The Highest-Charting Led Zeppelin Songs Ranked

Perhaps more than any band since The Beatles, Led Zeppelin has been a mainstay in culture. Their songs are played in films, TV commercials, and on the radio constantly. It seems every market has a “Get the Led Out” rock block on their weekly programming. But despite this, the fearsome four from the UK only garnered four songs to hit the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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But while many of us might believe they deserve a great many more, we wanted to explore that quartet of songs. Here below, we wanted to take a look at and rank the four tracks. Indeed, these are the highest-charting Led Zeppelin songs ranked.

[RELATED: 3 Songs for People Who Say They Don’t Like Led Zeppelin]

4. “D’yer Mak’er” from Houses of the Holy (1973)

This song, which hit No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, was inspired by a jam in 1972. Originally, drummer John Bonham just began messing around on the kit when this reggae-inspired track came about. At first, the band was split on whether it should even make the album. But it eventually did and the song had such commercial appeal that it made the Top 20 on the Hot 100. On the tune, lead vocalist Robert Plant croons,

When I read the letter you wrote me, it made me mad mad mad
When I read the news that it told me, it made me sad sad sad
But I still love you so
I can’t let you go
I love you
Oh, baby I love you

Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Every breath I take, oh oh oh oh
Oh, every move I make
Oh, baby please don’t go

3. “Whole Lotta Love” from Led Zeppelin II (1969)

This song, which hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, opens with as classic a classic rock riff as there is in music today. Then Plant’s voice comes in like a hawk from the blue sky. It’s a song that expresses a desire for love—or perhaps something a bit more carnal. Famous for its music breakdown where Plant drops out and the song becomes largely a drum solo, this song is a demonstration in both performance and structure. And on it, Plant sings,

You need cooling
Baby I’m not fooling
I’m gonna send ya
Back to schooling

A-way down inside
A-honey you need it
I’m gonna give you my love
I’m gonna give you my love

2. “Black Dog” from Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

This song, which hit No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, is a blues number done the Led Zeppelin way. Big buzzy guitars layered over one another. Plant singing out into the night sky like lightning. John Bonham and John Paul Jones churning rhythms like the ocean. At it’s heart, the track is a call and response. Plant offers brief lyrical bursts between riffs, singing,

Hey-hey, mama, said the way you move
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove

Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing
Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting

Hey-hey, baby, when you walk that way
Watch your honey drip, can’t keep away

1. “Immigrant Song” from Led Zeppelin III (1970)

This song, which hit No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, is an epic novel condensed to two-and-a-half-minutes. Plant’s voice shrieks out like a mythological beast. And he sings of far-off lands, battles, gods, and hammers. It’s like he’s put himself on some mountaintop to proclaim all that he sees is his own. Or at least all that his voice can reach. This may not be the first song you put on at your next party. But it is one to bask in, its majesty stunning. On it, Plant belts,

We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming

On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore

Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage