Most-Recorded Barn Dances
The Top Ten Barn Dances of the Century

Of related interest:
  • Top 100 Tunes of the Century.
  • Top Ten
  • Rhythm Distribution: How common is this rhythm (tune type) in the bigger picture of all distinct Irish tunes?
  • Recordings by Decade: A graph of the historical distribution of the recordings considered here.

This list ranks the top ten most-recorded barn dances out of the 52 distinct barn dances on the indexed recordings. The tunes are ranked in descending order of number of recordings. When tunes have the same number of recordings, tunes having the oldest recordings appear first. Note that reuses of a particular cut in later anthologies are counted, which is fair, since the popularity of a recording is a good indicator both of the popularity of the tune and of the likelihood that musicians will learn the tune from that recording.

Click Tune Info below to see tune details and sources.

RankNumber of
Recordings		Explanation
Titles used for this tune (and other notes)
19 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of James Gannon'sJames Gannon's / Jamesy Gannon's / Gannon's / James Cannon's Barndance / The Chaffpool Post / Shannon Waves / Michael Coleman's (1st in set Jamesy Gannon's on NNC)
27 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Curlew HillsCurlew Hills, The / Curlew Hills Polka / McDermott's / McDermott's Barndance / The Glenbeigh / The Glenbeigh Hornpipe / Morrison's Polka / A Donegal Barndance / Chaffpool Post / Bielbie's
35 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Belle of the BallBelle of the Ball, The / James Gannon's / Memories of Sligo (also as fling)
45 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Kilnamona Barn DanceKilnamona Barn Dance, The / Kilnamona Barndance / Barndance (also in F)
54 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Peach BlossomsPeach Blossoms, The / Peach Blossoms / Bláth na Péitseoige / Donegal Barn Dance
64 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Gypsy PrincessGypsy Princess, The (2nd in untitled Hornpipe set for 6th figure of Sliabh Luachra Set on MISD 7) (also in A, also as hornpipe)
73 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of John Mc Kenna'sJohn Mc Kenna's / Maggie's Lilt / Untitled German (1st in set Germans on CA) (also as hornpipe)
83 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Durham RangersDurham Rangers / The Sherwood Rangers / Pádraig O'Keeffe's Hornpipe (2nd in set Germans on CA) (also as hornpipe) (compare 1st part with 1st part of #395)
93 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of TeelinTeelin / Nicky's Archive (1st and 3rd in set The Teelin Polkas on Skylrk 2) (also as polka)
103 – Tune
Info		Transcription of first 2 bars of Hayes' FavouriteHayes' Favourite / Haye's Favourite
Please cite your source when you share information from this document.
This page was updated on 29 April 2008.
© 2006–2008 Alan Ng, agng@facstaff.wisc.edu. Questions? Comments? Please use the easy Feedback Form. Thank you!
Start at