10 of The Shortest Songs Ever Released

This list goes over some of the shortest songs ever recorded and released in music history.

The average duration of a song comes in between two and a half minutes to five minutes. This is the most common occurrence for songs to be in this time range.

While many people would ask themselves “what are the shortest songs ever recorded and released?”, one would think they will be around a minute, but in some cases, it is considerably less than one minute.

1. Napalm Death – You Suffer (4-second digital track)

British grindcore band Napalm Death released “You Suffer” on Scum in 1987. The label lists the digital track at just four seconds. Make no mistake, this is an incredibly short song! A track’s listed running time and the duration of its audible music are not necessarily the same measurement, so compare like with like when looking at the numbers. Here, the heading uses the label’s digital timing rather than claiming a current world record.

2. Queen – Yeah (4 seconds)

Number two on our list is Queen with their song “Yeah”. With its duration being four seconds, it is also one of the shortest tracks here. The song itself features Freddie Mercury only saying one word, and that word is “yeah”. It appears as a separate track on Made in Heaven, released in 1995. A brief vocal fragment like this makes the boundary between a song and an album interlude a little blurry.

3. The Smashing Pumpkins – 17 (17 seconds)

Smashing Pumpkins comes in at number three on our list, with their song “17”. The name of the song comes from the fact that it’s actually 17 seconds long. It was the last song on their album, which was titled “Adore”. The digital album lists it at 17 seconds, making it a tiny closing piece rather than a conventional full-length song.

4. Linkin Park – Empty Spaces (20 seconds)

We all know Linkin Park, but most people don’t know that they also have one of the shortest songs ever released in music history. That song is titled “Empty Spaces” and it’s from their album A Thousand Suns, which came out in 2010. Granted, it serves as an intro to the song “When They Come For Me” but it is listed as a separate track. Like several entries here, it is an interlude rather than a full verse-and-chorus song.

5. The Beatles – Her Majesty (23 seconds)

The legendary Beatles come in at number five with their song titled “Her Majesty”. The song is part of their album “Abbey Road”, and the Beatles’ official page lists it at 23 seconds. With their incredible line of releases, “Her Majesty” is the shortest song that the band has ever released, which was the finishing track on the album.

6. Pink Floyd – Stop (30 seconds)

Joining the ranks of other famous bands is Pink Floyd with their song “Stop”. It was recorded and released in 1979, from their album titled “The Wall”. With a duration of 30 seconds, it is a very brief moment on the album but nevertheless, it’s still considered a very interesting and emotionally packed track.

7. Green Day – The Ballad of Wilhelm Fink (32 seconds)

Number seven on this list is Green Day with “The Ballad of Wilhelm Fink”. While punk is considered to be a style of music that is known for creating short songs, with a common time range of two minutes. This is still considered incredibly shorter than the already short timeframe. This song lasts about half a minute and appears on Short Music for Short People, a 1999 compilation built around extremely short punk songs.

8. Jonny Trunk – Ladies’ Bras (35 seconds)

The song was composed by Jonny Trunk and Duncan James Wisbey. It is considered a very witty and silly song about women’s bras. Fun fact about this particular track, which only lasts about 35 seconds: it reached number 27 on the UK singles chart in 2007. Its old shortest-chart-hit distinction has since been overtaken: Guinness reported Jack Black’s “Steve’s Lava Chicken”, listed at 34 seconds on streaming services, as a shorter UK and US chart entry in 2025.

9. Minor Threat – Straight Edge (45 seconds)

Released in 1981, the song “Straight Edge” is a track from the band Minor Threat that is featured in their EP. The song gave the straight edge movement its name, expressing Ian MacKaye’s own drug- and alcohol-free outlook. It provides the narrative and meaning of how the singer interprets this idea in the song’s opening lines.

10. Coldplay – Parachutes (46 seconds)

Coming in at number ten, we have Coldplay with their song “Parachutes”. It’s a very mellow and acoustic song with the singing credentials of Chris Martin. Its brief length makes it one of the band’s most compact album pieces. Another thing to note is that it’s also the title track from their album “Parachutes”.

Summary

Many people probably don’t know the songs on this list and their incredibly short duration. The fun thing about these songs is that they are mostly released by really great and legendary bands, which makes this a more interesting thing altogether. With every original entry coming in at under 1 minute, these are some memorable examples of very short songs and separately listed album fragments. They are a listening list rather than a complete ranking of every tiny track ever released.