September 5th, 2008 | Posted by JR Ordonez 14 comments

The music that saved Apple: Comprehensive list of songs from iPod commercials

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Apple’s memorable television commercials played a huge role in the iPod product-line’s mainstream success and, some would argue, Apple’s resurgence as a brand that matters. The commercials have indeed been a raging success for Apple. They made the iPod cultural icons and helped pave the way for Apple’s future (iPhone anyone?).

The colorful, 30 second ads are deceptively simple, pairing eye-catching visuals with catchy pop songs. So catchy, in fact, that we often hear others and ourselves asking: “What song is that?” Well, ask no more!

We’ve compiled a list of every song that has ever been used in Apple’s iPod+iTunes campaign with links to the videos found on YouTube. We’ve also included links to the songs for download on iTunes or Amazon (when available) for your listening pleasure.

iPod (first gen – classic)
Take California Propellerheads Propellerheads - Decksandrumsandrockandroll - Take California Amazon
Hey Mama Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas - Elephunk - Hey Mama Amazon
Rock Star N.E.R.D. N.E.R.D. - In Search Of... - Rock Star Amazon
Are You Gonna Be My Girl Jet JET - Get Born - Are You Gonna Be My Girl Amazon
Channel Surfing Feature Cast Feature Cast - Straight Out the Cat Litter (Scoop 3) - Channel Surfing N/A
Walkie Talkie Man Steriogram Steriogram - Schmack - Walkie Talkie Man Amazon
Saturday Night Ozomatli Ozomatli - Street Signs - Saturday Night Amazon
Vertigo U2 U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - Vertigo N/A
Ride The Vines The Vines - Winning Days - Ride Amazon
Technologic Daft Punk Daft Punk - Human After All - Technologic Amazon
Feel Good Inc Gorillaz Gorillaz - Demon Days - Feel Good Inc. Amazon
Original of the Species U2 U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - Original of the Species N/A
Lose Yourself Eminem Eminem - 8 Mile - Lose Yourself Amazon
Sparks Wynton Marsalis Wynton Marsalis - Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) - EP - Sparks N/A
Love Train Wolfmother Wolfmother - Wolfmother - Love Train Amazon
Someday Baby Bob Dylan Bob Dylan - Modern Times - Someday Baby Amazon
Flathead The Fratellis The Fratellis - Flathead - EP - Flathead N/A
Mi Swing Es Tropical Quantic and Nickodemus Quantic & Nickodemus - Ritmo Tropical - Single - Mi Swing Es Tropical Amazon
Dance Tonight Paul McCartney Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full - Dance Tonight Amazon
Work That Mary J. Blige Mary J. Blige - Growing Pains (Bonus Track Version) - Work That Amazon
Shut Up and Let Me Go The Ting Tings The Ting Tings - Shut Up and Let Me Go - Single - Shut Up and Let Me Go Amazon
Viva la Vida Coldplay Coldplay - Viva la Vida - Viva la Vida Amazon
iPod shuffle
Jerk It Out Caesars Caesars - 39 Minutes of Bliss (In an Otherwise Meaningless World) - Jerk It Out Amazon
Who’s Gonna Sing? Prototypes Prototypes - Prototypes - Who's Gonna Sing? Amazon
iPod nano
Gimme That The Resource ft. Jimmy Napes The Resource featuring Jimmy Napes - Gimme That - Single - Gimme That N/A
Cubicle Rinocerose Rinocerose - Rinocerose - Cubicle (edit) N/A
The Audience Is Listening Theme Song Cut Chemist Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening - The Audience Is Listening Theme Song Amazon
1234 Feist Feist - The Reminder - 1234 Amazon
Bruises Chairlift Chairlift - Does You Inspire You - Bruises N/A
iPod touch
La La La The Bird And The Bee The Bird and the Bee - The Bird and the Bee - La la La Amazon
Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex CSS CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy - Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex N/A
What I’m Looking For Brendan Benson Brendan Benson - What I'm Looking For (Ad Version) - Single - What I'm Looking For (Ad Version) N/A
The Asteroids Around the Bend The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around the Bend (Radio Edit) - Single - Around the Bend (Radio Edit) N/A

We’ll be updating this list as Apple undoubtably has more in store. Stay tuned.

Updated 10/13/08: Added 2 songs from the recent iPod Nano “chromatic” and iPod touch “funnest ipod ever” ads

Meanwhile, let us know if we missed anything.

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  • Pat

    If you go onto iTunes Music Store, there’s a few iMixes by users who have put all of these songs into one big list for you (ex. iPod Ads, Apple Commercials, etc). It’s a bit easier to find them this way than by selecting each song from this website one at a time.

  • sasha

    I would love to see all the graphics in a gallery. anyone have a link?

  • John

    Thanks for this post and thank you Pat for that tip!

  • Joe

    what about any music from the imac/macbook commercials?

    … i believe some of them had music

  • http://www.touchtip.com/ JR Ordonez

    @Joe, we concentrated on iPod since the site is geared mainly to iPhone/iPod touch. But that’s a good idea and we may do a future post and do just that. Thanks!

  • Stu

    New song for the iPod Touch 2G commercial: No You Girls, Franz Ferdinand
    Also, nice use of YouTube

  • Bob

    You, Me, and Bourgeoisie- The Submarines

  • locomotion15

    perfect timing- obra square

  • Nate_cobra

    She’s Got Me Dancing – Tommy Sparks

    newest ipod touch song to date

  • http://www.musicconverter.org/ anderry

    thank you for sharing ! it is very good !

  • http://www.ipod-to-mac.com/ malary

    I think I should use my ipod to have a try !
    I can not help !

  • http://www.dvdrippermacos.com hanse

    Thank you that you can take time from your busy schedule to provide this practical information for us, it really give us a lot of help . video to ipad converter

  • Kyle

    iPod Nano
    *Miss Li - Bourgeois Shangri-La
    *Cake – Comfort Eagle
    *Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket
    iPod Touch*Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls
    *Tommy Sparks – She’s Got Me Dancing
    *Chappo – Come Home*Grouplove – Tounge Tied

  • Kyle

    iPod Touch
    *Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls
    *Tommy Sparks - She’s Got Me Dancing
    *Chappo – Come Home
    *GroupLove – Tongue Tied
    iPod Nano
    *Miss Li - Bourgeois Shangri-La
    *Cake – Comfort Eagle
    *Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket