The Best Metal Song of Each Year Since 1970

Atco / Roadrunner / EMI / Elektra / Vertigo / Century Media / Nuclear Blast

What's the best metal song of each year since 1970? We've got the answer and the runner-up from those years as well!

Looking back at what are essentially the greatest hits of over half a century of heavy metal tells quite the story. It truly is one of the most evolutionary forms of music when absorbing the breadth in styles across dozens and dozens of subgenres. Look no further than the leap from Black Sabbath to the symphonic, pig-slaughtering deathcore of Lorna Shore.

Of course, going back to metal's first decade — the 1970s – there were very, very few bands playing what we recognize today as heavy metal. The likes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple certainly pushed things in a harder and heavier direction as the prime movers of proto-metal, but not quite like Sabbath and Judas Priest in particular.

The 1980s was the big breakout for metal, largely thanks to MTV exposure and metal's natural level of showmanship and advanced guitar playing. The underground was teeming with young bands pushing the boundaries of speed and intensity with subject matter ranging from horror and the occult to socio-political affairs and real-world tragedies.

By the end of the 1990s, metal was fractured into more underground pockets (black metal, death metal, grindcore, power metal) while maintaining a presence in the mainstream thanks to Pantera and the rise of nu-metal.

With the 2000s came a resurgence for our '80s heroes who had found their way after most stumbling through the previous decade. And the rise and reign of metalcore and the breakdown, which gave way to deathcore and djent in the late '00s and early 2010s.

As for the 2020s? We're seeing bands ascend to superstardom in a way we haven't seen since the 2000s. Spiritbox, Sleep Token, the aforementioned Lorna Shore... metal is alive and well and in the best place it's been in a long time!

What did we pick for Best Metal Song of 2025? Find out below!