“Most people have missed some of the best Zeppelin stuff,” Robert Plant said in a 2025 interview with Mojo.
Plant went on to note a few tracks that he feels have not been appreciated enough over the years — among them “For Your Life” and “Achilles Last Stand” from 1976’s Presence — and emphasized that Led Zeppelin’s hits just don’t excite him all these decades later.
“When people say that I don’t like ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ I just don’t like the idea of it,” he continued. “These iconic things – they’re just what they are.”
“Stairway to Heaven,” unsurprisingly, is most popular song streaming-wise in Led Zeppelin’s catalog, according to data from Spotify. But what about those other tracks? Below, we’ve crunched the numbers and come up with the most skipped song from every Led Zeppelin album. All streaming totals as of Sept. 26, 2025.
‘Led Zeppelin‘ (1969)
Most Popular Track: “Good Times Bad Times”
Most Skipped Track: “Black Mountain Side”
“I did a joint interview with William Burroughs for Crawdaddy magazine in the early ’70s, and we had a lengthy discussion on the hypnotic power of rock and how it paralleled the music of Arabic cultures.,” Jimmy Page recalled to Guitar World in 1993. Sure, that makes perfect sense. “This was an observation Burroughs had after hearing ‘Black Mountain Side’ from our first album. He then encouraged me to go to Morocco and investigate the music first hand, something Robert and I eventually did.” Maybe since “Black Mountain Side” is an instrumental, it gets skipped over the most.
‘Led Zeppelin II‘ (1969)
Most Popular Track: “Whole Lotta Love”
Most Skipped Track: “Moby Dick”
Yes, “Moby Dick” is technically just a recorded drum solo, but that doesn’t mean it deserves to be skipped over like this. And as far as Page was concerned, there would not ever have been the Led Zeppelin fans know and love without John Bonham behind the kit. “Of course you had four people in Led Zeppelin which were sort of musical equals, if you like,” he said in 2010 (via blabbermouth.net). “I would say so. But John [was] the backbone of the band.”
‘Led Zeppelin III‘ (1970)
Most Popular Track: “Immigrant Song”
Most Skipped Track: “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper”
Oftentimes, the last track of an album gets glossed over. In this case, that would leave “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper” with the short stick. In case you didn’t know, Roy Harper was a fellow English folk rock artist who influenced Led Zeppelin a good deal, though when he first learned there was an entire song dedicated to him, he was a bit shocked. “I went up to see them in their office,” he recalled to PopMatters in 2008, “and Jimmy handed me the record, and I was like ‘Oh, new record…’ and twirled it around a bit and said, ‘Yeah, that’s great.’ And I gave it back. He handed it back to me, and said, ‘Well, look at it then.’ And I sort of realized I should be looking at something else. And then, of course, I saw it, and I said, ‘Oh, dear…”
‘Led Zeppelin IV‘ (1971)
Most Popular Track: “Stairway to Heaven”
Most Skipped Track: “Four Sticks”
We’ll admit that “Four Sticks” is a strange one with its mixture of time signatures. Bonham found inspiration for his drum part — which, yes, required four drum sticks, two in each hand — after seeing Ginger Baker of Cream face jazz drummer Elvin Jones of John Coltrane fame in a drum battle. The next day Bonham entered the studio ready to crush it.
‘Houses of the Holy’ (1973)
Most Popular Track: “D’yer Mak’er”
Most Skipped Track: “The Crunge”
In June of 1973, Rolling Stone‘s review of Houses of the Holy was…not good, describing “The Crunge” in particular as “easily” one of “the worst things this band has ever attempted.” They wrote that it “reproduces James Brown so faithfully that it’s every bit as boring, repetitive and cliched as ‘Good Foot.’ Yakety-yak guitar, boom-boom bass, astoundingly idiotic lyrics (‘when she walks, she walks, and when she talks, she talks’) — it’s all there. So is Jones’ synthesizer, spinning absolutely superfluous electronic fills.”
‘Physical Graffiti‘ (1975)
Most Popular Track: “Kashmir”
Most Skipped Track: “Sick Again”
Let’s be extra clear: “Sick Again,” with its sexual lyrics about teenage girls has not aged well at all. Not long after the song appeared on 1975’s Physical Graffiti, Plant spoke to Rolling Stone about it. “If you listen to ‘Sick Again,’ a track from Physical Graffiti, the words show I feel a bit sorry for them,” he said. “‘Clutching pages from your teenage dream in the lobby of the Hotel Paradise / Through the circus of the L.A. queen how fast you learn the downhill slide.’ One minute she’s 12 and the next minute she’s 13 and over the top. Such a shame.” Still, we get it if you’d prefer skipping this one.
‘Presence‘ (1976)
Most Popular Track: “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”
Most Skipped Track: “Candy Store Rock”
“Candy Store Rock” is one of 17 Led Zeppelin songs that the band never performed live together — the only time it made a set list, albeit a shortened version, was when Plant and Page reunited in the ’90s. At the time it was recorded, Plant was still recovering from a car accident he had been in while in Greece, and so he sang his vocal from a wheelchair.
‘In Through the Out Door‘ (1979)
Most Popular Track: “All My Love”
Most Skipped Track: “Carouselambra”
Clocking in at roughly 10 and a half minutes, “Carouselambra” is the second longest song in Led Zeppelin’s catalog, which may be why many people have decided to skip over it. Perhaps a bit too repetitive? Perhaps a bit too much synthesizer? Or is it Plant’s inaudible vocal? Up to you.
‘Coda‘ (1982)
Most Popular Track: “We’re Gonna Groove”
Most Skipped Track: “Walter’s Walk”
“Walter’s Walk” was reportedly a song leftover from the Houses of the Holy era, and it ultimately found a place on 1982’s Coda, the album released two years after Led Zeppelin broke up. Extra vocals and guitar were added on in 1981.
The Best Song From Every Led Zeppelin Album
Choosing the best song isn’t easy, since many of their LPs come together as a piece – and they include so many classic tracks.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
