Ask British drivers for their favourite driving song and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” tends to win. It came top in surveys of around 2,000 UK drivers each for SEAT UK in 2019, the insurer Cuvva in 2023 and the fuel brand JET in 2024. It is a great song for the car, but it is not about a car.
This list is different. Every song on it is by a British artist, and every one is about cars, driving or the road.
To rank them I looked at four things: how high each song reached in the UK chart, how long it has lasted, how well it has sold and streamed, and how often it appears in UK lists of the best car songs. The numbers alone would have left some of the most famous car songs ever recorded near the bottom, because several were never released as singles. So the final order is mine.
It’s a rainy Saturday in late October, and I’m sitting in the shed with these songs playing and the rain bouncing off the Velux above me. Issue 351 of evo is open on my lap, and I’m trying to make up my mind about the Jaguar Type 01. Mostly, though, I’m trying to work out how on earth you put these 20 songs in order.
Under each song there are links to listen on Spotify or YouTube Music, or to watch on YouTube.
Play counts are from Spotify, as of October 2026.
Open the snapshot: the whole story in five points ▾
- Gary Numan’s “Cars” is my number 1. It reached No 1 in the UK in 1979, made the US top 10, and charted again as remixes in 1987, 1993 and 1996.
- Chris Rea takes second and third place, with “Driving Home for Christmas” and “The Road to Hell”.
- Queen’s “I’m in Love with My Car”, at number 11, was written about a roadie’s Triumph TR4, and was the B-side of “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
- Paul McCartney named “Helen Wheels” after his Land Rover, and the song follows a road trip from Glasgow to London.
- “Chasing Cars”, “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “The Chain” are famous driving favourites, but none of them is actually about cars. They are in a box at the end.
20. Drivin’ by The Kinks (1969)
A Sunday drive to forget your troubles
On the album, its main character, Arthur Morgan, tries to talk his wife, Rose, into leaving their worries behind and going for a drive in the country. Ray Davies based it on his family’s drives out of London into the countryside. It is a gentle, very English song that sounds like a picnic by the side of a B road.
It came out as a single from the album Arthur, but it did not chart, and it has about 2 million plays on Spotify. In its favour, it is one of the few songs on this list about driving purely for the pleasure of it.
My take: It sounds exactly like 1969: chilled out, light-hearted and fun, like a group of friends having a sing-song among themselves.
Spotify · 
YouTube Music · 
YouTube
19. German Whip by Meridian Dan featuring Big H and JME (2014)
Grime, tinted windows and German metal
A grime song celebrating driving German cars with blacked-out windows. “Whip” is slang for a car. The song has two music videos. The first, made by SB.TV in 2013, has been watched more than 10 million times. The second, made for Vevo six months later, features a line-up of German cars.
It reached No 13 in the UK and went Silver in 2021, seven years after it came out.
My take: Not my usual style of music, but this tune is wicked. Listen to the whole 3 minutes 17 seconds and see if you can stop your head from moving. And who doesn’t like a German whip?
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
18. Car 67 by Driver 67 (1978)
A minicab, a late fare and an awkward reunion
A minicab driver is sent to pick up a fare, realises it is the girlfriend he split up with the day before, and refuses to go. The voice of the cab controller on the radio has a West Midlands accent, and Paul Phillips, one of the two men behind the record, was working as a taxi driver at the time.
It reached No 7 in the UK, spent 12 weeks on the chart and went Silver.
My take: A bizarre but likeable exchange between a taxi driver and his cab controller. I was in two minds about including it, but I have a soft spot for the regional accent. If you fancy a bizarre listen, this one is for you.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
17. Always Crashing in the Same Car by David Bowie (1977)
The darkest car song on the list
Bowie wrote it about making the same mistake again and again, and later explained the story behind it. Believing a cocaine dealer had cheated him, he rammed the man’s car again and again with his own Mercedes. Later that evening he drove faster and faster around an underground hotel car park and let go of the wheel, something he later described as a badly attempted suicide.
It is a track from the album Low, released in January 1977. It was never a single, and it has about 11 million plays on Spotify. It is here for who wrote it, and for the car at the centre of the song.
My take: Personally, I can’t get into this one. There’s just too much going on. But Bowie is a legend, it’s about cars, and 11 million plays on Spotify say plenty of people love it. And this list isn’t all about me.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
16. Cars and Girls by Prefab Sprout (1988)
A car song about car songs
Paddy McAloon wrote it as a comment on Bruce Springsteen’s habit of using cars and girls as romantic shorthand. It is a British band’s comment on the American way of writing about the road.
