Tom Petty understood that rock songwriting depends on the song itself: elaborate production cannot make up for weak material. This ranking compares all 16 closing tracks from Petty’s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and solo albums, from the least successful finale to the most memorable album closer.

“You know, you can have the best band in the world, but if you don’t have material that’s good, it won’t matter,” he told Rolling Stone in 2013. “So really with us we’re all focused on delivering a song first, you know, and I’ve always put a lot of care into writing. And when young musicians ask me what the most important thing is, I always say it’s the song. You know, you can chrome a turd, but it’s not going to do any good. You’ve got to have a song.”

Writing the songs is only part of making an album. The track sequence also matters, especially the final song, which can leave a listener ready to start the album again.

This list ranks all 16 of Petty’s album-closing songs, including tracks from his solo releases and albums with the Heartbreakers.

16. “Airport”
From: Songs and Music From the Motion Picture “She’s the One” (1996)

Songs and Music From the Motion Picture “She’s the One” is a film soundtrack, so its sequence differs from that of a traditional album; that context places “Airport” at the bottom of this ranking. Benmont Tench’s piano piece is enjoyable, but it is not especially groundbreaking.

15. “Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough)”
From: Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) (1987)

The title track closes 1987’s Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) and was co-written by Petty and guitarist Mike Campbell. The song is a loose, energetic rocker, with a Stones-like quality in Petty’s vocals and Campbell’s guitar, but it is not among Petty’s strongest album finales.

14. “Shadow People”
From: Hypnotic Eye (2014)

“Shadow People” is one of several songs on Hypnotic Eye that reflect Petty’s concern about what he saw as America’s increasingly combative direction in 2014. Its placement at the album’s end gives that message weight. “It’s about what’s missing — why is the ‘human’ missing from humanity?” he told Billboard then. “I think the level of caring about other people is disappearing.”

13. “Good Enough”
From: Mojo (2010)

“Good Enough” closes Mojo and was also the album’s first single. The song introduced listeners to the album’s blues-influenced sound, then makes a measured, slow-burning finale.

12. “Baby’s a Rock ‘n’ Roller”
From: You’re Gonna Get It! (1978)

By 1978, Petty and the Heartbreakers were gaining momentum as performers and songwriters. You’re Gonna Get It! ends with “Baby’s a Rock ‘n’ Roller,” which Petty once called a “cheap throwaway”; he later said the song grew on him.

11. “Zombie Zoo”
From: Full Moon Fever (1989)

Full Moon Fever is a solo Petty album, although Campbell and Tench also played on it, giving the record a collaborative feel. Roy Orbison sings backing vocals on “Zombie Zoo,” the album’s closing track, but Petty later questioned why he had included it.

“I do not understand how that got on the record when I had better stuff that didn’t get on the record,” he told Rolling Stone in 2017. “What frame of mind produced that, I don’t understand. ‘Cause normally, I would have thrown that away. God knows we’ve thrown away far better. That was nearly a perfect album until the very end [Laughs].”

Despite Petty’s reservations, “Zombie Zoo” remains part of the album’s track list.

10. “One More Day, One More Night”
From: Echo (1999)

“One More Day, One More Night” pairs a simple but effective chord sequence with bittersweet lyrics, including “no one ever taught me to be on my own.” Petty originally intended it as a skiffle song, then chose a slower arrangement that suits the closing position on 1999’s Echo.

9. “The Golden Rose”
From: Highway Companion (2006)

Highway Companion, released in 2006, was Petty’s third and final solo album. After its harder rock songs and more upbeat numbers, “The Golden Rose” eases the record into a calm, dreamlike finish.

8. “Louisiana Rain”
From: Damn the Torpedoes (1979)

“Louisiana Rain” begins with several unconventional sounds, but its opening gives way to a relaxed, assured ballad. Petty wrote the closing song from Damn the Torpedoes while he was still in Mudcrutch.

READ MORE: Tom Petty Album Opening Songs Ranked

7. “A Wasted Life”
From: Long After Dark (1982)

Petty often ended albums with songs that carried a strong emotional impact. In “A Wasted Life” from 1982’s Long After Dark, he sings, “I know you have to feel a little used up,” followed by “And no one can give you enough / Baby hold on tight / Don’t have a wasted life.”

“‘A Wasted Life’ was a nice closer,” Campbell told Goldmine in 2024. “Tom wrote that on his own; it was a downbeat type of love song. Those are the songs that stick out in my mind.”

6. “Can’t Stop the Sun”
From: The Last DJ (2002)

“Can’t Stop the Sun,” the Beatles-influenced closer from 2002’s The Last DJ, is unusual because Campbell did most of the initial writing and drafted lyrics before passing the song to Petty. Petty rewrote most of the lyrics while retaining the central guitar lick. “I thought it was a good way to end the album,” he said in Conversations With Tom Petty (2005). “It was a good ‘up’ song.”

5. “Built to Last”
From: Into the Great Wide Open (1991)

Petty co-wrote “Built to Last” with Jeff Lynne, who also helped produce 1991’s Into the Great Wide Open. The song has a Motown-influenced groove and was both the album’s closing track and the last song recorded for it. “That was the end of it,” Petty later recalled. “Because I remember, when we got it done, there was this sigh of relief.”

4. “Wake Up Time”
From: Wildflowers (1994)

“Wake Up Time” ends Wildflowers with an emotional, orchestral arrangement that matches the album’s tender mood. Petty plays piano on the song, while Campbell plays bass.

Petty described it this way: “That song is just one of my best songs.”

3. “You Can Still Change Your Mind”
From: Hard Promises (1981)

“You Can Still Change Your Mind” closes Hard Promises with a song that gained an added association after Petty died in October 2017. In the months that followed, Tench sometimes ended his own shows with a solo piano version, which moved audience members to tears.

2. “The Best of Everything
From: Southern Accents (1985)

Robbie Robertson helped Petty rework “The Best of Everything,” a song Petty had kept for several years, and encouraged him to make it the poignant finale to Southern Accents. Petty sings, “It’s over before you know it,” then reflects, “It all goes by so fast / the bad nights last forever / and the good nights don’t ever seem to last.”

1. “American Girl”
From: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)

“American Girl” leads this ranking as the strongest album closer. Its call-and-response chorus, distinctive ending riff and fade-out helped make it a longtime set-closing song for the Heartbreakers.