Key Takeaways

• Chart-topping success: Paul McCartney has achieved 32 No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100.
• Concert favorites: His most performed songs often include hits like “Band on the Run” and “Maybe I’m Amazed.”
• Underplayed gems: Some albums, such as Pipes of Peace, have songs that remain largely unperformed live.
• Recent work: His latest album, McCartney III, features tracks like “Women and Wives” that have gained popularity.

Paul McCartney has written or co-written 32 chart-topping singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 – including seven as a solo act and with Wings. His 24 total No. 1 songs in the U.K. are more than any other artist.

He plays those a lot. In many cases, the best-known singles from his catalog became the most performed songs in concert – but not always. For every blockbuster like “Band on the Run,” “My Love,” and “Maybe I’m Amazed,” there are surprising examples of McCartney regularly digging deeper into his solo material.

The least-played songs weren’t necessarily the worst, either. Some albums arrived when McCartney was off the road, so they never found their way to the stage.

READ MORE: Top 40 Paul McCartney ’70s Songs

For instance, McCartney didn’t tour between 1980, the same year former bandmate John Lennon was murdered, and his Tripping the Live Fantastic Tour in support of Flowers in the Dirt in 1989-90. During that quiet era, McCartney released 1982’s Tug of War, 1983’s Pipes of Peace, 1984’s Give My Regards to Broadstreet, and 1986’s Press to Play.

A few tracks from Tug of War and Press to Play later filtered into McCartney’s set lists. But he has yet to return to Pipes of Peace or Give My Regards to Broadstreet, even though they were home to the international Top 10 hits “Say, Say, Say” and “No More Lonely Nights,” respectively.

Other songs have been played literally hundreds of times – in particular when you combine performances by McCartney as a solo act and performances with his ’70s-era band Wings. Using data from setlist.fm, we’ve crunched the numbers to determine the most and least played song live from every Paul McCartney album.

Album: McCartney III (2020)

Most played: “Women and Wives” (47)
Least played: “Slidin'” (1)

Deep into pandemic-era quarantines, McCartney decided to complete the third installment in a series of solo recordings that already included 1970’s McCartney and 1980’s McCartney II. Inspiration came from smaller things in that quiet, isolated time: The bluesy “Women and Wives” arrived while McCartney was reading a book on the Louisiana legend Lead Belly. McCartney sang the original with a surprisingly hard, flatter tone while playing a bass that belonged to early Elvis Presley band member Bill Black. “Slidin'” has roots in a jam session that grew out of a soundcheck with his regular band in Dusseldorf, Germany – and it sounds just like that. McCartney made an initial pass at the song during sessions for 2018’s Egypt Station.

Album: Egypt Station (2018)

Most played: “Come On to Me” (107)
Least played: “Happy With You” (1)

These two songs could not be more different. The thrice-married McCartney imagines himself as a youthful pickup artist on the frankly perfunctory rocker “Come On to Me,” originally released as an advance double-A side single with the far superior “I Don’t Know.” “Happy With You,” though undoubtedly slight, is a better song, too. Nobody conveys the comforts of everyday contentment quite like Paul McCartney.

Album: New (2013)

Most played: “Queenie Eye” (216)
Least played: “Appreciate” (1)

This is well-deserved since “Queenie Eye” was the best song on New. Its ruminative orchestral opening, fizzy wordplay, nervy grooves, and processed vocal point like a streaking arrow back to his late ’60s successes with George Martin and the rest of The Beatles. In a sign of just how confident this McCartney album is, there’s even a perfectly landed false ending. He then does what every Beatles trope says he should do: Start all over again, with a swirling chorus of vocals, a banging piano, and a second sudden stop. Elsewhere, “Appreciate” works as a preview of the very modern experiments to come on 2020’s McCartney III.

Album: Memory Almost Full (2007)

Most played: “Dance Tonight” (226)
Least played: “Nod Your Head” (4)

Ironic as it may be, the last song written for McCartney’s deeply underrated Memory Almost Full, became its most played. Nominated for a Grammy, “Dance Tonight” was a personal moment inspired by the exuberance of his young daughter. McCartney played every instrument. Described as a “little stompy rocker,” “Nod Your Head” served as a more light-hearted album-closer after a five-song medley (from “Vintage Clothes” to “The End of the End”) in which McCartney examines life’s arc. “We thought we couldn’t leave everyone going, ‘Oh God, I’m not going to listen to that again,'” McCartney later joked.

Album: <emChaos and Creation in the Backyard(2005)

Most played:“Follow Me”(44)
Least played:“At the Mercy,” “Riding to Vanity Fair,” and “Too Much Rain”(1)

A complete return to form,Chaos and Creation in the Backyard wasn’t just one of the best Paul McCartney albums in ages; it’s one of the best ever. New producer Nigel Godrich helped McCartney get there by convincing him to scrap almost all of the early band-based versions of these songs in favor of a more settled solo approach. Godrich’s fingerprints are everywhere, from making McCartney slow down on “Riding to Vanity Fair” to the dark forces at work in “At the Mercy” and “Too Much Rain.” “Follow Me,” with its churchy “Let It Be”-type overtones, was one of the few early takes that survived. It was only played four more times than the Top 20 U.K. single “Fine Line” and the “Blackbird”-esque “Jenny Wren.”