It only reached No 44 in the UK, but it earned a place on the Top Gear 2 driving compilation.
My take: It sounds like the theme tune to an American TV show from the late 70s or early 80s. Once it gets going, it has a nice, light-hearted feel and some clever lyrics. If you haven’t heard it, have a listen.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
15. Driving Away from Home (Jim’s Tune) by It’s Immaterial (1986)
The harmonica player from a Milwaukee bar
The band called it a “British on-the-road song”. They first recorded it in Milwaukee with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, but did not like his idea of turning it into a country and western pastiche, so they came back to England and recorded it again. “Jim’s Tune” in the title is for Jim Lieber, a harmonica player they saw in a Milwaukee bar and brought into the studio.
It reached No 18 in the UK in April 1986 and spent 8 weeks on the chart.
My take: I remember the chorus so clearly from when I was younger, but for the life of me I can’t recall the spoken parts. Have a listen. It will almost certainly sound familiar, and it may even bring on a little nostalgia.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
14. Tell Laura I Love Her by Ricky Valance (1960)
The motor racing tragedy that topped the chart
A young man enters a stock car race to win the money for a wedding ring, and is killed. It was first an American hit for Ray Peterson, but the Welsh singer Ricky Valance took it to No 1 in the UK, where it stayed for three weeks, and it spent 16 weeks on the chart in all.
My take: A heartbreaking story, beautifully sung, and that contrast is what makes it so striking: the gentler the voice, the harder the ending lands. Listen with no distractions, and try not to get a lump in your throat.
13. Brand New Cadillac by The Clash (1979)
A British rock and roll song, twice over
The singer’s girlfriend turns up in a brand new Cadillac, then drives off and leaves him. The Clash put it on London Calling, but the song is a cover of a 1959 record by Vince Taylor, a rock and roll singer born in Isleworth, Middlesex, whose family moved to the United States when he was seven. The band called his original one of the first British rock and roll records.
The Clash’s version was never released as a UK single, so it has no chart run of its own.
My take: Honestly, I can’t make out most of the words. But turn this one up and enjoy it, because it’s great.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
12. Highway Star by Deep Purple (1972)
The fast car anthem
Mostly a boast about a fast car and life at full speed, though the car shares the song with a girl and a racing mind. The band worked it up on a tour bus heading to Portsmouth in 1971, and it opens the album Machine Head.
It was never a UK single, but it has more plays on Spotify than any other pre-1980 song on this list, at more than 280 million. Fans of The Expanse may know it in another form: a cover by Cory Todd was used in the season 3 episode “Delta-V”, with the lyrics rewritten in English and Belter Creole and the car turned into a spaceship.
My take: Another song where, twelve seconds in, you can’t sit still. It belts along, and at times you wonder whether he’s singing about his car or his girlfriend.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
11. I’m in Love with My Car by Queen (1975)
A love song to a Triumph
Roger Taylor wrote and sang it, inspired by a roadie, Johnathan Harris, and the Triumph TR4 that was said to be the love of his life. The record is dedicated to Harris. The engine revving at the end is Taylor’s own Alfa Romeo.
It was the B-side of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, so it never had a chart run of its own. That means it sits on the back of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which came top in surveys of UK drivers in 2019 and 2023.
My take: If you like Queen and you like cars, you’ll like this!
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
10. Airbag by Radiohead (1997)
The song that opens one of the greatest albums ever made
Thom Yorke got the idea from a magazine article called “An Airbag Saved My Life”. He wrote the song about how safe modern travel only seems to be, and it mixes the car crash with the idea of being born again. Yorke also knew a car crash first-hand. As a young man, he crashed with his girlfriend in the passenger seat, and writers have linked that experience to the song.
It is the opening track on OK Computer, which went straight to No 1 in the UK and is often ranked among the greatest albums ever made. “Airbag” was never a single, but it has about 107 million plays on Spotify.
My take: Sit back, close your eyes, put your head back and picture yourself in a car at night. Someone else is driving. You listen to the song and the hum of the car, and feel the gentle motion of the drive.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
9. 2-4-6-8 Motorway by Tom Robinson Band (1977)
The M1, overnight, after a gig
Tom Robinson based it on driving back into London overnight on the M1 after gigs. It is a song sung from behind the wheel, on a British motorway.
It reached No 5 in the UK, spent nine weeks on the chart and went Silver.
