YouTube Viewership Of Top Irish Songs Increases 20X On St. Patrick’s Day

Each year, on St. Patrick’s Day, revelers across the country — even those who, like myself, have no hereditary connection to Ireland — dust off their favorite Celtic tunes in order to celebrate in style. How great is the boon Irish artists receive on their homeland’s most notable holiday? According to YouTube, pretty darn big. The video site shared its list of the top St. Patrick’s Day songs on its platform, noting that for the top entires on the list, holiday viewership is more than 20 times as large as it is during the rest of the year.

Taking the #1 spot on the list is “Drunken Lullabies,” a banjo-driven ditty by Celtic-American rock group Flogging Molly (pictured above). The song’s St. Patrick’s Day viewership is 2,309% higher than its baseline average across the rest of the year, meaning that the song receives about 23 times as many views on the holiday as it does normally. If I were a member of Flogging Molly, I’d raise a glass to that.

The next three songs on YouTube’s ranking are “Whiskey In The Jar” by The Dubliners, “An Irish Pub Song” by The Rumjacks, and “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” by Dropkick Murphys, the last of which has been made famous thanks to its appearances at Boston sporting events and in the film The Departed. All of those tracks receive at least 12 times as many views on St. Patricks Day as they do on other days, YouTube said.

The rest of the top ten, which can be found over at Billboard, includes hits from Irish performers like U2 and The Cranberries.