This Is the Most Popular Song About War and Peace on the Billboard Hot 100

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Mar 1, 11:00AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

This Is the Most Popular Song About War and Peace on the Billboard Hot 100 — © Rich Fury / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

Protests, mainly for civil rights and against the Vietnam War, were common in America in the 1960s, and songs about war and peace were a big part of the era’s music scene. Bob Dylan, the singer-songwriter turned Nobel Prize-winning poet, launched his career with the still popular “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1962.

Based on the Billboard Hot 100, however, none of Dylan’s songs were big sellers. The most popular song about war and peace based on this yardstick is “Holiday” released by Green Day – not in the ‘60s, but in 2005. It was in the Hot 100 for 32 weeks, peaking at No. 19. (Here’s a list of all the most popular songs about war and peace on the Billboard Hot 100.)

Green Day has sold more than 85 records worldwide, making it one of the most popular rock bands in history. Started in 1987, Green Day has been made up of the same musicians since 1990 – founders Billie Joe Armstrong, the guitarist and lead vocalist, and Mike Dirnt, the bass player, plus drummer Tré Cool. Its music was in the vanguard of the punk rock movement. Its first major success came with the release of “Dookie” in 1994, which sold 10 million albums in the U.S.

The constant refrain in “Holiday” – which Armstrong says was actually inspired by Dylan – is “Oh I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies.” The music video opens with huge planes dropping bombs.

At a concert last summer, Armstrong announced that he was going to renounce his U.S. citizenship to protest the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Whether he has actually done so is unclear. (Here, though, are some famous Americans who are no longer U.S. citizens.)

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.