My take: This song has more to it than I remembered. It’s great from start to finish, with gentle moments that burst into a full-on chant within seconds. Fantastic. Next time you do karaoke, think about this one.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
8. Helen Wheels by Paul McCartney and Wings (1973)
Named after a Land Rover
Helen Wheels was the McCartneys’ Land Rover, and the name is a pun on “hell on wheels”. McCartney said the song follows the road from Glasgow through Carlisle, Kendal, Liverpool and Birmingham to London, which makes it the most British road trip on this list.
It reached No 12 in the UK and No 10 in the US.
My take: To be honest, I don’t think I’d ever heard this song until I started the research for this list. But it goes straight into the top 10, because it has a great sound and an amusing story. If you’ve ever driven down the M6 from Scotland, through the north of England and the Midlands, it will make you smile.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
7. Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car by Billy Ocean (1988)
The chat-up line that topped the American chart
Billy Ocean was born in Trinidad and grew up in Romford, Essex, after moving there at the age of 10. A widely repeated story says he took his stage name from the Ocean Estate in Stepney, in the East End. He says it isn’t true. The name came from a football team in his home town in Trinidad, called Oceans 11. This was his third and last US No 1, and it reached No 3 in the UK. The title line borrows from the Sherman Brothers’ “You’re Sixteen”.
The car is the hook of the whole song, even if it is more chat-up line than motoring.
My take: I know I’m taking liberties with what this song is really about. But come on, I love it. Let me have this one.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
6. Driving in My Car by Madness (1982)
A love letter to an old banger
A cheerful song about a much-loved old car and the simple fun of pottering about in it. Madness released it as a single on its own in July 1982, and it reached No 4 in the UK and went Silver.
My take: Pure Madness, and all about the simple joy of driving.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
5. Shotgun by George Ezra (2018)
The newest song on the list, and the most streamed
Strictly, this is a passenger’s song: it is about riding shotgun on a summer road trip. But no car song on this list has done better. It was Ezra’s first UK No 1, it has spent 134 weeks on the chart and it has gone 8x Platinum. Spotify shows more than a billion plays.
My take: Whether you’re in the car or at a barbecue when this comes on, we all know you’re turning it up. And once you picture the trip he’s singing about, I bet you could get used to it too.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
4. Drive My Car by The Beatles (1965)
The car is the joke
A woman with big plans to be famous offers a man the job of being her driver. McCartney later said the title was an old blues euphemism, so the car is not quite what it seems.
It opens Rubber Soul and was never a UK single, but it went Silver in 2024, almost 60 years after its release, and came 20th in a National Express poll of 2,000 UK adults in 2016.
My take: The music, the lyrics, the sound and the story are all fantastic, wrapped up in a perfect two and a half minutes.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
3. The Road to Hell (Part 2) by Chris Rea (1989)
The traffic jam song
Stuck in motorway traffic, Rea uses the jammed road as a picture of a country going wrong. He drew on his frustration with rush-hour traffic on the M25 and the M4, and Autocar has called it the only song about rush hour at junction 15 of the M25.
In a 2018 Autocar poll, sponsored by Dynaudio and voted on Facebook and Twitter, it came second in the best driving songs. Part 2 is the half that came out as the single, and it reached No 10 in the UK. The album it comes from, The Road to Hell, has gone 6x Platinum.
My take: Some of the best songs ever written come from real life, and that couldn’t be truer of this one. An all-time driving great.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
2. Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea (1988)
Written in a Mini, in the snow
Rea wrote it in 1978 while his wife drove him home from London to Middlesbrough in her Austin Mini, stuck in snowy traffic. Rea was the passenger that day, but the song puts him behind the wheel.
An earlier version first appeared in 1986, as the B-side of “Hello Friend”. The 1988 re-recording only reached No 53 as a single, but the song comes back every December. It has had 20 separate runs on the UK chart, 91 weeks in all, and has twice reached No 10: in January 2022, and again in January 2026, just after Rea died on 22 December 2025, aged 74. It has gone 4x Platinum.
My take: Listen to the words and I bet most of us can relate. This Christmas, whether you’ve just finished your last day at work, you’re a student heading back to your parents, or it’s any other last journey before settling down with your family, put this song on.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
1. Cars by Gary Numan (1979)
The car song
The whole song is about the car itself: feeling safe shut away inside it, cut off from everyone else. It reached No 1 in the UK in September 1979, spent 11 weeks on the chart and went Gold. It also made No 9 in the US, the only time Numan reached the American pop chart.
The famous riff is a Minimoog, with a Polymoog adding the string-like lines over the top. Numan had turned to synths only months earlier, after finding a Minimoog left in the studio, and his two No 1s in 1979, first with his band Tubeway Army and then on his own, helped open the door to the wave of synth acts that filled the charts in the early 80s.
