all cases it's used smirkingly, sometimes even for straight-up comedic effect. But we owe the song's entire, modern proliferation — including its incorrect association with Vietnam War movies — to one very unfunny use: "Forrest Gump" in 1994.

"Forrest Gump" was such a colossal film that it left a permanent connection between the John Fogerty-written 1969 song and Vietnam, to the point where it seems like a no-brainer to connect the two or to assume that "Fortunate Son" has shown up more than it has in movies about the war. And yes, Fogerty's own military experience helped inspire the song. But "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket," "Good Morning Vietnam," "The Deer Hunter," and more? None of these films or any other prominent Vietnam War-related movie used "Fortunate Son." 

In "Forrest Gump," "Fortunate Son" plays in the background when Forrest sits in a helicopter next to Bubba as the camera surveys the Vietnamese landscape below. That's all it took for "Fortunate Son" to start showing up again and again, played with greater and greater irony and silliness, to the point where it and its instantly recognizable opening riff feels unfortunately overplayed.  

Need someone to appear badass in a film or TV show, but in a silly kind of way? Easy. Just play George Thorogood and the Destroyers' thoroughly good "Bad to the Bone." It'll transform the most mundane activities into something cool but silly, whether it's eating waffles, doing laundry, or stepping out of a dive bar decked out in leather after having thrown a biker onto a hot stove and asked for his clothes, his boots, and his motorcycle. Sorry, that last one was from "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" (1991). The scene is so memorable that it not only typifies the use of "Bad to the Bone" in films but also helped ensure that moviegoers would hear it again and again and again, in 56 total shows and movies.

Much like "Fortunate Son," "Bad to the Bone" has often been played for comedic effect. A list of some of the movies where it's shown up illustrates as much: "Joe Dirt," "Megamind," "The Muppets," "Lethal Weapon," "Shaun the Sheep Movie," and more. Granted, "Bad to the Bone" is a funny-sounding song, down to the story about nurses, the saxophone in the background, and the "B-b-b-b-b-bad."

Judging by its very first use in 1983's violent crime thriller "Slayground," filmmakers always thought the song sounded funny — at least in a dark way. Released the year prior in 1982, "Bad to the Bone" played over the opening scene in "Slayground," same as it did in the adaptation of Stephen King's book about an evil car, "Christine," also released in 1983. But at this point it's been heard so much, it's not likely to leave any impact at all.   

Now we come to a song that's not only been featured a kajillion times in films and TV but was also made popular in part because of a film. Like "Bad to the Bone," Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" first showed up on screen over a movie intro, in this case "Easy Rider" (1969). The song fits the movie so perfectly — played atop a group of freewheelin' dudes biking through the American Southwest — that it seems like the song was made for the film. But no, "Born to Be Wild" was released the year prior in 1968 and rode the wave of '60s counterculture to success before it kept getting inserted into films and shows.

And when we say that "Born to Be Wild" has kept getting inserted into films and shows, we don't mean 30, 40, or even 50 times. We mean a ridiculous 125-plus times. "Born to Be Wild" has shown up in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," "The Wonder Years," "Problem Child," "Miami Vice," "Knight Rider," and tons more. Its use has petered off in recent years, and it's been adopted more and more by international films and TV shows. For whatever reason, it's also been used in smaller productions rather than big ones, on the whole. 

Much like "Bad to the Bone," "Born to Be Wild" has been primarily used in comedies. And just like "Bad to the Bone," there's something lighthearted, even goofy or juvenile, about the song that means it's not really meant to be taken seriously. But at this point, we've all heard it enough, haven't we?

Because it seems that filmmakers really love playing songs over opening credits, we come to 1977's "Saturday Night Fever," a film that began with John Travolta's feet strutting down the streets of Brooklyn. And of course, we all know the song that accompanied his movement, just like how "Born to Be Wild" accompanied the movement of motorcycles in "Easy Rider." We're talking about a song that every human got sick of hearing about 30 years ago, even if they weren't born yet: "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, i.e., that band with the name that's pronounced like two letters.

If you thought "Born to Be Wild" was played a lot in films and TV shows, well, we present to you the number 139. That's 139 times that "Stayin' Alive" has been featuring in some movie or on some show since its release, even if only in a partial, bit way. Highlights include "The Secret Life of Pets," "Grey's Anatomy," "Glee," "Sherlock," "Madagascar," and "Mars Attacks!" Notably, it was also featured in the largely forgotten 1995 sci-fi movie "Virtuosity," when physically incarnated digital serial killer SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe) recreated Travolta's original "Saturday Night Fever" feet-focused tracking shot.

Unlike "Born to Be Wild," "Stayin' Alive" was 100% crafted for the first movie that featured it. The Bee Gees recorded five original songs for "Saturday Night Fever," including "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," "More Than a Woman," and "You Should Be Dancing." All five of those songs are the Bee Gees' most-streamed songs on Spotify. But it's "Stayin' Alive" that proved to have the most prophetic song title, especially thanks to films and TV. 

While there are quite a few overplayed movie songs left to choose from, we're going to go with an unlikely candidate that you might not even realize has popped up in lots of movies, if only because the song isn't as prominent as "Stayin' Alive" or "Fortunate Son." But, "Low Rider" by War is still a big, instantly recognizable, and yet again, funny-sounding song applicable to a variety of situations. Doubtless, this is why it's popped more than 50 times in films like "Friday," "Dazed and Confused," "Beverly Hills Ninja," "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," and of course, the training montage scene from "A Knight's Tale" (2001), one of the greatest feel-good films ever made (fight us). 

1975's groovy, silly "Low Rider" might not seem like it fits a band named War, at least until you learn that the funk outfit meant that they were "waging war against war" as part of '70s counterculture, per The Guardian. The song itself is about actual lowrider cars, right down to lines like "The lowrider don't drive too fast," which referenced driving slower to save money on gas. It took three years after its release for the hit song to get featured for the first time in a film, 1978's marijuana-based Cheech and Chong comedy, "Up in Smoke."

While "Low Rider" is definitely less taxing on the ears than some of the other choices in this list, it's still been overplayed to the point where it's almost impossible to hear the song in any kind of new, fresh way. But at least the song helped keep War and their unique musical take alive.