The ultimate road trip playlist

A road trip isn’t complete without the right tunes. Whether you’re driving down the road or right across the country, we’ve put together the ultimate playlist for your next adventure. No need to worry about scrounging around your high school CD collection or sorting through your iTunes downloads, we’ve got you covered with our carefully selected songs to make your trip that bit easier. Crank up the classics from The Beatles, or get down with some old school hip hop by Dr. Dre.

1. Ticket to ride – The Beatles

We get it – this song is ancient (it’s more than 50 years’ old now), but it’s still rockin’ to this day.

2. I’ve been everywhere – Johnny Cash

I’ve been to Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, Nelson, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerstone, Queenstown.  And we think you get it now….

3. Shut up and drive – Rihanna

Yep, you heard her – just shut up and drive!

4. Life in the fast lane – The Eagles

Life in the fast lane isn’t actually about the road, but rather a glamorous lifestyle of parties and fast cars according to Eagles’ band members.

5. Ridin’ – Chamillionaire

This song is much more than just ridin’ dirty. Chamillionaire sings about racial profiling and how he was often pulled over by police (who often abused their power) because of his skin colour.

6. Born to be wild – Steppenwolf

This is a serious biker track (calling all Sons of Anarchy fans) and goes far deeper than just being ‘wild’. It actually symbolises freedom, rebellion and the open ride – all associated with the rock n’ roll era.

7. Life is a highway – Tom Cochrane

Can you believe this song was inspired by a trip to Africa? All the poverty and hunger the artist witnessed encouraged him to write and sing about it.

8. Let me ride – Dr. Dre

Ok let’s just get it straight – any song that features Dr. Dre plus Snoop Dogg is going to be awesome. Enough said.

9. Hit the road Jack – Ray Charles

Do we all remember this song from the Holden Jackeroo ad back in 2000? Yikes, this makes us feel old.

10. Where the streets have no name – U2

Let’s just clarify this one – all streets will have names unless someone’s knocked down the street sign. You can find any street these days using Google Maps.

So grab your keys, put your sunnies on and wind the windows down, and listen to our all-time favourite beats with the breeze running through your hair. We don’t recommend driving in complete silence – the time will pass very slowly and you’ll end up driving yourself to complete boredom unless you’ve got some killer conversation starters, but we reckon you should just shut up and drive!