It has never really gone away. Remixes charted again in 1987, 1993 and 1996, and in 2025 the original reached No 5 on the Official Vinyl Singles Chart.
My take: A classic car song. It came out in 1979, but that synthesiser sound takes me straight back to watching Top of the Pops in the early 80s.
Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
Not actually about cars
Some of the best-loved driving songs have nothing to do with driving.
- Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol. The title comes from something Gary Lightbody’s father said: that he was like a dog chasing a car, after someone he would never catch. It is a love song, and it has spent 166 weeks on the UK chart.Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
- Don’t Stop Me Now, Queen. Top Gear viewers voted it the greatest driving song ever in 2005. It is a great song to drive to, but it is not about cars.Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
- The Chain, Fleetwood Mac. Its instrumental section has been the theme to Formula 1 on British television for decades, but the song itself is not about driving.Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
- Cosmic Girl, Jamiroquai. The song is about a woman. The cars are in the video: a Ferrari F355 GTS, a Lamborghini Diablo SE30 and a Ferrari F40, with Jay Kay driving the Lamborghini.Spotify · YouTube Music · YouTube
Listen to all 20
All 20 songs are in one playlist, in countdown order from 20 to 1. Listen to the playlist on YouTube Music ↗
Over to you
That’s my 20, for now. I’ve moved them around more times than I’d like to admit, and I’ll probably shuffle them again. So now it’s your turn. Which three get turned up when they come on in your car? Pick your top three below.
Test yourself
Ten questions on this story. Try it now, then come back in a week and see what stuck.
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Sources
Open the sources: all 70 links ▾
UK chart positions (Official Charts)
- Cars, Gary Numan
- Cars ('E' Reg Model), Gary Numan
- Cars (Premier Mix), Gary Numan
- Cars, Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army
- Driving Home for Christmas, Chris Rea
- The Road to Hell (Part 2), Chris Rea
- Driving in My Car, Madness
- Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car, Billy Ocean
- Cars and Girls, Prefab Sprout
- 2-4-6-8 Motorway, Tom Robinson
- Helen Wheels, Paul McCartney and Wings
- Car 67, Driver 67
- Tell Laura I Love Her, Ricky Valance
- Shotgun, George Ezra
- Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol
Sales awards (BPI)
- Cars
- Driving Home for Christmas
- The Road to Hell
- Driving in My Car
- Drive My Car
- 2-4-6-8 Motorway
- Car 67
- German Whip
- Shotgun
Streaming figures
- George Ezra on Spotify, kworb
- Deep Purple on Spotify, kworb
- The Beatles on Spotify, kworb
- Gary Numan on Spotify, kworb
- Chris Rea on Spotify, kworb
Polls and lists
- Bohemian Rhapsody voted UK's top driving song 2024, JET via Pressat
- Driving songs survey 2023, Cuvva
- British drivers pick their favourite music 2019, Journal of Classic Cars
- The 8 best driving songs voted by you, Autocar
- The UK's greatest driving songs, Wigan Today
- Don't Stop Me Now, Songfacts
- Chasing Cars, Songfacts
- Highway Star, Songfacts
- Always Crashing in the Same Car, Bowie Bible
- Airbag, Songfacts
- Thom Yorke and car crashes, Far Out
- Best road trip and driving songs, Radio X
The stories behind the songs (Wikipedia)
- Cars, Wikipedia
- I'm in Love with My Car, Wikipedia
- Highway Star, Wikipedia
- Driving Home for Christmas, Wikipedia
- The Road to Hell, Wikipedia
- The Road to Hell (album), Wikipedia
- Driving in My Car, Wikipedia
- Drive My Car, Wikipedia
- Brand New Cadillac, Wikipedia
- Vince Taylor, Wikipedia
- Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car, Wikipedia
- Billy Ocean, Wikipedia
- Cars and Girls, Wikipedia
- 2-4-6-8 Motorway, Wikipedia
- Helen Wheels, Wikipedia
- Car 67, Wikipedia
- Tell Laura I Love Her, Wikipedia
- Ricky Valance, Wikipedia
- Shotgun, Wikipedia
- Airbag and OK Computer, Wikipedia
- Drivin', Wikipedia
- Always Crashing in the Same Car, Wikipedia
- Driving Away from Home (Jim's Tune), Wikipedia
- German Whip, Wikipedia
- Synth-pop, Wikipedia
- Chasing Cars, Wikipedia
- Don't Stop Me Now, Wikipedia
- Cosmic Girl, Wikipedia
Chris Rea
