Never mind the Undertones: an alternative top 50 great Irish songs

In all, more than 200 different Irish songs were chosen by our judges. Most of those, obviously, failed to make the top 50, but all are gems.

Here is an alternative list of 50 songs chosen by judges that capture the story of Irish music over the past 60-odd years. A few simple rules: one song per year; no song from an artist already featured in the top 50; only one song per artist on this list; oh, and everything in chronological order.

The Dubliners, The Rocky Road to Dublin (1964)

David McWilliams, Days of Pearly Spencer (1967)

Joe Dolan, You’re Such A Good Looking Woman (1970)

Gilbert O’Sullivan, Alone Again (Naturally) (1972)

Planxty, Raggle Taggle Gypsy/Tabhair Dom Do Lámh (1973)

Horslips, Trouble with A Capital T (1976)

Rory Gallagher, Shin Kicker (1978)

The Radiators, Kitty Ricketts (1979)

The Atrix, Treasure on the Wasteland (1981)

Paddy Reilly, The Fields of Athenry (1982)

Phil Chevron, The Captains and the Kings (1983)

Paul Brady, The Island (1985)

The Stars of Heaven, Sacred Heart Hotel (1986)

Paranoid Visions, I Will Wallow (1987)

Maura O’Connell, The Scholar (1988)

The Fatima Mansions, Only Losers Take the Bus (1989)

The Stunning, Brewing Up a Storm (1990)

The Would Be’s, I’m Hardly Ever Wrong (1991)

The Frank and Walters, After All (1992)

Hothouse Flowers, Good for You (1993)

Therapy?, Screamager (1994)

Gavin Friday, Angel (1995)

Rollerskate Skinny, Speed to my Side (1996)

The Divine Comedy, National Express (1998)

Moloko, Sing it Back (1999)

Mark McCabe, Maniac 2000 (2000)

David Kitt, Song from Hope St (Brooklyn, NY) (2001)

Damien Rice, The Blower’s Daughter (2002)

Snow Patrol, Run (2003)

The Frames, Fake (2004)

Hal, Worry About the Wind (2005)

Director, Reconnect (2006)

Fight Like Apes, Jake Summers (2007)

Lisa Hannigan, Lille (2008)

And So I Watch You From Afar, Set Guitars to Kill (2009)

Two Door Cinema Club, What You Know (2010)

Royseven, We Should Be Lovers (2011)

Delorentos, Little Sparks (2012)

The Gloaming, Samhradh Samhradh (2013)

SOAK, Blud (2014)

Gilla Band, Pears for Lunch (2015)

Lisa O’Neill, Gormlaith’s Grieving (2016)

Bicep, Glue (2017)

Villagers, A Trick of the Light (2018)

A Lazarus Soul, Long Balconies (2019)

Reggie, My Accent (2020)

Kojaque, Town’s Dead (2021)

Just Mustard, Still (2022)

Jazzy, Giving Me (2023)

NewDad, Angel (2024)