Revealed: The ultimate GTA playlist

If you’ve ever played Grand Theft Auto, you’ll likely be well versed in two things: mowing down citizens in stolen vehicles and listening to Michael Jackson’s smash hit Billie Jean on repeat.   

To celebrate the release of the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 – the latest version of the popular video game franchise – gaming experts from GTA BOOM have analysed the most popular tunes played within the game, dating back to the original GTA that launched in 1997, to create the ultimate GTA playlist.

If you’ve never heard of Grand Theft Auto, it’s basically what the name suggests. You drive around in stolen vehicles dodging cops and thugs, completing missions, and earning money (and status) along the way.

And most of those missions require your character to partake in illegal activities, notably, grand theft. 

Nonetheless, there’s a plethora of songs and artists you can listen to whilst committing virtual sins on GTA, via the in-game radio stations.

The study is said to collate all songs played through the in-game radio stations from every GTA title and cross-reference them with the total number of streams on Spotify. And here are the results.

The top ten most listened-to songs featured in the GTA franchise

Africa, Toto – 1,675,837,937Spotify plays

Billie Jean, Michael Jackson – 1,660,141,361 Spotify plays

HIGHEST IN THE ROOM, Travis Scott – 1,547,829,949 Spotify plays

Still D.R.E, Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dog – 1,365,357,215 Spotify plays

I Want it That Way, Backstreet Boys – 1,350,705,885 Spotify plays

Feel Good Inc., Gorillaz ft. De La Soul – 1,334,983,374 Spotify plays

Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival – 1,260,856,330 Spotify plays

Welcome to the Jungle, Guns N’ Roses – 1,127,918,699 Spotify plays

It Was a Good Day, Ice Cube – 1,065,697,262 Spotify plays

Meanwhile, the study also revealed the most popular in-game radio stations for GTA players, with Non-Stop-Pop FM from GTA V coming out on top, while Radio X (GTA San Andreas), West Coast Classics (GTA V), and Emotion 98.3 (GTA Vice City) also proved popular.

Founder of GTA BOOM, Matt Gibbs, said Rockstar managed to get such a rich and diverse collection of songs for fans to enjoy, “being able to provide players with soundtrack autonomy for their chaotic and law-breaking fictional adventures”.

“The groundbreaking ongoing success of the Grand Theft Auto franchise is a remarkable feat by Rockstar, with the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon, there’s no doubt players will be hyping themselves up this year before the highly anticipated title finally drops after a decade of waiting,” said Gibbs.

Related: Are video gamers better drivers?