The Most Divisive Songs

An average hides disagreement. A song everyone rates five and a song rated zero by half the room and eleven by the other half both average around five, but only one of them starts fights. This chart ranks songs by how widely their ratings are spread, so the top entries are the ones people genuinely cannot agree on.

Top 25 of 336 songs with at least 10 ratings. Ranked by how widely the ratings are spread.

1
Faint
Linkin Park
Starts at eleven and flatly refuses to come down.
±4.8avg 4.817 ratings
2
High Voltage
Linkin Park
From back when they still had a DJ front and centre.
±4.7avg 4.528 ratings
3
99 Problems
Jay-Z
The riff is Billy Squier. The attitude is entirely Jay.
±4.7avg 5.411 ratings
4
A Place for My Head
Linkin Park
The most cathartic thirty seconds on Hybrid Theory.
±4.5avg 5.814 ratings
5
Girl Crush
Little Big Town
Radio misread the lyrics and tried to ban it. Read them again.
±4.5avg 7.512 ratings
6
From the Inside
Linkin Park
Peak 2003 angst, and 2003 angst was undefeated.
±4.5avg 5.123 ratings
7
Sk8er Boi
Avril Lavigne
She had a preppy boyfriend, he had a skateboard. Everyone got what they deserved.
±4.5avg 5.926 ratings
8
As It Was
Harry Styles
Sad lyrics, cheerful synths, total global domination.
±4.5avg 6.556 ratings
9
Clocks
Coldplay
That piano riff was almost thrown away. Imagine.
±4.5avg 5.039 ratings
10
Pushing Me Away
Linkin Park
Hybrid Theory's quiet closer. Underrated by absolutely everyone.
±4.4avg 3.921 ratings
11
Forgotten
Linkin Park
The deep cut Hybrid Theory fans will defend to the death.
±4.4avg 5.428 ratings
12
Runaway
Linkin Park
Two minutes, no filler, all urgency.
±4.4avg 5.137 ratings
13
Gold Digger
Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx doing Ray Charles over a Ray Charles sample. Layers.
±4.4avg 4.845 ratings
14
Don't You Worry Child
Swedish House Mafia
Designed to make eighty thousand people cry at once.
±4.4avg 5.921 ratings
15
Halcyon
Orbital
Named after their mum's tranquillisers. Sounds exactly like that.
±4.4avg 5.110 ratings
16
Survivor
Destiny's Child
Written as a response to critics. The critics lost.
±4.4avg 5.011 ratings
17
Sharp Edges
Linkin Park
An acoustic Linkin Park song. It really did happen.
±4.4avg 4.516 ratings
18
My December
Linkin Park
The saddest thing they ever recorded, and it's a B-side.
±4.4avg 5.324 ratings
19
I Believe I Can Fly
R. Kelly
A nineties assembly-hall staple, and much harder to hear now.
±4.4avg 6.710 ratings
20
Talking to Myself
Linkin Park
Written about someone they were losing. Knowing that changes it.
±4.4avg 5.625 ratings
21
Confessions Part II
Usher
Four minutes of the worst possible news, sung beautifully.
±4.3avg 6.316 ratings
22
Heavy
Linkin Park
The one the old fans threw beers at. Give it another go.
±4.3avg 5.321 ratings
23
Vampire
Olivia Rodrigo
Starts as a piano ballad, ends as an execution.
±4.3avg 5.521 ratings
24
The Long and Winding Road
The Beatles
Spector added the strings. Paul never forgave him.
±4.3avg 4.136 ratings
25
Better Off Alone
Alice Deejay
Do you think you're better off alone? At beer six, yes.
±4.3avg 7.414 ratings