Top 10 Songs Made Famous In Car Adverts - News

Even in the social media age, advertising is still as potent as it's ever been in the marketing mix, particularly when it comes to sales of cars.

And many are the artists whose careers have benefited from having their track featured on a TV or cinema advert for a well known car. Don't believe us? Let's cue up our personally curated YouTube playlist at Trackdays HQ and prove it - and see how many you can still remember as well…

1. Lenny Kravitz, "Fly Away" (Peugeot 206, 1999)

Prior to 1999, funk rock dude Lenny Kravitz was still perhaps best known in the UK for his breakthrough hits "It Ain't Over Till It's Over" and "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" That all changed when "Fly Away", a song from his then current studio album 5, was picked for use by Peugeot in the commercial for their new 206 supermini. The result? His first - and to date, only - number one single here in Britain.

2. Des'ree, "You Gotta Be" (Ford Focus, 1999)

"You Gotta Be" had already been a top 20 hit twice over for British soul singer Des'ree in this country; first in 1994, then again in 1995, as well as finding big success in the States. But it then gained an unprecedented third wind, thanks to Ford using it in the launch campaign for their bestselling Focus compact car in the UK, and it subsequently became a top 10 hit at the third time of asking in the spring of 1999.

3. M People, "Search For The Hero" (Peugeot 406, 1996)

Fronted by the gravelly voiced Heather Small, Mancunian outfit M People were a regular fixture of 90s dance music, borne out of the Factory Records and Hacienda scene in the early part of that decade. They then turned that into big album sales both here and in Europe, and with one of their signature tunes, "Search for the Hero" - a top 10 in 1995 - they then provided the soundtrack for Peugeot again, this time for their 406 saloon in 1996.

4. Aqualung, "Strange and Beautiful" (Volkswagen Beetle, 2002)

The stage name of singer, songwriter and producer Matt Hales, Aqualung got their breakthrough in the early 00s, when Volkswagen redeveloped and remarketed their signature Beetle car for the new millennium. The music on the accompanying ad was their haunting and moving "Strange and Beautiful" - which many people erroneously credited to Coldplay - and it became a top 10 hit in September 2002.

5. Bhangra Knights vs. Husan, "Husan" (Peugeot 206, 2003)

Four years after Lenny Kravitz's success, the Peugeot 206 got a second advertising push in the spring of 2003 - with another top 10 hit to go along with it - in the form of this catchy, Raja Mushtaq sampling bhangra floorfiller. In the amusing advert, a young Indian gentleman goes to extremes to shape his own car to look like the real 206 - including getting an elephant to sit on it!

6. David Guetta vs. The Egg, "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)" (Citroën C4, 2006)

These days, French mega DJ and producer David Guetta is best known for working with everyone, from Sia and Bebe Rexha, to Nicki Minaj and Usher. His original "Love Don't Let Me Go", with vocals from Chris Willis, had been a modestly performing hit the first time around in 2003. But three years later, a mashup with the Tocadisco mix of The Egg's floorfiller "Walking Away", was the soundtrack to Citroën's memorable Transformers style skating C4 compact car, and it thus landed in the top 3 in August 2006.

7. Julie Andrews, "My Favourite Things" (Skoda Fabia, 2007)

Of course, Julie Andrews' ode to raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens (not to mention bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens), will always be associated with the timeless Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. But Skoda also picked it for use in their memorable campaign in 2007, where a team of bakers constructed a yummy looking replica of their Fabia supermini - made entirely out of cake and sweets.

8. Bruno Mars, "Runaway Baby" (Vauxhall Corsa, 2012)

The Corsa has remained Vauxhall's signature supermini since launching in the UK in the 80s - in the last three years alone, it's been the country's bestselling supermini. One of its more memorable ad campaigns in recent years was at the turn of the 2010s, when Bruno Mars' funky floorfiller soundtracked a series of Corsas leaving powdered paint trails around city streets, inviting drivers to "put the fun back into driving".

9. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - "I Put A Spell On You" (Suzuki Swift, 2014)

"I Put A Spell On You" has been covered multiple times by different artists - Nina Simone most famously of all, but also by Annie Lennox, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sonique to name a few. But it was the original, by the theatrically voiced US singer and pioneer of "shock rock", Screamin' Jay Hawkins, that provided the music in an advert featuring a man seemingly being ominously followed by a Suzuki Swift everywhere he goes.

10. Benson Boone - "Beautiful Things" (BMW i4 / i5, 2025)

One of the biggest worldwide hits of the last year (it spent two weeks at number one here in the UK in 2024, and is still on the weekly chart at time of writing) the debut hit from US singer Benson Boone is now finding itself used on BMW's latest TV ad for their electric-hybrid i4 and i5 models. Something that is sure to prolong its popularity even whilst his follow up album prepares to drop…

If our revisit of car TV ad songs old and new has got you feeling nostalgic for the drives of your younger years, why not take a look at our range of Classic Car Experiences, which includes our Drive Dad's Car packages at Ambergate Car Museum in Derbyshire, with the chance to get behind the wheel of everything from a Vauxhall Astra to a Ford Fiesta!