What’s the best song intro you’ve ever had the honour of hearing? See if your favourite made it onto the RouteNote team’s picks of the most iconic song introductions of all time.

Writing music and want to start your track with a bang? Helpfully, we’ve compiled twenty cool song intros that the RouteNote team have declared the best song beginnings of all time. From the bizarre to the fiendishly catchy, expect killer basslines and pure cheesy pop genius.

In the cut-throat world of digital music streaming, standing out means everything. Trigger-happy listeners on Spotify are just waiting to hit the skip button, and you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Listen to these iconic song introductions and get inspired to write a killer intro to your own song.

Michael Jackson – Billie Jean

Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love

Charles Mingus – Moanin’

Thundercat – Them Changes

Led Zeppelin – Kashmir

Screaming Jay Hawkins – I Put a Spell on You

Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better

The Beatles – Come Together

Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.

Muse – Uprising

Pink Floyd – Money

Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams (Come True)

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Europe – The Final Countdown

Fleetwood Mac – Dreams

Men At Work – Down Under

Gwen Stefani – Rich Girl

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell

Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Zephyr Song

My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade

There you have it, the RouteNote team have spoken. But what would you say is best beginning to a track? Let us know your favourite song intro in the comments.

Learn how to write an amazing introduction to your song with our guide:

5 ways to hook listeners with a great song intro

And see if your favourite bassline made our best basslines of all time list here!

The top 20 best bass lines of all time

If you’re well past the songwriting stage and finished mixing and mastering your track, it could be time to release your music to the world. RouteNote can help with that. Our digital music distribution gets your songs onto streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, onto social media sound libraries like TikTok, and protects your music on YouTube, too.

Find out more and sign up here today. It’s free.