Best songs to ever appear in the GTA franchise
Here are the most popular songs that have been featured in the GTA franchise!
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Nobody can deny the large scale impact that the Grand Theft Auto, better known as GTA, franchise has had on the current state that the Open World genre of games is in. With new innovations being made by the amazing people over at Rockstar Games, every iteration in the franchise has been the torch bearer of new trends that fans see in every game that comes along after it.
One such big trend that Rockstar Games brought around was that of bringing the feature of the in-game vehicle radios. Whenever you would enter a vehicle in the game, you would hear music being played to your ears. And not just any type of music, popular songs that people would listen to in the real world!
That’s right! Rockstar Games was the first ever game development studio to bring licensed music into their game. And it all started with their ever popular and evergreen GTA franchise whose earliest games are still popular to this day. Now, let’s take a look at some of the best licensed music that the GTA franchise has ever had!
Related: What were the Niko Bellic Easter eggs in GTA V?
Best songs in the GTA Franchise
Africa – Toto
The first ever game from the GTA franchise to boast an impressive lineup of licensed songs was GTA : Vice City. The 2002 released game which is still held dear to a lot of gamers’ hearts set the standard for the games to come in the series after it.
American Band Toto came out with the song “Africa” way back in 1982 but was so immensely popular and well suited for the game, that the devs over at Rockstar just couldn’t hold back and got the license to get the song into the game.
Sure enough, the song was an instant hit with players and riding around Vice City with the radio tuned to Emotion 98.3 with Africa playing truly became a vibe.
Saturday Night’s Alright – Elton John
One of Elton John’s most hit singles, “Saturday Night’s Alright” became an instant hit the moment it released in 1973 as a part of his best-selling album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. Given its popularity, the song became an easy target for multiple different channels to try and license the song to be broadcasted or used in their products.
The same is the case with the people over at Rockstar Games who made it a featuring track on GTA V’s Los Santos Rock Radio station. Though the song might not instantly bring the heavy metal vibe to your mind, it sure is the perfect song to listen to while you play the game and can’t help slowly getting hooked on it.
And of course, given that its Sir Elton John being talked about here, his mesmerizing voice is one to be remembered for ages. And there is no doubt that the folks over at Rockstar did the right thing including the song to one of the best games of 2013.
Young Turks – Rod Stewart
One of Rod Stewart’s classic songs, Young Turks, which appeared in his album “Tonight I’m Yours” back in the year 1981 is yet another example of a song that feels like it was made to be a part of the game, GTA : San Andreas.
The song’s video focuses on a young runaway couple and features a beat so addicting that you will not want to get out of your car when its playing! It has been described as the perfect song to sing along to by a lot of players even if you don’t know the lyrics!
Young Turks is often looked up to as one of the best songs to grace the soundtracks of GTA : San Andreas. Notice how its only one of the best and not THE best? Well that’s because of out next entry!
San Andreas Theme Song(Instrumental) – Young Malay
You guessed it! The OG theme song for GTA : San Andreas which plays throughout the game at a lot of instances, is the BEST song in the GTA : San Andreas Album which was made by none other than rapper Young Malay who is also the voice of the protagonist in the game.
That’s right, the voice of CJ is also the person responsible for the iconic music track which has been immortalized by both memes and gamers who have been the people responsible for having such great games developed in the world!
The music can be heard in the game when a save file is being loaded in and also when a mission is successfully completed. The funky beat with the synth recreates the popular music of the time like no other.
Radio Ga Ga – Queen
Yes, you’re reading correctly. One of the best bands in the world which is unfortunately no longer together, also features in the 2013 hit game and the last iteration of the GTA franchise, GTA V with one of their best fitting songs for the place it plays in.
The song “Radio Ga Ga” by Queen was made by Freddie Mercury to give a tribute to the dying medium of that time, the radio. Even though the radio isn’t dead to this day and is still widely listened to in cars and other vehicles, the song was indeed a good touch for GTA to add on their one platform to keep music alive – the Radio!
The song is definitely one of the most popular songs that have ever been a part of the GTA franchise and definitely one of the most well known songs out there as well for fans to recognize while driving around Los Santos.
At the end of it, there were a lot of songs that couldn’t actually make the list here but definitely deserved a spot. But of course, the music on this list deserved the spot more than the other tracks and hence, ended up here!
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Paarth Pareek
(260 Articles Published)