Road Trip Playlist
A road trip needs songs everyone in the car can live with for hours. This list mixes classic rock, folk and recent pop songs with a steady pace. It starts bright, settles into cruising songs and finishes with a singalong.
The playlist
Leaving town
High-energy songs to start the trip.
- Life Is a Highway — Tom Cochrane
- Take It Easy — Eagles
- Mr. Blue Sky — Electric Light Orchestra
- Don't Stop Believin' — Journey
- Walking on Sunshine — Katrina and the Waves
- I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) — The Proclaimers
- Take On Me — a-ha
- Shut Up and Dance — Walk the Moon
- Pumped Up Kicks — Foster the People
- Electric Feel — MGMT
- Born to Be Wild — Steppenwolf
- Hit the Road Jack — Ray Charles
Open road
Cruising songs for the long middle.
- Go Your Own Way — Fleetwood Mac
- Dreams — Fleetwood Mac
- Rhiannon — Fleetwood Mac
- Free Fallin' — Tom Petty
- American Girl — Tom Petty
- Fast Car — Tracy Chapman
- Africa — Toto
- Radar Love — Golden Earring
- Little Red Corvette — Prince
- Float On — Modest Mouse
- Little Lion Man — Mumford & Sons
- Born to Run — Bruce Springsteen
Last stretch
Songs everyone sings together to the end.
- Take Me Home, Country Roads — John Denver
- Sweet Home Alabama — Lynyrd Skynyrd
- On the Road Again — Willie Nelson
- Rolling in the Deep — Adele
- Livin' on a Prayer — Bon Jovi
- Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen
- Hey Jude — The Beatles
- Budapest — George Ezra
Tips for your road trip music
- Download songs for offline play before you leave, in case you lose signal.
- Plan about 15 songs per hour. A six-hour drive needs roughly 90 songs.
- Put the quiet songs in the afternoon. Put the loud sing-alongs at the start and the end.
- Give each passenger a turn to choose. Voting is fairer than arguments about the aux cord.
- Keep the driver's phone out of it. Let passengers manage the music.
Let guests vote instead of playing DJ
Jukebox plays Apple Music in the car, and it supports CarPlay and AirPlay. Passengers join by code or QR code, request songs and vote for the next one. The driver keeps both hands on the wheel.
Here is how it works. The host starts a session from Apple Music. Guests join by 6-digit code, QR code or by being nearby. They vote on songs, request their own and vote to skip. The most-voted song plays next. Guests need no account, and only the host needs Apple Music.
Frequently asked questions
How many songs do I need for a road trip?
Plan 15 songs per hour of driving. For a 6-hour drive, build a list of about 90 songs and add more as you go.
What is the best type of music for a road trip?
Songs with a steady tempo and a chorus everyone knows. Classic rock, folk rock and upbeat pop work for most cars.
How can passengers choose songs without fighting?
Use a voting app. In Jukebox, each passenger can request songs and vote, and the most-voted song plays next.