What are the most sampled songs in Music History - Why Producers Use Them

There are a handful of recordings, often little more than a few seconds of drums, a snatch of vocal or a percussion figure - that have been repurposed in thousands of later songs. These “most sampled” tunes are not just curiosities: they’re fundamental building blocks of entire genres. Below we list the tracks most often cited by sample-research sites and music historians, explain what exactly producers lift from each recording, and give a short view on why each has proved so reusable and culturally persistent. 

1) “Amen, Brother” - The Winstons (the Amen Break)

What’s sampled: a 7-second drum solo (the “Amen Break”).
Why it matters: the break’s syncopation, texture and short, loopable length made it perfect for early hip-hop DJs and later the foundation for jungle and drum-and-bass. Its use proliferated in the 1980s and 1990s until the Amen Break became a rhythmic language of its own. The track tops WhoSampled’s most-sampled list. 

2) “Think (About It)” - Lyn Collins (produced by James Brown)

What’s sampled: the “Yeah! Woo!” vocal and a break often called the “Think” break.
Why it matters: short, punchy vocal shouts and tight drum hits are ideal accents in hip-hop and pop production. The record’s production by James Brown gives it the heavy funk pocket producers crave. It’s consistently the second-most tracked sample in databases. 

3) “La Di Da Di” - Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick

What’s sampled: vocal lines, beatbox phrases and melodic hooks.
Why it matters: the track’s melodic lines and Slick Rick’s phrasing are endlessly quotable; later artists have sampled or interpolated words, melody and cadence rather than just drums. Because it’s a vocal/lyrical touchstone of early hip-hop, it’s reused both as homage and as a compositional shortcut. 

4) “Funky Drummer” - James Brown (Clyde Stubblefield’s drum break)

What’s sampled: an extended drum vamp/solo performed by Clyde Stubblefield.
Why it matters: the groove is uniquely syncopated and sits perfectly under rap cadences. It’s one of the most famous drum samples in hip-hop and pop; countless producers looped or chopped it to create new rhythms. The drummer himself received little pay originally, which later became an emblematic injustice discussed in music press. 

5) “Change the Beat (Female Version)” - Beside (a.k.a. Fab 5 Freddy / Roger Troutman family connections)

What’s sampled: a vocodered “ahh”/spoken phrase used as a scratchable sound.
Why it matters: turntablists and producers use this tiny vocalised phrase as a percussive or scratching device - it’s become a DJ tool translated into sample form, appearing in thousands of tracks. WhoSampled ranks it in the highest sampled entries. 

6) “Impeach the President” - The Honey Drippers

What’s sampled: the drum groove and snare hits.
Why it matters: the drum pattern is dry, roomy and easy to loop under rap vocals. Its political title also made it attractive for socially conscious producers, but practically it’s the drum sound that’s been recycled widely.

7) “Synthetic Substitution” - Melvin Bliss

What’s sampled: a clean, isolated drum break and percussion hits.
Why it matters: producers prize breaks that are musically useful and sonically clean - this one checks both boxes and has shown up in many classic hip-hop tracks. 

8) “Hot Pants (Bonus Beats)” - Bobby Byrd

What’s sampled: short, funky drum and percussion segments produced in the James Brown family of sessions.
Why it matters: repeated patterns, crisp transients and funk feel make it easy to loop and recontextualise - a common recipe among the most sampled tracks. 

9) “Apache” - Incredible Bongo Band

What’s sampled: the percussion-heavy break (congas, bongo hits) and crowd-pleasing fills.
Why it matters: its tribal percussion and cinematic energy became a hip-hop favourite (not least because of famous early DJ loops), and its melodic/funky hooks make it versatile across genres. 

10) “It’s a New Day” / “It’s a New Day (Instrumental)” - Skull Snaps

What’s sampled: a short drum break with a tight, punchy groove.
Why it matters: again, clean drum tone + a distinctive pattern = endless reuse. The track pops up in hip-hop and R&B across decades. 

(Honourable mentions: Isaac Hayes, The Beatles (specific licks & orchestral hits), Public Enemy, The Jimmy Castor Bunch - many artists’ sections appear repeatedly in WhoSampled’s lists.) 

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Why these specific tunes get sampled - seven converging reasons

1. Isolated, loopable elements. Producers love short, self-contained hits (a drum break, a vocal exclamation, a percussion hit) that can be looped without chopping away context. Tracks above consistently contain these.
2. Sonics: dry, punchy drums and clear transients. Older recordings often used live, punchy kits with room ambience producers can work with; examples include “Funky Drummer” and “Amen.”
3. Cultural resonance and homage. Sampling early hip-hop touchstones (La Di Da Di, Lyn Collins) signals lineage; it’s both a technical choice and a cultural citation.
4. DJ & turntablist practice. Many of the most sampled bits doubled as scratching targets or DJ tools; short vocal snippets and one-shot sounds function as instruments in a DJ’s hands.
5. Genre creation. Entire genres (e.g., jungle/drum & bass) used specific breaks (Amen Break) as a generative rule—producers built new rhythmic languages from them.
6. Availability and early legal grey-area. Early sampling emerged when clearance practices were lax; once the sounds were in circulation via DJs, they propagated quickly (and often without royalties), which both cemented their use and created later legal battles. Music press documents how drummers like Clyde Stubblefield and Gregory Coleman were largely uncompensated for early usages.
7. The database effect. When a sample is used in a popular record, it becomes known to other producers and is more likely to be reused — a social contagion effect visible across sample databases. WhoSampled’s crowd-sourced counting makes that propagation visible.